For those that stop by our Myspace or Facebook pages from time to time, you may have noticed some upcoming tour dates and cities have been posted recently. We’ll be jumping in the van and hitting the road here in a couple of weeks for a West Coast tour from Seattle to San Diego, and we just got final word on most of the dates and locations from the lovely gents at Pet Marmoset. We thought it wise to post the updated tour dates here on the blog…just in case you were wondering…

4/11/09 – Cherry City Music Festival, Salem OR  |  3pm

4/17/09 – Comet Tavern (KEXP Event), Seattle WA  |  9pm

4/23/09 – Alex’s, Ashland OR  |  9pm

4/24/09 – Monterey Live!, Monterey CA  |  8pm

4/25/09 – Kaleidoscope Festival, Long Beach CA  |  2pm

4/25/09 – The Soda Bar, San Diego CA  |  9pm

4/26/09 – University of San Diego, San Diego CA  |  7pm

4/27/09 – Zoey’s Cafe, Ventura CA  |  7pm

4/28/09 – The Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles CA  |  10pm

4/29/09 – Cal State Univ – East Bay, Hayward CA  |  12pm

4/30/09 – Menlo College, Atherton CA  |  8pm

5/1/09 – The Hotel Utah, San Francisco CA  |  9pm

5/2/09 – Blue Lake Casino, Blue Lake CA  |  9pm

Some of the times may change (ever so slightly) as the dates draw closer, so if you live on the West Coast and are planning on coming out to one of the shows, please call ahead and find out from the venue what time the shows start – (see venue links above for more info). For the specific show locations on college campuses, your guess is as good as ours : )  We’ll post any additional info we get on the college shows…and for the folks in Seattle and Eugene, don’t forget we’ll be in town this weekend (Seattle on Friday, April 3rd and Eugene on Saturday, April 4th)…

We’re looking forward to the tour and we hope to see some of you this month!

Johnny

It was only a few short months ago that we were standing in the construction site for what would become the new Mississippi Studios, in a light rain (there was no roof at the time), singing “Lovely Mary Dyer” for a video series called “Razing Mississippi“. Now, this coming Friday night, we’ll be playing our first full show under the roof at the new and improved venue. We’re extremely excited about the show, and honored to be sharing the stage with two of the best songwriters in town: the incomparable Chris Robley (a good friend and incredible musician), and the genius behind one of our favorite bands, Dolorean, singer/songwriter Al James. For more info on the show, visit the Mississippi Studios website at http://www.mississippistudios.com.

We’re also extremely excited to annouce that we’ve finished recording our new record, “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry”, and will be sending the album to mastering in a couple of weeks. We’ll be posting the track listing on the blog page soon, but for now, in honor of our first full show back at the beautiful Mississippi Studios, it seemed fitting to post one of the songs slated to be on the new album, “Lovely Mary Dyer”, for you to listen to, download, and share.  And, of course, feel free to go back and watch the video from this past November (just click the picture below) as well…the place looks a lot different now!

The Dimes – Lovely Mary Dyer (click to listen)

Hope you have a great rest of the week and weekend, and maybe we’ll see you on Friday night?

Johnny

For over 140 years the Charles Street jail was the last place a person would have wanted to stay the night, much less serve hard time. But over the years, old Charles Street had a number of famous “guests” spend more than a night or two, inlcuding former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, who remained Mayor while in prison, letting the “clerks and the jerks” run the city until his release. And a former conman called Frank Abagnale, who’s name you might recognize from the movie “Catch Me If You Can“, spent a few nights within the famous walls of the Charles Street Jail.

Those famous walls are still there (most of them), but the place is anything but a prison these days. Less than two years ago, after several years of renovation, the old jail reopened as The Liberty Hotel. The building is an amazing piece of historic architecture, and Boston, being the historic place that it is, doesn’t like to see beautiful old buildings torn down. There are many nods to the Liberty’s historic past, such as the hotel bar, called the “Clink“, and the hotel lobby, which looks like it could have been a movie set from “Jailhouse Rock“.

When I read a story, several months ago now, about the old jail’s reopening as a swanky hotel, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a song there – here’s the acoustic demo we’ve been working from for the record version. If and when we get the band to Boston, I’m looking forward to singing this one in the lobby…

The Dimes – Charles Street (Acoustic Demo)

Have a great week and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Johnny

Charles Street Jail, circa 1930

Hey folks – hope you’re having a good week. I found myself needing a break from all the doom and gloom economy talk, so I took to youtube and The Beatles…a favorite pastime of mine. I found a couple of cool videos from the “Let It Be” sessions – both are of the song “Two Of Us“, and the second video easily could have been the keeper take (the ending is a bit different, but it’s a great take)…that said, the first clip is a rehearsal version where they are trying a very early version of the song. I’m guessing Paul must have been watching the Elvis ‘68 Comeback Special before trying this version…

Have a great rest of the week and if you need more nostalgia to lighten the mood…there’s plenty more where these videos came from…just head to youtube and type in “The Beatles“…

If you’re still bored at work and need another excuse to surf the web, come check out our new page on Squidoo! Make sure and say hi if you stop by…

Johnny