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2/28/08 I'm thirty thousand years old. Give or take. Take my life, please! I think the most monumental band-related activity since I last updated this page (and I agree with you that it's a real shame that this page is mostly used to gripe about how I seldom update this page) was the big U.S. tour of the fall of 2007. That was me and Brett, and boy, was it something! Brett and I went all over the place on this trip. We went up, down, left, right. Some other directions. Directions heretofore unknown! We had a total of three tire blowouts, one of them catastrophic and almost deadly. We sang with Elissa Spencer in New York! We drank beverages with the east coast comedy elite! We sang some songs! It was the most fun I've ever had on tour. Brett Shady is a prince among men and I'm thankful every day that I know him. Also: he's older than I am, which is increasingly rare. I like touring. We might do a little springtime tour to our favorite towns. Don't hold me to it, though. I think it was seven months ago, maybe eight, when I claimed I was halfway done writing the next album. I'm now five eighths of the way done writing the next album. Progress is slow when you're me. My sincere apologies to those who are upset by the long wait. I mean, it's been about two years since KIN came out, and that was a short little EP! What have I been doing with my life? That's a sincere question. Please send your answers to the usual place. I will calmly assure you that the songs I have written for the next album are ones that I'm enthusiastic about. I can't wait, really, to record again with my friends. I love making records. I promise. You will hear new Golden Shoulders songs in our lifetime. My beloved and quite old Nana turned 100 last month. That's pretty good. Triple digits. You've got to tip your hat to a milestone like that, right? Tip your hat. I should also explain why we haven't played any shows (other than the usual New Years Eve preposterousness) since the tour. It's because we haven't booked any shows. If that answer satisfies you, you are easily satisfied. That's probably a pretty good way to go through life. When people complain that everything on television is garbage, you're like, "what are you talking about?! Everything on TV is genius!" (because you're so easily satisfied; that's the joke) ... And when someone comes up to you and says, "look at all of this actual garbage!", you say, "I think garbage is great!" (same joke) In any case, yeah, we're looking to start booking shows again. Ideally, you'll see us in Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and maybe Missouri sometime in April (it's the "Thanks for Voting for Obama in the Democratic Primaries Tour") and in San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, and Nevada City shortly thereafter. Why don't we play in other places? Because other places don't want it bad enough. I'm the world's oldest boy. Be good. Adam Wow,
I'm a terrible guy. Be good. Adam --- 2/28/06 I was born, lucky me... Hello buddies. NEW MUSIC TIME!!! We recorded six new songs. The nice and friendly people of Welcome Home Records are going to release these beasts in the form of a new EP, titled KIN. It's coming out as a CD and also, amusingly, as a 7" vinyl record. And you ought to be able to get these songs from the iTunes music store too. Let me explain it here, that I may never be made to explain it again. The CD will have five tracks, which are all brand new studio recordings of brand new songs. Here are the song titles, so you can get a jumpstart on getting them tattooed onto your bod: FRIENDS AND FAMILY, DAUGHTERS, GOLDEN RULES, BE WARNED, and THERE'S NO REASON. "So where's the sixth song you recorded, Adam?" I'm glad you asked. The sixth song, EVERYONE EVERYWHERE, appears on the 7" vinyl version along with the studio versions of FRIENDS AND FAMILY and GOLDEN RULES, and exclusive homemade demos of BE WARNED and THERE'S NO REASON. If you're not a vinyl-based human and you're saddened that you can't get some of these songs in the handy CD format, dry those eyes and visit the iTunes music store (in May or June, really). I hope that's all clear. This EP looks terrific, as our favorite artist, Elias Crouch designed some pretty things to wrap the songs in. I do believe I'll put a picture of the cover onto the front of our website quite soon indeed. The CD will be initially available exclusively at the little record store in downtown Nevada City... possibly as soon as later this week! Then we'll have it up on our website ordering zone. Then it'll be available at stores, if they decide to carry it! And around that time, that's when iTunes will get it too. I think that's the plan. Nobody tells me anything. Also, there's this..! Remember a year ago when I was talking about the BEE 17 record Neal and I recorded with Dana, and they only made 20 copies of the thing? Well, we're bringing that to the iTunes music store too. Check in a couple months or so to hear exclusive just-Neal-and-I versions of Let My Burden Be, A Short and Fleeting Thing, and Golden Soldiers... they are properly different from the versions you're used to. There's also some weirdo weird stuff that I put together for your "enjoyment." Speaking of the iTunes music store, as I seem to be doing quite a bit this day, you can get our song "Patience Darling, Patience" from them by clicking here. This is the thing we recorded for the What Matters Most compilation, but if you're not at all curious or interested in hearing other bands, you can get our song all by itself. And we hope you like it, we made it at home. And
we want to tour again. We're waiting to hear back from some people,
but it's likely you'll see us outside of California in April. And we
do want to return to Southern California (possibly in the summer) and
visit the Pacific Northwest (also possibly in the summer). I hope you like the KIN songs. Be good. Adam --- Buddies. New music coming so soon. Six brand new songs. A little EP to hold you over until Newalbumtown, USA. Whenever that may be. Maybe later this year. Maybe next year. Maybe... uh... after that? But that would be ridiculous. Anyhow,
yeah. Six new songs. We did "Patience Darling, Patience" for
the people of Welcome Home Records and their lovely debut compilation
CD, and they asked us to record an EP for them to release. So we did.
