Cody Jinks Official News Feed

2012 Year in Review

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:06:21 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Happy New Year everyone, I hope 2013 greeted you in a manner you found favorable. Me and the guys found ourselves at Adair's and close enough to home to sleep in our own beds, normally we play somewhere out of town. Waking up in my own bed on January 1 was nice. So good, let's get started with a review of 2012.
2012 started with an extremely cold run up to Minnesota, after OKC we didn't see temperatures above the teens for the next five days, often times it was negative temperatures. We had a great time covering some new ground and such. More notably we pulled off of the highway in near blizzard conditions in Clear Lake, Iowa to stop by The Surf Ballroom to pay a little homage. If you're not familiar with The Surf Ballroom, Wikipedia. That run ended at The Snorty Horse for a live recording. The recording hasn't been mixed down yet but it's on my to do list: I've heard it sounds good; all I can remember was the crowd singing so loud that it was difficult to hear my monitors. That's a good thing though. Sometime during the early part of the year Brendan took the full time job drumming, and about this same time I was finishing up the vocals on the 30 album but with difficulty. At the end of 2011 I began experiencing vocal fatigue and through much of early '12 I had to limit my talking, that's difficult at times. Got the vocals done finally in late January/Early February, went to a specialist and he told me that that cutting back on my daily caffeine intake would help my vocal chords. This didn't sound like a good idea to me, a guy that can put some coffee away. I switched to half caff and have been on it ever since. Consequently I drink less coffee now as a whole, I'm down to about six cups a day but in half caff that's only three cups a day. And three cups a day is only two cups more than the specialist said I could drink a day. Baby steps.
Early February, my first trip to perform in Germany in two years and it just so happened that it snowed and iced during the night of my first show. Long story short, I spend the next two shows in five days in a lot of pain. My new promoter I'm sure thought me to be difficult to say the least. I would wake up and have a few shots at the hotel bar before I would spend the rest of the day trying not to wince in pain while around people. The last two shows were acoustic and very very slow. In March Jon and I flew to L.A. to pick up the band RV that I later named Dolly Parton, she's top heavy. I figured there would be a weird mix of feelings I would experience back in L.A., there were none.
In May the band flew over to Germany to embark on a three week tour. We did a grueling seventeen nights in a row, most all of them usually two and a half hours. We went to a lot of places but didn't get to see much as we traveled four, six, eight, hours a day. Set up sound check, grab a bite, change at the hotel, play, have a night cap, sleep, and then repeat. Our new promoter took excellent care of every last detail and us, I also learned a great deal about the band as a group and as individuals. Josh, Jon, and I had things going on as new dads. We made the trip one day shorter to make it home in time for Josh's sons first birthday, and traveling overseas I've found you are never guaranteed to be home on the day specified, but we were. That time also fell when Jon's daughter was about a month old, so by the end of that run we had virtually been gone a total of five or six weeks of the first two months of her life. And I had an eight month pregnant wife and two year old daughter at home. We were a bunch of worried dads and I learned more about myself than them, that's all I'll say. The best part of staying that busy is covering so many places in order to see all of the friends I've made over the years, and it's usually just better if I'm busy.
In June my wife and I welcomed our son into the world and all of a sudden I have two kids. Holy shit, I have two kids, crazy. A month later I took the family to Port Aransas. I have really good memories there as a child and Rebecca and I really needed to get out of town. So we took the kids, put em in the RV, and went to the beach. Me, Rebecca, a two year old, and an infant. It was actually the first vacation Rebecca and I went on alone, well kind of alone. That trip is now also among my favorite memories.
We released "We Get By" in the early summer, my first radio release in three years. It ended up floating around on the charts for six months before it started dropping, so thank you to the stations the spun it and continue to as well. My least favorite thing about dropping a single is the radio tours. Radio tours are brutal because of the number of stations you have to hit a day, several days in a row, and all over the place. Typically the DJs are pretty cool and understand you have to be a hundred and fifty miles down the road in two and a half hours answering the same questions that they have just asked. Like I said, my least favorite part of it, but it's a part of it. I called it The Great Texas Wal Mart Parking Lot Radio Tour. I've spent some nights in some Wal Mart lots.
Summer was good for us, in early fall Brendan announces he's leaving the band full time but still fills in a bit. We went back into the studio in late November to record Blacksheep. We went to a new studio closer to home and with a different sort of background. Was a good and minimalistic session. Blacksheep goes to mix later this month and then to master and then to print. We should have new record in spring. Should being the operative word. We wrapped up the year and have now started the new one; there is your year in review, some of it.
I chose to put in a list of clubs this year as well. Let's start with the worst club of the year. And the winner is Boots and Saddles in Seagoville Texas. We played there back in January, only my second time to play there ever, the first being seven or eight years ago. The owner then sucked and the owner in '12 sucked. At least they are consistent. Favorite club goes to The Snorty Horse in Columbia Missouri, and the people there think I'm just shittin' em when I say that. Weirdest club of the year goes to The Underground in Des Moines Iowa. We played there twice this past year so I'm validated. It's the only club that I've had the door guy come up and say, "Hey man, can you get one of your road guys to help watch the door? I've got a little thing to go to". And that happened twice with two different door guys they had. The "what we presumed" to be a gay bar across the street was more fun to drink at anyway, or I'm just way off.
Politics… You can run but you can't hide. I'll keep this short and sweet. Our government is like the WWF, it's entertaining. It's a show with good guys and bad guys and they have us right where they want us. Both sides are flawed, inflexible, and in dire need of restructuring. If they saw that people aren't just one thing or the other, yet a mixture of both we might all be better off. Our government is dividing us people, we have to stick together, it might be a good idea. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. And let me end this section with a quote.
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.
-Plato
Let's get to some of my favorites of the last year. People/Bands to look out for. The Quaker City Nighthawks, really good rock and roll. Whitnye Raquel, baddest chick around. Derek Larson, I can't take his new record out. Murder by Death, I got into them last year; it just took me all of 2012 to get the rest of their albums and immerse myself. And as always, listen to Scott Copeland.
Funny… Here's to a 2012 that gave us Gangnam Style, 50 Shades of Grey (what's new about any of that?), Honey Boo Boo, another Insane Clown Posse, Adam Lambert, and Linkin Park record, Call Me Maybe?, the fourth Paranormal Activity, crappy remakes of Total Recall and Red Dawn (that I refused to see based upon the trailers), and another season of Glee and The Kardashians. Funny in an Idiocracy sort of way, noteworthy nonetheless. I spent about $3,500 on tires this summer due to a bad alignment. I coined the term "Brown Dirt", the alternative to the alternative dirt. RV mishaps: A torn awning in Waxahachie Texas, a broken bay door in Chicago Illinois, and getting stuck in the mud in Missouri causing us to get pulled out with a tractor throwing the alignment off. The winner is Sean for those; Dean and Marvin are clean for the year. The worst RV mishap of the year came in Dallas on my birthday when I hit a concrete pylon (completely sober) so hard it came out of the ground. But we don't need to go into any details about that.
Cool stuff… Scott Copeland hosted a songwriting workshop a few months ago and put together a really cool book for all that attended. The book had sections on rhyme scheme, alliteration, and other things writers need to know and can use the book for reference. He also included a list of suggested books to read and albums to listen to by some great writers out there and my name was on that list. That's cool, and somebody has to be one of the ones that people see and say, "Who is that?"
Cans for Koozies has raised well over two hundred pounds of food for our local food banks, that's cool.
Got asked to sing our national anthem at H.E.B.s Feast of Sharing again this year and was introduced by Bob Kingsley. That's cool. Dean came with me to help watch my kids while I was singing and we were mistaken by a lady as a man couple due to this horrible purple shirt he had on while he was pushing my son around in the stroller. That's funny.
We met Uncle Charlie this year and we are both convinced that you have to give your art unselfishly and that the devil is always trying to get in touch with us, be it on the phone or what not.
And how soon we forget the tragedies, the human element that surfaces every so often, life. As we do every year we've welcomed new friends and family in and said goodbye to some as well. We've watched the impossible happen and we saw the absolute worst humanity has to offer. We've helped each other when we could and wish we could have done more. If everyone acted daily as in times of great destruction and need, imagine how the world might be. Mr. Lennon may have been on to something.
To my band: Thank You

The year in retrospect and Blacksheep

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:23:06 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

So... I have my calendar here and I'm looking over 2012. I've got a glass of whiskey and cheap cigar, there's good music coming through the speakers and I feel alright. Let us begin.

We have had a pretty full year in 2012 and it's really hard to think it's almost over. By this time last year I was so burned out I didn't even expect to have fun when I played. This year was different, I played a few (35) less shows and we enjoyed putting "30" out and have been fortunate to have "We Get By" stick around on the charts for six months and holding. I suppose some years are just a bit smoother than others, but we are always grateful.

In February I went to Germany with a new promoter to play a few acoustic sets, after the first night there I fell on some ice and landed on my guitar case breaking one of my ribs. That was fun. Two more shows I had to do incapacitated and my new promoter just thought I was messed up the whole time. But to make a long story short, the band did another three weeker in Germany, put out a new record, had two new babies, recorded some new material to be released in 2013, and played 49 of 52 weeks. If nothing else we've been busy and thankful to have been so. Broken ribs suck.

The same roads get old but the crowds never do, you become our friends and there are more of you every year. To say the least it's a strange life we lead, those of us that live almost half of our lives in other places do so to see what it's all about, come back with the stories, and write them down. So over all I guess it's been a good year. We will hope the new year is good for all of us; we will have a new record out and keep doing what we are doing, alone.

Love you guys
CJ TdH

P.S. Around noon on the 8th of Dec is the last day to pledge for the Birth of Blacksheep on Kickstarter. Get that Cody Jinks fan a cool Christmas present by pledging in their name.

