barbaramanning.com newsletters

August 9th, 2005 Chico

Hi all,

Summer is seasonally half over, but since school starts in only two weeks I feel like it is slipping away faster than I can get into my swim suit. Chico is blazingly hot in the triple digits. I have been working extra hours at the NPR radio station, enjoying the new work as substitute announcer as well as enjoying the office air conditioning.
Fiberglass Jacket has been a busy band lately. We had our week long tour of California, playing in Chico, Davis and LA, opening for the witty Lewis Brothers. In LA, we stayed in room 32 at the Alta Cienega Motel in West Hollywood, the Jim Morrison room where he stayed for an extended time while recording! Fiberglass Jacket has recorded recently as well. We were invited by Women's Audio Mission, a non-profit group which is commited to training females for roles in the recording arts industry, to record over a weekend in San Francisco. We knocked out three varifiable hits and had a really great time. Information about this awesome and extremely talented group is available at their website: www.womensaudiomission.org. Plus I intend to hype up WAM more when our new recordings are ready for release. WAM is accepting musical projects as long as the women-engineers like the music and they offer really reasonable rates.
I am super happy these days, busy with music and enjoying time off from constant homework. Summer is wonderful when you have friends you love to spend time with! I hope you all are enjoying your summer too.

I am not even ready to face the reality of the upcoming semester: physics and more organic chemistry plus a couple classes required to graduate....whaaa....but you will hear from me when events of a musical nature occur. I will try not to complain about university.....

Keep in touch,

Barbara

July 20, 2005 Chico, CA

Here I go...posting my newsletter on my own, finally getting over some of the techie fear I have with electronics. Thanks, big thanks, to Renee and Patrick who have led me down the webpage superhighway.

I have some confirmed shows to announce!

Here are all of the upcoming shows:

Monday, July 25 at Fulcrum records in Chico with Jeffrey Lewis

Tuesday, July 26 at G street Pub in Davis with Jeffrey Lewis

Friday, July 29 at Spaceland in Los Angeles with Jeffrey Lewis and Bob Log III

Late Tues in Aug 23 at Offlimits in Chico

with Monster Women (Eureka)

Friday, Sept. 23 at Shady Bradys in Roseville

Saturday, Oct 15 at 418 Front Street in Santa Cruz

Most shows will be with my Chico band, Fiberglass Jacket

Hope you all can make it!

Meanwhile I am working on getting my song page organized with lyrics and chords. Stay tuned for wonderful changes and additions to barbaramanning.com!

love,

Barbara

July 5, 2005 Chico, CA

Heydeho!

Summer!!! Ah it is so nice to be out of school for a while. Flavio, the Go Lucky drummer is here in Chico with me for a few sweet weeks. He is gonna celebrate his 28th birthday on July 9th, his first birthday away from his twin, Fabrizio! Happy Birthday Twins! Flavio has been elemental in my big move out of the little apartment I’ve been living in the last three years. I have moved into a converted pumphouse that still has a well under the floorboards. It’s a cute little place all to myself. So far there is no stove so Flavio and I are living off of cookies and ice cream….that is one reason summer is so great! But I can imagine myself in the little pumphouse, studying and cooking in the months to come.
Flavio and I spent the 4th of July weekend with Melanie, the SF Seals drummer, and her family in their rustic cabin in the Mendicino woods. In order to get across to the cabin you can ride the cable cart that stretches across Rattlesnake Creek. We played songs, cooked and got wet in the creek. Her two kids, Ezzy (9) and Clem (8) are really fun.

My sister’s son, Rocco Ramone Rizzi, is smiling now that he is over two months old. Terri is a natural mother and is very happy. I will get to see Rocco again in a couple of weeks when Flavio and I head to the city for some more record shopping excursions.

