The Old Plank Road

people in small midwestern towns love to break their beers on the floor.

2010-02-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a little three day run around the area and though my life may be shorter by a few minutes, I had a damn good time. TBT had shows last week in St. Cloud, MN; Mankato, MN; and Sioux Falls, SD. Three college-type towns with college-type crowds. In all three of these locales we were blessed with great crowds and great support bands. In particular, I was again pleasantly surprised by the local talent in Sioux Falls. Every time we've played there the local bands playing before us just completely rock. If you don't mind the wind Sioux Falls is apparently a good place to write and play music. I was also amazed at the amount of front-row drukedness that I witnessed this weekend. Most notably was the one gal in St. Cloud that kept grabbing the neck of my guitar like a freakin' psycho and screaming "Codeine" into my astonished face as I tried to recover my instrument. I'm pretty sure she believed that I couldn't hear her shrill cries as every couple minutes (including the middle of other songs) she'd up it a notch until I was sure it could get no louder. I was always wrong. Not that I don't appreciate her desire to hear one of our songs, that'd be a pretty silly thing to bitch about, but I did find the way she chose to express it a bit over the top. All three nights ended with us hauling our gear out to the van through fields of forgotten clothes and broken glass. A sure sign of a good weekend.

Dead Man Winter Shows this past week

2010-02-08T19:44:00.001-08:00

I can't tell you how much fun it was to play with my new band this week. Dead Man Winter played Wednesday in Duluth at Pizza Luce, Thursday in Minneapolis at 7th Street Entry, and spent the weekend playing in Grand Marais at the Gunflint Tavern with good friends and musical brothers the Pistol Whippin Party Penguins. It was a good old fashioned change of pace that got the creative juices flowing freely. I've remembered there really is nothing like a big, loud electric guitar to make the years drop from a guy like sweat in a sauna. If you made it out, thanks and if not, we hope to see you sometime soon. You can check out some tunes at www.myspace.com/deadmanwinter and some pics of our 7th Street show taken by Aaron Hays at the post below this one.

Dead Man Winter @ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis 2/4/10

2010-02-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

Working on a new record...

2009-05-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

Update 4/30/09

2009-04-30T10:16:00.001-07:00

Hey Friends,

What a time we had with the Hackensaw Boys last weekend. Those guys are amazing and every time we get to play together we get all hot and bothered. We had supercool recording guru Tom Herbers out in Minneapolis with his mics and expensive gear we’re not allowed to touch so if everything worked out, we’ll have a live record coming out fairly soon.
Last night, Timmy and I got all Liverpool down at Pachyderm Recording Studio. Vega Productions here in Minneapolis is putting together a MN Beatles album. Timmy and I recorded “Two of Us” with The Big Wu’s Terry VanDeWalker, Al Oikari, and Wu/God Johnson guitar slinger Jason Fladager. I’m not sure of the actual beneficiary of this effort by Vega, but everything they do goes to benefit the arts in local schools. You can check them out here: http://www.vegaproductions.org/.
This weekend we’re playing at the wonderful Homegrown Music Festival in our hometown of Duluth. Any of you that have been know that it’s the coolest week in Dtown. There’s somewhere close to 150 LOCAL bands playing at 20-some venues all week long. We play on Friday at 11pm at our old haunt, Pizza Luce. Check out www.duluthhomegrown.com for more info. If you make the trip, you can see us play kickball against the Saturday night bands.
We hit the road again next week (which is good because we’ve been home for a couple weeks now and are starting to realize how comfortable life outside the van can be). To this little tour we’re very pleased to welcome our friends from Fargo, The Johnson Family Band - http://www.myspace.com/johnsonfamilyband. Westward ho!
Well, thanks for your time. We appreciate your support and hope to see you all as soon as we can. Till then, onward and upward.

Sincerely,
Dave Simonett and the rest of Trampled by Turtles
www.trampledbyturtles.com
myspace.com/trampledbyturtles

2009-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

spring is in the air

2009-04-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's that time. We moved out to the country last summer so springtime is much busier than I am used to. In fact, we just returned from the hardware store with 150 feet of deer fence and 150 feet of chicken wire for our garden and chicken coop. Greenhouse skeletons are in the yard, seedlings are in the bathroom and mud is everywhere. We own those PVC farmer boots and wear them everyday. It's fun.

communication

2009-04-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Facebook
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come over and say hi.

Update 4/13/09

2009-04-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

The sun is shining, the Twins are back, I drank beer outside yesterday without a coat on, spring has finally made its way to Minnesota. We’re gearing up for a couple tours in the next couple months: the Rockies and West Coast in May, and the East Coast and Southeast in June. Before that, however, we do have a few shows around the Midwest here in April:

4/16 – St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN
4/17 – Stone’s Throw, Eau Claire, WI
4/18 – The Calumet Theatre, Calumet, MI
4/19 – High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
4/23 – Schubas, Chicago, IL w/ Hackensaw Boys. Early show @ 7 and late show @10
4/24 and 4/25 – The Cabooze, Minneapolis, MN w/ Hackensaw Boys

April 27 through May 3rd bring us the Homegrown Music Festival in our hometown of Duluth, MN. If anyone out there’s curious about music in Duluth, this is the best time of the year to check it out. In my humble opinion, it’s the best freakin’ week in Duluth period. 150 bands, 20-some venues, free trolly rides, poetry, film, kickball, Luce brunch…wonderful. Our set is Friday, May 1 at 11pm at Pizza Luce. Check out www.duluthhomegrown.com for more info.

Some friends of ours will be joining us on the road this month and next. Erik Koskinen will be playing with us this week in Eau Claire (also with Evergreen Grass Band), Calumet, and Madison; The Johnson Family Band will be joining us on a tour to the west coast in May. Here’s links to both of these wonderful artists:
www.myspace.com/erikkoskinen
www.myspace.com/johnsonfamilyband

As we often do, we have some side project goodness to tell you about:

Two Many Banjos (feat. Dave Carroll)
4/11 – Acadia Café, Minneapolis, MN
4/29 – Fitger’s Brewhouse, Duluth, MN

Simonett and Young
4/15 – Fitger’s Brewhouse, Duluth, MN

Dead Man Winter (feat. Dave Simonett and Ryan Young)
7/11 – Big Wu Family Reunion, Harmony Park, MN

Thank you very much for your support and hope to see you soon!

Homegrown is on it's way...

2009-03-31T12:01:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

The best week in Duluth is just around the corner. The 11th annual Homegrown Music Festival will take place 4/26-5/3 in the twin ports of Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. 150 bands at more than 20 venues (some all ages, some 21+), a shuttle to drive your partied ass around, a band vs. band kickball game, poetry, visual art, a film festival, cheap ticket prices, and lovely people all make this one outrageously great week by the lake. We'll be playing at 11:00 pm at Pizza Luce on Friday, May 1. Here's a good preview: http://mnartists.org/article.do?rid=227708
Here's the website: www.duluthhomegrown.com

2008-04-05T13:58:00.000-07:00