Hey, selfish! You’ve had your way all month long — doing things your way, ignoring us and the all-important Way of Life we’re pushing. Now it’s our turn — so listen up!

As always, we’ve been extra-busy here at the bunker. Seven people doing the work of seventeen — it never gets old. Or done, either. That’s why we come back the next day... but hey, there's too much that's REAL for us to spend time for this kind of chit-chat! See below for all the things that are keeping us extra-active...

It’s official — the new Smog album rules! And a river runs right through it. People everywhere are responding with unprecedented fondness for Bill “Smog” Callahan’s latest musical odyssey, A River Ain’t Too Much To Love. For those who’ve followed the story ever since the halcyon days of Sewn to the Sky and Forgotten Foundation (both now back in print), it’s pretty evident that Smog has mellowed with age  but try telling that to journalists! The idiots in Rolling Stone who wrote that his new album is like a collection of Raymond Carver stories have either never heard this record, never read Raymond Carver or not listened to Smog in years, since back in the day when his records were like a collection of Raymond Carver stories! A River Ain’t Too Much to Love finds a kinder, gentler Smog backpacking his way to greater self-understanding (which, as everyone knows, makes for better love-making) along a path lined with sweet melodies and tunes you’ll not soon forget.

Smog’s kicking off the promotions for this highly promotable new release by kicking it in California, playing free shows for the citizens of Los Angeles and San Francisco in their respective Amoeba stores. Eyewitnesses reported an excess of love being expressed in both towns -- but for good measure, Smog played live on the air and for money in a club later in the day in San Francisco. A show played in Big Sur (fittingly, out in the woods) was also a rousing affair. Another free instore will be mounted back in Smog’s home base of Austin before he flies off to Europe to tour all over for his many fans there. Then it’s back here for more of the same. Maybe the header of this section is just fucked — Smog’s new album is actually almost too much to love! But we’re all gonna try.

The winner of the Neil Hamburger Great Moments at DiPresa’s Pizza House retail display contest has been determined! Of the many submissions from all around the country, Seattle’s Sonic Boom on Market Street had the display that showed the most originality, enthusiasm and sales potential. Take a look at this:

That pizza doubles as a real working spinner!

Forget the Hamburger contest — these guys are on the verge of winning best retail display of the year! Someone steal that chick an Oscar. This is too much! Congratulations, Sonic Boom!  Your pizza with no more than two toppings will be delivered to you soon — as soon as we can get a photographer from Random Notes there, that is. This thing can’t go down without a little extra publicity for all involved, don’t you think?

In other Neil Hamburger-related news, Neil’s triumphant return to the stages of the United States went…pretty well. It was another tour and most nights he got paid, and that’s what counts, right? But seriously, the show we saw in Chicago was an outrageous time. Superfans were rushing the stage and Neil had to have more than several ejected (well, he told them to get out, anyway). His new material was greeted with “shock and awe” by the assembled who also went out of their way to request some of his classic routines. It would have been great if every show had gone this well, but what can we do? Neil will be touring again soon, look for live dates at a funny place near you.

While Neil was on tour, a controversy blew up about the artwork that adorns his latest release, Great Moments at DiPresa’s Pizza House. Apparently, Neil’s not the only one to have this design on his cover. For more on this somewhat interesting story, ride this link: http://www.americasfunnyman.com/photo4.html

…I guess this is as good a time as any to say, But that’s his liiiife!

Have you gotten your email blast from iTunes yet? If not, then let us break the news — there’s an exclusive online-only track from The Howling Hex ready for download now! “Sick and Old” is the name — but make no mistake, it’s for the young at heart as well as the sick and old. A song for everyone, could it be true? If it’s coming from The Howling Hex, anything could be true. Neil and co. are capable of anything — and they got the vision to try, too.

Speaking of The Howling Hex, this iTunes exclusive track is a precursor to the next phase — a phase involving more music, a film and even some live shows! It’s only been a few months since the release of the New Border classic, All-Night Fox, but already The Howling Hex are moving on. And why shouldn’t they? Life is short and inspiration is in ample supply. So before the end of the year, look for an all-new Howling Hex album, a DVD package and the wildest concerts you’ve attended in years. The Howling Hex is now a double-digit entity, with a full complement of musicians, actors and artists coming and going under the conductor’s wand of Neil Michael Hagerty.