My Chico band, Fiberglass Jacket, had our second show last month. We were able to add two new songs to our set list, but still the set only lasts about 45 minutes. I am urging our bass player, Tom Little, to play lead guitar since he is a killer lead player and the songs need a little extension (haha). Tom got himself a double neck Dan Electro (from Subway Guitars), he can play both bass and guitar in a song! We are doing only a few oldies of mine and concentrating on new stuff that we will be writing together with Dusty, the drummer who is one mean guitar player too. We have a few shows up in the air, in Santa Cruz, Roseville, LA & Seattle, but here are two confirmed shows:

July 25, Monday: Fiberglass Jacket with Jeffrey Lewis (Rough Trade records)
at Fulcrum Records in Chico (all ages)

July 26, Tuesday: This show I think I will be playing solo, with Jeffrey Lewis (Rough Trade records) at G Street Pub in Davis.

If you aren’t yet familiar with Jeffrey Lewis, check out his webpage at www.thejeffreylewissite.com, he is awesome!

Besides goofing off with Flavio, practicing hard with Fiberglass Jacket, or getting my new place organized, I am still working at the local NPR radio station, KCHO. I usually am the receptionist/office worker, but they often ask me to write underwriting scripts and as of the last weeks have been training me to run the board. Last week I was the announcer during the Morning Edition spot! My nervous voice was heard by 50,000 people! Whoohoo!!! I also work as a volunteer at Chico’s community radio station, KZFR. I have my own show, Radio Detour, on every Friday evenings 5:30-7. I play grooving driving music, weird stuff and awesome pop songs or whatever I feel like…..KZFR isn’t on the internet yet (KCHO is, by the way) so only folks living in the regions surrounding Chico can hear it, but KZFR’s “footprint” extends from upper Sacramento to Redding and from as far west as Colusa to as far east as Rough and Ready. Not so small for a people powered radio station.

I still intend to post my radio play-lists, particularly in the hopes of getting bands to send me their recordings to play on the radio. In any case, here is the address of KZFR and any music sent to me will be considered for air-play: KZFR attn: Radio Detour, POB 3173, Chico Ca 95927-3173.

What else? Can’t think of much else so I will end it here.

Wishes for lots of love and good times sent out to all of you!

Barbara

February 1., 2005, Chico, CA

Hi!
I am still having the usual trouble to get on to my webpage on my own, so this little update will be routed to Flavio in Germany who seems to have no problem getting in. Thanks Fla! I am writing from the university library - my only internet source. I just finished a little essay based on Darwin’s theory of evolution and those many Creationists who insisted on the belief of Intelligent Design. All I can figure out is that something got the ball rolling and it hasn’t stopped rolling since, but I certainly agree in the theory of evolution and I am amazed how it is still being debated…. Oh I am still in academic mode here - I almost forgot myself!!!! Hey you all! It was really great to see so many old friends at the shows in Germany! I was delighted with the turn-out at the concerts and surprised to meet “fans” I hadn’t met yet! I thought I already knew personally every BM & GL fan in the world. Our minions are growing! What did I do on my 30 day holiday? Besides those eight shows which were even better with the superb and charming Woog Riots sharing the bill, the Go-Luckys recorded some songs (Coy Tongue, Read Between The Lines, Chicago and Isgodaman?) in an underground studio in Stuttgart. The songs are very rocking, even the Graham Nash song, Chicago. When will you be able to hear them? Very good question. We will be working on the answer, slowly but surely.

Also on my holiday I spent lots of time with my family: my God-children, Zara(9) and Amos(4), taught me the joys of rock. Both are destined for bands, and Amos even has the entire movie School of Rock memorized down to every rock move. I am so proud! My Sweet Town family, the Steinbachs, spent many evenings with me watching English language movies and eating my American popcorn. Now that is a vacation!!

Now, back in Chico, I have 4 months of classes ahead. It’s only the second week so far and homework builds and builds. Here are my classes since you’ve read this far anyway: Advanced Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, Plant Systematics and Science & Human Values. So far I love my Plant Systematics class. We tear plants apart and look at them under dissecting scopes to determine if they are bisexual, etc. We go on tons of field trips too. I also am thoroughly enjoying the microbiology lab class. I have grown several colonies of bacteria, one from the sponge in my apartment (gross) and one from my own tongue (even worse!!!) See how much fun school can be?

I miss my Go-Lucky Twins terribly right now. Being with them reminded me of what great pals we are and I miss that here in Chico. We are planning yet another Germany tour in my next winter break. We have also started talking about a USA tour in summer of 2006. Any one have any ideas on that one? Last time we toured the USA, most of the contacts we used were from you. So if you have a club in your home town that you would love to see us play in, let us know!!!