I'm not ready to divulge details, but I will say that Jason, Todd, Haas,
Lee, Dave, Elissa, Dana, and I had a good time recording these little
songs and that I'll be glad when you can hear them. More details around
my birthdaytime. Be good. Adam --- 9/13/05 Getting right into it, we recorded two new songs for compilations. The first one I discussed three months ago(!) during the occasion of the last time I had time to update this news page. For a recap, the song is called "Let My Burden Be." We made an album by that title back in 2002, then our best friend Bobby Birdman wrote and recorded a song using the same title for his masterpiece, Heart Caves. I decided that we ought to have a song called that for ourselves, and so I wrote it for inclusion on our Friendship Is Deep album. Jason and I recorded a version at home and the label opted to not include it on the album. Months passed and we were invited to contribute a song to the Bro Zone compilation being released by our friends at States Rights Records. I dusted off the song and recorded a new version with Neal Morgan, Dave Brockman, Lee Bob Watson, Dan Elkan, and me playing instruments and Neal, Lee, Dan, Simon Weller, Adrienne Beatty, and me singing. Dana recorded it in our usual studio at the legendary Brighton Sound recording facility in Sacramento. I'm more than satisfied with the results and you can hear the results of which I speak by buying the terrific Bro Zone compilation. There's also a version of the song with just Neal and I on the Bee 17 record, released by Twenty Bees, but that's extremely hard to find, so please pretend I didn't even mention it. After that, we were contacted by the people of Welcome Home, a new record label operating out of Connecticut. They explained that they're working on a new compilation and would be delighted if we had a song they could include. We really truly didn't, but I was so moved by their plight that I wrote a new one. Jason, Neal, and I recorded it at home the following week and it seems to have satisfied the sensitive ears of the Welcome Homers. It's called "Patience Darling, Patience," and I think it turned out sort of charming. We hope you'll investigate the compilation it appears on, which is called What Matters Most. We're going to work more in the future with Welcome Home, beginning with a new EP coming out in the springtime. I sincerely hope you like the new songs I'm working on. We're heading through parts of America again, later this month. Just Neal and I again, but that seems to please people, so there's no problem there. One day I will bring a full band so the people of America can know the ways of Haas. Our dads, Deathray, released their new album, called "Believe Me." They're getting in on the fun, you see. Remember the bit about Birdman I mentioned earlier? There's a tradition of borrowing titles that dates back to the time of early man. Our band took its name from a tour that Little Wings did with the Microphones, Karl Blau, and Calvin Johnson. Birdman did a song called Golden Arms, we did a song called Golden Arms. We recorded an album called Let My Burden Be, Birdman recorded a song called Let My Burden Be. Birdman wrote a song called O Come On, we wrote a song called O Come On. We recorded a song called Believe Me, Deathray releases an album called Believe Me. What I'm getting at is that we're all a bunch of terribly uncreative individuals. So keep an eye out for our new album, Peach Plum Pear, featuring hit songs like Wonderue and Jackpot! Be good. Adam --- 6/13/05 All right. This is ridiculous. I used to be so good about updating this news page. Sorry that I stopped being good about it. We have been doing things, I promise. We recorded a new song called "Let My Burden Be" for the upcoming BROZONE compilation being released by our friends at States Rights Records. The recording features Neal Morgan, Dave Brockman, Lee Bob Watson, Dan Elkan, and me playing instruments and Neal, Lee, Dan, Simon Weller, Adrienne Beatty, and me singing. Dana recorded it. It's a two-minute rock song. You might like it. * Our pal Ryan Cassanno has set up a page on the popular Myspace service for us. You can find us here: There's some photos and things that are exclusive to that page, so that may be of interest. We've been playing a lot of Northern California shows. They have been a lot of fun and we're glad to meet nice new people at these shows. We will, happily, tour the United States again this September/October. It will most likely be a similar sort of trip to the one we took last September. If you want us to come to your town, we'll try to figure out how to do that. Please e-mail us if you want to host us and help set up a good show. The sooner you contact us, the better. New t-shirts will be available soon and new buttons are on their way to me. I went ahead with my longtime plan of making buttons of Marc's face. You'll see. They're incredible. I'm writing songs for a new album. You'll probably hear these songs in late 2006. In the meantime, you can listen to our other two albums, or the new Deathray album. They called it "Believe Me," can you believe it? Those guys. Be good. Adam * at present time, our Sound page has an mp3s of an early demo of this song. The version on the BROZONE comp is different. Promise.
