briefly, we apparently will have reps of ‘rock the vote’ and or other voter registration groups at upcoming US blondie shows… i can only personally urge any of you who havent done so to come prepared to take a little extra time to get down with this if you havent already done so on your own… again the election that got bush into power was one of the worst attended in US history and its grim to think that just a few more people could have made the difference… how fucked is it that the republican convention is placed in new york to capitalize on 9-11 when the bush administration reneged on most of the promises that were made in the immediate aftermath of the attacks…

back in the us, today went to the city (new york), in a cab, driver says: “we better go uptown on the west side cause there is an orange alert”, i say “oh al queda is only hanging out on the east side?” thnx for all of the encouraging sentiments regarding the moore film, somebody around me made a great point which is why the fuck arent we exposed to bits of media like bush sitting in the classroom after the attack, this stuff is all out there who decides what is released for public consumption… we are trying to get ‘rock the vote’ or some voter registration group to be at the US shows, i should know pretty soon if this is accomplished… let us not forget that the last election was one of the worst attended ever… more to follow pretty soon

Vigo Spain, Guilfest was a struggle but we managed to have a good time… festivals without soundchecks and the crew only having a short setup time are difficult situations, we use ear monitors and when we got to the stage mine kept cutting out and i could only pray and fly blind while hoping that my guitar was on in the house… i finally stabilized about half way through, very much like flying some kind of weird ass vehicle, for sure… it was really nice to see Dave and The Captain from the damned, Strangler members etc., very much like highschool reunion or something… Captains teenage daughter was on hand and i couldnt help but wondering about Ak’s hanging out with us in later years even if i wonder how much longer we can do this stuff for, “the steel wheelchair tour” etc. so again a brief thank you to the UK fans and supporters for being so terrific, back in sept.

so Fahrenheit 9/11 in Cork Ireland with a fairly full house at 2:30 in the afternoon no less… what the hell can you say, DH kept saying she felt ill on the walk back to the hotel (Leigh, Paul, Kevin and me all went together) i sincerely hope enough people see the film, i know its propaganda but its about time we got the other side put forward like that in a package for the masses, (for myself i think that the truth is even more awful than what the film portrays and that Moore had to hold back somewhat to get the thing released at all and to not be labled a complete maniac paranoid) in new york the very pro-bush NY Post condemned it as being badly done and i’ve seen similar reports here and there in the conservative brit press… i can only urge you to make up your own minds etc etc and for those of you who think we need to change things… a reaction i had was something that i always am dealing with; how badly distracted from the real issues of our time the youth of today are, what the fuck is it gonna take to get people active in 2004? entertainment and video is fine but i just know too many people who think that films and music are more important than whats going on in the world… (no doubt this may strike some of you as ironic coming from someone who works in the music/show biz industry, i know its certainly ironic to me) i can see why the film won the prize at Cannes if only someone had been able to put such an eloquent statement together during Viet Nam… this is one of the good things about our age of deep communication… also thanx to Miramax for having the balls to back this thing… about it, again really no more room for warfare in the world today, (believe me i love kung-fu movies, swords, guns etc etc, but this stuff should be left in the realm of entertainment, leave it to Quentin to do not to people we elect to help us) (oh yeah seeing the movie in Ireland was funny cause we were the only ones laughing at a lot of the shots of Bush and pals being ridiculous, i wondered if it hit the local crowd the way it did us) once more go see Fahrenheit 9/11, drag people to see it

