08/22/2011
06/15/2011
06/14/2011
Dudes, thank you so much for the messages, I'm so bummed I missed both calls!
05/17/2011
05/12/2011
04/27/2011 
Tour blog #9
Hi,
So we never did wrap up the last part of tour in photographs. I guess we all got a little excited and destracted by home. We are however back on the road, so hopefully these long drives will inspire some inter-webbing. We hit the road this time to meet up with our friends the Hold Steady to do a leg of thier summer tour with them. Couldn't be more excited about it. The three dates we did with them last year on the west coast were pretty fun, looking forward to more of the same.
We hit town early and found the venue with out incedent. Padre's was the name and it was everything we could have asked for, a large front room with a well stocked bar and comfortabley sized stage. In the back was an epic game room and patio not to be missed. Greated by Yvonne, we were told that food was on them as well as all the draft beer we wanted. The night was full of promise. With time to kill we explored the town, we found the hotel where they filmed giant, the ever so bizare Prada store ( located in the middle of nowhere ) and more great places to drink a beer in hundred degree weather than you can shake a stick at. As it turns out everyone in Marfa is incredibly friendly and we had great time mixing with the locals while trying to stay lucid for the show to follow. The night went off without a hitch and we had a blast, late night dining at the Museum of Electronic Wonders and Grilled Cheese Parlour aka Food Shark and a drive out to the viewing area of the mysterious Marfa Lights. I could go on for a while about the Marfa Lights but I am already a little long in the mouth so I'll just let wikipedea take care of that one. The town was booked up hotel wise by the time we started worrying about such things so the van it was for a weird nights sleep then seven hours drive to Austin in the morning.
Saturday night at Emo's was an exciting prospect. The soundguy Jim (who had been working there since the 90's) dialed us in at the sound check and we headed out to meet up with Phil from Dead Oceans for dinner. Austin on a saturday night is a weird place. Or at least I should specify 6th Ave. The streets were packed and every other business seemed to be a night club blasting loud dance music and boasting rediculous drink specials. Crazy dudes and scantly clad ladies as far as the eye could see. Austin really is a town that loves thier live music, everyone we meet at the show had nothing but great things to say afterwords. We left there to our friends Stacy and Clarks place and preceded to stay up till dawn drinking lone star in the backyard catching up. Next stop Houston
Sam seems to have family everywhere and houaton is no exception. We got to town a couple hours early, so we went to Aunt Denise's house for a good home made meal with all the cousins. I know we have only been on the road a few days by that point but it doesn't take long to crave home cooking. We had played the night before with a group from Houston by the name of Buxton. They were super cool people and the band sounded great, so we were all looking forward to playing with them again. but with all respect to them the true highlight Houston had to offer us was the house and hospitality of our booking agent Eric. We got there late after the show and spent the night digging throughs his epic record collection. We woke up in the morning to a great breakfast and more records. All good things must come to an end they say, so we reluctantly got showered and packed up the van said our goodbyes to Eric and his wife Virginia and hit the road. And that is where we are now somewhere between Houston and Norman, Oklahoma on interstate 45.
With that I will say farewell until next time. I do believe there are pictures still from the last leg of our june/july tour, I'll find those and put them up soon. talk to you then.
The Donkeys
Tour blog #8
Alright the first leg of our summer excurtion is officially behind us. We are home for about ten days to lick our wounds and get ready for what will be a heck of a time in Calgary for the Sled Island Festival. There is a lot to cover of our trip home from Texas still, but I am going to let one of the other dudes run through that. For the time being I have been mixing down some of the tracks the sound guy from Denton at Dan's Silverleaf gave us. That was a great night. The venue ruled, Jimmy ran sound and killed it, but most note worthy our good friends from Why? were in town recording so we got to spend some time with them. Be it all too brief, but when you live on other sides of the country from one another, you take it where you can get it. So, sit back, relax and check out the sweet extended live jam of the title track from our new album Born With Stripes.
