Wed. November 12th: Smith's Olde Bar - Atlanta, FULL BAND SHOW! 8:30PM 1578 Piedmont Ave. http://www.smithsoldebar.com - Price: $8.00 advance/$10.00 DOS This evening also features James Salter and the Clay Cook Band http://www.claycook.com/bio.html Doors at 8pm - Advance tickets available at Smith's Olde Bar any day after 5pm or online at http://www.Etix.com

Hey hey! Time again for mindless dribble - I mean my monthly newsletter. November is going to be pretty crazy - with quick trips to Colorado and drives from Maryland to Syracuse to Atlanta to the Outer Banks - whew.

(Any place called the Outer Banks is not a location that implies "hop skip and jump to...") And I'm just catching my breath from October - preparing for the Halloween show tonight at which I will dress like John Lennon - down to the New York City t-shirt. Oh yes. Now if I could just get some of those royalties... The problem with these newsletters is that sometimes - believe it or not - I really don't have anything to say. Even anything meaningless.

Here's what I will say - please vote. Please register and please please vote because we need major changes in this country and as you could see from last time, even a few of us make a difference. Hell, I know how many people are on this email list and believe me, if we all voted we would definitely make a difference. Please - before this country becomes Orwellian, please get to the touch-screen or the lever or the chad or whatever it will be this time around and get out your opinion. Americans are definitely opinionated so let's rejoice and use it!

(And if you live in Florida, maybe consider moving before election time... Just with brother Jeb running the show and all...) And for those of you overseas, I suggest you vote too - why not? Whatever is being decided on must need your input so get on out there and raise your voice!

This is fun - ok what else? Oh yes, please wear your seatbelt AT ALL TIMES. While I appreciate the amazing response I get whenever I play 'Rain and Sunshine' about losing my friend Maribel in an accident in '97, I would actually rather still HAVE my friend Maribel and chances are I would, if she had been wearing her seatbelt that morning. So no joke, click it on every time friends. OK now we need an upbeat one - how's this:

Always, and I mean always, order hollandaise sauce if it is an option at all. For those of you who don't know, hollandaise is this heavenly sauce often poured over eggs benedict (again government reference eh? Benedict - vote vote. OK anyway) and it consists of I don't know what but boy is it delicious. It's also apparently hard to make which is why you only come across it when looking at menus in restaurants and not, I venture to say, when you are whipping up a quick dinner at home. Thus, when available, it must ALWAYS be acquired. Which leads me to my next opinion:

Avoid peanut-butter jellybeans. Yes this is a strange invention. Don't get me wrong - I love the stuff. It's just that personally I am a peanut butter purist. I love peanut butter on a spoon or with bread, but not when it is squeezed, splattered, baked, and infused into cookies, cakes, M and M's, candy bars, and chewy candies - and especially jellybeans. Lime, blueberry, cherry, OK. But peanut butter? That just stops me in my tracks every time. Oh a biggie -

Please don't litter. It's just gross. 'Nuff said.

And here's a more abbreviated list - in my opinion of course:

1. Buy the first Prince album with the New Power Generation. (I think the title is just that symbol thing.) One of the best albums ever made. Get ready to shake your groove thang. 2. Please use your turn indicator. This country has gotten very lazy with our signaling. Other countries are exempt from this since they're not expected to drive safely anyway. All or nothing folks. 3. Try to avoid the corporate monsters like Starbucks. I know they're great for comfort and consistency but it's just so boring. Life is an adventure so try something new! (Although one exception to this is for nursing mothers - I notice Starbucks is an excellent place for public breast feeding since it's all new-age sensitive folks anyway and with its strong cup of coffee, peaceful forest green decor, and scattered deep armchairs, it does lend itself to taking a break from a day out with baby.) 4. I do not have a baby nor am I breast feeding. Just to clarify. 5. Buy hybrid cars - they are awesome and make life cheap in the gas department. OK, so I don't have one but I'm so all over it in a few years when the Mazda kicks, I swear. 6. Remember that homeless people are real human beings with less stuff and more headaches. Just smile sometimes even if you don't have a dime to offer. 7. Check out the Jerry Seinfeld documentary Comedian - this is especially for all artists and self-employed folks! 8. Go to Scotland. 9. Eat free-range meat. If you don't feel like bothering just visit a chicken factory and any of the sick local residents living near its polluted water supply. 10. Trust yourself. 11. Recycle. 12. Pluck your eyebrows (I'm still learning about this one.) 13. Just buy a goddamn roll of stamps instead of 2 or 5 each time. You know you're going to need them for god's sake. (oh sorry - that one was just for me.) 14. Never end a list on #13. So how's that? Sam's list of totally self-righteous, somewhat frivolous, and summarily liberal opinions. Why am I telling you these? Well if you had an email list, you could tell people yours. Plus I had nothing else to say this month as I mentioned before. Oh I have one more: 15. Look up the meaning of the word "summarily" before using it in an email to thousands of people.

So I'm still in the Wendy Woo tour this week! Playing in Ithaca Saturday and then heading to Colorado next week to play with her in Fort Collins. Other big shows in November include a FULL BAND SHOW in Atlanta (my home away from) at the very cool Smith's Olde Bar. And another one-night Upstate New York tour with Teddy Goldstein in Syracuse on the 8th. Plus more adventures in North Carolina. And in December, I hit the cross-country road again to play some of my favorite rooms including Schuba's in Chicago and Off Broadway in St. Louis and Genghis Cohen in L.A. and and and and!

Thanks to everyone who made the shows in October so much fun. I got to try out my new skirt (it's not a KILT, it's a skirt folks. Jeez.) at my favorite Molly's Pub at Wellesley College, and play in a silo at Bates College and hang with the amazing Dan Bern in a barn in Virginia, and feel my name in Braille at Sarah Lawrence, and eat great cookies at Just Joan's, and check out the waterfalls in Ithaca. Yup, they're still falling in case you were wondering.

OK and I'm off to don my round sunglasses, black cap, long leather coat, New York City t-shirt and bell bottoms for the full Lennon look at the Postcrypt tonight. Have a great November and hope to see you out there!

Be well,
-Sam

www.samshaber.com
www.smgrecords.com