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1. Someone's been sending letters to Hispanics telling them it's illegal for immigrants to vote.

2. These are the ( people in charge. )

3. A regular refrain from Digby lately is the utter wrongness of ceding "values" to the American Right. E.g., James Dobson defending Mark Foley's sexual conduct with pages. And, oh yeah, Congress voted to legalize torture and eliminate habeas corpus. ( Today's the day. )

4. Top story on CNN.com: Is it okay for white celebrities to adopt African children? Also, breaking news: An actor is wanted for tax fraud.

5. Not registered? Moved since your last vote? Here are some voter registration deadlines--a lot of the ones that haven't already passed are today or tomorrow.

It's all about the fans.

Back from the Vermillion Lies tour. It was fun, and I don't have much more to say, except that it was great to see greyaenigma and dougo and itspoison and, um, Dave.

If you're curious about the tour, have a look at Kim's tour diary (and here), or Glenn's photos (and journal).

I discovered tonight that about 600 copies of my solo CD had been stolen. Don't know when.

This isn't as big a shock as it might be. They were all in three cardboard boxes in an unsecured storage area outside my apartment. The reason they were there is that I'd decided it would be okay if someone took them. I stopped thinking a while ago that I would ever sell them.

Still, theft makes me feel bad in my stomach. They also took some empty suitcases, so I guess I'm packing light for the Vermillion Lies tour.

On the bright side: Assuming those boxes end up in the dumpster somewhere, that turns the remaining 400 CDs into incredibly valuable collector's items.

For the locals--there's a surprise Vermillion Lies show at Barefoot tomorrow (Sunday) at 6. If you haven't got plans, well, here's your chance to make one.

Tonight Kate and I went to Santa Cruz for a DeatHat show at the Attic. The other bands were GHQ (from New York) and June Madrona (from Olympia, Washington). June Madrona is also playing at the Twisted Folk Festival tomorrow, along with DeatHat--no booking conspiracy, we just both got on the same bill twice.

At the venue I introduced myself to the other bands. Ross, the core member of June Madrona, looked kind of familar, but then, people do. Then I saw a sticker on a box the band was carrying, and I realized the truth: He used to be in The Pasties, a band I came across at random one afternoon, playing on the street to drum up business for their show that night in Missoula. Both they and I were on our ways west from Minneapolis. I blogged about it here. There's actually a photo of Ross, not that you could tell. He's the guy I followed down the street.

So, wow, small world. I asked him and he confirmed it, and then mentioned it was actually through the Pasties that he'd met Corpus Callosum, and that's how he met Vermillion Lies, and that's how June Madrona got into the festival. I pointed at my bandmate. Kate used to be in Corpus Callosum. And I'm in Vermillion Lies. And rumor has it our friend Avery, from Corpus Callosum, will be the MC for the festival.

Also June Madrona was fantastic. If you're near Big Sur anytime from 3 to midnight tomorrow (Friday, August 25), come to the Henry Miller Library! If you're not near Big Sur, see if you can get near it.

For about a week now I've had a list of eight ways to stop procrastinating open in my browser, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Meanwhile, other people are getting things done, and some of them lead bands I'm in, so I get a free ride! Kate's posted new songs (or new versions) on the DeatHat page on MySpace--for the first time, they feature the whole band, kate and Qarly and me. Except "Ghost," which is just me and Kate, and is sort of accidentally great. And Vermillion Lies has been posting songs from the forthcoming CD. ("Come Down", available now, features me on accordion.)

Speaking of the CD, this Sunday is the first Vermillion Lies CD release party! We'll be at The Attic in Santa Cruz, apparently with burlesque dancers. It sounds pretty exotic. It's the last of three shows I have this weekend, with three and a half different bands.

Continuing in reverse order, Saturday night there's a Tin Cat show at Mission City Coffee Roasting Company in Santa Clara. There's a new guy there trying to turn it into a real destination venue for acoustic music. He's going to be buying a fancy new PA, doing construction work on the room, the whole nine yards. Meanwhile, we've got the run of the place for a night. Tom and Dave will be backing up Cameron De Palma for an opening act.

And on Friday at the Ugly Mug in Soquel, I'll be playing a double bill. First, Tom and Dave and I will do a stripped-down acoustic set, mostly Tin Cat songs with a few new and old songs that haven't yet made it into the repertoire. And then Kate and I will play a DeatHat set. Since Qarly can't make it, I get to play the bass drum! At last!

Last year at Cinequest I wrote this:

The best thing I saw yesterday was Territory, about three people in an apartment in the middle of the night. It's adapted from a play, and it's one of those plays in which the night goes on and secrets are revealed, and maybe you can probably guess someof the secrets, but that's okay, it's not about where the story goes, it's about watching it get there, which it does with an energy and intensity absent from most play adaptations, and for that matter most movies. It probably helps that it was adapted and directed by the playwright, and features the theatrical cast. It probably also helps that they are really good.

It's one of my favorite festival movies, and now it's available on DVD. Netflix has it, too.

I don't listen to much electronica, but every once in a while something comes along that spins my head. Sometime in the last couple of years I was shopping at the Electric Fetus and heard a strange mix of synths, beats, exotica, jazz, and an occasional rap or accordion. It might have been "Playing Parties," and it was definitely Daedelus, whose MySpace page I just stumbled across. There are some lovely MP3s on Epitonic, too. (For those more clueful, apparently it's the sort of thing found on Ninja Tune, which is currently featuring something from his new album.)

Lisa Dewey, one of my favorite local musicians, is playing this Thursday at dinnertime at the Naglee Park Garage, a restaurant in San Jose. I haven't been to the restaurant, but it has historical ties to Fuel, the best club I ever saw in San Jose, so I'm fond of it already.

On Saturday I'll be at the Blue Rock Shoot in Saratoga for the "marimba-driven torch noir" of DeatHat. I'll be there because I'm the bass player, and also because I'll be playing a set of my own music. Possibly featuring the Austin Hatchet, which didn't get to come out and play at my last solo appearance.

I'm thinking about buying a bicycle to replace the bicycle I used to never ride. These days, I often make short trips from my apartment--from a few blocks for groceries to a 2-mile drive to the cafe. And I'm not getting much exercise. Two birds, one stone. If I get really ambitious I might try commuting to work.

So far I've been to one shop, for about five minutes. I was attracted to the Townie because it's cute, and marketed to newbie/casual cyclists who want comfort. I like being comfortable. I was also considering a foldable bike, both for intermodal routes (bike to the bus, say, or bike to the cafe and get a ride home) and because we don't have a lot of space at home.

Anyone have any recommendations or advice?

I liked The 25th Hour in almost exactly the same way I liked the movie, and almost exactly as much. It's billed as "crime fiction", and there are criminals in it, but it's not much about crime, and it's not primarily suspenseful (especially if you've seen the movie). Instead it's about friendship and loyalty and fate and loss and time. And New York. Pretty great.

Via shetterly: Science vs. Norse Mythology. How to change the world. World on Fire.

Digby on anti-abortion/anti-contraception/anti-sex activism (and here), and quoting Lance Mannion on sin and civilization.

Via James Wolcott, Gretchen Craft Rubin's Happiness Project. And elsewhere, a new surgical treatment for depression.

Our friends Bev and Greg stumbled upon the last Tin Cat show at Blue Rock Shoot, and Greg was so excited by it he wrote a concert review. Thanks, Greg! Our next show is tonight at Johnny V's, with a couple of terrific alt-country bands.