talk to you soon
the donkeys
Oh Yeah, Check Out Our Video
Our good friend Jeff Lowe came down to San Diego and shot this for us a couple of months ago. With the help of another friend of ours, Patrick Rosetti, they edited it up and now we have our first official video. It did take a while for that to happen, but we don't plan on repeating that mistake. So keep an eye out for the next one, we have some sweet tour and live footage we plan on putting together soon. Enjoy
06/03/2011
Tour Blog Entry #7
Hey everybody! We last left you in that blurry space somewhere between New Haven, Boston, New York, and Philly. To catch you up to speed, Boston ruled because we saw our friends and snuck into Fenway. New Haven was awesome because the crowd got loose and danced like crazy. New York is pretty much a sure thing. And Philly...what can I say? We had four friends travel with us from NYC and had cheese steaks at two in the morning with our newest bro band, Citay!
The next day we said our sad goodbyes and traveled south to DC which was a hot and sweaty mess. The boys and I were tired, but we pulled through, shook em up proper and said goodbye in style complete with cops yelling at us and me being dismissed on the street as being (or having?) a "dumb white ass!" Awesome!
Then the Donkeys crossed the Mason-Dixon line, and returned to the South. Upon arriving in North Carolina, we were greeted with smiling faces and an ice chest full of beers. Revitalized and eager to entertain, the Donkeys went out, tore it up and played one of my favorite sets of the tour. We also saw our good pal Leo of Southeast Engine and got to meet his lovely fiance, Katie - Hubba Hubba! Speaking of Hubba Hubba, our old friend Ariana came to see us too and went crazy at the merch booth! We stayed with Leo and Katie in Durham and had Tetris competition all night. Let me just say this, that man can play drums and that man can play Tetris.
After a few quick Tetris matches, showers, and conversations about Guided By Voices, we took Leo to lunch and headed to Asheville. All any of us knew about this town was that it was a mystical place high in the Appalachian mountains, and everyone who had been there said it was totally awesome. What people don't say is that there's like 80 breweries in town and it's home of the legendary synth manufacturer, Moog! We bought plenty of craft beers (my favorite, the local favorite Keltic Ale, by Highland Brewery), but unfortunately, I didn't get to buy a craft keyboard. Maybe next tour. Jessie and I did get a chance to peak through the window and check out The Moog building after our show and that was fun enough. But the fun didn't stop there! Our newest friends Claire and Meredith put us up and in true southern style, had us drinking Keltic Ales and Coors lights on their porch and telling jokes 'till the wee morning hours. Claire even put on Gorillas in the Mist for us to fall asleep to - what a hostess!
The next day we drove to Nashville where we would meet up with our new roadie / merch / photo dude / good vibrationarian, Wes! A real southerner too, so you know we're happy. His girlfriend Tasha got the privilege of watching us at our lamest show of the tour, but as a consolation, she did get to witness our sound guy, Brad aka B-rad steal the show with all of his insanity.
We got Wes in the van and headed to Memphis early to eat at World Famous (and Donkeys favorite) Gus's Chicken! We chowed hard and treated ourselves to some $4.50 40oz's (that's 11.25 cents an ounce!). Happy and full, we left Gus's and watched as a semi truck hit a telephone pole and made sparks go everywhere. Within minutes we saw firetrucks and firemen hurrying in to make sure Gus's stayed safe. Minutes after they arrived we saw said firemen exiting with bags of chicken in their hands and grins on their faces. Memphis!
And now we're back in the van and headed west toward Denton chasing the sun. Are you still reading this? Come to a show already!
The Donkeys
05/31/2011
New Tour Dates
Just Annouced tour dates with the Hold Steady and a summer trip to Calgary for Sled Island Festival
05/31/2011
Tour Blog Entry #6
Okay, where do I begin? The east coast is a blur at best. So many friends, so many bars, so many late night hours, Before I get ahead of myself lets go back to where we left off, Boston.
We found Jefe and did he have some stories to tell. What should have been a fourty five minute trip to Detroit and a three hour flight to Boston ending up taking him upwards of twenty hours between trains, busses, forgoten lugage, and long distance cab rides. But by the time we rolled in to Cambridge, sure enough he was there waiting. I really wanted to get the story in his words, but he had no time as he is now in Portrugal having left the day after our Brooklyn show. I will get it out of him though, I feel it would be doing the world a great disservice to let that saga go undocumented.
