Monday, July 26, 2010

begin again

back home after 15 days
on the road

I'm not usually one to bitch
about doing time on the road,
because I enjoy it, need it
and look forward to it for the most part
but there comes a time after about
ten day for me when that maid
tap, tap, tapping on my chamber door
makes me want to snap-kick
the chimichanga out of someone

plus the last week of the road
I was fighting a throat
cold, making it a pain in the ass
to try and sing

yes, throats are connected to the ass

two different people came up to
me and asked me why I haven't been
blogging and I didn't have a very good
reason

they both mentioned the fact
that I had turned them onto bukowski
and they told me about their collections
they have stockpiled

that alone was enough to get
me back to typing again

my brain isn't fully into gear
yet...I went to sleep at 9 last night
and just now woke up at 4 in the afternoon...

I think that's like 46 hours

dragging in gear from the van
and getting the boohatch back
into fine functional shape

there is a world to conquer for the love of leghorns




Monday, July 5, 2010

I've been moving

I've got a banjo in one ear
and a fiddle in the other

it's hard to type
but I'm going slow

firecrackers in the yard
this evening with the girls

a couple of times I would
find myself with a big stupid
kid grin of my own smeared
all over my face

and it's not possible for me
to watch one of them lighting
a fuse and not holler out 'boom'

and that's how traits get
passed on to the next
generation

the music is silent now
and I still have my headphones
on and they feel good

I've been writing some weird songs
and I can feel my head
moving into a different space

I like moving

I like sitting very still sometimes too

Saturday, July 3, 2010

goose oil and skinyeah on the moon

opened my garage door
this afternoon and
goose goosetofferson
was staring me in the eye
from on top of the ledge in the yard

HONK
HONK
HONK

he's so loud,
but there is something funny
about it to me

it always reminds of the gary larson
far side cartoon where a scientist
invents a helmet that can interpret
what dogs are saying

and all of the dogs in the
panel are in their yards
yelling: " HEY! HEY!"

that's what I picture goose
is yelling at me

so I say WHAT? right back
after every one his HONKS
until one of us gets frustrated

sitting here listening to skinner
singing "walking on the moon"

we recorded it last night

the boohatch was burning
the midnight oil
and some of the mornings
stash

I think I'll put it up on the
reverbnation page

just a rough mix demo with a drum machine
but el skinyeah nonetheless

http://www.reverbnation.com/mikemcclureband


Monday, June 21, 2010

drag

welcome back my friends
to the show that never ends
we're so glad you could attend
step inside, step inside

yes
the beat goes on
and the summer heat
is on
and I have two days before I
pack a bag and hit the road again

makes it hard to hold down
the fort sometimes

I'm not the most organized
person in the world and constant
movement and random locations
don't help that in the least

but I do see a ton of random events

I arrived at the venue in midland
a little early and stood outside
watching the quarter mile drag races

the end of the sprint
ended across the street from
the club's parking lot

I stood there for a while
watching the cars run

kind of enjoyable really

after the show,
I was standing outside talking
to some of the dudes from the
opening band

and I saw a drag car
come flying by

his brakes had failed
and his little parachute didn't
do as much to stop him as
the chain link fence that mangled
his car

me and the dudes took off
sprinting towards the car to
see if we could pull him out

and who doesn't want
three guitar players as the first
to arrive on an accident scene?

the driver was fine
but the car was upside down
in the fence and demolished

pretty wicked thing to watch

hey,
thanks san angelo

that was the coolest gig
I've ever had in that town

thanks for coming out and listening

midland was cool too,
especially with the drag crash

shout out to rayford and the mystery fest...

hubba hubba

Friday, June 11, 2010

illinois is not missouri

probably one of my favorite
nights playing on stage in a long
time tonight at six strings
in bloomington, illinois

the radio station
had been playing our music
and people knew it

that sounds simple enough,
but I haven't really been
'working' anything in a while
so it's always a surprise

the sound was incredible

I did pull a spinal tap moment
and mentioned how great it was
to be in missouri

'you're in illinois!' I heard
yelled back

I laughed, the crowd laughed

I flew off the stage
on a harness while rainbow
laser beams shot out of my eyes

the requests were cool
and songs I wanted to play

a laid back crowd
that wanted nothing but
our songs

hard to beat

then I was walking down the
sidewalk and some people stopped
me to say they enjoyed the show

they were heading to a tattoo
parlor so I followed along
with them

it was closed but the owner
opened up the shop

I took pictures with the
people from the show inside
the tattoo parlor
while I talked to another dude
about doing his record

I was thinking while I was
looking into a camera
with my arm around two strangers
what an odd life I have

I enjoy it quite a bit





get up there jackass

sitting in a hotel room
by myself in normal, illinois

last night was great at
otis campbell's

bob, the boss man said
showtime was 9 or whatever
we wanted...

we got there at 9
and no bob
so we decide to wait until
he gets there

at 9:30 bob came in
and we were standing there
talking when this girl
walked up to me
and said:

"we drove from arkansas
and you are supposed to play at
9 and if you don't get up there
RIGHT NOW we are leaving."

I thought she was kidding,
and I was about to explain to her
that we were waiting for the
guy who hired us
when she turned at
snapped at her husband who was
at the bar and she huffed out

it was unbelievable

one of these days
that 'whole world is
revolving around me' syndrome
will disappointingly wear off,

or it might not

I see a future bell ringer


either way we kicked out our jams
and packed up the van

tonight we play at
7:30

someone will probably show up at
10 and be pissed off at me

an hour and a half until
show time and a shower
wouldn't kill me

there is a steak and shake
right next door to the hotel

mmm hmmm.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

sniphlus

thank you allergies
for hosing my acoustic
recordings tonight

strum (sniff)
strum (honk)

ridiculous...

laying down a new song
I wrote last weekend
or whenever it was

all the days run together

and I am home for a day
only to pack a bag and leave
again

such is the nature

heading north to missouri,
illinois and ohio

had last weekend off
to put a sizzling tan
on the fat

time to pack up the good times
van and head out once again

closing in on another new album
in the midst of rampant touring

good to have a job