At the Silverlake Lounge...

Dusty Roads, Open Skies and Chuck Berry!

These last couple months of tour have been the best yet! We opened for Chuck Berry in St. Louis, 86 years young and Little Red got to pay his respects :) We met some amazing and brilliant people at the Conference on World Affairs in Boulder, including fellow panelists David Crosby and Graham Nash, Jello Biafra, and OKgo video director and mastermind Jeff Leiberman. We have had great runs through CO, OK, KS, TX, MO and NE. Thanks to everyone for making us feel welcome out here in Little America. 

"Back to the Heartland"

Gooding returns to what the band does best with its Motherland Tour and latest CD

BY G.K. HIZER

WHAT WOULD WILLIE DO?

SXSW part 1- The Sky Eats the Land tour rolls on through Austin for SXSW. The Penske and van and trailer are safe and sound. Sat in Live w/ Micky and the motorcars on guitar, we drank some whisky and Jesse danced. You might of seen Billy riverdance, but I bet you didn’t know Jesse could cut a rug :) It is quite impressive.

Couple days later Micky and I worked on a song called “LONG ROAD TO NOWHERE”. I don’t co-write enough, it was a blast. We grew up with Micky’s drummer Shane Vannerson, a near and dear friend. It’s great to see him rocking and rolling across the countryside. Another colorful character from Micky’s band of gypsies, their soundman Logan. A fan of Poodie Locke, (Willie Nelsons soundman), the boys love the phrase ”No Bad Days”. With that kind of positive energy you can get a lot done.

Let me make a quick mention my respect for Willie- with the exception of smoking weed, I believe lock stock and barrel in everything willie wrote in his fabulous book THE TAO OF WILLIE. Go buy this book- it’s simple, fun and filled with cowboy shaman wisdom.

I drove home after the show with Laura Sisul, a wonderful friend of ours who kindly let us crash with her aunt and uncle, Pete and Betty Golde. Pete and Betty live next door to Michael Dell (Dell computers) and as you can imagine, security is tight in this area. Once while walking the neighborhood, Pete and Betty were stopped by Uzipoint (now that's worse than gunpoint). Reminds me how I would like to be very successful in this life, but to be known as uber rich comes with it's own set of problems. Like Russell Simmons says, the goal is to make a TON of money and give about 95 percent of it away :) Within 2 mins of arriving with our lovely busted up van of 270k miles....A sheriff arrives and puts his brights right in our eyes. These LA and NY licenses don't seem to get you very far here in Tejas. My plea of being a KS boy dosen't mean much since in TX even Kansans are considered Yankees. "TX first, America second...".  I am happy to report that the gear in the trailer is quite safe tonight people and all is well. 

VAN HORN, TX

We rolled through the pitch black Texas night to get here. I10E filled with border patrol and red sodium stoplight security checkpoints. New Mexico’s desert landscape still bleeds into the Western side of this relentlessly large state. Texas First, America second baby. Out of cell range, I listened to a book on tape called “Game Change” about the last election. Nothing says Rock n Roll like a good book on tape.

Jim Madden is like Willie and BB, he refuses to fly,  he will only take a bus. We are told that Madden and Willie both make constant stops right here in Van Horn. A much safer place to park your van and trailer for the night than El Paso (which JR has re-coined “El Death”). The Chuy’s in Van Horn has Madden’s favorite meal on the menu (I’m gonna try for Gooding’s favorite Veggie meal here in South Tejas but the odds are thin). We will get to leave an 8x10 here for the wall even though no one has any idea who these Kansas boys traveling with dogs and cats could possibly be.

Van Horn is the town some of the scenes from “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN” were filmed in. We are very close to Marfa, TX and on the lookout for air powered cattle guns. Beautiful, desolate country. Plenty of space to dream in. We love and miss you all and we are now only 7 hrs away from the mania that is SXSW.

Do me a solid and cross your fingers for our #1 road dog, friend and confidant, Stoney Langley, who is going through a rough spell in OKC. Stone has stuck with us through thick and think and protected us at God only knows how many shows. We are coming to see you soon Stone…..

Contest!

Baseball Fans. Surprise, AZ

Full nights sleep. Eating oatmeal and drinking coffee here at the Windmill Suites, reading Jerry Weintraub’s fiercely entertaining book “When I stop Talking You’ll know I’m dead”.

Surprise, AZ is humming like a wire with baseball families (Rangers VS Dodgers). A kid smashed into me screaming at his sister “I don’t want to play puppy tag!”. I don’t know what that is but I feel like I just played it.

The whole world is a stage here at the Windmill…as JR pointed out, a wonderful mix of quirky sports fans. The Hobby Lobby decorative fans: with sports logos on their earrings and their favorite team’s colors as their shoelaces. The old curmudgeon fans:  who recite statistics and to the ballpark knowing they are just gonna be pissed off and let down the whole day long. The stoner fans in the parking lot, who we chatted up about our friends in the Texas music scene, ”Micky and the Motorcars”.

We are out of LA in a hotter more widescreen desert, the sun is platinum bright. Time to return some calls and eat up some miles. All eyes on Van Horn, TX for tonight’s next stop with the van and Penske.

“I play in a band” LA to PHX

The week or so before a tour is a blur. Once you hit the open road, things have no choice but to settle down. Planted in a van barreling down the highway, cell service waning, no more time to tinker and obsess over the last %1 of a recording. You are forced to realize there is a world outside the studio and office, and a hell of a lot of gorgeous countryside rushing by you.

Welcome to the first leg of the THE SKY EATS THE LAND tour, spring 2011.