The BIG news in my life is that my beautiful sister Terri is having a baby boy this coming May!!! It’s about time one of us got busy in that department! Aunty Barbara sounds just right for me. That is all the news I can think to write. Hopefully my local Chico band will start up soon and I will write tons of new songs. Let’s cross our collective fingers on that.

Lots of love and keep in touch,
Barbara

John Peel, RIP!

October 18, 2004 Chico,California

Hello out there! With the help of Renee and Patrick, I am learning how to instantly post on this website. I intend to keep up with you all, especially the requests for lyrics. It’s a kick in the butt for me to check in with where I am, musically, every once in a while. Otherwise the times fly and I end up realizing I am not doing enough writing or playing.
In fact I really need to focus more on school, considering how badly I am doing in my plant morphology class-I’m the worst-but lately my music side has been very active which finally gives me something to write about besides homework.

First happy news to report is that I have several shows coming up, here in CA and in my favorite land of holidays, Germany. The next show I will play is in Oakland with the bands Mushroom and Gris Gris on Nov 13.

On Nov 18th I will debut with my new local band (we don’t have a name yet!) here in Chico at a swell little café called Moxie’s. This band has two other members: Steve and Tom, who are fun and talented and treat me like brothers. We have some band-written material and a handful of rearrangements of my songs. We sound very cool and garage-y and best of all we practice in a snowboard factory which makes for a very relaxed and spacious vibe. (Very Californian!)
The Go-luckys! are going to have a productively packed month in December and January. We are playing at least shows and will be recording the next album. Our new record is going to sound very Go-Luckys! meets the Stuttgart scene.

The album I am working on with my sister has been upgraded into a “real” recording studio with the patience and enthusiasm of Mike Manowitz who has offered endless engineering time in a studio he has an internship. We are going slowly with this project, but never losing momentum. When we finish the album it will be a gem.

I played at a political rally last weekend. It was called “Bring the Noise: Democracy needs a Voice” and it was held in a lovely meadow on the outskirts of Chico. Several bands and DJs played, speakers and workshops were offered on diverse subjects such as “What is up with Walmart?”, “America and the end of oil”, “ internet activism”…..it was cool.

I signed up and took the test and have been chosen to be an official inspector of the polls in my precinct! Yeah, I will be there taking your name and giving you your ballot and your nice “I voted” sticker as you leave. I will also be setting up the booths and tallying the counts. It felt like a good time to get involved in the elections in some way. I hope every American citizen reading this is registered to vote and will make it to the polls to cast the right choices for you. This will be the 10th election since I was born, if I’m not getting messed up with leap-years, and I think this election is the most important.
So much depends on it. But you know that.

I will end this “blog”-I hate that term! “Blah-g”! I’ll try to keep my newsletters short and relevant so it won’t seem that I am entering words into a diary for the world to read….

Keep in touch and keep loving music!

love,

Barbara

June 1st, 2004 Chico, CA

Barbara Manning, when she isn’t buried in homework from university, is working on various musical projects these days.

The first big project for her is the album she will record this summer with her sister, Terri. The two sisters plan on recording all of the instruments themselves, and will combine Terri’s abilities on accordion, musical saw, piano, and her mainstay, the recorder, with Barbara’s guitar, bass and newly discovered talent for drums. The songs will be a mixture of originals from both sisters and some well chosen cover songs. The record is planned for a spring 2005 release. The Go-Luckys will get back into the studio in the upcoming winter. The songs planned should reflect the pain of such a long separation and all live gigs in Germany during their reunion are guaranteed to be as energetic as a puppy in a large backyard. The first tourdates will be official soon Meanwhile, the Super Scissors project, a 3 CD box set, will be released this autumn. Besides the original tracks from Scissors and One Perfect Green Blanket, never released out takes from both sessions, demos of the songs recorded in her bedroom from that early portion of Barbara’s career, and some cool live material will fill up this collection.

