Tom Catmull and the Clerics: This just in

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!

uh, it just came to my attention this afternoon that I uploaded the wrong song and called it Live and Die ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO!. I accidentally uploaded a rough version of Never Say Never! NOW,....Live and Die is up and rolling. Jeez!

Ok! The big release party is starting to look like it might be alot of freakin' fun! Broken Valley Roadshow has committed themselves(to a well respected institution in Warm Springs,..and..) to being on the bill and,... the legendary Russ Nasset has almost committed to opening up the show entirely! "LETS HAVE A PARTY!!" These are two of my favorite acts in Missoula. So, I don't know about you guys, but things are looking up for the tomster...thats right, I just referred to myself in 3rd person as "the tomster"! That alone, I believe, is a sign of good things to come!

Howdy!

Sound of a Car is back in stock on the website and at cdbaby.com. Thank the Lord! We can all breathe a sigh of relief now,...back off the ledge!...EVERYONE! ITS OK!

Hello Hello,

The Union Club on Friday was a hoot....and thats all I'm going to say about that.

In other news, Di Luna's Cafe in Sandpoint is a wonderful listening room that I really enjoyed playing on Saturday. The shows are hosted by a musician named Beth Pederson who is super accomadating and also really talented! Thanks to Beth and everyone else for showing up and supporting the show. I look forward to heading back up there as soon as they'll have me.

Thats all for now. Be well!

tom

The headline sais it all, I guess. It is a rough mix of LIVE AND DIE that I am pretty excited about. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Don't hold back you heartless sons of.....

CD baby is out of THE SOUND OF A CAR. I will send them more this week and they will be ready for sale by friday of next week. Sorry for the inconvenience should there be any.

tc

A little bird told me a useful thing to do to kickstart your musical carreer is to use the journal/news section of your website as a "bitching post". So here goes, you ready? My wife is stuck in an Atlanta airport!...been there for 2 days, and been bumped from 6 flights so far! Evil airlines! A curse on your terminals! We had to replace the radiator on our subaru last week. I can't really complain about that though,...she's been a good car. She deserves a new radiator! Lets see here, ...what else do I have,...The mixing board we use for live shows stopped working at the wedding we played this weekend! EEESSSS NOOOOO GGGOOOOOODDD I TELL YOU!

On the lightere side of things,...I think Becky comes home tonight,...maybe....and I am playing Sandpoint, ID this saturday at the Cafe Di Luna! That shoud be fun. For those of you Missoulians who happen to be glancing at this, the Union Club will be housing the band this Friday with all-star tri-state champion fiddler Grace Decker! We will see you there!

Jack Catmull has celebrated his 4th birthday! He's long, lean, goodlookin' and wiley. He's also quite fascinated by his own shadow! Here's to you, Jack! As my mom sais(to all 5 of my brothers and sisters and I), "Don't tell the others, but you are my favorite!"

We have a new cat. The old stepcat Sam left took leave of this world a few years back, and we will always miss him so. Our new roomie is named Joe. He is black and grey, shorthair and friendly as all hell!(not unlike my brother Joe) He is steering clear of the kids a bit, and I don't blame him. I kind of give them a wide birth myself.

On the musical side of things, The Union Club was quite fun. The Five Valleys Land Trust Auction was pretty neat! Those people do really good work and that becomes more and more apparrent, the more funcions I play for them. Thanks to Claire and Glen for inviting me. Hopefully, my two hour show was auctioned off. I was going to stick around and see, but I thought I might end up drinking myself into oblivion waiting for that portion of the evening. So, I went home and watched an excellent movie with Beck called "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow and his standoff with Senator McCartthy during the red scare. Great flick....very hollywood! Loved it.

bye for now.

Well, I've done it. Portland will never be the same. The history of the city will now most likely be split into two neat sections,...the era before my 3 songs at Mississippi Studios, and then, of course, all that has occured since.

Honestly, Portland was great. There were all kinds of fantastic songwriters...some more fantastic than others. My favorites in the dozen(ish) act lineup included Lara Michell(really thoughtful songwriter with super unique presentation and arrangement), Pete Krebs(bit of a Portland legend, I guess, kind of reminded me of Elvis Costello, not sure why), Anna Coogan and North 19(folky country four piece with solid non traditional style banjo playing saddling up with sugar sweet country vocals) and Miraflores(Pop rock, played and sung really well). My set was short and slightly fraught with tuning issues. Oh well. I met some really nice people and kind of got a huge slice of the acoustic scene for such a short trip. All of this was put together by Jess Byers(former Missoula Folklore music presenter) and it went off without a hitch,..which is kind of incredible in itself. She's good! and she loaned me her couch for the night, which was really nice.

