Shaq's movie & "TABLE" debut

Yeah, so since I've been home and since the cd has been completed, I've been watching a lot o' television, or as they call it in the UK, the tele... yeah, so I was watching showtime one day, and I see this big man, and it looks like Shaq, and it's a real movie. I mean, some movie maker actually created a movie and Shaq was the lead actor, or character. It looked a few years old. I think it was called "steel" or something like that. Basically, he's this super hero crime fighter who created like a bulletproof outfit made of steel, and when some guy robs an elderly couple on the street, he tracks the guy down and gets the elders their money back. well that's just what I saw before I changed the channel, but I just couldn't believe that was actually a film. I can't believe that this flick was ever in any theaters, or that it even had a movie premiere in LA or NY. I just can't believe it.

Anyway, I drove to Ann Arbor a couple days ago to pick up the new cds. Well I knew what they'd look like, so I wasn't surprised about anything, cos I knew what they'd sound like too. "pleased" would be the best way to put it. Needless to say, I'm pretty psyched about it, and the upcoming shows in Sept. and later in October after my little break... once we get these beeeattches out there, and fire up the message board on the website, I expect to hear promptly the comments, and critiques of the new songs. Also, you can get a nice sneak peak from the "Atto-radio" on the bottom left of this website.

So there was a fundraiser event near my home just last night which involved music. So it was kind of a battle of the bands. So I put together a three-piece, and we called ourselves "Table." Yup... that was the name of our band. I'm pretty sure it was a one night only engagement for "table," but we left it all out there on stage, and had some people dancing and rocking to a couple acoustics and a hand drum kit. the other guys playing were Jeff, the new guitarist I mentioned a couple entries ago, and as always, Bubs, the self-proclaimed 'humble drummer.' So they asked us to write out a little introduction for ourselves for right before we head out on stage... and I thought I'd share as much of it with you as I could remember... here it goes...

"for our next band, the lead singer & songwriter, Jimmy, was raised by a mixed herd of wolves and dingos in the Australian Aboriginees. He learned to sing by howling at the moon. Jeff, the guitarist was brought up by a group of travelling minstrels in Utah, and was taught music at an early age. His hobbies include squirrel hunting and hopscotch. Bubs, the humble drummer, very fit as a child, was exiled from Japan at age 3 and swam to America to start a new life in 1956. These three make up the international supergroup known as TABLE!"

we also took the stage wearing overalls and weighters, and really had a blast. So hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon...

word...?

word.

JA

the eve of the low carb lp

it's getting closer and closer to the promise land... the cd is so close i can smell it... well, I can kind of imagine what it would smell like, 'cos it is a disc after all... the dates for sept. are posted... you know how I always create arbitrary names for my tours, well, this one is no different. In the spirit of my upcoming first ever cd release show at Xhedos, I've decided to name this the CD RELEASE SHOW tour. yeah, and every show is the cd release show for that state, city, area, or region... and I have to come home in Oct. for a wedding, but I fire it back up after the NACA conference in mid-october, so that's when I'll be heading out west. So that's the little update for now about all that jive.

It turns out people actually have read the first couple entries on this new blogger. It's nice and easy, and somehow, by chance, it turns out that I've posted on mondays consistently. That's not how I planned it, but that's how it's worked out so far. So I hope everyone is enjoying the new website so far.

The summer is coming to a close for me. I've been spending a lot of my time jamming with this new guitarist, he goes by Jeff... some of the songs we've worked on are really coming together. I'm concerned that he doesn't like my top secret possible future band name, but I can always turn to hypnosis... we went out last week and had some drinks, and have witnessed one another's eating habits, which are astounding.

As always, I should mention. I'd like to resurrect my invitation (which I think I offered my first ever tour, when no one listened) to play a little tennis on the road. I've got some days off, and a racquet with some tight strings. I'm also game for some ping pong, volleyball (preferably beach, but indoors is fine), or badminton, or when we turn to cards, I picked up a couple tricks from my cousin, and I like to think I can play poker now. so those are my recreational activities of choice for the road, most (if not all) of which I have never actually taken part in since I started travelling just over two years ago...

come on Lions!!

