Me, Beverly, and Matt on a bike with our dad, about 1971.
I could use some help with the date. Matt's more than one year old.
We lived at 103 Asbury Drive in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Guessing a date based on the fact that I started school a little after the start of the year.
I liked playing with my toy Texaco station.
We weren't able to take it when we moved to Chattanooga.
Watched The Night That Panicked America.
A movie about Orson Welles' War Of The Worlds. I remember they unscrewed a jar in the toilet.
Influences: we got an 8-track tape of folk songs for Christmas.
Turns out Folk encompasses a lot of kinds of music.
Influences: the art of Don Martin.
We stuck these sound effects stickers on our dresser and our closet door.
I helped make a commercial with Mr. Sulu.
The city bus company was making a commercial starring Mr. Sulu from Star Trek, and would we like to come down to the studio and watch and maybe help out?
I saw Devo on Saturday Night Live.
I liked the effects pedals taped to the guitar, though I had to ask Bruce what that was.
I saw the Rolling Stones do "Shattered" on Saturday Night Live.
Our mom switched it off halfway through though.
I saw Talking Heads on Saturday Night Live.
I wish I still had the More Songs About Buildings And Food album.
I got promoted to the sixth grade.
We all had to wear white, and then you have ginger ale with sherbet in it.
I saw Public Image Limited on American Bandstand.
We rarely watched Bandstand but we were at a friend's house.
I was walking back from soccer practice when I heard President Reagan had been shot.
It seemed unbelievable, people were just walking down the street making this insane claim.
We played Fox and Hounds at Scout meeting and never found the fox.
The rumor was that he hid in an open grave but I think the real answer was different.
I took the family car and went to see a rock show in Athens though I was underage.
The Washington Post thought it worthy of mention.
I got in a fight outside Pizza Caesar and spent the night in the hospital.
Very hard to recreate the date on this event.
Bev's birthday, 1985.
I guess this picture was given to me because my high school hair is on full display.
I saw the Black Crowes before they were really the Black Crowes.
They were the opening band. They were pretty good.
The Red M&Ms recorded our five-song cassette, Unhealthy.
After the recording my brother got picked up to go to summer camp.
I saw The Ramones at Bucknell University.
I had a great time but I wore some vintage shoes and they hurt.
I lived in this not-quite-legal loft on Causeway Street in Boston.
I was there in 1987. I wish I had more pictures.
Saw Bullet Lavolta and Lemonheads at Adams House Dining Hall.
Pretty big show to be on the Harvard Campus.
Everything Tool played with Abstracts at Cityside.
This had to be one of my first attempts at setting type on a computer.
Everything Tool played with Across The Yard at China King.
Across the Yard were, in fact, the jangliest.
Mercyland, Anastasia Screamed and Everything Tool played at Planet Earth, Knoxville.
The year is a guess. My brother and I were in Everything Tool. Mercyland was the out-of-town band. I don't remember meeting them but we had a cassette of their album in the car and we played it a lot.
I checked this War Of The Worlds LP out of the Knox County Library.
I used to check out lots of records from the Knox County Library in downtown Knoxville.
We played a show or two in Chattanooga.
I remember this show or these shows but I really wonder when they happened.
My fanzine got reviewed.
I think everybody who did a fanzine looked forward to seeing these capsule reviews in Factsheet Five.
My college diploma, laminated.
I got this in the mail from the alumni association at UT. I shoulda put a penny for scale.
Two of my bands were on a compilation of Knoxville bands.
These were the unhip bands of 1992. We were too old!
I saw American Music Club at Irving Plaza.
Apparently Liz Phair was also on the bill but amusingly I don't remember that.
I held a baby, for the cameras.
My friends had a little baby and they brought it to Brooklyn and let me hold it.
Saw Buddy Ebsen and Nick Heyward at a live taping of Conan.
Apparently Al Franken was also on the show but amusingly I don't remember that.
Published Bachelor No. 1, issue 1.
I edited Bachelor No.1 with Brandon Kruse and a bunch of other contributors. Any continued freshness it has comes from Brandon's incredible ink-and-brush (and Zip-a-Tone) illustrations.
I saw Magnetic Fields at Brownie's.
