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First, a word about "The Millenium." Ha! Can I stop laughing now?
The fucking Millenium! What a letdown, eh?
When the so-called "Millenium" came to pass on the night of Dec. 31, 1999, I went out in my backyard and started all the cars that I hadn't started in awhile and let them run for about a half-hour or so. No, none of them were computer dominated vehicles. I just thought it would be a good thing to know that they would indeed start if i needed them to. Call it an exercise in known properties vs. unknown properties. I knew that I had various full gas containers in the yard so I did the smart thing by emptying them all into the existing gas tanks of my existing cars and, having found a pile of greasy, oily rags in the (where else?) barbecue pit, I threw them all safely away into the trashcan. Then I went inside, cleaned the house, came back out, shut off all the running cars and was satisfied that no asshole would be able to come into the backyard and torch anything. Touché.

It was moving on toward midnight when I went inside and locked myself in. But before you think I was Y2K spooked, I'll have you know that I do this ritual every year. I exile myself thusly because I despise New Years Eve and all the idiocy it hosts. It's amateur night and the apex of insincerity so why do I want to be bothered? Who needs the bullshit? So into my sparkling clean shower I jumped and, emerging squeaky clean, I knew where all the flashlights were. I have lots of flashlights. Didn't put on my clothes. Went to the kitchen, grabbed a banana, sat down at my desk and waited for all the clocks to stop and for the jets to careen madly from the skies and for the trains to leap their tracks!!! WOW!! I COULDN'T WAIT!!!

But no, nothing happened.
Just as I figured it wouldn't.
1999 wheezed into 2000.
Pundits and intellectuals continued to debate whether 2000 or 2001 was really the millenium.
What <yawn...> fun.

At least I knew I was ready for Armageddon! Just like I was ready for all the "ends of the world" that had happened before. Yeah. A naked man with a banana, ready to toss the peel under the feet of any sensationalistic invaders who might emerge from the doom of night like a plot development trying to fulfill a network sponsor's prophecy. And the old-fashioned watchhounds of the future begin to bark. Yip! Yip! Reality/WebCam/Cellphone TV, baby! Roll the cameras in the dark, baby! We're living in the zeros, baby!

At least everyone has a nice flashlight now.

I did three tours during the double-grand, triple-zero year.
These were the dates on the February, 2000 Tour:

2/3 Thur— Epitomy Cafe • Tallahassee, FL
2/4 Fri— Sluggo's • Pensacola, FL
2/5 Sat— Dottie's • Atlanta, GA
2/6 Sun— Firebelly Lounge • Wilmington, NC
2/8 Tue— Local 506 • Chapel Hill, NC
2/10 Thur— OttoBar • Baltimore, MD
2/12 Sat— Living Room • New York, NY
2/16 Wed— Blind Lemon • Lakewood, OH
2/17 Thur— Gold Dollar • Detroit, MI
2/18 Fri— Grounds For Thought • Bowling Green, OH
2/19 Sat— Boulevard Cafe • Chicago, IL
2/20 Sun— Filter Inn • Milwaukee, WI
2/22 Tue— 7th Street Entry • Minneapolis, MN
2/23 Wed— Shattered • Columbia, MO
2/24 Thur— 313 Club • St. Louis, MO

It was a good road trip. The Toyota's transmission got kinda noisy around Wilmington, NC but it made it all the way to NYC and then back home with no problems. I was getting sick at the end of the haul and had to cancel the last gig which would've been in Wichita, KS at Kirby's Beer Store. Sincere thanks to the folks there for understanding my plight (and letting me rebook later in the year). I detoured to Oklahoma City and managed to recuperate (and watch some good movies) at a good friend's house. Thanks, Laura!

Then there was what I call the Upland Showcase Tour, 2000:

5/25 Thur— Eclipse Records • St. Paul, MN
5/26 Fri— 1st Avenue • Minneapolis, MN
5/27 Sat— Muldoons • Green Bay, WI
5/28 Sun— Max Festival (Filter Inn) • Milwaukee, WI
5/30 Tues— Creepy Crawl • St. Louis, MO
5/31 Wed— The Hideout • Chicago, IL
6/1 Thur— Blind Lemon • Cleveland, OH
6/2 Fri— Sidebar • Baltimore, MD
6/3 Sat— Rodeo Bar • New York, NY
6/4 Sun— Pete's Candy Store • Brooklyn, NY

At this point the Toyota had a rebuilt tranny which I managed to install into the car mere hours before hitting the road and then I had the good luck of encountering some truly nasty weather in Oklahoma. Oh well. I did the first three gigs on my own, then hooked up with labelmates Drag The River at the Max Festival in Milwaukee. Next day we all drove down to Chicago where I parked my car behind one of DTR's friend's house, I threw my gear into the big truck and we headed out on the highway to St.Louis. Grandpa's Ghost and Stop and Listen Boys (the other two acts on the label) joined us back in Chicago and there you have it—the Upland Showcase Tour. I have to admit it was kinda nice to not have to drive all those miles by myself.