T.T. the Bear's Place was the venue for the night located in the heart of Cambridge off of Mass. Ave. With the sound check done we sought out to find our friends Sterling and Andrew. Some of our oldest tour dogs. We had met them on our first trip out with Casiotone when thier band Pants Yell opened for us. We found an Indian food place and I ate entirely too much food then headed back to the club. As it turns out New Englanders are a hard bunch to stir. Despite their rigid demeanor, we were assured that everyone had a great time. After the usual routine of late night drinks and catching up with old friends we fell asleep with the promise of leasurely day spent in Boston.
New Haven, home of a little college by the name of Yale, was our next stop and it is only two hours south of Boston so we had time. Late breakfast/lunch with Sterling's special lady Shiphrah then we decided to walk about the town a little to take in some local color.
As it turns out we had parked pretty close to Fenway (home of the Redsox) so we went to take a closer look at Americas oldest ballpark. Walking around the back of the building I had noticed an ajar door so we took the iniciative to let ourselves in. Pretending like we owned the place when confronted by employees of the park we were treated to a self directed tour of the grounds. It really is pretty impresive. So much history there, from Babe Ruth to ManRam, it's hard to not get wrapped up in it. We then headed over to our friends work to say bye and enjoy a rooftop view of the city before packing it up to the next show.
New Haven, CT was a good one, we were playing in the back room/dancehall of an uppercrust pizza joint. The place looked exactly like a resturaunt in San Diego by my house so I asked if they were affiliated and found out that an ex-Yale stundent had bitten the business model from them. Or atleast that is the claim, who knows. The show ended up being a lot of fun. The crowd got very into it unlike Cambridge and we were treated to a wide variety of crazy dancing. We hit the road to New York that night so as to get Jefe and Sam into the loving arms of thier waiting lady friends. While Jessie, Tony, and I headed to house of one of the world's greatest people Maurina Lioce....
We had some great shows in New York. We played the Cake shop in Manhattan with Citay. They have a whole new lineup and their guitar player Evan looks like a wizard with a Les Paul. They sounded great every night we played with them. The cake shop might have been the sweatiest show yet. At one point I got light headed on stage and was scared I was going to pass out! Tito, Anthony and I ran across the street and ate at my favorite indian food stop called Punjab. Its amazing indian fast food open 24 hours set up for NY taxi drivers. It's the closest thing to my moms cooking. After the show we had an after party at our friend Rhea's back yard and it got pretty loose. This lasted til morning.
The Brooklyn show at the Rock Stop was great too. I was surprised to meet a certain lead guitar player from the legendary thrash metal band Testament who was delighted that I knew who he was. People in New York are not afraid to dance to the Donkeys which made us very happy. We also did some sight seeing and went to the MET and saw some amazing art with our very good friend Erica. We ended up pulling off another all nighter at a bar that our friend Maurina manages. That night was the last time we saw our beloved Jefe. We said our good byes and parted ways. On a happier note Tito got a really awesome donkey with zebra stripes tattoo the next morning. New York was pretty much what we expected: a ton of fun and absolutely no sleep.
Talk to you soon
The Donkeys
05/24/2011
Tour Blog Entry #5
When we last left you we were mourning the loss of our friend at the Canadian border. Jefe was somewhere in Michigan, and we were headed towards Toronto. Two out of four of us had never been there, but the ones that had (self included) didn't really think much of it from our previous visits. We were soon eating our words as Toronto put on it's best face for us. The highway to the club was closed, the traffic was horrible as a result, and they didn't do a very good job of marking the detour. Despite all of that Toronto is a beautiful city, it was a glourious day, and there were scores of rollerbladers that made for good people watching. Without the help of our wireless device's to get us safely to our destination we had to fend for ourselves but managed to find the club after a little while.
Sneaky Dee's is in a pretty hoppin' part of town. Tons of good resturaunts and bars and even more good lookin' people. We met up with some friends who we were going to stay with, played our show and comenced with the the drinking of some Canadian lagers. After sleeping in a little too late we went out to the Kensington Market for some food and shopping. What was called a market was really just an old neighborhood made up of a bunch of really narrow streets that has become a hub for just about everything you could want. Lunch done and supplies bought we packed up the van and headed out to Hamilton, Ontario.
