Seattle Has Finally Learned to Count in Spanish

Yes, I know, it's been over a week since I said I'd be putting up more pics from the Peacemakers' show, and I'm sure you've all just been dying waiting.  Here they are:



This in no way gives any sense of the sheer awesomeness of seeing the Peacemakers live.  If you get a chance, go do it.  Even if you think you'll hate it.  Even if you don't like that kind of music.  There's a certain quality to a Peacemakers show that transports you beyond all those preconceptions and makes you wonder how you could have ever possibly doubted.

It's been interesting watching the Seattle crowd evolve.  There's still a rather sad dearth of straw hats, alas - it seems Seattle folk just can't wrap their noggins around the idea that straw cowboy hats are practically a requirement for the True Peacemakers Fan.  But at least they can count in Spanish now.  The first show I went to up here, back in 2007, it was truly pathetic listening to these pale Northerners try to chant "Uno, dos, tres, quatro!" What a difference four years makes:



Now they're getting it!

Allow me to do my part to convince my fellow Seattleites that you should, indeed, wear a straw cowboy hat:

Mexico, May 2006

I wear a straw hat now.  Straw hats are cool.

And yes, that is the Peacemakers' logo tattooed to my shoulder.  If you wonder why, just go see one of the shows.  Then you'll understand.

For Roger: Disco Ball

The rapture happened, my darlings.  Well, for me.  Well, rapture in one sense, anyway.  After an early evening in with the new episode of Doctor Who (and what better evidence that this is, indeed, the Tribulation than the fact that we now have to wait two bloody weeks for the second part of this two-parter?), my friends and I headed out to the Peacemakers concert.

It.  Was.  Fantastic.

But it's the Peacemakers, so those of you who know what kind of show the Peacemakers put on already knew that.

I'll have plenty more pics and gushing a bit later, but I wanted to post Roger's disco ball first thing.  He loved that thing.  So here it is, in all its glory:

Disco Ball at Neumos

Roger and Nick with Disco Ball Overhead

Peacemakers con Disco Ball

And, amazingly, video in which both sight and sound are relatively clear:



Have I mentioned lately that I love my camera almost as much as I love the Peacemakers?

If there's a better way to spend the end of the world, I can't really think of it - unless, of course, it's one of their Mexico shows.  But we wouldn't have had a disco ball there, so perhaps this worked out for the best.

One (or Two) For the Road

Silver Fox has a post up about road songs:

So one day, I'm in the passenger seat of some other geo's truck, being driven from place to place through thick trees and over rutted and roily dirt roads somewhere in central Idaho, in search of particularly fascinating outcrops — any outcrops would do, given the number of trees and lack of visibility — and JS, the geo-type whose projects I was visiting, pulled two of his newly made road tapes out of the glove box. The tapes, filled with road songs, were meant to be played while on the road, any road. Brainstorming while we listened, all the while watching for outcrops, we came up with a million more road songs, and a rather loose definition.

A road song must contain a word pertaining to roads — road, highway, freeway, byway, street, interstate — or it can instead contain words pertaining to cars, trucks, semis, and railroads or railway cars. Travel songs without mentioning the roads or railroads or the vehicles don't count, and airplane or boat songs are generally out. Exceptions to these rules may exist, but I can't think of any.

And it occurs to me, there's a perfect road song she may never have heard:



See? It's even got the word "interstate" right there in the title.

And there's a second song that doesn't quite qualify as a road song, but it's about being a long way from home, and it's wonderful, and so it shall be included here:



Silver, my dear, if you enjoyed those, and wish for just a little bit more, let me know, and a CD shall be on its way to you directly.  The Peacemakers have plenty more where that came from.

Lyrics below the fold.

This is What I Abandoned You For

Look at this face.  Do you really think I could stay home and blog about idiot politicians with this face grinning in downtown Seattle?

I haven't missed a single year with the Peacemakers since 2003.  It's not a show, it's an experience.  And I can't get that experience across in a blog post.  So here's what you've gotta do.  Go check out their tour dates.  They'll be in a city near you soon.  And I don't want to hear, "But Dana - I live in England!"  They're coming to England in February 2010.  They'll even be in Scotland.  You have no excuse.

That's right - my homestate band is going international, baby, yeah!

Follow me after the jump for more concert pics, and a spirited attempt to get across the essence of what a Peacemakers show is, including shocking revelations!

Yes, The Peacemakers Are More Important

Yup.  I'm ditching you all for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. 

I'll make it up to you Sunday morning.  Until then, take a night away from ye olde political stupidity and enjoy yourselves.

Peacemakers Postscript

Take careful note of the engraving. This is the official flask of En Tequila Es Verdad, and if you want one, you can get your very own here.

Only the finest tequila is going in mine, which means it stays empty until I can afford same.

Nothing can be as pure awesome as that flask, except for this:


That's right. As the Daily Show once said, "Ten F@#!ing Years!" Happy Anniversary, mis amigos!

If you ever need to find my car, it's the Nissan with both that bumper sticker and this one:

I'm done being a total geek now. We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Sheer Bliss

The Peacemakers were, as always, beyond awesome.

Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't good enough for my poor ol' camera, so you'll have to content yourselves with some older pics. Here's Circus Mexicus, May 2005:



The Seattle crowds are getting better. Still not enough straw hats - they're hard to come by up here - but at least everybody's learning to count in Spanish. Everybody roared all the words to the songs. Everybody knew all the in-jokes, made Roger proud, and had a spectacular time, and that definitely matters more than haberdashery. However, if I come into money, all of you horribly hat-deprived fans shall have only to ask, and the hat of your dreams is yours.

