you are the first to know! sort of. or, should have been. well, read on and you’ll understand. we’ll be posting this on our website here in the next day or so:

Title: Them Are His Friends

We never cease to be amazed. Truly.

Yes, it is readily available knowledge, that we, as a band, nurture an obsession with the general-public-edited Wikipedia. We have been at numerous times astonished at the uncanny accuracy and inconceivable expeditiousness of the information pertaining to the band; noting information we had forgotten about ourselves and citing trivia we had no idea anyone would or should know.

Yes, we are also fully aware that the information made available on the site can at times be dubious in nature, i.e.: the salvation of African elephants by one, Stephan Colbert. So, everything with a grain of salt, no?

All said, we were recently delighted to find ourselves embroiled in a war of epic editorial control concerning our very own encyclopedic page on Wikipedia.

First, a little background: In October we found ourselves short one guitar player. Enter the Kid, Taylor “the Wild Pony” Johnson. He finished the Third Day tour with us. He played all of our Spring shows with us. And he did a fantastic job. We loved it. But the allure of the big city called strong to the Kid, too strong for him to dig his tent poles into our small little town. He has a mercenary heart and announced to us that he needs to follow it with his guitar in tow. Basically, after filling in for us, the time had come for him to ride off into the sunset.

Thanks, Wild Pony.

Which leads us to the aforementioned battle of editorial wits. We have, for a brief time, been giddy with excitement over who would next fill the proverbial footwear as an official member of the DC*B. We could not, however, make anything public due to outside environmental circumstances. (Like, he had to finish his spring semester of sophomoric-Baylor-University-premed schooling; he had to secure the unwavering blessing of his parents; he had some important work to do in Kenya involving orphans; you know, the usual.)

So, imagine our surprise, when on a tip, we typed “wikipedia.com” (henceforth be referred to as “W”) into our browser, moseyed over to the DC*B page and discovered Taylor Johnson’s name occupying the “former member” section. And wouldn’t you know it, the “current members” listed a guy by the name of Mark Waldrop.

“Strange,” we said to ourselves with furrowed brows and confounded glances, as the total number of those aware of this new imminent dawn amounted to less than double digits. We re-edited the entry, removing this overhasty information, and pointed accusing fingers at one another.

And then moments later there it was again. “Mark Waldrop.”

“Strange indeed!” we cried as we quickly swiped the name again from the site.

And so the battle began. Back and forth between us, (providing accurate and officially approved information) and them, (providing ever more accurate, yet, pre-mature information) all the while, our tight lips quivering from want of united proclamation.

And who is “them” you ask? “Them” are his friends, who are apparently jumping plumb out of their skins along with us from excitement. “And what do you mean by accurate information, anyways” you say?

Well, we mean that we have a new member, and W scooped the news, once again proving its reliability and ever deepening our awe and reverence!

So, without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mark Waldrop. (He’s the one who looks sorta rockstarish.) He has some serious mad guitar skills, a healthy volume of Harry Potter information in his head, and deep roots in the piney woods of East Texas.

Welcome him to the family. We are feverishly excited.

All of you self-proclaimed editors, game on.

and so, here is why i bring all of this up: i mention it only to set-up our first ever music video and, of course, this squirrel nonsense is just in good fun (that is, if you consider rodents reeking of black plague gnawing through your hearth and home and throwing stuff at you fun. i kid, i kid). but, for those who have proven a bit dim in connecting the dots, i’ll at this point help out a bit: suppose with me for a moment that this whole time the squirrel were simply a metaphor, what then?

this is not part 3 in our happy squirrel (rodent) series

i had no idea anyone loved squirrels. i mean, it is obvious that they are a product of the fall. but wow, some squirrel lovers. i had no idea. sorry. well, not really.

‘Black Death’ Found in Denver Squirrels

By Patrick O’Driscoll, USA TODAY
(May 11) – A rash of squirrel deaths from plague in the middle of Colorado’s largest city has heightened surveillance for the deadly but curable disease.

No humans here have been infected with plague, the “Black Death” disease that killed millions in 14th-century Europe. A state hotline gets 50-75 calls daily about dead rodents. Chris Urbina, Denver’s health director, says the risk of catching it “is extremely low.”

