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The Never-Ending Gun Show Tour Recap

All the stories and pictures from every week of the tour. Enjoy!

Never-ending Gunshow Tour Journal: Week 1

5.4.11

After finding out that Dom and I weren’t going to be evicted, I was able to take my time getting everything ready for the trip. So I didn’t head out until about 1, and bombed all the way to Topeka, Kansas. When I got there, I camped in the back of Big Sal in a Walmart parking lot. Let me make one thing clear: I think Walmart will lead to the downfall of man, on the same trajectory as Buy-N-Large in Wall-E. That said, many props to them for allowing traveling folk to sleep in their parking lot without being hassled. And Big Sal is a pretty saucy minx that proved to be a pretty comfortable bed fellow.

5.5.11

Woke up at 7 and headed to get my oil changed. While there, one of the mechanics found out I was going on tour. Turns out, he has an RnB group named “Swade”, whose name was shortly thereafter changed to “Swaade” for copyright reasons. He gave me a copy of his CD in a ziploc bag. I have yet to listen to it.
On the drive, I got in gridlock traffic in St. Louis. I also had to pee. Really bad. So I pulled over at the first exit I could find, which ended up being the worst neighborhood in St. Louis. Which was fine, I was just going to pee into a Simply Orange bottle in the van (thank god for the wide mouth on those…) As I had my shorts pulled down and everything lined up to go, a schoolbus pulled up right next to me. Filled with third graders. So there I was, in a bad neighborhood, with my pants down, in an 8 passenger van, parked next to a bus full of school kids. That could kiiiiind have gone over…not well. Luckily I can kegel like nobodies business and was able to quickly pull my pants back up and pinch it off until they were out of sight.
Mashed over to Evansville, Indiana to hang out with my great friend and incredible musician Jake (Cas One) and his badass fiancee Jackie. We went to the ugliest restaurant in the world that has the best home-cooked food anywhere (aside from at home). Jake showed me some tracks from the album he is working on. Be prepared, this album is already amazing. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my dude…I’m saying that because it’s true. He also happens to have the most awesome Pug ever, who slept with me on the couch. She was a puppy mill mom, and gave birth to countless litters of puppies.

5.6.11

700 miles in one day is a long way to drive, but driving through places as gorgeous as the appalachian mountains made it a bit more bearable. Completely amazing. I want to retire at Smoke Hole Resort. Made it to Fairfax and met up with everyone. Great to see Chris and Brady again, and meet Nick for the first time. Cody I can take or leave (brah).
The show was pretty solid. A surprisingly good crowd of attentive fans considering it was a sports bar with tables of white linen and fancy black chairs. Many thanks to Cole of Educated Consumers for being a great host and holding down the show real well. And to Joe Wolinski for the cupcakes. Cody ate almost all of them. Joe, did you put creatine in them?

5.7.11

Bummed around Baltimore with some new friends: PT Burnem, Kenn Yeomans, Katrina Raymond, Seth, and Nick. It was pretty great to walk around the Inner Harbor and, as a huge fan of The Wire and Homicide, the inner nerd in me enjoyed seeing some of the locations of filming.
The show itself was at the Hexagon, a cool little co-op artspace downtown. It was definitely fun rocking with everyone there, going to a party until 5am, and waking up the next day…

5.8.11

Mother’s Day, so we mashed out of PT’s house at 930am to pick up Chris, Cody, and Brady. Unfortunately, those sleeping beauties needed their 8 hours of rest, so we waited a few hours in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot while they got a bit more slumber.
Once they woke up, we hit the road to head to Philadelphia for our show that night at Blockley’s. (Side note: ?uestlove is playing there this week).

On the way, we stopped in the middle of Pennsylvania at some sports bar, which was really apparently a convention for middle America WASPs who feel like they have been wrongfully oppressed ever since the slaves they purchased legally were emancipated. Luckily they can still reign over their subservient housewives while drinking a Schlitz tallboy, watching “the game” and reflecting on how they woulda gone pro if they didn’t blow out their shoulder. Here’s an example:

This guy: huge penis, or hugest penis in the history of man?

Finally, we got to Philly after watching the Lakers get demolished. This was an awesome venue.

That night, we stayed with Matt and Ariel, who were kind enough to open up their two bedroom apartment to five smelly rappers and one hairy manager.

If you’re ever in Philly, you owe it to yourself to eat here. Holy hell.

5.9.11

After a leisurely morning walking around downtown Philly, and parking in the tightest spot in the world which took about 5 minutes to back out of, we set sail toward New Bedford (or as the locals call it: New Bedfuhd). I guess this was an old whaling community, and there are statues commemorating it everywhere.

5.10.11

Happy birthday, me. Did you know 26 is a lot like 25, it’s just more lame and makes me feel less accomplished? Well now you do. I know you always wondered. We got killer burritos at some place called No Problemo, and Cody bought me Chinese food. Thank you, kind sir. I was also able to go for a run this morning. Running at sea level after 4 months of mile-high running in Fort Collins = pretty great. My lungs felt like I was walking.

5.11.11.

Not a lot to report today. I started this blog, responded to a bunch of emails, almost died in the shower, etc.

Tomorrow, a show in New Haven, Connecticut. This time off has been great, but it’s time to rock again.

Never-ending Gunshow Tour Journal: Week 2

Chris and I made the paper in New Bedford just by stealing free internet. Rockstar lifestyle.

5.12.11

Up until today, I didn’t think I had the effortless charisma necessary to earn a random photoshoot by journalists. Chris and I were updating all of the tour jazz, and along comes a photographer for New Beford’s newspaper. Win.

Today we played New Haven, Connecticut, home of the prestigious university (Yale) that educated George W. It caught me off guard, because it was actually quite scenic. Here’s a shot of it at night time.

So we played a show at an Irish Pub called Anna Liffey’s. The bartender was a lady named Caroline who literally moved from Ireland 6 months prior. Naturally, I ordered a Guinness. (Side note: Anybody notice how drinking one Guinness makes you feel like you’ve eaten a Thanksgiving Dinner?)

So here’s the venue:

And here’s the flier:

Not to toot my own horn, but look who has 3 exclamation marks by his name.

That night we drove all the way back to New Bedford, which was our homebase for over a week. The drive home was from 3-5am. We stopped at Mickey D’s so I could get coffee to keep me awake to enable us not to die. Brady woke up from a slumber and decided to order 3 McDoubles at 4am. Gangster.

5.13.11

Today we got locked out of the house, which is an apartment on the second floor with no way of getting up to a window. Chris valiantly tried, but the roof just wasn’t stable enough:

So I busted out my inner McGeyver (also known as my 9th grade ASB card) and tried the old “credit card in the door to break into a house while lots of traffic drives by” trick. It worked and we didn’t even get arrested.

I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of the venue in Dover, NH. It was awesome. Right on the river and with great sound, but here’s the inside:

This place had great sound, a solid crowd, and a couple amazing live photographers. Check out how noble and manly this picture makes me appear.

Cody almost got in a fight with a guy 40-year old that wore a shirt that said “Bad Ass Mofo”, we prank called some 1800 numbers, and got some sleep.

5.14.11

We played New Bedford tonight and it was pretty great. Small little club named Kirby’s, and everyone there was really live. Many thanks to the fans who drove hours just to make this show, and the new friends made. Also, many, many thanks to Finn for bringing 6 quart jars of quinoa, rice, and curried vegetables. What a culinary badass.