Holiday spirit, candy and canned goods, and our campaign for help with the Birth of Blacksheep

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:07:53 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

It's the most wonderful time of the year, yep... Halloween and getting an extra hour. For the first time in a few years we didn't play a Halloween show at any time of the Halloween season so I got to take my daughter Trick or Treating and hand out candy to the neighborhood kids. Halloween is among the finest of holidays here in the U.S. of A. I am currently pushing for legislation to ensure that all Americans will be able to have work and school off on this most joyous of days. I hope your children made you a bountiful booty of candy. And that's where it will end up, on your bountiful booty. MMMMM candy.

Staying on the subject of food, we've also been doing "Cans for Koozies" again and have had a great response with ya'll bringing out all those canned goods and other nonperishable food stuffs. Big thanks and happy belated birthday to Jana Sowell. Jana requested canned goods this year for her birthday and donated them. Super cool. Also another cool thing is Acoustic Drive-Listen 4charity at acousticdrive.bandzoogle. Log on and request Hippies and Cowboys. If Hippies gets enough plays I'll have $1,000 donated by Acoustic Drive to go to Tarrant County area food banks. Hunger and poverty levels in America have gone up exponentially, so go out and vote this week for a new kind of change.

As for the shows over the last month, I suppose everything has been alright. We had another Hell raiser at Fro's Hideout in Linwood Kansas, then I went fishing for a few days with Dad, shot some live footage at The Snorty Horse in MO, played the Old 36 Inn for the first time and made it back down to San Angelo to Blaine's this last week for the first time in a while. We've just been doing what we do, staying out and playing for ya'll.

I'll wrap this thing up with the latest news of the week, we launched our Kickstarter campaign. I think that I announced in the last blog that we are about to start a new record to be entitled "Blacksheep", and if it wasn't in the blog then you probably saw posts on Facebook and Twitter. Having released "30" this past spring, yet having enough good new songs for another record has led us to a different way to get a record made. The fact of the matter is that it's expensive to make a record, much less two of them so close together. So why would we do such a thing? Because there are those of you out there that are already wanting to know when new stuff will be ready, so we leave it in ya'lls hands. We have a group of new songs that are ready to be laid down, so hopefully by the spring of 2013 there will be another record. Our goal is $12,500 and we have about a month to reach it. It's an all or nothing deal so if we don't hit our goal potential backers will not be charged. We are about ten percent there so go and check out what you the fan can get by backing this project. Many thanks. Keep an eye out for new show stops and new t shirts for 2013.

Listening to a lot of different music lately. We should all listen to different kinds of music on a regular basis.

P.S. Go to Scott Copland's songwriter's workshop at The Thirsty Armadillo Sunday November 11 at 6 p.m. The tickets are well worth what will go down.

Kids, New Ground, Bring Your Cans, Brendan The Monk, What... A New Record? FF6, and Wife

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:12:40 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

And a good day to all of you out there that read these blogs, much obliged. I find myself trying to get as much done as I can during the often sporadic naps my three month old son takes. I keep hearing that two takes care of one, which must be when they get older. I suppose my wife and I have gotten used to a little baby again, you just all of a sudden find yourself there. Radio call ins are tougher now, I’m trying to talk to a DJ and my kids decide its prime time to scream simultaneously. I blame it mostly on the oldest one; she’s smart and plenty capable of corrupting my young sons mind towards mutiny. She’s a lot like me, and she turned three last week. So, last Wednesday night we got our boots and and jeans on, grabbed a bite and went down to see Nate Kipp, Matt and Steve from 1100 Springs. The girl loves music, Mama J and Papa Ron got her a fiddle for her birthday, she’s pretty good.

On to last month’s shows, I do remember having another flat or two. We played the Snorty Horse with Kyle Turley a few weeks ago, he’s the former Offensive linemen who while playing for the Saints tried to tear an opposing players head off for roughing the N.O. quarterback, then slings his helmet across the field. He was one foot taller than me. The next night we played Joe’s in Chicago for the first time. We opened for John D. Hale and Reckless Kelly. Joe's was great, the staff, the sound, and most of all, the crowd. We also got to hang out with some of our friends from Hendricks Motorsports due to the NASCAR race being in town as well, that’s always fun. Here’s a shout out to Kip and the guys for coming out.

On to the next things. We started "Cans for Koozies" last year and we are getting it going again. Basically for every three nonperishable items, i.e., canned food, box meals, et cetera you get a CJ&TdH koozie. Last year we dropped off 100 pounds of food. So do what everyone else does, raid the pantry on your way out and get a koozie for the show. Along the same vein we have the H.E.B. sponsored "Feast of Sharing" coming up at Will Rogers in Ft. Worth in Early November. I get to sing our national anthem at this year’s event, this is my second one. H.E.B. is doing good things to fight hunger here at home.

On to other band business, Brendan O’Neill will be moving on to exercise other drumming stylings. Brendan will be moving to Bhutan to play with the Buddhist Monks. We’ve all had a good time having him with us and we sincerely wish him well with everything. Okay the monk thing was B.S., good luck buddy. Yes we are searching for another drummer; interested folks can go to codyjinksbooking@yahoo.com and leave their info. P.S. I think Brendan was actually raised Catholic. I also shot the video that will be edited down for our first Kickstarter project.
Continued 10/1/12

What is Kickstarter you ask? It’s an online company that is designed to help artists of every kind in funding whatever their project/expense may be. For the most part its bands making records but certainly not limited to that. The concept is to help fund your artist for the sake of wanting what they are working on. This way can definitely expedite the making of an album for a band. The cost is one of the main reasons it takes independent artist so long to come out with new records. So what does this mean? You guessed it, a new record.

We have dates set at the end of November to begin what is now titled "Black Sheep". I've got ten or eleven songs done and I’m looking forward to getting them laid down. And for the first time we haven’t been playing any of the new ones in our live set so it will be completely new to everyone. So when the video is up I’ll let everyone know and you can go check the site out. Let’s make another record.

Had our sixth Frost Fest this past Saturday night in Bryan’s Mill. Thank you to all of you that came out despite the rain. There was steady, lite rain that had begun the day before and it never stopped. No lightning though so we went ahead. Also a big hand to my friends The Dirty Pesos and Nate Kipp and The Road. Tom and Nate are two of the best songwriters I’ve had the pleasure of working with and I’m glad I can call them friends. As long as you folks keep coming out, there will be good bands playing for you.

And finally, today is mine and Rebecca’s eighth anniversary. Rebecca and I have been together since our sophomore year in high school and she has been with me every step of the way. She’s seen everything this life can do to someone and she’s still around. I’m still the same as I’ve always been, and Rebecca’s still taking care of me. She’s my best friend.

Remember Columbia MO, Video shoot at The Snorty Horse on Oct 19.

Congratulations to Raul and Leigh Rodriguez

Blog for July 2012

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:39:15 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

It's already been a month I suppose, I do hope this finds you and yours well. A lot has happened since the last blog, my son was born a couple of weeks ago. My wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby boy and they are both doing well, thanks for all the well wishes. We dropped "We Get By" a few weeks ago and it's just entered the charts so that's a good thing, hopefully we can watch it climb. We've opened for Kevin Fowler, Josh Abbott Band, and Trent Willmon over the last month, two of those three I really enjoyed. We've had some pretty cool shows the last little bit. The last few weeks have gone by very quickly and I'm getting reacquainted with that new born at home feeling, it starts going by quickly and at first it's a complete blur. The first few months are pretty tough I'm remembering. In conclusion, despite the good news this may be a boring blog. I have been catching up on some movies staying up late with the boy. Netflix is always slow about getting new stuff but always seem to have a new zombie flick or the making of a classic album. We will see you guys down the road with the new record and new merch. We will be up through the Midwest the last two months of this month. Reading: Just finished "Animal Farm" Listening to: Jarrod Birmingham and Type O Negative Blog Continued 7/10/12 So you get a bonus blog now. These happen when I don't turn a blog in and something happens the next day that is blog worthy. It's been to my best estimation about seven years since I saw my last metal show. It was either Metallica or Slayer, and I'm thinking it was Slayer but that's beside the point. This evening, which was a Tuesday my neighbor Brett got us into the Mayhem Tour with the help of one of his old friends that now works for Slipknot. There were a ton of bands, most of which I had no idea who they were, but the ones I did I was ready to see. When we got to the Gexa Energy Pavilion (Coca-Cola Starplex forever in my mind) Anthrax was playing. I've seen Anthrax a handful of times but never with Joey Belladonna singing. It was good but I'm a John Bush fan. Then Motorhead came on and it was on, they kicked all kinds of ass, it's dirty fast, loud, rock and roll that's fronted by one of the coolest front men in rock and roll ever. It's good to finally have seen them and it was great. Slayer next, Slayers always fun, one of those that you know will come through for the crowd and their crowds are insane. We saw everyone we wanted to see and still made it home by 10:30, besides the twelve dollar beers I'd say great success. Reading: Bukowski Listening To: Motorhead Still love my metal.

Clever title inserted here, hope you liked that one.

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 19:40:07 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

I don't even know where to begin; I'm really going to try to keep this as short as I can. A cliffs notes styled blog. It's Monday night and it's thundering and lightning but only a few. Sometimes in the summer, huh?

Preceding our three weeks out of the country, we had four shows the week we left for the Germany tour. That's after being in the Mid-West the last two weeks… The band's had a couple of weeks off since we got back from the tour but don't ask anybody about it because we really can't remember. We played every day and saw a lot of the beautiful place at about a hundred miles per hour, except the two days the turbo on the van went out as we were climbing a mountain road and were in second gear and leaning forward. Our new promoter/tour manager took good care of us but we were all ready to get home to the wives and kids. And we arrived home to a shrinking Euro, hey thanks Spain and Greece.But all in all the tour was good and there are some great stories in the old "personal journal" that will come out one day. Now I will be very brief in the rest of this.

