Phoenix, Phoenix, and Stuck Outside of Phoenix!!!

New this week:

1) My good friend, the ever-lovable Jim Gerke will start the festivities off at the Yucca on September 6th. Jim's always been one of my favorite singer/songwriters on the planet...and I get to crash as his place!

2) New Phoenix Event!

Never happy with just one event per Phoenix trip, I'm thrilled to say I'll be performing Thursday September 4 at the brand new Stinkweeds on Camelback Road in central Phoenix. This will be me solo acoustic, reading from Ghost Notes and playing cuts from Songs from Memory. These solo acoustic events are my opportunities to really ham it up, so come one come all to this really cool new location for Stinkweeds, a Phoenix indie rock institution.

3) Stuck Outside of Phoenix back in print!!!

That's right, folks. A brand new version of the Phoenix rock lit classic will be out on my Defunct Press imprint in August! Stuck has been re-edited and comes in a new trim size and with a new cover design to match the style of Ghost Notes. I tried to wait until next year to drop this one on you, but I simply couldn't wait to see the two of them on the shelf together. The official release date, for Amazon and such, is August 18, but it goes on sale Monday August 4 at my Web site. (That's exactly six months after the release of Ghost Notes.) Stuck will also be for sale at all of my shows next month starting with the Second Annual Laying Down the Law Show in Lansing, IL on August 9. If you've never ventured into the world of Hote, this is the perfect excuse to do so. And you can start at the beginning!

And in case you're wondering, Novel 3, the next in the series, is coming along just fine.

I hope I can do this forever.

Thanks,

Art

Buy Ghost Notes



Buy Songs from Memory

Yucca, Yucca, Yucca!!!

Back in March, I played a gig in Tempe at Last Exit with Bret Hartley, Jim Gerke and Curtis Grippe. We had a great time. Actually, you can hear one cut from the gig at my MySpace page, and the same song at my MySpace Audio page.

I loved Last Exit, and I loved playing Tempe again. But I have to admit there was something that caused me a bit of regret.

About a month before the show, Rodney, the owner of the Yucca Tap Room, shot me a message. Rodney thanked me for posting my blog on the good ol' days at the Yucca. He, like many, has fond memories of those days. He understood I was playing at Last Exit this time through, but he wanted me to know he'd be happy to have me back at the ol' stomping grounds sometime in the future.

The future is now...or September 6th.

Yes. Bud will be laying down the law again at the Yucca Tap Room on Saturday September 6th! There will be other bands involved and more details between now and then; all we know right now is we're firm for 9/6.



Regrettably, Mr. Hartley will not be making the trip out from Atlanta for the show, but Gerke and Grippe are signed on, making us the most blistering trio this side of the Rio Grande. Just like the Chicago show at Uncommon Ground on Friday June 13th, you'll hear Songs from Memory songs, and Refreshments songs, and covers. You'll also get to watch me be a ham.



So, mark it on your calendars now! Write something like, "Art slays in the name of the crown at the Yucca" in the space under "September 6."

As you can see, the summer is shaping up rather nicely for yours truly. Make a point to come out and see me! I'll have more firm



dates in more places as we go forward.

Thanks,

Art


Buy Ghost Notes



Buy Songs from Memory

The Yucca Tap Room

I leave for Atlanta tomorrow to finish Songs from Memory, so I'm publishing this blog a day early. Enjoy!

As I finalize Ghost Notes and Songs from Memory over the next few months, I’m going to blog regularly on the Refreshments.

I seem to recall, during this early period of the band, roughly the spring of 1994, a lot of experimenting with different venues. We went out of our way to book less obvious places to play. I don’t remember if this was because we were trying to set ourselves apart from the Mill Avenue scene or because we genuinely were curious about these off-Mill venues. Probably a little of both. I remember playing a dance club called Phrogg’s on Apache, and the Improv comedy clubs in both Tempe and San Diego. The results of these experimentations were usually unsuccessful, sometimes worse than that.

The exception was the Yucca Tap Room.

Dusty was the instigator of getting the Refreshments in at the Yucca. He somehow became aware of this little club on Southern Avenue supposedly famous for serving bloody marys at eight in the morning. Dusty insisted we all go over there after practice one Sunday night to check it out.

We all liked the place. It had wood paneling on the inside, which is good for sound, and a comfortable, neighborhood vibe. There was a dart game, and a shuffleboard game along the back wall. There was no band playing while we were there, but I think the normal Sunday night act, a cover band, hadn’t started yet. No bands from the Mill Avenue scene played there.

I think what I most liked about the Yucca was that it was different. The Blossoms and Dead Hot could lay claim to Wong’s and the Sun Club and Chuy’s, but this club could be associated with the Refreshments in some way, maybe even becoming the official unofficial home-away-from-home for the band and its fans.

The deal was simple. The Refreshments would play every Sunday night at the Yucca. There would be no advertising. To help entice otherwise responsible people out to a smoky club on Sunday night, there would be no cover charge. It became a special intimate show for those who knew about it and were foolish enough to ruin their Mondays at work for a good time on Sunday night.

Sunday nights at the Yucca rocked. We played our asses off, and people came and drank and danced and sang along. (In 1994 there was still a culture of dancing in Tempe, which would quickly change as clubs got too crowded for anyone to dance.) The Yucca became another piece in this thing we were unknowingly building, this subculture of people who were finding fun and validation at these gigs featuring this new band, singing along, dancing their asses off.


Art