About fourty five minutes southwest from Toronto, Hamilton also proved to be a really cool town. The Casbah was where we were playing that night. When we showed up we were greated by maybe the nicest promoter/soundguy combo ever. Caleb kept us abreast of the best place to eat in town and which of the unfamiluar beers we should drink, while Brandon dialed us in to perfection jamming along with us at the mixing board. After a well received set that ended with Anthony on his knees wailing out a Gloria cover we chilled real hard with the locals and our old friend Glen then made the drive back to Toronto. Rory was nice enough to leave us a key, he went to his parents cabin in the woods to celebrate Victoria Day, so we had the place to ourselves.
Now, of all the cities we are playing on this tour and all the ones we have played in the passed, I think Montreal may be one of the most looked forward to places in North America. I had been there when I was younger but I really wanted to experience it as an adult. We got to the club early did our sound check and split. We were directed to the St. Laurant area or something like that for food. We had been told about the bagels from Fairmont bagels and the smoked meat sandwiches at Schwartz's. But Sam had only one thing on his mind and if we didnt get some Poutine in front of him he was going to kill. For all of you that don't know what that is (most likely most of you) poutine is a Montreal specialty that consists of french fried potatos and cheese curds covered in a brown gravy. We searched for a while and found the "best" in town which ended up being epic. They served a bunch of different variations of the classic and we all found something we wanted and feasted like kings. So Good. Being that is was a holiday a lot of the shops in town were closed which sucked becuase there were a lot of rad looking places to go. As finding poutine had taken up most of our time we had to go back to the club. Such is the problem with touring, you never get enough time to really see any of the places you are in. But who am I to complain. The crowd that night definitley falls under the quality over quanity catagory. But I want to stress quality. Two in particular, Matisse and Alex had driven an hour to make the show and were super jazzed to see us. As we were to see them.
Late night bagels fresh out of a wood burning stove and a Days Inn concluded our Montreal stay. We are now stateside in cellular range and speeding our way to Boston to find Jefe and hear all about his midwest adventure.
JEFE! WHERE ARE YOU!!!! the Donkeys
Port Huron was my home for the last 2 days but now I'm on my way to Boston, and it's a long way. There is no direct option to Detroit so I had to take Amtrak to Battle Creek (where i am now) and then back to Detroit, it really sucks.
Then I'm flying tonight from Detroit to Boston and I get there at midnight.
By far the cheapest option was to just go home to NY but I miss you bros so much that logic just isn't really working...and it was just too depressing to have the trip over at fucking Port Huron! That place was awesome in the creepiest sense. Part ghost town and part Gummo, but in a weird middle class way.
I indulged in $1 beers at the bowling alley which was completely empty, but I spent most my time at Zebra Bar in the next room.
In the middle of the night there was a knocking at my door at the Super 7 and then someone whispered:
"Ray Ray...
Ray Ray...it's P-Tone!"
I told him through the door he had the wrong room.
Yesterday I walked to the water without seeing a single person or car but then found people fishing all along the railing. One guy looked like Gilbert Grape's mom fishing in a wheelchair.
I took a look at Canada and flipped her off!
I also heard from everyone I talked to that the DUI thing is usually a judgement call, which I didn't need to hear. I also heard that our spot was one of the strictest points of entry and that Detroit would have been easier. This other girl told me to just fly over and I'd have no problem.
Anyhoo, I hope you guys are well. How have the shows been? I'm trying not to think about you in Montreal tonight, it really depresses me. So call or text when get back in the US, I should be around for whenever you roll into town.
Thanks again for calling, it really cheered me up both times! See you tomorrow
Your #1 Stroh
05/21/2011
Tour Blog Entry #4
Hi everybody! This update is a little bittersweet as we had to leave our roadie/merchie/photo-documentarian/positive-vibrationarian, Jeff in Port Huron, Michigan, because he fell in love with the people there, was inaddmissable, or just too cool for Canada to handle. Either way, the rest of us Donkeys are real sad to see him go and wish him all the best on his adventure back to the east coast. The van seems so dark without his laugh and ummm, hair, so please excuse me if the voice of this update seems shakey, as I'm holding back tears while I write.