One human case has been reported in the USA this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 49-year-old man in San Juan County, N.M., was hospitalized last week and is recovering. A flu-like illness that occurs most often in lymph nodes or the blood, plague is treatable with antibiotics.

Denver’s last outbreak in rodents was nearly 40 years ago. So far, 13 squirrels have been found dead in or near City Park, an urban playground 2 miles from the state Capitol. Two infected squirrels and an infected rabbit were found dead in Denver suburbs.

Plague bacteria are carried by fleas that infect wild rodents, rabbits and cats, usually in rural areas. Plague reached the USA in the 19th century in rats on ships. It exists today only in the West, mainly in four states: New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and California.

Infected fleas can jump onto animals or humans. Coyotes, foxes and birds that feed on an infected carcass can transport the fleas but are resistant to plague.

John Pape, an epidemiologist for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, suspects that is how it got into town. He says the Denver occurrence is not an “outbreak” but warrants tracking. City workers this week caught 17 squirrels for testing.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases reports 10-20 people a year catch plague in the USA. On average, one in seven dies.

“We’re always on watch,” says Deborah Busemeyer of the New Mexico Department of Health. The state had an above-normal year in 2006: Eight cases and three deaths. Pape says plague is more common in New Mexico than Colorado, where the last death was in 2004, one of three infections that year.

Plague season runs from April to November during periods of moisture and moderate temperature.

Among pets, dogs are resistant but cats are highly susceptible.

“Right now is a good time to keep cats inside,” says Diane Milholin, a Denver health inspector. “Your dog is not going to get sick from a flea, but if the flea stays on the dog and decides to bite you, you could get sick.”



Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2007-05-11 09:20:20

some friends of mine sent this video to me. we’ll call this part 2.

we had a video release on msn.com a while back. it was our first official video ever. we’ll be getting it up on myspace and our main site soon but i wanted to give a little background first. so by way of introduction i wanted to present a few background pieces:

first, the following bit of video has been hidden on our main website since the release of our last full length recording “a collision.” we typically hide a link or two somewhere (typically in the liner notes) so as to help the time pass for those whom boredom finds easily. (a side: my mind just wandered, “hmm.. synonym for ‘boredom?’”)

the following video, which we’ll call part 1 in our 3 part series, is one of those little hidden nuggets of goodness. this one we call “goodreader3″ as it required you to read the liner notes from “a collision” astutely to stumble onto it and was the third installment of the goodreader series.

ok. enough. please enjoy the following visual and aural stimulation as the metastory unfolds:

part 2 and 3 to follow…

ok, so the ticket presales for the fall remedy club tour have gone really well, to say the least. i mean, you realize these dates are like half a year away. i, for one, have no idea what i’m doing, on say a thursday evening, half a year from now! (actually i do, as it is listed on our website) all i’m saying is that this makes me really excited; knowing that you folks who purchased tickets already are such great pals as to plan this far in advance to spend an evening with us. so, huge, huge thank you to all who have already bought tickets and will be there. we cannot wait to see you! seriously.

now, if you do not happen to fall into this group, but are in a city that still has any presale tickets left, i urge you to hurry. there are two days left on the presale that will still save you the “convenience charge” imposed by most ticket outlets. and that’s what we’re here for, to save you the cash money. yes. we love you this much. so quickly, if you are in say, tulsa ok, or say, portland or, or even philly pa, click here.

as for, “what has the crowder band been up to,” well i’ll tell you. we were, this week, in nashville tn (affectionately referred to as nashvegas) at the gma awards. no, we did not win. well, we sort of won. we were up for “group of the year,” which did not go our way, no, it did not; and we were a part of a “special event album,” (‘everything glorious’)which did win. yes, our good friends at passion conferences took home a dove (that’s what they call the award, a “dove”) for “special event album of the year.” they have been up for one every year since, well, forever and this is the first win. and so both vicariously and communally we relish the joint honor.

austin tx just added!!! the remedy club tour presales are going fast! we’re making these presales available exclusively to our friends and email list before they go on sale for the general public so if you haven’t gotten yours, click quick! almost half of the cities presale tickets are already soldout. the presale will run through the 30th of this month. it is only right that you be there! it would cause us endless happiness inside.