The fifth Booze Monkey album, Cocktail Nation is scheduled for release on 25 October 2011

For the month of October the Random Lyric box on the upper right of the SCM Home page will feature only lyrics from Cocktail Nation.

There are fifty different quotes from the new album.

I hope you find something you dig!

This is a rock and roll record.

It's a lean, but muscular, combination of drums, electric bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals, and on a few songs harmonica.

It's a rock and roll record.

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I am currently finishing up the fifth Booze Monkey album, Cocktail Nation. I listened to the first rough mix/master this morning and now I'll spend the day in the studio tweaking and twiddling accordingly. I'm planning to have a listening (drinking) session with my Christina tonight if I can assemble a suitable master in time.

I should have the album available to listeners before Halloween, barring the unforeseen.

Right now I'm just trying to finish the record before hurricane Irene knocks out our power at the Compound.

As soon as I have the record in the can I will begin updating this site on a very regular basis. I'll be "re-releasing" the Naked Acre Compound Films, placing all of my published lyrics online here, restoring the old SanityCheck.net photo gallery, and beginning a new one, et al. I have been assembling the fodder for this over the past few years, so once it begins, there will be constant updates for some time to come.

In the meantime I regularly update my Twitter feed @BoozeMonkey and post in Babbleon (see the Forum link at the top of the page).

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I'm pleased to say that I'm producing the first full-fledged solo album from my buddy Leo J. Bailey.

I've been a fan of Leo's music for as long as I've known him. We met right around the time that the Booze Monkey album Good Luck Mr. Gorsky was released, so that was around (... sneaks off to peak at his discography, which is still under heavy construction...) 2003 give or take. We've been close friends, and occasional lovers, ever since. So much so that it is difficult to think that it has been less than a decade.

I know Leo's music inside and out. We've had many lengthy discussions about music in general, and I have a clear understanding of his musical lexicon. I'm familiar with his influences, tastes and proclivities. We share many musical passions and can easily lose hours to labyrinthine chats about music simply as music-lovers. As musicians? Even more so.

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I was chatting with my buddy Mark earlier this week and we began discussing podcasts. I didn't know Mark when I was podcasting with The Simian Syndicate back in 2005. As you can tell by the date, we were among the early podcasts. The Syndicate ran from March of 2005 through August of that same year. Just about six months, during which time we published about ten hours of audio mayhem.

But this post isn't about the Simian Syndicate. I suspect that chimp will rear its hairy mug in archival glory here sooner or later, but until then...

This post is about episode 128 of the Robkast Podcast. Let's skip ahead now to June 2008. The fourth official Booze Monkey album, 4th St. was released on 8 April 2008. In June of that year the entire album was featured on the Robkast Podcast. Further that, Rob asked me to record some interview segments for his show. The show is from the Netherlands and it's in Dutch, but he edited this episode together with my interview segments so that only the really cool parts are in Dutch. One of the coolest moments for me is hearing Rob read the Hurricane Monty Cocktail recipe from the 4th St. liner notes in his native tongue.

There is a segment in the podcast where I illustrate how I used one of my Australian Shepherd Sundance's old chew toys on the record. I played the podcast the other day while I was working on the code for Babbleon. It still makes Sundance run around, ears perked, looking for this long gone toy.

This podcast also provided me the opportunity to provide shout-outs to the guest musicians who lent their talent to the album; Kahle Magalis, LB, Leo J. Bailey, Christov Ashton, JRock, Steve Floyd, Rick Wilkins, Lee Blanton, and, of course, Sundance.

As the conversation petered out, Mark sent me forth into the corners of the Internet(s) to find episode 128 of the Robkast Podcast - "The Booze Monkey Special".

I did, and I also exchanged an email with Rob, who tells me that the show has amassed a significant number of downloads in the ensuing years and tells me he is still fond of the record. His show is now at episode 184 (and that doesn't count special episodes). I think it is a superb podcast, and I've discovered a bunch of artists from it. I highly recommend it.

If you're interested the show features most, if not all (I'd have to check to be sure) of the Booze Monkey album 4th St. along with quite a bit of extra curricular babbling from yours truly. It also features some exceedingly cool interludes in Dutch, and Rob's production is superb. And it's free!

I highly encourage you to check out the Robkast Podcast for a free opportunity to hear all kinds of cool music you might not have otherwise heard.

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The long-time Sanity Check Musec, Inc. online forums, lovingly known as Babbleon are back online.

I had taken them down when I first relaunched SanityCheck.net. But I put them back online today. You may access them from the "forum" menu at both the top of the page, and on the left side of your screen.

I have temporarily removed the sign-up form for the Sanity Check Newsletter. Just a minor glitch with the module I was using to collect email addresses. I have not lost the information provided by those of you who have already signed up and I expect to have the form available again long before I'll have a newsletter ready to go out.

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My dear friend, Don Otey, was recently interviewed for the Book Club Podcast with John Austin. I've spoken regularly of my buddy, Don over the years, and written about his books in Babbleon on multiple occasions. Don has published, methinks it's, nine novels so far with a tenth on the way. I am confident in saying that he is both brilliant and prolific.

This podcast, which I thoroughly enjoyed, discusses one of Don's earlier books, Dread and Breakfast which just happens to be my personal favorite of the bunch. But I must say that I find each and every one of them to be simply fantastic. I would liken Don's writing skill to that of Shaun White on a snow board in a half pipe, he makes it look deceptively easy. But Don is one of those people who couples his skill with that inexplicable and magical quality of creativity that cannot be explained. He can weave a tale out of thin air, and then deliver it to you with ease and grace, so you don't often realize what he's just done for you. He references himself in this podcast as a "student of the language". This made me smile. I love words and language. As a songwriter/lyricist, the love of language informs much of what I do and, I think, it is difficult to fake.

"Student of the language." Yeah, I like that.

I've recommended Don's work to people for years now and I cannot push it hard enough. His books dance through the genres, so check out the descriptions, pick one that sounds interesting, and dive in! That's my recommendation and I'm sticking to it.

I was thrilled to hear that the podcast host was as astounded as I am by just how good Don's work is, in this case specifically Dread and Breakfast. He even says that he considers it to be, I am not making this up, listen for yourself, better than Stephen King's early works. He even references both Carrie and Cujo. How's that for praise? Even if you don't care for King's writing, his name has been synonymous with horror fiction for a very long time. Quite the kudo for a novel of this sort.

In the podcast, Don mentions a group of four friends who appear in a number of the books. I am sincerely proud to announce that I am one of those four cats. Actually I... um... what's the proper word here? Let's go with, "inspired" a couple of characters in Don's book. One named Jud Black and another named Billy Luecas (Billy Luecas). I can also say, unequivocally, that I am, indeed, much cooler in fiction.

Check out Don Otey discussing Dread and Breakfast with John Austin on the Book Club Podcast.

Don has two books available from Xlibris, check out his Authors Biography from Xlibris

There is also a nice selection of Don's books available from Barnes and Noble.

Check 'em out if you're a reader. You'll be glad you did.

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