At the moment the other 2/3 of The Go-Luckys, Flavio and Fabrizio, are busy touring in Germany with their instrumental band Crashing Dreams and with The Cakekitchen. Please check out www.crashingdreams.de and www.thecakekitchen.net for more information on the Steinbach Twins' activities! And make sure to visit www.barbaramanning.com soon again since Barbara is starting to write newsletters again. That's all news for now!

August 19th, 2003 Chico, CA

Last time I wrote, the summer was ahead, and now it is officially over, since
school starts in a few days. Sorry for the long lulls in my updates!
I spent nearly two months in Germany and the time flew by as you might
expect. I played eight shows in Germany: three with Go Luckys, four solo,
and one with the Terminal Waste Band from Chico! All were special and
quite different from each other. I even had friends join in, as Silvana
from the Woog Riots joined me in Darmstadt, Kurt Kreikenbaum joined me in
Koeln, and Chris Cacavas joined the GoLuckys on stage at Karlsruehe. It
was super fun to play a few shows with Calexico too. Playing at the Swamp
Room Happening was a BLAST! But I think my favorite show was playing in the
street fest in Tuebingen, watching the street fill up with people from
different ages and musical tastes, all watching me beat on my guitar and
try not to look nervous.

Not to make you all jealous or anything, but my favorite moments in Germany
this summer were camping along the Rhein river and exploring Amsterdam for
a few days: Looking at Vincent's paintings, eating ice cream on the canals
and observing the local talent at night with my best friend beside me. A
well deserved perfect summer.

Now I am back in Chico getting braced for another tough semester. I am
looking forward to Botany, and new German cinema, but the rest of the
courses will be a challenge. Just imagine taking Organic Chemistry at
8am!!!!!And then Human Genetics before breakfast!!!! I also got myself a
job in the chemistry stockroom. whhhhhoooohhhhhoooo! I can't wait to start
washing the E-flasks and testtubes. I sewed a patch of an exploding bomb
on to my lab coat which I hope helps me to make lots of friends at the new
job.

I will have a Chico show, presenting my newest group playing my songs
called ETC on Sept 27th in the downtown park. The show is free, all ages
and starts at 6pm-8. The band, ETC, features Terminal Waste Band members,
Christen and Scott. I am very happy to have a band to play with locally,
and look forward to our progress and future shows. Plus the drummer girl is
really cute.

I have also written some songs for an upcoming play, an adaption of
Moliere's Misanthrope with a modern spin on the music industry, presented
by the Blue Room theatre of Chico. The play will run in November. See
blueroomtheatre.com

Also in November, the hard-to-believe-it-is-going-to-happen, nearly twenty
years later, reunion of 28th Day (my first band) will happen on NOv. 28th
at the MakeOut Room in San Francisco. I also hope to have a Chico show
organized the smae weekend. I will post that announcement on the message
board as I get it pinned down. 28th Day will record a couple of songs for a
limited 7 inch which will be available at the show.

I have been given the great opportunity to record an album with my
extremely talented sister, Terri! We will work on it all autumn and
winter, hoping for a spring '04 release. We plan to play all the
instruments, etc. ourselves, and record it at Terri's house in SF. I know
it will have that special sound that two sisters at home can make.
Lots of tea kettles rattling and cats purring, you know that kind of
recording session. More about our progress later.

The twins are busy as ever. Their awesome new Crashing Dreams record has a
label and song titles and all, only waiting for my liner notes to finish it
up. I can't give this record enough praise. It really is brilliant. I
will announce it's release on the message board once it is in my hands. The
twins are also touring with Gram Jeffries' Cake Kitchen this September in
Germany. I wish I could see them play!!!!

Another release to proudly announce is the new vinyl release of the Glands
Of External Secretion's Tubular Bells!!!! Yes, really really.
It is a masterpiece of achievement, especially considering it was performed
entirely with office supplies. It can be bought via RevolverUSA at
midheaven.com and is on the fine label, Starlight Furnishings.

I am super deeelighted with the recent Go Luckys vinyl picture disc called
One Starry Night at the Shop, on Hannover label Swamproom records. I will
send one to our web mistress, Renee, and hopefully she can scan the art
work-it is really fantastic!

