Here we are, it's the fourth Friday in a row with a news update, and the fourth Friday in a row that we've posted a brand-new track from the upcoming new album, Salve. This week's remix is another mix of "You Fell", called the "Droid mix". This one, in my experience, has been the one that people react most positively to on first hearing. And, I've posted another audio commentary between Andre and I, discussing particulars of this week's mix. The commentary tracks have been really fun to put together, and I hope you've enjoyed listening to them.

And suddenly, we're right in the thick of the holidays! I hope that you and yours will have a peaceful and loving time together this year. I'll be posting my typical year-end roundup, as I have for the last several years, very soon. 2001 has definately proven to be one of the most memorable of all of my years thus far, for all sorts of reasons, both good and bad.

Anyhoo, head to the front page and listen to the new stuff, and I'll be talking to you more soon in this space. Take care, be safe, and much love to you.

Hey there and happy Friday to you all. The third Salve preview track is now up for your listening pleasure. It's a remix of "You Fell" entitled "You Fell (Bad Craftsman mix)". Along with the new remix, there's some new and somewhat surprising audio commentary as well - you'll hear Andre being pretty honest and open about how difficult this week's mix has been for him to really nail down, and I spill the beans about my "Demon Face Test". What more could you possibly ask for?

Another couple of quick items: there's a whole bunch of Grunge gigs scheduled for January posted in the gig box on the front page. If you're anywhere near Seattle, come on out to one of the gigs and say hello. I promise that you'll have a good time.

Lastly, in the Break My Arm By Patting Myself On The Back Department, I've just been informed that "Firefly" will be given rock "Track Of The Day" honors at Garageband.com for one whole day on December 20th. That's two for two so far, as "Lois" got the same uh, privilege back in November. Actually, it's pretty neat, since they do that based on the amount of positive reviews, so thanks to all that listened to the songs and enjoyed them and said so in their review. So Click this link on December 20th to see "Firefly" have it's moment of glory.

That's it for now, I'll see you all next week for the last in this series of postings of Salve preview tracks! Hope your holiday season is a special one this year.

Now, where'd I leave that eggnog?

Hey folks, just a quick rejoinder informing you that the second full-length sample from my new record Salve, is NOW AVAILABLE for your listening pleasure. It's in the big Salve box right on the front of Wonky.Net, so go on over and have a listen to it. This week's mix is another remix of "There Is No More Evil In This World", this one entitled simply "Glitch mix". Once again, we have audio commentary betwixt remixer/producer Andre LaFosse and myself discussing the new mix, and you can listen to it in Real Audio streams, or by downloading the MP3. When you're done, why not drop us a line and tell us what you think of the track? Thanks a gazillion in advance!

Hey! It's time for a VERY big news update today, something that's been somewhat of a rarity this year. LOTS of cool stuff to talk about, so let's get to it!

A Really Big Announcement

"Expectations are the enemy of music." - Mike Keneally

So there’s another album in the works, and it’s called Salve. I hope a whole lot for it to see release in early 2002. Now, you might be wondering how I pulled this off; I mean, this is the guy who took three years to finish his first solo record, and now he’s got another one ready to, uh, “drop” less than a year after the first one was released?

Well… yes and no.

As far as there is such a thing as a “typical Yogi album”, Salve isn’t it. It is also not really the next “full-length” album of original material, in the typically defined commercial sense. It has a very full length though, possibly reaching the 70-minute+ mark. I have recorded new material for it, but the lion’s share of the content are remixes (though I like to think of them as “re-imaginations”) of songs that are on Any Raw Flesh?, my first album. I am extremely excited about this record. It is really, really going to be special.

I should mention that this project took me completely by surprise, as I certainly wasn’t looking to make a new album so soon after finishing my first one. The creative batteries were pretty well exhausted after all the work I’d had to do steering Any Raw Flesh? to completion, and I thought I’d spend this year trying to promote that record while slowly putting together pieces that I might record the next time around. Ah, but t’was not to be, and here's why t'wasn't.

Buried in the news items I wrote back in 1999, I published a couple of what were then “definitive” track lists for Any Raw Flesh? Comparing those to the actual contents of the album, it doesn’t take an overly astute observer to notice just how un-definitive those lists actually are. That’ll teach me to publish a track list before an album is done.

So yeah, I changed the list a lot in the three years I labored over that album. Not because I didn’t like the material that got removed, however. The decision to remove a song from the list was based on the overall mood of the track, or by lyrical content. I started noticing a pretty negative vibe in the collection of tunes I was working on, so I decided to put aside a couple of songs for the next full-length record I wanted to do, in favor of some more light-hearted and whimsical material. It was a tough decision, but I really feel that it was the right one.

Any Raw Flesh? took such a long time to complete that I admit that often my thoughts would wander to what I wanted to do on the next album I would make. Initially, I imagined the songs that I had that didn’t make the first record would be the cornerstones of the next one. The more I thought about what my next creative move was going to be, the less those songs seemed to fit into that grand scheme. So now I had a little batch of four or five “orphan songs” that were perfectly good little tunes, and I started thinking of ways to release them. One idea was that immediately upon finishing up the Any Raw Flesh? master, I’d go right back into the studio to record the songs I had decided not include, just to get them on tape in finished form. I started seriously entertaining the idea of releasing these songs as a “super-single”, or an EP, or something. A “leftovers” disc, if you will.

Enter Andre LaFosse.

If you aren’t aware of Andre LaFosse or his music, you need to be. In the fall of 2000, just as I was entering the stretch run of the Any Raw Flesh? mixing phase, I received an email from Andre, informing me that the mailing list signup form on Wonky.Net crashed when he tried to use it. He’d read of me in Bryan Beller’s Life of Bryan columns, and wished me well in finishing the record. I knew his name from an interview I’d read of him in a webzine (now on hiatus) called None For You Dear. I’d remembered being impressed at how well spoken Andre had seemed in that interview, and I’d made a mental note to purchase his self-released album, Disruption Theory. Of course, I hadn’t yet gotten around to that, and so, prompted by Andre’s mail, I got off my ass and ordered the thing. When I received it in the mail, I was totally blown away by the album. Disruption Theory, both in concept and execution, remains absolutely unique in my experience. It’s a terrific album, and wildly original. Andre is a monster guitarist, and an innovative producer as well. Disruption Theory belongs in your music collection.

Anyway, time passed, I managed to finish and release Any Raw Flesh?, and Andre and I kept up the email correspondence. Andre was one of the first people to purchase my record when it was done, and he was very enthusiastic in his praise of it. He was also very generous with information he had gleaned from his own experience at self-releasing an album, and the tips he offered enabled me to sell a good number more copies than I would’ve otherwise. Thanks, Andre.

One day, while spending an afternoon perusing the content of Andre’s website, I found a page of audio files that were examples of remix work he had done for some other artists. The sound clips were fascinating, and I decided I would ask the man himself if he would have any interest in doing some remixes of the Any Raw Flesh? material. To my delight, he said that the idea had occurred to him as well, and he set about examining the album for pieces that would lend themselves to his particular brand of audio microsurgery.

Andre picked a variety of tracks to play with, and I provided him with source material directly from the master tapes. As I waited for Andre to work his first batch of magic, the EP idea that I’d been batting around came back to me… and suddenly, I realized that combining my “orphan material” with Andre’s remixes would possibly make a very intriguing record. The idea fired my imagination much more than the "super-single" idea ever had, and I knew that it was the right thing to do.

So here we are, many months later, and Andre has created 75 minutes of material for the album, while I’ve chosen three of the “orphan tunes” for recording and inclusion. The same band that’s on Any Raw Flesh? appears on these new recordings, Chris G on the drum set, Bryan Beller on bass, me on everything else. Once again, Darin DiPietro is recording the material in his studio. The new stuff sounds great so far; I’ve started recording the vocals, and when they are finished, all that remains is some lead guitar before we mix. At this point, between Andre’s work and my own, we have far too much material to fit on one CD, so unfortunately, not all of the remix material will make the cut. We’ll be making the tough decisions on what will stay and what will go in the coming weeks.

I wish I could describe to you how amazingly rich and colorful Andre’s work is on this album. I simply don’t have the proper vocabulary. Every single sound that appears in his "re-imaginings" comes from the material you’ve already heard on Any Raw Flesh?, but in nearly all cases, Andre has twisted and reformed the source material into radically new landscapes, which sound as if you’re hearing the original tracks through the audio equivalent of a kaleidoscope. He’s also uncovered dozens of heretofore hidden gems and ideas that were in the background on the original album, and brought them to the forefront. In many cases, I myself have no idea what Andre did to get the sounds on the tracks, but he assures me that everything started as something I recorded on Any Raw Flesh? In any event, Andre’s work is absolutely stunning, and dare I say it, groundbreaking.

So I’m really excited about how this album is shaping up. The fact that all the songs on it were either slated at one time to appear on Any Raw Flesh?, or were created from material released on that album, seems oh-so-very right to me. When it’s finished, this album will serve as a bridge from my older material to the ideas that I’m turning over in my head right now for future work. Salve is going to be a very different experience than Any Raw Flesh?, but that’s exactly the statement I want to make right now, and it’s not completely divergent from the stuff you’ve heard from me before. A lot of people really enjoyed the first album, and I am very grateful to those folks. But I have a ton of ideas and ground yet to cover, and my plans do not include writing and releasing the same album over and over. With Andre’s assistance, I’ve been able to take my music into areas that I’ve long wanted to travel to with Salve, and I’m hopeful that those who enjoyed Any Raw Flesh? will come along for the journey.

And lucky you, you don’t have to wait until the album is released to hear what it’s going to sound like. Every Friday, for the next four weeks, I’m going to post clips (in Real Audio and MP3 formats) of one of Andre’s mixes that will possibly appear on Salve for your downloading pleasure. We’re going to select tracks that give a representative feel for what the album is all about. Remember that the album is still very much a work in progress; we don't know for sure what tracks will make the cut. Each track will only be available for download for one week, so get your butt here every Friday to hear the latest. I’d love to hear your feedback on the mixes as they become available. So go to the front page NOW and give "No More Evil (Cold Morning mix)" a listen! And when you're finished listening to the mix, you can listen via Real Audio to a conversation Andre and I had about it - Wonky.Net is packed full of reams of my long-winded prattling, and this time I thought it might be interesting (and less exhausting) to give you the opportunity to listen in on Andre and I as we try to figure out What It All Means. And when you're done with that, I encourage you to head over to Andre's Web site, Altruist Music Dot Com, and read over Andre's commentary about this project. Andre's a fascinating fellow, and a terrific writer, and his perspective on Salve is very interesting indeed.

Any Raw Flesh? is getting radio airplay in Seattle!

Jim Peppan has a wonderful radio program on KSER (90.7 FM, Everett) called The Neighborhood. This program is on Wednesday evenings (technically Thursday mornings) from 12 to 2 AM. It's a fabulous show, filled with lots of eclectic and interesting music. Last Wednesday, the 21st, Jim added Any Raw Flesh? to his rotation, and he played four tracks from the album. So I got to have my little That Thing You Do moment, you know, where I heard my own music on the radio for the first time. The first song played? Why "Do Not: Disturbed!", of course! If you could only have seen my goofy grin of delight on hearing the opening drum pattern of that tune popping out of the speakers in my Honda. On the freakin' radio! So if you're in the Seattle area, you can very likely hear Yogi music on the radio Wednesday nights on KSER. Jim played "Lois" on last night's program. Thanks, Jim.

GRUNGE's smashing Seattle debut

Also last Wednesday, Joey Furlan's GRUNGE band, that I play bass in, had it's big downtown Seattle debut at the Catwalk. I expected no crowd (day before Thanksgiving and all), and a healthy dollop of indifference from anyone who did show up. I mean, this place is a snobbish kind of joint, ya know? Well, a decent crowd turned up, who proceeded to be wildly entertained by our renditions of grunge hits! In all fairness to us, we did rock like a hurricane, and I was really pleased with us as I walked offstage. We've got a big promoter behind us now getting us choice gigs, the Catwalk wants us back ASAP. So it looks like this grunge band idea of Joe's may really get going, and I'd love it if you'd come out to see us. I hear the next show will likely be at Doc Maynard's in Pioneer Square sometime in January, so if you're in the Seattle area, come check us out, and say hi to myself and drummer Chris G. As always, all gigs I'm a part of will be announced in the gig box on the front of Wonky.Net. Good times, good times.

Any Raw Flesh? at Garageband.com

Tiny little tidbit here: Based on positive user reviews, "My Love For Lois Is Real" was "Track Of The Day" in the rock genre back on November 1 at Jerry Harrison's Garageband.com. Isn't that cute? "Firefly" and "There Is No More Evil In This World" are both doing well in their review process, too.

ENOUGH, already

That's enough news for one day, right? Hopefully, you've got plenty of new stuff n' samples to chew on for a while... go listen to the first mix we're posting, and PLEASE let me know what you think! Thanks for reading all of this!

Hey, there! How have you been doing? I hope that you and all of your loved ones are safe. I’ve been putting off writing about the national events over the last six weeks. I mean, everyone and their brother have been weighing in with opinions on How It’s All Different Now since September 11. I have thought long and hard about our world after these unprecedented attacks, and I find it difficult to really come to any conclusions. Yet putting my thoughts on paper has often proved therapeutic, and if nothing else, I want to set down how I’ve been feeling. This may not prove to be the most coherent news entry I’ve ever posted, so I hope you’ll forgive me for that if you choose to go on reading.

It was dumb luck that I happened to be up early on September 11, and that the TV happened to be on. These are two things that typically don’t happen in my house. I usually sleep as late as possible most mornings (since I stay up as late as I can stand it most nights), jump in the shower, and head off to work, with no time for morning TV. I was in the shower when roomie Beta Girl knocked on the door and yelled, “Somebody blew up the World Trade Center!” I remember a feeling of confusion; a this does not compute response. I flashed back to the previous World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Blew it up? I thought. Like what, vaporized it? Is that even possible? For a minute or two, Beta Girl and I attempted and failed to hold a conversation by yelling through the bathroom door before I hurriedly got out of the shower and into the TV room, where I was confronted by live pictures of the WTC buildings. The second plane had hit already, and both towers were smoking. There was no indication yet of what had caused those gaping holes, and I remember standing in front of the TV, dripping in my bathrobe, as the first tower began to fall. Then I remember sitting, and then I really don’t remember much else of consequence of that morning. Seeing the clip of the second jet plowing into the second tower for the first time. Watching the second tower come down. The Pentagon. News of another hijacked jet over Pennsylvania. That unforgettable column of dust towering over the New York skyline.

At some point, I gathered myself together and drove to work. I arrived late. I remember sitting in a daze at my desk, listening to the radio over the Internet. I couldn’t function. In those early hours, there was the idea going around that as many as 50,000 people were in those buildings in New York when the attacks came. It all seemed impossible, dreamlike. Who had done this? News came that all aircraft in the nation were grounded. That meant my Mom was stuck in Los Angeles, where she had been visiting my little sister. I myself had returned home from Los Angeles only two days before. How different the world seemed now; I remembered how carelessly I boarded the flight back to Seattle. I wondered if I’d ever climb aboard an airplane so carefree again.

I left my job early that day, as I wasn’t getting anything done, and I think like most people, I was desperate for information. Coincidentally, Beta Girl and I arrived home at right about the same time. All we wanted to do was sit with the dogs in front of the television, which is what we did, until the wee hours of the morning. We sat there, becoming numb to the incredible, impossible sight of jet liners slamming into the World Trade Center. We watched the President give his first official remarks to the nation. As I watched him I wondered if he was really ready for the responsibilities now thrust upon him; these are the kinds of moments that define a President. At some point I remembered that I had to move my gear out of a rehearsal room into a new space in downtown Seattle before the next day. It was an errand that had completely slipped my mind, one of a long list of items I had planned when I woke up, all of which seemed completely pointless after the events of the day. But it was a good diversion, and a good way to be alone with my thoughts. I drove across Lake Washington into the city; the interstate was deserted. With the raw emotions of the day bubbling so close to the surface, listening to music seemed an absolute impossibility. I’d had enough sensory input for one day. I needed blessed quiet.

The days to follow are also a bit murky. I kept going to work, but really, I was useless there. I kept the Internet radio on all day, gobbling up any hint of news. I was gripped with a devastating depression. Suddenly everything I had been doing in my daily life before Tuesday seemed irrelevant, meaningless.

Not too long after that, air traffic in the nation resumed. I remember seeing a jet in the sky for the first time again, and being stunned at the feeling of unease I had on seeing it. On the second day after the planes were flying again I awoke with a start and jumped out of bed in a state of terror; there was an airplane going overhead, and it sounded awfully low, was it another attack? Never mind that I’d heard that same flight go by countless times before, our house being under a regular flight path into Sea-Tac airport. As I stood there in my shorts, heart pounding, I understood what it meant to live in fear. That this feeling was a way of life for people in countless nations around the globe seemed incredible. I both cursed and longed for my lost naïveté.

In the ensuing days, I reveled in the newfound displays of patriotism I saw everywhere. I was seized with a desire to do something, do anything, to contribute. I donated to the relief funds that had sprung up overnight. I had crazy thoughts of enlisting in the armed forces (like they’d take me). Driving the streets in my neighborhood, I was amazed to see people holding candlelight vigils by the roadside, holding messages of support, waving American flags at the passing automobiles. I remember blinking back tears as I honked and waved at these people. Anonymous folks had piled up a huge display of flowers in front of the local fire department. Everything about those days was unprecedented – I’m trying to remember another time when I felt such a sense of community with my fellow Americans, and I can’t think of any. Somehow, the idea of community had become almost corny, hadn’t it? How did we let that happen as a society? What does it say about us as a nation that it takes an act of unspeakable cruelty for us to connect with each other?

And now it’s six weeks later, and on the outside at least, American lives seem to be returning to normalcy. I’m going to be getting on an airplane and flying across the country for the first time since the attacks next week. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about it. America’s counter-strike has been underway for nearly a month now; the 24-hour news channels are still blaring the latest tidbits, continuously re-running the same video footage of Osama Bin Badguy over and over again. That sense of community that was so strongly felt after the attacks has faded a bit. We’re in a war that has no clear target, nor endgame. These are uncharted waters we’re in, black and murky.

As for me: I’ve done a lot of soul-searching. These attacks have shown us all in America that we are not the omnipotent superpower we thought we were. We can be threatened, we can be wounded. We have been a little too sure of ourselves, a little too arrogant, a little too isolated to the problems of so-called “weaker peoples” around the world. I was personally shocked at how my own personal feelings of “security” were challenged; stranger still was the realization that my own consciousness of my “personal security” was something that I had heretofore taken completely for granted. I literally had never even considered it before September 11.

As of now, there is no resolution. I can’t tie my story up with a little bow, and define what The Great Lesson We’ve Learned Today is. Can there be vengeance for what has happened? Is vengeance a viable thing to be reaching for? What do we do when we get Bin Laden? Does the international coalition hold together once we get him? Is George W. Bush really up to this?

There aren’t any concrete answers, and there may not be for a long time to come, and I hope that an impatient country can get used to that fact. This isn’t over, for any of us. Stay close to your loved ones, make trivial pursuits a thing of your past, and continue to focus on what brings you joy. For now, that’ll have to be enough.

* * * * *
A lot of the kids who came trick-or-treating to the house this year were dressed up as firemen. As a pair of them scampered away into the night, smiles on their faces, I felt a mental wall that I hadn't even known was there crumble, and the tears finally came.

Hello, oh ye Wonky faithful. ‘Tis I, your friend Yogi, checking in. I’m liking September a lot so far, mostly because it’s near to being October. My favorite time of the year hurtling toward us, and I’m glad about it.

So I’m doing a whole lot of writing for the site right now, and it’s taking me forever. I’m trying desperately to encapsulate a lot of what’s occurred in what has been the most interesting year to yet happen for me, while also letting you in on what’s coming up very, very soon and on into ’02. I’m not close to being finished, not by any score, but I noticed this morning that I hadn’t posted a news update in about three months, AGAIN. Rather than apologize a lot for this grievous transgression like I usually do, I thought I’d take fifteen and write up a quick summary of what I can tell you about right now, and some vague hints about things that I can’t tell you about YET. You can look forward to several of my typically novella-length writings in the weeks to come. Brevity is the word of the day today. So here you go:

The Pixies Were Cool

I’ve been revisiting my old Pixies albums this summer. Man, they were a good band. Surfer Rosa and Doolittle are just demented little masterpieces, aren’t they? I’ve also enjoyed discovering some of those Mahavishnu Orchestra albums, and Mr. Bungle’s Disco Volante, a disc I purchased upon its release, despised utterly, and recently re-purchased, and now love outrageously. I guess it’s just my time for twisted listening.

The Keneally Kat Is Out Of The Bag

FINALLY, I can talk about this, except I’m not really going to yet, no. This is one of those stories I’m writing up at length, and will be posting in the weeks to come. Here’s the gist: Mike Keneally, composer-deity, has announced at last that he has a new solo album out in October, Wooden Smoke. You can go pre-order it (please do) HERE. That a new Keneally album was coming hasn’t been news to me since March, when I found out about it from the man himself, but Mike has been keeping the project under wraps, so I’ve been unable to speak of it. Now I can! In April, I observed a day of sessions for the album in San Diego. Pick your favorite artist, and imagine how you would feel if you got the opportunity to watch them as they created their next work - that was me that day in April. Any Raw Flesh? drummer Chris Gorczyca was there too, and played on two tracks, one of which I’m sure made the record, since there’s an excerpt of it in the sampler MP3 available at keneally.com. The album should be amazing, just based on the material I heard, and I’ve been dying since April to hear it again. As you may imagine, the experience had a profound effect on me.

Memento Is Now Out On DVD

Go get it; it’s the only really great film of 2001 so far. Apocalypse Now Redux kicked my ass too, but it’s not a 2001 release, so it doesn’t count.

I’m Up To Something New, Too

I’ve hinted at some new recording going on over here. I’m going to remain cagey about this for the time being, OK? But I will tell you that new tunes are being recorded by the same folks who made Any Raw Flesh? That means me, drummer Chris G, bassist Bryan Beller, and producer/engineer Darin DiPietro. Chris has already done his drums, Beller flies up in a couple of weeks to do his thang, then I get to decorate their tracks, and I hope to have them finished by the end of October. How you get to hear them and when is not something I’m telling you today, though. Soon. It’s different and very, very cool what we’re up to, I assure you.

GRUNGE Had Its Big Debut

Joey Furlan, terrific singer in whose solo band I have played before, decided earlier this year that the time is ripe for Grunge Nostalgia. So he asked me to participate in a grand scheme, which was to put together a band to play weekends wearing flannel and Doc Martins, basically doing a two-hour set of Seattle rock, circa 1992. I agreed as long as I got to play bass (I wanted to make it interesting for myself, ya know?). Well, the band is rehearsed, and we had our big debut at the Ballard Firehouse in August. We were received warmly, we played decently, and I hear more gigs are coming. So, if you’re in Seattle or thereabouts, come see us and say hi. Chris G is also in the band, and he’s worth the price of admission alone. I’ll be posting all GRUNGE (that’s the name of the band, yuk-yuk) gigs on the front of Wonky.Net in the “Upcoming Shows” box.

There’s a mini-update! I like the look of it! Thanks again to all of you who have been so supportive over the last year, and who have been such vocal boosters of Any Raw Flesh? The album continues to sell modestly, and continues to bring in rave reviews for the most part. Look at me and you see a picture of a grateful man! Thank you! As I mention, there’s lots of updates to be posted soon, but you can keep in touch via the Wonky.Net Message Board! There are a few of us that use it, why not you? Yeah!

That’s it for now! Go Mariners!

Hi, everybody! It’s June! Maybe you noticed!

Once again I must apologize for my inexcusable lack of news reporting around this here site. The new album, Any Raw Flesh? has been out for nearly three months now, and I haven’t communicated in this space since the release. What gives, eh?

Well, oh well, oh WELL. When the album was finally out, finally finished, I really felt like a needed a bit of a break from things… or at least a break from trying to express “what it all means” here on the news page. I was BEAT, spending the last couple of weeks before the release date with basically no sleep as I labored to get the website ready to sell stuff, getting the message board up and running, getting the ARF color commentary by Chris G and Bryan Beller together (not to mention my own bloated treatise on the subject), etc. Don’t forget, this is basically a one-man show over here (though I had lots of help; more on that later). Somehow it all came together (except for my commentary) on March 13. Maybe you can understand my desire at that point for some peace and regular sleeping hours, if only for a little while?

So, yeah, I took a tiny bit of a break. But I certainly haven’t been doing NOTHING these last three months. I’ve been coordinating the continuing Wonky.Net merchandise creation, for one thing. If you haven’t been over to the Wonky.Net Store of late, take a gander, won’t you? We’ve got Any Raw Flesh? T-shirts! Two spectacular designs created by artist Paul Tury (you know him as the guy who did the Any Raw Flesh? cover art), and we’ve got ‘em in three sizes, large, extra-large, and 2X. They look great, and I know you’ll all love to have at least three of each. Kudos to The Screaming Squeegee in Davis, California for doing such a great job on the shirts. They took a couple of designs that several other print shops told me in no uncertain terms COULD NOT BE DONE and made them anyway.

Here’s where I talk about gratitude for a moment: thank you, ALL OF YOU, who have purchased the album and have expressed your feelings about it to me via email, newsgroups, and the message board. True fact: I had no idea how other people besides me would react to the album. I expected to sell exactly zero copies of the thing. Well, three months along, sales have reached the low three figures, which is a low three figures more than I expected. Best news of all is: the reviews I’ve gotten have been overwhelmingly positive, probably somewhere in the 95% positive range. Now, it could be that the people who think the record sucks are keeping quiet about it, and you know, that’s awful nice of you folks if that’s true. The wonderful people over at alt.music.mike-keneally and rec.music.artists.kings-x have embraced the album with a wildly zealous fervor; and it’s the word of mouth generated in those places that has really driven the early sales for me. To those of you who love the album and are being so vocal about it: THANK YOU SO MUCH. I can’t possibly relate to you how much your thoughtful reviews and generous compliments have meant to me. Many of you have written to me directly and told me how you are personally forcing the album on friends and acquaintances, and again, I can’t possibly thank you enough. These last three months have been the best of my musical career thus far, and some of the best I’ve ever had, purely due to all of you people out there willing to take a chance on my little solo record. You people are the best.

The Quest For Press for the record continues, and some of the most exciting results have just come about: Any Raw Flesh? got a glowing review in the July 2001 issue of Guitar Player magazine, which should be on the stands as you read this. They mostly talked about the guitar stuff (SHOCKER, it’s a guitar mag!), but they said lots of really nice things about the album, and it’s my first national press. Neat! Guitar 9 Records, one of the several online vendors that have my album in stock reprinted the review in full, and you can read it here. Speaking of online vendors, here’s a list of all the places currently selling Any Raw Flesh?:

• The Wonky.Net Store
• CD Baby
• Guitar 9 Records
• Earbuzz.com (allegedly, they will be posting a review soon)
• Amazon.com

Martin Popoff also ran a semi-coherent, mostly positive review on HardRadio.com, a site that caters to music that’s usually a lot heavier than anything on ARF. He sort of slagged me as sounding a bit too much like King’s X guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor, and told me later via email that he may have been a little too harsh. Hey, I’ll take a 7 out of 10 review any day of the week.

There’s some other reviews coming down the pipe as well, and I’ll be posting links to them (if they can be linked to) here at the site as they arrive. And of course, loads of you have posted your thoughts here at the message board. PLEASE, let me encourage this practice. I love message boards, and I would love it if those of you out there who have opinions about the album would share them with others at our board here at Wonky.Net. Though the board has recently been out of commission (thanks to the actions of my lovely ISP), it’s back up in full force now. Post something there! It’s really tons of fun for the whole family! Oh: here’s where I talk about being given some help. I’ve thanked him previously on this page, and he’s probably going to be embarrassed as I do it again, but I don’t care: Kevin Kennedy, you absolutely rock. Kevin has been helping me (on his own time) in getting the word out about the record, and has even been acting as a distributor of sorts on the east coast. It was Kevin who got the album in the hands of the folks at Guitar Player, and it was Kevin who got the record to Martin Popoff. Thank you, Kevin, again.

Other things: I recently went through all the old sound clips of my “back catalog” on the Audio page and was absolutely horrified at the sound quality of some of them. So, I went and created from scratch brand-new streaming Real Audio files for both low and high-bandwidth connections. The sound quality of these clips blows the doors off the ones I had previously posted. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Some Chris G news: firstly, Any Raw Flesh? drummer Chris G has finally gotten his own website, www.chris-g.com, online, and I’ve linked to it from the Misc. page, and again right here. It’s full of tons of little details about his various drum kit setups, his gargantuan discography (I had no idea!), and much, MUCH MORE! Oh, and he’s got a sampler disc called Beat Of A Different Drummer that he will send out ABSOLUTELY FREE to all who dare inquire. On that disc is a Stop Hitting Me song called "Lloyd", which has never before been released for public consumption. You’ll recall that Stop Hitting Me was a band that featured Chris, Tobe Ramsey, and yours truly. Go over and grab one of those sampler discs, so you can hear that song, and you also get to hear Chris play country! You KNOW you want it!

More about Chris: it wasn’t THAT big of a secret, but it hasn’t exactly been public either, so now I’m going to spill some beans, simply because I’m so proud of my boy. In early April, Chris went down to Los Angeles and auditioned to be the drummer for the just-finished Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins east coast tour. I tagged along, and Mike was kind enough to allow me to watch the audition. Chris didn’t get the gig (Spock’s Beard drummer Nick D’Virgilio passed muster and I hear he did a fantastic job), but he played MAGNIFICENTLY. For 90 minutes, Chris WAS the drummer for BFD, navigating through some of Mike’s most difficult material, with nary a train wreck. I was immensely proud of him, and I WISH I had a TAPE of that audition. He may not have been the right guy for the gig at that particular date, but I know that he impressed every person in that rehearsal room.

There’s a lot more to the story, as tons more happened that I can’t really talk about yet. The whole episode was set in motion during BFD’s weekend in Seattle in March to play in Paul Allen’s playground, the Experience Music Project. I’m going to write up a very detailed report of events starting that weekend, through all the other things that have occurred since then, to be posted later. I wish I didn’t have to be mysterious about this now, but it’s necessary, I assure you. I can mention that I finally got to meet Mike Keneally for the first time that weekend in March (well, technically I met him at Nonkerstock for a fleeting moment last year, but that doesn’t really count), and I was able to give him a copy of Any Raw Flesh? and he later indicated to me that he enjoyed it immensely. Of course, I could barely function for days after hearing him say that.

I hope those of you out east were able to catch his and BFD’s tour during the better part of May. Don’t miss them if they are ever in your vicinity. They are simply the best band in the world right now.

Oh, and guess what! There’s some new Yogi recording a-brewing! I’m going back into Darin DiPietro’s studio with Chris G and Bryan Beller this summer!

But I don’t want to talk about that quite yet. But put it this way… you won’t have to wait three years to hear what I’m talking about, and it’s very possible that Any Raw Flesh? won’t be the only Wonky Records release of 2001! And all right, one more thing about it: it’s going to be a lot different than you might think. Expect the… hmmm. Well, don’t expect anything you might think to expect.

Is that cryptic enough for you? OK then! We’ll talk more very soon, all right? One last time: THANK YOU ALL.

I have been waiting a long, long time to say the following:

Today, March 13, 2001, Any Raw Flesh?, the debut solo album by Yogi on Wonky Records is officially released.

Whew.

I'd probably be up jumping around about this, if I weren't so tired. I'm jumping up and down in my head. And I'm smiling widely.

There is a ton of new stuff here at Wonky.Net to celebrate the release. Let's do a quick run-through:

• The Wonky.Net Store is now open. You can find brand-spankin' new Wonky.Net merchandise there and pay for it with MasterCard and Visa, or you can send in a check or money order. I'm really hoping that the shopping cart isn't buggy at this point. It seems to work fine for me. Please email me if you have any problems using the Wonky.Net Store interface. If you have a problem, I'll get it fixed.
  
  The Wonky.Net store uses a service of Paypal to collect credit card payments for orders. These payments are taken on a SECURE SERVER. Wonky.Net does NOT keep your credit card number on file. For those of you who would like to buy the CD without using Paypal as the go-between, Any Raw Flesh? is also for sale now at CD Baby, a terrific online retailer. There will be more places to buy the CD in the coming weeks, I'll keep you posted.
• There are loads of new audio samples from the new album at the Audio page.
• Those of you who come to this site often are in for a treat: we have a couple of guest commentators, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Chris G, both of whom have penned voluminous "columns" that detail their perspectives on the recording of the new album. Anyone sick of my prattling on and on will find these pieces to be a breath of fresh air here at good 'ol Wonky.Net. You can find their commentary here.
• If you haven't seen it already, let me urge you to head over to the new Wonky.Net Message Board. There's quite a few posts there already, and some folks who already have the album are putting up reviews. Take a look and see what other folks are saying. Thanks to all who are sharing their thoughts and feedback!

Once again, let me thank everyone who has been writing and visiting the site, and also to the surprising number of you who have already purchased Any Raw Flesh? The response has been very gratifying so far. A shout out to Mr. Kevin Kennedy, who has selflessly donated his time to getting the disc to various media outlets for review. Check this link out: this was the handywork of Mr. Kennedy. Strange that I'm now the "alternative" featured artist, last week I was in the "rock" category. Heck, I'm not complaining! I'm happy to be "featured" at all! As press and reviews come in from the outside world, we'll either post them or post links TO them.

Thanks as well to Scott Lurowist and Amanda "Beta Girl" Wernert, who have been helping me (as has Kevin Kennedy) test the new features of the site, like the message board and the shopping cart. You guys rule! I'd also like to raise a ruckus over one Andre LaFosse, who has been providing invaluable advice regarding how best to get word out about the disc. Andre has been through this arduous process himself, having released a tremendous album called Disruption Theory. Take a jaunt over to his site, Altruist Music, and have a listen to his terrific record. Tell him Yogi sent ya.

That's all for today's update. I'll have another soon with thoughts regarding the most incredible weekend I just had, seeing Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins at the EMP and getting to rub elbows (and they are LOVELY elbows, Wade) with the band. It was a privilege. Those are some fine people, let me tell ya. Go see Mike and Bryan Beller as they tour the Southwest doing clinics for Taylor. Their itinerary is posted pleasingly at the Keneally website.

Love you guys! Peace out, and stuff!

Howdy, folks! Beware the Ides of March? Perish the thought!

I have for you all, FINALLY, a release date for my CD, Any Raw Flesh?. March 13, 2001. Yes, that's the sound of heavenly choirs singing and peoples everywhere rejoicing; I have a release date. At LONG LAST. The word "LONG" being the operative term here.

I delivered the final artwork and the master to Disc Makers last week. Today I received the proofs of said artwork, and faxed in my approval of the proofs, which means that manufacturing can begin in earnest.

Freakin' YAY!

In addition to the CD's themselves, I'm also having THREE promo posters printed up, all with new original artwork by artist Paul Tury, and they are very way cool. They're going to be used to promote the record, but fear not, you will be able to purchase them right here at Wonky.Net if that's what you want to do. That's right, the new Wonky.Net store will also be making its debut on the 13th of March, and you'll be able to purchase all the swill your heart desires using a secure server transaction, and stuff. If that weren't enough, there are some T-shirt shaped goodies coming down the pipeline, currently being designed by Mr. Tury. Plus, there will be a whole bunch of new content and information about the album for your reading pleasure on the date of the release. It's just gonna be YOGI-MANIA around here, ladies and gents!

The email list is steadily growing, so thanks to all that are signing up for that. You wanna get on the list? Go HERE. I've previewed the album for a select few and received some very positive feedback. This is exciting! Sorry if I gloat! Making records is fun, but actually RELEASING them is way neat!

Not so very long now! Take care!

So, it’s 2001! Over the last couple of years, it’s become somewhat of an annual tradition for me to write up a “Year In Review” sort of entry to sum up the year just passed. Now that we really ARE in the first year of a new millennium, I’ll try to conjure a few lines to describe my experience of the year 2000.

Let’s take a look at what passes for my “musical career” first, shall we? The last couple of YIR entries I’ve written, I was talking a whole lot about how that the year to come was going to be the year that I finally finished up my first solo CD, Any Raw Flesh? I was really dreading having to start off this year’s retrospective with more excuses about why another year had passed without the record coming out. But guess what: the album got finished, if not actually released. Release will occur at some point in late February or March. After a little bit of a break from it, I’ve been listening to the final mastered version of the record a lot in the car… and I really like it. I think you might, too.

I played exactly one live gig this year, in Joey Furlan’s band at the Taste of Tacoma. It was fun, and I’d love to play more shows with Joey in the future. That’s the fewest gigs I’ve played in a year since 1993, when I played zero.

I unveiled a new site design for Wonky.Net in early 2000. I got lots of nice feedback on it from nice people. I guess the mean people didn’t bother to pass on their disdain for the new look, or maybe they just didn’t bother to visit the site. Anyway, thanks, nice people!

What about Other People’s Music? What stuff did I find myself listening to in 2000? Here are a few things:

The best album of new music I heard was most definitely Dancing, by Mike Keneally and Beer For Dolphins. Other albums I really liked included Please Come Home… Mr. Bulbous by King’s X, Music by Madonna, Wasp Star – Apple Venus Volume 2 by XTC, and Kid A by Radiohead. I’m one of the few who enjoys Kid A more than Radiohead’s last effort, OK Computer. I listened to a lot of Incubus this year, even though they had no new release in 2000. I like them, I think they will continue to improve. This year was the first time I’d heard of them. I discovered Launchcast, a service provided by launch.com, which is sort of like having a radio station that plays only your favorite music. It’s a cool thing, that Launchcast is. I didn’t attend too many live shows this year, but they were good ones, and both in August: Nonkerstock 2000 (a fan-sponsored show for Mike Keneally and BFD) in San Diego, and King’s X in Seattle. I realize that I need to get out and see more shows this year. There must be SOME local music of note around Seattle, and I wanna go see it.

Oh, I always talk about my favorite movies of the year in this space, film junkie that I am. I will now join the chorus of folks out there who have said and are saying: 2000 was the worst year in recent memory in regards to film quality. But the American Public doesn’t seem to care too much. I mean COME ON: how is it that “Gladiator” is a front-runner for Best Picture at the Oscars? That flick is mediocre at best. And how to explain the success of “The Grinch”? Well, I guess we ‘Mericans love Jim Carrey when he’s being a nutcase, and normally so do I… but I put “The Grinch” squarely in the category of Movies That Ought Never Have Been Made. However, I was able to come up with a list of ten movies released in 2000 that I thought were really great. Here they are, in order:

1. Traffic
2. Wonder Boys
3. Cast Away
4. Erin Brockovich
5. High Fidelity
6. Almost Famous
7. The Contender
8. Titus
9. Return To Me
10. X-Men

I’ll bet that most of you reading this didn’t even see my number 2 pick. Remedy that when it comes out on video. Number 10 is bit of a stretch for me, as “X-Men” wasn’t exactly a movie with appeal for everyone, but there was a time when I was quite an X-Men freak in my youth, and because of that I think, I really enjoyed the movie. I think a sequel could be way better though. Note to the producers of X-Men 2: SENTINELS! ‘Nuff Said!

Overall, 2000 was a great year for me, and 2001 proves to be even better, though I feel I have a tough nut to crack: now that I’ve made a record, I need to work really hard to get people to hear it. That and start writing another one. I think the latter task is going to be a lot more fun, and certainly a lot easier, but I take the former very seriously. You’ll see that reflected in a bunch of content I’ll be adding to the site upon the release of Any Raw Flesh?

Lastly, THANK YOU for reading this site, these news entries, and for your continued interest in my work over the years. It’s nice to know that I actually am going to have a new product to offer in just a few short weeks. It’s amazing to me that this website is bearing down on it’s FIFTH birthday in a little over a month. I hope this year turns out to be a great one for all of you out there. Cheers!