The woman on drums was tipsy and giggly. Stephin Merritt looked miserable.
We used to go to this cabin in Callicoon, New York.
It had an outhouse, very rustic, but was actually in somebody's side yard.
We attempted to silkscreen the Hi-Balls record sleeve.
We tried making the Hi-Balls 7" with a rudimentary silkscreen apparatus. (A Speedball kit.) It didn't work out.
Hi-Balls played at Brew's with Burnley Vest and MacArthur.
When they bring out the white seamless, you've made it.
The Hi-Balls played an acoustic gig for a party at some guy named Karl's house.
We wrecked the place.
I went to a wedding at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
I bought a tuxedo that summer because I had to go to several formal weddings.
I painted a female figure on paper.
The model for this was in a J. Crew catalog, if I remember correctly.
Happy Holidays (with the Churchkeys at Lakeside Lounge, 1999).
Happy Holidays (with the Churchkeys at Lakeside Lounge, 1999)
Stacks played Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge With Final Solutions.
Except...I'm not sure this show really happened.
I saw Betty Wright at Jazz Fest and got blown away.
I'm writing this on May 11, 2020, having just heard the news that Betty Wright has passed at the age of 66. I saw Betty Wright at Jazz Fest on May 7, 2000. It was one of the best shows I ever saw.
Dirty Knives played with The Woggles at Tasty World in Athens.
I guess the Woggles had a guarantee and we didn't but they gave us ten bucks for gas.
Dirty Knives played with Rock*A*Teens at Tipitina's, I think.
I honestly don't recall playing Tip's twice but I guess we did.
Dirty Knives played Rock n Bock with Lowerline.
We got to this lonely place and Dan said "This is like being on tour in North Dakota."
I interviewed for the job of running the Offbeat magazine web site.
It was one of the least worthwhile job interviews I've been on.
Dirty Knives played El Matador with Sugar Tank.
At the end of our set Trey hopped down the little steps at the side of the stage, smashing them to bits.
Dirty Knives played Mermaid Lounge with Hip Replacements and 66 Goat.
I think both 66 Goat and Hip Replacements were power duos.
Dirty Knives played Bandito Burrito in Huntsville, Alabama.
The picture is from 1990, found on a website.
Sleepy Heads played El Matador with Hip Replacements.
I do remember this show happening. I have no evidence that it did though.
Dirty Knives played Mermaid Lounge with Immortal Lee County Killers.
Immortal Lee County Killers' drummer J.R.R. Tokin' used his floor tom strictly as a coffee table.
I went to Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico.
I spent a Mardi Gras going with some Loyola classmates to Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico to work on houses.
All-Night Movers played to a crowded house at the Circle Bar.
This is probably the apotheosis of my New Orleans social life, back when I had one.
All-Night Movers played at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery on Carondelet Street.
It was insanely loud inside, so we took the show out to the sidewalk.
All-Night Movers played the Mermaid Hallowe'en Masked Ball as ELO.
Slade got us matching Jeff Lynne wigs and shades.
I got interviewed by Bunny Matthews for Offbeat.
I don't think the managing editor was too thrilled.
All-Night Movers played Circle Bar. I jumped on a patron who somehow fell asleep.
Everybody said the guy was some sort of mafioso and I should expect retribution.
Dirty Knives played our last show at Mermaid Lounge with The Forty Fives.
We had a new drummer but the change didn't do what we wanted it to.
All-Night Movers played the Circle Bar in Santa hats, in January.
Looks like we had some festive and timely headwear.
Saw VLADRM and Fontanelles at El Matador.
I feel like there was another band called Golden Showers on the bill but I dunno.
All-Night Movers played at El Matador with Demolition Doll Rods.
Dan Kroha (ex-Gories!) had a nifty "diddley-bow". I had forgotten we played on this show.
All-Night Movers played the Hi-Ho Lounge with the Bangs and Original 3.
The Bangs had a song called "Dirty Knives".
Ka-Nives and All-Night Movers played at Cafe Cottage in Lafayette, Louisiana.
This was our first time meeting the Ka-Nives. The club was a coffee shop but they paid us in beer (Killian's Red).
All-Night Movers played the Hi-Ho Lounge with the Ka-Nives.
