Seems like just yesterday I was writing the March newsletter - good thing none of us are serious bloggers…once a month is more than enough for me.  Time flies when you’re busy and busy we have been as we refine material for The Fall EP to be recorded later this year.  You may hear a new song or two along the way that have nothing to do with this effort, we can’t help but have fun with hot jams even if they’re slightly off-task.  Goals are important but the taking the scenic route is always more rewarding.  

  Speaking of hot jams, it’s truly about time for another house jam.  Martyn’s got a motorcycle trip mid-May after our brief string of shows so we’ll be rabble-rousing the weekend after as a welcome home (and other pending celebratory reasons) — so grab your favorite noisemaker and head on over Saturday, May 19th.  As always, music starts around 9:30ish and keeps going so long as there are willing and dedicated individuals channeling the groove.

  We’re keeping it pretty low-key while we work, so catch us at one of our upcoming shows or come on over to the house for the jam.  If you wanna get in on the jams, introduce yourself to us at one of our live shows and we’ll tell you how to get here.  Don’t need to put our home address on the internet for everyone to see.

  The first day of Spring hit and it’s been an interesting mix of rain and pollen - my allergies, however, are not interested in the slightest.  Nor is there any humor to be found in the irony that the 2012 Farmer’s Almanac still has some weekends listed in March for cold, rainy and possibly snowy weather — all generally considered to be unpleasant.  Afterwards we can look forward to when the pollen will really hit and the dusting of pollen thusfar will turn into a veritable desert of evil caking itself into every crevice of the outside world.  And your car.

  We’ve got a show coming up at March 29th but a good chunk of our Spring season will be spent locking down the ideas we’ve been pulling together for the first installment of The Dissipator Cycle.  The first-of-four EPs will be called The Fall and we hope to have it fully recorded and ready to launch by the time Autumn actually rolls around.  Regulars at our shows already know one of the songs and you can hear it too at http://thegonzosymphonicpresents.bandcamp.com - The Fall EP will be the beginning of a great journey and we’d love you to join us.

  Catch us in May for some fresh live shows!

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  Happy Chinese New Year!!  (four days after Yuan-Xiao…whoops)  The Year of the Dragon is an important year and carries a great deal of symbolism within Chinese culture, woven into the very fabric of their calendar system to inspire positive values.  Not to mention what’s implied if you anger this big scary mess of scales and claws and teeth and fire.  

  So wait…it’s the last year of the Earth AND there’s a big ass dragon running around??  Greaaat.

  I knew those meteorologists didn’t know what they were talking about…La Niña weather patterns this and La Niña weather patterns that and La Niña weather patterns blah blah blah.  Well, we know the truth as to why the Farmer’s Almanac only has two snow days for our region listed for this year…

  Dragons.  

  Heating up our atmosphere with their stinky limestone breath.   (I don’t like it.)   =(

  What we DO like is how many people we saw at the JAMuary!  We had some new faces and some faces we haven’t seen in a while and a good time was had by all until very late in the night/early the next morning.  If you haven’t made it out to one of our jams you are truly missing out on some wonderful fellowship with other great musicians.  We’ve got a busy next couple months so keep checking back with us in case of short notice for another jam…we’d like to squeeze one in there somewhere for sure.

  For those of you who noticed a gig dropped off our calendar - Mike from Dogwood Project emailed me to say the beer would need an extra week to finish brewing but we have another gig that weekend already…stay tuned Greensboro…we’ll find our way out there again real soon.  They’ll be having their event Feb 25th so you should still go if you’re in the area - we love Dogwood!  (come to OUR 02/25 event if you’re near Duke University though)  A handful of extra gigs just got added too so be sure to check the upcoming gig calendar and come to a show near you!

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  The new year has started and the countdown begun!  What better way to kick off the supposed last year of Earth’s existence than a party!!!  So we bring you our JAMuary schindig, sans cookout (sadly), but we’ll definitely do that once the warm weather returns.  For now, bring your instruments and whatever ale warms your bones the weekend of the 28th and prepare to boogie down.  We’ll officially open house around 7:30pm for you early birds that like to come get some down time with us before the mayhem starts and mosey on down to the studio by 9/9:30ish. 

We’ll keep this newsletter short.  We’ve got a lot of upcoming excitement but it’s too tentative to spill the beans just yet.  Stay tuned!!

  Another year down, another one on the horizon, but will we ever see December 2012?  According to Dylan’s sister (currently studying with a leading expert on Mayan culture) the answer is ‘Yes’ that the calendar ending in 2012 is really just another standard increment of time telling called the Long Count which is but another unit in a much longer time increment.  Once it’s done it just restarts, like one of our Aeon/Eon/Ages in the current celestial calendar.  So with no gloom and doom to look forward to I guess it’s time to start booking shows for the upcoming year.