I have done us both a disservice by reporting to you only through twitter and facebook lately. I’ll stop filling up my black and white dollar journals in my illegible lefty handwriting and use the laptop to do my best to dictate the trails and tribulations of a road family setting out on it’s 9^th year of touring.

This tour blasted out of the gate a little different than any other My sister, Jenny, is moving to Austin at the same time we are heading there for SXSW. Billy drove her Penske with her car and cat in tow, Jesse and I drove the big white freightliner with her dog, Army, in the back.

I10 East is desolate and peaceful- the sun dissolving in streaks of pink and burnt orange in the rear view. Saguaro cactus and sagebrush. Two hours from Surprise, AZ, a tire blew on the Penske and Jenny and Bill were stuck out on the highway. Everyone met up again around midnight, visiting with Danny Dark, the most passionate radio promoter in the West, and eating veggie pizza with enough Garlic to kill anything that ails you.

I got on the landline at the hotel and spent a great hour on the phone with Gary Hizer from the Urban Tulsa. I talked about the new record and my hopes for this tour, and Gary and I geeked out about the force that is Bruce Springsteen. I haven’t heard a bad thing about Springsteen EVER. A former manager of ours said he was once at a party with Bruce, and this very old and well to do woman walked over and asked Bruce, “so what is it that you do?”…Bruce answered…”I play in a band”. When things get heavy out on the road, that’s a pretty good way to find your footing and remind yourself how simple it really is... “I play in a band”. It’s more than enough.

MARCH NEWSLETTER!

--- Gooding Spring Tour Dates
--- Help Us Build A Green Bus
--- NEW LP THE SKY EATS THE LAND
--- New Placements
--- Little Red T-Shirt Contest!

MARCH/APRIL TOUR DATES:
The boys are rehearsing for tour and will be kicking off the next run at the Viper Room in LA on March 12th. Here are the dates so far...
3/12 The Viper Room – Hollywood, CA
3/18 Heart of Texas Fest – Austin, TX
3/25 Belle Isle – Oklahoma City, OK3/26 Treehouse – Tulsa, OK
4/1 and 4/2 Rock Island Live- Wichita, KS4/4 Conf. on World Affairs- Boulder, CO
4/6 Laughing Goat - Boulder, CO
4/9 Café Athens - Fort Collins, CO
4/12 Cicero’s - St. Louis, MO
4/13 Blueberry Hill - St. Louis, MO
4/14 Your Mom's Downtown Bar - Omaha, NE
4/15 Zoo Bar - Lincoln, NE
4/16 Record Bar - KC, MO
4/19 Borders - Wichita, KS
4/22 Cowgirl Hall of Fame - Santa Fe, NM

HELP US BUILD A GREEN BUS!
The old van is about to go to the great gig in the sky. We are raising money to build a eco-friendly bio-diesel shuttle bus for 2012. For the next 120 days we are giving away a TON of merch to those of you kind enough to help us raise up some funds. Check it out HERE.

NEW GOODING LP: THE SKY EATS THE LAND
We have been locked in the lab laying down a new collection tracks... here a few of them right HERE. We are enjoying a thrilling departure from THE RETURN, as this record captures more of the LIVE sound than ever!

NEW PLACEMENTS
Our music has recently been heard on VH1/Pepsi's Superbowl Fanjam, Harry Potter 6 (Blu Ray), and A&E's Breakout Kings (Trailers and commercials - Thanks to Expansion Team NYC). Still recording new music for CNN International and will be launching 14 new trailer tracks with Sonoton soon.

LITTLE RED T-SHIRT CONTEST
Ever had a great idea for a GOODING T Shirt? Click HERE and you could win an autographed guitar!

Thanks and see you on the road!
G

GOODING at the Viper Room : Saturday, March 12, 2011

GOODING 50 State Tour, State #21 WEST VIRGINIA

GOODING 50 State Tour, State #12: Tennessee

GOODING 50 State Tour, State #19 NORTH CAROLINA

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

---Thank you...

---Free Gift from Little Red's Vault

---2011 Tour Dates

THANK YOU FOR A GREAT YEAR

We appreciate everyone who kept us rolling this year. It was our busiest year yet...6 months on the road, 107 shows in 48 States, invited to Walter Reed and THE WHITE HOUSE.

Thanks for dropping us notes telling us how we are doing, for buying the merch and making the donations that keep us rolling out here. To kick off 2011 we have a gift for you...

LITTLE RED'S VAULT- FREE MUSIC
We just launched a new section of our site where Little Red's keeps bootlegs, b-sides, radio interviews and all kinds of incriminating information on your boys from Kansas. Go here right now for 3 FREE albums of bootlegs from the 2010 tour..... http://www.goodingmusic.com/music - click on LITTLE RED'S VAULT.

2011 TOUR DATES

Here are a few of the first dates locked in for 2011. Each of these links to our event pages on Facebook. Please let us know if you will be front and center and help us invite others. If you haven't joined us on Facebook yet just hit "like" at http://www.facebook.com/goodingmusic and we will continue to post 2-minute videos of every state in the union!

March 12, 2011 at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, CA 


March 16 - 19, 2011 at the Texas Rock Fest in Austin, TX


March 25, 2011 at the Belle Isle Brewery in Oklahoma City, OK


April 1st and 2nd at Rock Island Live in Wichita, KS


April 4 - 8, 2011 at the Conference of World Affairs in Boulder, CO 


April 6, 2011 at the Laughing Goat in Boulder, CO


April 12, 2011 at Cicero's in St. Louis, MO


April 15, 2011 at Zoo Bar in Lincoln, NE 


April 22, 2011 at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Santa Fe, NM