Missing the Low Country!

photograph by Melodi Fentress

It has been almost two months since we made a trip to the Coast. It was good to smell the salt air again, for a while I didn't think I'd ever miss it. It brought back good and bad memories of our time on the pirate ship, a year and a half on the sea will make you learn to love the water and hate it.

We were fortunate enough to get back to dry land before She (the sea) got the best of us, and this trip I found myself wandering through the port looking at a few 30' vessels, thinking how easy it would be for us to just quietly shove off in the middle of the night, BACK OUT TO SEA!

For now we will have to enjoy our time spent visiting the coast, dining on Shrimp n' Grits, smelling the salt air and dipping our toes in the familiar waters of the bay of adventure that is Charleston. Can't wait to go back, its a little dry here and the rain just isn't enough.

-jon bohlen

lyrics: the octopus song (in 5 and 3)

When I walked through the door
on my way to the sea, where you'll be.
The ship is at bay,
where I'll be after today.

It's the last day on dry land.
No more rotten earth or dirty sand.
Back to where I belong,
on the ocean, singing us a song.
An octopus song.

When I walked to the ship,
it was right where I left it.
Get on board, get off the shore,
while you wait for me on the sea.

The last day on dry land,
no more rotten earth or dirty sand.
Back to where I belong,
on the ocean, singing us a song.
An octopus song.


yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,
-matty sheets

notes from the road : Charleston, SC

A month or so ago, the Blockheads made their first trip to Charleston, SC to play a couple of shows. We had an outstanding time, hung out with excellent people, and played our asses off. Here are a few photographs from our five hour GPS guided drive from Greensboro to Charleston. A big thanks to Little P's folks for loaning us the van.


Little P's friends and sister live in Charleston and were very hospitable and supportive. We were put up on Danny and Joy's boathouse right near downtown. Both Danny and Joy work at The Early Bird Diner, where we had some of the best breakfast I've ever eaten. If you're in Charleston, go eat there. You won't be disappointed. Tell 'em the Blockheads send you.


Our first show was at Kudu Coffee Shop off Market St. We played on the patio, so it was horrifyingly hot, but the staff and sound man were very nice. I guess Kudu is a new place, so go check it out if your in the neighborhood. Good coffee, good food, great beer selection.

Some people came out, we had a fun time with it, and were warmed up and ready for the big show Sunday night. Local performer Laura Jane Vincent invited us to play her farewell-I'm-moving-to-Asheville, NC-show at the Tin Roof.

LV played and sang with a LOT of other Charleston musicians. It was a good time. Despite not knowing anyone, I felt the feeling of community in the room. There was lots of food, lots of hugs, lots of I-hate-goodbyes, and some tears. And quite a few drinks.

We wholeheartedly enjoyed playing the Tin Roof. We worked the patience of the sound man a bit- what with our all acoustic line up- but he worked it out and ran all thirteen channels on the board (including his talk-back microphone). We were well received, made friends, and hung out with some folks back at Danny and Joy's ship.

We came out of it a bit tighter, and with a new song called Wicket (named after our favorite of the three cats on the boathouse) about our trip. We will be performing it for the first time at our next show this Saturday at the Flatiron (we start things off at 10pm, then The Old One-Two, then The Alcazar Hotel plays their Greensboro CD release show).

Thanks, Charleston. We'll see you soon.

Check it out- Jerrod matches the couch.



-matty sheets (words and photographs)

the search for the Pond Monster continues...(Arlo gets wet)

Blockhead extraordinaire, Emily Stewart (vocals, banjo, dulcimer, Dixie honkelulu), has a dog. This dog's name is Arlo. I think his full name is Arlo Spaghetti Freddy, but I may have that wrong.

Anywhooo, Arlo is a bit afraid of the water, and has recently started swimming. Today we took him on a quest. A quest of the pond. A quest to find the Pond Monster.

We saw some weird stuff and got a bunch of blurry photos that look way worse than that footage of Bigfoot (shout out to my boy Bigfoot- miss you, buddy. Little P says playing the melodica just isn't the same without you).

