I was back in the studio recording with Dirty Martini today. We tracked at the beautiful Secret Society in North Portland which just opened it’s doors in May. For those of you looking for a studio I highly recommend this place. Behind the consol was my old friend and drum god Gregg Williams who, as always, was really fun guy to hang with. Gregg, for those of you who don’t know, has been on too many great albums to count (as producer and drummer) most notably he played on Sheryl Crows best record (in my opinion) The Globe Sessions. Look for a free download of what was recorded today in mid October.

My old friend and band mate from the Strangers / Floydian Slips posted some nice thoughts about the Renegade Saints show I played last night. You can read it on his blog here.

I think last night’s show was the best of our run. Both sets had a great energy and we all managed to keep the clams to a minimum. I’ll have more info about the live recording of the tour as well as some video in the coming weeks.

I’d also like to mention that I feel extremely honored to be playing for the Saints. Their previous drummers, Matt Reynolds, Michael Partlow, Andy Mitchell and Dave Austin are all amazing players and it was fairly stressful trying to live up to the standard that they collectively set for whomever sat behind the kit. There have been just a handful of Saints performances where I felt I had done the band justice - last night was one of those nights. I’m certainly looking forward to more shows.

Tomorrow I switch gears and head into the Studio with Dirty Martini.

Someone had waaay too much time on their hands to put this together. The following link contains “footage” of The Who performing My Generation (from the Smothers Brothers variety show) done entirely in letters and numbers (ASCII characters). At first it’s hard to make out but sit back from your screen and squint your eye’s a little..it’s freakin cool! The little casio soundtrack nails Entwistle’s bass solo perfectly. Thanks to Pampelmoose for this.

Click here to watch It’s .mov Quicktime file by the way.

In other Who news Billboard.com reports that there will be a new Who documetary coming out later this year…

Never-before-seen concert and archival footage is at the center of “Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who” and its companion film “Six Quick Ones,” due Nov. 6 on DVD via Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The movies were made with the cooperation of surviving members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, who also contributed material from their personal archives.

Here’s some cool footage from this summer’s Floydain Slips show. The song is “One of my Turns” from the wall. The drum part is pretty minimal but it’s still one of my favorite songs to play. Oh…the video should be watched in full screen mode if possible.

Well the Colbie Caillat show on Monday was a blast. As expected, the show sold out well in advance so we knew that the ballroom would be packed to the rafters when we took the stage. As I mentioned last time, Colbie fans are primarily girls in their teens and early 20’s so needless to say there was a lot of screaming going on. Very Beatles-esque. On Tuesday I started the McMenamins Great Northwest Tour with the Renegade Saints at the Olympic Club in bustling Centralia Washington. The room we played was pretty small for a powerhouse band like the Saints but we managed to keep our volume down and have a great show. Last night I played the Kennedy School (again with the Saints) here in Portland. While the crowd seemed to have a great time I struggled with my performance. The first third of the opening set seemed a bit flat energy-wise so I tried to step up my playing but wound up blowing some changes, playing some grooves a little fast or a little slow and generally over thinking everything. To compound the issue there’s an unspoken expectation within the Saints to be as good as the they were in the glory days - which, as the “new guy” in the band, is really a challenge. I play the Hotel Oregon on Friday. I’ll let you know how it goes.

There’s so much to blog about but I haven’t had a moment to collect my thoughts. I was in the studio all day Tuesday and Wednesday recording the new Cowboy Heroes record at Mississippi Studios (pics to come). Followed by evening rehearsals with the Renegade Saints in preperation for next week’s McMenamins Great NW Tour. More Saints rehearsals tonight. Tomorrow night is my friggin 20th High School reunion (cannot believe it’s been that long). Full Saints day rehearsals on Saturday and Sunday - with a Dirty Martini practice Sunday night. I play the Crystal Ballroom on Monday with Dirty Martini followed by the first date of the Mcmenamins tour on Tuesday at the Olympic club in Centralia Washington.

Oh yea and I have a family and a job too.