Ray Bradbury past at the age of 91. If you have not read Fahrenheit 451 you have done yourself a great in justice, not to mention his other works that helped change a generation. I read 451 when I was in high school in fell in love with the way its prophetic foresight scared the shit out of me. Rest in peace Mr. Bradbury, I believe you were right.

Now allow me to bounce around quickly. Yesterday at Adair's there was a benefit held for our friend Heath Webb. Heath lost everything except for his guitars in a house fire. Sucks, yes. But yesterday some awesome guys came out to play and raise some money. Max Stalling was my favorite, then I had to go. We're with you Heath.

The new single We Get By, is due to drop on radio in two weeks, so get ready to hit the phones for that one. Also thanks for all of the positive feedback in "30". I feel like it's the best one yet.

You know those signs on the sides of the highway that something about God's love for you and his desire for you to seek him? Those kind of creep me out. How do you sign God's signature?

I'm about to have a new baby boy here pretty soon and am beginning to have all of the normal freak outs that come in the last couple of weeks. Hell man, we laid three songs down on the "Less Wise" record the day I found out I'd have to take my wife to the hospital by that early evening for the birth of Meredith.

World News: I'm a news junkie and I'm actually quite concerned about Chins and Russia and their stance on Syria. Syrian soldiers are using children as human shields by sitting them on tanks in transit into hostile ares. Yeah try explaining that one...

Reading: H.S. Thompson, Just finished Orwell's 1984 (Say hi to Ray). Also Spiritual Writings of Tolstoy. I really think I would have liked to drink with Bukowski and Leo. Those two and Hemmingway, oh just to be a fly on the wall.

Listening to EVERYTHING

Time out of hand, A very bored and profiling trooper, Uncle Charlie, 30, Happy Birthday ...

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:03:35 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Are you kidding me it's almost to the halfway mark for 2012? When you spend all of the time you are not busy trying to be busy, you are always busy. So, having said that, there are many topics to hit in a short amount of time.

End of March sometime, our rig was searched by a Texas State Trooper for forty five minutes or so. He was convinced he was going to find drugs, Instead he wasted the time of two of the Nacogdoches P.D.s finest while he conducted a thorough investigation. He was fishing and thought he had an easy bust, instead I think he looked pretty dumb. I left him with some good dash cam footage. Have a nice day.

I also met an interesting dude they simply call Uncle Charlie at a private party we did. Uncle Charlie makes these amazing wooden crosses out of big ol' logs; they are stained, coated and absolutely beautiful. By the way, he does it with a chainsaw. Uncle Charlie was kind enough to make me a custom piece, a guitar and a cross on one huge log. Things like that mean a lot, thank you Uncle Charlie.

"30" has been out for a couple of weeks and is doing pretty well, hard copies and downloads. Twenty four hours after it dropped it was on iTunes top 100 country records and went to eighty two. Not bad for an independent release I think. If you don't have it yet, you can get them on this site, digitally, and at CD Baby.

Played Adair's Saloon's forty ninth birthday recently as well, they have always been good to me there. It's fun to be a part of an institution like that. Thanks for keeping Adair's as it was intended to be. I've spent more time on that stained red carpeted stage than any other by far.

Spent a lot of time in the mid-west the last half of April, had some good shows. We love playing up there, however this last week coming out of Kansas to Missouri we ran into quite a windstorm. It was a lot like hitting some really bad turbulence. Everybody cuts their eyes over to everyone else when it feels like the thirty foot land yacht we are in feels like it's going to blow over. At one point I yelled to Dean who was driving, "Hey (place expletives here), slow down, if we tip over I would rather do it at forty five than sixty five. Butts were puckered.

Played a cool little outlaw town in Kansas called Linwood where there aren't any cops, and the guy that owns the bar was once the mayor until he was fired for doing burnouts down main street on his Harley. That was a really fun town to play. Whenever the only school bus in town stops in front of the bar to deposit a large number of people with drinks in hand to see us play, well...I'm for it, and for two reasons.
A. Car Pooling saves fuel and cuts down on emissions
B. The drinkers weren't driving
And C. The school bus doubled as the towns party wagon which saves on a whole nother bus payment. Sounds like they have it figured out.

On our way back to Texas for our show Saturday, I had to slam on the brakes in traffic and everything went flying. Drawers, phones, coffee makers, clothes, shoes, and dishes. The guys got up and started cleaning up and it happened again. I had to slam on the brakes again knowing the guys were all out of their seats. All I heard was everything crashing again and Heath Webb (who was opening on the run) landing back first against the center console knocking the wind out of him. Then we thought Jon's hand was hurt badly because it got whacked crazily during the ordeal. I'm driving the rest of the way thinking I've killed Heath and Broken Jon's hand, Awesome. But everyone was ok thankfully, just bruised.

In conclusion, congrats again to Jon and his family on the birth of his daughter.

Four shows in three days this week and we fly to Europe the next.

BUY 30

Reading: The Great Shark Hunt

Listening: Social D and Guthrie Kennard

P.S. Check the site for new dates here in the states and in Europe, the single "We get By" is due on radio early June.

Oh Yeah, I forgot about two weeks ago when Sean who was driving and got the rig stuck in our friend Matt's yard in Missouri. We had to get pulled out with a tractor. Sorry about the yard of the month hopes Matt.

Hi, Half A Day In L.A., No News Is Good News, and 30 Is Almost Here

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:00:38 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Once again I hope this finds all of you well. I suppose it’s been a month already, I feel like this year is going by to quickly. I would like to start this one with some great news. Last week my baby sister and brother in law welcomed their second little girl Charlie in to the world. My new niece came out healthy and beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago Jon and I flew out to L.A. to pick up the new band ride which is a big huge RV. Jon has some old buddies out there that were gracious enough to pick us up, put us up for the night, and take us to San Bernardino the next day. Much appreciated, and I got to have a hot dog at Pinks. It’s been a while since I’ve been out that way. We weren’t there long though, the plane landed at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night and we were driving back at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. 22 1/2 hours later, and after a few four to five hour shifts a piece and 1,450 miles we were home with the new rig that stretches the length of my driveway, as if my neighbors didn’t already hate me. And code compliance has played a friendly visit as well, the compliance officer was actually nice and thanked me for not cussing him out, he gave me an extra week to find a home for the big girl. I was like “dude, thanks for not writing me a ticket”. So if anybody has some land in the Roanoke area where I can keep her and wont charge me an arm and a leg, let me know.

I just sold my Harley, I really don’t miss her because the last three years Ive been to busy to ride anymore anyway. When I get home I just tend to want to stay there until I have to leave again. And the dude that bought her seemed like a good dude. My wife won’t ride anymore now anyway…Kids you know
I guess that about wraps it up for this one, I go by the no news is good news philosophy anyway. The band is working hard right now; we’ve all been putting in a lot of time, and with babies and pregnant wives at home. Except Brendan with no kids, he’s not old yet. Thank you guys.

So to all of you faithful and those of you waiting for one of the first copies of 30 that you’ve already paid for … Thank you again for supporting us, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the number of pre orders we’ve had. It’s about to go to the print house so you can still pre order one from codysroadies.com
Ironically enough I've been working on some new stuff, stuff that will go on the next one. There’s always something going on folks. So until we roll close enough to say hi again, ya’ll take care of each other. We’ll see you soon.

Listening: Chris Issak
Reading: Acts

P.S. All my people in Europe check the schedule on codysroadies.com for our May dates.

Language warning, It's been cold everywhere I've been, I've fallen and I can't get up, ...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:05:40 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

I suppose I'll start this one like I always do when I'm on a Trans-Atlantic trip. We are somewhere over the big middle of the Atlantic headed home, and you know what I say... They would never even find us if we went down. Lovely thoughts I have every time.
Been really busy for the most part, a lot of time in the van and on airplanes. I hope this New Year is finding you well; there is much to talk about so I'm just going to open up the calendar and we can begin. Had shows in our area the first week of January, and the week after which was nice but then it opened up and it was back to the races with twelve shows in fourteen days. Got to do a song swap with Ted Russell Kamp in Ft. Worth the night before we left on our Midwest run. Ted's been around a long time with a nice solo career going now; he played bass for Shooter Jennings for a long time prior to his solo stuff as well. Very Cool Guy. The band left Tuesday and hit OKC; Missouri on Wednesday at The Dawg House in Forest City, that tiny little place is quickly becoming one of my favorite places most of you will never see. Lincoln Nebraska the next night, had a pretty full bar with a good show made better by three cowboys that drove seven hours from Laramie Wyoming to see us. They had already been hitting it pretty hard before we got there and just having a large time. One of them got so plowed he was nodding off an hour into the show and his friends were asked to leave or at least get him out. His buddies didn't know what to do with him and didn't want to leave the show so we all carried him out to the van, piled a bunch of blankets on him, and locked him in. He passed out for the rest of the show and we had to wake him up for load out four hours later. Why all the blankets on his drunk ass? It was five degrees, good time's boys and thanks for driving all that way. We did end up taking them back to where they were staying; none of them could drive or remember where they were staying for that matter. Pretty Funny.
Then on up to Maplewood Minnesota just outside of St. Paul at a really cool little tavern with great sound. It was minus two the next morning when we were leaving out, that's Fahrenheit people. Back down to our favorite place to play, The Snorty Horse in Columbia Missouri for a live recording, I think I'll get to hear some of it this week. We had a great time there as usual. Five shows, six days, and 2,300 miles, 1,900 of which were handled by Dean Skidmore, our part time merch guy/driver, and all around good guy to have on the road.