Hero the van is trying hard to pass the smog test at this very moment.
Otherwise, Hero is running excellently and seems happy that I'm back in the
states again. No big plans for touring except look for me in Sacramento, SF
and Tuscon before the end of the year.

One last thing before I sign off: I am a DJ on the community radio station
of Chico: KZFR 90.1 every second Tuesday at 7:30-10 pm.
I play all those great bands who manage to slip me their self released cds
and records while I am on the road, as well as my favorites, so tune in if
you are near.

Thanks everyone for being patient for my overdue updates and my basic
aversion to computers, and especially, thanks for being a fan.

write in!

love,
Barbara

Newsletter July 9th 2002 Suessen, Germany

Hello friends,
here's Flavio & Fabrizio writing. Barbara is going to write the last passage of this month's newsletter. We hope you all are doing fine while reading these lines. We just want to tell you some plans of the band as well as some nice stories!

Let's start with today. It's our 25th birthday as we were born in 1977, the year that punk broke! For the first time in 3 years we will not be able to celebrate this day together with our dear bandmate Barbara. What a shame! This is one of the negative aspects of being a transatlantic band! The gap between places is too big and it takes ages till we meet again sometimes! But we don't want to complain too much either. It's a happy day for us. Together we're fifty years old; older than almost all the rest of you;-) We will have a small party this year, since there's no Golden Gate Park here in Suessen/South Germany! As usual we're pretty sure that we will not give presents to each other.
We never did that. Also a strange thing about being twins! We're wondering how other twins are handling it!

Talking about music now: We also have a new band. Crashing Dreams, that's our name! It's pure instrumental music and different than all the post rock stuff. And it rocks! Please don't get this wrong: Barbara Manning And The Go-Luckys will always remain, but as Barbara is doing solo shows when we're not around we also had to find a way to stay musically alive when there's no Go-Luckys-action time! This spring we wrote many songs, recorded them in April, had our first show at the Swamp Room Happening Festival in May and beginning of August our Debut EP will be released on the Stuttgart based label Naiv. We're happy we had the chance to work together again with our friend Lolo Blümler in the studio. And Volker Zander also helped a lot! He is the best bass player in the world. Calexico are damned lucky! Our good friend Nabil Atassi also was part of our line-up at the debut show in Hannover and he will be playing with us in future too! That's the short story so far.

We'll play with Barbara again in October in Boston at the Terrastock 5 Festival. That's going to be our only American show this year! The German tour starts on December 24th 2002 and ends on January 18th 2003! Details will come a.s.a.p.! Last month 'Transatlantic Trips' was released in Germany on Normal Records as part of the Return To Sender series! It's mainly something for real fans cause it shows the band in all its dimensions! Live material, radio sessions, etc.! It's rough! Next release will be the 7" single/CDsingle 'A Mountain' on Supermodern Records, a very cool German indie label! 2 new songs and some other specialties! On Christmas we'll also have a little release party going on for our punk rock 7"single! The 2 songs "Don`t Neglect Yourself" and "Old Woman" will be released by another very cool German indie label called Swamp Room Records! The singles will be very limited and are released as a part of the Swamp Room Singles Club! After that the live album 'One Starry Night At The Shop' will
be released as Picture Disc Vinyl only. Again on Swamp Room Records! And that's all the release plans for 2002.

We hope we still have your attention as the newsletter has not ended yet! Barbara has some more lines for you! But we'll end for now. We're looking forward to meet you all again down the road. Please take care and feel free to write back if you have any cool suggestions, like for example good labels or agencies that you think the Go-Luckys should be working with in future to get even more famous;-)

Ciao,
Flavio & Fabrizio

Barbara here you go:

July 9th, 2002 Chico, CA

Happy Birthday Twins! I wish I could go to your birthday party!!!! Have a Kult beer for me, haha.

Hello friends!

Well I am considerably more cheered up than in my last newsletter. In fact, I am starting to really like it here in Chico now, mostly because I have been making some great new friends, and the housing and job front began to look up. In fact I think that as soon as I started to think I was going to leave soon, I ended up meeting some folks that opened my eyes to some of the charms of Chico that I had missed.

