Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Howdy from the Rodeo’s Disabled List!

It’s a pretty short list. Just me, actually. I sustained my injury in the line of duty at our Christmas party at Ballard’s wonderful Sunset Tavern.

It was a rare, magical snowy night in Seattle and I was celebrating the special event by chucking snowballs at people who were being shooed out the door of the Sunset at closing time. Ah, it was beautiful – the perfect set-up for an ambush. The bar staff would usher a group of partygoers out the door and I’d jump out from behind a car and unload an armful of snowballs at them.

They’d scatter and I’d howl with delight.

Eventually I grew bored, so I raised my Stetson high above my head and said my goodbyes. Nobody seemed too upset to see me go. I spun around towards my ride and was delivered, courtesy of the icy sidewalk, face-first onto the pavement.

The people who, moments earlier, found nothing funny about being pelted with snowballs thought the sight of a cowboy falling on his face was endlessly entertaining. People can be such hypocrites.

Getting up off the ice and trying very hard to walk away with some dignity, I realized that my wrist huuuurt. This was a “something is definitely wrong” pain. But I’m a suck-it-up dude. I went home, dragged my drums up two flights of stairs and crashed out.

I woke up an hour later with a pain in my wrist so intense that it could have lit up the bedroom. Since then, I have been a one armed man. My right arm (formerly known as my good arm) dangles at my side and aches like the devil - occasionally sending a jolt of searing pain to my torso. Good stuff!

I’m treating this is a learning opportunity. Every boring daily task has become an adventure. I’m writing with my left hand. It takes me 10 minutes to get dressed. I nearly had a breakdown trying to make toast. I need my girlfriend to tie my shoes for me.

This injury provides a chance for a proud man like me to practice being humble. I find that visits to the bathroom are especially humbling.

I finally saw a doctor. They gave me X-rays (inconclusive – thanks, doc!) and a little wrist brace. I was prescribed ibuprofen - Advil. I’d been popping Advil for the last two days with no effect. If Advil worked, I wouldn’t have been bothering with a doctor. I wish I had crumpled up that prescription slip and thrown it in his face.

On my way home from the doctor's office, still in pain, I stopped at the liquor store for a bottle of whiskey. Don’t judge. I need medicine. I'm even gonna try to get my insurance to pay for the booze.

Well, now I’m off the drums for a couple weeks. If any shows pop up, we’ll have to pull a cowboy out of reserve to take my slot. Curtis, keep your boots polished.

Hey, thanks for reading and welcome to the new blog! We have lots of adventures here in Seattle as well as on the road. Shoot, sometimes I just get excited about weird shit and want to share my joy/disgust with other creeps on the internet. Stay tuned!

Mason

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First Blog and an excerpt from our tour Journal

Howdy. We just set up this blogger page. You can expect to see more of our tour journals, and an occasional comment from Brent. Plus you can expect to see a lot of editorial comments from Rodeo drummer (and writer) Mason Lowe.

I'll start by saying Happy Holidays! We're back from our 2008 US tour and just starting the planning process for Europe in '09. It's great to be back in Seattle for a bit. This is a beautiful place at Christmas time. It snowed this weekend and everyone seems to be in the Christmas spirit. We hosted the Brent Amaker and the Rodeo Christmas party this weekend. Black Daisy and the Purrs opened the show and kicked some serious ass. I gave away presents, the guests drank egg nog, and we all listened to classic holiday songs. Before the evening ended The Rodeo laid down some tunes and served up about 40 shots of whiskey.

It's gonna be a great 2009. We just released our new CD "Howdy Do!" on GraveWax Records. As if that's not enough, you can now hear one of our songs on the Season 2 soundtrack for the Showtime original series Californication. It's available on I-tunes now and the CD will be in stores soon. Man, I love that show. Who doesn't like to see a broken hearted man in his 40's gettin' with all the young pussy in L.A.? My kind of show!

Speaking of our new CD, Americana UK took the time to review it. Here's an excerpt:

Quite simply the most horrendous album I’ve ever had the misfortune to hear and review. Gawd help us.
- Americana UK


You can check out the whole review in all it's glory here:

http://www.americana-uk.com/auk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=4203

I'm going to leave you with an excerpt that Mason wrote during our recent US tour. There are a lot more journal entries up on our Myspace page at www.myspace.com/brentamakerandtherodeo. I'll have them all up for you during our next tour.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Brent Amaker and the Rodeo


2008 RODEO US TOUR JOURNAL – 2 BY MASON LOWE
October 16, 2008

Mitchell, SD

Mitchell is the Rodeo's second home town. This is where our friends/video producers Cody and Troy (of Black Daisy) are from. Johnny, too. These cats get a lot of love here and it translates into a town full of kick-butt Rodeo fans. On the last two tours, I listened to Brent and Sugar talk and talk and talk about the 2006 Mitchell show as if it were a profound, mystical experience. Which is pretty annoying, but expectations were high for the show.

And it did not disappoint. On a Wednesday night, the Moonlight Bar was full with friends. During the whiskey baptism, Brent poured an entire bottle of Jack down the throats and over the faces of the fans. It was a great way to bounce back from the grueling, 24 hour drive.

Everything was going according to plan. We were riding high. Then, between sets, I destroyed whatever dignity I had. This is not an easy story to tell but Brent insisted.

A couple of the dudes and I walked to the apartment of a local guy who wanted to share some grass with us. I got pretty stoned. I had to poop. We'd been driving for 24 hours and some needs took a back seat. I did my business and flushed the toilet. Sit-down jobs are never really a picnic when you're high. This became a nightmare. I flushed the toilet and the water filled the bowl and kept rising. And rising. The more I hoped it would just stop, the higher it got. Slo-mo dread. Imagine my stoned horror as I watched water and other stuff crest the rim of the bowl and spill out onto our new friend's bathroom floor. Jesus.

I had to do the right thing. I opened the door and approached our host, "I just took a crap and plugged your toilet and everything got everywhere in your bathroom. It's bad. You can have a free CD." He just smiled and handed me a roman candle and we all walked outside and had a fireworks shootout.

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PS - Please check out our new music video for "When Love Get's to a Man". Get on YouTube and make some comments if you have time. We just put this up and we'd love to get the word out.
Thanks!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkxjAYL50Y8

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