i think we are here for two more weeks or so… this year in the UK we have played a few of these ‘stately homes’ gigs… these are concerts put on on the grounds of grand mansions in order to i presume supplement the income of these places now that there are no more serfs available to work for free… shows are held out of doors on the great front lawns of fantastic palatial houses, the type of joints one sees in james bond etc films… theres something actually really great about these shows, people come and set up picnic tables and get well smashed and sing along… i keep feeling like the travelling minstrel show entertaining the people who work the lands for the lord… in fact all thats missing is his lordship looking out of the illuminated upper floor windows (actually not totally absent; we did one show for lord and lady Marsh at their ‘speed festival’, racing cars, the pink ‘thunderbirds’ car on hand was amazing… anyhow the Marsh’s were particularly gracious and forthcoming, so thanx to them) the paris show was particularly fantastic, i wish we were over there more often, i was amazed at how crazy the french crowd got at the gig, really enjoyed it… barbara and akira got back to new york in one piece, we had a little 1 year birthday party for a, by now she knows everyone in the band quite well and was cutely surprised by a room full of large people singing at her… im starting to get messages about ‘fahrenheit 9-11’, i havent gotten time to see it yet but barb told me its playing at the mall(!) back home, i really have hope now that we are gonna see the end of this period of madness, anything has to be better than whats going on now, (again i have very little faith in current systems of government, i think they all need to be overhauled) keep the comments coming, a while back i’d asked you all to send me general weirdness, pics, dreams, ufo encounters etc. this has dropped off somewhat so here is the request again we will be back in the states doing shows in about 6 weeks or so, three weeks off after europe stay cheerful

day off in london there is a difficult balance struck here between days off and fatigue from playing too many in a row, clem goes on about being put off his form by days off and there is a momentum that is developed by playing a lot…anyway i was so fucking wiped out the other night, i got some kind of violent virulent baby germ and woke up sweating and miserable at two a.m. as a result i was pretty well out of it in birmingham which was very sad as it was a particularly enthusisatic group, hopefully i wasnt missed too much… thanx for all the comments we are pleased that people are picking up on the addition of various older songs etc. its hard to tell from crowd responses what people are reacting to so the e-mails help… james brown and the chili p’s in the park yesterday… i actually got this in a message from another seemingly intelligent person “as to the war and England — lets not forget that they do not have a free press — I know we make fun of ours often but at least we can criticize the govt if we want to == the British are not afforded that right.” i’m reluctant to explain my reaction to statements like this for fear of going off on a long rambling rant… i personally believe that the entire western media is so controlled and manipulated that it isnt even fucking funny anymore, the american press/media is so tainted and slanted its insane, we are subject to soap opera disguised as information, innuendo, campaigning and special interest group advertising presented as ‘news’… its unfortunate that there are so many of these capsule explanations of reality floating around, simplistic ‘one liners’ are a danger in the face of complex world conditions… i dont know maybe this guy was kidding i was really conflicted about quoting the message, i just cant believe anyone really has that kind of 1950’s kind of view of things… the “B-Girls” were a new york based all girl band from the late 80’s-90’s… (thats an answer to a query)

manchester england 9:45 am shows are big fun and the band is progressing at leaps and bounds, very tight and organized, i remember getting to this place with it on other occasions; where i think about guitar parts and elements of the songs a lot during the days, we spend more time working things out during the sound checks, we are adding new songs to the repertoire pretty rapidly, trying out ideas with greater dexterity… picture this was a fairly big hit here and is received very dramatically, Debbie delivers it with a lot of emotion and the whole thing frequently has me quite moved as we are playing it… fans have been really great, so again thank you all for your support… i dont know what to add to this its pretty simple now i was looking forward to getting here to get a different view of things, but oddly im finding that the war situation takes up little space here, much less than i’d expected… perhaps there is an element of avoidance in the media… i just read Wm. Gibsons new novel “Pattern Recognition”, i recommend it heartily, it really is one if not his best work, first one that is set in the present tense… we put up a link to his site which has a really great chat/discussion area… i’ve always been a tremendous fan of his, have been lucky enough to correspond with him over the years… some of you may recall that we collaborated with him on “Dogstar Girl”, a song from d’s solo record “Debravation”, that was one of my all time favorite musical projects (has a piano solo by Giger) though it’s very much under the radar, i don think many are familiar… i REALLY want to thank everyone involved with the “Undone” grass roots radio push back in the states… this may be setting some kind of precedent, im not sure that fans have taken direct promotion into their own manic little hands before, i dont pay attention to the ‘trade’ magazines like billboard etc but i would think that this kind of operation might get some attention, certainly deserves it… forgive me for not mentioning names, i know Charles is involved, thnx to everyone who’s helped it was hot as hell for two days here, now its back to usual euro-gray and damp, im out of stuff to write, talking about the weather… sometimes im torn between loving and hating the fucking computer, theres always some annoying new thing going on with it… again such a weird period in human history; i dont think people have ever been in a place like this in the past where we all know whats coming and are frustrated by its not being here yet… i certainly am amongst those who would plug my head in without any hesitation

