Life is good. I got to play on the same bill with Los Lobos a couple weeks ago. Everyone in the band is a fan of Los Lobos. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a fanatic. It was a huge deal for me. When I was 11, I was pretty sure I had a shot at playing in Yankee Stadium some day (my fantasy skills were a lot better than my baseball skills.) But, I'm a few decades into being an adult and I got the musician's equivalent - gigging with the band I admire most. I got the same buzz I would if I'd get to be Randy Johnson for a couple innings, or yelling into my helmet while doing 125 mph on an Italian motorcycle (don't tell my insurance agent).
To make it short: We didn't suck.
The fans screamed and hung on the edge of the stage at the old Rialto Theatre in Tucson. We got an honest encore. And then we got to hang with Los Lobos. Nice guys with lots of friends in Tucson. Why they aren't one of the biggest bands in the world, I don't understand. Maybe they push their sound too much for mass acceptance; each album is different. In the case of "Colossal Head," they went way outside and lost some listeners. I admire them for doing what they think is right, even if it does take me a while to catch up with their ideas. They'll never be accused of idling or cashing in our past successes.
Enough about them, let's talk about The Mollys.
We're returning to The Bottom Line (third time there) in NYC on May 23. We'll be opening for ex-Kink Dave Davies. We always feel good after a good night in "the city." It's that McCloud thing: The cactus town hicks slide into The Big City and don't trip on their guitar cords. "Gee, the New York City, just like I pictured it."
We've got an ace up our collective sleeve. The new album is a winner. Each album has been better than the one before, and that's not something most groups can say. I can say this without bragging. Hell, I don't write the songs. It's Nancy McCallion's stuff. She just keeps turning out A material. We've been doing a CD's worth a year. I'm amazed. In the old vinyl days, when you could only squeeze maybe 38 minutes of music on an LP (oddly, that stood for "Long PLay"). Now, with CDs, people feel gipped if they don't get close to an hour's worth of material. Nancy's been filling those 4.75-inch silver music pizzas with great songs.
We've made the decision to release that next recording, "Moon Over the Interstate," independently, again. Despite all the rave reviews and radio play for "Hat Trick," the record companies we were interested in weren't interested in us. The only problem with this, other than wearing out my tongue licking stamps to send CDs from the office in back of my bedroom, is that it makes it hard to get our music out to as many people as might like it. But, we've now got half a dozen (and growing) distribution deals to cover the U.S., Canada and part of Europe. Our CDs are available retail through Hear's Music (phone/mail order 800 501-3472), all Tower stores (by request), Lady Slipper (mail order catalog and on line 800 634-6044 info@ladyslipper.org), Music Millenium stores in Portland, Zia Records & Tapes stores in Phoenix and Tucson; and .....
Distribution deals (where to point a friendly record retailer who wants to carry Mollys' CDs and tapes) include: Burnside Distribution (in Portland, OR, distributor to many stores in the Pacific Northwest and California - 503-231-0876), Red Eye Distribution in the Southeastern U.S. (919 929-7648), Miles of Music Distribution in Southern California (818 883-9975 milesomusc@aol.com), and Festival Distribution in Canada (1.800.633.8282 fdi@festival.bc.ca).
And, when in doubt, contact us directly
For us, of course, the best deal is to order directly through our web order form (Mollmart link) or by getting on our mailing list and ordering using our mailed order form (send me your snail mail address and you'll be on the list, notified when we're touring your area, and sent an order form whenever we have a new recording). But, for wider success, to keep us in tortillas and Guinness and the van in tires and gas, we'll need to sell a hell of a lot of these things - and ultimately, we're going to need more distribution deals and some employees, or a record company deal.
Meanwhile, the only way you can get everything, is to catch us at a concert, use the website Mollmart link, or get on our snail mail list.
If you like our music and want to help us keep this thing going, the best things you can do are:
Thanks,
dan sorenson - and the rest of those rascally Mollys
Buy our CDs and tapes
Tell your friends about us
Ask you local radio station to play us
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