The Ka-Nives said New Orleans shows were stiff and nobody came. This time they were right.
All-Night Movers played at Mermaid Lounge with Thee Shams and Cary Hudson.
I definitely remember the show.
All-Night Movers played at El Matador with Scott Carpenter and the Real McCoys.
These were our friends from Buffalo.
All-Night Movers played Sound Exchange in Houston with Ka-Nives.
We were fine. Ka-Nives were over the top.
All-Night Movers played Beerland in Austin with Ka-Nives.
My first experience wtih Texas' blue laws.
All-Night Movers played El Matador with The Detonations.
I went walking around Decatur Street before the show.
Saw The Ka-Nives at the Circle Bar.
I would put them up against any band in the world for best live show.
All-Night Movers played at Dixie Taverne with Preacher's Kids and Original 3.
I was just a huge fan of Preacher's Kids. Wish I could have been in the band.
I went to Gretna Fest and saw two favorite acts on the same day.
It was as if they designed this show specifically for me.
I attended a wedding in Williamsburg, Virginia.
I remember hanging out in the hotel's game room, among other nice things.
I had an art show with Mimi at Circle Bar.
Back when the Mod Dance Party needed some support, I guess.
Stacks played New Year's Eve at Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge.
I think this was the first of three New Yearses we played there.
Stacks played New Year's Eve at Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge with Lottie Collins, Ka-Nives, and Jimmy and The Wolfpack.
We had nothing to hold the kick drum in place so for a while I sat in front of it.
MAXIMVS! played our first show at the Big Top.
I said I would only be in the band if I could play drums. The thing is, I didn't know how to play drums.
The Stacks played the Big Top on Lundi Gras.
I wonder if it was actually MAXIMVS! that played this gig, though.
MAXIMVS! walked around and played all over on Mardi Gras day.
We stopped at Buffa's and played a short set, uninvited.
I saw The Fuse and The Ponys at Circle Bar.
I liked the Ponys until I got thoroughly sick of the singer's voice.
Stacks played Lounge Lizards with The Sophisticats, I made a special flyer.
The paper color was really important.
i did the cover illustration for Where Y'At magazine.
It's a magazine that covers events and listings in new Orleans.
Stacks played Dragon's Den with Bipolaroid and Ratty Scurvics.
The venue gives me the willies but it was a fun show.
The Stacks played a party. It turned into a struggle.
The gig itself wasn't remarkable but the aftermath was.
All-Night Movers played the Emerald Bar in St. Pete.
I guess this was the last All-Night Movers gig.
The Stacks played a happy hour show at the Mermaid Lounge with Black Bonnets.
Black Bonnets had Andrew Donaldson, who'd later join the Stacks.
MAXIMVS! played the Cave in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Part of a big fun fest called Blackbeard's Lost Weekend.
The Stacks played the Bridge Lounge.
I remember having incredible suicidal/elated mood swings on this day.
The Stacks played another happy hour show at the Mermaid Lounge.
I guess we tried the Happy Hour thing again.
The Stacks played the Big Top with This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Dinteen, and Narcissy.
We looked good in front of those velvet curtains.
The Stacks played Lounge Lizards with Paradise Vendors.
Paradise Vendors weren't like any other band in town, good stuff.
The Stacks played Balcony Bar with Zydepunks and Narcissy for St. Patrick's Day.
We tore it up at this show to a well-oiled crowd. I also saw something remarkable on the way to the gig.
Stacks played Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge with the Interlopers.
Interlopers had a good new record about to come out.
The Stacks played at The Big Top with Jeremy Lyons and The Deltabilly Boys.
Jeremy Lyons was really busy in New Orleans until one day he was just gone.
The Stacks played at Dr. Cliff Davis's garage again.
The second of a couple of excellent garage shows.
Jimmy and The Wolfpack played Black Betty on Al's birthday.
We had to go on late so some weak indie rock band could play. That was a bad idea on the club's part.
Jimmy and The Wolfpack played a club in Manhattan somewhere.
I can't remember how this happened or what the name of the club was.
I had a show of my paintings at a gallery called Maiden, Brooklyn.
This whole event was amazing. I felt so crazed after Katrina but this show made me happy to be in New York.