The day was not a total loss, however. Emily and Melodi both caught exactly thirteen fish a piece.
-matty sheets

more on the Pond Monster.

Fishing for new tunes.

Way out in the country there's a road. Down that road there's a driveway. There are no numbers on the mail box, although there are numbers on the mail box at the next driveway. This driveway, the one without numbers, is a long and winding driveway going up then down then up again.

The house at the end of this driveway has a big front porch overlooking the fishing pond on the other side of the driveway. Hundreds of lily pads with blossoming lotus flowers surround, even envelop the edges of the pond.

photograph by Melodi Fentress

A T-shaped floating dock stretches out from the lily pads to a central point on the pond. A row boat and two oars are flipped on the dock- the boat sits upside down to prevent the collection of rain water.

On the front porch there are potted plants, a cat feeding station, and two fishing poles. With one of those fishing poles I caught a pond bass that I killed, cleaned, scaled, cooked and ate for the first time. It was delicious, and fed us for about a week, but that's another story.

The house at the end of this driveway, across from the fishing pond, has two main floors and a third basement level. The basement wraps around the stairs into three areas.

The quiet is nice here. The frogs (and many other creatures) sing into the night like they are longing for a frog who is across the pond- a long, long way to swim. Fish, deer, mice, frogs, turtles, butterflies and huge dragon flies are everywhere. One night, while fishing on the boat, we came across a -for lack of a better term- Pond Monster.

Yes, a monster. He seemed friendly enough (although he did steal a couple of the girl's bikini bottoms while they were swimming, and put carrots in Harry's beer). The Monster shook our boat a little, laughed at how startled we were, but most of all he scared the fish away and refused to sing the part we assigned him in a round of Row, Row, Row Your Boat (that's also another story).

I keep getting distracted. I apologize. The point here is that at this house, down this driveway, across from the pond where the Pond Monster lives, in the above mentioned basement we have set up sixteen microphones and will be recording our first album. The energy is good, we got some really good takes during the first couple of sessions, we made some progress arranging newer songs, and even wrote some brand new stuff.

I can't wait for the next session.

-matty sheets

We'll be at the Flatiron next Saturday, September 4th, to help our friends The Alcazar Hotel celebrate their Greensboro album release show with The Old One-Two.

P is for Progress.

A big Blockhead salute to our own Little P. Last night at Open Mic, she performed her first three song all original set accompanied only by her own guitar.
She's writing great songs that convey emotion bluntly and beautifully. She's singing out- loud and proud- in front of an audience of her peers, and for all of these things (and more), we'd like to recognize her talent and progress.
A big 'P' for Progress goes out to Little P for all of her hard work this week, from all of us here at Blockhead Headquarters.
-matty sheets

Recording Session Two

While our first recording session out in the country was a blast, it was cut short by responsibilities and life and logistics and transportation (not everyone made the boat), this second session was great. We had a good Friday night, and an all day Blockhead work out on Saturday.
Jon and Jerrod met me around 5pm on Friday. We set up microphones, sound baffles, and got ready for the rest of the band.
But then we got bored.
We ended up making up a song (which is kinda weird about a collage Emily made called The Lady on the Horse), and doing a version of one of our newest songs, Wicket (about our friends and times in Charleston, SC). It was not the same without everyone, and when they did show up around midnight, we had a blast. (Like I said, some of us missed the boat. They had to wait for the next ship to leave.) I'm not sure if we got any good takes Friday night, but it was a great time.
Saturday was an all out bleeding fingers and voices session.
We recorded a total of nineteen songs (multiple times) including a new one of Emily's and a song I wrote on one of our cigarette breaks. Little P brought a new one, too, and it got recorded with the lot of 'em, something about her love for African American males. (Probably spawned from her fling with the first mate of The Claudia in 2007.)
We are all set up around sixteen microphones. We're all playing at the same time to give us that live feel, to remind us of our times on the pirate ship we worked on (The Claudia), and to keep us in touch with our musical roots.
From what we've done in session two, I have the feeling this is going to be a long album, with many musical interludes and unexpected songs. And I like it.
-matty sheets