So last we left you in internet land was Lawrence, KS, where we said goodbye to our friends and headed north to Minneapolis. When we drove up we saw crowds and crowds of people and scalpers in the streets selling tickets. "Wow! We've arrived," I thought to myself, smiling. But wait, people are entering next door and oh $h!t it's the Cars. So needless to say, pretty much everyone in Minneapolis went to see the Cars that night except for a few very loyal and awesome Donkey fans including Mark and Andy from Fog and Mark's girlfriend Jessica. We met Mark and Andy while we were all touring with Why? last summer and it was a real treat hanging with them again.
After Minneapolis we scooted into Chicago to Shubas, which we finally learned was once was THE Shlitz brewery--Awesome! We also got to see our great old freind Owen Asworth and his new band Advance Base, who totally slayed. Owen and his lovely wife, Holly put us up and we stayed up super late talking about records and keyboards and drum sequencers and babies. Early in the morning Owen made us possibly our best breakfast of the tour: eggs (made by Tim), roasted sweet potatoes, avocado, Aardvark hot sauce, and the dude made corn bread muffins--from scratch! Owen knows how to host a band and had the espresso pot brewin' non-stop. What a guy!
From Chicago we drove south to Bloomington, IN, and did a quick radio spot. We played three songs and were in and out in well under an hour. This left us plenty of time for Jessie to go on a quick motorcycle ride with our good friend Mike of Whipoorwill and Magnolia Electric Co. fame. Jessie held on tight because he didn't want a sweet release. After the joyride we met up with our freinds at the label and got treated to a great dinner. Back at the club it was really starting to fill up with the who's who of Bloomington and it was really fun connecting with all of our old friends. We even met a girl who said she had the Donkeys first album and listened to it while driving around Africa all summer! Tim's dad, Big Tim and wife, Bree, made a huge drive to be there and were cracking up everyone per usual. By set time, things felt like they were going well, but when Beach Dog and Mikie helped sing back-ups on Downtown Jenny, I knew we killed it. After the show I was challenged to a ski ball competition and killed that too! What a night! We ended up at our pal JC's beautiful house where there was a grand piano in the living room, a 1967 Mercury Cougar in the driveway and Corona Lights in the fridge!
Next we washed the metaphorical jalepeno vinegar out of eyes, and headed north to Pontiac, Michigan. We were greeted by what looked like a set straight from Robocop and quoted Robo 1 and 2. Tim's sister, Melissa, cousin Jimi, Erin, andaunt Cheri all showed up and Donkeys got right back in the Strohs zone. Old San Diego buddies Lindsay and John Zappos were there too, and a girl who didn't know we were in Bloomington the night before and drove five hours to see us from Indianapolis--what an honor!
Now we're arriving in beautiful Toronto and I already miss Jeff. By the way, EVERYONE ROLLERBLADES HERE, I love it! Thanks for checking in, and come to a show, eh?the Donkeys
Tour Blog Entry #3
Hey kiddos! So I am officially on the technological freeway and heading straight to blog city. As you may know we are zooming around the country to promote our new pancake out on Dead Oceans "Born With Stripes". As I write we are heading to Minneaoplis, but I should rewind a little.
Last we posted we were in Seattle where we had our last show of a west coast jont with our friends The Social Studies! The next morning we got our new van "Carol" an oil change and away we went, next stop Torrey, Utah. This drive is your standard big boy of a drive. A whopping 1,052. Well let me tell you folks, it was worth every mile. We played the Patio, A Spaghetti western saloon. We played outside looking out amongst the most beautiful scenery you could imagine. Playing and setting up the show was the folkster David Williams. After the show we got to hang out with the friendly and delightfuly wild locals. Playing a great card game named Guts all night with the owner John and co.
Next morning we blasted off to Denver Colarado. The drive was like Jessie likes his women. Long, curvey and beauitiful. In Denver we played the great Rock and Roll club, The High Dive. Before the show we got to listen to records on the caliphone I borrowed from my dad and visit with our friends Kizzy and K.C from Fort Collins, Colarado. Backstage at the High Dive is covered with tags of punned out band names mixed with foods. Like Oreo Speedwagon, Dinosaur Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and Seven Slayer Burrito too name a few. Tito was the champion of our humble crew. Giving the wall a pun-isment, he added Serge Gainseburger, John Kale, !!! en and many more.
