The Great Tribulation's album The Flood Brought The Fire earns kind words from Rust Magazine, publishing out of Gainesville GA. Thanks, fellas.

If you hit it quick, you can still get a free download of The Flood Brought The Fire ... offer expires in November, if I remember correctly. Give it a whirl, I personally guarantee you'll feel like you got your money's worth.

Happy Halloween. Let me recommend something for the holidays ...

My mother, Diane Josephine Storz (later Beldin, then finally Meier), died on October 9, 2011 after a six-month battle with lymphoma. The initial prognosis was good, the doctors believed that the type of illness she had was treatable, so while the situation was serious, we all were optimistic about her chances. However, she took a sudden turn last month and spent her last weeks in the University of Michigan hospital, surrounded by family who took turns keeping her company as she declined.

Diane was a kindergarten teacher in the Flint school district for much of her education career (a vocation she chose for herself as a little girl), travelled the world with my stepfather Roger during their retirement, was active in her local Methodist church for 30 years, was proud of her German heritage and collected Hummel figurines, played pickleball (what? it's this), hated cats but loved cat-sized dogs, and was frankly a pretty lousy cook ... everything I ate in my childhood was either boiled, microwaved or distilled in crockpots. She raised two boys alone for several years after her divorce from my father, lean times which surely informed her mania for saving money later on when she was more financially secure -- scouring newspapers and the internet for deals on things she either didn't need or didn't need in the quantities required was her greatest hobby, always a great victory for her to stock up on a dozen extra toothbrushes or travel-sized shampoos, which she would eventually bag and present to various family members with pride.

I have had very little experience with death, even at age 44 -- my people tend to last a long time and I still have living grandparents (both maternal and paternal) in their mid-90s, so her passing at 68 was a shock. I'm gradually recovering from the stress and tumult that any large event might create, but I feel that the true impact of her absence will hit me at some time in the future. We were fundamentally different people but also essentially similar, two identical machines fueled by contrasting solvents. My lifelong dedication to the baser arts caused her much concern at times, but she eventually grew to respect my drives as an expression of my essence and not simply a desire to shock and upset her. I loved her, and my upcoming birthday will not be the same without a phone call from her insisting on singing "Happy Birthday" to me as I cringe and roll my eyes.

The Great Tribulation strikes again at the Lager House in Detroit, this time celebrating not one but two significant birthdays (if any birthdays can be, these are as much as any), not to mention the band's return to public life after a summer of contemplation and songwriting, as well as yet another chance to herald the fact that our first two years have been captured in semi-permanent disc form via The Flood Brought The Fire ... but you already know that, right? Anyhow, if you're in Detroit on September 24th and wanna say hello, I'll be easy to find.

Lori and I bought ourselves a cat over the holiday weekend. Using the word "bought" for a living being seems dismissive at best, but I'll stick with it ... I am not a cat person, I grew up with a mother who actively disliked cats (she has loved a series of cat-sized lapdogs in her life, but her antipathy for felines is no secret), plus I'm allergic to boot, however, I have lived in houses with cats over the course of my long tenure of rental residences and found that unpleasant symptoms generally subside within a few months (as long as my sleeping quarters remain hair-free), plus as I age it seems that all of my human senses are prone to dimming, and susceptibility to allergens is, thankfully, on that list ... my old lady loves cats, has been deprived of them for too long, and our collective lifestyle is far more conducive to the inherent independence of the feline than the childlike need of the canine, so once I felt my own instinct for a dependent start kicking, it only made sense to brave the physical symptoms of cat ownership rather than the alternative.

Lori and I spent the long weekend tending to the curious wiles of what we are currently calling Gomez, a fairly ordinary Humane Society specimen aged 11 months ... he's pure black save for a wisp of white along his throat, has an unusual interest in dripping faucets and as yet has not suggested he'll be any more or less behaved than any cat. I spent a couple days on Benadryl, but even though I definitely feel a change in the air with the addition of Gomez's dander, I'm already acclimating and beginning our slow bonding process. He doesn't have much interest in catnip, but does seem to enjoy sitting on the couch and watching movies with us, so maybe that's something we can have in common.

Here's one track from the upcoming End Times 7" vinyl single (BSH-003), due this Fall 2011. The song is by Scott Sendra, the artist behind down mf ... this was an ELHC standard in the mid-90s when I was bassing in The Apollo Nine, I've always loved this song and wanted to resurrect it in some fashion, so here's my shot. Personnel includes me on guitars, Jennifer Green on vocals and John Nipper on percussion and piano. Recorded by Brook Davis at Backseat Productions in A2 MI. If all goes well (as it usually does), I ought to have this in hand by October.

The Great Tribulation has been spending our summer in the woodshed, prepping new songs and rediscovering our identity. Next gig is September 24th at the Lager House in Detroit with Doop and The Inside Outlaws.

Is that you? I miss you.

Metro Times coverage of THE FLOOD BROUGHT THE FIRE

"The Great Tribulation’s The Flood Brought the Fire (self-released) is a gem of a record. It’s female-fronted country, but not in that nasty Faith Hill sort of way. Rather, these tunes are honest, gritty and sublime." - Brett Callwood

How we'll spin it for future press releases ... "Female-fronted country ... in that nasty Faith Hill sort of way." The rest of it is good too, though. Thanks, Brett.

Meanwhile, an Austrian music distributor is selling our CD online, somehow. It must be a CD Baby connection, or else they're the worst bootleggers ever. Anyhow, it'll run you nearly $20 if you order it from them, and I assume the lyrics and liner notes will be translated into German, which is arguably the world's most beautiful language.

A nice snap from the Great Tribulation CD release gig back a couple weeks in Ypsilanti ... thanks to Tony of The Blueflowers (who opened for us that night) for documentation.

More soon, or sooner or later ...