Also, the NBA has been boring to me ever since Shawn Kemp left the Sonics and gained 137 pounds. But being surrounded by people that are way into it has made the playoffs this year kind of fun. It’s still boring as hell, but it’s excitably boring.

5.15.11

Tonight we played CLUB HELLLLLLL in Providence, RI. True story: it’s located on the corner of “Friendship Street”. And it actually has bathrooms that I think hell would be proud of, seeing as how the plumbing didn’t work and there was no toilet paper or a toilet seat. Thankfully there were only a handful of girls at the show, and I have no shame, and the woman’s room was adorned with white lilies and Kenny G muzak as always, so I was able to let some of the beets, kale, and lentils pass through.

Here’s the venue:

I guess it’s actually a really historic place where a lot of big name groups have played, so it was an honor to rock here. All of the people were really nice, too, and a really great group of fans made long drives to get here.

This sort of makes me hate cellphones.

5.16.11

So Sage Francis contacted Chris and invited us out to his place near Providence for lunch and to hang out and have high tea. I’ve listened to Sage since I was 15, so this was definitely a pretty awesome experience. Fittingly, we ate at a diner called “Patriot’s” and chopped it up for a while over greasy eggs. Then we went back to the Strange Famous headquarters.

Did you know that the headquarters are actually behind a moat protected by a knight that Sage makes wear a onezie circa David Bowie in Labyrinth, and there are radiantly bronzed, scantily-clad women lounging all over the place eating grapes while white tigers roam free through a field of lotus blossoms and griffins? Also, every room in the house has different entrance music and different types of birds that fly free whenever Sage enters the room? Now you know.

But honestly, this was a really great experience. Sincere thanks to Sage for inviting us over and sharing stories with us and listening to all of ours. I always find it really refreshing when people I respect and look up to turn out to be incredibly genuine and humble. We also created a Ween cover band on the fly. Sage played the Conch shell, Chris a harmonica, Cody a pan flute, me a xylophone, and Brady a clapper.

5.17.11

Today was really relaxing and my mom sent me my birthday present. Check out that box! So very amazing, and great food inside. Thank you, mom!

5.18.11

On the way to this show, Nick remarked, “If there was a baby all alone in the road right now, there’s no way in hell I’d stop to pick it up or make sure it’s ok.” It was really foggy and the land of Stephen King, so you know…

Solid show and another late night. The next day, up at 730am to make a 640 mile, 12 hour drive to Pittsburgh. That story, and many others, to come.

Thanks to Nick, Chris, Brady, Cody, and many others who have contributed to the adventure of this tour. Rock, rock on.

Never-ending Gunshow Tour Journal: Week 3

Downtown Pittsburgh looks a lot like Gotham City.

5.19.11

My only previous experience with Pittsburgh was on a cross country road trip to 15 different baseball stadiums with my good buddy Jason. It was an…interesting experience, complete with hairless cats, horrendously racist remarks (not by us), and a day spent in PNC Park watching a master chicken wing eater. This day was a bit different, seeings how I was going there on tour and such.

Did you know it costs $15 in tolls just to have the privilege to enter Pittsburgh? Which is weird seeing as how that would pay for about 3 month’s rent in the city. So the block we played on was patrolled by a large number of undercover cops. I figured they were running a sting operation against a cartel in the venue we were playing, but it turns out they were actually running security for some romantic comedy being filmed across the street starring Dan Futterman and Renee Zelwigger or something of the sort. I look forward to watching direct to TV movies any chance I get, especially if they air on Lifetime or Oxygen and are called something like “Roses for the Enemy.” Anyway, the show was in this artspace called The Hexagon, and hosted by MC Homeless. The crowd was surprisingly SUPER live. I didn’t know what to expect in the land of Wiz Khalifa. Some great connections made. I also announced on stage that I used to be a corrections officer in a juvenile jail. There was a kid in the audience that used to go to juvie. He only had $2 to his name, but really wanted a copy of American Beauty, so I swapped him one for a gatorade and vitamin water (I let him keep the bus fare).

Late night food = delicious.

Have you ever driven around Pittsburgh? Because if you have, you’d understand how not fun it was to cart around a Ford E350 packed to the brim up streets designed by a crackhead city planner with no concept of the grid system while trying to park. It’s pretty awesome trying to do a hairpin turn just to stay on the same road with no signs telling you the crossing traffic doesn’t stop, while the road you are trying to stay on is comprised of hills steeper than San Francisco. Pittsburgh, I love you. I hate your roads. So much. And I know you do, too.

5.20.11

After a leisurely morning and getting an oil change while eating wood fired pizza, I was reminded how great it has been the last couple years to not have cable. I don’t mean to say that in some self-righteous way – I love cable, but seeing CNN and Fox News back to back helps me realize how nice it is to be out of the system.

Outside the venue. Rock.

We got to Youngstown super early – just across the border from Pennsylvania, so only an hour drive. The venue was a really cool coffee shop/restaurant/brew pub named Lemon Grove. It was pretty nice to catch up on backlogged emails, merch sales, and Friday Night Lights on Hulu. There was also an 18th birthday party taking place in the back, which provided each of us with free cake. Also, Lime Ginger Rooibos tea is amazing.

The show itself was really, really interesting. It was certainly a staggering through crowd, but a fair amount of people that didn’t even come out for the show came up to the stage. Chris, especially, had a good group of fans wearing his merch, including a 13 year old kid who got suspended from school for flipping a desk over. During my set a couple 70+ year olds came from and center and started dancing, which was awesome. They also bought copies of American Beauty and told me their life stories. It was an awesome night. Also had some great conversation with some newly-made friends before-hand, who are going to become pastors. It was very refreshing, because they clearly had the kind of faith that focuses on doing good in the world, rather than chastising others for not having similar beliefs. I wish them each the best.

5.21.11

At the last minute, Brady and Chris got together a coffee shop show AND a house party in Milwaukee. Both of them were great. The coffee shop was pretty quaint, but the people in the audience all paid close attention. Plus Max (DJ Abilities) rolled through, and that was a pretty cool bonus.

The house party, on the other hand, was nuts. I’d estimate that there were 150+ people in the two story house, 100 of which were crammed into the basement to see us all perform. Before the show there was the minor hangup of not having a microphone to go with the PA system. Someone came through in the clutch and gave us the equivalent of a Mariah Carey Sing-With-Me karaoke machine microphone. It wasn’t ideal, but it did the job, and many thanks to the kind soul who provided it.

That night we went to my good friend Megan’s house for some much needed rest.

5.22.11

The next morning Megan surprised me with the most immaculately created cupcakes I’ve ever seen in my life as a belated birthday present. They were insanely delicious; german chocolate cake is always a winner with me. Plus the guys ate almost all of them before I had a chance to get to em.

One of Cody’s friends/producers Toriano (Kid Called Computer) lives in Chicago, so we ended up going down there for the day. He also partook in said masticating of perfect cupcakes. He showed us around the city, introduced me to the best iPhone app ever (Babyscratch), and showed us new material he’s working on – it sounds great. We also went over to this guy Ross’ house where they took pictures and video of the two of them for quite some time. It stormed outside and Chris and I did sidewalk earthdowns. Some might call these “pushups”, but some have also never seen myself or Chris in a perfect plank position on the concrete.