  We’re going to start things slow with another house jam in January (look for details in our January newsletter) but we’ll be sure to get those details to you ASAP.  In February we’ll be travelling out to Greensboro for another stupendously wonderful time with Sunny, Galen and Mike as they keep brewing the most delicious beer you’ve ever tasted as part of their homegrown Dogwood Project.  With some proper arrangements we hope to run into some new friends again which, seriously, go check out their stuff (They’re called Arete and they’re fantastic).  These are the kind of guys that see the same vision we do and see great things coming from Camp Arete in years to come.

  Here’s wishing you all a belated Merry Christmahanaquanzika and a happy New Year!  Thank you all for being our friends, coming to our shows, hanging out with us in the studio and in general being the most awesome group of people we know  =)  we’ll keep doing our best to bring you quality original music throughout all of 2012 and beyond!

See you soon!!!

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  It’s looking like a busy holiday season with new gigs on the horizon and some brainstorming set on simmer until it’s time to turn up the heat.  We had a killer time with those of you who came out to the Halloween jam and while it looks like we won’t be having a Nov. jam, we hope you miss us enough in between to come out and throw down at some of our next shows.  Especially if you believe the world will end in 2012…..so you should come hang out with us while there’s still time!

  First up we have the 100th issue release part of The Blotter (published in Ch. Hill/Duham) at the Pinhook in Durham.  Details have changed a couple times as to whether we’re playing with Storm Front or The Late Comers but either way - we’ll be there =)

Sat. Nov. 26 (11/26)  @  The Pinhook
      117 West Main Street - Durham   
               10pm [$5 Cover]

  Before bringing the show back to Raleigh we’ll make a detour through Chapel Hill to rock out The Cave (ba-dum-cha) with new soon to be friends B-rad & Adam.  It’s sure to be an entertaining night as this acoustic duo (one without strings) helps us help Chapel Hill get down.

    Thurs. Dec. 1 (12/1)  @  The Cave
452 1/2 West Franklin Street - Chapel Hill
                    10pm [FREE]

  Finally we’ll be playing in Raleigh mid-December with a triumphant return to Deep South.  The last time we played there we had Kim Hoover on a sparkly pink bass holding it down.  We’ll be playing with Flying Nimbus which features a fellow former Deep South intern, Mr. CJ Bauckham.  Opening act Arete.

Fri. Dec. 16 (12/16)  @  Deep South The Bar
        430 South Dawson Street - Raleigh   
                      8pm [$3 cover]

  This time of year always brings a smile to those who appreciate the weird and creepy, those of you whose inner child screams for more candy and mischief, and those creative souls that delight in disguising themselves with all manner of garb.  We are no exception to that rule, being big kids with many sweet tooth dependencies staying up all night watching horror flicks and planning costumes as if we didn’t have to worry how much all the fancy materials would cost.  Best of all, however, is the opportunity to once again have all our family of friends over to la casa de gonzo for one hell of a jam session and a cookout to boot!  You know we’ve got some amazing cooks and grillmasters in The Family so as long as everyone brings at least some beer and a side or dessert we’ll all be stuffed to our eyeballs, guaranteed.  

  I only say some beer because we have a very special guest that has been making preparations for this event since.  We met Sunny and Galen through Sarah Tingen (Sai Surrealia) at her CD release warehouse party (complete with fire dancers/jugglers/acrobats/amazingness), serving home brewed beer they called Bad Pistachio Brown Ale.  It was strong…it was delicious…it was gone in no time.  Travelling to Greensboro we got a chance to see their base of operations and met their cohort Mike who ended up booking us for a house party/beer sampling there.  The night we played there were three barrels on tap and before any of us even got to our third beer they were all gone.  A travesty?  Yes.  A testiment to their craftsmanship and tasty, tasty beer?  Absolutely.

  If you’d rather wait until after food has been consumed to change into your costumes we have plenty of space - no need to mess up your duds!  We’ll officially open house around 7pm and start moseying on down to the studio by 9/9:30ish. 

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Sat. Nov. 5 (11/05)

Shakedown Street
2500 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh   9pm
[$3 Cover]

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Sat. Nov. 26 (11/26)
The Pinhook
117 West Main Street
Durham   10pm
[$5 Cover]

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Fri. Dec. 16 (12/16)
Deep South The Bar
430 South Dawson Street
Raleigh   9pm
[Cover TBA]