click clack gorilla

37 weeks pregnant: maybe the last tmi pregnancy blah blah before the baby

I’ve reached the end days phase. The bit of being pregnant where I’m constantly thinking “well this could be the last time I wear this T-shirt before I have a baby.” Or “this could be my last shower without a baby.” Or even, “Maybe the next time I light the wood stove I’ll have a [...]

people of mainz! free black diamond show tonight!

Last chance to see a huge pregnant Nikki on-stage before Peanut punches her way out of my stomach… For a listen: Black Diamond Express Train to Hell Plus (Oliver will be playing solo NOT with the full Plus band.)

ah yes, so this is winter

I had almost forgotten what it was like. The frozen water. The biting chill in the air. The layers of clothing. The intensity with which the wood stove must be fed in order to keep the Wagen warm when winter finally decides to show its frosty locks. In preparation we’d turned off the water in [...]

expat life: sending packages to germany, or woe be you customs office

Friday morning on my way to the Mainz customs office, I would have looked like a raving lunatic had anyone else been around to see me. “God damn fucking assholes,” I muttered loudly as I hobbled down the empty street leading through an industrial park to their offices. “Holding every damn package anyone sends to [...]

birth prep classes and the alien game

When I find boredom creeping up through my limbs, I play what I call the alien game. To play, you look around and imagine how what ever is around you would look to aliens fresh out of the hatch. I imagine that it’s human procreation that would most baffle the aliens, assuming that they did’t [...]

moving to germany: frequently asked questions

Blogging is a contradictory sport: simultaneously solitary—me, typing alone at my computer—and yet so social—with comments and e-mails coming in from the interesting folks—you—on the other side of this screen. A lot of aspiring expats have sent me questions about how I ended up in Germany over my blogging years, and today I figured that [...]

diy project: baby shelves and the fold-down changing table

I’ve done it, I’ve finally done it! Someone took a trip to the building supply store, brought me back some screws and some wood, and I built the baby-crapola storage shelf and fold-down changing table. Except I (cough cough) haven’t added the fold-down table bit yet. But who cares! All the baby crap is finally [...]

black diamond express train to hell: bunker syndrome and recording

After three and a half days in a windowless bunker, you lose track of time. Have I been here for an hour? A day? A week? There’s no way to know for sure. The bunker that played set to the recording of our new album felt like the set of a horror film. Bare concrete [...]

black diamond express train to hell: a new album and a video

Huzzah! At long last the day has come. I am in Frankfurt with Black Diamond Express Train to Hell recording a new album, carving our new songs into the pavement so we can finally share them with people wide and far. Not to mention FINALLY bring out an album after two years of schlepping around [...]

winter in the year of the apocalypse

The sun is shining and it is hailing, and any minute now I’m expecting a rider of the apocalypse to show up to try to sell me a magazine subscription. On New Year’s Eve over 3,000 red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. Scientists have since reported that the event was probably caused [...]