(with apologies to John Lennon)

So this is Christmas And what have you done Didn’t it seem like It had only just begun

And so this is Christmas And the end of a tour It was such a good one Don’t worry there’s more

A very merry Christmas To all of you fans You know that without you There wouldn’t be bands

And so this is Christmas And a rockin’ new year Let’s hope it’s a good one With plenty of beer

A very merry Christmas To the black and the blue The deep and the shallow The old and the new

And so happy Christmas To amd-p Good luck and good fortune To you, love from me

Thanks for all your support this year.

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Mon, 6 Apr 1998

The album is done. Sort of. It’s not really done until it’s in your sweaty hands of course, when there’s not a chance in Hell we can fiddle with it some more, at least not with current technology.

I suspect that at least some of it is palatable if not downright edible.

Once again, practically single-handedly, Darren Schneider did an heroic job.

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21st. December 1997

Studio work is in pause mode.

Twelve songs are on the wing.

The backing tracks are shut up in cardboard boxes and stacked on a shelf somewhere, patiently awaiting completion.

There are several hundred album titles.

More than that I cannot add other than stating that the gigs we just played in Atlanta, Orlando, Pompano Beach, Myrtle Beach, New Orleans and Chicago were more fun than should be allowed.

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23rd. October 1997

IG arrived in Orlando first, on 7th. September 1997, and the rest of us arrived in dribs and drabs. I dribbed in a few days later on the 9th. Sept to write with IG, IP drabbed in a few days after that, and JL dribbed and SM drabbed in about a week later. Anyway, the upshot of all this dribbing and drabbing is that the actual recording session started on the 19th.

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We have completed a brief stay in Orlando, at the same location where _I_ was recorded. No title has yet been decided, although there are several on the table, one or two under the table, a few beneath the cushion of a cheap chair, one caught on the horn of a suspicious looking ram on a remote ranch in New Zealand (no idea how it got there!), four were inadvertently washed in some jeans, and US Customs seized seven.

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