Played my last Monday show at The Magnolia a couple of weeks ago, Rebecca being pregnant again I'm trying to watch how much I'm gone during the week. I had a lot of fun and jammed with a lot of cool folks that I haven't jammed with in years, or I would just invite people I'm a fan of.
Last weekend we hit the Texas Bull which broadcasts the shows live all over the world, mostly for the people in the service on Notforgotton.tv. I know of folks in four or five countries that tuned in for sure. Thanks to The Double D in Mineral Wells for the pickup date last week that the Magnolia failed to tell me they pulled from me. Getting double booked happens from time to time, but not even being told about it until you enquire the week before...well that's just bullshit.
That Sunday the 29th of January The Rockett Club hosted a benefit for our old friend Dorothy Spicer; she has a neurological condition affecting her muscle response. She owned the Red Moon Café in Ennis for years, a place I did a lot of teeth cutting, as did many others. There was a huge turnout and some of my favorites performing. As I played Cast No Stones she slowly got out of her chair and was helped to the front of the stage to listen. It's hard to sing with tears in your eyes, we love you Dorothy.

Had last Monday off only to fly out for the week on Tuesday. Dallas to Chicago, to London, to Berlin. That's too many planes in one day. Got into Germany Wednesday and took a jet lag nap, then went down to the bar was to play Thursday. Met the owner, had a couple of beers, a burger and met up with some of the other musicians.
Played The American-Western Saloon acoustic Thursday night and it snowed and iced some while I on stage. I left the bar at one or two in the morning for the half mile walk back to the hotel with my guitar case. I hit some ice and went down hard on the right side of my rib cage. I do believe I laid there on the ice and snow for a minute trying to catch my breath and assess the situation. There was nobody around and I didn't know if I needed to go to the hospital, who would take me anyway. So finally made it back to my feet and finished an extremely painful walk back to my hotel.
Friday I didn't have a show thankfully because I couldn't manage to wiggle/slide my way out of the bed until six that evening when I finally convinced myself I had to go down to the festival to make an appearance and try to move some CD's. Saturday was the same and the others since have followed suit. I haven't been able to cough, sneeze, roll over in bed, and can barely pick my suitcase up or take a deep breath. I think one of the ribs is cracked but I do know they are bruised all the way around.

Went to the airport yesterday morning to come home, boarded and left Tegal Airport for London, circled London and had to fly back to Berlin due to weather. Shit happens but once we get back to airport in Berlin and to the information desk we found two women changing tickets and rebooking flights while the third lady was making hotel reservations for the stranded. So with two women changing flights for almost two hundred travelers at about fifteen minutes per person, you're talking eight people per hour. Everyone had to stand there hungry, for we had not been fed because our flight was supposed to leave at seven, everyone was there by five or six, and it was to be a short flight. I had a bag of mixed nuts, five stale potato chips, and one bottle of water by the time they got my new vouchers to me and got me to the hotel they put us up in.
Talk about a bunch of adults acting like children, people cutting, people cussing each other out, it was unreal and British Airways didn't pull any other staff to help. I definitely cussed the customer service lady who was rude and mean and I should have given her a couple more F-bombs than I did. But I didn't get really pissed until two pieces of shit (an Asian chick and a Middle Eastern man that assume were a couple) cut in line, and when the lady beside me said something to them the Asian chick said, "Mind your own business and shut the F up B". Now everybody was looking. The lady beside me then turns around and says, "Excuse me but you just cut in front of all these people". Then Ahab (the dude) looks at her and says,"Hey B, we said shut the F up". Nobody said a word so... I had to. I stepped over to Ahab, made sure he saw me and proceeded to tell him along with everybody watching, "Listen M-fer!, I don't know where you're from,(though I had a pretty good idea) but where from where I'm from we don't talk to women like that. I don't want to hear it and she doesn't deserve that. Do you kiss your Mom with that mouth?" He muttered something but neither of the shit heads said another word. And the nice lady that nobody else spoke for had tears in her eyes a she looked at me and smiled, for an hour earlier she had given me her Twix bar because she knew I was hungry. I had suggested that we share it but she insisted I took both of 'em. I would have had her back anyway.
So now I'm about to land at JFK to have a two hour layover before I make it home. The biggest bitch is that my wife flys out today for San Francisco. By the time she gets back it will have been two weeks a part...and I have no idea how I'm getting home from the airport tonight.

ROCK and ROLL

Part Two
2/10/12
12:10p.m. Texas Time
I landed in JFK and made it through customs much faster than I thought so then I had a couple of hours layover so I had drink and a sandwich and had to listen to bartenders talking about their "G-Men" who had just won the Super Bowl the previous day. Absolutely unbearable to a Cowboys fan, as we all know how our season ended. That didn't stop me from talking some shit myself, it was fairly entertaining. You know New Yorkers, loud, obnoxious, argumentative, and fun to talk shit too...Oh and most of them aren't even from there.

In news: I've started watching the BBC as I've found they don't swing one way on our issues, they just report. Novel concept. I'm sick of political races, I'm sick of Syria killing its own people in their neighborhoods and the two "Big Red" countries won't help and don't want us to. What happened to the humanitarianism we had left? Or maybe we're just in the pangs of a major depopulation, you know, the kind when the nations rob and kill their own.

On a positive note: During December y'all donated almost one hundred pounds of canned goods and non perishable food item that went to the Roanoke food bank. We are going to keep it going so make sure to bring your three canned goods and get a koozie.
In closing, it's been a nice week off at home to rest. I am still keeping my eyes peeled for a part-time booking agent to take some of that load off. Remember to get your pre-order made for 30 (the new record) at Codysroadies.com under merch. That means an autographed copy sent to you the day we get them in.

Getting rid of my '06 Harley Soft tail – great shape, low miles. Just too busy to ride anymore. As much as we're gone, I don't want to go anywhere when I'm at home, not even on a bike. And now that we are about to have the second child there will be less time. On another positive note, we went for an ultrasound yesterday and our baby looks to be healthy and happy, kicking around in his belly home. That's right HIS...and evidently it was "very easy" to tell he is a boy so said the sonogram tech and doctor. They used words like "prevalent" and "wow." I just smiled in affirmation.

Reading: Just finished Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Listening: Waylon Jennings, Delbert McClinton, Depeche Mode

The truth is sometimes unsightly, Recaps, Thanks, Christmas, News, and Starting 2012

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:25:18 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

12/24/11 at 11:10 p.m.
It's Christmas Eve, late. Actually one of my favorite times of years. Not only because I'm remembering Jesus, but nobody is open and I can't get any business done. It is horrible even to me how disillusioned I get with everything. I don't know "your" normal. My normal is after hours with other nightwalkers and temptresses. Drugs and other shady shit I'm around but really don't see, desensitized I suppose. I don't care; I've known fiends that were closer than the flock.
I'm with the drunks and addicts and those seeking whatever they may be seeking, more than two hundred nights a year. Thanking them for appreciating or at least being respectful of what I'm doing. That's a lot of shows and I am tired, I've been burned out and told to go on vocal rest during the recording of the new album, which I'm already so tired of I could scream, but I can't because I'm supposed to be on vocal rest, we haven't had a permanent drummer for six months and are taxed.
Having said that: We've been on the road all year and I have to give mention to the guys that have to listen to my words, my ramblings, and ultimately take care of things on the road, but after a brief recap.
My drummer and friend of nearly four years Evan Ray went on to do some different things. He's been playing with Jarrod Birmingham who is a favorite of mine is doing well. Just from the perspective of the years and time, thanks buddy. I know you're doing well.
Jon has been with us going on two years and his contribution has been great. We have really worked on a sound the last few hundred nights. I'm always comfortable knowing Jon is going to be in the right spot if I forget where I am.
Josh Thompson, going on five years. I don't really know what else to say. You're the original Tonedeaf Hippie. All over the place, wherever we are at, you take care of me. It's been a long time and I appreciate it.

Now to the drummers that have helped us out. Bruce Alford, one of the most interesting men I've met. Jake Vaught, who just welcomed his first son into the world, Doug Swancy was there in a bad pinch one run, and Blain Crews who did the work on the record. But now we welcome Brendon O'Neil to take on permanent duties.

(Continued 12/27/11 at 10:57 p.m.)

Thanks also to Gary Lee who runs the tech stuff and his wife Melissa; you guys are a great support.

On to Christmas: If it's your thing and it's a time for you and your family...Merry Christmas. I wish you all good health and wisdom to do better this next year. Take care of your family; it's the only one you get. There are no holidays or reasons to celebrate without them. My Dad sang "The Cats and the Cradle" to me when I was young. I understood even at a young age what it meant and what would happen, it has. And the way he felt about those lyrics he sang to me so many years ago, I now feel them in the same regard. To watch my daughter's grandparents from both sides play as if they were children themselves alongside my child Christmas morning...That was good. That's something some of us never had. In Christmas conclusion, I hope you watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. This is mandatory, and it's not too late, you have until December 31.

Let's hit news: Payroll cuts for another two months so Washington can go home for the holidays. How about another expensive, pre-infected Band-Aid?
Pilots can now use iPads in cock pits; they'd better keep those things off until the plane is in the air. Then it's cool to play Angry Birds or whatever it is they do up there.

Hey, how about the mobs on the news waiting on the Michael Jordan reissues. $180 for these new shoes and people are ripping the doors off of the retailers to get to them. The funny part of it to me was that the people they showed looked like they might just wear those new sneakers right on down to the welfare office.

If I got on to politics right now I would need another thousand words or so, so I will keep this brief. Two Words...Ron Paul

Kim Jong Il is dead and his crazy ass kid Kim Jong Un is blowing shit up with his shiny, new, and forced against their willed army, mostly for fun I think. Do you think when they were called for dinner, someone just said, "Il, Un, dinner"? Or do you think they added the whole Kim Jong thing?
Hey, we are finally out of Iraq, which I am thankful for, but C'mon. How long can a place that's never really been able to keep its shit together in recent history last on its own successfully? Just saying.