I guess swords aren’t in the cards…

5.23.11

Evansville, Indiana is great for one reason and absolutely one reason only: The Crosseyed Cricket (http://www.crosseyedcricketrestaurant.com/). It’s a homecooking restaurant that serves the best comfort food outside of my mom’s kitchen. Chicken and dumplings, applesauce, cornbread with berry jam = money.

Jake (Cas One) and Jackie also happen to live in Evansville, so I mean…that’s cool, too. But really we had a great time there. Previously, I posted pictures of their awesome pug named Pudgy. She is still just as awesome the second time you see her.

The show this night was in a huge venue on a Monday with school out of session. So, it wasn’t really packed out, but it was still cool. Very, very thankful to Jake and Jackie for bringing us through.

This is the first venue I’ve ever played that was right next to a pregnancy resource center.

We made a lot of prank calls this night, and by we I mean Jake did, since he’s the king of them. I also fell asleep on the couch and woke up to Jake trying to lick my face and Cody wearing some kind of mini cowboy hat. Rock and rolllllllll.

5.24.11

The calm before the storm.

The drive from Evansville to Columbia, Missouri wasn’t the most enjoyable experience, in light of the news of the tornado that tore through Joplin. It poured rain the whole way, and some points were pretty much whiteout conditions coupled with lots of wind. There were four separate severe weather alerts for: tornados, flash flooding, damaging winds, and quarter sized hail. Luckily, only the wind and rain struck.

The show this night was at Sideshow and the staff there was nice beyond words. Side note: I think most musicians will agree that an overwhelming number of venue staff (sound engineers, bartenders, bouncers, etc.) are somewhat on the curt side of things. The people here all were incredibly humble and polite – many, many thanks to each of them. Also, the local headliner (Farout) was a really nice dude, and he and his guy put us up at their spot and allowed us to make some prank phonecalls to hip hop abs, the audio to which will be coming soon.

5.25.11

I really, really, really strongly dislike toll booths. Really. I understand why they exist, and I also kind of agree with them, because the only people that pay are the ones that use the road. But that doesn’t change the fact that paying $80 in tolls for a week or so is a bit much.

Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the world, and this night was a great time. Thanks to Smash Moody for putting the show together at Reggie’s, and to Anthony for making the 4 hour drive to the show through all of the tolls. PLUS Megan drove over from Milwaukee and I was able to stay in the 34th floor of a Marriot in the heart of Chicago. Bawse. Another fun time. They also had a projector showing the Face Candy DVD. This was really bittersweet to watch. Miss you every day, Mike…

Nick rocking the crowd in Chicago.

Never-Ending Gun Show Tour Journal: Week 4

5.26.11

Today was my pops’ birthday. Turned 56! I’m really happy he created half of me and I hope I’m making him proud out on the road.

Iowa City. The land of Hawkeyes, corn, and baseball. And really down to Earth, supportive friends and fans. This show was a little spotty on the attendance meter, but everybody there had great energy and participated actively in each set. Especially great work to Ion, who has been a big supporter of Chris’ for a long time, got the chance to perform with everyone, and put on a great set.

Doesn’t say anything about shucking and jiving, which is a plus…

Someone already beat me to my personalized license plate.

That night we stayed with Trina Thompson who was kind enough to cook us Jamaican Jerk chicken. It was a flavor explosion of the most incendiary kind. Didn’t get to bed until about 4ish this night and shared a bed with Brady and his flowing hair. I’m surprised there was enough room on the bed for all three of us. Also, Brady is the first guy I know who used a giant stuffed rabbit replica of the killer bunny from Monty Python as a pillow. Respect.

Also, thanks to Smash Moody and his friends for making the trip out!

5.27.11

Outside Nicademus.

Don’t let your baby fall in the urinal tube…

I mean…why?

5.30-6.1.11

Earlier, Chris had in in-studio at Radio-K. He did a great job.

Never-ending Gunshow Tour Journal: Week 5

6.2.11

Hello, Kansas City. You saucy minx of BBQ and BBQ sauce, BB King and BB Guns, Bumblebees and Beef Brisket.

So we got into town about 15 minutes before doors opened, per our usual rockstar routine. This gave us ample time we didn’t have to go track down the our room in a Marriott a really cool guy named Dave was nice enough to book for us (two rooms for two days!). We rolled up to a super classy Marriott in downtown in Big Sal. If you’ve never seen Big Sal, here’s a picture.

As you can see, we fit like a glove next to Hummers and Escalades with 24 inch rims. The valets looked at us like we were a bunch of twenty-somethings out on a “tour” (figures). Nick throwing a mini blow-up doll he got at a prop shop earlier out the door probably didn’t help our image, but that’s neither here or there. Turns out the Marriott at which we were staying was on the opposite side of town, so we shot back to the venue.

It was a smaller crowd, but each person there was really supportive and great. There were even Jim Beam people walking around giving away free shots, which wasn’t really anything to be excited about since it tasted like the charred crumbs that gather at the bottom of a toaster. On a side note, I had a pizza that substituted Humus for cheese. It was surprisingly marginal, but free, and free is good.

6.3.11

It was pretty great to sleep in today, and go down to the free breakfast buffet and absolutely destroy it. Here’s a sample of what I have for breakfast when given the chance: 2 cups of orange juice, cup of coffee, bowl of cereal, yogurt and granola, oatmeal with raisins and nuts, 2 eggs, a banana, grapefruit.

Have you seen the Hangover 2 already? I’m sorry. The best thing I can say about this movie was that it was 100 degrees outside and we got 95 minutes of air conditioned oasis status. And that was pretty nice after having all of the fluids in Big Sal flushed and replaced and hanging out in the mechanic’s office.

Right after the movie, we went to Dave’s (the fellow who generously got the hotel rooms for us) and had a bit of a cookout. Fun times.

6.4.11

The venue was packed with 200+ very intoxicated individuals…

Omaha today. Who would’ve thought this would be the one city where we’d encounter parking troubles? We circled the same 6 blocks for a half hour before deciding it was best to just park far away and hoof it in. Chris hopped out in the middle of traffic to go potty. We met up with the local promoter, and part of the group Double O and the Rowbits, and wandered around downtown Omaha until the show started.

One thing I will say about the show is that there was a good sized audeince – max capacity. I will say one other thing about the show – 95% of the audience was there ONLY for drinking. And then they got drunk. And then they got sloppy. And then Chris’ mic was cut off eight minutes into his set. It wasn’t a good scene. We got paid and got the hell out of there.

Our plan of driving for a few hours until we pulled over to grab a hotel hit a bit of a snag when Nascar decided to be in town. It took place in Kansas City, but apparently it’s a big enough deal to have every hotel in a 200 mile radius booked solid. So I sang freestyled Jack Johnson to some friend of Cody’s he was talking with on the phone and drove until 530 in the morning, pulled over at a rest area, got 2 hours of sleep, and we took off again.

Our sleeping HQ for the night. Rest stop slumber. Rockstar Lifestyle.

6.5.11

Hi, Texas.

The drive from Omaha (or wherever we ended up the night before) to Denton was a pretty long one. Long and full of another toll. In Oklahoma and Kansas. Really? Of all places? It was also about 100 degrees outside, and I’m really thankful Sal has functional AC.

Because we got a good start on the drive, we got into Denton at a pretty reasonable hour. We met up with Bryan, who was nice enough to throw the show AND let us crash at his house, and got some great food at a place called Fuzzy Tacos. Highly recommended. Bryan also had two awesome dogs, one of which is named Oprah.

