"I think maybe sorcerers just get a bad rap."

This is news? Now I feel better about the quality of this blog. Aside from this slightly extraneous post. So then, here's an unmastered mix of a new song...

Movements and Dances by secondarymodern

I've met you...uh huh...on multiple occasions

I'm going to try to keep this short, but it's probably not going to happen. Regardless, here is a light/lite reminiscing of the past week and a half we spent on tour:
Bloomington, IN - Played with Kentucky Nightmare and My Pal Dragon (Matt from Thunder Power) in a pizza shop. Loud, Loud, Loud. Matt recorded the whole night. I know you're wondering...yes, it should be on his Lo-Fi Audio Blog soon. Went to the Video Saloon for after hours shenanigans that would prove to be a recurring theme over the next week. We were cooked breakfast and sent on our way by Simon moore & co. Short pants...damn.
Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen, ahoy! Great show and a noteworthy chicken sandwich. Lots of old friends were present. Apparently we have quite the draw among the Chicago Greenpeace office too. Stayed with Rachel whose hospitality blinded us. Desmond (who is a dog) was in danger of being taken on tour...
Madison, WI - Icarus Himself is one of the best bands we've ever played with. Period. Got to hear the new ep. Played at Mickey's, made new friends (Liz, Ellie, lots of really cool cab drivers...that's not a joke). Cookouts! Oh, God, homemade sweet potato fries! Went back to Mickey's on our day off. Each of us played something at open mic. Matt's Pavement cover made people sing.

[day off] only worth mentioning here because we saw Hot Tub Time Machine. Actually very funny. Or I'm a child.

Ames, IA - Good show at Ames Progressive (Nate!), singing in the dark, playing honky-tonk pianer. More shenanigans. Randy Newman.
Omaha, NE - Played to 3 underage people at Barley Street Tavern. Still had fun. Met Kyle from It's True and stayed at the Thunder Power house.
Lawrence, KS - People in Kansas drink a lot. They also go to our show and clap. 8th Street Taproom with Mouthbreathers and Jabberjosh. Afterhours at Replay Lounge and Beatles singalong with Zach Campbell until 6am.
Warrensburg, MO - This day was haunted by a collective haaaaaaangover in the Secondary Modern camp. I know my grandmother is reading this...and I'm sorry. Good show in a very small town. Bought a Pere Ubu record (in a very small town?!)

Now I'm going to drink some coffee,
David

Sabertooth Tanner

I wanna thank everyone (and there were a lot of you) who ignored the design of the human body and came to the MWMF aftershow at the Swamp. Carbondale may be the only place I can think of where a show that starts at 3am sounds like a great idea to that many people.
I hope everyone was able to rest up and catch the Himalayas set the next night at the IMC. Each time I see them they renew my faith in music. Go pick up their new record (Yeti Slang) right now.
As you might know (because if you're reading this there is a good chance you are my mother or father), we're going on a midwest tour in a couple of weeks. We'll make an attempt to update this here blog while we're out...incoherent babbling is a certainty. Check out the dates in the post below, or go here. Also, check out this cool flyer for the Beat Kitchen show...I wonder what king of candy that is. In the meantime, more recording, obsessing, coffee and tea.

-David

Maybe I'll sleep at a Holiday Inn...

Lets kick this one off with some gloomy news so it can get better: Alex Chilton died. Days before a Big Star reunion at SXSW. Go pick up a copy of Third and take a listen. You'll see why it's worth mentioning here.

Moving on, we have a lot of Secondary Modern-related news. Lots of shows, including one tonight at PK's with pals from Madison, WI Icarus Himself and Carbondale boys Moonbuggy Kids.

We also have a decent amount of outatownish shows coming up:

Mar 18 2010 10:00P	PK’s w/ Icarus Himself and Moonbuggy Kids	Carbondale, Illinois
Mar 26 2010 9:00P	The Swamp w/ Aktar Aktar (chicago)	Carbondale, Illinois
Apr 8 2010 8:00P	Greek’s Pizzaria w/ Kentucky Nightmare, My Pal Dragon	Bloomington, Indiana
Apr 9 2010 9:00P	Beat Kitchen w/ Unique Chique, House of Normandie, Hospital Garden (cd release)	Chicago, Illinois
Apr 10 2010 10:30P	Mickey’s Tavern w/ Icarus Himself	Madison, Wisconsin
Apr 13 2010 8:00P	Ames Progressive	Ames, Iowa
Apr 14 2010 9:00P	Barley Street Tavern w/ Sun Settings, Ryne Doughty	Omaha, Nebraska
Apr 15 2010 10:00P	8th Street Taproom w/ Mouth Breathers and Jabberjosh	Lawrence, Kansas
Apr 16 2010 10:00P	400 Club	Warrensburg, Missouri
Apr 23 2010 8:30P	John Brown’s on the Square	Marion, Illinois
May 8 2010 12:00P	Sweet Spring Classic	Carbondale, Illinois

To top it all off, we have a couple rough mixes from the upcoming record, Vaudeville Ghosts, on our myspace page. That's Kevin Ohlau on the Saxamaphone on "Sally Engleman."

and the hits just keep coming,
David

Vaudeville Ghosts / Chicago

The recording of our new record has started again. An unexplainable lag / hiatus in making the record, which was actually started late last summer, seems to have done no harm. The next logical sentence in this paragraph is "the record will be finished by..." Sorry. Not this time. It's done when it's done. We've rushed every record we've ever made (we also rushed this really weird promo picture that even a student paper wouldn't print).


In other news, we'll be rushing to Chicago this Friday (February 19) to play a free show with Tin Tin Can and Legs Like Straw at Quenchers Saloon [fullerton and western]. 10pm.

Tune in next week. Same Bat time, Same Bat channel.

-secondary modern

praying to the light machine

We have some shows coming up which you might want to attend. Oh man...okay...we'll tell you about them.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 <> 8pm john brown's on the square [in marion, il.] w/ young loves
we'll be playing a lot of new material and young loves will play in the infamous 5-man-revolving-door lineup that the kids today love so much.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4 <> 9pm
the bishop [bloomington, in.] w/ kentucky nightmare
the first of three days with simon, tyler, and bernard.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5 <> 8pm lemp neighborhood arts center [st. louis, mo.] w/ kentucky nightmare

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 <> 5ish pm plaza records pizza party [carbondale, il.]
secondary modern vs. kentucky nightmare
no, that's not a joke. we're throwing a pizza party at our favorite record store with our favorite out of towners. show up 'round 5. buy some records. shoot the shit. eat some pizza. show around 6. what is a versus set? they play two songs, we react with two songs, to which they react with two songs, and the battle goes until it's done.

i think that's the new for a bit. not a revelation, but it'll do.

20 gun salute,
david

the laughs come hard in auld lang syne

For lack of any real news, these are a couple of things that are worth your time:

[Beach Boys] SMiLE
haunting american pop music. every version is different. and worth it.

[Mozart] Piano Concerto No 21 in C Major - II. Andente
no words for this. no words in the piece either.

Grant Morrison is better than Jim Morrison
...as promised, comic nerdery in hyperlink form.

-DB