The Stacks played at the Brooklyn Lyceum for a Katrina benefit.
Not sure if we benefited from it, but it was a good time.
Jimmy and The Wolfpack played another show at 276 Grand Street (I think).
I remember so little about this. We ended up getting Korean food, I think.
Jimmy and The Wolfpack played at Lucky Cat on Grand Street.
I'm sure the show was fine, but listen to this other story I have about this place.
Watched the Super Bowl halftime starring Prince.
I watched at the house of some acquaintainces I didn't know well.
Slade's Hog.
Slade Nash is the drummer in All-Night Movers. He is like a drum machine that can mix drinks. Also an incredible mensch. Drummer jokes don't apply to him.
Stacks played the Saturn Bar, without any rehearsal.
I think it was the Stacks. It was probably a sort of Stacks/Wolfpack hybrid.
Jimmy and The Wolfpack played Lakeside Lounge and some of my coworkers came to the show.
One of my coworkers really made an impression on me.
Went to Slade and Amara's wedding, and DJed the reception.
The whole thing was somewhat interrupted by what you might call a flash flood.
Jimmy and the Wolfpack went to Equinunk, Pennsylvania to record again.
We also shot guns at cans and bottles.
Jimmy and The Wolfpack played Freddy's Back Room.
The venue was a casualty of the construction of the Atlantic Center.
Sally enjoyed our yard in Bushwick.
This is where I first found her and fed her a piece of a hamburger.
Watch your language or else I will.
If you want to start the game with ANUS, you better hope I don't have MOTIF.
I photographed a letterpress printing shop in new York City.
Looks like things are tough for ArJo Printing.
I wore a ridiculous jazzy crawfish t-shirt to a company picnic.
My colleague Alex Hemard did the excellent, Bourbon Street inspired design.
Painted a two-mouth creature.
It might as well have one mouth since both mouths sing Eighties lyrics.
Stacks played Siberia with Original Shake Charmers and Guitar Lightnin'.
Tuesday night rock and roll. Good crowd, actually.
The Stacks played Allways Lounge on Lundi Gras with M.C. Sweet Tea.
Paul Caporino from M.O.T.O. was on this bill as well?
Stacks played the Circle Bar with Primitive Boys.
Primitive Boys were great, but I don't think they ever played another show.
The Stacks played the 8th Annual Chazfest.
The Stacks played the 8th Annual Chazfest, in the yard of what was known as the Truck Farm, on St. Claude Avenue.
The Stacks played the Hi-Ho Lounge with Lauren Oglesby and Laugh In the Dark.
Lauren Oglesby brought all the people.
Sally sat on a sunny desk in Austin, Texas.
I don't know about Sally but I was lonely in Austin. Sometimes we made the best of it, though.
I got to be in the 'tit Rex parade.
I made some miniature throws. I thought they had to be Roman-themed.
I went to Banks Street Bar with Barbara, Trey, and Becca.
Nothing indicated this would be a remarkable date at the time.
Ate a lot of tacos in Texas.
Most of the time I went to a food truck called Jefe's near the UT campus.
Went to a bar in Austin with my old band mate (not pictured).
This guy is a friend of my friend's sister.
I did a man on the street interview for The New York Times about Bill Cosby.
I thought the interviewer was trying to get info out of me to steal my identity.
My house in Austin.
I made this big pink thing for my office but I hung it up in my apartment for a while.
My office put a piece of mine on the conference room wall.
Whoever picked the brown made a good choice.
I played some shows with a band called Speedcrawler.
It was a lot of fun. Most tired I've ever gotten as a drummer.
A lunch hour disaster was averted.
I was walking down 6th Street in Austin one lunch hour when I saw a group of people with cameras out, looking up.
Finished this painting of an angry woman.
I couldn't move it when I left Texas so I sold it for peanuts.
I visited Smoker's Paradise in Toomey, Louisiana.
This country gas station has shoes and a topless bar in it.
I went with Gina to see Cool Ghouls at Poor Boys'.
It was a school night but I'm glad I went anyway.
Goldie's radiator blew up near Poplarville, Mississippi.
I still made it to my mom's the same day, just about eight hours late.
I saw Wayne-O-Rama in Chattanooga.
