We played at the Bottom Line Saloon in June as part of the new Wednesday Night music series. Our partner band for the night was Harness -- what a fun group! (Not to mention, the safest group with the safest fans in town.) They professed to be newbies, but had a very polished sound and well-crafted songs. We knew that true and lasting friendships were being formed as tattoos were compared. (Go, Sara!) The Bottom Line is definitely one of the best clubs in town for local music -- the staff treats us great, the sound guy and stage equipment is amazing, and there are always new faces in the fun-loving, ready-to-dance crowd.

We played at the Blind Lemon on March 29. The club called us at the last minute to open for a national act. Unfortunately, it was one of those kind of nights: 2 extra bands were there, so we made no money and our set was cut by one-third; we had major equipment problems which messed up our sound in a big way; and we drew 90 percent of the crowd, so all of our friends were there to witness the wreckage. Ouch! I guess we need one of these kinds of struggles every once in a while to make us appreciate the nights that everything goes swimmingly. Thanks to the die-hard fans that came out to see us, despite the difficulties!

We played for the first time ever at the Maple Grove Tavern in Maple Heights on February 10. What a great club! The artwork is lively, the place is clean and comfy, the sound system and lighting is excellent, the stage is eeee-nor-mous, and the owners and staff are extremely friendly. And, as if that isn't enough, we had the pleasure of playing with Calfee Jones and the 8 Beats, a truly talented swing band that had everyone moving to the music in a matter of minutes. (Unlike many of us in the rock and roll crowd, these folks are REAL musicians that actually write and read musical arrangements...yikes!) And, the club had the wonderful good taste to play musical selections off of CDs by Bluto's Revenge and CD Truth before the show began. And, a lot of people we were thrilled to see showed up, including the ultra-hip dancers Brandy and Matt and the amazing swing-dancing couple, and even the original founder of PL3K, Todd, accompanied by members of his new band. It was, all in all, one of the best gigs ever.

We played at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights on January 14 with There's Hope Yet, a good-old-fashioned-in-your-face-punk-style bunch of rockers, and Horsedrawn Cadillac, a Kent band reminiscent of Laurie Anderson and the performance art set of the 1980s. It was a rather unusual combination of bands, to say the least. However, it was a great musical night for those of us whose tastes span a broad spectrum. PL3K is pretty evenly split on which of our co-performing bands we liked better (both were excellent and completely different than one another, so there's really no point to the comparison except to inspire pointless internal band debates). Those of us in the Horsedrawn Cadillac camp are convinced that everyone probably woke up the next morning, stumbled off to begin the day, and realized that they were brushing their teeth to the beat of My Area, while thinking about how badly they wanted Pancakes and Maple Syrup for breakfast. (Admit it, Dale.) Thanks to everyone who came out to see us; it was great to see some faces we hadn't seen in a while. Thanks also to our friend, Mike, who did a great job on sound.

We played a rawking, rollicking, fun-filled gig at Cleveland's hot Blind Lemon with local faves Curmudgeon and Hello Records recording artists Gloria Bills from Nashville.
 
We went mad for the Gloria Bills, and now have become devoted fans.
 
Nevertheless, we rawked the world of all the wonderful fans who came to see us -- Thanks, everyone!

Planet Log 3000 opened for Abandoned Houses and the oh-so-awesome, cool '60s pop idols, the Palindromes at the Bottom Line Saloon on January 29.

Despite Dale's flu, Shelley's sniffles, Martin's general angst, and Suave's exploding amp, PL3K managed to pull off a great set (if we may say so ourselves)! The crowd was cool. The show was enhanced by the great sound, extensive lighting, and the on-stage smoke! (Makes us feel like real rock stars!) The setup, bar, and especially the people at the Bottom Line are certainly among the best in the Northeast Ohio club scene -- go there!

All we can say about Abandoned Houses is, in the words of our good friend Rob, "they r-a-w-q -- rawq!"

The Palindromes, with their brand new lead vocalist, were the best we've ever seen them. It made us quite Happy and Oblivious to be squozed by William Tell!

Thanks to the fans for turning up at the show, the 'dromes for inviting us to play, and the sound guy and staff of the Bottom Line.

Planet Log 3000 opened for Out of Order and Fuzion at the Bottom Line Saloon on November 7. Onstage after us was a real, live fire-eater, which, of course, is a PL3K first! Need we say more?

Planet Log 3000 opened for Dutch electronica sensation, Solex (Matador Records), on August 3 at Cleveland's Euclid Tavern. Also appearing was rave band PurePlex. In honor of the two other bands, PL3K graciously changed its name to Planet Log 3000ex for the evening.