sooo back briefly… as i figured various people misconstrued the ‘egypt’ stuff i was trying to put into words, i got a few messages about slavery etc… the way i understand it pyramid building and various activities in those days were in fact devotional acts undertaken voluntarily by the whole of the community… in certain esoteric psychology moses represents the ‘ur-father’ , male element that undermined the feminine nature of egyptian culture… more basically many people have bought into the hollywood view of reality and history… (for ex the ‘thumbs up/down’ audience reaction to gladatorial events is a total invention of hollywood silent films, is not based on any history or reality) i got a very thoughtful letter from Bill that includes this: “The division of Church and State (which began with Machiavelli and grew to full bloom under Voltaire) is one of the greatest advances in all of Western Civilization. It may, in fact, be the finest thing the West will ever contribute to the world.”… and this is just what im on about, how we’ve been taught this junk and dont question it… of course in a context of material finance based western religion we are probably better off having laws that keep it at bay but we have gotten everything backwards these days, so called ‘primitive society’ is, was way out ahead… what im awkwardly attempting to suggest is that the west is in desperate need of spirituality in its day to day existence, that we already have the religions of money technology etc etc deeply imbedded in our culture… anyone who wants to check out a more radical view of egyptology should try and find a book called “Serpent In The Sky” by John West which deals with the work of Schwaller de Lubicz who was a fascinating character, mystic etc over to the UK shortly i’ll keep at it here from there

this leg of the tour is winding down into a break before europe… in cincinnati… im really sorry about the detroit show being cancelled, i’m not exactly sure why, mostly cause of weak ticket sales but there may have been additional factors… im fairly certain we’ll be back after the UK and summer jaunt in europe… thanx for all the nice words about the various concerts, the A&E deal… i’ll pass along comments to D. etc so… ok jimmy is just not able to be out right now he’s got “issues”, stuff hes dealing with and i dont really know whats gonna happen with him in regards to the live situation, hopefully he’ll contribute to any upcoming blondie recordings, everyone is on good terms and thats about all i can report… again im really glad that you liked the live by request event i for one didnt have a clue as to how we came off and the next night at the boston show i noticed that some of the other guys were equally shell shocked, its kind of weirdly terrifying to see yourself on video, film etc… its like seeing some alien creature (me) surrounded by familiar people, i know plenty of actors who cant look at themselves, their recorded images laura sent a link to a pretty grimly fascinating site http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm … check this, its a personal view of i presume a russian girls bike trip thru chernobyl, site of the nuclear disaster i was encouraged to see that bush is finally facing some difficulty in “the polls” as bullshit as all of that is, apparently no incumbent pres. has made it back with the current numbers he’s got, something in the mid 40s% area… i guess i should be urging everyone to vote… i also saw/heard on the news that the republican campaign budget is over 100 million dollars while the democrats have got like two in theirs… i got this in an actually positive e-mail “Chris: I am a major fan of Blondie and of you so please don’t get political on me. Please don’t be a lefty. I and many of your fans would be crushed. If you are a lefty just keep it hush-hush. You’re better than that” is this an example of the way people are thinking in such superficial ways? one would imagine that somebody who could use a computer would have a little deeper understanding into at the very least what some of these terms are about… maybe just another side effect of all the labeling that goes on… communism for whatever its early proponents may have intended is as failed a system in todays world as is capitalism… i dont have any alignment with any existing political system… i think all the systems of government around now are antiquated, should be completely re-vamped… the ancient egyptian culture is probably a much better model, a system whereby art religion and commerce were all one and the same… i think the reason egyptian culture went on almost unchanged for three thousand years was because it was successful… the changes that undermined it in the ancient world are based partly in the ideas of separation of religion and state that we are taught are such advances… so now people are desperately seeking some kind of spiritual life which certainly doesnt come from the church and the masses are turning to rampant materialism… at the same time increased interest in the occult ufos and all manner of odd stuff is an example of peoples unfulfilled yearnings for things beyond… technology is fast becoming the new religion and ive seen it suggested that soon machines will be so complex that no single person will be able to explain their workings there by putting them even further along the path of deification what?… gotta go more soon