Next stop was our home away from home, Lawerence KS! We had a great dance partied out show at The Replay and got to hang with our treasured Kansas ambassadors Katie, Amanda, Kelly and even ex-pat Dri! After staying with Katie at her most gorgeous farm house we found ourself at our favorite record store in the country, Love Garden. We emptied our pockets,filled our beer bellies, hugged all our friends and jetted to Dubuque Iowa.
Dubuque is home of one of our favorite bars, Pauls tavern. Full of taxidermied animals and some of the best burgers you will ever eat, Pauls is a must. Dubuque is also home of the drunkest people that The Donkeys have ever seen, heard, smelled, or imagined before. Luckily they liked us and a big dance party ensued after the crowd was warmed up by our quad city friends Chrash. Instead of listening to our bodies, we ended up listening to a ton of awesome records all night at our host and singer of Kerosene Circuit Aaorn's house. Earlier that night we had heard an ever so plastered Dubuque woman angrilry yell at her even more plastered friend who wanted to go home, " You are going to drink til' you puke because you're from motherf*cking Dubuque". I'm not from Dubuque, but hell, when in Rome do as the crazy drunk out of their minds Romans do.
Hurting, but full of excitement we shoved off to Davenport, home of Daytrotter and our good friend Patrick Stolley, engineer extradonaire. Got right to business in Pat's beautiful Future Apple Tree Studio and sent Jefe for a case of beer. Eventually we recorded five live tracks for Daytrotter, a great website run by the super cool Sean and Phil. After the magic making we headed over to Casa de Stolley for a grill out with him and his awesome family. Bbq burgers and vegetables nursed us back to human state and after stocking up on Templeton Rye and hitting Ragged Records we are ready to roll on down the road. Until next time, hee-yah!
the Donkeys
05/14/2011
Tour Blog Entry #2
So here are the pictures from Utah that I was talking about. It is amazing how many of the same pictures I took. As you may notice, even after weeding out the bad ones there are still alot of the same. Whatever though, that place was crazy pretty. I wandered off to that bluff the morning after the show while the dudes were sleeping. After climbing up it and being way to excited about the view I realized I had forgoten how I had gotten up there. With a little bit of panic and and the vision of having to cut my hand off after getting trapped, I managed to shimmy down a crack in that rock and jumped to freendom. I did manage to hurt my foot, but that's what you get for being stupid and wandering off into the wild.
There is jessie next to some petroglyphs, chimney rock, what I thought was petrified wood, and the most epic picture I have ever taken of a humming bird. stoked!!!
peace
the Donkeys
Tour Blog Entry #1
Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and lastly, Torrey (thats in Utah)are behind us and we head to the mile high city of Denver. I have to say that i did not anticipate the shear natural beauty that torrey had to offer. Just outside of the Reef National park in the cayon lands of southern Utah. It was an epic backdrop to an outdoor show. We probably took upwards of a hundred pictures, once we weed them out a little we'll post some for sure. Meanwhile here are a few from those first couple drives.
Talk to you soon.
the Donkeys
New Record, New Site...
Two Thousand and Eleven the Donkeys Have a new record out on Dead Oceans (Born With Stripes) We have a new van to take us around the country. We loved sancho very much and it breaks our heart to let him go. But we had to get with the times. more touring more gear more merch means bigger van. Don't worry though we aren't leaving the cocaracha horn behind.
As you my be able to tell we have gotten a new website as well. Our good friend Andy Ward helped us with the illustrations that now spruce up our interweb image. And I with my limited coding ability have put it together to the best of my ability. Not to shabby. Sure it could be a little smoother around the edges, but you get what you pay for, and in this case it was free but for time. Maybe soon I will send it all over to a proffesional to clean it up for us. Until then enjoy.
So Yeah, it's a new year we have a new record and we are hitting the road in our new van to come play for all of you. So check out the tour dates and come say hi when we come to your town.
Peace out & see you soon.
much love
the Donkeys
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