All right. I haven't updated the Golden Shoulders News Zone in months! Ridiculous, since there's been plenty of news. I'm just going to type whatever comes to mind, and maybe it'll fascinate you. There's a new Golden Shoulders record coming out in March! Are you fascinated? This one is a 7" 45 rpm record. Eleven minutes of our sounds from the Twenty Bees record label in Scotland, pressed in New Zealand by Peter King. This guy, Alex, started this label, Twenty Bees, with an intense concept: he's putting out twenty records by twenty bands, and he's pressing twenty copies of each record! Yikes! So, the bummer is that they're only making twenty of them, so most people won't get to hear this record, or the Twenty Bees records by our friends Little Wings, Bobby Birdman and YACHT... Maybe they'll show up on eBay eventually. Here's the track listing for our record, Bee Seventeen: A Side: Side
Bee: Cover art for Bee Seventeen will be drawn by Emily Prince, one of my favorite people and the young lady responsible for the striking cover of Joanna's album. The record itself features all-new recordings of Neal and I, recorded at Brighton Sound Studios in Sacramento by Dana Gumbiner. Except the 1995 Instrumental, which is an instrumental I made TEN YEARS AGO, when I was a little kid. And the track "Seventeen Bees" is a weird sound collage that makes sense when you hear it. I bet everyone will be able to hear these someday, maybe on the iTunes music store or something. ... Which makes sense, considering our first CD, Let My Burden Be, is now available for purchase at the iTunes music store for $9.99 or 99 cents per song. I'm told the second CD, Friendship Is Deep, will be on there soon. Get into it, if that's how you get your music now. I have begun the songwriting process for our third album. Given our usual release rate, look for it in 2006! You have one year to practice looking for it. We have a show later this month at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. If Haas wants it to be so, we will play Davis before the end of the school year! So here's hoping. All tour possibilities are on hold until September, due to me going back to school this semester. I know, odd call. Be good. Adam --- 9/29/04 Oh man. We are home. Neal and I just got back from a whirlwind three-week, 15-show United States tour. The Golden Shoulders September 2004 Speed Of Sound Tour! It is good to be home, but damned if it wasn't good to be in America for a little while. If I may take this opportunity, I'd just like to say thanks to all the nice people in Provo, Gunnison, Manhattan, Lawrence, Bloomington, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, Yonkers (oh man), Amherst, Rochester and the other Bloomington. Well, you'll all be getting polite thank-you e-mails from Neal and I soon anyway. But the tour was great, because of you nice people. And I'll admit to being pessimistic before we left, but man, what a great time. So many great people. I hope you all feel good about the shows you attended and the CDs and t-shirts you purchased. We feel good about your ten dollar bills. We're talking about doing basically the same tour in the springtime. And trips to Southern California and the Pacific Northwest before then. Man. Fun. Manfun. In the meantime, we have a couple of shows booked in our zone for October. A mellowing out of sorts after all of that driving. Look for us in Davis, Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco in November. We're working on it. We have shirts left from the tour. All these different colors and sizes this time, in the same classic design. Resistance is frugal. Be good. Adam --- 8/4/04 Okay, welcome to Newstown, USA! We are, in fact, touring for the entire month of September. A big, hot "Goodbye, Golden Shoulders, Please Have A Safe Journey" show at the Magic Theatre on September 1st, and then we're gone. It's just Neal and I for the lion's share of the tour, though Haas and Marc are possibly around for some of the west coast shows, Charla's turning up for the Provo show, Elissa will be present for the Yonkers show, etc. Hopefully we'll have a Birdman for the SLO/Santa Barbara shows. We are DRIVING ACROSS THE UNITED STATES AND BACK AGAIN. I've never attempted anything remotely this... far. I get winded when I drive to Colfax. This is going to be a character-building learning experience, right? We're doing this one campfire style. A guitar, two dudes singing and one of those dudes will be clapping and shaking things pleasingly. Tambourines, maracas and things. That's what the dude I just mentioned is shaking. Get your mind out of the gutter, please. In the interest of being rad, we're looking for all ages shows that don't cost a lot to get into. This way, destitute toddlers can enjoy themselves every bit as much as extravagantly wealthy senior citizens. That has always been my dream, and now it is a beautiful reality. Friendship Is Deep, the new album we made, is coming out on the 24th of this month. Come to the shows this month and you can get one even earlier. And I'll be selling them on this very website before too long, too. As always, please try your local record store first. They need your business, what with all the downloading. Elissa and I played the last "Golden Shoulders at the True Love" show over the weekend and bid farewell to one of our favorite venues. Such a cool place. Hopefully the Secondseses will find a new location before we all get old. They are good people. And it has been a joy singing with Elissa. We have a couple more shows and then she's back off to Yonkers (aka Yonktown aka the Yonx aka Yawn-krzzzzz) to "learn" at a "school." Don't ask me, man. I will try to get some new shirts made before we leave. I'm thinking red this time. Beware this month's edition of Alive & Kicking. Be good. Adam --- 5/3/04 Oh gosh, you guys. So much news to share. All this news, coming at you. RIGHT NOW. Remember at the