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NEWS Been to a movie lately? How long was it? 90 minutes? Maybe two hours? How much did it cost you for just your ticket? $6? $7? More? Buy a candy bar or a bag of popcorn? How much did that set you back? $3? $4? Yeah...more. How much time have you spent on this web site over the last year? If you spent just four or five minutes several times a week downloading one of the many free mp3's on the "Music" page or checking out my latest thoughts on "Views", that comes out to about 9 feature length films worth of entertainment! Make a $5 donation to help defray bandwidth costs and consider the 8 feature length films worth of entertainment time left over on me! February 3, 2012 - Uploaded remastered mp3 of "Blue Man" from March 14, 2009. January 28, 2012 - Uploaded "God Bless" by the Karl Rove for the Song Of The Week page. January 26, 2012 - Uploaded some excerpts from a Fear + Whiskey practice from 1.25.2012. January 25, 2012 - Uploaded 3.29.1997 video performance of "Abandoned" by Book Of Kills. January 17, 2012 - Uploaded 1.16.2012 performance by Fear + Whiskey of "Heaven". January 12, 2012 - Updated the discography. Uploaded BOK's performance of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" from 10/23/2004. January 3, 2012 - Uploaded a couple of ten minute excerpts from the January 2, 2012 Fear + Whiskey practice. December 21, 2011 - Uploaded a new matrix recording of the March 11, 2009 Book Of Kills show. December 15, 2011 - Uploaded the new song of the week. December 6, 2011 - Uploaded the new song of the week. November 28, 2011 - Uploaded the new song of the week. November 21, 2011 - Uploaded the new song of the week. November 1, 2011 - Really
now...does anyone actually check out this page EVER? Anyway, I uploaded
an old essay written about
Jim by Aaron Farrington, as well as a new song for the music page and blah
blah blah blah blah blah. October 7, 2011 - Uploaded the almost-complete concert from 9/23/2011. September 27, 2011 - Fixed a substantial number of links on the Words and Articles pages and added some long-unavailable articles that I didn't know weren't online anymore until someone notified me last night. September 22, 2011 - Uploaded the latest song of the week. September 13, 2011 - Uploaded the latest song of the week. September 9, 2011 - Uploaded the latest song of the week. August 30, 2011 - Uploaded photographs of the final Karl Rove show in 2006. Fixed the Electric Blue show broken links. August 23, 2011 - Uploaded a new song of the week. August 16, 2011 - Uploaded pictures of a Book Of Kills show from August 7, 2001. August 15, 2011 - Uploaded the Fear + Whiskey Blow Up The Moon festival performance. August 11, 2011 - Uploaded a new song of the week. August 10, 2011 - Uploaded photos from the April 13, 2002 Book Of Kills show. July 28, 2011 - Uploaded the latest song of the week. July 25, 2011 - Added a new AUTOreverse interview. Finished fixing all known broken links...for now. July 23, 2011 - Uploaded several interviews from the past twenty years or so. July 22, 2011 - Added additional photos to the March 29, 2001 and February 7, 2005 shows. Uploaded photos for the June 16, 2000 show. July 21, 2011 - Uploaded some Book Of Proles concert pictures. I am continuing to correct problems on the site...thanks for your input. July 20, 2011 - Fixed some very minor errors in the discography and show pages. Uploaded a new song of the week. July 13, 2011 - Uploaded a new song of the week. July 12, 2011 - Added the Acoustic Kills album to the store. July 11, 2011 - Updated the discography. July 9, 2011 - Uploaded some nice photographs by Zach Sensabaugh of the Fear + Whiskey performance from June 23, 2011. July 7, 2011 - Made some corrections in information and formatting to the discography page. July 4, 2011 - Uploaded a new, unreleased live recording of BOK from 2001. June 24, 2011 - Uploaded the show from last night. June 21, 2011 - Uploaded the latest song of the week. June 17, 2011 - Added four more photos to the Earth Day on the Greenway page. June 16, 2011 - The new album is now available as a CD or MP3s. June 14, 2011 - Uploaded many more photos from the Earth Day gig. Also uploaded #6 in the "Song Of The Week" series...this week focuses on the newly recorded "Man In The Long Black Coat". June 13, 2011 - Uploaded photos from the August 10, 2002 Outback Lodge show. June 11, 2011 - Uploaded seven photos from the Earth Day gig. June 5, 2011 - Uploaded #5 in the "Song Of The Week" series...this week focuses on the 1992 track, "Abandoned". June 1, 2011 - Uploaded photographs from the February 22, 2003 Book Of Kills show. May 30, 2011 - Uploaded #4 in the "Song Of The Week" series...this week focuses on the 2008 track, "3 Lunes". May 18, 2011 - Uploaded #3 in the "Song Of The Week" series...this week focuses on the 2007 track, "You Burn And You Know It". May 11, 2011 - Uploaded #2 in the "Song Of The Week" series...this week focuses on the 2002 track, "AntiMan". May 4, 2011 - I've decided to resurrect (at least until I get tired of doing it again) the popular "Song Of The Week" (I think at one time it was the song of the day but that was ridiculous). So I've gotten rid of the original "Music" page. We'll see how long I can keep it up. Maybe once a week won't be so bad to keep up with. May 1, 2011 - Uploaded a video of Fear + Whiskey performing "Few and Far" live. April 29, 2011 - Uploaded a video of Fear + Whiskey performing "Cold Rain and Snow" live. April 25, 2011 - Updated the "Shows" page. April 20, 2011 - Uploaded the April 20, 2006 Karl Rove show for a LIMITED TIME ONLY! Took down the 4.10.2011 show. Sorry. I've gotta keep bandwidth usage relatively manageable. April 11, 2011 - Uploaded the entire 4.10.2011 Fear + Whiskey show. Available for a limited time only. March 23, 2011 - Fixed the broken link to the Sonny's Place concert. Sorry. March 14, 2011 - Uploaded photos from the March 14, 2009 show at Sonny's Place. Also temporarily made the entire Sonny's Place concert available! March 10, 2011 - Uploaded two new video compilations of live footage from the Fear + Whiskey show, March 4, 2011. March 7, 2011 - Uploaded "Fade" from the 2009 BOK album Toward The Escape. Added a few photos by Mary Lou Nipe of the March 4, 2011 show. March 6, 2011 - You can
stream or download
the Fear + Whiskey show by going here! February 22, 2011 - Uploaded almost all of the photos Amy Batman took of the final BOK, March 13, 2010. February 17, 2011 - Uploaded to the music page a remastered live version of "Marzipan Day" from March 14, 2009 at Sonny's in Luray, VA. February 16, 2011 - Uploaded a ton of photos from the March 26, 2006 Book Of Proles show. February 8, 2011 - Uploaded several dozen photographs taken during the February 1, 2003 show. February 3, 2011 - Uploaded pictures from the March 30, 2006 Karl Rove show at Better Than TV in Charlottesville, Virginia. January 31, 2011 - Uploaded pictures from September 2008 photo session with photographer Jana Burtner. January 18, 2011 - Uploaded a version of "For What It's Worth" from the January 12, 2011 practice. January 11, 2011 - Uploaded a bunch of photos of a Book Of Proles practice from February 7, 2005.. January 5, 2011 - Uploaded pictures (several that haven't been published before) of the July 10, 2001 Book of Kills concert. December 31, 2010 - Uploaded three excellent photos by Jeff from the December 22 recording session. December 28, 2010 - Uploaded some photos from the October 25, 2009 BOK benefit show. December 24, 2010 - Uploaded three new studio recordings by Fear + Whiskey. December 23, 2010 - Uploaded six photos from 12/22/2010 recording sessions. December 14, 2010 - Uploaded photos from the October 8, 2009 at the Blue Nile...some really excellent shots. Included are several photos that I've never published on the web site before! December 2, 2010 - Uploaded some photos from a July 3, 2010 show at the Outback in Charlottesville, VA. November 15, 2010 - Lots of new content...You can listen to or download four songs from Fear + Whiskey's debut performance, November 13, 2010 by going here! You can also see a few pictures from the gig taken by Mary Lou Nipe here. I believe there will be more pictures coming soon. Would you like to download the entire 60 minute concert? Go to the merchandise page for more information! November 8. 