I just came from the apartment of one of my new pals, Jeff, who has the best radio show on the local community radio station, KZFR. He let me in to the studio with him last week and I got to play my favorite songs, "Euro-tunes" as one listener remarked, plus talk about the twins, as I love to do. Today he brought out all of his rare Pete Townsend records, and we Who'ed out for a little while. I am still hoping to get my foot in the door at KZFR, but even to volunteer, I must be patient. I am going to just start hanging out there until they let me get involved...

KCSC is still in limbo. It appears that the station was disrupted by a hacker and someone has been living in the station as well, so getting in to do radio has turned out to be difficult. I still have hopes to do a show with Seymour Glass during the 4th of July weekend, but I don't know exactly when we will be able to get in. I will try to email the mailing list as soon as I know what date and time we are broadcasting.

I managed to get myself a couple of little jobs! I am once again a record clerk, luckily at the best vinyl shop in Chico, Melody records. I will be there at the counter on most Fridays from 3-6. Only! Still it is nice to be surrounded by records again, even if for a three hour a week shift. I am also freelancing for the Chico, News and Review, writing live reviews for bands and CDs! I will have my first one in the paper tomorrow. It feels a bit strange to critique a person's work, but if I can turn it around for some money, then I am ready to let my opinions fly!

The Dirty Pillows had our first rehearsal since the band combusted. We are still a five girl band, but now we have renamed ourselves: We are the Moist Makers! I think we will be prepared to have our coming out performance in the next months. The line-up now is: Trish on vocals, Tamie on guitar and vocals, Robin on drum and vocals, Candice on bass, and yours truly, Babuna Honnig (my alias) on lead guitar and keyboard.

The twins new band, the Crashing Dreams, are fabulous. I got to hear their new recordings, and I can tell you that it doesn't need a vocalist. The guitars sing and so does the bass! And the drums rock. Congratulations Twins! You are..twentyfive, you are, that's what you are...la la la.

The biggest event of my summer: Mission of Burma are playing at the Fillmore, SF in a few weeks!!! I will be hyper-excited like a displaced electron. I can not wait!!!!

And last but not least, summer school report: I actually love my chemistry class and I even bought myself a little lab coat so I feel the role of chemist. I am doing quite well so far, but there are still three weeks of daily classes ahead, and the homework is heavy. I told my sister that Chemistry is my new boyfriend cause I sleep with the textbook.

I have been really enjoying the postings on the message board thing on this page. (Did anyone read the one from the two girls in So Cal who named their band, Planet Manning? I wanna hear their version of That Kid! ) I love being able to share the letters, and to have an open forum. Once again, a huge thank you to the awesome Miss Renee Esquivil for all of her web expertise. She makes this page exist.

Signing off for now. Everyone have a fun summer and keep the cards and letters coming!

Love,
Barbara

May 30th, 2002 Chico, California

Schools out for the summer! But it only lasts ten days for me, as I am summer school bound. Six weeks of chemistry and three of US History, whee!

I am told that Chico can be survivable if you spend it by the creek, and so I plan to do alot of outside studying, and will try to remember that the library is my friend. I am in the university library now, and it is empty of students. Chico deflates like an innertube when the students leave town. I was hoping the lack of all of those blond and white youngins would increase my chances of finding gainful employment, but so far I've been striking out. I've tried all of the record shops in town, even Tower!...But no one wanted to see my impressive resume and binder full of letters of recommendation.

My sister said to me yesterday, "as one door slams you in the face, another one may open."

I am having a slightly critical look at my return to this flat, hot and insular town, and wondering if it is right for me. I've made a few good friends, but boy oh boy do I miss San Francisco, and Suessen. Those places feel like home.

Speaking of home: it is time that I get one! I have spent the last week looking for a room to rent, and wondering how my mother managed to move two teenaged daughters and a schoolbus to Chico so many years ago. Rents are crazy expensive here and I am barely scraping by as it is. I am feeling the stuckedness one gets when you get some security. It is a weird compromise for basic survival. It really makes me wish I could write a hit song. Life
is so hard at times. How do people who are alone manage?

The Dirty Pillows had a slight internal combustion which pushed the band into a hiatus, and may even will change the name. I think all the girls are happy for a break anyway. I don't know about the band's future at this time, but something very wonderful is bound to be reconstructed from it's metamorphase.