I also saw the Wayne White museum show, but this might have been more fun.
I took a picture of a pickle.
I took a picture of a pickle on the pavement, with unintended consequences.
I took pictures of my shed at 321 Clark Street in the rain.
Nice place to work. Too bad it flooded so much.
Sketched Daisy, sitting on the couch with me.
Daisy is a skinny little pit bull Gina found on the levee.
The Stacks played Sister Street Stage for the first time, before we named it that.
It was cold and the people that were there stayed around the fire.
I painted I'm Over It on a piece of cardboard.
I really was over it as far as my landlord was concerned.
Holy Cross Neighborhood Association.
This Holy Cross Neighborhood Association t-shirt has had a long run.
I lived at 315 Tricou Street in New Orleans.
I moved to the Ninth Ward. Most of my pictures from this time are out of focus.
Gina's work tent failed in a storm.
Gina has this wedding tent to work under but maybe it wasn't meant to stay up in real bad weather.
Gina and I went to a dog track to watch the Kentucky Derby in Birmingham.
The Kentucky Derby fell on the day we were there and we went to the city dog track to watch it.
Sally stretched on the bed.
Just looking at this picture reminds me how high my utility bills for this house were.
Stacks played at Siberia with Rubber Maids and Egg Yolk Jubilee.
I made an animation to advertise the show.
Took a picture of a mosaic on the ground in the Garden District.
Seen on the sidewalk in front of a mansion on Jackson Avenue.
Had a happy bonfire at Gina's.
Sorry if there are too many pictures of fires with no people on here.
I went to open mic night at Old Arabi Bar.
I usually go with Andrew but I think I was on my own this time.
One day you're all yeah, the next day you're like no.
These cheery balloons spelled out "FUCK YEAH" for a day.
Family Feud is the ultimate game show.
The gameplay is so perfect, and you always learn something about human nature.
Found this offering on the levee.
An offering on the mississippi River levee in Holy Cross, New Orleans.
Went to this throwback diner in New Orleans.
I stopped in the Please-U Diner on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.
I took a picture of a sign.
This was a kind of sign you could still see in downtown New Orleans in 2014.
A walk by the Mississippi in December.
Took a walk with Gina and P.J. to the riverbank. I guess the water was very low.
A soft daddy long legs, for lack of a better description.
A soft daddy long legs, for lack of a better description.
I played bass with Fore Day Creep at the Circle Bar.
Last time playing that bass on stage, it turns out
The Stacks played the Circle Bar with Chef Menteur and Good Sugar.
This was Court Batson's first appearance with Chef Menteur.
This is in the warehouse across the street from me.
It's spooky in there even when you're alone because the wind blows the loose corrugated metal around.
I listened to Before The Next Teardrop Falls.
Once when I was a teenager, maybe fifteen, I answered the phone. It was my mom's mother, Grandma Vada. She asked me a question.
Our band had just started recording when the stay-at-home order came.
We're recording at our drummer's house. He's stuck living with all of me and Andrew's gear for a while.
I got robbed, probably by some shady women.
they were living in a U-Haul van in front of the house; hindsight says I should have been more suspicious.
Standing on the levee near the sugar plant.
Showing off my pandemic facial hair and walking on the levee in Arabi.
Here are ten or twelve albums that really influenced me.
These aren't even necessarily the ones I listen to the most. These are the ones that "influenced" me.
Cats on a car on Douglass Street, Lower Ninth Ward.
This wouldn't be remarkable except when I see these cats I always look for Sally.
I grew a beard for the first time in my life.
Last time I got close was when I was laid up in the hospital in college.
oh my (and notes on Grand Theft Auto IV)
I'm doing all right, despite the pandemic. I am okay not seeing too many people. Saving money, I guess.
Buddy and Otter are frenemies.
Buddy is very patient, despite being the most food-motivated cat I've known.
Dreamed I learned something about fuel siphoning.
I learned an astonishing fact about Diesel fuel and its alternatives.
Sketched my feelings.
I doodle while I'm on the phone, a lot (if not always). Sometimes it's my better work.
I dreamed a trip home to Tennessee.
I was in Tennessee watching the New Orleans Saints play a team I didn't recognize.
