Recorded live September 24, 2021
@ the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio
Full Video - YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksg6Z6Y7OjQ
Website: brokenrainbows.moviolamusic.com

Deadpan Charms:
01 Expat (or, "Oslo Calling")
02 Broken Rainbows (or, "Royal, Azure, Cerulean, Turquoise, Cobalt")
03 Go With You (or, "You Can Only Do So Much")
04Orders Of The Day (or, "Holding Up Signs In The Rain")
05Nowhere Home (or, "I Just Want To Bury My Dad Beside Saul Bellow")

Dubious Yarns:
06 Two Evils (or, "Gave Myself A Flowbee Haircut")
07 Which Way Did You Run (or, "How Doris Channeled Her Guilt and Kicked Oppression In The Nutsack")
08 Rise (or, "Old And Wise, Only The Opposite")
09 Parched (or, "And Lay Down In The Snow To Make Sense Of The Clouds")
10 Stripes And Stars (or, "Pam And Cordel's 42nd Annual Backyard BBQ And Cornhole Deathmatch")
11 Lost Today (or, "Wake Up To Find Out You Really Screwed Up")
12 Expat (Burl Ives Burlesque version)


Broken Rainbows (the album) came together throughout the disquieting (and deadpan, and dubious) latter half of 2020 in Jake's home studio. If crows foreshadow sadness or grief, there was a flock overhead during those days (and, sadly, they continue to circle). We gathered carefully to talk, write music, and talk more. We've been friends and done this for nearly three decades, so it was muscle memory. Broken Rainbows is how we processed and survived, made sense. It's a five-headed declaration.

Broken Rainbows: Deadpan Charms and Dubious Yarns (the show) got rolling when Adam Elliott at the Wexner Center (of the great band Times New Viking) asked us to play a show for the release of our 10th record, Broken Rainbows, coming out in September 2021. After a few zoom calls with "Wex" folks, and some band conversations around the fire pit, pretty soon we all had the idea that a typical "show" wasn't really in the cards. We'd kick ourselves if we didn't take full advantage of the opportunity, big stage, and production values afforded to us, y'know? The date was set for Sept. 24. Over the summer the ideas came, left, turned right, circled for landing and took off again. Taking inspiration from various and sundry places (camping trips in Kentucky, Terry Allen's Juarez, Gempler's catalogs, Young Jean Lee, Spalding Gray, Jewish cemeteries, Bobby Darin, and even Neil's Live at the Ryman), we set out to develop the 11 songs on Broken Rainbows into a full...piece, with narratives, interstitials, video, a coyote, a giant bass drum, and assorted video remnants from our early days. Three of our kids sang back up (Camille and Haley Housh, Toby Hattemer), which proved to be an amazing addition, and deeply joyful for everybody. Scotty practiced all by his lonesome up in Brattleboro like a champ, and even Jake's brother, Josh, in from Oakland, joined us for the fun. We had a blast doing it in front of so many family and friends. We'd love to actually do it again. If you can help with that, let us know.

As an old friend said to us after the show, it feels like you guys are just starting to hit your peak after 30 years a band.

Late bloomers, we are.

Moviola
Columbus, OH