When I said Porche...I meant used, very used...

Al, on the other hand, might need to be audited...

He's upset that I don't intend to let him touch the new guitar. Let him buy his own...instead of the most recent "Ferrari" (he says it with a snooty accent).

Porche all the way for me.  My 911 works just fine.

Mat

Ok - let me start by saying that buying a new guitar is the best thing on the planet...it's better than sex because it lasts much, much longer.

I finally decided that I wanted a very nice acoustic guitar. I've got the electrics but always neglected this side of my playing. I've looked for a long time, tried out everything from Martin, Gibson and Taylor to Godin, Takamine, Guild and Larrivée. Being in Nova Scotia is not like L.A. - your options are limited (unless that damn endorsement deal comes through). I finally hit upon a new name - Crafter.  They have been made in Korea since 1973 and just got a US distributor last year. I'm predicting they will take off HUGE! 

Now, I could get them back home for much less than here - heavily discounted - but you know my views on returning to the US any time soon. Anyway, I found them in a tiny store in Halifax and proceeded to order one - a GAE33/N. It's got a spruce top and quilted maple sides and back, with gorgeous abalone inlay and binding. It's a cutaway with built in pickup and preamp.

It had to come from Korea so it's taken a month but it should arrive this week. Once it's in, we'll take some shots and post them to the website. It's like I'm 10 again and giddy before Christmas. There are very few of them around so I'm hoping to start a trend. I'll let you know how it goes.

I just found out that Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage yesterday by a fan supposedly angry about the breakup of Pantera. Dimebag was a legend among guitarists and a hero from the heyday of shred. 

The fact that he was killed on stage, during the opening song, should have sent shivers through any musician who lives to perform in front of fans. That's why we play - the rush of a crowd who is into your stuff right along with you.

This should reinforce that we need to keep guns out of the hands of nutjobs. That's another good reason to stay in Canada.

My thoughts go out to Darrell's family, friends and fans.

Mat

Don't spread this around too much but record companies can be jerks. We were "informed" that we had been booked into a special show in London. It was some deal cooked up with a local promoter. We had to fly over, rehearse with some session players the next day (for a grand total of 4 hours) and play that same evening.  We flew back the following afternoon.

We're not the Rolling Stones. We don't have a 200 person road crew or tractor trailers full of equipment.  There is no way this could have made any money - flights, hotel, session players, gear rentals, local technicians. The financial details weren't too clear but I'm not hopeful. 

I'm telling our manager to book full tours or nothing. Screw the execs - we'll go indie again if necessary. 

Mat

Well, it was certainly interesting watching the election from Canada. My absentee ballot never arrived but I gather this was not uncommon. I was surprised to find out how much they know about our politics up here. In fact, many people I spoke to knew more about it than I did. It's safe to say that Canadians are Democrats...very, very Democrat (86% in fact), and they weren't happy with the results.  I don't want to talk politics too much because, hey I'm a guitar player, but one stat worth mentioning is that in Washington, Kerry got 90% of the vote. This should tell us something. And with the draft being mentioned, we're not coming back any time soon. 

Anyway, Al and I have been taking a hiatus from recording. We're still writing but there never seems to be any time to get to the studio. We took a bit of time to do a video project but our record label wants us to start bringing in the bucks again. We're planning that Japan tour, given the fan reaction there to our music (how they found out about us we don't know). Our manager is working out the details with a Japanese promoter. I'd like it to be a mid-size club tour. We'll see.  We also might use Japanese musicians rather than taking over a whole gang. That might be interesting. After all music is the universal language.

Our web master is finally getting off his ass so the site should be updated soon. Keep watching.

Mat