MONDAY, MONDAY
We here at Drag City want to provide you with an updated Newsletter at the top of every week. And despite our best intentions, it’s sometimes proven to be quite problematic doing this very thing. Like last week, for instance. Late breaking news, real-time commitments, and writer’s block, among other emergencies (athelete’s foot, anyone?), have contributed to the tradition of Drag City not updating our newsletter regularly for all you wonderful reading listeners out there. Our apologies to all of you who claim to prefer your newsletters hot off tha presses. The truth is, they always are anyway.

That said, we have here another brand new newsletter. Enjoy!

WE MAY HAVE A WINNER...
Special congratulations from us to Tom Humphrey and Music Millenium of Portland Oregon! This display of theirs is the most original thing we’ve seen since we started this crazy retail contest, hands down. Also edifying is the explanation Tom included with his digital photo:

“I managed to get this thing in the FRONT window, which is fairly huge, and right next to the door. RIGHT in front is the bus stop, and it faces the most central street in Portland. Get ready for a whole new supply of addicts craving Pound for Pound.”

Hmmm...the bus stop – addicts – craving – Portland...the overall picture seems kind of sordid to us. But hey, as we’ve said, this is a piece to be admired! Downplaying the poster side of things, Tom and his peeps have constructed a hauntingly original tribute to Royal Trux, rendering several images from Pound for Pound by painting enlarged versions and inserting them into an awesome red and gold panorama.

Oh, don’t worry – this doesn’t end the contest by any means. Nor do we mean to belittle the efforts of all the other contestants in this retail war. Everyone’s a winner, after all. Some people are just bigger winners than others. Here, for instance, is the offering of yet another crafty Borders Music shop, this one in the bustling burg of Naperville IL:

Again, we admire the Borders display ethic, the way they cut and paste, and in this case, the inclusion of the entire tour schedule it was available material and they used it. Too bad it proved to be irrelevant! More on which later. Anyway, we think this is pretty cool too. And then there’s this one that they submitted, too:
The first entry featuring Grubbs posters, and clearly the most humble entry we’re ever going to see in our lives. At least we hope so. Ah. but the enthusiasm is there. Don’t let us down, North America - we’re counting on you.

The bottom line? Retailers! Take heed. We’re going to the next level of the contest here, now that we have the new David Grubbs record to promote as well. Call us as soon as you can, get in the thicket of things.

WHAT’S GOING ON
New Releases! On this very day, stores are displaying fresh new releases on the Drag City label. Readers of this page will be more than familiar with them, but we’re going to attempt to refresh your memories:

First, the long-awaited release of The Spectrum Between, David Grubbs’ journey to the secret life of self-discovery. It’s a pop album featuring not only excellent music but also great lyrics sung wonderfully! Exciting, eh? If that’s not enough to sell you, it’s also available on those venerable old formats, LP and CD. It’s top shelf stuff, mate!

Oh, and if laughter is your game (and it’s certainly one of ours), well then “Inside Neil Hamburger” is a great new EP of comedy material just for you, culled from Neil Hamburger’s recent exile in Australia. It comes in hilarious 12” vinyl and fun-loving CDep format. The record itself is in a grab-bag, catch-all style, a short-play record designed to sneak up on you and be funny just when you least expect it. It may sound odd when you say it out loud, but get “Inside Neil Hamburger,” it will amuse you.

Finally, there’s another Blue Chopsticks release for us to discuss. The label that brought you Luc Ferrari, David Grubbs, Mats Gustafsson, and Van Oehlen is back! And so is Mats Gustafsson. This time, he’s a solo artist, as well as the Swedish reed player, improviser and extreme musician that he's always been and that you've always known him as. But this time, he's a cover artist too. On Windows: The Music of Steve Lacy, he covers the compositions of Steve Lacy (duh!), Cecil Taylor, and Mats Gustafsson. All great composers, as it turns out! Oh, and like with other Blue Chopsticks records, if you play it loud, it will destroy shit in your home. It's got some mean playing on it, that's for sure. It sure ain't no everyday walk in the park is what I'm saying. So go, run and get it. And we'll have more from Blue Chopsticks soon.

’TIS THE SEASON (TO BE CANCELLED)
Yes, it seems like our favorite shows these days are the ones that just aren’t happening. July found Royal Trux canceling four-fifths of their righteous Pound for Pound world tour. Last week, David Grubbs canceled a show in Pittsburgh - you know, the one that was supposed to start his own world tour? Yeah, and The Red Krayola were up for some shows in Italy - and they canceled, too! Finally, it was Movietone - and it's still too much to bear, really - they were supposed to come to our filthy US shores for the first time ever and play a few weeks of shows for all of us anxious, filthy US fans. We’d even gone so far as to put the Movietone dates up on the website and start mentioning them to everyone we talked to. Yeah, that’s us in a nutshell here at Drag City - 1000 percent effort, 24-7, 365 days a year! But even that isn’t enough to get us through, for the word out of the UK came that Movietone have no intention of coming here in September to play shows. Who knows why, but damn them anyway – damn them all! We want to see a show!

Oh well, at least there’s Neil Hamburger...

HAMBURGER ON THE ROAD
At least there’s one thing we can count on in this fucking horrible world. And lest you wonder one more minute what that one thing might be, it’s a few more Neil Hamburger tour dates! For the last decade, he’s been one of this country’s more prolific performers. And though he’s been in an Australian exile since 1998, he has managed to fit quite a few gigs in down under. However, all that is over now – and he’s baa-ack. This fall, Neil Hamburger is on tour in America. While he eases back into the US circuit, the bookings are slow in coming in, but it all begins on Thursday August 31st in Sacramento and perhaps concludes in that big town, New York, New York, on Wednesday October 4th. And in between, hopefully, every comedy club from Sacramento to New York! If fans in those areas have never seen Neil live in concert before, they're in for a treat! If they go to his show, that it. We’ll keep you updated –- in turn, you keep your eyes on this space.

LOOKING ON
Next time out, we’ll tell you all about the fabulous rumors of the next release date! It involves Will Oldham & Rian Murphy, Movietone, Pita and whatever else we can jam on it. And then after that, there’s going to be more - we’re not going away any time soon!