We’ll have more news on the latest moves of The Howling Hex as soon as their carrier pigeon returns with the details. Stay tuned —

In demand this year on the festival circuit — Drag City artists, who else? Bonny Billy’s playing a bunch of European festivals in July with names like Mo’Fo, Eurockeness, Cactus and even the Montreaux Jazz Festival and a bunch more in August (Pukkelpop, Lowlands and Green Man, to name but a few)! Joanna Newsom will be at Bonneroo and Sasquatch here in the US, Meltdown in England and Accelerator in Sweden, and the Montreaux Jazz Festival too! Smog will be playing the Accelerator festival as well during his European tour this summer! Alasdair Roberts will be at Green Man in August! As mentioned elsewhere, The Fucking Am have been invited to All Tomorrow’s Parties at the end of the year. And there’s gonna be more! If it isn’t all on the Tour Page yet, it will be as soon as we find out. In the meantime, jump in the camper and let’s hit the festival circuit 2005!

Meantime, emanating from the blue and green shades of the summer, the PAJO album will appear in June. As you heard from us last time, it’s a moody pop record from the creator of such moody instrumental rock classics as Aerial M and Live From a Shark Cage, as well as the diversely arrayed singles series (“Three” through “Five” still available!) he released as Papa M in 2003 and 2004. We’re looking forward to the sound of scripts flipping everywhere when this record is heard — which should be soon, advances are going out now and the release is just around the corner. For an early preview, check out “High Lonesome Moan” on our frontpage today --and mark June 28 on the calendar. That’s the day PAJO hits town. And life, as always, will never be the same again.

One of the highs of 2005 will occur in July when we release Gary Higgins’ Red Hash album. It’s a reissue, actually  but a reissue of a record that was barely released in its day (1973). Thank the gods it was released at all  otherwise, those rare (and expensive) copies would never have been heard and never changed minds the way they did — and we never would have gotten it into our addled brains to try and find Gary and get his permission to re-issue his record. The gods must be crazy, because that’s exactly what did happen. Gary was thrilled to hear that there was a desire to put his record out, we were thrilled to transfer the original masters into the digital realm for their first trip to CD and you’ll be thrilled with the sparkling acoustics of this delightful acid-folk release that sounds every bit the missing piece that it is. Gary and company put a couple years of life into this collection back in the early 70s, and now life is being given back to this music for a whole new generation to hear. The time seems right — so right, in fact, that Gary’s agreed to play a record-release show for Red Hash in New York on July 23rd. He’ll have several members of the band that originally played the music, as well as the support act of Ben Chasny (whose cover of Gary’s “Thicker Than a Smokey” on his last Six Organs of Admittance album provided early warning for the Red Hash mania to come) — a show to travel the extra (thousand) miles for. We’ll be there — and we hope to see you there as well.

Also in July, issue #6 of the Galactic Zoo Dossier will come to all those who have waited patiently for over four years for it to materialize. The magic pen of Plastic Crimewave can only hover so quickly. Take a gander to the right for a quick preview...

…and guess what? There’s two discs of music along with 72 Damaged Guitar God trading cards along with 75-plus pages of writing and drawing from the most committed fanzine writer/editor thus far created, Steve “Plastic Crimewave” Krakow. We’ll have more details on the contents of the magazine and the CDs as well as a heads-up to all you heads out there as to the whereabouts of the inevitable “24 Hour Plastic Crimewave Inevitable Release Party” for the new issue. Save up those old STP hits ‘til July — the Galactic Zoo Dossier is returning to our planet!

As we mentioned above, Bonny Billy is playing a number of festival date in Europe this summer. But Bonny’s not just playing festivals — he’s got a month's-worth of old-world gigs in locales high and low. As he prepares for this epic adventure, we’re putting the finishing touches on a CD single from the Superwolf record that he and bonnie Matt Sweeney pulled on us earlier this year. As is the standard of late, it’s got a trio of non-LP cuts and is enhanced with a video for the title-track (or ‘A-side’ — so old-school!), “I Gave You.” We’ll give it to you on July 27th — you get ready to receive.

Also on the Bonnie "Prince" Billy tip, we'd like to make this correction to a news item — not one seen on this page, but one you may have seen from other wire services. This item concerns Audioslave's concert in Cuba — the first such appearance of rock band in Cuba in over thirty years! The problem with this is that Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Papa M and Havanarama rocked Cuba back in March of 2000. Got it? Correction made!

After a lengthy hiatus, The Fucking Champs returned to the hordes this year, touring across America and Europe and then America again, on their way back to their west-coast hideaway. Time always flies, but it’s amazing to think that it’s been a couple of years since these mighty road warriors planned such an extensive campaign. We’re glad to have them back among us.

Part of their long silence had to do with their reformation as an all-new trio featuring the fretting of Phil Manley in coordination with mainstays Tim Green and Tim Soete. Now that they’ve road-tested this new lineup to their ultimate satisfaction, their future has come back into view. An album is in the works (VI?) as well as a return to the UK to play the wintertime ATP in November. Triumphant pronunciations…to which we can only add, Losers take cover! The Fucking Champs have returned.