end of February when I said the album was 99% done? I thought I was a soothsayer at the time, but in retrospect, I was a big liar. We've continued work on the album since then and it is a different album than I thought it would be at the end of February. But now we're for reals 99%, as all that is left to do is mix one more song and then work on the artwork with Keara. You guys, I think you'll like the album. Being reasonable people, we've decided to call the album Friendship Is Deep. Remind me to tell you the story behind it sometime, it's really amusing. Also, remind me to tell you the joke about Jason and I visiting a reasonably-priced roast beef restaurant. There's twelve songs on Friendship Is Deep, you know. Twelve of them. Lots of lyrics and notes in each song, too. Each song is jam-packed with words, musical instrument noises, subtext and conspicuous absences. Pretty sweet, pretty sweet. All of the Golden Shoulders live performances lately have been just Neal and I playing and singing. It has been fun and a nice change of pace, surely, but I miss Marc and Haas and I am ready to play in a rock band again. At the end of this month, we're playing a free outdoor show in Sacramento, opening for our father figures, Deathray. I can't wait and neither should you. You should refuse to wait. Lots of new Gollum Sholshols-related albums out now, too. The new Jackpot album (which is their best in years) comes out tomorrow, Joanna's proper debut is out (and wonderful), the Brightblack record that Neal drummed on (and sang beautifully on too) is out, the new John Frusciante album has our boy Josh all over it (listen to Omission, the second song... it's so good), the Pleased of course... Those guys are blowing up, it seems. So many deep friendships. So the album is coming out on August 24th. In September, Neal and I are going to tour North America. If you want to see us in your town, e-mail me as soon as possible. We want to play at colleges, so if you're a college radio person or a college activities director or just a big fan of colleges, e-mail me very soon indeed. We're setting this thing up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go work in the garden. Be good. Adam --- 2/27/04 News? Yeah yeah I've got your news right here. Recording is, let's say, 99% done on the new record. A worthy crew turned up and rocked out and then left quietly. I appreciate all of the efforts and look forward to shaking their hands and saying "a job well done" as soon as I can find their hands. Friendship is, after all, very deep indeed. And we look forward to actually playing shows again soon. We miss you. Allow me to take this opportunity to notice that time flies faster than is absolutely necessary. I just had a lovely cranberry juice with Jason and Rich down at the Mine Shaft and made my head hurt when I thought about how long we've known each other. I still feel like we're youngsters, despite all evidence to the contrary. It's starting to sink in what old geezers we are, and it just doesn't seem right. There are dreadfully sarcastic columns in the Grass Valley Union newspaper's Prospector supplement every two weeks that I ought to apologize for. I'm not sure if my beloved granny would approve, but I'm not sure if I do either. There's definitely a lot more news to share right now, but I'm honestly too tired to continue typing. I wish I wasn't so sleepy, but I've been staying up far too late lately and it needs to stop now. Ah well. My birthday's tomorrow, there's that. I am, as they say, older than I've ever been. Such is life. Be good. Adam --- 02/07/04 Oh man! So much going on all the time. The second album is so close to being done, it's probably actually done and it hasn't really hit us yet. A late spring release has been suggested and nodded at. But if you're good, I'll see what I can do about securing a mid-spring release. So be good! I'll say that again later, just to remind you. All this sitting in a room playing the songs over and over again makes me miss shows terribly. So once recording is but a distant memory, we're going to go ahead and book a bunch of sweet shows again. And take another trip down to Southern California. And maybe go north for once. This website sure has become a feisty thing recently. Lots of new photos of the recording process and what it looks like when dudes stand around inbetween takes. Also, an ordering page has happened since I had heard a lot of reports that Amazon.com was flaking on their duties. So you can get Golden Shoulders CDs and t-shirts directly from us, along with the Gears music, too. Some of that stuff is okay! Hey. You should register to vote. Be good. Adam --- 01/21/04 Oh, hi. I'm taking a five-minute break from recording in order to update this news page (plus I put up some new pictures! Oh man!) Recording has occupied most of our time and attention. The good news is, it seems like it's going to be a quality album. The bad news is, life isn't fair and sometimes the Kings don't win their games. Dana is Mister Producerman, which means that it's up to him to bring episodes of Ali G and the Office for us to watch in the studio. He's really good at that, plus he's good at recording music. So he's doubly qualified for the position. As of this writing, Neal, Todd, Haas, Marc, Jason, Dave and Lee have joined Dana and I in the studio. It seems Josh and Dan will be in with us today - and as if that's not enough - Brett and Charla will be around on Monday. Oh man. I love my friends. And we just played a couple of shows, too. What are we, bonkers? It's possible. We enjoyed the Bottom of the Hill very kindly and the show with Little Wings at the Magic Theatre was a textbook example of good vibes and quality audiencehood. So that's that. I'm excited for people to hear this record. I think it's a fine companion piece to the first one. They're like brother and sister. Except they both have thick, bushy