Hey To All, Today, I’m in Columbia, MO. Last nights gig in Carbondale was a lot of fun, but, that’s the usual for a bunch of good time guys like us. I got to see Los Straitjackets last night, and, they were even better than their albums that I love so dearly. I think this is the best guitar band in the whole darn world. Whenever that we have an opening act of this caliber, and they’re nice enough to thank little old me for the gig, well it just makes me feel great. These guys are not just a novelty act. This is serious music with a not-so-serious stage act. They wear those colorful Mexican wrestling masks. They have the coolest choreographed guitar moves. They play very cleanly. Thanks to Los Straitjackets for doing this tour. So, anyway, here I am back in Columbia. I’ll never forget the gig here when Missouri State Troopers were there at the end of our show to confiscate our equipment. It seems someone sued us and someone else seemed to never receive the summons. We have a new song called "Sue Jack Daniel’s." It kinda of makes fun of the stupid stuff people do when they’re drunk. And pokes fun at the lowest form of life in our society—those people who sue other people and corporations for a living. If you get lung cancer from smoking cigarettes for 20 years, it’s no one’s fault but your own. If you want to use your votes or private work to limit or abolish cigarettes, more power to you. But, looking at something like this like it’s the lottery is just as criminal as anything that Philip Morris has done. People act like the cigarette companies were there to light they’re every cigarette, forcing them to enjoy it. C’mon! Well, it looks like I’m rambling again. So, as long as I’m going, let’s keep it coming! I’m having a problem with the way that we have been looking at drunk driving. For one thing, what politician is going to go against MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)? Not one. This is a political football that will be carried by politicians for years to come. Anyway, here’s the problem. Thanks to organizations like MADD, our politicians keep lowering the legal alcohol verses blood percentages that are acceptable for driving a motor vehicle. Now it is to the point that a hardworking, law-abiding citizen cannot have one beer on his way home from work in their car. But, more importantly, it has focused too much attention on drunk driving at the expense of over more important issues. Aggressive driving is making our roads more and more dangerous guy weaves in and out of lanes on the freeway driving 90 miles and hour. He’s talking on his cell phone, he’s cutting people off, if someone honks their horn, he flips them off. What does he care? He’s not drunk. If the cops do pull him over, then he gets some kind of $100 ticket that he knows with a little extra cash, some attorney can keep it off his record so his insurance rates don’t go up. So we live in a society that let’s assholes like him slip through the cracks. Yet, if I stop off and have two beers on my way home from work, then no matter how safely and legally that I drive, I’m breaking the law. Here’s another thing. Yes, I do know that driving while under the influence may slow your reaction time. Yes, I know there are documented cases of drunk drivers wrecking and killing. But, what MADD and those football carrying politicians won’t tell you is this—if you evaluate the driving records of the most offensive drunk drivers, you will find that they all have long lists of tickets that are unrelated to drinking. Speeding, running red lights and the most dangerous driving infractions will all be there. They can drive around every day risking the lives of law-abiding citizens without any real fear of punishment. Unfortunately, in our society today, those serious infractions are not punished near as harshly as DUI (in Texas it’s called DWI Driving while intoxicated). Where I live in Dallas, aggressive driving and road rage are everyday experiences for those who have to commute to work via automobile or bus. I think that it is time to punish speeding, road rage, and any kind of aggressive driving. It’s long past the time for our politicians to drop this MADD political football and focus on what is causing death on the highway—aggressive driving. It’s also time to give back a several tenths of a percentage points of the legal blood/alcohol levels for the operation of motor vehicles. Two more beers is not going to turn me into the asshole driver who is the real menace to our safety. It’s kind of like MADD has no where left to go except down. Where will it end? Will it end when you can’t even get a drivers license if you have ever had a sip of wine? With all due respect to MADD, if you were to examine the driving records of those drivers who killed the family or children of MADD mothers, you would more than likely find that they had many aggressive driving offenses other than DUI. If these drivers had been removed from the road before that fateful drunk driving incident, maybe those lives could have been saved. In that respect, there is room for the criticism that MADD may be doing their cause more harm than good. Legally forcing me to have a half of a beer as opposed to three beers is not getting these dangerous, aggressive drivers off of the road. Anyway, here I am in Columbia, MO. Stephen (our guitar tech), Chris (our merch. guy), and I went to Kip’s Big Boy. I haven’t been to one of those for years. I thought that the Big Boy was rock-a-billy because of his black pompadour. Chris thought that he was ska because of his checkered pants. The White Falcon worked better last night. I’m really enjoying the change. It’s really not that different of a sound from my Gretsch "Nashville." A little fuller. Not quite as biting on the high end.O.K. this is three days in a row after months of nothing. I’m talking about the tour updates. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep you nice fans a little better informed on what’s going on.I’m hoping to have Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers (and the producer of our new album titled "Spend A Night In The Box") do an hour and a half chat on our website. He’s a very smart and interesting guy. I think our fans will really like interacting with Paul. Stay tuned. Oh yeah, I probably have mentioned this, but, we have a vinyl 7-inch single that’s out on my new little label Fun-Guy Records. The A-side is "King" and the B-side is "The Girl In Blue."Fun-Guy Records has no plans of releasing any other artist besides Reverend Horton Heat. And if I did, I’d already know which bands I’d do singles/CDs on. So, please don’t send demos. I’m not a label guy. I’m in a band that has enough struggles of our own. I don’t have time to listen to demos. If I change my mind I’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep rocking. Time to go. Thank you to all of our wonderful fans, Jim "Rev. Horton" Heat