It’s been about a year since A Guess at the Riddle, David Grubbs’ last and best album, hit the racks. He toured Europe and America and has since remained busy…but it’s been awhile since we’ve described how. Let’s fix that now.

First off, David became a father this last year. Congrats to David and his partner in parenting (and life), Cathy — best of luck to both of you in the child-rearing business. Keep the kid away from the harmonium — it’s the fastest-growing site of domestic mishaps in America today, we’re told. Secondly, David is breaking (back) into the cinema this year as well, with a bit of soundtrack work. Les Invisibles, the feature film by Thierry Jousse, which features the acting of Blue Chopsticks artist Noel Akchote and original music by Grubbs with Matmos, was accepted for the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for their La Semaine de la Critique series.The film debuted on May 12th — look for it at your local film center sometime later this year.

David tends to play shows here and there with various groupings of people, but in June, he’ll will be on tour as David Grubbs (with Nikos Veliotis) in Europe for a week or two. For the Grubbs fans over there who haven’t seen the show, come out please.

Finally there’s David Grubbs the label-hat-wearer — and the hat he wears says Blue Chopsticks all the way! The next release on Blue Chopsticks will be Susan Howe and David Grubbs’s Thiefth (BC15), out this fall. Meantime, Susan Howe and David Grubbs will perform in Cork, Ireland at the Cork International Poetry Festival on July 9. Before that (but after Europe), David will be appearing as a member of The Wingdale Community Singers in New York and Boston.

For more info on all things Blue Chopsticks (and a few things David Grubbs), here’s where to go to get the straight(er) story: www.bluechopsticks.org

Off on the other shore of summer stands a sole release, waving enigmatically…to whom? Having heard this record, we can assure you, it waves to us all. The name of this record is the same as the name of the band — August Born.

August Born is a collaboration between Japan's Hiroyuki Usui and Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Ben was a big fan of Hiroyuki’s Holy Letters record (made under the alias of L), as well as his time in Marble Sheep and Fushitsusha. They made contact through a mutual friend and composed an album together via international mail using the intriguing concept of “fortuitous mistranslation.” The result is a sonic mosaic of sounds that they’ve chosen to call August Born. It’s a hands-across-the-ocean kind of trip — a world music experience, if you will. But why try to describe this transcendence of two styles? In two months, you’ll know August — and you’ll know August Born. And that’s all that you’ll know.

You know, it's kind of an open secret that the term 'signing' doesn't really apply to us here at Drag City — we've never 'signed' a recording artist in our lives! It's more like, we meet somebody (or group of -bodys) and once we get to know each other, we ask them if they want to play. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

With this in mind, we'd like you to meet our new friends Pearls & Brass — also known as Josh, Joel and Randy. Pearls & Brass have been coming out of Nazareth, Pennsylvania for a while now, but it's our estimate that they're about to become known to the world at large.

Pearls & Brass are a rock group — as in, group that rocks — and will be proving that premise in various towns around the USA in June — for the details, see our Tour Page. We're excited about seeing them on this tour, but even more excited about what happens next, when they record their next album. That's where we'll really come in. In the meantime, welcome to our freaky fraternal friendship, Pearls & Brass!

Word on AZITA is that she built a really beautiful brick pond into her backyard this last month. Not that she has any experience in construction or landscaping or anything like that  she just read a book. It’s this kind of gumption, moxie and insanity that makes AZITA one of our favorite artists on the label. We can’t wait for her to make another record actually — and she's working on it — but while we’re all waiting, why don’t you and your closest friends buy a copy of one or both of her first two records, Enantiodromia and Life on the Fly? Good seats are still available for both…

Autumn has been designated our mystery season for 2005. Things could happen; they certainly should happen, but whether they do or not remains to be seen. There’s been talk of new records from Silver Jews and Edith Frost, an empty boast of another Loose Fur record, plans for a Bonny Billy live album, a postcard from the sunny south promising another Minus Times, the enduring myth of a Silver Palace record, and the aforementioned outpouring of infotainment from The Howling Hex among several other things too far from memory to mention now…but so far, nothing is dead-on confirmed with artwork and masters and the clock ticking until zero hour. Fear not though, true believers — as soon as we get the slightest scrap of something we can use, we’ll set it up and whip it through the system. You need new records — we need new records. It’s an equation that hasn’t changed over the course of time.

We’ll be back in a few weeks to confirm some of this, deny the rest and also to drop a few new tall tales on you. We can’t hardly not wait!

Rian Murphy
Drag City
June 2005