The show at T Henry’s was really solid. Good energy from everyone and it was filled up at probably 80% capacity. A local clothing company named GFive brought out about 7,321 people all wearing their gear; cool of them to show support like that!

One of the openers led the crowd in a chant of “fuck the police.” That doesn’t fly with me. I called him out on stage and let him know that if he wants to say “fuck the crooked police” I’d be right there with him wearing a t-shirt saying that. But you can’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Not to mention I have friends who are good, genuine police officers.

Marquee Status.

6.6.11

Got to sleep in this morning, on an air mattress in a kitchen. Woke up feeling refreshed, and we went to an organic burger joint. I can’t remember the name, but it was quite good. We loaded the van back up and trekked up to Tulsa.

On the way, I re-introduced the guys to Phil Hendrie. If you don’t know who he is, you should check him out. He hosted a national radio show where he plays himself as the host, as well as the guest that “calls in.” The guest always has some crazy scheme, or something really offensive to say, and then people who don’t know the joke call in outraged. And then he carries on a conversation with the actual call-in poeple in both the host voice and the “guest” voice. So. Good.

We also sold our souls and picked up dinner at Walmart. It was the only thing open. Don’t judge. Chris also decided to pick up a white bowler hat and now looks like Ne-Yo. We almost hit a giant mastiff that was in the middle of the road, but didn’t because I pay attention while I’m driving and all. We got to Eric’s house, who goes by Simple Steven and hosted the show in Tulsa, at about 2am. His dad was still awake and hanging out in the living room in his robe. I was half expecting a shotgun to be next to his lazy boy because he looked pretty intense. I was happy when that wasn’t the case.

6.7.11

This morning I woke up and went for a run. And by run, I mean I sadly slogged along for about 2 miles of 100 degree humid sweatiness. Nick had an abscessed molar and Brady drove him to the ER to get it checked out. More on that later.

Best believe I giddily ran through that. All I needed after were some Otter Pops…

With Nick in the ER waiting room for going on 3 hours, we went to the grocery store and post office. Chris wanted to send letters to loved ones, so while he did that multitasking ensued and I booked us an in-store in San Diego at Access Hip Hop. If you’ve never been there, and you’re a fan of hip hop, you should go. It’s awesome.

We went to pick up Nick, who looked about ready to throw a Molotov. He’d been waiting for 5 hours and never was seen. However, my friend Lj came through in the clutch for him and selflessly helped treat his abscess.

The show tonight was at a small spot called The Reverb, a big red box on the corner of a street in downtown Tulsa. The AC in the place didn’t work and it was super hot and humid out, so during each person’s set, people would come in and out to get a brief respite from the heat. That said, there was a good group of really supportive fans, though, and Simple Steven helped put together a fun show. He also headlined it and did a great job!

6.8.11

We had a day off and, after a good couple hours sleep, loaded in the van and decided to drive all the way to Fort Collins, since we had a show the next day in Salt Lake City (which is a 20 hour drive). So Fort Collins was about 800 miles off, which is a bit of a trek. Hi jinx of course ensued on the drive up, including a makeshift session of “STOMP!” in the rest area somewhere in west Kansas/east Colorado.

When we rolled south of Denver, we could see lightning off in the distance. This was followed by thunder. The closer we got to Fort Collins, the closer the lightning approached, and it was pretty much a black wall of clouds. Surprisingly, there was no rain…

…but there was hail the size of marbles. And then it poured rain and flash flooded and didn’t let up for a good 3 hours. (You can see video of the storm here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOHBHm3E0xQ )

It was great to spend a night at my house and kick it with Dom (my roommate and producer extraordinaire Doctype), and I personally love storms and was really glad that Colorado showed the Gun Show just how silly its weather can be. 85 degrees the next day, not a cloud in the sky.

Here are some random travel pictures…

Subtle…

This is the most androgynous sign I’ve seen in a while.

Yes. “New” Arrival. Used.

Classy.

Classier…

Never-Ending Gun Show Tour Journal: Week 6

6.9.11

The drive from Fort Collins to Salt Lake City is a long one, but it’s also worth it for the amount of scenery you get to enjoy along the way. I know Wyoming gets a bad rap for being a boring state – and that may be because there’s only 5.1 persons per square mile, so I can imagine the nightlife is pretty slammin. But for what it’s worth, there are some gorgeous views if you take this drive. Not to mention billboards telling you that you’re GOING TO HELLLLLLLLL for being nude or eating cheese. Along the way we also listened to the Tech N9ne album again. It’s pretty solid.

Oops…

Got into SLC a few hours before doors, so that gave us time to wander around as we pleased. Cody went and watching some basketball, Brady logged on to chat rooms on the intranet, and Chris and Nick went on one of their trademark, random adventures. I, on the other hand, decided to make myself properly sick off of incredibly sub par sushi. I should’ve known better than to get sushi in the middle of Utah, but hey…

After losing about half of my body weight into the water closet, we put on a fun show for an intimate crowd at Bar Deluxe. Nothing big to report here – pretty mellow night. We made the marquee, so that was cool!

Many thanks to my dear friend Erika Cohn for coming out and being awesome.

Wyoming and SLC. Pretty.

Marquee status. Again. It’s how we do…

Saw this little number at the gas station near SLC…

6.10.11

So then we backtracked from whence we came, this time driving the extra hour to make it back to Denver for our show. I bet you’ve never been to a venue that had barbecue and bowling, beer and brauts. Or as it’s famously known: BBBBBQ. This was at Moe’s in downtown Englewood which, contrary to the famous 2pac line, is up to some good sometimes.

This show was great. The crowd was lively, it was a packed venue, the promoter and sound guy were both genuine and hospitable, and yeah…

Hit a bit of a snafu this night when some good friends made the trip down from Fort Collins for the show and had a little mishap with a towing company. I feel like the stereotype of cable guys’ punctuality holds even more true for tow truck people. Dude said he’d be there in 15 minutes with her car, and it turned into an hour and a half. So by 130am I was back to the venue in time to pack up merch, say bye as people were exiting, and we hit the road.

We stayed in an apartment in Longmont, which was about 45 minutes north. That’s not that far, but when you’re that tired, it’s a bit of a trek. Now, Brady is able to fall asleep anywhere. As you may recall, he slept face down spanned across 4 dining room chairs in Philly. Tonight was no exception. As soon as he laid down near the beer pong table, he was out. Chris shortly followed. Nick and I, on the other hand, had the unfortunate reality of staying awake until 630 because the people we stayed with decided to drink loudly, bang a repetitive rap mix, and leave the lights on. There was also a girl who occupied half of the couch whose voice was the equivalent of a Fran Drescher laugh. After such a great show, this was an incredible let down of an afterparty…

6.12.11

With a much needed day off, we drove from Crested Butte out to Cortez, which is right on the border of Arizona. Along the way, we stopped in a town with a name that rhymes with a part of the female anatomy (Seinfeld fans will know this…). It was here that I discovered the greatest grocery store known to modern man. It wasn’t the groceries that were memorable, but the courtesy that the one clerk showed to everyone. Everyone being about 2 people that were in the store, including me. But organic food abounded and, for as much flak as I give hippies for being hippies, I do respect most of their nutritional choices. Aside from gorp. I can never get behind gorp.

The night in Cortez was pretty fun. Stayed in a motel and rested up.