2010 - Uploaded some photos by (at the time, 11 year old) Drea Good-Brown of the fateful November 15, 2006 Karl Rove gig that pretty much broke the back of the band and led to its break-up days later. November 1, 2010 - Another project that is in the works (and one that will probably be available sooner than the ones listed below)...a special edition of In My Room: The Best Of Book Of Kills, Volume One in a run of at most three or four to be featured only on ebay, which has become the best way (unfortunately) for me to sell BOK-oriented stuff. While ebay and their subsidiary PayPal take something like a 20% (or more) chunk of my sales, they do provide me with a much wider audience for selling. Anyhow, a friend sent me a long email over the weekend concerning the "old days" when I only sold cassettes and how much he enjoyed listening to In My Room, and I thought I'd re-release it as a special edition two disc (it's almost ninety minutes long) set with, I suppose, the now typical collage insert and liner notes (since I can't think of another practical way of making each album one-of-a-kind.) Uploaded seven photos from the October 5, 2002 Book Of Kill show in Gore, Virginia. October 27, 2010 - Four projects currently in the works (with no timeline for their completion): A solo acoustic album of old BOK songs; a live compilation of performances from the Mike/George/Teker/Jim BOK era (but it takes FOREVER to search through recordings of practices and concerts to find tracks that are exciting, well-played and relatively well-recorded); a chapbook version of the very popular The Ballad Of Jim Shelley (which was posted on this web site for over a year before I took it down some time ago) newly expanded and revised - and don't look for this one any time soon although I do work on it from time to time; and the second volume of Words. I'm still not sure if this will be the second of three or simply the second. As I noted before, I've released an awful lot of albums since mid-1996 (the point at which the first volume ended). October 25, 2010 - Added a live version of "Stanley The Steamer" from 2009 to the music page. October 22, 2010 - Found another live video on the web and added it to the video page. October 19, 2010 - The newly revised and expanded Words (1983-1996) is now available for $8.95 postage paid. You can order a copy on the merchandise page today! I created a videos page. While there aren't a whole heck of a lot of BOK et al videos on the internet, I'll try to collect the ones I can find on this page. I uploaded photographs (some never before published on this site) of the September 15, 2007 Plague Dogs show. You can see them here. October 18, 2010 - I should have a few copies of Words (1983-1996) - which is the greatly revised and expanded second edition of the 1995 chapbook (in other words, a glorified pamphlet) Words (1989-1995) - available by mid-week.. I don't know how much I'll sell it for because I haven't gotten a printing/stapling price from Staples yet. Words (1983-1996) will cover the majority of albums I released between 1983 and mid-1996. A second volume ostensibly including albums from late 1996 to the present will follow in the spring (though that's a LOT of songs and I might have to split this project into three volumes). In an effort to keep the cost as low as possible, these chapbooks will be printed on "regular" paper. Nothing fancy...just lots and lots of lyrics. October 17, 2002 - Last week was kind of weird...I ended up being busier than I thought, some stuff I didn't get done that I thought I'd get done, some stuff I did do that I didn't even intend to do, etc etc. Have I been negligent of the web site? Whatever...right? Anyway, I added some good photographs of a BOK show from May 5, 2002 that (I think) Deanne Good took. I remember this gig as being a really fun one but also with some weird audience dynamics going on. By this time, BOK had a pretty loyal local following of some very cool, very artistic people. It was one of my favorite "eras" in my musical life, though things had already occurred and were soon to occur that would lead to the unfortunate demise of the group. I wonder what would have happened to all of us if we'd continued making music to this day? I imagine the various things going on in each band member's life would most likely have precluded our ever surviving as a group to 2010, to be quite honest.
October 14, 2010 - Added a cover of the Rolling Stones' classic
"Paint It Back" as interpreted by the Plague Dogs (with me on bass
and lead vocals!) October 13, 2010 - Unfortunately we ended up not being able to practice yesterday. However, ever the industrious one, I decided I'd record the new song I wrote (with some help from Jeff) for Amy to sing and ended up really having a good time doing so. I decided beforehand that I'd record on my old Tascam 8 track Portastudio and use only a Shure SM-57 microphone (which is what I used to record countless BOK tracks when I had only money enough to purchase one mic.) Anyway, I've put the song up on the store for just 99 cents. You can listen to a sample there as well.
