Mrs. Houser vs. My Dad--Grudge Match

One of my favorite English teachers from high school ( long retired, I believe) is coming to the show tonight. She was the one that encouraged me to write, while a certain Chemistry and Physics teacher down the hall ( who also happened to be my father) pushed just the opposite.  When I opted  ( okay, I'm bragging)--when I opted out of the first two semesters of Calculus, Chemistry AND Physics in college while failing MISERABLY at English and Creative Writing he would say, "SEE--You're a thinker not a bullshitter!". Then I met Linear Algebra and Multi-variable Calculus and realized spinning parabolae on infinite axes was not for me...

Anyway, I didn't make it in English either. Modernist poetry did me in there. Wallace Stevens (" the birds fangled feathers dangled down" wtf?) and Yeats (I'll tell you what beast is slouching towards Bethlehem, buddy!) made my eyes glaze like I did smoke dope. I didn't, but maybe that would have helped. I think it would have taken an Ezra Pound of weed for that stuff to make any sense.

Anyway, I sure hopes I plays real good for sure tonite.

Miller

PS  Stay tuned---I met a real, live  Coal Industry LOBBYIST last night in a bar!!!

Charlotte to DC

This happened to us last time: The Crescent sold out so those of us riding free were delegated to coach and lost our sleeping car. Coach on a train is really not so bad, more leg room than a plane or bus but those sleepers are nice.

The show in Charlotte ( NoDA) was fun, and it was cool to hang out with everyone afterward and then hop on the train--no driving. Choo! Choo!

Now to grab some sleep and a rare night off in our nation's capitol. Perhaps Big Al and I can create new law!

-miller

Train Tour MMIX-Day One

Well, first night of the train tour here in Greenville, South Carolina. We played here ( with the band) on the FIRST train tour back in '05. Had a GREAT show and a huge crowd and I played that show with ( didn't know it at the time) broken ribs from a wrestling match in a Birmingham hotel room. You know me, alligator mouth/ humming bird ass....

Danielle Howell is opening and I just love her. Good writer and funny girl. And loud talker too. I can hear from her dressing room now.  

I was a guest on a sports talk show here today called "The Score". I got to talk with George Rogers ( Hiesman Trophy Winner with a Superbowl ring to boot.) He said he almost went to Tennessee but they had fired the coach, Bill Battle so he ended up going to South Carolina. He was very cool and liked me. Which is good. He was a bruising runner for those who remember. He gave me some grief about Lane Kiffin, the new University of Tennessee coach, who has been running his mouth a bit, which I'm not crazy about, but will not give a damn about if we win.....heh heh.

Anyway, hope the show goes good and the peoples are happy and you, dear reader are spreading the word about this record. Its a brave new world out there. HELP!

Walk it off behind the shed

I broke my collarbone the FIRST time at the age of 4, playing at my grandparent's farm.  I remember my brother picking me up, wiping the grass and dirt from my shirt saying, " WALK IT OFF! WALK OFF!"   That was and is our Miller-farmboy-credo.  We  could walk off whatever injury or pain we had just so we wouldn't have to tell our dad because if you wanted pain,THAT'S when pain would get real.  Let the old man know you hurt yourself messing around ( other and WORK) and he'd introduce you to real pain. So other than exposed bone through skin you were on your own and expected to heal thyself.

Now rock n roll ain't really about playing through broken bones, ( although I have done it and have seen it done. I watched Mic Harrison tour with gout in one foot, and while I have never had 'the gout' I'm told it'll bring a grown man to tears.) I've played sick as well. Sick from too much the night after or too much from the month before and colds are  just part of the road when you tour. You might as well be kissing every other band on the mouth when you sing into a microphone. ( I try not to picture that, and would advise you to do the same.) 

So this past weekend when I started getting a little sick and hoarse, I did what you always do. WALK IT OFF and play through. Except this time my voice just quit on me. I dunno. Maybe I'm old. Maybe I wasn't showing 'professional courtesy' to my audience ( a rather large one, thankyouverymuch) by not canceling the show. What? Cancel a show? Because you're sick? (Shut up, Glenn Frey, you guys never did make up THAT date in Knoxville.)  Well, maybe I was selfish and for that I apologize. But never let it be said a Miller boy didn't give it everything he had. For that I won't apologize. But I will try to make it up to you folks somehow.

thescottmiller

Birm-lanta-ville-Shed

About to head out the door for this week's run. The solo show in B'ham ( a city that used to love me...) is gonna be tight. Wilco is in town tonight as well, but maybe some people will drift down to the Nick. 