mustaches. Weird. Be good. Adam --- 12/12/03 Oh gosh. We just had a really fun bunch of shows in the Bay Area. San Francisco's Make Out Room with Oranger was amazing, because Oranger is amazing and so is the Make Out Room. Then Berkeley's Starry Plough and Oakland's Stork Club with the Moore Brothers. Jeeez. So many good times with the nice people and the rocking. I sure like playing music with my friends. But now, you see, we have no shows booked. Because, you see, we've set our goals at completing the next album by the end of February. Sweet. So we've got all these songs and ideas and that's cool too. I bet we'll be playing shows again in February, too, because that's just one of the better months, as far as months go. Ask anyone. We still have plenty of the beautiful new t-shirts. I guess I should get a picture of Rochelle wearing hers and put it on the website, so you know what they look like and everything. But if you want to order one, e-mail me and we'll work something out. They look good. And they will help you to look good too. I just put the entire collection of the Golden Shoulders Hymnals online for your convenience. You can locate them by clicking on the Birdman's head on that amazing picto-menu to the left of these words. Please enjoy. Here's an sincere plea: if you have any photos of us playing a show from the past few months, let me know. I need some current photos. I've forgotten what we look like. I assume we look totally rad, but I don't have any proof, and that's the problem. I need proof. And cookies. Get me proof that we look totally rad and some cookies and I'll be your best friend. Be good. Adam --- 11/20/03 Oh, hello. I'm back from a trip to Provo, Utah. I like to go out there every year-and-a-half to play a show and enjoy the Mormons. So many great people out there, really, and so nice to play music to/with. Traveling musicians, listen to my words: go to Provo. A generous crew vigorously populates that town. My best friend April's best friend Charla sang along with me and it was awesome. She's a better singer than I am, but I'm taller than she is, preserving a sense of fairness and balancedness too. Fun singing with a girl again, for reals. We've got all these shows lined up for the next three weekends. Well, one show per weekend, all in the Bay Area. Next weekend, San Francisco. The following weekend, Berkeley. The weekend after that, Oakland. I sure hope fun people come out for those shows. We're playing with Oranger and the Moore Brothers - like there are cooler headliners anywhere in the world, right? Sexy Prediction #99: "These shows will be entertaining." The road to Golden Shoulders Album #2 goes on and on. Recording has begun, songwriting continues all the way up until the tape is rolling, the ever-popular guest musicians rehearse their parts... It's kind of fun, kind of. I like making records. It's like making a baby with all of your friends, though more socially acceptable. We have great looking new shirts. Probably about time to make some new buttons too, right? Meanwhile, our love for you grows. Be good. Adam P.S. Happy birthday to our November 25th, 28th and December 5th friends. You are the wind beneath our things. --- 09/23/03 Wow. Sorry about that. Normally I like to keep the news page updated monthly or so. But it's been about three months, so I'm lame. And it's not like nothing's been going on - on the contrary. Lots of stuff is happening all the time at an alarming pace. But the pace is so alarming, you see, that I haven't had time to update the news page until right now. We spent the weekend in the recording studio, working away on the second album. I think it'll be good. We had a tight crew: Greg, Dana, Todd, Neal, Marc and Haas. And me. I'm okay. When I'm not lame. We have some October shows set up. Those will be okay, when they're not lame, just like me! Those shows will provide incredible opportunities for you, the voting public, to hear the new Golden Shoulders songs. You are probably going absolutely apesh** with excitement at the very suggestion! My goodness! Sometimes I get sad when I say "my goodness" and people think I'm being sarcastic. Know this: I MEAN IT. Our t-shirt man, Jason Maier, got married. That was great. Furthermore, he's back from his honeymoon and new Golden Shoulders t-shirts will arrive soonly. Get your upper bodies ready, dudes and dudesses. Our friends and labelmates, the Mood Elevator, have an album coming out today. Get into it. Support your local Doppler Records. I have it on good authority that Joanna is recording her first proper album for Drag City Records right now. We all know that will be something. Lee Bob's new cd, under the name "Santa Cruz Gospel Choir," is something. You should go listen to something. Be good. Adam --- 06/25/03 Oh maaaaaan. Crazy show last night. Literally crazy. I'm not throwing the word "crazy" around because it makes me feel good, I'm serious: last night, we had a crazy show. It was going to be one of those just-Todd-and-I shows, but then Jason expressed an interest in playing some bass for old times sake, Haas turned up with one eye on my new guitar... It was a lot of fun. We played a bunch of new songs, a few really old songs (Jason and I singing "I'm So Gone" almost made me get teary-eyed. Almost.) and all of the usuals, too. Lee Bob came up and sang with us, which was great, because he has a beautiful voice and he smells nice. Birdman took the mic during an odd reggae excursion. "Bring Me Down" lasted for ten minutes. So yeah, things got weird. See the Pictures page for all the evidence a reasonable person would ever need. Our friendly usual bassist, Marc, is enjoying a trip through Europe at the moment, which is why June has been light on shows. He gets back next week (I hope) and we'll be back in Sacramento at Old Ironsides in the middle of next month. I think we're going to go back to San Luis Obispo, too. We loved it there. Jason