October 11, 2010 - Uploaded a TON of photos by Deanne Good from the
Book Of Kills
2009 Halloween performance. Though right now we're still completely guitar, bass and drums based, I really would like to eventually delve into other sounds a la Yo La Tengo's experimentations with keyboards. I'd say that that band is the one we're closest to in style and sound, though we're hardly a clone of Ira, Georgia and James. October 7, 2010 - Had a good practice with Fear + Whiskey yesterday. What made it best for me was introducing a new song. I've written on bookofkills.com how excruciating it can be throwing a new composition out to the other members of the band. In fact, that's why I generally have always released albums on my own rather than trying to convince a band that every single one of the things I just wrote...not just the ones that by chance catch their ear on a first listen...deserves to be recorded. Anyway...I waited until the end of practice yesterday and then handed Amy a lyric sheet (I wrote the song - "Blue Heart Drumming" - for her to sing) and suggested we give it a whirl. I had been having a little trouble coming up with the middle eight (or what folks frequently call the "bridge"), but I knew if we all approached it with an open mind that somebody would come up with something and, just as I hoped, Jeff happened onto a Who-ish like instrumental interlude that was perfect! Maybe (but probably not) I'll upload a few seconds of the band's first stab at the song if I get a chance. October 5, 2010 - Many of you long-time listeners know the name Gary Bugg. He's Amy's father and I've known him a long time. He has been a fan of Book Of Kills music since Bloom Or Die back in 1989. Anyway, Gary is going to give Fear + Whiskey a chance to play in front of a 'live' audience by having a little get-together of friends and acquaintances at his home studio some time in November. I sort of made a deal with Billy Brett of Buck Gooter that I'd record their latest album (which is very good...one of their better records) in exchange for Billy setting up some gigs for F + W. When it comes to putting together shows Billy's everything most band people aren't...for want of a better phrase, he's the classic 'go-getter' who isn't afraid to hear 'no' but is much better at getting folks to say 'yes'. So perhaps by December Amy, Jeff and I will start playing out a little here and there. I think we still have a way to go and the more we can practice between now and November, the better. I'm going to be working at the high school Wednesday through Friday so that will push the release of Words, Volume One back until late next week at the earliest. October 4, 2010 - You can download The Strange One from Bandcamp.com now. October 1, 2010 - Added a few photos by Deanne Good from the Clementine's benefit show, October 25, 2009.
September 30, 2010 - I added four more items to the
Miscellaneous page. I've got an idea for another video...and it's
even simpler (and cheesier?) than the one I did for "Simple World". I'd
really like to make one with Fear + Whiskey. George and Mike and I
always talked about doing a couple of videos for two of the tracks off
Toward The Escape, but we never got round to doing it
unfortunately. September 27, 2010 - I uploaded a few odds and ends. September 23, 2010 - Amy, Jeff and I had one of those slightly off practices yesterday, but it was still fun. Emailed Mike Hicks yesterday (after he'd emailed me with a sound file of "Lost" that he, George and their new bassist recorded in their practice space) and floated the idea of their band and Fear + Whiskey perhaps doing a little party/jam at their place some time in October. Mike said he thought that would be great fun, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to put some sort of really low-key thing together later next month. Last night I woke up at 2:41 with a new song dancing around in my brain. I should've just gotten up and worked on it, but I lay there instead for an hour or more thinking about it and telling myself I'd remember it in the morning. Usually I forget stuff like that when I wake up the next morning, but this time I remembered most of the melody and the lyrics. As I told Jeff and Amy recently, this is how it has been with me for as long as I can remember...songs just suddenly come to me (divine inspiration?) and I better either write them down (or record them) or they'll flutter away into the ether never to be retrieved. I can't even begin to estimate how many times I'd be at work in front of a classroom, or walking or driving somewhere, when a new song would fall out of the recesses of my brain and I'd just have to hope I could remember it till I got home. I'll be posting the new album for download as mp3's on the merchandise page soon. Not sure what I'll charge but it won't be much. I've also made the merchandise page a little easier to navigate if you want to purchase other albums listed there. September 22, 2010 - I've begun work on a revised and expanded version of Words (1989-1995). Looking back through the original booklet recently, I was struck by how many songs (or lines from songs) I inexplicably omitted in the first edition, so I'm going to attempt to correct that problem. While I have no illusions that many people are going to be clamoring for a homemade collection of my lyrics, it's one more fun musically oriented thing I can do that perhaps one or two folks will find interesting and worthwhile. I'm not sure that I can put 500+ songs in one volume (it's a matter of being able to staple only so many pages together), so perhaps I'll have to do two separate volumes. I finished 12 Songs, For The Good Of The Cause, Don't Stop The Scream, The Haunted Life, and Wee Jim's Black Eye thus far and should get another two or three albums done a day until I'm done. Often I have to go back to the song to get the lyrics. If you're a dedicated listener of BOK, you know it's sometimes quite a chore to decipher everything I'm singing. Fear + Whiskey get to practice today! Yeah! I really look forward to each time we get together. September 20, 2010 - Added four photos from the May 1, 2001 show. And don't forget to get your red hot The Strange One collage right here! Only four left. September 19, 2010 - Collages 1, 2 and 5 have sold. They're only $15 each! Make sure to get one for your own collection!
