How does one give back to the people who actually come here and visit? Tricky question, I know. What if I told you, I was bringing you a brand new song for Christmas, from one Mr. Cory Branan? That’d be super awesome good, right? WHAT IF, I told you that in addition, yes, I said addition, I was going to give you something super duper special. Something on the order, of super secret even? Well, I’m giving you that too, and we are going away on break until the New Year. If you want to share this with friends, please do. If you want to keep it yourself, hey, I understand that too! You guys are awesome. Have a fun and safe holiday, and you know, feel free to stop in and say hello, post a comment, and let us know you are still alive.

Muchas Lovas,

Management

According to Mr. Branan and agreed upon by many others, myself included…this could be one of the most simply brilliant lines of all time. I had heard rumors about a Lucero Tribute album. On the offhand I asked Cory what he would do, and he said this song. I flipped out, ’cause, if I was picking songs for Cory to cover, this would totally be THE ONE. So, this comes from the lovely folks at Hardcore Troubadours, and it’s a cut from their Cory Branan/Ben Nichols podcast. If you don’t have it, or didn’t get it, hop on over there and download it. You might just get a chance to hear Ben Nichols of Lucero cover a Cory song.

Now that we’ve got the nice stuff out of the way, let’s get on to business! Cory is TOURING ALASKA! What the hell, yeah? I see it now. Northern Lights. Igloos. Eskimos. Reindeer. I think all the blonde hair references of Cory’s music may just escape them! In all seriousness, I think this is astounding…and super cool. This is straight from the Branan Blogs:

(A Note on California - The Pasadena show is a Cory show whereas the Hotel Cafe show is as well but is an hour long set that starts promptly at 8pm). Cory will be Drag the River’s main support in Forest Lake, San Diego and Glendale. Anyone who can help spread the word in California should email boogiemann100@comcast.net and we’ll reciprocate with a free live mp3 or two.

Cory will be playing several shows in Alaska in early May and those detais will be posted soon. Also, we’re planning on playing select cities in the SE in April.

I gotta couple of plans for the new year, and I’ll tune you in. Keep on supporting Cory, the Diner, Brian Mann, and Jesus. All things which people love.

We LIIIIKE you.

Do you LIIIKE us?

(sorry, love the Borat)

Management.

I hope that those of y’all that made it to see the wonderful Mr. Branan, amoung other fabulous talents, at the Lucero Family Picnic, were much impressed. Man, that sure was some sort of a line up…The Glossary, Cory, Southern Bitch, Two Cow Garage, just to name a very few!

If any of y’all have Cory videos from the picnic, send’em on in! I do want to take time to thank Sarita for sharing with us her tattoo story. It’s kinda like that FUSE TV show, of the same name, but not…and very Branan involved.

So, for your hung-over, and partially boozed out from the post labor-day return to labor, I stumbled about this video. It’s coming from ‘Hep810′ a.k.a. Helena (one of the coolest folks you could meet) who tour manages American Aquarium. We friended this weekend on youtube, and she has this video up. So, if you like seeing Cory with a full band, here you go!

And if you have any stories from the Lucero Family Picnic…also let me know!

My sincerest apologies for not updating lately. But, I’ll do my best to give it a good go here.

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for the ‘Beat It’ cover. Namely because it’s not the full version with the Eddie V. Solo, and secondly, incase the thrilling picture of M.J. was such that it sent you into childhood flashbacks, thriller jackets, and old school MTv.

Secondly, the ladies at Hardcore Troubadours have put up a Brew City-ish podcast complete with Ben Nichols and Cory Branan. Give them much love, if you haven’t already. If you haven’t been there, then please, check it out!

Thirdly, BoogieMann himself, found a site that had some Cory Branan tabs on it, right HERE.

Fourthly, but not leastly, here’s another video of a fiddlish ho-down, with Cory Branan and Sarah Mann playing ‘Sour Mash’.

Just want to take a moment to give a Birthday Shout-out to Infamous J. S/He lurks the shadows of clubs, smoking camel lights, and buying drinks for nice folks. And when s/He’s not fighting off the gravity of Planetary, Men in Dress, or Faux French crazies…they love listening to some Cory Branan. So much so, they should most definitely know this one is for them…mos def.

So, big thanks to Nathan (aka Nate), for sending this video over. It’s from the Ben & Cory Tour this summer, so, if you are like me and are a victim of unfortunate geography (i.e. the tour isn’t coming anywhere remotely nearby), then this video is especially for you…and yourn.

I’ve done my best to clean up the audio, but, I guess, as they say about Texas, everything is bigger…including the crowd chattering.

And here is another one, which is probably one of the funniest covers that he does, but, you’ll just have to listen to figure out what it is. I remember asking him a long time ago to play a song that ‘he’ wanted to play…and he played this. Too funny.

A big thank you to Nate for sending me some great videos (3 songs I believe) from the Ben Nichols / Cory Branan tour. I’m gonna play around with the video to lighten it up, etc. Then post it on monday. So you will have another buffet du Branan come then. If I can clean the audio, you can have that as well, since, I think Nate would have wanted it that way.

A super big thanks to Plank10 for providing y’all with the Tall Green Grass Download earlier this week. I think it’s great that you both are willing to share, and truly it’s what will keep this place going in the long run. It is definitely the most interesting version I’ve heard, so if you haven’t gotten it, you need to…quickly…time is running out.

Big love to the man upstairs, Mom, and Baby Jesus.

Cory Branan…Ben Nichols…tour…southeast. Jackson, MS to Louisville, KY…between May 30th to June 10th…hitting several places in-between…including Memphis…Nashville. You heard it here first.

Yep, the man himself Ace Frehley, founding member of KISS, turns 56 today. I felt that he needed a dedication, directly from Cory, well, at least a song, right?

So, Ace, this is for you, man.

Sorry about the lack du updating. I’ve been in Walt Disney World all week, and we just returned early this afternoon. It was a great time, texted a few times with Mr. Branan, who reads this stuff actually, and he assures me he’ll stop on in sometime soon.

I did meet some Lucero/Drag the River fans in line with my daughter to the Astro-Space-Jet thing in Tomorrowland as I was sporting one of my Lucero Shirts and was spotted. Heck, I spotted a dude in Epcot with another Lucero shirt on, but, I lost him in the shuffle. Represent, I say.

Business as usual on Monday. Promise. I hope y’all have been well.

Oh, and if you live in Arkansas, make it to the White Water Tavern TONIGHT, and you can catch a possible surprise appearance by Ben Nichols.