Tom Catmull and the Clerics: This just in

The last copy of THE SOUND OF A CAR has been sold online. It was a good album, dangit,...ashes to ashes, ...dust to dust,..and all that. There might be something at Rockin' Rudys here in Missoula, but I don't think so.

Well, despite some early technical setbacks(no sound coming from the speakers at all for like 3 songs?), all was well that ended well last night. It was a very fun night,...maybe a little too fun. Some really nice guy, possibly caught up in the spirit of the evening, bought me, not one, but TWO tequila shots just before the 3rd set. Needless to say, the 3rd set felt really sloppy as the band was musically chasing me around while I stumbled upon "new arrangement ideas" in the middle of several songs. Apologies to the Clerics for that. We got an encore though, that was allowed by the staff, which is uncommon for us at the Union Club. Generally speaking, when the lights go up there, the vibe is "don't let the door smack you on the way out!"...not in a mean way, but in a "no exceptions" kind of way. So when the lights went back down for an encore(Thank you Melissa), I was suprised and very happy...might have been the shots, who knows. Thanks to everyone for coming out!

Just a quick note to say thanks to everybody for coming out to the show at Break last night with Anna Coogan and North 19. It was quite fun and I think those guys had a good time as well. See you out there!

I have a quick announcement here. I just booked Thursday, December 14th at Sean Kellys to record a live solo acoustic disc. This is hopefully for a spring release in the early part of next year. I have never released a live disc before and am quite anxious about the whole event. Wish me luck!...and come out and make alot of noise, if you'd like! I'd be honored.

Howdy,

I'm excited, dammit! We just got accepted to showcase at the Montana Performing Arts Consortium conference that is being held in Great Falls this year! What does this mean? Well, uh,...er,..I don't really know. Well, I do know a little.. I know that the showcase is 12 minutes long! 12 minutes of fame, I tell you! Who could ask for more? And I know that you end up performing for a myriad of different venue(schools, community organizations?) operators and promoters from around the state(and some neighboring states, I believe). My excitement about this is like my two year old son Mason anticipationg halloween this year,...I'm not reallly sure what goes on with this, but it seems like a positive thing, ...and I'm just going to go with that until I get more scoop.

Alrighty, I also want to say that Halloween at the Old Post this year was really fun! Thanks to all who came out! Its one of my favorite holidays of all time("of all time"?...was that really necessary?). There were plenty of freaks, several dancing apes, a hippie lawyer, an 80's cartoon super hero(can't remember the super hero specifics, except she is business woman by day, but with a touch of her earring becomes a rocker at night....gem something?,..does this sound familiar?), Michael Jackson with a small jammie clad child in tow, two spiders..and a bunch of other nonsensical characters. Travis and Gibson showed up in bald caps, goutees, non-descript western shirts and jeans to look like me(which accidently made me feel very cool btw), but apparently the caps are a little hot for playing music and didn't last long(one of the many reasons I support actual baldness)...so I think it kind of looked like I was the only one dressed up in the band. The guys ended up looking like conservative dressers trying to look hip but too nervous about it to actually get there,...which is basically my look,...except they have hair, which, in my opinion, makes people look just ridiculous!

Alright, I've said too much. I must have lunch.

Thing one-a.)Hot Springs, MT never ceases to amaze me! I feel kind of energized from the whole thing. I look forward to heading back in Feb.! Cool town,..great people to meet!

Thing one b.) Thanks for coming out supporting me on Thursday at the pub for that storyteller deal. It turned out to be alot of fun,...I was a little skeptical about it,..but it seemed ok, dangit. Thanks again.

Thing two-The new disc is back in stock on-line. Thanks for your patience there.

Alright, I know that sounds pathetic, but the distributor will have them on their shelves by monday,...and I sent a big heavy box of them this time, which means that the next journal entry that sounds like this shouldn't be till next year! Sorry about the delay!

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/author/Contributing%20Writer/
Here's a new review of the disc from an excellent writer, songwriter and local honky tonkin' hipster, Bob Wire. Check out more of his writing and music at www.bobwiremusic.com. Thanks Bob!

okeedokee,

There have been some questions about lyrics and I kind of promised in the liner notes of the disc that I would post them on the site,,...and so I have! All the lyrics from the new disc are now in the music section of this site. So, if you're curious what the hell I might be mumbling about, zip on over.

Well Coeur d'Alene was fun last night! David Boone(w/percussionist James Wassem, doomed to the parenthetical sidenote!) and I double billed at Moontime Bar in the town I refuse to spell to often,..wait,..I can still paste it in,...Coeur d'AleneCoeur d'AleneCoeur d'AleneCoeur d'AleneCoeur d'Alene...yeah! Thanks to Mikey and the guys for coming out to see us. It was quite fun and nice to have a hometeam crowd away from home!

