Okay, this is the final photopost from Summer Tour 2010 because a) the tour is over, b) I'm running out of photos and c) you're probably getting tired of them by now.

If you're looking for posts I and II, you can find them here and here. (For larger views, click on the shot.)

Now, I have space to fill and here's some nice boys and bears to fill it.

Labels: bo koster, carl broemel, denise, jim james, mmj, music, my morning jacket, patrick hallahan, pooch, summertour, tom blankenship

Here's another spate of photox from the good ol' My Morning Jacket Summer Tour. If you're looking for part I, it's here. Part III is here.

We laughed, we cried, we finally got Denise into a permanent dress. Thank God because that nudist thing was not working for me.

Once again, click the pics to see them in a larger state. Steal the pics and they will haunt your dreams.

The lads are in Pittsburgh tonight with my favorite tall person Daniel Martin Moore opening. I am so full of sadness not to be there.

Labels: carl broemel, denise, jim james, mmj, music, my morning jacket, patrick hallahan, pooch, summertour, tom blankenship

I have way too may photos for one blog post so I'm going to spread it out over three... or four. I cut and re-cut and I'm not saying my little picts are the greatest or anything but it was just too hard to keep taking stuff out.

So here you go... ten days on tour in ten shots vol i. If you click on them they get bigger! If you steal them, they get mad.











Okay, I don't want to make any cheesy "Stairway" jokes but I swear Jim is ascending here.

I hope you have enjoyed this offering. More to come tomorrow time.

If you're looking for part II, you can find it here. Part III is here.

Labels: bo koster, carl broemel, jim james, mmj, music, my morning jacket, patrick hallahan, pooch, summertour, tom blankenship

Apologies, per usual, for the absence but I've been harnessing my blogging power for my upcoming trip to Los Angeles. Yes, I'm doing a cliché Sex and the City-esque girls holiday for my 40th birthday. I can't wait to drink Cosmos and talk about why men can't commit... or something. Except I don't drink... and I'm married. Still, it's possible there's good times ahead.

So, wish me luck in the wilds of LA and there will be reports of the goings on in Beverly Hills very soon. And by goings on I mean cupcakes.

In the meantime I leave you with this...


A pig in galoshes.

And this... Tom's Formspring which is just... the best reading ever. Ask him something. Seriously. That tears for fears answer is NIGHTMARES!

Labels: los angeles, tom blankenship, too cute to live, travel

Here's some shots from My Morning Jacket's recent appearance at the most wonderful Sasquatch festival. Well, they aren't all pics of MMJ. I didn't take that many of the show because people kept yelling at me and I gave up.

I hope you enjoy this small offering of photographic evidence.

Labels: denise, jim james, mmj, music, my morning jacket, patrick hallahan, pooch, sasquatch, tom blankenship

This is pretty priceless.

I just got home (and by just I mean Monday morning) from a two day jaunt with My Morning Jacket. Full report coming shortly (and by shortly I mean someday before the end of the year).

In the meantime... they say a picture's worth a thousand words so here's a few...


This is Duke Ellington's Wurlitzer. Really! We took a behind the scenes tour at the Smithsonian on Saturday. You wouldn't believe the things we saw! I can't believe the things we saw.


This is the handsome Bo Koster doing soundcheck things at Merriweather Post Pavilion.


This is Patrick and Little Joe BEING AWESOME!!

This is the end of the show. A melee of sorts. And by melee I mean crazy bananas excellence with MMJ and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band who I am now in love with.

I shot about a kajillion photos between the museum and the shows. It was fun to dust off the ol' camera and make some purty photox. I had such excellent subjects after all.

As I said, more coming. In the meantime you can follow all of us on Twitter: My Morning Jacket, That Tom, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and moi.

Labels: bo koster, jim james, mmj, muppets, music, my morning jacket, patrick hallahan, preservation hall jazz band, smithsonian, tom blankenship

Blame that Tom guy for this one... but I'm glad he made it home from the Nashville place in one piece.

Meanwhile... life in Austin continues to continue. Every year we reach the beach but sometimes I'm amazed we make it.

Also, Jim Bunning has gone full on cuckoo for cocopuffs, I see. Oof.

Labels: jim bunning, music, politics, the cranberries, tom blankenship, zombie

M83 live at KCRW performing a song that I keep talking about like a broken record I heart it so much.

THANKS YAEL for making me aware of the joys of these Frenchies.

I wonder how long it will take me to wear this song out... I've already burned through "Temezcal" and "I See You."

I'm off to Austin this week. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and working in the veal stall. I am not looking forward to waking up at 4.30 am on Wednesday and getting on a plane. Thank G I have The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks to keep me company. Yes, I am a DS nerd.

Alright, I have to go find more Christmas presents for Tom. Speaking of, you can follow him on Twitter @sometomguy. He's purty funny and stuff and you can see a l'il pic of our pooch Abe.

Labels: kim and jessie, m83, music, song for a day, tom blankenship

If you don't already watch Glee, you totally should... not just for the Neil Diamond... and even though Fox is screwing with us by taking the show away for four months. You can catch the last two episodes before it goes on hiatus this week and next.

Spin caught up with the cast for some mildly interesting interviews. You can watch here. I find them hilarious, though, because Tom's head is hovering in the background of several of the shots under the headline "Scarlett Johansson Does Tom."

Okay... that is all. For now.

Labels: glee, mmj, music, my morning jacket, tom blankenship, tv

It was September 2008 when we trekked down to Wilshire Blvd after a grand ol' time at Leno so the guys could do their voice overs for Seth MacFarlane and Mike Barker's animated series American Dad.

I couldn't write about it until now because it was a :shhh:.