September 15, 2010 - I added a few more pictures to the
page with the collage (see below for details or go to the collage
page). Here's how I'll do this...I'll wait until Sunday evening at six
(at which time I'll be back from the beach). Any time after 6
P.M., email me your choice of collages (I'll number them shortly). You
might want to list more than one collage, if you're willing to accept a
second or third choice. I'll accept the emails according to the time
they're sent. In other words, if I receive an email from you at 6:01
indicating you want collage number six and I receive an email from
someone else at 6:02 saying he or she wants collage number six as well,
you will get collage number six. I have no idea if anyone, let
alone seven, people will want one of these special editions; in the
event that I don't sell all (or any) of them I will list the remaining
pieces Tuesday evening on ebay. September 14, 2010 (Addendum) - You can go here to see the seven special edition collages. If you're offended by...umm...unclothed humans, I'd advise you not to look.
September 14, 2010 - Some things came up...blah blah blab etc etc
etc...and I didn't have time to scan and upload the collages last
evening. Sorry if you dropped by to check them out. I do promise
that tonight I will have all seven (yup, there are seven now)
collages up for your perusal. The album contains twenty-seven tracks. A
second disc will be included with a folder containing the "Simple World"
video and all twenty-seven songs encoded as 256 kps mp3's. As
previously noted, I've also included notes on all the songs. I'm
still not quite clear how I am going to sell these special editions.
Here is a list of all the songs:
September 12, 2010 (Addendum) - Wow. I knew if I kept searching I'd
find something truly awesome to stick onto the special edition disc.
While I'm sure this is more meaningful to me than you guys, I just came
across a recording (of me reading my poem "To Susan") that I vaguely
recall putting together back in the early '90s for a James Madison
University radio show. I'm thinking that I actually ended up putting
this recording on some cassettes from the early '90s as well, but I'm
darned if I can remember for sure. This one came straight out of the
blue! I'd completely forgotten about it. The poem itself is pretty
bleak, but this recording is truly September 12, 2010 - Fear + Whiskey put in a good two hours yesterday for a very productive practice. I don't think there's anything earth-shattering enough that I'd want to upload it, however. We'll get together Wednesday. It's fairly obvious that sticking to a regular schedule (as we've been unable to do previously) the past two weeks makes a world of difference. I'm not so sure (though I haven't said anything to Jeff and Amy about this yet) that it wouldn't be a bad thing if we didn't try to schedule a show for at least a couple more months. We've started to make some genuine progress in the past two or three weeks in a lot of different ways but we're still shaky. As I've said before, it would be ideal if we could play a couple low-key affairs before we started playing out for real. I am heading for the beach Thursday and won't be back until late Sunday, so there won't be any postings during that time... ...which brings up the special edition compact discs. I've finished a fifth collage and will have the sixth one done by later tonight, if I don't spend all my time watching NFL football (Green Bay and Washington are both on the TV today). After I finish these six inserts, I'll scan each one of them and post them on this site on a special page so that folks can see the collages and get a glimpse of the entire special edition package. I'm also entertaining the idea of creating a second disc with 12-14 of my favorite outtakes from over the years (that is, ones that have already been released as bonus tracks on other discs) with notes on each of them as well and including that disc with The Strange One album. I haven't really decided one way or another as far as that goes, but, as has been noted here before, several of you all have told me over the years that you wish I'd release an album with just "bonus" tracks on it...would make for an interesting listen I suppose. There's no way, of course, that I could get the dozens upon dozens of outtakes, demos and so forth on just one disc, let alone three or four. Anyhow, I will probably leave the collage scans up until I get back from vacation. Then I'll come up with some way of selling the albums. I suppose it's most fair to put them on Ebay and hope there are six people who want one, but I know some folks just don't care to buy stuff through that company. I'll think about it at the beach! September 10, 2010 - I finished a fourth collage. I think these are definitely going to be some of the best pieces I have ever done. They are certainly more work intensive than previous collages. After printing the insert, I cut out a "base" for the collage and paste it onto the blank front of the insert. Previous to this, I've created some fairly large Jackson Pollock type "splatter" pieces on newspaper which I then cut up into various size strips. I use these strips as a sort of frame for each collage. Then I finish the collage, as always, by using various cut-outs. One thing I can say is that in