and I might start recording for the next record this week. That's weird too! Everything's weird. Coming soon: the Nevada County Film Festival. The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. The triumphant return of the Adam/Haas/Marc/Neal Golden Shoulders. A new Mood Elevator record. And a new Jackpot record. Oh maaaaan. Be good. Adam --- 05/20/03 We are back from our intense trip down to the San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara area. We had a great time. The audiences were friendly and mostly attractive. At first we were intimidated by their beauty, but we just closed our eyes, pretended they looked like normal people and performed with confidence. The reception down there was really warm, so we'll certainly return in the fall. This summer it's all about Northern California shows and working on the next record. At least that's the plan. Probably a lot of time at the river as well. Let's face it. We silkscreened a new shirt design (and by "we", I mean our t-shirt master, Jason Maier) and we'll be selling those shirts at our shows all summer long. If you want to order one, you could probably e-mail me and we could sort something out. They're pretty sharp. Thanks to The Snake The Cross The Crown, the Few and our best friends Little Wings for playing with us on the Deckerd Richard 2003 Tour. They behaved professionally at all times and had friendly girlfriends. That's the best kind! Be good. Adam --- 03/21/03 Maaan, I'm pissed. The other day I was writing a new song, and I was getting way into it, thinking that it was a great melody, and I was getting excited about showing it to the guys and everything... Then I realized the melody was from the song "Sister Golden Hair" by the soft-rock group America. That's the sort of thing that can ruin your whole day. It's just not fair that all the seventies soft rockers got to all the good melodies first. Don't get me started on Bread. But at least I got the hair color right. SXSW was a great time. And we learned a lot. Mostly this: there's too many bands in the world. You can read one journalist's account of our SXSW performance by going here. Joanna Newsom, our darling Josie, is getting much-deserved attention for her solo songs. You can read a fairly accurate article all about her here. And you can go to our links page to be sent to a page with some of her mp3s. So worthwhile they make food and shelter seem overrated. We're going to make our way back to Southern California, this time focusing on Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, in May. And we're going to bring some new songs and probably some new buttons. New haircuts: possibly. Be good. Adam --- 02/27/03 News? Yeah yeah I've got your news right here. February's almost over, now. Let it be known that February 2003 was the busiest month - live performance wise - in the brief, handsome history of the Golden Shoulders. We played over a trillion shows in Davis alone. Don't worry, they were nicer to us this month than they were before. I guess they got the memo. We made some new buttons that are almost gone now. I guess everyone liked them. That's cool. We'll make some new ones soon and they'll feature something other than my face. I'm feeling like my face might be a little played out, you know? Sort of loses its impact after a while. I'm thinking of gracing the next buttons with the bold new face of Marc (new bass player), because that guy's got a mug on him! Most shows these days, you'll see me with Neal, Marc and Haas, but there's a couple coming up with the tried and true combo of just Todd and I. March 4th at Bruno's in San Francisco and the SXSW show will have that mini-lineup. We tested it out by walking around and playing songs in downtown Placerville last Saturday. Todd got his old high school marching band drum out of storage - he looked like a civil war soldier. One of those soldiers that has an instrument instead of a gun. Golden soldiers. But the people in Placerville seemed to dig it. Other than the dude in the Jeep with the pro-war slogans painted on the sides and back. That guy was too busy rocking out to devil music. Someone's got to. There was a friendly article in the Grass Valley Union newspaper that Haas and I were photographed for. Another something nice to send to my beloved granny. I suppose I'm all out of news again. I guess I should be more active, but I hardly have enough time to take all the naps I need. Ah well. My birthday's tomorrow, there's that. I'm almost old again. Such is life again. Be good. Adam --- 01/18/03 Hey. It's Joanna's birthday. That's all right! Things have been busy. We're confirmed to play this year's SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas this March. Our friends Deathray and Hella are playing as well. Along with our dear pals David Cross, the Apples In Stereo, Joe Jackson and Supergrass. I'm freaking out over here. We played a show in Los Angeles, which I haven't done since Badical Turbo Radness opened up for the Ziggens' cd release show four years ago. Maybe that was five years ago... I don't know, it was a really long time ago, but it was fun. And so was this more recent one. I had a head cold of some kind, but I think we did okay. Josh Klinghoffer played bass and that was great because he's good at playing bass and he's one of my favorite new friends of 2002. And I'm not just saying that because I want him to seriously consider moving up to Nevada City to play bass in the Golden Shoulders full time. Honest. The day after the L.A. show, I fractured my neck, so we had to cancel that night's show at Old Ironsides in Sacramento. I hate cancelling shows - but I hate having a fractured neck even more than that. My brain hurt for a while but it's all right now. If I start exhibiting Stuart Sutcliffe-ish behavior, I recommend buying my paintings while they're still cheap. Our perpetual emergency bassman Aaron Ross put out a new album of