Although PL3K's music was a departure from the evening's electosynth theme, a number of fans seemed to really enjoy the set, and made sure to let us know afterwards. As always, they especially loved our Buzzcocks cover, I Don't Mind.

PurePlex had the fans up on their feet and dancing almost immediately. We were happily surprised to see Neil of Craw (formerly, anyway) in the lineup.

The stars of the evening, however, were undoubtedly Solex. Their unique brand of electronica merged inspired sampling, live music, and hauntingly sweet vocals. And, they were just really nice people, too. Definitely check out their CD!

Oh, and PL3K's secret thrill of the evening was our very-first-ever mention in the Plain Dealer (as openers for Solex, of course). Thanks to Steve of the Euc for giving us such a great gig!

Planet Log 3000 jammed at a rocking Christmas in July Party on July 11 at Annabell's in Akron. PL3K opened for those awesome elves with attitude, Missile Toe, and Akron's rock gods, CD Truth.

PL3K was groovy in their shades as they introduced Suave to the Akron crowd. As usual, the fans loved Suave's Buzzcockian vocals on PL3K's cover of I Don't Mind.

Missile Toe, of course, ruled. And, the original angst-ridden sprite, Jeff Hardy, showed the true spirit of the holiday by passing out a sack full of presents donated by the bands to the happy holiday fans.

CD Truth made even the Christmas decorations and Frosty the Snowman candles rock to their amazing set!

As always, the three bands, all fans of each other, had a fabulous time. (The fans probably enjoyed themselves, too, we think!)

Planet Log 3000 was featured on WRUW 91.1 FM's Live From Cleveland radio broadcast on July 2. This was the first time the band appeared on the show as Planet Log 3000 -- they appeared twice before as Planet Log.

In the hour-long live broadcast, PL3K played 17 original songs and 2 covers. Two of the songs were making their debut on the PL3K set list, One-Legged Menace (Suave's first outstanding songwriting effort with the band!), and Judy's Got a Gun.

The fabulous Live from Cleveland staff, headed by long-time WRUW programmer Marty Guilian, did an amazing job of somehow hooking up about a gazillion wires and cords and fiddling with a billion knobs to work their technical magic. They were also kind enough to burn a CD of the performance for the band. We're hoping that some of the other nice programmers at WRUW will play a cut or two from the CD they made for the station. (Hint, hint, Ron!)

If we may say so ourselves, we rocked! (Humility doesn't become aspiring rock stars!)

We played a swell gig at the Mantis Gallery on North Main in Kent on Saturday, March 7th.

There were legions of bands from all corners of the state, as well as one awesome punk group from Philadelphia called The Boils. (Get their CD -- it rules!) The number of bands playing was a great surprise to us; we thought that only four bands were scheduled. However, the other bands, mostly serious punk bands, were really fun to hear. Of course, PL3K has a definite fondness for true punk, even though we don't really fall into that category ourselves.

We ended up playing 4th, just before the Palindromes. Before we went on, we joked with the Palindromes about how we'd probably clear the place before they played. Since the Mantis was packed with punk fans, we figured that the obvious "pop" overtones of us and the Palindromes would drive everyone away.

At first, it looked as if our prediction was true...when we took the stage, one fan shouted "geriatric punkers," which, considering his probable age, was a relatively accurate statement.

(Dale said that if his lumbago hadn't been acting up, he would have asked someone to wheel him over toward the disparaging fan so that Dale could "teach that whippersnapper a lesson.")

We also discovered that there were only two microphones, negating the possibility of performing any of the three part harmonies we've started working into some of our songs. (Not that it would have mattered for this particular gig.)

But, as we started playing, we noticed that the place wasn't clearing out at all. In fact, it looked like the crowd was actually enjoying it. People were standing at the foot of the stage moving to the music. And, most importantly, these were people we don't know!

The end of our set included all of our noisiest songs, which really went over well with the crowd. We ended with the only song Suave sings (so far) and our only cover, I Don't Mind by the Buzzcocks. Dale introduced the song by saying, "This song is probably older than most of you." The response the minute the crowd recognized the song was incredible! Everyone seemed to be rocking out and singing along! What a kick!

(Apparently, news of our successful performance spread all the way to St. Louis. We got a really nice e-mail from a guy who said, "A couple of my friends in Ohio told me that your live show kicked ass." He wanted to know if we would be touring anytime soon.)

The Palindromes were up next. Despite some major equipment problems and a crisis on the floor with one of the fans, they were as fabulous as ever. We stand in awe of their enormous talent. (How does Rob play so fast?)

A solo acoustic performance and some other bands played afterward, including Furball, a Dink side-project.

All in all, it was a fun and interesting show, even if it turned out nothing like we expected.