My radio program, the Rundfunk Umleitung show (Radio Detour)also is on a hiatus. I need to figure out how to get some consistent summer hours, but the poor student run operation is very under nourished. There will be a brilliant radio marathon during the 4th of july weekend when ex-patriate KCSC DJ legend Seymour Glass visits Chico. We will reinvent college radio for a brief few hours, and try to conjure up the old music ghosts of the KSCS radio past, Shattered Future and The 95th Parallel. I will announce
it on the message board on the BM web site. I am also about to jump through the hoops required to be involved with the Chico community radio station, KZFR. (I only hope that they forgive me for accidentally calling it KFRC on the application! Whoops.) KZFR is affiliated with KPFA and can be heard as far south as Sacramento. I will
train during the next months and then apply for a show. Hopefully I will be free enough to have my Rundfunk Umleitung show and play all of those brilliant records that I treasure.

Tomorrow I drive to Sacramento to perform at the Tape Op conference. I see how pricey it is and so I appologize to all of you in the Sac area who can't make it. I will be performing with my sis, Terri, at the wonderful True Love Cafe with some other superb acts, particulary Rebeccal Gates. Also, concurrently playing are Calexico at another venue, so its one of those frustrating festivals that require constant moving between sets. The Golucky twins are utterly thrilled that I get to see Kevin Seconds (from 7
Seconds) which is one of Flavio's current idols. Other acts that I am excited to see are Hurricane Lamps from Virginia/Wash DC, and the post 28th Day band called the Sunbirds featuring Cole Marquis (who celebrated his 40th last Friday and is going to be a daddy soon!!!) I look forward to having some fun, as I have been in a worry wart state since finals. I am ready to have some laughs!

The Twins have had a massively fun past several weeks. They recorded several of their new songs in Darmstadt with our favorite recording guy, Lolo. Volker Zander, owner of Sommerweg records, and bass player for the European Calexico line-up plays bass with them and so does the Go-Luckys sometime keyboard player, Nabil Atassi, on guitar. The band is called Crashing Dreams (yes, from Rain Parade) and they sound so great that they were invited to play Germany's biggest hippie-psych rock festival in
Hannover, the Swampfest. The festival was a big success and the twins got no sleep the whole time. They are still on the road as I write this. Ahh the life of a musician can be so fine.

Flavio wanted me to mention that the Normal records Return to Sender album of live Go-Luckys recordings is about to be available, mail order only. The twins will send out some kind of announcement. They are great at that promotional stuff.

I went up to the woods to see my mama last weekend, and we had a real blast. She was helping me with my Frankenstein laptop computer that was donated to me by the other Manning sisters: Shannon and Tammy. I finally have a zip drive attached to download what I wrote on it, but Mom and I couldn't get it to work yet. However, we did manage to connect to the internet which really surprised us. Slowly slowly the cyberworld is making its way to me. If I am able to have computer access away from the library, I would be very happy about it. I know, the library is my friend, but familiarity has breed some contempt.

Mom and I also watched some movies together: Memento and a cool German flick called the Princess and the Warrior. Both super great, but the German film had subtitles which required me to sit right next to the three inch TV screen and read the subtitles outloud to her throughout the film! An outside bath and a lot of sleeping in the dear old trailer added to a great get-away from Chico.

Next week I am planning on a short roadtrip up to Eureka, Mckinleyville, and Arcada to visit my pals in Automatic Pink and darlings, the Fulmers. I hope to see lots of fog, mountains and trees, and at least one walk on the beach.

Then back to hot hot hot Chico, and chemistry class, and the inevitable job hunt, and moving to a place to settle down all of my school books. After basically three years of living out of a suitcase and staying with my friends, I don't need much. Just a happy environment and a place for my bed.

I will write in once I have some good news to tell. You can all write in to the message board now that I learned how to use it, and I now can access all of those messages that are sent to the web, thanks again Renee! So write in, ask questions, make comments, its a great little forum, and I check it regularly now that I know how.

I wish you all a very fun-filled summer. Use your best judgment, love your friends, and look after each other.

your pal,
Barbara

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