his solo material. You should probably get that. His songs are beautiful and his voice doesn't let them down. We'll play another show with him soon, if there's any justice. Wait, is there? Doppler Records sent out a bunch of our cds to college radio stations all over the place - if you have a college station nearby, why not call up and request a song? It's something to pass the time, and there's nothing wrong with that. Wait, is there? Finally, I have heard the pleas, and there will be new Golden Shoulders buttons circulating before the end of the month. Come see us in Stockton on the 24th or Davis on February 8th or San Francisco on February 10th or Nevada City on February 18th... You get the picture. Be good. Adam --- 12/27/02 Oh maaaan. Some crazy shows lately. We've decided we love the Make Out Room in San Francisco. It's a great place, they get cool bands to play with us, the bartender girls are reasonably attractive - it's a hit amongst us Go-Shos. And, mind you, we never look forward to the trafficky drive down to the city, but that place makes it worthwhile. Davis, on the other hand, needs to stop playing hard to get. I always liked playing the G Street Pub with the Gears, but maaan, the patrons there the last time the Go-Shos came through were probably the worst people ever. There oughta be a law. I'm going to drive a busload of Davis residents down to the Make Out Room so they can watch and learn how to be an audience. Jeez. Clapping after songs, that sort of thing. The usual procedure we all take for granted. A bunch of philistines. I think the cd is selling well, which is neat. I got a telegram from Santana congratulating me on my great success. And I got a bundle of white daisies (my favorite flower, Teen Beat take note) from Madonna's secretary's assistant through some error in the flower delivery company's computer system. Sometimes long sentences are best! So New Year's Eve is just days away, and the place to be is Cooper's in downtown Nevada City. If you're 21 or over, you should be there. If you're not, you should hang out at your place with your friends and play Monopoly. It's a great game. Be good. Adam --- 11/05/02 Ah. Election Day is here again. Ain't been 'round since... last year. The album is out now, and some press is starting to come in. Thanks a lot to those who have bought the album and taken the time to write to me, saying nice things that make me feel good. I'm glad people like it. And I'm glad our most recent shows have gone really, really well. Playing with Todd, Ehren, Aaron and Jason has been great. On the way home from Sacramento a few nights ago, I stopped into a big, massive, soulless chain record store and was disturbed to see a proper Golden Shoulders section, with multiple copies of the album sitting there sweetly. So weird that these stores have these things. There's no doubt the underpaid, underbathed employees of these places have taken rude liberties with the band name while stocking the shelves. In our case of being a small band on a small label with a small album, our best chance of doing well comes from enthusiastic word-of-mouth from nice people who like us. So, please, if you like the album, play it for people you know who you think would like it. Then they can easily find the whole album in mp3 format and make you feel silly for paying good money for it. That's the way commerce works. Oh, by the way, we're coming to your town soon. Keep an eye out. Be good. Adam --- 10/08/02 Ohh maaan. Two weeks until the album's out. The cover is viewable here on the website now, and we've got a track listing and everything. We've sent out some preview copies to press types and I'm hoping to have some actual press soon. It's just a little bit sad that the only press we have is a pretty lukewarm review from nine months ago. I promise we've been practicing and most of us know most of the songs now, mostly. We've got plenty of shows here in October, so there's no valid excuses for missing the Go-Shos this month. Unless your excuse is that you're not interested in seeing the Go-Shos. That's totally valid and also hurtful. The show at the True Love this weekend is one of the best shows I can imagine. The incredible Nevada City-based talent Aaron Ross is opening up with a solo set of his original numbers. Then superstarsupreme Dana Gumbiner of Deathray, LGS and Digital Underass is laying down the law in a solo stylee. Then the Go-Shos take the stage and literally blow everyone's minds. And after that, we'll play some songs. Have you ever actually blown a mind? It's not easy, but it is difficult. In Nevada County we're expecting a media explosion as the cd release date approaches. KVMR 89.5 FM will be adding the album to their regular playlist, as long as my check clears, and I'm meeting with the Union this week for an upcoming article about the band, the album and a fistfight between two prominent local Republicans. Remember. October 22nd. Let My Burden Be. Golden Shoulders. Yeah. Be good. Adam --- 9/19/02 All right. I don't know about you, but I've got an album coming out in a month, and that's fine with me. I even came up with a title for it: "Let My Burden Be." Everyone's trying to figure out the deep meaning behind it, but I really only chose it because it's an anagram for "Enter My Bulb, Ed." So it's got thirteen songs on it and everything. We were going to have fourteen, but Victor thought one of them needed some work. That Victor. Always thinking. Because we've got this album coming out so soon, we're playing lots of shows (possibly over 1,000 shows, seriously) in October. And it seems our old friend Aaron Ross might be playing bass for all the non-Nevada City shows. Far out. Really, if you want a good time, come see us play at the True Love with Aaron opening with his incredible songs. The double whammy. Word on the street (which is always oh-so reliable) suggests that the album is available for pre-order