JJA

little road trip

So... I had to get out of the D for a weekend. My friend Ben and I decided to head up north a few hours, and do a little camping, a little fishing, a little relaxation. now any trip of mine is not come without a hitch or three... we decided to leave late thursday night, cos I like to wake up in the morning where I'm going to be, rather than wake up wicked early friday morning and drive tired... so we get there, miraculously find the place, which is in the middle of nowhere, and start to setup our tents, so I lay mine out, and it seems that something's missing. I look around and the poles (which are 50% of the necessary components) are missing. I loaned it to someone a couple weeks ago and he must have simply lost them, and now they're gone forever... luckily we each brought our own tent... so we had to snuggle a bit... not really, it was a decent sized tent... so upon commencement of cursing and complaining for a while, we sent up ben's tent under the light of my Taurus, which was not running at the time. This makes for a very dead battery. So the battery dies, and I didn't care... I just wanted to pass out, and I knew we'd find someone to jump us, because I had faith in out campsite neighbors.

the next morning about ten sites down, there was a gracious man in a diesel f-150 who charged me right up. so that one was my fault but I was still pretty bitter about the tent pole thing. Anyway the rest of the weekend consisted of Ben trying to teach me how to fly fish. Which is pretty hard. We didn't catch anything, except I caught a little baby brook trout the size of my pinky finger, and it was kinda by accident. I saw this thing on the end of my fly, and I thought, I accidentally hooked onto some garbage or something, but it was a fish, and we just set it free, poor guy... we also spent some time bbq-ing some hot dogs, I was the official campsite chef. I cooked the beans, the dogs, and in the mornings I cooked up eggs and bacon... I discovered a technique of laying the bacon right on the grill, instead of in the skillet. needless to say, there were no complaints about the food. I can also make a killer grilled cheese, just for reference...

So I'm back home now. just firming up some shows for the upcoming tour. It's not as big a tour as usual. but I'm hitting up the colleges, which I like the best, and also some regular venues. I want to get this cd to many people. I'm working out some kind of deal where if you bring someone to a show who has never been to a show before, I'll give some massive discounts on the new cd, and first cd. the reps of course will get advanced copies and start spreading the word asap.

onto other news. more musically... I ran into a guy at a bar a few weeks ago. This guy plays some wicked guitar. and he has a lot of toys. he wants to get a band together. so we've been jamming a small bit, and we're going to try to do some of the local shows together. I would bring him out on the road if I could make it worth it for him. anyway, there could be a "jimmy atto experience" in the future. of course it would go by an entirely different name...

so here, I'm gettin in the groove of this new journal. I'll keep it posted if you keep reading it.

rock and/or roll...

JA

New Website, Whassup?!

Hey Y'all... this is J-I-M to the M-Y... or something like that. This is a little thing some people like to call a journal. it's not like how I used to do it and I still am not quite sure which way is easier, but I quite like this...

So this is what I'll use to update you on the goings on from the road, even when I'm in D-town. I guess I could christen the new journal with a little recap of the summer, and the new cd. I wish I had taken some studio photos, but we were just focused on little else than making a quality record, and to entertain y'all in as many ways as possible. The cd is being printed as we speak... I'm really excited about it. I can't express that enough. I'm delighted to be hitting the road again in fall, right after labor day weekend... please feel free to listen to some new songs on the "Atto-radio" on the lower left corner of the main frame. This website looks pretty good, doesn't it? my brothers friend, Kris designed it and I think it kicks ass... what's bigger than kicking ass? hmm, like catapulting ass... cos the catapult can send the ass a lot further than just a kick, unless like freddy adu is doing the kicking, or something like that...

so what else... oh, I was thinking of having a single for this cd too... track 5, is called "Never Grow Old," we've got a single all layed out. I just need to throw together some art for it. I wanted to put it together like an old-school single with b-sides... the supporting tracks are a collection of live, and rare or unreleased material from the past two years. Five tracks total, so it's more of an EP, but it's somewhere in between...

The summer has treated me okay in other aspects of life. I've between sessions in the studio and other obligations, I joined a summer hockey league with a bunch of lawyers, played a bunch of tennis and beach volleyball, and have soaked up the sun as much as possible in Michigan. The infamous "Jimbeau"-mobile has now been changed, and the preferred vehicle of transportation is now called the "TAURBUS." Yes, it was a taurus, and technically still is, but it has a new name for identification.

Well I just wanted to use this new blogger and see how it works. I don't think anyone can post responses to this thing, which is what the message board is for. It'll be up soon, if it's not already. that's under the "forum" link. so peace out. see you at the shows, right...

j-diddy