OK, I believe you…

6.14.11

With the day off, we drove from Gilbert to San Diego, to stay with a guy named Vinny. He wasn’t anybody’s cousin, but he was the childhood friend of Nick. My first introduction to him is when he drove us to the beach, going 90, weaving out of traffic, throwing garbage out the window. We all almost started writing our wills in the back seat.

So, we went to the beach, then to one of Vinny’s offices, and then we were VIP status to a swanky art show in downtown San Diego. Artshows are really hit or miss for me. This one was a miss. When the description of the art piece is written as though the author sat there with a thesaurus the whole time and did their best just to sound cool and use phrases like “awash in wry social commentary”, that’s when I turn off and tune out.

After the art show, we went to the Kava Lounge, which is where we would be playing the next night, to watch Onry, Iame, and others perform. Fun night all around.

Side note: On the drive from Gilbert to San Diego, there were 3 border patrol stops. We got stopped for a secondary search. What is it about an out of state, 1994 E350 van with 5 dudes in it that looks suspicious?

6.15.11

This morning we went to a coffee shop for a few hours. I parked the van in a 2 hour spot where no one else was parked. We were there for slightly over 2 hours. I got a ticket. San Diego 1, Alex 0.

We had two shows today, and the first was at Access Hip Hop. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s definitely one of the premiere hip hop stores in the world, and the guys that run it are really nice. Many thanks to Norm, Wes, and Mark for bringing us through to do an instore performance for some kids who were under 21 and couldn’t make the show that night.

And the show at Kava is always really intimate, almost by necessity since the venue is on the smaller side, but also really fun. Thanks to Onry, Iame and the rest of the crew for coming out to our show and returning the love. And seeing my friend Courtney is always fun.

And this night we all crashed with Ali Goodman, a new friend and really inspirational human being. Thank you for letting us invade your space, Ali!

Never-Ending Gun Show Tour Journal: Weeks 7&8

6.16.11

Anyone who has lived in Southern Cali for any length of time knows that the drive into Los Angeles from San Diego is either an hour or five hours. Luckily today it was the former. Well, luckily and unluckily. We got there early, which was good and bad. Good because we had time before the show to relax. Bad because there was nowhere to relax. If you’ve yet to visit scenic south downtown LA, let me set the scene for you:
Sprawling blocks. Shuttered up business starting at 4PM. Every other store is a sock, underwear, t-shirt seller. We walked for 3 miles to find a restaurant and stumbled inside a pretty great Mexican joint. Along the way, a Jeep Cherokee pulled alongside us, rolled its window down, and shot us with a squirt gun. There was no one else around AND there was no one else in the car. Why’d he do that? Vexing.
My man Joe Elgar, Jr. requested to do an interview with me, and he was kind enough to take me to a pretty great sushi shop while the interview happened. If you haven’t seen his work before, he is an excellent journalist. And I’m not just saying that because he gave me the sushi hook-up. It’s just true. You can watch both parts of the interview we did here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ49g7MNufg

and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJZ6d64vxZ0

Anyway, the show tonight was realllllllllly LA. There was body painting. There were vegan cupcakes. There were hipsters. And there were a lot of friends I hadn’t seen in a long time (thank you all for coming). Really fun show that culminated in a nightcap at Chris Hernandez’ house out near Long Beach. Chris is also a producer who makes great music. Look out for music from the two of us in the near future.

6.17.11

A day off complete with laundry, relaxation, great food, and conversation. No big news to report here, other than us being good homemakers on this day…

6.18.11

If you’ve never been to Lake Tahoe, you’re missing out. Holy lord it’s an awesome place. It’s similar to a little slice of Montana in California. Here’s what the sunset looked like at nighttime, just to show off how nice of a place it is:

This was the first skatepark show any of us had ever played, and it was all ages which was pretty great. Rapping on top of a half pipe for full size families, toddlers to grandparents and everything in between, is a pretty interesting feeling…thank you very much to Josh Lease and Tina Humlick for helping to make this show happen, providing the sound, and overall just being really chill people.

The Tahoe sunset, no color correction needed.

Chris getting frisky.

Skatepark show.

Rather than stay in Tahoe and get into mayhem and mischief at the casinos and on a party boat, we decided to continue full steam ahead to Northern California (Arcata, to be exact). Arcata is a good 8 hours from Lake Tahoe, and we were leaving Tahoe at 10PM. Fun…

I just so happened to come down with a sinus infection, so Brady stepped up and drove almost the entire way north. We pulled into Arcata at 7am, crowded in to Brady’s friend’s house, and crashed. I slept on a concrete floor!


6.19.11

We started this day by hitting up a pretty fantastic Mexican restaurant, and moved from there down to the Avenue of the Giants, which is a little slice of Highway 101 devoted entirely to seeing the absolutely incredible redwoods. We all piled into the van, along with several of Brady’s friends, and explored deep into the redwood forest. Here are some pictures of our journey:

As a capper to the day, we stopped by my grandma’s house in Roseburg, Oregon for dinner at Midnight. This. Was. Awesome. First of all, my grandma is 83 and stayed up all night for us to get there. Second of all, she had a whole buffet of food and coffee ready to go for us, which was delicious. And third, she pitched the guys more shit than probably anyone else on the tour, but she did it in a way that only a 4′10″ Polish woman who raised 6 kids and had a husband with several WWII purple hearts can do. Also, Chris told my grandma his infamous “riding a bike at 12 years old to watch porn while listening to the Dangerous Minds soundtrack and getting hit by a burrito from a guy in a truck” story. He spared no detail, and it was awesome to see her reaction.

Anyway, my grandma mooned us as we pulled out of the driveway, and we ended the night in Eugene, Oregon at Jamie’s house, a friend of Cody’s. A full day indeed.

6.20.11

Chris and I woke up early this morning and went for a run over to historic Hayward Field. For you non cross country/track nerds out there, this is the Fenway of running. (For you non baseball nerds, this is the Taj Mahal of baseball fields…). Hippies galore and a good workout indeed.

Tonight my sinus infection was not in good shape. And there were 8 people at the concert. And I was tired and sort of over the show. So I made a deal with the audience that for every new person they brought through the door, I would remove one piece of clothing. I ended up rapping Life and Simpleman in boxer briefs. Here is the proof. Please excuse my blindingly white, buck fifty frame…

After the show, we drove to Portland and crashed at Eric’s house, who also happens to be one of the most genuine guys I’ve met.

6.21.11

Ah, the first day of summer. What an interesting way to start it by getting 2 hours sleep and waking up in a speakeasy…

This morning, we started the day by having amazing sushi in downtown Portland. Eric took us there, and it was awesome. We pretty much wandered around aimlessly the rest of the day before the speakeasy show at night.
L’Oubliette is where we played, which is a house that was converted into a speakeasy/house party venue. A lot of really interesting characters came out, along with a large amount of people that were there to really focus on the show and pay attention. It was a crazy night, which included two police calls, a group of hippies debating the nutritional difference between organic canned garbanzo beans and organic raw garbanzo beans, and Qi Gong at 5am…

6.22.11

This morning we got great breakfast, plus a corndog, at another place suggested by Eric. Delicious. We then dropped Brady off at the airport, which wasn’t fun to do. Brady is, hands down, the best manager I’ve worked with and was a great co-pilot on those long nights on the road. The last week just wouldn’t feel the same without him.

We spent the rest of the day driving over to Mowcow, Idaho to stay with a friend of Cody’s. We got pizza, WSU ponchos, and stayed up til the wee hours of the morning playing Mike Tyson’s Punchout. I was rusty and couldn’t get past Raging Bull 2. Cody’s buddy flew past Sandman and Macho Man with gusto I’d never seen before Mike Tyson, who is impossible, knocked him out. Still, pretty impressive. Well done, good sir.