"Can's For Koozies" has been a really cool thing and I sincerely thank everyone that has brought stuff out. I gladly gave a lot of koozies. There is still a chance, New Year's Eve is the last night for this year so keep them coming. Any canned food or nonperishable food item is great.

So let's talk 2012. According to the Mayans we have till about the second or third week of December, so we have a lot slated for the band. January starts off with almost twenty shows and wrapping the new record up. The third week of the month we will be on a mid-west run up to Minnesota and back down through Missouri to attempt a live recording at The Snorty Horse in Columbia. So, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Missouri, keep your eyes on the schedule.

The first of February starts with me in Berlin for a few acoustic dates, then back home and on the road until the band goes to Europe for three weeks in May.
Jon's wife is due early April when they will welcome their new baby girl, and my new baby is due early July. Speaking on behalf of the other guys: We appreciate all of your support, wish you well, and look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Listening: Everything

Reading: Nothing

Thanks, Thanks a Lot/News/The Neverending Record/Merry Holidays

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:10:45 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Thanks, Thanks a Lot/News/The Neverending Record/Merry Holidays

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone, I hope all of you have much to be be thankful for. And if you have much to be thankful for... by God I hope you gave

thanks.
I'm thankful my friends and family are well, I live in a "free" society and therefore get to make a living with my music. Everything else is bonus.

Now its time for Christmas... Sorry about what we've done to that Jesus.

I have a lot to weigh in on about the the recent news, so lets get started:
Kim Kardashian's two month marriage goes south. Who didn't see that coming? Really? That whole family is famous for being famous, and their butts. Hey, let's

mark anything the Kardashian's do as who gives a shit. Where Im from, marriage means something more. You get married, you stay married, and you get to be

miserable the rest of your lives like the rest of us.

The "Fast and Furious" debacle. That's almost like the days of Noriega right?

Gene Simmons is endorsing Rick Perry, I just thought that was funny. I thought Gene Simmons was cool man. I remember seeing that guy several times just

drinking tea on the Wolfgang Puck patio in Hollywood next to the guitar shop I worked at. Me and some of the other employees would just stand there watching

him in his jet black suit, slicked back hair, and shades. Just drinking his iced tea like the baddest damn tea drinker I ever saw. And now... Rick freakin

Perry. "I wanna rock and roll all night, and ruin public education".

Sandusky... The predator, now the prey. Let the animals deal with that one, they always do.

Occupy protests: Now, I'm as pissed about being sold out as everybody else. But lets focus our efforts people. Whats your cause, the protest itself? Someday

some of the people may look back on their part in the protest like I look back on being a great cheater in school. If I had given half as much to studying as

I did to cheating I might have been better off. Do I care? No... but you know what Im saying. Go occupy a clipboard with an application on it.

Hey everybody, I read that black friday set records this year... I thought we were broke.

So I'll lighten up a little bit and let y'all know whats happening.

I was sitting at Discount Tire yesterday and a forty something, well kept lady walks in and takes her place in line. When it was her time all I hear is,

"Yeah, I need someone to look at the light that says "tire pressure is low". Imagine the faces of me and the dudes that were witness.

So we are wrapping it up for another month. Keep your eyes open for changes on the site, new merch, new dates, and a pre sale offer for the new record. It's

still not done, I've been out playing non stop and my voice has been strained, consequently vocal takes have been spaced out.

We are also going to start a new thing this year called "Cans For Koozies". When you come to any of the shows with at least three canned goods during the

month of December you get a koozie, and sign up to win an autographed hoodie.

So Happy Holidays, what do you have to look forward to? Pissy people and those horrible commercials from Kay Jeweler's and Lexus. "Every kiss begins with

Kay", "Lexus December to remember".
Maybe y'all should ask for new ad teams this Christmas.

Listening: Bob Dylan
Reading: Leo Tolstoy

Blog for October 28, 2011 The Halloween Edition

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:00:30 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Let us begin: The last month has been happy and sad, life is a great mixture of emotions that are accepted readily... and not. I will start with the birth of a dear friend's son, my friend Justin and his beautiful wife Holly welcomed their son Rhett into the world in late September. Some of you may know Justin as that guy we call McKinney. I got to visit them on my way to a show the day after he was born, a good looking boy, and Justin can't deny he's his. The band hung out in the parking lot as I went up to say hi, good times.

The next day we had Frost Fest Five and had a great time as usual. Thank you to all that came out again. So let's just finish up in order of the calendar which is usually all I do anyway to remember some of the things that happen.

I found out early Tuesday morning October fourth that our friend Del and Dana had gone down on their bike, Dana was in I.C.U., and we had a few hours to go to the hospital to say goodbye. Jon and I were able to make it to the hospital and Del asked me to sing at the funeral, to which I agreed. That Thursday, two days after she had passed, some of her favorite local guys came together at a studio in Waxahachie to cut Amazing Grace. The cut was rough, real, and turned out the way it needed to.

Played the Boo Benefit Friday, which is a great cause out of Jefferson Texas. It's for children that have been severely burned. Played it before, it's a good thing. Played Saturday in town and then sang at Dana's funeral Sunday. Sang two songs at the service and that was the toughest time getting through songs I've had. We have some very good friends out there; some are reading this right now. We will miss you Mama Dana. Dana saved three lives by organ donation to my knowledge.

The rest of this blog will be random, maybe more so than others maybe. My topics are random and in no order. I started doing a Monday night song swap at The Magnolia Motor Lounge in Ft. Worth earlier this month. It's getting off to a slow start but its fun, if I don't get fired for it being slow I think I can build on it. I've had some really good people in so far, Scott Copeland, Guthrie Kennard, Jason Eady, and Zane Williams. And there have been literally about thirty people to come see us…combined. Really I'm just using it as a platform to jam with some really good writers. You should come out and catch a private show, for free. Seriously if me and any one of the people mentioned came to your house it would be pretty expensive.

As I am writing this, it is raining the first cold rain of the Fall; this time of year is my favorite time. It finally got colder today and it's been a beautiful, cloudy, rainy day. Having said that, I got my jacket out of the closet and put it on to see if it still fit. That's not true, I'm still the same size I've always been, I just wanted to put on my bad ass leather jacket and go through the pockets. It dawned on me that I must have been broke at the end of this winter because there was no cash hiding in any of the pockets. I don't leave cash in my pockets for the next winter, but sometimes on the rare occasion I have a little extra I might leave it in ant pocket I may have.
What did I find?
One pack of fruit snacks, unopened – Kept those.
Hair clip for my daughter – Kept that.
½ can of stale snuff – Two out of three aint bad.

And since it has gotten cooler, I do have hoodies back in stock as well as a couple of new items with my name on them that you can wear. About to put them on the roadies merch store.

In Conclusion I would like to say, "It's the most wonderful time of the year”. When the world seems to want to slow down a little from another hard year, I'm enjoying being a night person even more. Halloween is my favorite national holiday, I enjoy horror movies and spook shows throughout the year but the time leading up to All Hallows Eve finds my Netflix busy with a constant stream of scary flicks. So during this most wonderful time of the year, gather the ones you love together and let them know how much you love them... by scaring the shit out of them. Happy Halloween.

