Night before Fall Tour 2014 kicks off in Vancouver, BC. We discuss hand care, real Canada vs. Vancouver, performance spoilers and Tim Hortons.

RCBig weekend coming up in Vancouver. First show. Excited?

JCHYeah, I’m pretty excited. So I’m on Palmolive Lockdown.

RCPalmolive Lockdown?

JCH(Laughs) yeah, it’s where I start taking care of my hands–like Madge in those old TV commercials.

RCI don’t think anyone under fifty will get it.

JCHWell, maybe they watch Mad Men. Anyhoo. It means wearing gloves. Not digging in the garden. No fishing. Gardening Trying to remove paint to with my fingernails. That sort of thing.

RCSounds serious.

JCHIt is. It sounds so sissy and it’s really bitten me in the ass for decades. I used to sound different night after night because one night I would be playing with my fingernails and the next night I’d break a nail and changed my technique and then I’d bust something else and then […]

A status report on the upcoming Fall Tour 2014, including reminiscing on Detroit House Music, college and Robin Williams

So the good news is that The Solid State Siren is ready to go. The other good news is that I’m ready to get out there again. So, please click here if this is of interest so I can schedule about a dozen shows starting in September 2014.

No Robots

I’ve seen/heard a lot of recent experiments by Tom Wilkinson (aka Squarepusher) and others using a variety of techniques whereby some automaton composes and/or plays something labelled as ‘music’. This sort of urge seems to occur every few decades (Google ‘aleatoric’ for an instant migraine.) They are always failures. The annoying part for me is because I am so aware of my prejudices against ‘machine music’ I go out of my way to be open-minded. I think I’ve subjected myself to more repetitive/random crap than any repetitive/random hater ever. I just want to be clear that going on ‘auto-pilot’ is not the show you’re gonna see. In any case, I can heartily recommend the records […]

Despite my hopes, except for two private affairs, there will be no concerts until (probably) next March. Just wasn’t enough time to figure out the logistics. Sorry. But, it’s been suggested that unless I break down and get my eye fixed soon, I’ll probably never have sex again. Or be able to pass small children without making them cry in terror. So the holiday seems a fine time. 😀