Week 8

6.23.11

My mom grew up in a small town in Montana named Libby. It was
an asbestos capital, responsible for a lot of mining that led to a lot of deaths of people in the town. We used to go to Libby and nearby Bull Lake every summer from the year I was born, and spend lazy summer days at my grandparent’s cabin. And I have boatloads of aunts and uncles and cousins, so it was always a pretty big adventure. I loved it. Despite all this time spent in Montana, I never once set foot in its biggest city, Missoula, until we had a show booked there at The Palace.

I wish I had come here earlier, because Missoula is a trul

y great city. The people are super friendly, there are tons of trails for running nerds like me, it’s surrounded by wilderness, and has an overall really relaxing vibe.

We pulled in to the venue at about 8PM, just in time for sound check (as usual). We were pretty blown away by the fact that there were 50 or so kids in front of the venue waiting to get in to see the little old Gun Show. And it was a great show. Thank you to Chase, Jordan, Keenan, and everyone else who helped put it together. The local group, The Codependents, are definitely worth keeping on your musical radar. They’ll be coming up in no time.

This was also the first show in my life I’d experienced where a fair amount of people in the audience were rapping my lyrics back at me. Holy hell, that is an amazing feeling.

6.24.11

After crashing at the Codependents’ house where Chris, Nick and I shared a hard wood floor bedroom, we mobbed over to a mom and pop diner to grab some breakfast and much needed coffee before hitting the road back to trust old Washington.

Hi-jinx ensued on the drive back, as always. Among the highlights were listening to a Rick Ross album (which was surprisingly mediocre), Nick stopping in a really weird motel office/gas station hybrid to take a poo and coming out loaded with Mountain Dew and Cooler Ranch chips, Cody sleeping almost the whole way and then waking up and saying “well now, that drive wasn’t THAT bad”…and the scenery. Awesome as always.

We got back to Cody’s house and we crashed. We crashed hard.

6.25.11

Cody’s friend Ross took us out for some mindblowingly good sushi in downtown Seattle, near 3rd and Battery. I forget the name of the place or else I’d recommend it to you. We spent the rest of the day lazing about downtown before hopping on the ferry and heading over to Kingston, which is just across the way from Seattle.

It’s a tiny little down, but boy do they come out for live music. Ian Wiggers is one of the coolest and most reliable promoters I’ve ever worked with, and he always is sure to promote well and follow through on everything he promises. That is increasingly rare now-a-days among promoters, I assure you.

My dad and stepmom came to the show, which was a fun surprise. The bouncer at the venue, Jim, is by far the nicest security person at any venue in the world. He recorded us performing, bought a lot of gear, and is just an all around cool guy.

That night we stayed at the Blue Moon motel (I think that’s what it’s called…it’s the only motel in the entire city), which felt like an apartment building. It was definitely small town. You go to the front desk to get new toilet paper, which they hand you out of a Costco bag.

6.26.11

I grew up in a little fishing and logging town called Port Angeles. It’s more famous now because of Twilight taking place up there. There are cardboard cutouts of the vampire and werewolf guy all over the place. And that’s silly, because it’s without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the world I’ve ever been. I’m not saying that because I’m biased – don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’d ever live there again. I’m saying it because it’s true, and any friend I bring to visit and show the sites to more often than not agrees.

So I booked a last minute Sunday night show with my buddies Armando and Tyler, and showed Chris and Nick what the Northwest is really about. Trees, mountains, the ocean…Cody stayed in Seattle to catch up on sleep and with friends, which is certainly understandable.

There are few views in the world that I know of where you can see snow peaked mountains, glaciers, a rainforest, and the ocean all in one panorama. But that is the city I called home for 18 years of my life. I’m grateful for that. For what Port Angeles lacked in any sense of night life or art scene, it more than made up for with its striking beauty and abundant adventures.

And can you believe we pulled 50+ people to a show on a Sunday night? In Port Angeles, population 18,000? Pretty wild. It was a really fun show, and the first time I ever freestyled stage in front of an audience happened with Chris that night. Not a bad way to start out that aspect of my hip hop career…

6.27.11

After a good breakfast with the folks, it was back to Seattle and a night full of debauchery, heroin, police and strip clubs. (Just kidding, Sharri Keller and Melissa Oliver). Nick and I actually ended up wandering around West Seattle so Chris and Cody could continue work on their joint EP.

6.28.11

The last day, a show in Seattle at the Rendezvous, was a great way to end the whole experience. An intimate venue with a really great group of friends and fans. Thank you all for coming out and making this night so memorable.

And so we reach the end of the road, as far as the Gun Show went. What a trip. 38 shows, 53 days, 5 sweaty guys in a van named Big Sal. New states explored, experiences had, adventures…smiles, tears, laughter, and camaraderie.

Thank you all for making the Never-Ending Gun Show such a memorable experience.

It’s always interesting re-adjusting to life back home after so much time spent being a nomad out on the road. There’s a little bit of postpartum depression involved, but I think I speak for all of the guys when I say experiences like this just make being home and surrounded with loved ones all the sweeter. Thank you for all of your support in this adventure. Plenty more to come.

Until next time…

        

The Never-Ending Gun Show Tour!

ft. Bodi (formerly Alexipharmic), Sadistik, Kristoff Krane, Ordeal + special guests.

More Shows Coming Soon!

