If you placed an online order through this website within the last 2 months and haven\’t received it yet, you may be the victim of a computer glitch that has been causing us not to be notified when online orders are placed.

The glitch is fixed now, but if you still haven\’t heard from us regarding your order, please send an email to contact@41gb.com.

Thanks and we\’re really sorry for this nonsense.

Well, the last two nights were just plain remarkable. Not only did they include great Mexican food and a couple hours of laughing and eye-rolling at that Ashlee Simpson TV show, but also, we got to play two really fun shows with our friend Christy Darlington and many other cool bands such as the Goners.

Christy\’s been all MySpace-happy lately (and rightfully so, since it\’s helping him meet a bunch of cool and interesting people, and it\’s helping him book his next tour), so be sure to stop by his page and become his \”friend\”. And it just so happens that our drummer Matt has finally set up a 41GB page there, too. Admittedly, I\’m a slow adaptor of technology and am still trying to comprehend the cult leader-like power (and I mean that in a good way) of MySpace. But it seems that many have already comprehended it and proven it to be a worthwhile – if not vital – venture. I\’m sure I\’ll get on board soon and join, probably right about the time it becomes yesterday\’s news, but until then, please feel free to visit Matt\’s page for us, and be-\’friend\’ us, too.

Thanks those of you who came out to the Aardvark or Fat Daddy\’s this weekend; we really appreciate the support. It\’s really been a lot of fun doing the three-piece thing again (it\’d been over seven years since I was last a part of one), but I don\’t know if I\’d feel that way if it weren\’t for the kind things some of you at the shows have said. So, thanks.

Keep your eye on the show update section, because there\’s a couple more coming up soon. February 9th at the Aardvark I know for sure (yes, that\’s a Wednesday, but don\’t let that turn you away just yet; it\’s actually going to be a pretty neat thing; details in a day or two).

I hope you\’re good, and we\’ll see you soon.

UPDATE: That liquid foam still hasn\’t come off my hands. Tanner\’s either. We\’ve been walking around for two days telling people, \”We know it looks like it, but we swear to God our hands really aren\’t dirty\”.

Just an update. And a warning if you ever have to use that crap…

Oh and, yeah, uh, we\’re still playing shows this weekend, so, uh, come on out and stuff.

Wow. Soundproofing a room is difficult. That\’s what we were attempting to do to the new practice space yesterday. A few sheets of MDF (that means medium density fiberboard, I think), 40 feet of insulation, a can of liquid foam, and three neatly hung curtains later, we\’ve at least got the windows somewhat under control. A work in progress, I guess.

Oh yeah, and we played in Waco last Friday. Thanks to an enthusiastic crowd, a bunch of cool bands, one kick-ass promoter, and about 19 heat-belching barrels of fire (I\’m not kidding; it was literally at a junkyard), it turned out to be a really great show. And although our jackets and guitar cases still reek of burning wood, we can\’t wait to go back (hopefully in March).

Also, this Friday and Saturday we\’ll be playing in Fort Worth and Lewisville respectively (details on the right). The best thing, both shows are with our longtime local favorites Darlington. We hope you can steal a car and make it out or something. Don\’t forget, it\’s our local debut as a three-piece, so you won\’t want to miss out on the heckling opportunity of a lifetime.

41 Gorgeous Blocks is no longer a garage band. After more than five years of holding band practice in Matt M\’s parents\’ modified \”carhole\”, we\’ve packed up and moved. To Matt, Tanner and Wes\’ new house.

My entire loud-noise-rehearsing career has been confined to only garages, bedrooms, attics and used CD store recording studios, so I\’m especially proud – and a little excited – to be able to add \”living/family room\” to the list.

We cranked it up last night. The neighbors are either really cool or really deaf. Maybe both. Hopefully both.