the past I always felt there were clearly some pieces which were "better" in my mind than others. This time I think every single collage is as good as the next. I will not, by the way, number them. I will sign and date them, though. Still haven't had the chance to look through more tapes for one final bonus track. September 9, 2010 - Yesterday was one of those weird practices (you probably know what I'm talking about if you've ever been in a band) where I just couldn't get untracked no matter how hard I tried. I don't know why. I guess this has been such a busy week that I haven't really been able to focus on practicing at home and it showed yesterday. We did work pretty hard on the arrangement for "Shake My Tree" (which is actually pretty different from the track on This Is Your Book Of Kills.) Might practice this coming Saturday. And, as I've always said, no matter how bad a practice might be (and this one was far from bad), I always learn at least one new thing about my singing or my guitar playing or the people I'm playing with...so no practice is ever worthless. We're talking about playing a gig in late October or early November, but we really do need to add some more songs to our repertoire and get a little tighter on the songs we do know. Managed to finish another collage/insert today. All three of them are pretty cool. I'll give you a handle on how I've made these particular collages tomorrow or soon thereafter. Till
then! September 8, 2010 - I wrote song-by-song notes for an insert to be included in the collage special editions only of The Strange One album. I haven't set a price yet, nor have I decided how many of these special editions there are going to be. I will probably limit the run to a total of 5-6 and charge $12-15 for each. There's the possibility I'll sell them on Ebay, though that's doubtful. Perhaps I'll create a one-off album and add a couple more songs exclusive to that particular disc and put just that one on Ebay. Hey, I'm retired from teaching. I gotta make a buck where I can! If ya don't want it, don't buy it! Each of the special edition albums will contain 25 songs (I added the demo for "To Dream A New Dream") and the "Simple World" video. Since I added an additional song, there isn't any room for an mp3 folder, but big deal, right? I've finished two collage inserts thus far. Both of them are pretty cool. When I'm done with all of the them, I'll upload them onto a page on the web site for interested folks to peruse. After I've sold the special edition albums, I will probably make most of the songs (probably 20 of them) available as mp3 downloads on bandcamp.com. I'll list all the songs here tomorrow, if I get the chance. Gotta go. It's been a busy day. I've got practice at 4:30, too. September 7, 2010 - Go to the Music page for a free download of a track from the new odds & sods BOK album The Strange One (Demos & Outtakes) - Volume One due for release September 14! (And keep in mind this is indeed an odds and sods collection!)
September 6, 2010 - It's Labor Day here in America. That means
family and lots of food. My younger son Christian is also celebrating
his birthday today!
September 3, 2010 - I added some items to the
Miscellaneous page. I've got tons of memorabilia, some of which
I'll add to the Miscellaneous page over the weeks and months to come. September 2, 2010 - Amy, Jeff and I had a really great, productive practice yesterday...a good solid 2 1/2 hours. It had been awhile (four weeks) since we'd gotten together, but we largely fell right back into place and ran through everything (admittedly not a lot) we knew, then worked on a couple newer things...particularly a new arrangement of "Shake My Tree" (from This Is Your Book Of Kills) and "La La La La La La" (from St. Judas). I will soon begin to scan some stuff (set lists, news letters, art work, etc) that one or two of you will find interesting and place them on the "Miscellaneous" section. September 1, 2010 - My gosh, where did the summer go? I ended up remastering the entire The Strange One album. And I ended up stumbling across another song I had no idea existed called "Little Lucky Miami" which is a weird acoustic song that I found on a boom box tape. I have no idea when I recorded it and have no recollection of even writing the song. It's certainly interesting enough to include as a second "bonus" track for the limited edition CD...so now there'll be twenty-three songs in addition to the video and the mp3's. August 30, 2010 - I listen to all of my albums in my car to make a final decision on whether the mix is what I want it to sound like or not, and after listening to The Strange One (in my car), it just doesn't quite pass mustre. So that means I'm going to go back to the multi-tracks once again and remix just about everything. Some of the stuff is simply a two track transfer from the original boom box or cassette deck recording and there's not much I can do with those songs, but I do want to take another listen and do what I can to improve things as much as possible sonically. Of course, part of the charm of this sort of collection is that you get an intriguing (at least to my lo-fi ears and brain) mixture of all kinds of sounds, so not only is there only so much I can do with them, there's only so much I want to do with them. I'm also trying to collect some artwork for the collage inserts. Fear and Whiskey will be practicing Wednesday. It'll be fun to do something live again! Don't have any inklings of a show date yet. Both Amy and Jeff have indicated they can possibly get us something in the late fall at Harrisonburg's Blue Nile. August