Listening to: Murder By Death
Reading: Capote Essays

Gather round everybody, grab your hot teas, iced teas, lemonades, cokes, medimucils, dr. ...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:54:15 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Blog for August 22-September 24 2011
Gather round everybody, grab your hot teas, iced teas, lemonades, cokes, medimucils, dr. peppers, cold beers, cocktails, and more ovaltene please…I’ve got a noggin full so get ready.
Let’s start with the week following the last blog when we played just South of Ft. Worth in the town of Alvarado at a real nice dance hall just down 67. When we got done with the first set we were just milling around backstage this dude walks in like he worked there so nobody said anything. He approached me with the usual “Hey what’s up man”? then proceeding to tell me he was a squeeze box player and asked if he could come up and do a couple with us. I then tried to explain that this particular evening wasn’t good because we were playing with a new drummer that we had never jammed with and we were just trying to get a feel for the guy and get through the show. Sometimes it’s cool for a walk up to set in for a song but you would rather have something like this happen naturally. The dude then goes on to tell me who all he’s played and recorded with and that we could do any Johnny Cash in “G” that would be great. That’s about the time I start wondering why he is backstage, and Johnny Cash in “G”, what the hell does that even mean? He just keeps going on and on until finally I say “Look man, I’m not trying to be an ass but it just aint happening tonight, and why are you giving me a hard time?” I then left him and whoever else was in there at the time to avoid a scene. I thought that was it, I was wrong.
We go back on and are about to be done with our second set when “Guess Who” walks up onto the stage with accordion in hand? That’s right, my back stage friend who was now coming up behind Josh and then saw Josh give a little look back and we both kind of ignored it. Then Jon walks over mid-song mind you and asks, “Did you know about this”? I nodded a no and turned to start another line when I saw security coming across the floor. The song ended as he was laying his instrument down and all I could think to say was, “Don’t F@ck!ng walk on the stage unless I’m paying you”. We played another song and then took another break, three setters, got to love ‘em. Jon goes over to security guy and says something to the tune of “get him to get his shit off of the stage”, and he did. So I walk back to the bathroom and guess who is standing there? “Hey man, what’s up with that” he barks. “What’s up with that” I countered “is that I explained as nice as I could that tonight isn’t the night for it, and don’t walk on my stage uninvited”.
“Oh it’s your stage”?
“Yeah, when I’m contracted to perform for an evening it’s my stage”.
I went pee; he went and keyed “YALL SUCK” down the driver’s side of the van. Did I see this happen? No, but let’s fast forward to Sunday when I head out to play Andy Pate’s benefit, I didn’t notice because I was tired, and after that one in the early afternoon I head to play another bar in town and I know for a fact that the three people there to see me didn’t do it. I went home, then Monday when I’m walking out to get in the van to go play I see “YALL SUCK” keyed down the side. After thinking on it for several hours I deduced it was our accordion playing friend. I know nobody did it at Spencer’s Corner for Andy’s benefit because… Well, who would do that? And I know it wasn’t Sunday night, so I digress. Plus the YA, and the SU were keyed heavier than the LL and CK which leads me to believe it was a rushed job. I digress again.
Moving on to headlines: Let’s recap the news from the last couple of weeks, I’m an on again off again news junkie and I like to get my news from several different sources. Most people have Angry Birds and light saber apps, not me. Three different news apps… Right wing, Left wing, and WTF. So Warren Jeff’s goes away for good, good. Anybody that is a rapist that brain washes people by completely cutting them off from the world tells the parents of his compound that it’s God’s will for them to let him take their twelve year old daughters virginity. Yeah, that guy, it may be someone’s will to take his virginity where he’s going. See you dude.
Bert and Ernie, you know ‘em as the two dude puppets that room together on Sesame Street. Bert’s kind of an ass and Ernie is kind of a wet brain, but they are good buddies. Evidently someone out there tried to start some kind of a movement to have Bert and Ernie come out of the closet and be openly gay lovers on Sesame Street. My thought on that is this, go be gay. Go to a state that allows it and get married to another gay person and be happy and have joint healthcare. It’s 2011; no one gives a shit anymore, just get over the fact that as a child you just wanted Bert and Ernie to be gay. I don’t know what weirder, Ernie’s fascination with rubber ducks, or that some sick bastard wants to see two dude puppets go at it on a children’s show. So here is an idea… Join a gay movement with relevance.
So, onto the utter cluster mess that is the Middle East and Africa, on these I will be brief. Complete civil unrest, people dying by their governments hand and a famine in which aid can’t get to the fleeing Somalians because of insurgents that no one can do anything about. Our nation is stretched too thin already and two of those big red super powers watch it all. Perhaps a break from the news is needed.
Let’s finish up with all the kicks in the pants from the last month and then I will quit griping, maybe. The CD manufacturing, duplicating outfit in Dallas that have screwed up on each of the projects I’ve brought them did it again, and again, and now I’m doing my damnedest to not have to do business with them anymore. My first album was mislabeled on the CD itself, while my second and third albums were both late, causing me to cancel three combined CD release parties. Well, knowing their reputation for being tardy I ordered a new batch of Less Wise albums mid-July in hopes of having them the first week of August, this is a reorder mind you so I’ve ordered thousands of these. I get to their shop in Dallas on my way out to Winnsboro and they had printed the wrong copy of the record. When Less Wise first came out it was in a black sleeve with a far bassier mix. I then had it re-mastered and pressed in the white sleeve. So I show up and they have to wrong record, I threw a huge fit. People scattered to their offices and I proceeded to rip someone a new one. I don’t normally do that, in fact the last ripping I gave was to the same dude for a late release. And the time before that, you guessed it, the same dude for a different screw up. I was so angry I removed myself from the building for a moment to gather my thoughts in order to go back in and finish the ass chewing. I’m pretty sure they hate me. I’ll let you know if there is anything wrong with the re order of the re order that had a rush put on it. Funny thing is that it wasn’t rushed at all, they just got in this week, so I get my re prints a month and a half later. Good business.
Hey guess what? The new record is going to be out later than expected, surprise surprise. I’ve been telling everybody the end of summer, maybe the end of September but I don’t know if that will happen. We are working to catch back up on production due to a couple of things that were out of anyone’s hands. What can you do, huh? Just know it’s still coming along.
Spent $1,100 on the van yesterday and got screwed around by the company that did the work, you know them; they specialize in tires and batteries. I take it in Monday and they are understaffed, I wait an hour before they tell me I need $1,100 worth of parts and labor and the alignment I requested would do no good. The repairs I needed were probably legit, me basing this on the fact that the last few months the sound coming from the front left tire area was drowning out the radio, much less any conversation at normal speaking levels. So I bring it back Tuesday morning and they fix it. My wife took me to go pick it up before I went to go play for the evening. I immediately notice that when I hit the brakes my wheel would jerk to the right. I called back to inform them of the issue and they told me to come back Wednesday. I took it in today and noticed again they were understaffed. I talked with the same dude as Monday about what was going on and he looks back at me tells me that “Based on the work they did it couldn’t be related”. So I retort, “I bring my van in and it’s not jerking to the right, you work on it and I pay you $1,100. I get it back and discover a problem I didn’t have before you fixed it and you tell me it has nothing to do with yall.
He says they will take another look at it and me and my almost two year old daughter again go to wait amongst the other unhappy faces. An hour goes by and my van hasn’t moved. I picked up my daughter, walked to the desk and informed him it had been an hour and my van had not moved. “I’ve only got one mechanic on and he’s on a brake job” he says with the don’t give a shit look. I left and called their corporate office and informed them that they suck.
Now for news of the random and strange: Saw a guy get the Heimlich maneuver done at a show a couple of weeks ago. These dudes were at a table eating while we were playing and one of them choked. He stood up as he choked and another one of the dudes went to work on him for quite a while. The other buddies were looking on in shock and Josh leans over and asked me if we needed to stop as a crowd was gathering. About then the object popped out and he was okay, wild. Also I’m selling my Black 2006 Harley Soft Tail Standard with 10,000 miles. It’s mostly stock, almost perfect. You can Facebook me.
On a good note, I think the benefit for Andy went well; I had fun watching all of good players. Scott Copeland did a good job getting it together.
I’ve had four birthday shows since my actual birthday on the 18th, they just keep happening. Thanks to everyone that had any hand in all of those. I did get to give my Dad a new Martin while we were onstage last weekend at the Cajun Cowboy in Omaha. That was cool, Mom did good.
So now we are all caught up then, keep checking Codysroadies.com for schedule updates and new merch. See ya’ll out there.
Reading: A Louis L’Amour book and just finished “Scuse me while I whip this out” by Kinky Friedman
Listening to a whole bunch of old LP’s my Dad got from an estate sale, awesome. Also The Quaker City Nighthawks new record, killer.
By the way we just confirmed a three week European tour in May 2012.
8/25/11
I might as well make this a little longer being as that I can’t get it out just yet on account of our new laptop is not wanting to connect to the internets. I also want to say that the company that has to do with tires and batteries called me back and made the situation right, so that was cool.

8/28/11
DOUBLE BONUS BLOG
Dear August,
Please go away, in fact just grab the rest of summer and get us on into fall. I’m sitting on the porch sweating; it’s ninety five degrees at 10:30 at night. The band got through this last weekend of August but barely. Van call was my house Saturday at 2:30 and while on his way, Jon ran out of gas at the 635/121 merger. If you have been through there in the last several months you know that the whole 635/121/114 project is about as bad as it gets. So Jon runs out of gas for the first time in his whole driving life in that crawling traffic. We agree to meet up at a hotel near DFW airport where we sit and wait. Some time goes by and nothing, so I called back and find that the spicket on the gas can broke off so there wasn’t a clear way to get the fuel into the vehicle. Those of us waiting, including our buddy Jason decided to go into the hotel bar for a beer. Jason bought the beers and we sat there patiently sipping them and figured he had to be close by then. Josh went out to get the video camera to log Jon’s arrival followed by Jason and I. My phone rings as Jon is pulling in and looking for us. Camera comes on a Jon gives us some very colorful footage. You’ll have to ask him the details of the story, but after sitting on the side of the highway for a couple of hours completely exposed to the heat with no water, he says he figured he was a goner. And as far as getting the gas into the car: All you need is a discarded Perrier bottle to pour the gas into to push the tank flap in far enough. I think it took him five bottles full to get the gallon of gas in. When asked why he didn’t just cut the bottom of the bottle off to make a funnel he replies “I guess my brain just wasn’t working by that point”.

See Ya’ll in September.

9/18/11
Alright it’s late September and this thing is just now coming out. Not a whole lot to write home about I guess. We’ve been a little busier which is good. The recording is still coming along pretty well, and a couple of more setbacks along the way but that’s the way it goes. Got no label or anybody else to ram rod anything through, it’s the indie way. Sorry it took so long to get this out, but it was very long. By the way, Nate Kipp’s new record should be out in a few. I’ve heard it, solid.

Late August babies, the spider dance, and Watermelon Festivals

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:17:11 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Let us begin with the heat, we're at thirty something days of 100+ temperatures and seem to have a legitimate chance of catching up to the summer of '80. So where am I going with this? I was born in late August 1980 which means my dear Mother carried me during her third tri-mester during the hottest summer by far on record. So Mom says “Don't be such a wuss, it aint the summer of '80 with a late August baby”. And we all know about those late August babies, they're crazy.

Had a great run through the Mid-West a couple of weeks ago and would like to think all of the folks in Lenexa and the packed house at the Snorty Horse in Columbia. This leads me to thanking the Bruns' family for having us over again for Matt's birthday, and since we saw them last they welcomed their new baby girl Avery. The fishing was good too; just ask about the spider dance.

Did another outdoor show last week and the thermometer was at 117 where I was and I think that's just two damn hot to be playing outside on concrete. But more so I think it's too damn hot for anybody to actually be watching me play in that. Funny thing was, was that I didn't know it was an outside deal and I showed up in boots and jeans like normal. So thanks again to Candis Parvin for the quick run to Target for the shorts and flip flops. I left the tags on everything in hopes of a return but evidentially Target doesn't take back shorts with ass sweat stains.