The next night I had a show in Olympia which was mostly silly. I played for a half dozen innocent laptops and my friends Susan and Bruce, who also graciously put me up that night. I successfully annoyed an Olympian who really wanted to sit where I was setting up and wasn't buying my schtick about putting on a show right at that spot. He sat there anyway till a manager asked him to move. Apparently, I do not carry the authority of a coffeeshop manager. I don't even think he believed anything I said, actually. That was kinda fun. I basically, didn't need to play in Olympia for six new people though...but I've done it. And now I can casually mention that I have played Olympia, WA for years down the road..."...oh yeah, I've played Olympia,...totally rocked!".

The drive back was exhausting, but somehow ok. I had just enough time to come home, eat a philly steak sandwich that Beck had made for dinner and then drive up to Arlee to play the Hangin Art Gallery. Now that felt good! There weren't that many people there either, but they were listening and I was playing. Sometimes thats all it really takes. I got a little money in a jar, sold a couple of CD's and made my merry way home! I'll be back as long as they will have me, I suppose. Its like a little tiny gig that I am watering and gently sliding into the sun. Who knows?

Tonight, it's Liquid Planet!...to end the four day solo show run and close up the week. Its good to be home. I'm quite the lame "road warrior." 3 show out of town and I can't wait to get back! I'm the nerd at the music convention complaining of life on the road, adjusting my clothes and spinning yarn about the one time I drove 8 1/2 hours! (Bob Segers' "Turn the Page" plays somewhere in the background)

Thats all I got. Be well.

Good Lord! I have just committed to a CD release date and venue! Here goes,...are you ready? FRIDAY NIGHT SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2006 at THE ELKS CLUB(downstairs!). It will be a Missoula Folklore Society sponsored event! There it is. Be well.

Ok, this might not be as exciting as the headline I just wrote, but here's the scoop on the weekend.

I played Reds in Kalispell both Friday and Saturday night. There were tons of people on Friday(thank you Tiffany and Jeff for bringing out the whole office!..as well as putting up my family and I for the weekend!) and a bit less on Saturday. This is the 1st time I have ever played there so I didn't really know what to expect. The room is huge and really nice. There lots of brick in there, super high ceilings, and a really nice restaurant type vibe. I didn't get a chance to eat there, but will have to get on that next time. The room is a touch loud for the solo show, but not really set up for the band to get after it either(no dance floor). The little stage might work for some kind of combo deal. Hopefully I will be able to set one of these possibilities up in the future with Bill and Jana, the owners, who were quite friendly.

On Saturday, I got to do a live radio deal on 101.9 KXZI with Scott Johnson. His whole station is referred to as the Montana Radio Cafe, I believe, and he broadcasts, literally, from the front porch of his house. Its the coolest thing ever! If you are a musician, or just somebody driving through the area, you have to dial it in, or stop by. Its right off the HWY between Kalispell and Big Fork. He will be on the links page after I finish this letter.


I finished the weekend at the Pollo Grille in Whitefish for an afternoon brunch show. This is a nice little restaurant on the way up to Big Mountain. My wife Becky said it was one of the best meals she's had. I look forward to going back.

Alright, thats it for the update. Gibson and I are mixing some more of the new disc tonight, which I am very excited about. We are getting closer, I can smell it I tell you. Be well.

Last night the family and I went to the spice cafe and had a wonderful meal! Then, Beck took the spaghetti-crazed youngins to the park and I played in the corner to a gracious audience. On set break, the boys arrived with mother in tow and Jack preceded to sing in the mic while mason strummed my guitar(as it stood nervously in its stand waiting for me to return from the bathroom). Apparently the act went over pretty well and they are looking to book for the fall. I'm very excited about Kalispell this weekend and will report back on Monday regarding the whole weekend. Be well!

Last Friday was the Union Club. Yikes, there were alot of people there! So much so that it actually got kind of stressful. I got yelled at, which makes me SUPER DEFENSIVE!..and made for kind of an agressively energized second set. Ah well, it was apoligies all around at the end of the night and the world continued to turn on its axis. All in all it was a decent night at the bar. Although, I had mentioned Dan Funsch would be playing accordian with us, but forgot to mention that to him, apparently. Sorry to those Dan fans out there and sorry to you, Dan, for the late night semi frantic message on your machine.