05.06.11
City: Fairfax, VA
Venue: Icon’s
Support: Educated Consumers, Nobody Cares
Cost:
Age:

05.07.11
City: Baltimore, MD
Venue: Hexagon
Support: P.T. Burnem, Nobody Cares
Cost: $8
Age: All Ages

05.08.11
City: Philadelphia, PA
Venue: The Grape Room
Support: Nobody Cares
Cost: $7
Age:  21+

05.12.11
City: New Haven, CT
Venue: Anna Liffey’s
Support: Sketch the Cataclysm, Nobody Cares
Cost:
Age: 21+

05.13.11
City: Dover, NH
Venue: Fury’s Public House
Support: Eyenine, Nobody Cares
Cost: $7
Age: 18+

05.14.11
City: New Bedford, MA
Venue: Kirby’s
Support: Nobody Cares
Cost:
Age: 21+

05.15.11
City: Providence, RI
Venue: Club Hell
Support: Nobody Cares
Cost: $8 ADV/$10 Door
Age: All Ages

05.18.11
City: Portland, ME
Venue: Big Easy
Support: Sandbag, Nobody Cares
Cost: $6
Age: 21+

05.19.11
City: Pittsburgh, PA
Venue: Garfield Artworks
Support: Stillborn Identity, Nobody Cares
Cost: $7
Age: All Ages

05.20.11
City: Youngstown, OH
Venue: Lemon Grove
Support: MC Homeless, Nobody Cares
Cost: FREE
Age: All Ages

05.21.11
City: Melvindale, MI
Venue: TBA
Support: Nobody Cares
Cost:
Age:

05.23.11
City: Evansville, IN
Venue: Boney Junes
Support: Cas One
Cost: $7
Age:

05.24.11
City: Columbia, MO
Venue: Sideshow
Support: Farout
Cost: TBA
Age: All Ages

05.25.11
City: Chicago, IL
Venue: Reggie’s
Support: Smash Moody
Cost: $8
Age: TBA

05.26.11
City: Iowa City, IA
Venue: Gabes
Support: Generic, Alex TT
Cost: $10
Age: All Ages

05.27.11
City: St. Paul, MN
Venue: Nicademus Art And Framing
Support: Word Party
Cost: $6
Age: All Ages

05.28.11
City: Minneapolis, MN
Venue: Honey
Support: Word Party
Cost: TBA
Age: 18+

05.29.11
City: Shakopee, MN
Venue: Soundset
Support:
Cost:
Age: All Ages

06.02.11
City: Kansas City, KS
Venue: The Record Bar
Support: Vertigone
Cost: $7
Age: 18+

06.04.11
City: Omaha, NE
Venue: T Henry’s
Support: Double O and the Rowbits
Cost: FREE
Age: 18+

06.05.11
City: Denton, TX
Venue: Andy’s Bar
Support:
Cost:
Age: 18+ (21+ bar w/ID)

06.06.11
City: San Marcos, TX
Venue: Triple Rock
Support: TBA
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.07.11
City: Tulsa, OK
Venue: The Reverb
Support: TBA
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.09.11
City: SLC, UT
Venue: Bar Deluxe
Support: TBA
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.10.11
City: Denver, CO
Venue: Moe’s
Support: Doctype
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.11.11
City: Fort Collins, CO
Venue: TBA
Support: Doctype
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.12.11
City: Albuquerque, NM
Venue: TBA
Support: TBA
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.13.11
City: Gilbert, AZ
Venue: Crabby Don’s
Support: Engineers in Your Ear
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.16.11
City: Los Angeles, CA
Venue: Mal’s Bar
Support: Engineers in Your Ear
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.25.11
City: Kingston, WA
Venue: The Filling Station
Support:
Cost: TBA
Age: 21+

06.27.11
City: Seattle, WA
Venue: Rendezvous
Support: Sarx, Graves33
Cost: TBA
Age: 21+

06.13.11
City: Phoenix, AZ
Venue: Goat Head
Support: Engineers in Your Ear
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

06.13.11
City: Phoenix, AZ
Venue: Goat Head
Support: Engineers in Your Ear
Cost: TBA
Age: TBA

        

Dear friends,

First and foremost, I want to thank you. For your support in my crazy endeavors, for being a genuine person in a world that isn’t always, and for continuing to shine as a beacon of love and light. I don’t know that I believe in god, but I believe in you.

I’m writing to share with you some news I’m very excited about: I’m changing my name. Not the name my parents gave me (Alex will stick around for a while…until I change it to Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo…). It’s my artist name I’m changing.

I’ve been writing as Alexipharmic since I was 14, after I picked it out of the dictionary. (I just now realized how monumentally nerdy that sounds.) Even though the word “Alexipharmic” could only be found in a handful of dictionaries in the world, your support helped stretch it beyond those pages. However, through my travels, tours, and talking with strangers, it became apparent over the years that it is a word that is very difficult for many people to say, spell, and remember. That goes for English speakers, let alone folks in other countries. And if they can’t say it, they can’t tell their friends. If they can’t spell it, they can’t look it up later. If they don’t remember it, they’ll never pursue it. Without any one of those aspects, they wouldn’t ever be able to hear the music and the message. Its marketability through word of mouth then becomes sort of nonexistent. And I want as many people to hear my passion as possible. I want you to be able to pass it on to your friends easily, and have them do the same for friends of friends. I’ve debated this change for years, and the time has finally come to have some guts, take a risk, and make the name change a reality.

Bodi. That’s the new name.

I’m really, really excited about it. It’s short, simple, and easy to spell, which makes it easy to pass on in every way. Plus, it lends itself to cool imagery (the “O” in it is a zen circle, which matches the Elephant Memories logo). Most importantly, it still has meaning. It’s a play on the word “Bodhisattva,” which is someone in Buddhism who attains enlightenment and chooses to stay and help out on Earth. While I’m far from enlightened, it’s something for me to aspire to, and I want to help out as much as I can. I realize it’s a name that may be mispronounced by some – it’s “bo-dee” not “bah-dee” – but everyone will certainly be able to remember its four letters. And that’s a good thing!

With all that in mind, I could really, really, reallllly use your help to get the word out on this. Really. Changing the name is a surprisingly large amount of work, and the hardest part is letting everyone know about it. I’ve spent days in coffee shops unintentionally eavesdropping on hours of conversation – break-ups, love confessionals, awkwardness – to make sure everything is in place. Here’s how you can help me get the word out:

A) – Facebook. Go to 1) www.facebook.com/thisisbodi , 2) “Like” the page (if you still like me, that is…either way, I still love you), 3) click “share with your friends” on the top or the left, and 4) suggest it to your friends.

B) – Sign up for the new mailing list at: http://bodi.bandcamp.com/track/simpleman by clicking “Free Download”.

C) – For you “Tweeters”, 1) follow: @thisisbodi (http://www.twitter.com/thisisbodi )  and 2) write a tweet that says ” @alexipharmic is now @thisisbodi  . Please follow him there!”

D) - If you’re skilled on YouTube, posting a comment on videos/songs where Alexipharmic exists saying “Alexipharmic is now Bodi. More info here: www.facebook.com/thisisbodi” would be enormously beneficial.

As a small token of my appreciation, I want to give you the first official Bodi song, hot off the press. It’s called “Simple Man”, samples Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sly Stallone, and is produced by my friend, roommate, and producer extraordinaire: Doctype. You’ll notice a lot of growth here.

Download it for free here: http://soundcloud.com/thisisbodi/simpleman

Again, thank you so much for everything. You’re the reason this is possible.

Let’s go move mountains.

peace.love.respect.,

alex

        

Click Above to Purchase the new single from Bodi

An email with the MP3 will be sent to you promptly.

Click Here to Purchase – The MP3 will be emailed to you promptly.

Bodi, formerly known as Alexipharmic, is an emcee from 3 hours west of Seattle (some classify this as the ocean, but it’s not). It’s the land of Twilight. He wishes Twilight would go away.

        

The recession is temporary, but music lasts forever.

As the holidays approach, treat yourself, a friend, or family to the gift of music while making a difference.

Now, through the end of December, ALL Alexipharmic merchandise is bundled together for some great savings. Every order comes shipped with stickers and an autographed poster, postcard, or magazine. And, as always, 50% of all proceeds benefit our partner charity, global relief organization Mercy Corps.

Check out the deals below:

$30 – Every Alexipharmic Ever! (So far…)

American Beauty, Good Side of Bad Vol. 1-3, Care Bears & Corn Dogs, and the out-of-print debut, Run.

Click Here to Buy.

$30 – An Elephant Memories T-Shirt + 2 Albums of Your Choice

Elephant Memories Tees Come in Black or White, Men’s or Women’s sizes and cuts. Each shirt provides clean drinking water to 6 women, children, and men in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Click Here to Buy.

$30 – An Elephant Memories T-Shirt + Alexipharmic T-Shirt  + An Album of Your Choice

Alexipharmic Tees are brand new, pressed exclusively by Soul Fur. They come in white or black for women, charcoal or black for men.

Click Here to Buy.

$30 – Alexipharmic T-Shirt + 3 Albums of Your Choice

Click Here to Buy.