Well, here we are. 2005. Kinda has a nice ring to it, don\’t you think? You know, if you say it under your breath and don\’t really listen to yourself…

No, I\’m kidding of course. Actually, one week, a couple holidays and a birthday later, I feel more ready to get on with a new year than I ever have in my life. I\’m not sure if it\’s the excitement of what could be ahead or the desperate need to get as far away from the worst hangover of my life. Either way, 2005, you\’d better watch out. Here I come.

I tell you, though, as I sit here thinking about it, 2004, to me, was a pretty incredible year for music. First off, five of my favorite bands all released great new albums (some of them almost too great; you know, the kind of great where you neglect everything in your life for a few weeks because you can\’t do anything but listen to it repeatedly until, one day, your enjoyment becomes obsession and you find yourself quoting lines to, not only family and friends, but neighbors that you don\’t even know or like the look of; then, without warning, you start to almost turn against the album, blaming it for either being so good that you now have nothing to look forward to ever again, or for wasting all of your precious time (and the chance to finally get to know your neighbors); and it\’s always just before rounding the corner of getting completely sick of and fed up with the album that you start to feel the dreaded grip of over-indulgence on your shoulder; you immediately once again side with the album, hoping that through combining your efforts, you can beat over-indulgence, and beat it good; but after trying numerous times to hit it head-on to no avail, you realize that over-indulgence is just too big, too fierce to compete with and that compromise is the only worthy road anymore; you finally put the album away – or loan it to your girlfriend – in order to keep your sanity – although that\’ll always be up for debate.)

Where was I?

So yeah, MTX, Descendents, J Church, They Might Be Giants, and Green Day all released albums in 2004. Great ones (although, if you know me, you probably know that my mood can, and usually does, turn on a dime when discussing the new Green Day; at this particular moment, however, I\’m sticking with it being great; well, good; well, not as good as their others, but… well, it\’s good; great even; maybe even better than their others; hell, I don\’t know; ask me in 2006).

I also got to see many of my favorite bands play live this year. All of the above for the ump-teenth time, with the exception of Descendents, although… well, we\’ll get to that.

I also saw many other great bands again including the Queers and Bad Religion to name a couple, and finally got to see one of my all-time favorites for many, many years now, the Violent Femmes. They were terrific, playing every song you\’d hope they would. So, stripped-down yet so richly fulfilling. That was back on St. Patrick\’s Day, and I remember having a 102 fever and feeling like suicide was the only remedy, but it still turned out to be one of the best days of my life. Everything and nothing you\’d ever want to see in a band (that was meant to be a compliment, although it sounded nothing like one; I guess that\’s what you get for letting your 2 day-old hangover do your writing…).

Anyway, I\’m not exactly Zac Crain here, so I\’ll stop already with the review writing. Just trying to get across that, concert-wise, 2004, well… ruled.

Now, in addition to releasing our 4th album in February, our little band also managed to experience the once-perceived-unexperienceable, when we played with our longtime idols, The Mr. T Experience. Such cool guys, great musicians, and ridiculously talented conversationalists. I still find myself reliving those moments in my head from time to time, during lunch breaks and quickies.

Lunch breaks and quickies aside, 2004 also made way for another very awesomely badassical (word courtesy of Darren Paul) moment in 41GB history: working with punk guitarist, producer, legend Stephen Egerton, from ALL/Descendents. I think somewhere in the August or September archives of this website lives a more detailed description of those weekends, but I\’ll just sum it up by saying that sitting in the control room with my friends as we all sang \”I\’m The One\” while Stephen played it on my unplugged, out-of-tune Les Paul… well, let\’s just say life can\’t possibly get much better than that.

Yes sir, because of the things I\’ve just told you about (and many I didn\’t), this last year was most definitely good to me. And although some not-so-good and some downright terrible things also occured in 2004, I\’m going to just focus on 2005 for a while.

I hope you have a happy new year, and I encourage you to consider what it is that you really want, and then… well… go get it, dammit.

See ya/ Matt R.