Ok, well, the band won't be playing in Missoula for about a month, but I'll be rearing my little folk head around the Western portion of the state for the next few weeks.(Hamilton on Wednesday and Kalispell this weekend,..plug plug) Speaking of Hamilton, there is a new picture in the gallery portion of the site here that Ellen sent me of her, Russ Nasset and myself at the Spice from a about a month ago.

Alright,..be well, do good work and keep in touch!(whats that from?)

me

Alright. I don't ever get tired of playing Shadows Keep. Great crowd up there tonight,...lots of familiar faces.

Oh by the way(not really), I put up a pretty cute picture of Jack and Mason in the photo gallery section on the website, here. Check it out!

Alrighty. Butte was a hoot,...or a hutte, I suppose. The noon show at the college was kind of sparse, but not too bad considering it was the beginning of a big 3 day weekend for all the students and I was playing Thursday afternoon. Great choice of dates on my part. But everyone seemed kind of into it and I sold a couple of discs.
The show that night at the Rising Venus was, as predicted, really fun. There were some familiar faces which was nice and the room itself in the back was just perfect. Good acoustics, good lighting, kind of blocked off from the rest of the coffeeshop so people could come and go as they pleased for coffee or whatever. Thanks to Glen, Sean and Jen for having me there. I really look forward to going back there sometime soon....and a HUGE THANK YOU to CAMELA CARSTARPHEN for setting up the entire day,...booking, promoting, working the CD/email list/ticket taking table for both events, generally hosting the whole freakin' day! It was really quite the hospitality to be had. Ok, I've got to make some posters and then set up for Shadows Keep tonight. Be well. Do good work.,...uh,..stand tall,....may the road rise to meet you and all that stuff,...

I'm off to Butte tomorrow morning for a nooner at the tech school in the student lounge. I haven't played one of these university shows in maybe ever. I can't remember. It seems like I have, but I have no concrete memories of it. I'm kind of picturing myself moving in on some peoples study time, but delightfully distracting a few stragglers. I will have to give you the full review this weekend. The other show that night is at the Venus Rising Espressohouse and for some reason I am very excited about that one,...even though I only got a tiny little mention in the lively times, hopefully it will be enough to get a few people in there. I only really need a few to make it fun for me. I'm pretty easy that way when it's a listening venue. Ok, I am off to either sleep or get my calendar and throw some more dates on this website. Goodnight all and to all......uh,..see ya.

The Old Post on Friday was really fun. I got to see my old friend Pam, Grace got up and sang one with us and there were tons of friends at this particular show. It was really quite enjoyable, I must say.

Tonight we played the Bitterrroot Brewing Co. and it seemed to go pretty well. Lots of listeners, a few dancers, some excellent fish and chips and plenty of beer hoisting by the band.

Afterwards, I got to check out some really cool band from Portland called the Juanita family that played the Crystal theater with Bob Wire and the Fencemenders and another act that I missed because we showed up late. The Juanita Family, though. Give it up! Sweet counry style vocalist, really good songs, rough and tumble backing band,....I like it. That said,..Im going to sleep. Goodnight all.

Just a quick note here. I just finished eating some of the best enchiladas of my life. God bless the Chile Verde! God Bless the Monterey Jack....and God bless the lemon ginger tea that is hopefully going to help me sing this evening. This cold makes me sound like I got a "2 pack habit and a motel tan" as Steve Earle would say. See you out there.

Alright, I am actually publishing this thing today so that people can get a hold of me if they need to. Everything on this website is functional, with the possible exception of the email list and guestbook. But pics are here, contact info,..and a host of other stuff. So, enjoy,...and take comfort in the fact that I will figure out the rest of this site soon,...yes,...take comfort,..rest easy,..just relax and know that Captain Catmulls' got it all under control,...yeah,..isn't that nice?...yeah.

Thanks for comin'!

Hey there sinners! The big news for me right now is that I am creating this website though Hostbaby right now. I could not be more excited about trying this server out. Thanks for coming!
In recording news, we are due for a late summer/early fall release of the disc for Tom Catmull and the Clerics. That is also still very exciting for me,....lots of good stuff on there, already,...can't wait.