        

Artist: Alexipharmic
Title: Good Side of Bad Vol. 3: Summer in Nuclear Winter
Release Date: 10.20.10
Format: Digital
——————————
Purchase

The third in the Good Side of Bad series, The Good Side of Bad Vol. 3: Summer in Nuclear Winter is 10 tracks of laid back hip hop with heart and soul. Recorded at the Elephant Room, pressed as a postcard with the album artwork, and distributed only digitally, GSOB: Vol. 3 was released as a fundraiser for a trip to Kenya to volunteer at two oprhanages in July 2010.

Borrowed from Alexipharmic’s Press Release:

I decided I didn’t want the story behind my new EP to be written by someone else or in the third person. I’ve always liked it better when the details of the work are told by the one that actually created it. With that in mind…

I made this album, Good Side of Bad: Vol. 3 – Summer in Nuclear Winter, as a fundraiser for a recent month-long journey I took to Kenya, where I volunteered in two orphanages. One was Ebenezer Children’s Home, which housed 63 orphaned children. They left an indelible mark on my life. I will never forget their faces, the stories we shared, the library we built together, and sitting up late at night singing songs in Swahili. The other, Faraja, saw a mother and son provide for 32 kids in a two bedroom house. Most of these children lost their parents to AIDS or suicide. Their ability to smile in the midst of all life throws their way displayed a strength unmatched by anyone I’ve ever met.

If you’d like to see pictures of the trip, you can here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenya_2010/

The 10 songs that make up GSOB 3 were recorded after I got back home at the end of the summer. I tried my best to make a product worthy of the joy, tears, smiles, hugs, lessons, and lifelong memories I received from every kid I was blessed to encounter. It’s not perfect, but I aimed to create something that will make them proud the next time I see them. I hope you enjoy.

peace.love.respect.,

alex

To read more about the trip to Kenya, please click here.

        

*NOTE* Every purchase comes with a free download of Alexipharmic’s newest EP, Good Side of Bad 3.*

Soul Fur and Elephant Memories have joined together to create a limited edition, exclusive Alexipharmic T-Shirt.

Purchase at the Elephant Memories Online Store.

Pressed up in three colors – Black or Charcoal for men’s, Black or White for women’s – these shirts were originally only made available on the Save Yourself Tour, recently completed with Eyedea, Cas One, Sadistik, and Kristoff Krane.

Now that the tour’s done, they are available for purchase online in extremely limited quantities.

As always, 50% of the sale benefits Elephant Memories’ charitable partner, global relief organization Mercy Corps.

        

The Save Yourself Tour

ft. Alexipharmic, Sadistik&Kid Called Computer, Cas One, Kristoff Krane + special guest.

Its been looooong overdue, but after the trip to Kenya, Alexipharmic is already hitting the road with Sadistik, Kid Called Computer, Cas One, Kristoff Krane, and a very special guest. The shows are definitely going to be full of energy and life. It will be a tour not to be missed.

PLUS exclusive new Alexipharmic shirts, designed by Soul Fur, will be available for a limited time only, as well as BRAND NEW black Elephant Memories t-shirts, AND Good Side of Bad Vol. 3!

Peep the tour details below…

08.23.10

Bellingham, WA

Wild Buffalo (21+)

08.24.10

Olympia, WA

The Royal (21+)

08.25.10

Boise, ID

The Reef (21+)

08.26.10

Bozeman, MT

Zebra Lounge (21+)

08.27.10

Salt Lake City, UT

The Woodshed (21+)

08.28.10

Crested Butte, CO

The Eldo (21+)

08.29.10

Albuquerque, NM

Revlis (All Ages)

08.30.10

Phoenix, AZ

Ice House Tavern (21+)

08.31.10

Las Vegas, NV

The Farm (All Ages)

09.01.10

San Diego, CA

Kava Lounge (21+)

09.02.10

Los Angeles, CA

The Deuce (21+)

09.03.10

San Francisco, CA

Hotel Utah (21+)

09.05.10

Portland, OR

Kelly’s Olympian (21+)

        

Dear family, friends, and fans,

Around Christmas time, my friend Janet Basurto told me she was planning a trip to Kenya for the summer to volunteer in an orphanage. She sort of casually said, “Hey! You should come with me.” I think I caught her off guard when I said, “Yes. Yes I should.” Going to Africa to volunteer has always been at the top of my bucket list. Plus, I’m always up for a good adventure. So here we are, several months later, finalizing the planning of our trip to Nairobi, Kenya, through the awesome company International Volunteer HQ. (http://www.volunteerhq.org). We’re heading over there for the entire month of July, will be living with a local family, and devoting all our time there to the kids in the orphanage. It’s going to be an amazing adventure, and I’m truly humbled that Janet included me on this opportunity of a lifetime. (Hopefully she’ll be able to handle my smelliness and seeing my ridiculously ugly mug every day.)

But getting and living there costs money, which is a tough commodity to come by these days. So Janet and I are launching some fundraising campaigns and depending on kind souls such as yourself to help us get to Kenya so we can lend a hand to some amazing kids and the incredible volunteers that provide for them daily. In exchange, you’ll get some cool stuff.

While we are there, we are also going to film a documentary and take flashcard after flashcard of pictures, all in an effort to explore the depth and intractable consequences of poverty and displacement. It is our hope that, through the chronicle of our journey, we will be able to raise awareness and aid to the region and open a continuous dialogue of steps of action to take to instill sustainable aid (all while working hands on to improve the current situation of so many inspiring, incredible kids!).

By supporting our journey, you’ll be directly lending a helping hand to the many children in the orphanage, and the workers that care for them every day. We are simply the vehicle through which your generosity will help reach them. Think of it this way: your donation will provide for a tireless, passionate volunteer to interact directly with dozens of children that need our care, all in an effort to put a smile on their face. Anything and everything you are able to donate will go directly toward our volunteer expenses: airfare, immunizations, and monetary support for the host family with which we will be staying. Nothing is going into our pockets. Any money raised above our volunteer expenses, we will use to buy the orphanage school, nursing, and maintenance supplies in Nairobi.

What’s more, we will be in direct contact with you and share the joy of our pilgrimage through pictures, postcards, and email updates. Plus, you’ll get some unique, one of a kind gifts in the process for your gracious support. Like Good Side of Bad: Vol. 3…

GSOB Vol. 3: I don’t think I’m too unique in the fact that whenever I buy a CD, I load it into iTunes, pop it into my iPod, and call it a day. Or just download it. So rather than press the new album, GSOB Vol. 3, up as a CD, I decided to go a different route. Anyone who purchases the album will receive a personalized, one-of-a-kind handwritten postcard with the album artwork on the cover, along with a link emailed to you do download the album. The album costs $5.

In addition, anyone that donates $10 or more will also receive a handwritten postcard directly from Kenya with an update about our adventure and a sneak peak at a song from my next official album.

So, that’s it. To summarize:

1. Janet and I are going to Kenya to volunteer in an orphanage for the month of July.
2. Your purchase of my new album, GSOB Vol. 3, will provide much needed assistance to help make our journey a success.

To purchase the album and receive a handwritten postcard (or more cool things), you have 3 options.

Option #1 (Preferred): Go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JanetBasurto/a-journey-to-kenya . Payments are secure and really easy.
Option #2: Send a paypal payment to elephantmemories@gmail.com
Option #3: If you’re not comfortable sending money online, you’re more than welcome to send a check payable to Elephant Memories, LLC to
1411 S. Golf Course Road
Port Angeles, WA 98362

Thank you very much for your time, continued support, and just generally being awesome.

peace.love.respect.,
alex