Thanks to everyone that came out to the Naples Watermelon Festival and sweating it out with us. Had two funny things happen: (1) I proposed to a women on behalf of her suitor while on stage, and (2) had this dude tell his girl that he and I were buddies. I only found this out when I declined him the opportunity to come up and do one with the band and he had to level with me. He settled for a shout out, I hope he got lucky.

Y'all will still be seeing us out with different drummers as we are still looking for the right guy to fill the role. It's not easy; remember that you have to be able to ride in the van with somebody for hours at a time before you even play. It's like trying to find the freaking missing link. In conclusion, This Sunday you should come out to Spencer's Corner in Ft. Worth for Andy Pate. Andy has been playing for years with a ton of folks and recently has acquired some medical bills, so Scott Copeland has orchestrated this great benefit with a bunch of kick ass artists. Show starts at one, going to be a really good time.

Reading: Shit My Dad Says
Listening: Clutch

Tardy again, The New Record Begineths, All Access Texas, Shin Kabobs, and Moving On

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:36:29 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

I am sorry for not being a good blogist, our computer crapped out on us at the house and then we got another one and I'm still trying to figure out how to use it. Thank you all for your patience and understanding concerning my technical difficulties. But really I’ve just been very busy so I will try to get you up to speed.
We did start the new record about a month ago; we went into the studio four days straight and got a lot of work done. I normally hate being in the studio but had a pretty good time getting this one going. We will spend the rest of the summer getting it done. It will be eleven songs, some of which are years old and some that were finished right before preproduction, we're doing six or seven of them live right now.

We also did some more filming for All Access Texas at The Cajun Cowboy in Omaha; we started filming in January and finally got all of the footage I think. Heath Webb and Scott Copeland did their filming at Lola's Sixth a few weeks ago; they are the other two dudes that make up the first All Access Texas DVD.

Then it was vacation time. My Mom, Dad, Sister’s family, along with me and my girls went to Gulf Shores, Alabama for a week on the beach. It was much needed break, especially after the first round of recording and schedule we played in May and early June. I did manage to burn my shins beyond recognition which has been awesome. If you weren’t lucky enough to see them in person there are pictures and videos that may be leaked one day.

We're getting back to work on the record next week and we will be out running around like we always are, we also got some new girls shirts up in the merch store be sure and check those out.

And with a bit of a heavy heart I tell you that the band is no longer going to have Evan Ray on drums. Through discussions recently Evan has decided to move on, and on behalf of myself, Josh, and Jon, we wish Evan and his family well. Evan and I have played almost five hundred shows together the last four years. Josh and Evan played together for two years before they even started playing with me. What I'm saying is that once you have been on the road with someone long enough you basically become brothers. Good luck brother.

Happy Birthday Nolan, Fests, A New Record, and Ramon Noodles

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:52:16 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Let us start with the announcement of the birth of Nolan Lloyd Thompson, Josh and Katie welcomed their new son into the world Monday afternoon and everyone is well. We are all happy for y'all, and on a personal note to Nolan: Listen to your dad; he's a good dude.
We've had couple of fun ones the last couple of weeks. We did the fourth biannual Frost Fest and had great time as usual. Thanks to everyone that comes out and has a good time with us, it seems to get bigger every time. Thanks again to our friend Nate Kipp for jamming with us.We also had the fourth annual Fuhst Fest. It was a pleasure once again to be a part of the party. Jason has become a very close friend of ours over the years and the party has become a really cool gathering of the most eclectic group of people, good times. It was also Jon's thirty second birthday that day, happy birthday to Jon.
So, a new record. A lot of you have heard us doing some of the new material, the bar tests. We go in to start recording in a couple of weeks, I'm ready. The response to the new ones has been great and we're excited to be going to work on another album. If all goes well we should be looking at a late Summer/early Fall release.
Today's random thought is on Ramon Noodles. I love Ramon Noodles, anyone in a band has lived off of Ramon Noodles at one point in time, but I still love them so. Back in the day if we had some hot dog wieners or some bologna to add into the Ramon, it was a feast. I still keep Ramon Noodles on hand and go through a box ever couple of weeks. It's soul food as much; I will never eat a pack of Ramon Noodles and not be glad. Ramon Noodle Recipe: For best results crush noodles in the bag, dump in bowl and add water. Microwave on high for a minute fifty three, mix powder, mix 2-3 ice cubes because your too damn hungry to wait.

Reading: A book on Folk Rock
Listening: Dire Straits

By The Way: We will be filming again at The Cajun Cowboy on June 11 for extra footage, if you didn't make it the first time don't miss this time.

Happy Birthday Nolan, Fests, A New Record, and Ramon Noodles

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:52:16 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Headline says…

Wed, 11 May 2011 19:33:15 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Headline says… Obama heads to Texas to woo Hispanics on immigration reform. Cool, when he’s here he can help put out some of the fires, or better yet he could go campaign along the Mississippi. But then again, screw ‘em they’re red states anyway. Politics ain’t my thing, Republicans, Democrats, its professional wrestling. They talk a bunch of shit, make a show out of it and go out for call girls and drinks afterwards. It’s a show. But I guess our nation’s leader doesn’t get it. I don’t understand the glory grabbing for the Bin Laden killing, I don’t understand how he could have the nerve to campaign in Texas right now with so many natural disasters. Thousands are displaced around our country and he’s campaigning immigration reform which really pisses me off even more. Hey Mr. President, close the damn border and have a nice trip back to D.C. But I do get it you see, the way he’s taking credit for the assassination of Bin Laden which has turned to campaigning. What was his rating two weeks ago? No class in politics, no honor among thieves, no shame. My final point on this soapbox issue is the fact that the celebrations that took place after news of Bin Laden’s death sat uneasy with me. We looked like a third world country on the nightly news. Do you think this ends the war? Do you think we’re going to start bringing the troops home because of this? Our heroic leader made that a campaign promise three years ago, didn’t happen. What makes you think its different now? Empty promises for a nation that needs a leader now more than ever, maybe one day we will find one.

Had a pretty cool week, spent some time in South Texas catching up with an old friend and making new ones. Thank you Sam and Sarah again, and Sam just call me when whenever you want those didgeridoo lessons. The band played for eight people Friday night in a 2,500 capacity building; however those eight were there to see us. I think. I’ve also been doing a songwriters thing on Mondays in Denton at the Love Shack. I have a different writer every week and having a pretty good time doing it. Unless you come to see me at Adair’s or The Elephant you really won’t hear me say a lot on stage, so I’m learning to be better at banter.

Friday night we’re at Adair’s and Saturday night we’ll be doing the fourth Frost Fest at The Jerry Frost Ranch in Bryan’s Mill near Marietta. It’s always a good time, B.Y.O.B.; bring tents, campers or whatever. We’ve been looking forward to it, see y’all there.

Reading: American Songwriter Magazine

Listening: Willis Alan Ramsey

Honored, Private show entertainment, France's finest line dancers, I got to see a cool show, ...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:22:05 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

My goodness there is much to talk about; we shall run it all down from good to bad. I will start with the good. Last Friday night Cpl. Ned Johnson of the Marines (as well as Josh's brother in law) presented the band with a flag that had been flown over their camp in Afghanistan in our honor. He and Josh had concocted the plan to do this without me knowing. Had I known, I wouldn't have let it happen. Cpl. Johnson got up and spoke of forty six days of intense fighting, the Marines played my record during this time to help get through it. I was extremely touched, my greatest honor as a musician.

Saturdays' show was fine in Denison and Sunday I was down in Kingwood at my friends The Gallagher's place. I've gotten to know them over the last couple of years when I've gone down for some acoustic stuff. We usually hang out in the garage and driveway having a few, eating fajitas, and so on. So I get there, say hi, b.s. a minute and go get my guitar case, all the while there is a dude across the street power washing the hell out of his driveway. No problem, everybody needs to power wash the driveway from time to time, but after I had been playing for thirty minutes or so I commented on how he was still going. I was then informed that he had gotten started on it at about noon and it was then about five and he was about a quarter of a car length from being done. It all got so much funnier when the neighbor two doors down decides to move his boat around with a tractor that had a front hitch and possible carburetor problems stalled out in the middle of the street five or six times. Between the ailing tractor and the power wash king we got some songs done and had good time. But power wash dude, if you don't want to be inside that bad don't spend six hours washing a thirty foot driveway, get a divorce. That would look to be easier.

The following Tuesday we were back at Adair's acoustic and we had about sixty people from France come in. Those line dance clubs don't drink or buy any merch, so their line dancing was cut short after one song as by order of the bar. I don't know anybody anywhere that likes line dance clubs, except people in line dance clubs of course.

Last Monday night I went to see Scott Copeland, Mike McClure, Jason Eady, and Evan Felker of The Turnpike Troubadours, with Sam Anderson opening. It was good, really digging The Turnpike Troubadours stuff right now.

Had good shows last week, went capacity Saturday night and I have eighty or ninety blooms on my rose bush. I watered and then it rained.

Now I will dive into what I've been waiting to dive into, let me discuss with you my final thoughts for the day. I assume that if you read these blogs you have seen that I really like to keep them loose, nothing to serious usually. However on this I will give it to you straight, no joking. This past week Scott Copeland was fired from 95.9 The Ranch from his Sunday evening show for being racy, over the top, and not playing enough Texas/Red Dirt music. Big surprise. The Ranch has relinquished any remaining credibility they might have had in my humblest of opinions. Years ago this station started as a platform for "Texans, Outlaws, and Legends" and has now slipped into the ranks of the other pay to play stations that are trying desperately to get the general listening audience to believe they are something they are not.

