The Island, neither the best, nor the worst movie I've seen, but this is the 2nd time it's on, on the same tiny screen on (seemingly) the same train I was on last week, so regardless of the little flickers I catch out of the corner of my eye I will not turn my attention back to it. Besides, I have this new EP by a Vancouver BC band called The Winks and the new Testface full length to keep me occupied, so... Jealous Butcher Records, that's why you're all here right? What have we been up to over these last several years, basically we've become the vinyl arm of this band you may have heard of called the Decemberists, no you say, well, you will... it seems only yesterday Colin called me up and said something to the effect of "Hey, KRS doesn't want to do vinyl, do you want to?" and I thought about it, and finally was like, well, okay, I love your band, and I love all of you, and this is a great record (Her Majesty) so what the heck, I'll take a chance... HA! 3 years later and the only other records I've put out have been a few (great) 7"'s, life hands you funny gifts, thanks life! The latest Decembrists opus, Picaresque is the coolest record I've ever gotten to make. Thanks to Colin and Slim and the folks at Touch & Go, it was exactly as I wanted it to be, extra songs, gatefold sleeve, big ass booklet, I love holding this record in my hands, sigh... what next... well, there are so many things potentially looming, one storm cloud that has come upon us is the new Wow & Flutter 7", we just finished silkscreening them and you can order it now, it's great. They've ditched the dreamscapes and gone straight for the nightmare scenarios, ha, no really, they are an amazing rock band now, Amy plays bass, Jack is on the drums, and does impassioned back-ups and Cord finally let's it all out, screaming, loud guitars, crazy organs, man, you gotta see it, I love it when my friends blow me away. I can't wait to hear what they come up with for a full length, hopefully they can find get some bigger muscle behind them for this one, and by that I mean I love them, but they need a label that can put some $ and time behind them, and )not complaining here) I've got neither. Other items of potential interest, super secret project being put together by myself and my friends Diane (Oswald 5-O), Rachel (3 Little Pigs) and Kevin (Soda Jerk), it'll fall in the same line as the Beltline Oswald 7" remake project, limited lathe cut vinyl from New Zealand, it's going to be wicked cool, and we mean it, should be ready by early next spring, keep your peepers peeled! Another slightly secret project has to do with my la la LOVE of the Led Zeppelin. There will be a comp, some folks have pledged their allegiance, so far I have about, say, 3 keepers. I'm gonna be hella picky, so it's gonna be good or it's not gonna come out, I swear. I'm going to have to want to listen to this one, I will not tolerate the butchering of the greatest rock band ever (no pun intended). So there. Kelly Bauman, have you heard of him, well you're going to, maybe, probably, maybe... he used to be in this radical band from Chico called Deathstar, they broke up a long time ago, but Kelly keeps recording, and he throws away the kind of songs you dream about being able to write, I told him if he gives me a full length I will put it out, I'm not gonna F-around with EP's, those are for people, well, other people anyway, so we'll see. The tracks I've got so far are stellar though, I can assure you of that. Speaking of Chico related items, not that anyone really cares but Captain vs. Crew is no longer a viable option, so sad. Following in the greatest of local rock band traditions our record release show was our last show. However, Shawna and I have formed an improv outfit called Magic Bullet / Grassy Knoll, we have a lot of fun, some people think we're arty, we just like to make noise together, so, look for something from us, sometime, maybe, if we can get unbusy enough to get it all together, in that improv sort of get it together sort of way. Yep. Also keeping me occupied is Beltline, although my last record came out on this Arizona label called KEEP Recordings, a fine fellow named Jeff runs that label, and they dug it, so I was glad to hand it to them. I've got Tony Moreno playing bass, and something Derek Trost and other times Eric Jensen and who knows who's next, although with Tony about to have a kid who the F knows, and speaking of kids and my penchant for use the letter "F" rather than spelling out FUCK, my daughter, Tuesday Louise Jones is just over 2.5 years old now. She is the raddest thing I have ever come into contact with, better than Zeppelin III and only slightly better than her mother, she talks and walks, and asks me if she's too loud when she's playing me her rendition of "Over In The Meadow" on my old casiotone, she asks for ear protection, and she really likes mixing boards and drums and to help me silkscreen.... sigh... I love her. And on that note I think I will call this complete. There is always more to come, slow and steady wins the race and all that, a new JBR comp has been in the works for years now and will come out sometime, there's a proposal in for a Tractor Operator 7", Colin has said that he would like JBR to be in on the future of Decemberists vinyl, so hopefully that will pan out. Let's see, that's it, thanks of course to all above and to the remainder of the good friends that have helped keep things running and interesting over the last few years: John Askew, he of Film Guerro and Tracker, Adam Selzer, he of Norfolk n' Western, Lucas Jones, he of the same last name but not related to me, and the person most likely to be confused as my "partner" when Tuesday and and he and I go out to breakfast on Monday's, Crouchy. Thank you fellows.

Heaven help us all

rj

11/28/05