BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//EVDB//www.eventful.com//EN VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:The Presidents of the United States of America BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20081219T200000 DTSTAMP:20081125T153518Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION:All ages show\; $18 adv/$20 day of LOCATION:Lolas Room At the Crystal @ 1332 West Burnside, Portland, Ore gon 97209 United States SEQUENCE:1227627318 UID:E0-001-017450663-5 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017450663-5 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20081231T200000 DTSTAMP:20081203T011636Z SUMMARY:STG Presents The New Year's Eve Extravaganza with The Presiden ts of The United States of America Featuring:      Monotonix      The Saturday Knights      Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground      Vince M ira and the Roy Kay Trio      People's Republic of Komedy      DJ Cher ry Canoe DESCRIPTION:  With THESE ARE THE GOOD TIMES PEOPLE\, THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA have delivered an inventive\, uplifting and often brilliant rock & roll album. From the opening\, celebratory blast of “Mixed Up SOB”--which embraces the spirit of the band’s 4 million-selling eponymous debut--to the warm\, Shins-like lilt of ⠀œLoose Balloon\,” the group commandeers your attention with fourtee n contagious winners.Simply put\, THESE ARE THE GOOD TIMES PEOPLE deli vers the goods with PUSA sounding as vital as ever. With the collectiv e strengths of founding vocalist\, basitar player and principal songwr iter CHRIS BALLEW\, original drummer JASON FINN and guitbass player AN DREW MCKEAG--who officially joins the band with this album--PUSA lend their joy and enthusiasm to any and all within an earshot.Recorded by Northwest legends The Fastbacks’ own Kurt Bloch (Robyn Hitchcock\, M udhoney\, Les Thugs) and mixed by Martin Feveyear (Epoxies\, Amber Pac ific\, Screaming Trees)\, the disc marks an alignment between the band and EMI via the new imprint Fugitive Recordings. Sharing the landscap e with recent\, acclaimed efforts by Ween and They Might Be Giants\, P USA--as masters (and progenitors) of “Joy Pop”--dig deep and pull off their most diverse and accomplished record yet.Case in point is th e twangy\, swing-informed exuberance of “Flame Is Love\,” which ef fortlessly shares the company of more recent numbers like the riff-tas tic “Poor Turtle” or the light\, countrified “Truckstop Butterfl y.” As for the aforementioned “Mixed Up SOB\,” it was originally penned in 1989 and first existed as “a slow\, 12-string kind of thi ng\,” says Chris. “It wasn’t until I decided to Cars-ify it that it came to life.”“Chris is very prolific and there’s never a la ck of new material\,” Finn explains. “He’s also got stuff from t he last ten years on his computers. And he’s always sort of rifling through fragments of material from hard drives\, cassettes\, Dictaphon es\, wherever. And every time we do a new record\, he goes through tha t stuff. And every time I think I’ve heard every song that he’s ev er written\, he pulls out like eight great songs I’ve never heard\, and I’m like\, ‘Why the %$@ didn’t we do this one or that one?†™â€And then there’s the glistening\, piano-touched pop winner “Mo re Bad Times\,” which is brand new\, sort of.Replete with an a cappe lla break and a captivating acoustic shuffle\, the song--which can’t help but be one of the main focal points of THESE ARE THE GOOD TIMES PEOPLE--is essentially a hybrid of Presidents music and the lyrics to a song by an old\, obscure group known as Ed’s Redeeming Qualities. “I used to go see them when I moved to Boston in 1988. They had a uk ulele\, a violin and an old man shaking a can of rice\,” Chris chuck les. “And they had a song\, “More Bad Times\,” that was very dif ferent musically. But I always loved it.”“So\, we’re goofing aro und with acoustic guitars\,” Ballew continues\, “and Andrew starte d playing a new riff\, and all of the sudden that other song came into my head\, and I starting singing those lyrics over it and changed the rhyme scheme and it just fit. I wound up writing a final verse and di scovered how much fun it is to take an existing song and turn it into something else. When we finished it I was like\, man\, this is the fee l good hit of the summer.”“I was just playing this part on this Si lvertone guitar that Chris had in his house and it was tuned an octave higher. And he was like\, ‘Keep playing that! Keep playing that!’ ” Andrew laughs. “He started jumping up and down and got all excit ed.”