TEXAS:

We're driving through a violent thunderstorm on our way to play an outdoor show in Austin, TX tonight. We'll see what happens. We just played in front of our largest crowd yet last night. We were at EDGEFEST in Dallas playing in front of approximately 20,000 people. It was more like watching a film of a rock show than like playing one. Very Strange. The previous night we played a radio show in front of 4,000 people which was good. It was a bit strange to have people surfing the crowd and moshing during "haywire", but all in all it was fun.

BIG News--We're playing on David Letterman on May 14. We hope to see you there--or at home watching it I guess.

The second single gets released to radio stations around the country on May 14 as well. It's "the prince's favorite son". Make sure to call up and request it.

Things have been fast and furious for us for the past few weeks. Since we played in NY we've been to Canada, and made our way across the Midwest and down to Texas. We're playing a show in Seattle on the 27th and then we head out to Europe to do some shows there.

Some high points of the past week or two. Our friend Brad Peterson (yes, the Brad Peterson who sings on the record) showed up in Madison. He had just gotten back from NYC where his band, Peatmoss, played a couple of shows and went out to dinner with Elton John. Anyway, he came to our show in Madison and sang with us. We had a blast.

A few weeks ago we went to my favorite restaurant in the world. It's called the Grit, and it's in Athens, Georgia. If all goes well, there's a picture of it right below this paragraph. I took a shot of Tim outside the place.

Speaking of Joe Henry--his new record, "trampoline", is amazing. It's all we've been listening to here on the bus for days on end. I can't recommend it highly enough.

On the reading front, I've just finished the latest Martin Amis book, "the information". It was a good read. I'm now knee deep in the latest Jane Smiley. It's called "MOO". If you've not yet read her book "a thousand acres", I'd recommend that as well.

Well, we're in Austin, so it's time to go roll around in the mud and then try to play a show. If you're feeling kind, give MTV a call and tell them to play our video some more--heck, call VH-1 also. Call your radio stations too.

I hope all's well, thanks for the support as usual. See you all soon. I'll be announcing summer touring plans soon.

Peter