27. 2010 - I'm done with compiling and mastering the first volume of
unreleased songs. I think I'm going to call it The Strange One
(Outtakes/Demos), Volume One. Last night for the bonus song, I found
a really hilarious version of "Haunted Road Blues" which is completely
different from the final track on The Haunted Life. It's a slow,
chugging sort of arrangement that has a couple of gonzo acoustic guitar
solos on it that might be the greatest things I've ever done...no,
seriously. Anyhow, I'm looking for a release of the special editions by
mid-September. August 26, 2010 - I finished filming and editing my very first music video (for the 2002 remake of "Simple World"). Great fun! As I noted earlier, it's completely cheapo in every sense of the word. It did inspire me to think about making more videos in the future. It will be included on the limited edition CD's. I am also poking around in the tapes for an additional song that will be an exclusive part of those ten or twelve CD's. I haven't started making the collage inserts yet, but I will soon. Stay tuned to find out how you can get your very limited edition CD! (I have yet to think of a title for it.) August
25, 2010 - Uploaded
four photos of Bill Bird's first show with BOK from April 28, 2001. August 23, 2010 - I'm kinda bored with combing through tapes and what not, trying to find unreleased stuff, and I'm thinking now about finishing up my search and then doing a new album of all-new material. I've got twenty songs that will make a decent volume one, so I'm going to stop until I decide to delve back into the search and pick out another twenty songs for a future volume two. (I probably have enough crap lying around to make five or six volumes.) If I could compare what the album (if you wanna call it that) sounds like...I'd have to say it's got sort of an If I Should Fall vibe to it. Back in 1998 when that record came out, a fellow (whose name I can't recall any longer, but he actually played "I'm Not Gonna Walk Away" from St. Judas at his wedding...he was that hardcore of a BOK fan) wrote in a letter to me that he especially liked If I Should Fall because when he listened to it he felt as though he was right there watching me make the songs since (in his words...though I'm paraphrasing) there was such an informal, personal feel to each track. I think the same could be said of this record. Most of
the material comes from post 1998 outtakes, though there's stuff that
dates back to the early '90s as well and the vast majority of it has
never been released. (Of course, keep in mind that there's a reason
most of these songs were never released...not that they suck. It's just
that in the end, in most cases I felt as though each one of them could
have been done better or they just didn't fit on the album I had made
them for. Often I simply cannibalized them and used pieces of the
lyrics or some of the music ideas later in other compositions. A fair
number of the tracks aren't even finished...they're sort of blueprints
for later re-recording.) What I believe I'll do first is create a handful of unique cover CD's again and sell them for $10 each on a first come first serve basis as I've done previously with Wasp 51! and Different and maybe a couple others I can't remember now; then I'll most likely put the songs on Bandcamp some day. It will take a few days for me to make the CD inserts, but they should be done within the week. Then I'll post them on a special page on jimshelley.us and folks can choose the one they want and email me their choice. August
22, 2010 - Uploaded
three photos from the August 23, 2003 Book Of Kills show...the final
one ever with Jim, Casey and Jane Firkin, Bill Bird and Randy Simpson. August 12, 2010 - Uploaded a bunch of reviews. August 11, 2010 - Going through a box of musical stuff, I found four more posters that I was certain had been lost. Guess not! August 10, 2010 - Uploaded four photographs of recording sessions with Buck Gooter as part of a new "miscellaneous" section for the photography page. August 9, 2010 - Uploaded a bunch of photos from the April 20, 2006 Karl Rove gig in Charlottesville. One of the better TKR shows for sure. Pictures by the most excellent photographer, Deanne Good. August 6, 2010 - It has been slow going thus far, but I am gradually finding some interesting unreleased songs - mainly unfinished tracks (though some finished stuff I just chose not to release for various reasons) - and I'm pretty sure I'll eventually find enough material to warrant at least two albums of 15-20 tracks each. I'm thinking that I'll probably create a few "special editions" (as I did last year) with unique artwork. Most likely, the first album would consist of unreleased original songs, while the second would be made up of acoustic demos of cover songs, traditional songs, or stuff I wrote but released in fully arranged form. I am also considering possibly releasing a third album of what I consider the best BOK live performances post-2003 that I have available to me...that's just this side of doubtful, however, since I've pretty much posted most of the shows I've been a part of online since the Karl Rove days. Still, it might be interesting for a few folks to hear a one record distillation of the very best performances(?) August