Then there was what is best called the Sleaze Tour, 2000:

8/4 Fri— Sleazefest • Chapel Hill, NC
8/10 Thur— Ottobar • Baltimore, MD
8/12 Sat— Tune Inn Cafe • New Haven, CT
8/13 Sun— The Middle East • Boston, MA
8/16 Wed— The Hideout • Chicago, IL
8/17 Thur— Gold Dollar • Detroit, MI
8/18-20 (fri-sun)— Irish Fest • Milwaukee, WI
8/24 Thur— Lion's Lair • Denver, CO
8/25 Fri— The Starlight • Ft. Collins, CO
8/26 Sat— Upland Breakdown • Centennial, WY
8/27 Sun— Surfside 7 • Ft. Collins, CO
8/29 Tue— Kirby's Beer Store • Wichita, KS

Unfortunately, this tour put me in debt. Too many shows fell through and gave me too much time off—the kiss of financial death. But it was fun. Sleazefest was my worst show of the trip but only because I had to play immediately—no exaggeration here—after driving 12 non-stop hours from Pensacola (where I had managed to get 4 hours sleep after driving 12 non-stop hours from Austin). Not fun at all but sometimes ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Regardless, Sleazefest itself was a total blast! Wanna do it again! The rest of the shows might have been the best shows I've yet done on any tour. No, I didn't actually perform at Irish Fest, but there were the tune sessions, y'know.

I do need to gloat a bit over one of the tour highlights. In fine form, the Toyota turned over 250,000 miles on the Massachusetts Turnpike early on the morning of Tuesday, August 15. YEAH! Still not leaking or burning oil!

And concluding the touring portion of the year there was:

Sept. 8-10— CelticFest • Jackson, MS
My second time playing at this festival and I also gave a tenor banjo workshop.

Then there were some local shows I did. Most notably:

May 6 Sat— Clandestine • Cactus Cafe
This here's one of my favorite bands and I had the privelege of opening for them. A band definitely worth experiencing. Clandestine tours their butts off and, more importantly, they don't let great music get in the way of sharing a good time with an audience. Dig it?

Oct. 9 Mon— My Show • Cactus Cafe
Yep, this was the big solo show at the big folk club. John Burleson, known as a storyteller and member of Celtic band Lost Tribe, sat in with me on a few tunes and hell, this show was a whole lotta fun! Good crowd too. I finally had my chance to do the on-air promotional thing that morning on KUT. I'd performed on the show in the past with other folks but never on my own behalf. I admit that I was kinda nervous and forgot an entire section of one of my own compositions. Ha! But that night I forgot the same section again on stage. Kick me.

Oct. 27 Fri— Poison 13/Motards Reunion • Sound Exchange
I was kinda skeptical about this one at first. Y'know, there's been all these punk rock reunion tours by bands that probably shoulda hung it up for good when they did. But I was flattered to be asked to play a solo set between the bands and I was glad I did cuz both P13 and the Motards kicked righteous butt. Now, I'm not one to babble on about "da old daze" but this was a good old-fashioned parking lot party with beer, lotsa the old crowd, lotsa the new crowd, lotsa familiar faces from outta town, and free admission. There was a record convention happening that weekend too. Who can ask for more?

Nov. 4 Sat— Austin Celtic Festival • Dog & Duck Pub
This was with my band DeLorean Mechanics and it was our second time playing this festival. Earlier in the year we played at the big St. Paddy's Day blowout at the same location. In past shows before the Celtic crowd, most of the audience didn't understand what we were doing. But this time everyone seemed to finally "get it." YAY!

Dec. 28 Thur— Flipnotics Coffeespace
I shared a bill with Heather Bishop, a great, soulful singer who does the acoustic songwriter thang. We had been unsuccessful in coming to each other's local shows so... we booked a show together and it was tons o' fun! There's definitely gonna be more of this hapnin'!

And I gotta mention something about the Breton Crew. Back in March I had the opportunity to play a few shows with Breton duo Jean-Michel Veillon & Yvon Riou. If'n ya don't know anything about the Celtic music that comes outta Brittany, I can properly say that it's definitely a Thang. Aside from being an absolutely outstanding wooden flute and bombarde player, Jean-Michel is a helluva nice guy and a lot of fun to hang out with. When he returned to the states in the fall with the band Kornog, he agreed to put a flute track on a DeLorean Mechanics' version of two chestnuts—the Miles Davis standard "All Blues" which segued into the workhorse slip-jig "The Butterfly"—which hopefully will be released as part of the soundtrack to a film project.

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