Buddy and I learned a hard lesson about discipline.
In which I teach Buddy a lesson, but you know what? I learned a lesson of my own.
Couldn't sleep on Election Eve.
Just like on Christmas, or the night before a big trip, I stay up too late, supposedly getting organized.
Gina was part of a small show at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery.
First art show I'd seen druing the pandemic.
Saw a nifty slasher truck at the grocery store.
Saw this nifty but off-putting vehicle at Canseco's.
Dreamed I was on tour.
I dreamed I was on tour with my band. We had a gig at a women's college. Also Betty.
Gina got me exactly what I wanted for Christmas.
She heard me talk about More Zingers From The Hollywood Squares, I didn't know I was dropping a hint.
Burned Altima on Alhambra Street.
Being at the end of the parish, our street is often used as a garbage dump.
I dreamed about a strange thrift store.
The bat, which we had mistaken for a stuffed toy, came to and started chasing me around.
What did this note mean?
I have no idea what this note-to-self meant, but I'm not looking for any pork rinds.
I realized I hadn't read a lot of the books on my shelves.
The first step is admitting you have a problem...
Walked with Gina and Daisy on the canal bank.
Wearing our warm coats, kind of a rare thing in New Orleans.
The debut of Golden Ray.
A new band rising from the ashes of the Stacks, who haven't actually burned down.
My new band Golden Ray makes its rescheduled debut.
Playing on Gina's stage with George Wilde and Lo Amps, only rescheduled.
My new band Golden Ray makes its re-re-scheduled debut.
Playing on Gina's stage with George Wilde and Lo Amps, only rescheduled.
Attended Goatstock at a neighbor's house.
Stoo Odom was joined by a friend from San Francisco, Allison Lovejoy.
Went to a bonfire in the Lower Ninth Ward with a horse.
Our friend is moving away but she had a little bonfire to let people say goodbye. And her horse came.
Dreamed I had some tasks to do in Paris, France.
I went to Paris with my family and boy what a mix-up.
The Stacks released the recordings we did with Andre Marquette.
Andre played drums and also engineered the recording.
Found a snazzy nest in Gina's yard.
Had some of the same striped tarp fiber that was in the last snazzy nest I saw.
We took the bachelor out, and Gina found a kitten.
It would be a great story if they had happened in the same place.
Buddy and Otter went to the office.
I guess they got tired of working remotely and wanted to get back to the office.
I dreamed I fell a hundred feet into the sea.
I had to climb a hundred foot ladder, then stand on the top rung with my other foot on the rig to reach the part I was working on.
I took pictures of a wig shop on Market Street that looked about the same when I was in high school.
Back then we wouldn't have felt comfortable taking pictures.
Trey and I went to Riceville, Tennessee, and stopped a couple places on the way.
We went to Ankar's, which had barely changed since 1985.
I got started on a painting of a Unimog.
I took a picture of this wonder truck in Chattanooga last Thanksgiving.
I saw Julie Odell and Alex MacMurray at B.J.'s.
I don't know why it took so long for B.J.'s to start putting on shows in the yard.
Our trash got picked up and we were excited about it.
Gina's trash hadn't been picked up since August 25, before Hurricane Ida.
I photographed a standing tire in the Holy Cross school parking lot.
Saw this lonely tire while biking around.
I put new strings on my guitars.
I watched YouTube videos and now I don't know how to put the strings on anymore.
Our lodgings were across the street from a neglected cemetery.
I climbed through a lot of briars and such to get up there and look around.
Gina and I visited Holt Cemetery again.
It's one of the most interesting places in New Orleans, though I guess you could say that about every graveyard.
Another bonfire at Gina's, with our little friends.
Oscar (who's not quite four) threatened us with "yummy soup and yummy alcohol".
I got some dwarf bottlebrush shrubs for Gina.
The lady who sold them looked at me like I was too dumb to care for a plant.
Golden Ray played a house party on Magazine Street.
We were supposed to play on the front porch but some lady freaked out.
Gina and I played analog Wordle.
I had misplaced my phone but it was Wordle time so Gina set me up with the analog version.
The Stacks and Rabbit Hatch play at Sidney's Saloon.
It's a reunion for Rabbit Hatch, who last played in 2005.