Roger & Me at J.J.'s Cantina, Cholla Bay, Mexico, in October 2005. You're dying of envy, aren't you? You're pure-yellow jealous he's wearing my super-awesome hat, and I'm wearing his, and he even remembers my name.



I took a friend tonight who, judging by his face, is now in love with the Peacemakers. I didn't ask if he's of Justin's opinion and now wants to have Roger Clyne's babies, but that's okay. I'll be happy to have Roger's babies for them both.

Yes, I'm a hopeless fangirl. However did you guess?

Here's Roger taking the traditional shot of tequila from the audience at Circus Mexicus, May 2006:


If we all lived by the Peacemaker's creed, life would be utterly simple. Bring peace, take care of each other. That's it. That's what Roger tells us to do, every show, and his music makes it happen. I can't explain it to you. You'll have to be there. But if we could translate that feeling of love and beauty and community into the everyday world, there would be no war. There would be no dogma. There would be no conflict. Just a lot of people drinking the world and enjoying each other immensely.

I noticed something strange this time. Now that I've made the full transition to atheism, now that I've grown utterly comfortable with my lack of faith, I felt completely free. Free to enjoy the music, the company, and the beauty. Free to live in the moment, without pressure, feeling the joy and wonder of the world flow through me. I've felt this way at Peacemaker's concerts before, but there was always a touch of anxiety under the sensation. This time, there was no anxiety. Just bliss.

Christians in the future may ask me, "But don't you miss God? Don't you wish you could feel the Spirit in you?"

And the answer is, "Not a bit. I have all I need, in the music, in the people, and in this world."

Even atheists can feel transcendence. Even we can feel this boundless sense of love and awe, but for us, it comes from the natural world, and from the wonders our fellow human beings are capable of. I don't need to believe in a perfect God in order to have perfect moments like this. For me, it's actually easier to have them without trying to convince myself of the existence of just such a God. As the song says, "Better beautiful than perfect anyway."

While the moon wanes and waxes,
Surely death and taxes
Are lurking out there.

Life is grand,
Love is real,
And beauty is everywhere.

Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ., 2007

Tremendous Fangirl

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. In Seattle. Awesome.

I just got back from the show. Roger's grown a goatee - little bit jarring, him looking like Johnny Depp as Captain Jack. P.H. Naffah now has a head of hair - apparently, our "Let the 'fro grow, bro!" chant a few shows back worked. And Stevie and Nick - I've never seen them more on.

Now I'm fucking homesick. The great thing about living in Arizona was getting to see them a half dozen times a year, including two trips to Mexico. I miss Mexico. I miss the Sea of Cortez, and hours of music with three thousand fans pressed around me, and fireworks, and tequila, and just the feeling of it all.

Other folks can have their religion. I have my Peacemakers. And I can tell you that there's a spirit at those shows that beats anything I ever felt in a church. Life is given a meaning beyond words. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I come out of those shows renewed. And I'd yammer your ears off about it, but if you've never been, you won't understand. So all I'm going to say is, when they're in your town next, drop in. Get acquainted. I can't promise you'll get the same boost I do, but there's no denying you'll have a good time. I've never seen a band that makes a concert more fun.

I came away with the new Turbo Ocho CD, a gorgeous shirt made just for writers (I'm Kissing the Muse), and the most important thing of all: hope.

They always leave me with the hope that enough of us can come together, cross the divides and mingle, that the world will become a finer place. Some of us will never reach that common ground, love each other enough to let each other just be who we are, but enough of us will.

Roger talked about the lot of us moving down to Mexico. You know something? I can think of far worse fates than spending the rest of my life lazing around on the beach with a bunch of Peacemakers fans and a ton of good tequila.

Let's go!

One Hundred

That's right, my darlings. The 100th post. A landmark day.

Pop a cork and celebrate with me. I couldn't have done it without you.

You know what else I'd like to see reach 100? The Skeptologists! Which means it needs to be picked up by a network. So drop on by, if you haven't already, and send a note of support. I think the Skeptologists would go nicely with some Mythbusters, don't you?

Kick back, raise your glass, and have a little skeptical TV.

Here's to you, here's to quality programming, and here's to life.



We now return you to your regularly scheduled ranting, already in progress.

Tequila and Great Music, Anyone?

Post-dated to stay up here awhile.


My darlings, I'm not sure how many of you may be near Seattle, but if you're in town April 25th, so are the Peacemakers. We should go.

Never heard of the Peacemakers? No problemo. You'll still have a great time. I'd never heard a Peacemakers' song before I went to my first show. I enjoyed it immensely anyway.

Don't like that kind of music? Doesn't matter. Neither do I. I'm a symphonic/power/black metal person myself, the occasional foray into my sordid Western/80s New Wave distant past aside. But the Peacemakers transcend normal tastes.

Besides. You'll be drinking. A lot.

Don't like tequila? For shame That's perfectly fine. There are plenty of other beverages that will compensate.

And you can hang out with Dana. Really in real life Dana. How cool is that?

It'll be pretty cool. I'll be pissed, plastered, smashed, hammered, and not to put too fine a point on it, pretty damned drunk. People tell me I'm fairly amusing when I'm sloshed, snookered, or otherwise intoxicated. You'll at least have that for entertainment value until the Peacemakers take the stage.

So drop on by Neumos on April 25th. I'll be there. You know what I look like. Same hair, same hat. Just look for the drunken black metal chick in the black straw hat screaming "Roger!" at the top of her lungs.