Bonjour, to all my peeps in the Love and Baby Lemonade family! It was brought to my attention that I hadnt even written in the ‘Mike Randle Diary’ in two months. And some great emails of support were coming through, so thank you. People not only read ’em but they actually like ’em. Thanks again, I feel good about that. And you know, I tried doing FaceBook (i havent checked in ages) but I am so much on the go i simply do not have the time to do that stuff. And although my wife Twitters (with Richard “Tap the Rockies” Meehan of all people), I am not down that road. I am working on my pedalboard, writing songs, rehearsing and really loving music now more than I ever have.

Thanks again to all the warm spirits and vibes that made it out to the shows in August, and even those who couldn’t, for whatever reason, make it out; thank you anyway for your continued support.

For the last 2 days Los Angeles has been windy as i can ever remember it. I have a scooter i ride (it runs on electric battery, see how Green I can be?) but my helmet has no face shield. OMG, there were LITERALLY storms of garbage flying down Broadway avenue in Santa Monica. I had to pull over at 10th street and wait it out. I couldn’t ride because i couldn’t see. It was that crazy.

I purchased a 12-string Electric Guitar and it is fantastic. It’s made by Eastwood Guitars up in Toronto and is a sort of affordable replica of a Gretsch Country Classic 12. I have been jamming along with the first Love record, as well as the Notorious Byrds Brothers CD and this thing sounds like magic. I am very happy. And Hannah and I are putting the finishing touches on the spare room, which is where I keep my guitars and stuff and it’s made it easier for me to be creative and have fun.

I am, however, quite happy to report that Daddyo, Chappie and I have been working with Johnny Echols on stuff and are doing a show November 19th at Spaceland in Silverlake, CA. The idea is that we’re going to look to do a show or weekend of shows once a month. This isn’t under the Love moniker and it won’t be strictly songs that people expect. We are starting this first gig over with some early Love stuff + a few cool covers and several songs from Gethsemene. Since we aren’t on tour and constantly traveling we can actually LEARN tunes and play them. On the last tour we really wanted to bust out more material but what you find out when you tour is that you spend MOST of your time just GETTING to the gig. And in our case, we spent 4 hours just trying to LEAVE Canada and we were 50 miles from the border!

I know many of yall are not in southern california so i certainly do not expect you to make a special trip but if you wouldn’t mind cutting and pasting the info below and passing it on, it would mean the world to all of us. And it’s the day after my 43rd birthday so, heck, come on out and celebrate with us!

As I’ve said so many times, we love playing music and if you love hearing music then we’ll all keep this fun going. And since Rusty is in the UK and we aren’t doing our ‘usual’ thing, we are calling this musical experience, JOHNNY ECHOL’S TURN, which is what Arthur would say to J.E. everytime it was his turn to shine.

Mike Randle