CD's have been restocked successfully again and there's a couple new pics from the Big Mtn concert on the photo page.

later gator.

I had a change of schedule that took me to the Murray Bar in Livningston Friday night, as opposed to the Leaf and Bean in Bozeman (originally scheduled). I was informed that a few people showed up at the bean and I apoligize to those of you who did. It apparently made it to the Bozone paper before I had a chance to change the information. Sorry about that.

In other news, the new CD will be available by weeks end here at the site and at CDBaby.com. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Alrighty,...The online CD's are out of stock again,...but they are allowing me to send a bigger chunk this time,...I will do that on monday which means they will be available by Thursday-ish!

sorry about the hassle!

The new CD will be available on the site here by the beginning of next week. The distributer only takes 5 to start so that they don't have to warehouse 50 discs for a lifetime. The 1st 5 sold out fast. I sent them the allowed 10 discs this week and they will be available by monday or tuesday. Thanks!

Wow! That was a really fun party! I'm feeling quite crusty. I'm so glad people showed up, I can't tell you. HUGE THANKS TO ALICIA BAYLOR AND THE MISSOULA FOLKLORE SOCIETY! Getting the word out!,...Alicia, a promotional force to be reckoned with!

HUGE THANKS TO RUSS NASSET AND BROKEN VALLEY ROADSHOW!!! Both of those performances just freakin' killed me. It was so much fun to have them there! I am so psyched they were up for it.

...another short list and I swear I'll stop...

John floridis and KUFM 89.1
The Trail 103.3
Skylar Browning and the Independent
Joe Nickel and the Missoulian
Larry Hirshberg and KBGA
Courtney Lowery and New West.
Jay Straw and Hi-Tech Audio

Finally, thanks to everyone who showed up and dropped 8 bucks to help us pay for the party. I hope we can do that again sometime!!!!!

The new disc is now on the "buy" page of this site! I have to figure out how to change the word "buy" to something a little more friendy, but for now, we'll go direct! ITS HERE!!!! ITS HERE!!!!! ok, acting casual. As you were.

They're here.

So, I thought that the musicians spotlight was supposed to air on tues @2:30pm and then wed. @11:00am. I listened both times and was apparently way off. I'm not even sure at this point if its airing this week or not. I heard a brief blurb promoting the show, but didn't get any info on when it would air, mostly because I was cringing at the sound of my own voice discussing the topic of being a "recording artist". What am I?, Bono? So apologies on sending you off in the wrong direction,...and apologies for apparently trying to sound like Bono! Be well.

Howdy neighbor! Musicians Spotlight hosted by John Floridis, will be airing twice next week....oh yeah,..and I'm the guest! Woohoo!!!!!

Tuesday, Aug. 22nd at 2:30pm

Wednesday, Aug 23rd at 11:00am


I'm excited. It will be 4 or 5 cuts from the new disc and some banter about the songs and what have you. Thanks to John for helping me get the word out on this!

I really don't have any big announcement here. I'm basically just tapping my fingers waiting for the CD to make its way to my door from New Jersey. Lets see,...there's got to be something. Um,..I've got it! I am doing an interview today at KUFM with John Floridis, host of Musicians Spotlight, which will air the middle of next week. I will get specs to you later on that. Um, what else? I played the Spice of Life Cafe last night and sold a CD to a table that also asked me to turn down....interesting.

Oh yeah, there's some new pics up on the site in the photo page!...a lovely picture of my wife Becky with her somewhat bloated husband at a party somewhere....um,..what else,,...lyrics are up for the tunes that are posted on the website,,...lyrics are not included on the new disc and I am feeling a little guilty about that, so I am going to try and get em all on the site here as we get closer to the release.

On a personal note, its raining outside.

Ok, be well.

tom

Just a quick entry to say that tickets for the release party at the Elks Club downstairs are officially for sale at Rockin' Rudys on Blaine St. in Missoula. And if you join our fan club, they're $100.00 less!(kind of an inside joke if you are living outside of Missoula and haven't been dosed with all the Rolling Stones hype)

On a serious note, the tickets are $7.00 general admission, $5.00 if you are a Missoula Folklore Society member(as this is sponsored by the good folks there) and $8.00 at the door the night of the show. Russ Nasset opens up the show solo...Broken Valley comes barrelling in for a short set...then we will ease in with a brief acoustic set to be followed by the "no holds barred" Americana free-for-all. The official Tom Catmull and the Clerics T-Shirts will be unleashed, as well as the new disc and some lovely stickers! Come one come all!

bye.