“It’s certainly one of the high points and it’s in a spot where we rarely go\,” Finn acknowledges. “We’ve gone a little bi t further out toward the edges on this one\, but in a totally focused way. Of course\, people have always expected a ‘mixed grill’ from us stylistically. Our earliest crowds in Seattle didn’t know whether they were going to get loud\, soft or all ska on a given night. That was part of the fun…as long as it wasn’t ska very often.”Since t he Seattle-based trio first burst into the public eye with its aforeme ntioned debut – on the strength of radio smashes like “Lump” and “Peaches” – it has been plugging away in fits and spurts with r emarkable success. Look no further than their twice Grammy- nominated debut The Presidents of the United States of America\, which continues to thrive as an enduring modern rock disc since peaking at 6 on the B illboard Top 200. Enjoying the kind of longevity shared by eponymous c lassics of the genre like Violent Femmes and Weezer\, it’s found a n ew life on digital services like iTunes since its rights reverted back to the band in 2003.1996’s II rocked just as hard\, giving birth to the full throttle\, Top 10 single\, “Mach Five\,” which fostered PUSA’s most imaginative and infamous music video. Meanwhile\, accele rated fan favorites like “Lunatic to Love” and “Tiki God” left their imprint on then-up and-comers The Hives.In advance of a much-de served hiatus\, two well-chosen covers helped leave a substantial cult ural mark. First\, a boisterous take on The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star” musically defined the smash Adam Sandler flick “T he Wedding Singer.” Next\, “The Drew Carey Show” adopted the Pre sidents’ rendering of Ian Hunter’s “Cleveland Rocks” as its th eme\, bringing the trio into millions and millions of living rooms acr oss the fruited plain. “Ohio!” indeed.In 2000\, Chris\, Dave and J ason reconvened for the vibrant studio-only effort Freaked Out and Sma ll\, which boasted the airwave favorite “Tiny Explosions.” Giving PUSA a chance to record songs that Chris had crafted outside of the ba nd’s unconventional 2-string\, 3-string format\, the project include d the riotous track “Jupiter” and live in-studio performances on t he accompanying DVD. “We weren’t officially working again at that point\, Jason explains. This Musicblitz company appeared out of the et her and offered us a chance to make a record with no touring obligatio n. Sounds like a hoot\, says us\, and we had a blast recording it for 10 days\, then didn’t give it another thought. Neither did Mudicblit z\, who went out of business a couple of weeks after putting it out.†A full reformation followed a series of reunion gigs for 2004’s Lov e Everybody\, and while critics were handing out four star reviews and “Some Postman” was a radio favorite\, the band ultimately realize d that operating as a touring band and maintaining its own PUSA record label was a huge undertaking. As Finn puts it\, “Being our own labe l was interesting\, but ultimately the day-to-day realities of managin g a retail operation were taking too much of our rocking time. Plus\, during our frequent DIVA tantrums\, it was less fun calling and scream ing at ourselves!”With Love Everybody\, Dave stepped away from the b and for touring purposes and ultimately passed the guitbass to McKeag\ , a Seattle music vet and longtime friend of the band who was initiall y introduced to the group by Dederer years ago and who first served as a roadie for The Fastbacks when they opened for PUSA on their June 19 96 U.S. tour.“After 200 shows in the band\, I’ve finally earned my stripes. Woo-hoo!” Andrew laughs. To which\, Finn adds\, “Andrew is a huge\, huge guitar player. He takes the rock & roll of the band a nd capitalizes the ‘R’s’.” It’s a notion upheld by the punch y\, rollicking “French Girl\,” the quirky and undeniably sharp “ Fangs”--which boasts Jason’s finest harmony vocals to date--and th e blistering\, forceful anchor track “Ghosts Are Everywhere.”Then there’s “Deleter\,” a bona fide funk song with horns that the ba nd built from a beat that Finn had been playing at soundchecks for yea rs. “One day at practice we put it together but I couldn’t make an y lyrics fit\,” Chris explains. “Then I remembered an email I had from Robyn Hitchcock--who I’ve been friends with and whose records I ’ve been playing on for a while--and he asked\, ‘Do you still have that horn part you did?’ So I wrote back\, ‘No man. If I know you ’re not going to use it\, I delete it. I’m a deleter.’ And he re plied\, ‘She’s a deleter.’ So we started riffing back and forth. That banter became the chorus. I wrote the verses and we finished it. ” Soul singer Fysah Thomas rounds out the song with the first ever g uest vocal appearance on a Presidents album.With a cover image of a ha nd with a pin coming in to pop a balloon\, Ballew says the track “Lo ose Balloon” fostered the album art. It was also the first song he w rote for THESE ARE THE GOOD TIMES PEOPLE. Written on Christmas Day 200 5\, the first he spent alone after his marriage dissolved and his kids were off with their mom\, Ballew says\, “The split was a positive o ne but that day I was really bummed. My whole life was changing. And t hat song came out as therapy.”When it’s suggested that although it came from a dark place\, it still translates as a song of strength\, Chris is quick to explain. “When you write a song and you play it li ve you have to live it\,” he says. “If you tell a sad story\, you have to live it over and over again each night. So my version of music al therapy isn’t to wallow in the sadness but find that little brigh t spot and turn up the volume on it.”That sentiment lends itself to the title of the record: “Whenever we were on tour over the last cou ple years and things were sucking and we’re sitting backstage somewh ere\, cold and eating whipped turkey in some strange third world count ry\, everyone would be quiet and I would say\, ‘These are the good t imes\, people.’ Like\, this is it! This is what we signed up for! An d it sort of mutated into the record title\, when I thought that witho ut the sarcasm\, it could be used as a positive statement. “Perhaps that outlook also explains why PUSA have persevered and remain able to make inspiring music on their own terms long after so many of their ⠀˜90s alt-rock peers have gone by the wayside. With an average age of show-goers at around 20\, the band’s high energy shows continue to p ack venues all over the world\, selling out shows in London\, Amsterda m\, New York\, Sydney and Seattle on its last world trek.With THESE AR E THE GOOD TIMES PEOPLE\, new and old fans alike should find little pr oblem joining the party with PUSA circa 2008. “I know this stands up strong against our entire catalog. And I hope our fans agree. We’ve finally gotten to the point where we can let the vibe come to us and then we jump out at it and reel it in. I think we’ve really brought our ‘A’ game to this album. I feel like we’ve given as much as w e ever have on this record.”Forgoing the director role he has assume d in the past\, Ballew says a democratic dynamic steered the project a nd greatly improved the energy of the band. Playing to their strengths on THESE ARE THE GOOD TIMES PEOPLE\, Chris concedes\, “I’ve just kind of learned over time that it’s a lot of stress for me and I don ’t necessarily end up with something better. I just decided to lay b ack and not care while caring deeply\, letting the cream rise to the t op.” All artists\, times and dates are subject to change.\n LOCATION:Paramount Theatre @ 911 Pine Street, Seattle, Washington 9810 1 United States SEQUENCE:1228266996 UID:E0-001-016788780-6 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-016788780-6 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090130T180000 DTSTAMP:20081204T205434Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Liquid Room @ 1-20-1 Kabuki-Cho, Tokyo, TĂ´kyĂ´ 160 Japan SEQUENCE:1228424074 UID:E0-001-017445552-6 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445552-6 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090131T000000 DTSTAMP:20081203T171640Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of the United States of America DESCRIPTION: Information provided by CelebrityAccess.\n \n LOCATION:Club Quattro @ Gihu, Japan SEQUENCE:1228324600 UID:E0-001-017682323-5 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017682323-5 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090131T180000 DTSTAMP:20081204T205438Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Club Quattro @ Parco Jiquo-by 15-1 Udagawacho Shibuya-Ku, Tok yo, TĂ´kyĂ´ Tokyo, Tokyo-to Japan SEQUENCE:1228424078 UID:E0-001-017445556-2 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445556-2 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090204T193000 DTSTAMP:20081129T000947Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Pipeline Cafe 805 @ 805 Pahukaina Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96 813 United States SEQUENCE:1227917387 UID:E0-001-017450660-8 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017450660-8 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090205T193000 DTSTAMP:20081203T084239Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Rockstarz @ Hawaii, United States SEQUENCE:1228293759 UID:E0-001-017445571-1 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445571-1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090206T210000 DTSTAMP:20081121T203829Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Hard Rock Cafe in Lahaina Maui @ 900 Front Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817 United States SEQUENCE:1227299909 UID:E0-001-017445581-8 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445581-8 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090206T220000 DTSTAMP:20081123T222832Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of the United States of America - Maui DESCRIPTION: Age: 21 and above Phone:808-667-7400 Contact: maui_merch@ hardrock.com     Merchandise maui_sales@hardrock.com      Sales-Events maui_gm@hardrock.com     General Manager Description: The Presidents o f the United States of America\, commonly referred to as simply The Pr esidents\, PUSA or The Presidents of the USA\, is a twice Grammy-nomin ated American alternative rock\, or maybe more accurately\, garage-pun k-pop band. The band formed in Seattle\, USA\, in 1993. The three-piec e currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew\, drummer and vocalist Jason Finn with "guitbassist" and vocalist Andrew McKeag . Long time "guitbassist" and vocalist Dave Dederer departed the band in 2004\, after 11 years. They have released five studio albums since forming 15 years ago. LOCATION:Hard Rock Maui @ Bohol, Philippines SEQUENCE:1227479312 UID:E0-001-017458250-1 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017458250-1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090208T180000 DTSTAMP:20081124T180728Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Kilohana Plantation @ Hawaii, United States SEQUENCE:1227550048 UID:E0-001-017445592-4 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445592-4 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090319T000000 DTSTAMP:20081203T171644Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of the United States of America DESCRIPTION: Information provided by CelebrityAccess.