Change Thief

Acoustic Empire

2009-12-20T20:02:00.001-08:00

I performed my first big bar band show in Cleremont last night. We played at Staging Lanes to a packed house, and are planning many more shows. My next solo affair is at Deano's Vino on January 16th. Hope to see you there.

Change Thief Studio Teaser

2009-02-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

This video was shot at Rhino's by Melinda.

You Have to Start Somewhere

2009-02-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

Get Your Dead Ass to Lazy Daze (not you, me)

2009-02-06T13:40:00.001-08:00

I have to get up tomorrow to go play a morning gig at Lazy Daze on the East side. I barely expect myself to be there, so If you're reading this and laughing you can just stay home and listen to the record. Shit we can even go in half on a web cam and save the whole trouble of me being at the show or you having to be at the show. God the future looks so bright.

Progress in the Studio

2009-02-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

We made some progress last night on "On Your Shoulder." We got good takes of "Gypsy Girl" "Flowers on Your Grave" "Saving Up for You" and some others. Dave has some ideas and is planning on contacting other local musicians to sit in on the record. I'm having high hopes for this one. It should be a fun project.

Change Thief...Now with more YouTube!

2009-01-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

Please visit my youtube channel at youtube.com/changethiefvideo. I'm working on it now and I will continue posting videos in the future, so keep an eye out. I will be posting another full set soon from my show at the Abbey a few weeks back. I'm getting the tape tomorrow.

Home Again, or The Fear of Being On Your Shoulder

2009-01-29T02:58:00.000-08:00

Here is my loose idea for my next album. It will be titled "On Your Shoulder." The cover will be a picture of me leaning on a girl. I will have no shirt on and I will have words written in black marker on my body that will emphasize my darker side. For example, Thief would appear across my forehead, Adulterer on my chest, Liar, Cheat, etc.

I'm also pondering a disc called Home Again. A nice warm fuzzy title, but with artwork that conveys having to come back to the nest after a failure to launch.

"The Fear of Being Maimed" will be the name of the project I produce with Nathan. It should include wider arrangements of some of my better work (drums, distorted guitar). It will be done on nicer equipment too, so it may be a welcome escape from my broke-ass low-fi "philosophy" . [How did being too broke to afford proper equipment become a genre?]

Please let me know how you feel about this. I know I can't really make you fill out this comment card, but it will make me look good in front of my manager.

the long and short

2009-01-08T15:27:00.001-08:00

I just finished a new song today. It's very Frank Black, and since I was just listening to his acoustic demos from Come on Pilgrim, that makes sense. Please come to my Abbey show next week. I miss you dearly.

---------------------------------

the long and short

i've got no one to look up to
but my old lady she bought a canary
it sang to me sweetly
and i cut off it's head

she's got no one to talk down to
and i'm just an old man
i'm reckless and gray
but i sing to her sweetly
cause she cut off my head

i've got it made your mine
i'm so fucking horny that i'm blind

she's got the goods and the good are plenty

Let's Bounce This Bouncehouse

2008-12-10T10:30:00.001-08:00

My new album has been released into the wild. It is entitled Let's Bounce This Bouncehouse and reflects a portion of the body of work I have created this year. I released a few hard copies and heard good things about it, so I'm ready to show it to you whoever it is that you are. Please download it and distribute it without guilt. My bills are being paid with hard work and that's the way I like it for now. If you want to do me a favor, then please book me a show or pull some strings with your friend who has a decent studio. Or drum for me. Or just send me a letter or come give me a hug. I just want to make a real human connection with you people, can't you understand that? Good Grief. See you on the streets.

http://changethief.com/media/Lets_Bounce_This_Bouncehouse/

Call Me Back

2008-11-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

Call Me Back

she thinks she's got no friends
and he reads books but he don't finish them
and she left a message with his robot friend

she said call me back do you know i love you?
cause you're something clean i can wipe my hands on

she's one fine babysitter
and when she's not there she's a good stripper
and he changed a ten dollar bill for some notes to write on

they said call me back i don't think i love you
but you're something new i can wash my hands with

call me back are you sure you love me
we've got something good we can wipe our feet on

call me back cause i think i love you
cause you're something clean i can wipe my hands on

Save the Poet

2008-09-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

i found her somewhere in Indiana
nowhere in particular really
doing a slow ride on a long trapeze
on the side of an empty road

i sat bemused in a folding lawnchair
next to her lesbian friend
i think the entire gang was queer
to some degree
or to every degree
whatever

some would pass by carefully
getting a good long look
at the faggot on the high ropes

some would stop by briefly
but just to get going
in the other direction

there was a fair down the road
and the barker was to
direct traffic to the show

somehow he got it wrong
which was just as well

it seemed odd to me
that in such a small town
with really nothing to keep track of

that the one place
lit up in the darkness
and lined with sequins
was lost on all but myself

i suppose in the country
the bright lights are left for the moths
and the cocky and daring
and the ego

the amazing endless egos of small children
hoping one day to become adults

without ever learning to see
save the blind

or walk
save the legless

or hear
save the deaf

or talk
save the mute

or write
save the scientist

or achieve
save the poet

2008-09-17T15:13:00.001-07:00

this is a good marriage

2008-09-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

i used to hear my father say her name sometimes
when he spoke of the good fat bellied women
who tended to modestly priced restaurants

her name spoke like white rice
garnished with a spoonful of lemon gravy

though i was not poor or starving
i pocketed some cellophane wrapped crackers

they now sit idly in the lower side of the left side pocket of my shorts

i see worry when i see her
but joy nonetheless
from the old pillow fights of smelted love
and from generous sips of anxiety
and copious and yet delicatly placed pictures of her lord

the old man is failing to see some things
but he wields fancy contraptions
that he may see them still

the old woman is failing to hear some things
but she covers her ears
that she may still hear the gentle clipping of heels
and clip back as necessary
which is to say always

if i am afflicted by something life does to me
am i to insist that i know best
and contradict a blow to the head
and will myself verticle?

i think this is probably true of riding horses
but at what point do we seek to avert our natural limits?

i really cannot say
but this is a good woman
and this is surely a good marriage

The faster we get you in the ground, the sooner I can walk all over your dead ass.

2008-09-14T01:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Grandfather,

I know this may come as a surprise, but your dead ass is not stirring any tears from my tired eyes. Between trips by foot to the local library and halfway reading and scoffing at classic literature, I barely find time to make my end meet. And please do get me started on the family. I would so enjoy to remove another useless patch of hair from my head. It's weight is so oppressive to my aching head. With so many nightmares to choose from, it is hard to imagine which family member I would be better to nestle up to, that I may shuffle through old magazines and newspapers, and pictures of people they didn't spend enough time with.

I hope you are enjoying a good laugh on the behalf of so many people who have taken breaks from clipping coupons and smoking pipe tobacco purchased at local gas stations. I hope you are enjoying a good laugh on account of so many wandering pricks who have their dicks caught in rotten egg pussies and unwashed asses. Mostly though, I hope you are just enjoying a good laugh.

How tired were you then to think that marrying off your sons to potato farmer's daughters would bring anything but starvation and baked frozen french fries? What encouraged you with the sorry idea that dying in the wafting of a glorious fart of money and booze and discount filter menthols was somehow genuine?

Do not fret old man. I see you are wise.
Do not fret old man. I can see that you are still hungry.
Do not fret old man. Your militia is unarmed and unpaid, but they are fed and warm.

I hope you are happy.
Oh I do hope so.
But I say so for fear it is not so.
Though I know you are so.

My jaw is not rusty.