today in wash dc… this place says a lot about the culture what an odd state of contradictory affairs exist in amercica now… the streets here are well populated with homeless, mostly men, as we arrived from boston in the early morning many of these half dead souls were waking up and stirring in their sidewalk encampments, cardboard boxes, garbage bags etc… further on an ambulance was removing some guy who hadnt made it through the night… i recall that on past trips dc was home to vast slum areas… this condition seems to have been corrected but for whatever reason the nations capital is still filled w/homeless , maybe its partly cause of housing costs going up but whatever its just weird… we walked around georgetowns main drag which resembles a street from universal studio in florida… in the midst of this ultra straight reality is of all things a tattoo joint and i was amused to consider that some of the guys in golf shirts and women in stepford wives drag might be sporting massive tribal tats under their disguises (not) actually after seeing the tattoo place i looked but didnt see a single tattoo anywhere… the night before in boston was a very great show and i wished that it’d been the one on tv but of course part of the reason it was good was due to us being relaxed in comparison to the tv event, everyone said that they felt quite released to be back in the real world as it were…the gig itself was really an odd one as it took place in a large club that was divided up into various size rooms and at the same time we played there was a concert of local punk/thrash type bands going on right on the other side of a dividing wall, when a song would end there would be a rumble of awesome sond that would arrive from the stage rear, i dont think our audience heard it though… i heard a bit of the “Street Dogs” who i think were the headliners and were good (they gave me a t-shirt)… (on that note i should mention another band i ran into in minneapolis [i think] “All The Pretty Horses”, i really like them, have been listening to their cd, they’ve got a site up, very cool) now i also couldnt help but feel that one of the reasons the boston show was so enthusiastic was due also to the A&E show, the power of tv and celebrity myth and all… but debbie was very on, relaxed… (she said later that if the crowd hadnt been singing in hanging on the telephone she would have missed a cue, that pertaining to the state of general burnt outness that lingered from the tv show) we found dc’s china town which is tiny and didnt yield any asian films except for basic kung fu stuff… went on to see kill bill 2 which is pretty great, i liked it way more than #1,my only problem with it was that i dont really think the ‘elle’ character could have really poisoned the chinese masters fishheads, i mean she couldnt really have killed him so easily… when we got to the theater i was amazed to see a big banner for “Riddick”…none of us had heard anything about this movie being made… i was a huge fan of “Pitch Black” have seen it many times, i checked out the very elaborate ‘riddick’ site (i wish we had fifty grand to spend on the blondie site or whatever that thing costs) and i got to say im really fucking disappointed with what this thing looks like its gonna be, pitch black was a terrific sci-fi film and i had had thought that ol’ vin was gonna go on to be a really hip star, instead he has just done a load of dumbass hollywood crap and ‘riiddick’ appears to be another overblown cgi hollywood piece of un-original mass produced commercial junk with feeble stabs at ‘Dune’ references… very sad, still sticking to asian horror films for now… oh i did see that Quentin has tagged his name onto the Jet Li movie “Hero” and probably is involved with it finally getting a full blown US release… i for one never appreciated that there are some great major big budget films coming from asia that never see tha light of day in the states… ‘hero’ is maybe four years old already, is a massive epic feature, i saw it a few years ago and was surprised at it being ‘under the radar’… in our current quest i’ve come accross a current similar chinese big budget production called “Double Vision” which is in a way almost cooler than ‘hero’, its a modern genre film that is like a lot of formula hollywwod ‘occult serial killer’ except it deals with Taoist/ Chinese magic