Ok, there are 5 copies of East of Opportunity left at CD baby(available through the website here) and then I am out. I will repress them sometime in the future when all efforts and funds are not so directed at this new project. I am hoping for another batch late next year. The company that original pressed them has been gobbled up by another company, so I kind of have to start over in the artwork dept. and that makes it more expensive and a little trickier. Anyhoo, there might be a couple at Rockin Rudy's in town here, but other than that, we will have to wait for its quiet resurfacing sometime down the road. Thanks for the support on that CD, btw! I hate being out of it,...but hopefully that won't last too long.

Be well

A quick review of the week!...Opening for Charlie Musselwhite on Thursday was fun. The Top Hat is a very soulful venue that I dearly love and one at which I don't often get the chance to play. Friday at the Union Club was a freakin hoot. Mason was the 5th player and it was great to nab him for a couple of weekends(last weekend and this one). All the guys sounded fantastic. I am one lucky dudeman...thats right, dudeman. Saturday we had a wedding up on Finley Point on the Flathead. It was a beautiful spot and everyone was really nice. Larry Hirshberg snuck in to cover bass in John's absence and did a freakin' stellar job. SEAMLESS I TELL YOU!!!!! Last night(sunday) I played solo at a housewarming party for the Threlkelds(Bruce and Lucy). It was wonderful to see those guys(Bruce is the original Tom Catmull Band Drummer) and the kids had a merry old time in the jumper,...and then got really tired and grumpy. Beck was on duty for the solo parenting endeavor as I played in the corner. I got the better end of the deal with that and felt appropriately guilty as they left.

All in all, a fun week for music. This week we are headed to Bozeman for an interesting 3 piece of Travis, Mason and myself at the Leaf and Bean in Bozeman. This is an untested combo, but should be quite fun. Then, Saturday is in Silvergate, MT for another wedding. I love that part of the state!!!!...and it sounds like it should be a pretty fun party!

That is all for now from the swelteringly smokey metropolis of Missoula.

Be well.

I just got back from vacation and also played a couple of shows in the park at Lake lodge. I feel good! The way that I should! I feel nice,....you know how it goes. It was great to see the family and the kids and Beck had an awesome time,..as well as myself I should mention.

Disc news! The final mixes got sent to Seattle for mastering today! No more button pushing/fader riding/knob tweaking for me. I am very excited. I think it sounds pretty good so far and mastering can only help,..right?....RIGHT????? Oh lord protect that disc.

I have visited the Paws Up planet and made it back to this planet without harm. Not too much to report. I played for about 8 or 10 people over a course of 4 hours, and for only about 2 or 4 people at a time. Considering the numbers though, and the length of the gig, I still had a pretty good time out there. I met some nice people, both staff and guests and it sounds like they will have me back, which I am not opposed to.

Its kind of a funny vibe out there though. It might be just the guest ranch concept I am unfamiliar with, but its so damned unnaturally western out there, it kind of freaks me out a touch. I guess if you're in the tourist business out here, thats kind of what your selling...campfires, horses, deer, mountains, psuedo-ranchlife, some jackass in the corner crooning with a guitar who insists on singing songs about Texas at a Montana guest ranch...Its all for sale. There's definetely money in that sort of thing.

In this light, i'm considering making some changes to the show to make it a little more tourist friendly. I will start with a bandana around my neck just to dip my toe in the water of this whole thing. Then, I will show up to gigs with the occasional leather vest over a western shirt. Once I get fitted for the chaps, it'll almost be a done deal. Montana Tom and his hard drivin' wranglin' sons of guns! Same show, same songs, just a little marketing scheme I'm working on. I'm gonna pay my mortgage in this Montana music business and no fruitless sense of pride or decency will get in the way, I tell you!!! Let me know what you think.

Check this out! Ryan Bundy recorded an old song of mine that is "feelin almost gone" quite frankly(as East of Opportunity is almost out of print AGAIN and I don't know how long its going to take me to raise the funds to re-press....maybe next year). Anyway, the song is called Wood Toy. David Boone forced my hand to partially re-learn this one for a Break Espresso show awhile ago, and now Ryan has recorded it and put it on his website at...

http://www.ryanbundy.net/music.htm

Ryan Bundy has been on the links page here for some time, but if you haven't checked his site out, you should. If you're into local songwriters, Ryan's one of the heavy hitters in that department.

This is the 1st recording I have ever heard of one of my songs performed by someone else. I'm very excited. Download it as an mp3, dang it! Happy 4th!