The Dude Abides

The Dude: Yeah, well. The Dude abides.

The Stranger: The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh. I sure hope he makes the finals.

I have met The Dude and he is putting together a psychobilly band in Scottsdale, Arizona. What’s more, he has recruited me for it. So, it’s The Dude, me, and Ed Stevens from the tv show “Ed”. You remember -- the lawyer who ran the bowling alley?

Mike Burton: Hey, ten bucks...

Ed Stevens: I'm not really in the mood.

Mike Burton: No, you're gonna like this one, it's conceptual.

Ed Stevens: ...Okay.

Mike Burton: Ten bucks... if you give me ten bucks.

It all started when I was idle at my stupid day job and I decided to dedicate my entire day to filling out sweepstakes and contest forms. I came across a free classified ad site for Phoenix-area musicians. I wrote, “ 38-y-o female vocalist seeks band. I was in a progressive band years ago and was written up in the City Paper for my ‘angelic vocals’.”

Which I thought was pretty up-front. I was hoping it would come off like I have chops, but I’m not a young thang and I’m not in the biz. Even so, I got a few slacker boys jammin’ in their mom’s basement. Now, I love me some slacker boyz, I do, but really now.

Dude e-mailed me, name-dropped The Meat Puppets (past) and The Gin Blossoms (future) and we set up a time. We all met at Ed’s house last Saturday. I played them mine. They played me theirs. I don’t know the protocol of these things, but at some point, I guess they agreed that I was in. So they sent me home with a CD of some stuff Ed’s old band had recorded and told me to write some lyrics. So, apparently I’m a lyricist now.