I’ll be playing a fundraiser at Tractor Tavern on June 13 for Noise for the Needy. We put together a very interesting bill, Karl Blau and Alicia Amiri open. Please come if you can, I don’t think I’ll be playing another NW show this year! Tix

Max with Ebows on the grand piano.

– As usual, the heavy lifting is going on at the olde Tumblr.
– I’ve written all 10 songs for the new Dead Oceans record.

– We go into Fantasy Studios next friday (!) to track.

– The new record is a collaboration with the Magik*Magik Orchestra

– It will be recorded by John Congleton (who I’ve wanted to work with for years)

– Jay and Ian Pellicci are assisting, I couldn’t do this record without them

– Minna Choi, fearless leader of Magik and the arranger of the entire album, is a complete and total genius

– I am really fucking excited about this record

PS, I started a Tumblr for Tiny Telephone as well. It’s full of gear pornography and shots of marvelous Marvin the studio cat being, well, marvelous.

This is kind of an insane bill. We tried to put together a diverse and challenging group of bands. Please buy tix here, I think the show will sell out.

This wonderful little thing is out now and for sale at the Secretly Canadian Distro Store. I love the b-side, it’s a Soft Effects-era Spoon influenced rocker, featuring the wonderful Jason Slota on drums. This is limited to 500!

As usual, I’m posting a lot more on the Tumblr. I’ll add my "Sha-la-la" vinaigrette recipe there later today.

I’m writing everyday for the next record. I fell incredibly inspired right now. The city feels empty and the coming storm is about to shut this place down.

On Friday, Dec 11 at 3pm PST I’ll be guest DJing on KUSF in San Francisco. Live stream here.

So I asked what I thought was going to be an esoteric, hard-to-answer trivia question in my last email blast. The questions was:
"I haven’t done this in a while, but let’s have a trivia question. First one to get this right will receive all four records signed by me!! I’ll try my best to make this unGoogleable. In The Corner, the wonderful mini-series created by The Wire’s Simon and Burns, Gary is deeply affected by seeing a film on his day off from working at the crab house. What’s the movie and what connection does he make between the victims in the film and his own life?"

Within a few minutes of sending it out, Caleb swooped in and nailed it:
"I believe the film is Schindler’s List, and I believe the connection you’re refering to is Gary lamenting how black drug users are turning themselves into proverbial jews-in-the-holocaust. Amirite?"

Well he was. The really cool thing is I know Caleb. We’ve done an interview together on his blog and I recorded an acoustic set for him in Nashville when we were opening up for Steve Malkmus.

Thanks to all the people that emailed me, almost everyone got it right (one exception was my bandmate Sylvain Carton, who replied: "I just read the trivia question! Is it Ghostbusters, and the connection is that he is a ghost?") Next time I’ll REALLY make it hard!

Brussels, BE