5, 2010 - I added four more songs to the
music page and for the time being I'm finished with uploading music. August 3, 2010 - Added five more songs to the music page. I should finish up at least a preliminary uploading of songs to the music page in the next couple days (though I will add additional songs in the future), and then I'll turn my attention to uploading more photographs and starting up a couple of new features. August
2, 2010 - Made one update on the
music page. July 28, 2010 - I added a few more tracks on the music page. July
27, 2010 - There are a lot of folks checking out this web site
everyday and I have a feeling that many of them have never heard a BOK/Karl
Rove/Plague Dogs/Jim Shelley song, so I'm going to put up a track or two
from most of the albums since 1983 that you can
download for your listening pleasure and to give to your record
producer uncle. July 23, 2010 - Uploaded the "Shows" page. July 19, 2010 - Uploaded some new concert pictures and a couple new poster scans. July
16, 2010 - I finally put some stuff up on the
music page...three
tracks that are previously unreleased, all of which should be of
considerable interest to long-time BOK fans. July 14, 2010 - I uploaded a discography, which is actually the same one from the old bookofkills.com site with a couple of minor updates. July 13, 2010 - Added three "new" pictures from 1988, a couple of which have never been published before. By the way, the guitar that the guy sitting to my right is holding was actually mine at one time. I had stripped it, put something like 50 coats of clear varnish on it, ripped out the electronics and put better gadgets in, replaced the bridge and the tuners and had the metal pick guard made at a local metal workers factory. I eventually sold it to a Harrisonburg musical instrument dealer when I was broke and needed money to buy groceries. It eventually ended up in Randy Simpson's possession. July 12, 2010 - Added a small links page...mainly just the same links I had on the old bookofkills.com site but without the "professional band" links. July 11, 2010 - I went to see Predators yesterday with my brother, George, and my nephew, George III. The movie was fun and we had a good time as always. Before going to the film, the three of us headed into downtown Harrisonburg for a burger and a beer at Jack Brown's. George III and I talked about jamming along with Mike sometime during late July or early August. This is actually not a spur of the moment decision...the three of us pretty much always agreed (as I noted in the old bookofkills.com) that we would continue to play together on occasion when circumstances allowed, perhaps even doing a benefit or a "surprise" one-off gig somewhere in the city. Book Of Kills won't be getting back together, but that doesn't mean we won't be playing together on occasion. July 7, 2010 - I uploaded a slightly revamped page with a picture of everyone who has ever played in BOK, The Karl Rove, The (Jim Shelley version) Plague Dogs, and Fear + Whiskey. July 5, 2010 - I've uploaded over 60 Book Of Kills/The Karl Rove posters from the past 15 years, featuring many designed by talented folks such as Casey Firkin, Aaron Farrington, Johnny St. Ours among others. It has been a gas looking at these little artistic gems, many of which I haven't seen in years. July 2, 2010 - I've thought for a long while about how I could satisfactorily archive all the material I've collected over the years since I first uploaded the original bookofkills.com way back in the mid-'90s. Those of you who've been following Book Of Kills (as well as The Karl Rove, The Plague Dogs, Fear + Whiskey, and my various solo endeavors) down through the years know that I've constructed and subsequently destroyed more than my fair share of web pages. I've never been satisfied following any one particular style of music; it seems perfectly natural to me that I'd never be happy with any one particular web page style for very long either. Anyway, here's the latest site. Or I should say here is the very beginning of the latest site. I have quite a bit of work ahead of me before I'm finished with this project. I've been searching through my archives (actually two cardboard boxes of paper and photos and other junk stuffed under a table out in the garage), and I've found things that I'd forgotten existed. So I'll spend a good part of the summer scanning all that material and uploading it along with everything that was on the Book Of Kills, Karl Rove and The Plague Dogs web sites previously. Eventually I hope to end up with one gigantic archive of words, pictures and sounds. I haven't
been very good to my musical memories in the months since BOK played its
last show. I promise to anyone who cares that in the weeks and months
to come that jimshelley.us (which you can access as bookofkills.com as
well) will once again be a fitting tribute to long musical journey I've
undertaken with so many wonderful friends over the past twenty-five
years.
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(Photo by Jordan Williams)