on amazon.com. It's cool if you get it from there, sure, but I hope you'll ask your local independent record store to reserve a copy for you, since it's a beautiful thing to support your local independent record store. Todd, Aaron, Ehren, Jason and I look forward to seeing you soon. Be good. Adam --- 7/11/02 Maaaan. We're almost done with the record, honest this time. I just listened to final mixes of eight of the songs, and they sound lovely. This might sound stupid, but I still don't know what to call this album. All the good names, like ''O Brother Where Art Thou Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'', are taken. You can understand my frustration. No idea for the album cover, either. Maybe the cd will come in a plain brown wrapper, and everyone who buys it will look like a dreadful perv. Whoa. I just saw a commercial on tv and my friend Casey is in it. That's sort of weird. But, you know, I suddenly feel like buying lots of stuff from Target, so I guess it worked. Nice one, Casey! I've been driving down to Sacramento almost every day to mix the completed songs, so I just want to say thanks to all of the clever drivers on the road. And I certainly don't want to forget to give a big thumbs down to the crusty oldsters who like to drive 20 miles per hour from the Brunswick basin all the way to Colfax. That bums me out and breaks my stride. Look for some sweet ink in the August issue of Alive & Kicking thanks to Cary Rodda. Oh, and some Golden Shoulders will be opening for Jackpot on July 26th. Maybe that will be a worthwhile time. Three more nights to see the Nevada County Film Festival. Go go go. Be good. Adam --- 5/5/02 The recording process has truly entered the home stretch. Some songs are finished, just waiting to be mixed and mastered and all of that. Others are still waiting for some final instruments and vocals. The good news is that it's all starting to sound like a record. Fourteen songs, it should be, unless something unfortunate befalls one or more of the songs we expect to include on there. Victor has suggested an August release date, which seems really far away from now, to me at least, but I think it's safe to say that he knows what he's talking about. I'm still trying to sort out what it should be called and what should go on the cover, etc. If anyone reading this has any ideas, please please please send them my way. The past couple months have been amazing for us in the live show department. Well, mainly it's that we were able to play shows with two of our favorite songwriters - Jonathan Richman and Brendan Benson. Jonathan was enigmatic and energetic as ever, and Brendan put on a tremendous show with his truly incredible band - hopefully they'll come back this way before too long. His new album deserves repeated listenings, so get on that, brothers and sisters. We ran out of our first batch of promotional buttons, so the new buttons are starting to circulate. These ones are pink and mildly sexy. A tiny representation of the design can be found on the Order page. We're playing with Rusty this week in our dear hometown. That will be fun, I decree. Be good. Adam --- 3/28/02 We're finishing up on acoustic guitar work in the studio and I'm pleased to say Greg and I recorded this morning for a few hours. I'm not pleased to say that the tape machine went sort of nuts and warbly, so I don't know if we recorded any "keepers" today. But yesterday was really happening and we got loads of good stuff then, so it all evens out nicely. I'm really excited about finishing up this recording and getting it out there for the nice people (that's you) to hear. I'm awfully proud of these songs and everyone's performances so far. I sure hope everyone likes it all - if they don't, I don't know what I'll do! Maybe I'll just try to do better next time. In the next couple weeks (if the tape machine is alright) we'll start on lead guitar bits. Go-Shos mainstays like Rich Good and Jason Graham will certainly make their mark, oh yes, but we'll also enjoy appearances from Rusty Miller and hopefully Greg will take a crack, too. He's a really good guitarist. Honest. I think I want to play a lead bit on Bring Me Down. I've got something in mind. But I'm not much of a lead guitarist, so we'll see if I indulge myself or if good taste wins out in the end, won't we? There's a benefit for the businesses who were affected by the recent fire in Nevada City coming up. It's on the 14th of April and it seems some group of Go-Shos will be turning up and playing some songs. That's at the Miner's Foundry, I believe sometime in the afternoon. I'll put details up on the Shows page as soon as I have some. You can e-mail me if you have any questions or need romantic advice or anything like that. I'll write you back, unless I think you're nuts. Then I'll just turn you in to the coppers and let them sort you out! Be good. Adam --- 2/27/02 News? Yeah yeah I've got your news right here. Recording continues at the comfy Brighton Sound studios in Sacramento. Engineer Victor and Producer Greg struggle daily to make me sound like a competent guitarist, bless 'em. I'm pleased to say the upcoming album will not only feature songs that are old favorites, but even some ones you've likely never heard before! Imagine that! I'm claiming that idea as my own and from now on any group who puts out an album with old favorites and new songs must send me a nickel. There's a couple shows on the horizon, which you can learn all about by inspecting our Shows page. Far out. But we're playing with some of our favorite people, so that's always nice. There was a friendly article in the Grass Valley Union newspaper that Jason and I were interviewed for. Something nice to send to my beloved granny. I suppose I'm all out of news. I guess I should be more active, but I just love taking naps. Ah well. My birthday's tomorrow, there's that. I'm almost old. Such is life. Be good. Adam |