Atlanta  on Thursday will be full of the wife's family ( they'll be the drunk loud ones...) and the Grey Eagle in Asheville on Saturday has displaced chefs from New Orleans, so we always starve ourselves all day for that food and really love that room. I don't know how that turn out will be with Merlefest going on this weekend, but hell, nobody from Asheville is really FROM Asheville so let 'em take their 'Son Trust' money to Wilkesboro, I don't need it!. (Well, yes I do. I'm sorry I said that. Please come to that show Friday.)

AND SATURDAY'S SHOW in Maryville, TN is going to be one for the books!!!! The weather looks like it will be grand, and the band is in shape and I understand they are bringing in extra sound for the expected large crowd. May the Lord Bless and keep East Tennessee, as I doubt the rest of you want it.

OBSERVATION OF THE WEEK:  My wife has a horse and I won't say anything else about it besides that some horse people scare me.  I do not judge them, after all, I still keep things around the house that aren't entirely useful such as my turntable.  ANYWAY, she was off at a horse dinner with the horse people so I had the afternoon to do one of my favorite relaxing activities:  watching golf.  Nothing is as relaxing and can put me to sleep faster than watching the landscape painter Bob Ross ( R.I.P.) who used to be on PBS, and a nice morning fishing show would be next but in a pinch, I will watch some golf. But here is what I concluded before I drifted off to whispering commentators and polite applause:  

The symbol that Tiger Woods has on the front of his hat, the "T" and "W" intertwined? I GUARANTEE he designed that thing in fifth grade on some graph paper and has had it on his bulletin board above his tiny desk just waiting to unleash it. You gotta know that when Nike came to call, with their multi-million dollar designers they offered up a modern, good looking logo. "No thanks, guys!" I hear Tiger say " I've got my OWN!"

Don't let 'em get ya, Tiger.

Miller

Dear WWW

I have returned from Austin and South by Southwest. While I could make a list of legitimate reasons why I didn't WOW'em  down there I won't, and I did my best given the circumstances. I went to that thing in 1993 and it was a LOT different. Back then, it was really indy bands and writers just trying to get in front of  "the industry" while they partied in (what I like to call) "That Little Piece of California in Texas: Austin".  And for what it was it.......well...it was.

Now its pretty big. Very big. Why its as big as......TEXAS.  And it seemed to me unless you were locked into "the industry" or at least had a representative fighting for you it was just a good time. And I am just a label owner with one artist. The worst part is my first round bracket of the NCAA took a beating.  I also got to see some folks I like. Corb Lund is a great songwriter who toured with the band and I last year some. He's huge in Canada and a good guy--I didn't mean that like it sounded. He's a good guy regardless. Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass Kicking Team--they come to Knoxville and I always enjoy them. If you see them, please request the song "Why Don't You Come Over Here, and Help Me Drink This Thunderbird?"   Like Greg Kihn sang, "they don't write 'em like that anymore..."

Okay, that was blog 2. See who it offends...

Have a nice day, WWW

Miller

Dear WWW,

I'm not a very good "internet-er". I thinks its because I'm so sarcastic. (Except for right now when I  am being TOTALLY honest with you--see? It just doesn't translate!)  But it seems this "fad" of yours is here to stay, and as the music business changes to fit I must too. Or at least try.

So try I will.  Here it goes:

 ( a-hem).

Its Monday, and I leave for Texas and the South by Southwest Music Conference in the morning. I generally like to go to Texas and MAKE MONEY, so going down there to hob knob with the music biz, play for free and SPEND money doesn't sit well with me. But I am, I guess, a "label owner" now and things must be done for the label that I have created. It (and its six employees) depends on me and I will not let them ( or it) down.

While most record labels host show cases all over Austin this week where their talent will play short sets, we at F.A.Y. Recordings will try something a bit different. Our showcase will be in various sports bars--or at least the one with HD TV's all over the damn place--and consist of watching the NCAA Tournament and drinking adult beverages. All are invited and its FREE even if you don't have an official SXSW brag tag that you paid waaaaaay too much for.  

IF the location of this to-be-named-oasis has wi-fi, I will try and BLOG some more and give live reports. So check back at the ( NEW!) website and start spreading the word about the new record. F.A.Y. Recordings depends on YOU too!

Miller