What they are is just another pay to play corporate entity that is guilty of the same crap as the bigger country stations around here that they make fun of. The difference is that they hide behind the "Texas/Red Dirt" name, and the fact that they are the home town station. My next point…"Texas/Red Dirt", if I go the rest of my life and don't have to hear those three words in regards to a particular scene or movement it will be too soon. Let me break this down for you briefly, a long time ago you had a bunch of real music outlaws coming out of our state doing it their way. Townes, Guy, Shaver, Willie, I could go on and on. Those guys were doing it on their own with really good material, so the scene was set years ago. Fast forward through some good ones through the years to the late nineties and early two thousands to your Boland and The Stragglers, Randy, Wade, Stoney and basically everyone the frat boy bands have been trying to emulate since. You know the frat boy bands I'm talking about, the ones without balls enough to be a good country or rock band. So instead you get shitty pop country songs with a little fiddle or steel for some reach at credibility under the increasingly laughable umbrella of … You guessed it, "Texas/Red Dirt".

At the end of the day there are two kinds of music, good and bad, we also understand that radio stations have to play a certain mix of material for a large demographic so there is no problem there. Don't tout yourself as something you're not, don't hide behind labels, a spade is a spade. People I know that have wanted to hear me on our "hometown station" have been told I'm not country rock enough.

So to our beloved station, I ask you keep refusing to play my songs. And lastly, you knew what you were getting with Copeland when he started; I guess there is no accounting for taste. By the way, I was scheduled to be Scott's guest this last week. Funny.

Listening: Roothogradio.com, 95.3 The Range, Turnpike Troubadours

Notforgotton.tv, Miss Fiddle, Its freakin'cold, Happy Birthday Adair's, and Roothogradio.com

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:16:07 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Right on schedule, let us begin. We played a newer place a couple of weeks ago called The Texas Bull and I would like to brag on them for Notforgotton.tv. They have a live feed that anyone can watch online but was set up for our people serving all over the world. It's the next best thing to being there I hope. I know we had people tuned in from three or four countries, including my buddy Sean from Taji, Iraq. And there were those of you tuned in from all over the country as well, so "Right On" to the The Texas Bull in Gainesville. And to our good friends Tina and Vic who placed the highest bid and set a record for the most money spent on a signed show poster for the bar. The money raised goes to keep the live programming going. And thanks to Tina for selling my merch too.

Went out to El Dorado, Arkansas and did a private show for a friend of the bands birthday. I think Tommy and his family has seen us in three different states and we had a great time at their place. But I think the highlight for the band was having Miss Clancy Ferguson sit in with us on the fiddle. A complete surprise to us, she was just there at the party with her fiddle and she just came up and laid it down. We got to talk to her some over the course of the night and her knowledge of country and bluegrass blew me away. A very talented young woman with an old soul of thirteen, Clancy you can jam with us anytime.

Did another private thing at another friends place this weekend when the cold front blew in. The band raided the coat closet as were playing outside, but it didn't matter because we ended up playing acoustic inside anyway. Thanks for the fajitas Jeff.

Did the TXRDR with Justin Frazell on Sunday afternoon with a bunch of people I didn't fit with and then was off to Adair's for their 48th birthday party. I've spent more time on that stage than any other and as usual the crowd was great. I suppose I know most of the people there by now anyway but it's still a great place and has been my home every other Tuesday for the past three plus years.

And finally, I met Josh from Roothogradio.com Sunday night and he told me about his station, you have to check it out. If you listen to it and like it hit the donate link, we all know the radio sucks because if it didn't we wouldn't have satellite and online stations.

Reading: Allen Ginsberg

Listening: Social Distortion and Roothogradio.com

Come watch me do the Neti-pot, Damage assessment, Jon jams with Boland and the Stragglers, ...

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:44:31 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

I hope you’re all enjoying the splendid weather and all it has to offer. Minus the rain and everyone I know with myself included having “The Snot” the weather has been great. But on a positive I have discovered the Neti-pot. It shall now go along with my vitamins and heartburn medicine. So if you know someone that gets a Neti-pot and they invite you to “check this out”, do it, it’s awesome.
We’ve been pretty busy playing the last month and a half, quite a few miles and some pretty good shows. A couple of weeks ago we were back up visiting our friends in Missouri and it was twenty degrees with snow on the ground. Long story short, we played and then went out with Troy the bar owner and a couple of other friends we’ve made from the Snorty Horse to a little all night Diner. We all had “The Stretch” and they were awesome, a mound of breakfast food all together. As we were walking out, Jon hit some black ice and face plants. No one laughs because he’s not moving, as he slowly got up and checked his stinging hands and knees he informed us that he didn’t move instantly because he was “assessing the damage”. The damage was indeed minimal but that black ice is a bitch with a belly full of “The Stretch” and a buzz.
Moving on, this past weekend we played The Cajun Cowboy out East Texas way. Jason Boland and the Stragglers played the night before so we went down a day early to watch their show, take a day off and have some fun. Well worth it, I love that band and they are nice guys. My Dad is also huge fan of theirs and he got to meet them and hang out for a while. Jon went up and did a couple of tunes with them for the encore, so then we got to hear about that the rest of the night. But what sticks out in my mind about Saturdays show was the sound going out for a few songs. So we gathered everybody around the stage and did an acoustic thing, which was really cool and then the sound came back on. We also auctioned off a hat that has a clever tag line from one of our unrecorded, live show only gems for way too much money. Congratulations to Adam Carver, I need to send you some more stuff to even this out. Ya’ll are awesome, thanks for the help with the tune.
On ending notes: Happy Birthday Mom I love you. I also planted tomatoes today; I will let you know how my crop turns out. The yields from the last two years have really sucked.

Reading: Just finished The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Listening: A lot of old Metal and Punk stuff

February 21, 2011

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:27:52 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Big scary animals that play music out of key, I’m not that Cody, Red Neck/Metal Heads, and who wants to be in the music business?

A little late with the Blog again but not bad. First off, let me go back again and hit on a funny thing that happened the last time we were in East Texas shooting the footage, Star 96.9 was running an ad for the show later that week. The ad which I finally heard last week was great until it got to “Come on out and see Cody Jinks and The Tonedeaf Hippo’s”. The club promptly called the station and they changed and re-aired the new one. Pretty funny, but the best part is when our Buddy Garth who is paying for all of this called the station for a recording they came through. The station had already dumped the sound files so the program director had the women who had cut the ad come back in and do it again, both versions. Then they sent them back to Garth, how cool is that? Star 96.9 has always been good to me.
Another kind of funny thing happened, a couple of weeks ago at another show, separate incidences. We were loading in a place that we’ve played at least six or eight times and the new booking manager whom we had met only once was shooting the bull with us. The regular hellos, glad you’re here, good to be here, should be a good show, sure hope so, and all that. Then it takes a funny hitch when the manger is about to exit and turns to me when I’m walking past with an arm full of equipment, “Hey, You’re gonna play Pray for Rain tonight right”? I just kept walking… “Not my song” I mumbled. Then came the nervous laughter from the manager who is otherwise really nice. I wasn’t offended, you can’t be. I think it’s funny but that leads me to this… There are too many Cody’s running around singing, I can name five or six, most of which I don’t really care for.
I did end up playing some old Pantera and Corrosion of Conformity tunes at new place we did last week after a show. Really cool bar that’s ran by a bunch of heavily tattooed old school country metal heads. We discussed the parallels of the two genres and how similar the old country/outlaw fans and metal fans are pretty much the same. No arguments, not from those who know.
Keep your eye on the calendar because it’s filling up and we will be out all year. And if you haven’t gone to the Cody Jinks and Tonedeaf Hippies Facebook page do that, as well as sign up for the codysroadies.com newsletter.
Help Wanted: I am looking for a male who will probably be in his early twenties, lives around Ft Worth, and wants to make runs with the band to sell merch and help stage equipment. The pay isn’t great but a good salesman makes more, so there is incentive. This would be a good job for someone that wants to learn about the music business first hand on the road, because in this business you really not gonna make shit anyways. If you’re interested go to the Cody Jinks and Tonedeaf Hippies Facebook page and leave a message. Must have Thursday through Saturday availability.

In closing… Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad, they just celebrated thirty two years of marriage.
Mom, God Bless your soul.
Dad, give Mom a kiss.

Reading: Nothing new
listening to: Emmy Lou Harris

Let it snow, Cancelled shows, Almost Famous, A piece of music history, and Everybody loves ...

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:52:27 +0000

Blog entry by Cody Jinks

Chances are that if you’re reading this you have been affected by the great blizzard of 2011. It’s now been below freezing for five or six days, no problem because the cupboards were stocked and we holed up. We ventured out only today for the necessities: milk, o.j., the off brand Nutter Butters I love so well, bananas, ginger ale, an assortment of juices, and birdseed.

All of my shows were cancelled consequently so I was a recluse and played in the snow a little with the girls. Today was the first day it was actually warm enough to go out in it. We went for a little walk and as I pulled my daughter in her wagon, I fell three times. Wagons don’t roll in the snow; in fact they don’t roll at all as the wheels lock up and push the snow which builds up as you go along. Played some Wii, watched some Netflix.

Last weekend in East Texas we shot some video to go on a DVD about Texas bands called All Access Texas. Sixgun Studios did the shooting and the production which went pretty well I suppose, thanks to all of you that came out to support us and stayed rowdy all night long. Thanks to Garth Lagrone and Charlie Stout as well. I don’t know of a release date on it but I do know they will be filming and editing for months to come so we all just have to practice our patience.

On another cool note, Jon went down to Austin earlier this week to do some studio work and got a line on buying a Baritone guitar owned and played by the now deceased Stephen Bruton, and he did. Cool indeed Jon. So it’s back to work, and here’s hoping your pipes stay warm because nobody wants cold broken pipes. I also just finished the Keith Richards book and it is now on my list of required rock and roll reading. Evidently the man is a huge Haggard and Jones fan; he’s got to be alright.

Listening: The Guess Who, Hayes Carll

Reading: Back to Capote for the finale, John