\n \n LOCATION:Handelsbeurs @ Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium SEQUENCE:1228324604 UID:E0-001-017682325-3 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017682325-3 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090319T190000 DTSTAMP:20081121T205015Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Handelsbeurs @ Gelderland, Netherlands SEQUENCE:1227300615 UID:E0-001-017445633-0 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445633-0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090320T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T210245Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Paradiso @ Netherlands SEQUENCE:1227301365 UID:E0-001-017445679-2 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445679-2 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090323T000000 DTSTAMP:20081203T111712Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of the United States of America DESCRIPTION: Information provided by CelebrityAccess.\n \n LOCATION:Knust @ New Jersey, United States SEQUENCE:1228303032 UID:E0-001-017682327-1 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017682327-1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090323T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T210654Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Knust @ Hamburg, Germany SEQUENCE:1227301614 UID:E0-001-017445694-1 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445694-1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090324T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T212944Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Train @ Toldbodgade 6, Aarhus, Århus 8000 Denmark SEQUENCE:1227302984 UID:E0-001-017445795-9 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445795-9 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090325T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T213652Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Posten @ Østre Stationsvej 35, Odense, Fyn 5000 Denmark SEQUENCE:1227303412 UID:E0-001-017445820-4 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445820-4 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090327T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T214411Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Betong\, Chateau Neuf @ Oslo, Norway SEQUENCE:1227303851 UID:E0-001-017445855-0 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445855-0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090328T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T214644Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Folken @ Rogaland, Norway SEQUENCE:1227304004 UID:E0-001-017445866-6 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445866-6 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090329T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T215053Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Garage @ Hordaland, Norway SEQUENCE:1227304253 UID:E0-001-017445876-3 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445876-3 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090401T200000 DTSTAMP:20081121T215241Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:2 Club @ Russian Federation SEQUENCE:1227304361 UID:E0-001-017445884-2 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017445884-2 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090403T200000 DTSTAMP:20081122T073828Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Vicar Street @ Dublin, Ireland SEQUENCE:1227339508 UID:E0-001-017450653-8 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017450653-8 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090404T180000 DTSTAMP:20081026T073554Z SUMMARY:The Presidents of The United States of America DESCRIPTION:From Buy tickets at wegottickets.com!: LONDON: Astoria S AT 4TH APR\, 2009 6pm Ł13.50 25 available    Over 14's only\nFrom Even t details at allgigs.co.uk!: The Presidents of The United States of Am ericaIndie/ RockSeattle-based alternative/ grunge four piece\, featuri ng Chris Ballew – vocals\, basitar\, Dave Dederer – guitbass\, vocals\ , Jason Finn – drums\, vocals and Andrew McKeag – guitbass\, vocals\n LOCATION:London Astoria Theatre @ United Kingdom SEQUENCE:1225006554 UID:E0-001-016934285-7 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-016934285-7 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR