IT'S A LIVING… BUT IT'S NOT A LIFE #12.5
J Church / Honey Bear / Blah, blah, blah
Talk about the Passion…

J CHURCH ON THE ROAD

Yep, the record ain't out and we're still hitting the road. It's true. Here are the dates. See you there…

MARCH
M 3-29 Ft. Worth ­ (w/ Thought Riot, The Reprehensibles, Censored)
T 3-30 Oklahoma City - Green Door (w/ The Costellos)
W 3-31 TBA

APRIL
TH 4-1 Kansas City - El Torreon (w/ Dysrhythmia, James Dean Trio)
F 4-2 TBA St Louis
S 4-3 Chicago - Fireside (w/ Methadones, Textbook)* MATINEE
SU 4-4 Minneapolis - Triple Rock Social Club
M 4-5 Des Moines ­ Vaudeville Mews
T 4-6 Iowa City - Gabes Oasis
W 4-7 Milwaukee - Mad Planet (w/ Methadones, McNaughton Skyline, Fly By Night)
TH 4-8 Cleveland - Pirates Cove (w/ Methadones)
F 4-9 Pittsburgh - Mr Robotto (w/ Methadones, Hit Me Back, Suburban Death Machine)
S 4-10 Wilkes Barre PA ­ Metropolis (w/ Methadones, Dead Radical, Fo A Cha)*
SU 4-11 Easter - OFF
M 4-12 Providence RI ­ The Living Room (w/ Methadones, Camp Climax For Girls)
T 4-13 NYC ­ Northsix (w/ Methadones, Officer May, General Miggs)
W 4-14 Philly ­ TBA (The Fire?)
TH 4-15 Raleigh, NC ­ The Kings Barcade (w/ Methadones, Punch Drunk)*
F 4-16 West Columbia, SC ­ New Brookland Tavern (w/ Methadones)
S 4-17 Atlanta - Drunken Unicorn (w/ Methadones)
SU 4-18 Gainseville - Common Grounds (w/ Methadones, Grabass Charlestons)
M 4-19 Tampa ­ Orpheum (w/ Methadones, Vagina Sore Jr., The Rogue Set)
T 4-20 Pensacola ­ Handlebar (w/ Methadones)
W 4-21 Baton Rouge, Rotolos Pizza (w/ Methadones)
TH 4-22 Houston - Walter's On Washington (w/ Methadones)
F 4-23 Austin TBA
* - The Methadones headline.

J CHURCH AND SCUMROCK!!!

Jon Moritsugu's latest flick Scumrock is making it's Texas debut here in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse on May 6th and J Church will be playing a set before the movie right in the theater. Should be a fucking excellent time. The movie is really cool too. I guess the reason we got asked to do this is because Jon is my pal, we're on the soundtrack and I've got a silly little cameo in the movie. Come one, come all!!!

THE PASSION, JESUS, ETC.

It's funny how everyone is so up in arms about this movie. It's just a movie and there are equally horrible messages in most big Hollywood flicks. What seems funny to me about the movie is that they keep going on and on about how much attention they paid to detail. They made all these fucking people learn Aramaic and whatever for authenticity. BUT THEY'RE ALL WHITE! It's all a bunch of white people basically doing a violent, less musical, version of Godspell. When was Aramaic the dominant language for any white culture? Never. Seems like if they're gonna get the language down and the sets and the costumes, they should cast the right actors.

Anyway, I may go see this movie some day. If I do, I go with the same spirit that I see any other fantasy/sci fi/action flick. But I haven't even seen The Return of the King yet, so I may just wait for the DVD…

Oh crap, now I have to boycott Sonic! I don't know if they have Sonic where you live. But there's a Sonic literally across the street from my house. It's a great tater tot resource for me. With all the crazy Christian atmosphere in Austin, they've decided to add a new bargain meal: the Lenten Meal. You get a drink, fries and a fish sandwich. That's so fucking lame. I would think that especially if you were a Christian you would think it was blasphemous. I'm down with the separation of Church and State. I'm also down with my separation from the Church and State. But I'm REALLY down with the separation of Church and snacks!!!

WEBSITE

I've been still working like crazy on the website. If you haven't checked it out, it's at www.honeybearrecords.net. I've been tightening up the layouts and adding more graphics that I like. Hopefully it will make the site more engaging. I'm probably gonna get rid of the Guest Book (it never really worked) and the Video sections.

I've added long sections for Cringer, Some Hope and Some Despair, other bands I used to be in, and all the Honey Bear bands past and present. All that stuff is tucked away in the "Other" section. I've tried to make the merch section more clear and concise. Hopefully it will make more sense. It also is better at reflecting what is currently available. Lastly, I've cleaned up and updated the links and MP3s. Should all make a lot more sense and all the stuff should work.

Let me know what you think I'm missing or what you would like for me to add to any section.

J CHURCH TOUR DIARY (U.S. ­ SUMMER 2003)

AUGUST 19th ­ GAINESVILLE, FL (CG Coffeehouse)
I love Gainesville. Part of it is because I always feel like we're on the homestretch once we get here. But also because it seems like an irrationally large number of our friends are from this burg. Do we have Var to blame?

Our old pal Jason (late of Unitas, former Discount/Hot Water Music roadie) set this up for us. He's one of those guys that I'm friends with that we just pick up wherever we left off no matter how many years it's been, no matter what continent we're on. One of the good guys… Why did Unitas split up?

Did I mention Var? Yeah, I hadn't seen that guy in years and years. Like me and David Hayes and Charles Maggio and a few others, he's one of the guys who has stuck it out and is still doing something cool. I guess it's presumptuous of me to think I'm doing something cool. But what I mean is he's still sticking with his guns and at the same time rolling with the changes and not becoming a nostalgia guy. No Idea is a consistently interesting label that is now an incredible distro. It was cool to finally see his new digs and pick up some records along the way. So much good shit on that label. I fucking love that band Bitchin'!

Got to play with True North tonight. It was a real treat. I mean, I love that band anyway. But they were working out new stuff at this show. Really interesting. I really like that drummer's technique. There's a lot of personality in this band's playing.

AUGUST 20th ­ ORLANDO, FL (Will's Pub)
The next two Florida shows were sort of duds. Sparsely attended. Will's Pub was probably the worst as we've had such great shows here in the past (not the club, but the city). Some new kid, pop punk, poseur band opened up with some dork rocking out and taking photos. It was silly New Found Glory type bunk. Someone told me that they hit our van as they were leaving the club and just sped off. I don't even remember what those fakers were called.

AUGUST 21st ­ PENSACOLA, FL (Handle Bar)
Most of the group went off to hang out at the beach. Fuck the beach! Jug and I went off in search of Chinese food and we fucking found it! This whole town was completely dead and empty as we walked around, so it was no shock that the show was sort of blah.

I did get to see Jessy who I actually first met years ago when she was in a band called Vanbuilderass and living in Gainesville. Last time I saw her was when her band Subtonix were crashing at my place in Austin. I really hope she starts to play music again. She's so interesting and smart. I know the Subtonix couldn't last. But if they had, the world would be a much different place. Certainly the music world…

AUGUST 22nd ­ HOUSTON, TX (Fat Cat's AKA Mary Jane's)
Drove all night to get back to the lone star state. Sleeping time over at Mark from the Storm the Tower's family house. Wow, his dad is nuts. I mean, he's nice. But, wow, I have new respect for Mark for surviving. Nice house. Sleep time.

Fat Cat's is the end of Storm the Tower how we originally knew them. Tensions erupt and Mark walks offstage mid-set. Chris breaks his guitar. It's chaos. They probably don't wanna hear this, but it made for a really exciting show.

These last two shows are with a cool Houston band called the Fighting Type. I really dig these guys. They've been mining the Merge/Superchunk/indie veins for some time and coming up with some interesting stuff. It's catchy and the singer has a cool voice, which is more than you can usually hope for with indie rock.

I actually really enjoyed our set. Those last two shows were kind of burners for me. So it was nice to play a somewhat normal set to a more appreciative audience. I don't know why I've always liked playing Houston. I don't know why we've always had fun shows there.

AUGUST 23rd - AUSTIN, TX (Emo's)
Home. I think I'm actually glad to be home. It was Saturday night on Red River and that really is usually the worst place in the world to be. The show was okay considering it was a lot more expensive than I was expecting. I think it was $10, which is crazy considering we play every other month here opening for other bands. Actually, when we arrived there were some kids leaving when they saw how much the door was. That felt like a real fuck-up.

Still, it was worth it for those who got to see the four-piece Storm the Tower for the last time. Mark quit and everyone gets along again. In fact, both J Church and Storm the Tower have played with Mark's new band, the amazing Signal Lost, on more than one occasion. They just "signed" to Prank and will soon bury us all.

It was probably one of the better Austin shows for DFI. I'm not sure if DFI had ever played Emo's before this one. With a friendly audience, it was probably his most relaxed performance.

We were okay. In my mind, I was already at home and in bed. It was good to see the folks from Vulcan Video if not just for a little while after we got done playing. The show actually went late and for some reason we did a super, super long set ending after 2:00 AM. Don't believe the hype. The last show of tour is almost always anti-climactic.

THE END

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