However, the My Morning Jacket episode finally airs this Sunday on Fox! Set your DVRS, kids!

Titled "My Morning Straitjacket," the show features Stan becoming a full on MMJ groupie. I can understand how that happens and not just because I'm biased and stuff. As Barker said, "The best band in the world appearing on the 59th top-rated show on television? It's a no-brainer."


It was the second time we'd been to the American Dad/Family Guy offices and let me say, it's one of the happiest places on earth. They ply you with candy and good times and everyone is almost eerily nice.


Speaking of Tom (Blankenship, MMJ bassist, all around decent human being), he had this to say about the experience, "What struck me most was Mike Barker and [American Dad writer] Matt Fusfeld's enthusiasm for having us be a part of the show and their love for what they do. That made the whole experience so comfortable. These were dudes just like us and I think we shared the thought, 'Holy sh*t! This is what we do for a living!'"

We all had about a million laughs as the band took turns in the sound booth making the TV magics happen.


I can't wait to see the final result. You guys have only had two weeks of anticipation. I've had over a year!

In honor of this most sure to be excellent episode, Mr. Mike Barker agreed to do my rather silly (read: totally awesome) LP Questionnaire.


Mike Barker is a half-Baptist/half-Jew who grew up in Wichita, Kansas.

He shared this rather sad childhood story with me... My parents divorced when I was 12. My father picked me up from Kos Harris Elementary school one day with the backseat of the 1976 White Mercury Cougar stuffed to the hilt with clothes. Me: "Dad, what... what's going on? Why are all those clothes in the backseat?" Dad: "Son... There's no easy way to... Mike... Look, son, your mother and I haven't been getting along for quite some time now."

The happy ending: Mike never blamed himself for his parents' divorce and is married with two wonderful daughters. His eldest (pictured here with the juggling Mike), five-year old Chloe, constantly shouts at him while he's in the shower to "turn off the water" because he's "hurting the planet." Mike pays good money to Chloe's preschool so they can teach her to yell at her father while he's in the shower, trying to get his head straight for the long day ahead of him.

And without further ado, MB tackles The LP Questionnaire:

Name: Mike Barker
Pro Wrestling name: Bunkhouse Cobra

1. Pretend you're 15 (and tell us what year it is, if you don't mind). Name three songs you'd put on a mix tape for your girlfriend.

The Year, 1983. My face, acne ridden. My heart, bursting. My groin, ignored. My mix-tape remedy:

1. Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue" - Check...
2. Spandau Ballet's "True" - And...
3. Prince's "Little Red Corvette" - Mate!

2. Which evil villain would make the best president? Um, the Mountain Man that sexually assaulted Ned Beatty in Deliverance? At least with that guy in office we couldn't act surprised when he inevitably violated us. By the way, is this a family paper?

3. What was your favorite cartoon as a child? Hong Kong Phooey - the cat is smarter than the dog! Women are smarter than men! Come on, fellas, treat your ladies better!

4. What superpower do you wish you had? Is the ability to remember in good times that bad times will eventually be back but that they too won't last a superpower? It should be.

5. What would the title of your autobiography be? How To Succeed Artistically Without Selling Out: An Autobiography in Five Volumes

Way back when, My Morning Jacket subjected themselves to the LPQ. You can peep their answers here.

Labels: american dad, bo koster, jim james, mike barker, music, my morning jacket, the lp questionnaire, tom blankenship, tv

Patrick sure has changed in their time off.

I told Tom he should get a furry cape with horns and he agreed this is a good look.

In other news, I've started up the Twitter Polling again because certain people really seemed to miss it and after reading the three millionth item about Jon and Kate (but what about the eight, I wonder), I had to know... Team Jon or Team Kate?

So far I've only received three votes for Jon (two unenthusiastic), none for Kate and most answers run along the lines of, "Team Neither" @theotherjeff, "Team Birth Control" @beaucoupkevin, and "Team Child Protective Services" @lyngay. Where do you fall in the great Jon and Kate debate? Play along on Twitter @mspark. Also, people like to poo poo the Tweetdom but there's some really funny stuff on there... like this.

In other other news, Marin Cilic is busy kicking Andy Murray's butt. I think it's because he has tree kangaroo power. If Cilic wins, I'm going to find some way to link to that picture every day he stays in the Slam.

Labels: guitar hero 5, jon and kate, mmj, music, my morning jacket, tennis, tom blankenship, twitter, twitter polls

Because it now smells like vinegar and paint.

The first time I saw the unbelievably frightening kitchen at our new house I laughed about how the aforementioned grody khaki colored plaid wallpaper with bizarre (and bizarrely charming) cow border looked like Tom's show shirt from 2002-03. So tonight I made him pose with it and here is the crappy phone camera result.

He is a study in neutral tones...

I don't remember the last time I was this tired. I'm so tired I can't even be cranky about the fact that the paint color I chose for the living room resembles the paint chip only in the dark... too tired to be sad about sorta destroying the half bath when I tried every method known to man to get that wallpaper off (obnoxious black stripes with a flowered border... sigh). I have now decided that there must be a God because only the Devil would invent wallpaper.

I am not too tired to write and complain, though! Never too tired for that!

I should just be grateful that we have a cute house that may not smell like stinky baby sometime in the near future (not due to actual stinky baby but because the previous owners had one of those cheap hand tufted wool rugs that was apparently shipped in camel urine). And I am very thankful.... or I will be again in the morning.

Meanwhile, The Oak Ridge Boys, sweet dudes that they are, have been Twittering their thanks to me for writing about them. How awesome is that?!

Labels: housing, kentucky, my morning jacket, the oak ridge boys, tom blankenship, twitter, two tone tommy