Thanks to the fabulous Palindromes for inviting us to play with them.

We had our official debut as the New and Improved PL3K with Suave in the lineup on January 28. It was supposed to be a showcase of local bands, but it turned out to be just us (Cleveland's Most Responsible Band) and another band called X Tactic. We expected to play about 40 minutes and go onstage at about 9:30, but because of the dearth of bands present, we went onstage after 10:00 and played for about an hour or so.

We had a pretty good crowd for a Wednesday night...thanks especially to all of you noisy and enthusiastic past and present CCF employees! Thanks also to the couple of people we didn't know that complimented us after the show -- that's always a kick!

We concentrated on our newer songs, with a few old favorites thrown in for good measure. It seemed like everyone had a good time.

X Tactic, consisting of a guitarist, a vocalist, and a lot of recorded sounds and special visual effects, was an interesting blend of psychodelia and grunge. Their performance was an unusual departure from the standard band scene, borrowing more from performance art than from rock. The songs were well pulled together and the vocalist has a fabulous voice. Check them out in the local club scene.

The Euc's entire staff was really friendly and supportive. It's not too often that we get complimented on our performance by the club -- the clubs we play in usually don't care how the bands sound as long as they attract drinkers. Thanks a lot to Steve and the rest of the crew!

We played our first gig with our new lineup on January 16 at the Symposium (11794 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, 521-9696). It was a last-minute arrangement, so we didn't have much time to promote the show, but 20 people or so came anyway. (Heartfelt thanks to all of you!) We were happy to see both some new faces and some folks we hadn't seen in a while.

We were supposed to arrive for setup and sound-check at 7:30, but we didn't get there until about 8:00. No matter -- the headliner, Overlook, wasn't there yet. At about 9:30, Overlook still was MIA, so the sound guy told us to go ahead and set up.

It became evident that Overlook had completely overlooked this gig. This was a drag -- since we were the last-minute addition, we expected Overlook to be the real draw. Obviously, they weren't.

So, at about 11:00, we went onstage for an unscheduled Evening With Planet Log 3000. We played for about an hour to the few, but enthusiastic, fans.

Afterwards, we commiserated with the manager on the sorry state of the evening's affairs. We also spoke of the public's general lack of enthusiasm for going out to see original, local music in Cleveland.

Anyway, it was a good dress rehearsal for Suave's official debut on January 28 at the Euclid Tavern. Hopefully, the other bands won't overlook that gig.

Martin thinks our new tee-shirts should say The Band That's Responsible.

See Cleveland's most responsible band at the Euclid Tavern on January 28!

We played as a trio on July 25 at the Mantis Gallery in Kent (across from JB's/Pannini's). It was our first gig ever in Kent, which was one of the renowned locales that figured prominently in the events of Dale's misspent youth. (See Dale's lyrics for Reminds Me of You and Mr. Thrusty.)

We opened for the 10-year reunion performance of Bongos Jungle Party, spirited 1980's pop legends. Their renditions of Radio Nairobi, Dead Man's Clothes, Behind the Iron Curtain (remember when there was one?), and that song about Mary, Queen of Scots brought tears of joy to Dale's eyes. (Please forgive me if I got the names to any of those songs wrong.)

The last band of the evening was The Mickeys, including the appropriately named Bongos Jungle Party bassist. Their music, with a decided Irish influence, was both beautiful and rocking. Especially of note was their version of Bongos Jungle Party's I Sold My Soul to the Demon of Alcohol.

The crowd was lively, friendly, and attentive, and there was much rejoicing. The wild dancers during the Bongos portion of the show showed their many talents by switching to a mostly recognizable form of Irish dancing during The Mickeys segment. It seemed that everyone was having an excellent time. (I know that we did!)

The artwork is cool, too.

We played our first (and last) gig with Keith in the lineup at Karl's Elbow Grill in Akron at the end of May. We opened for a surf band, the Balboas.

This gig was our first (and only) chance to show off Keith's talents and to demonstrate our new more bang, less twang policy. (Just kidding, Dave.)

It was also the first time we've ever had a heckler ("Play Maggot Brain...C'mon now...1-2-3-4..."). Keith handled the situation by dedicating a song to our new heckling fan. (Which song? Are You Just Stupid, of course!)

Karl's is a pretty cool venue -- it's loaded with memorabilia from the many travels of Karl, the owner. The place is pretty small (we had to move two jukeboxes into a storage closet to make room for the bands to set up!), but that made it easier to have a capacity crowd, including fans from as far off as San Francisco.

The Balboas played a great show. As a treat for the fans, Mark Healy (former lead singer from the now-defunct Akron band, Everyone's Creepy Neighbor) joined the Balboas for a few tunes.