The Hurdles

So as many of you know, since the last blog I posted Dana's been sentenced to 1 year in jail with work release in Utah, with her earliest possibility of release being in April. Mike and I have been pressing on as a 2-piece. We've added a few more covers and are working on new material to round out our set in Dana's absence, seeing as about 1/3 of our songs we can't (or won't) do without her. The timing of this couldn't be worse, as the CD is out on iTunes, Google Player, Amazon Mp3, Zune, xBox, and a few other online outlets, and we're looking to have the CD out soon.

For those who feel we are doing this in defiance of Dana... YOU'RE WRONG!!! Dana herself has been asking friends and supporters on the FREE DANA NOW page as well as her own Facebook page (which she has access to only during her work release hours) that everyone come out to the shows and support us. We have done one show as a 2-piece thus far and the turnout was quite grim. Keep in mind folks, this is still Dana's band, AND NOT SUPPORTING WISCONSIN BEEF COMMISSION IS NOT SUPPORTING DANA!! I know it's easy to click a "Like" button on a Facebook page and say you support, but there's more at stake here. Anyone who actually KNOWS Dana, knows she has never been one to sit still and be passive letting life happen around her. We need to keep this ship afloat in her absence, and it's up to ALL of us to make sure she has something to return to.

As for the CD, we've been rather quiet about the release of it lately, and I've been trying not to burn any bridges with the issues we've had in its anticipation. It's been overly frustrating having had the album mastered for months and no physical product available. Here's what's up, the artwork for the CD case and disc was started by an artist back in early August. Mid-September after sending it back for MANY corrections we received the final artwork for the CD. The end product was a) sized in a way that it couldn't be applied to the necessary templates for pressing (we had 2 web designers try), and b) the artwork was too low of a quality to use for printing, that is, the artist used pictures that were of too low of quality (and said artist had full access to the high quality pictures). The only thing we could use was the album cover art that's up on the aforementioned websites.

With the delay in receiving the artwork, and the horrible quality of the final product, that artwork was scrapped, and we have Aaron Valentine at JWD-Creative starting the project from scratch. Aaron has informed me he should be able to work on the artwork for the CD next week. The official word from Mike is that we will have the official release party after Dana gets out of jail, provided that she's out in April.

In the "not lettin' this get us down" file, we are looking at embarking on a tour in April, based on what should be Dana's release date. We're calling it "The Jailbreak Tour". and looking at hitting San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Ogden, and hopefully Chicago. I'll get more info out as I get it, but hopefully 2013 will be a stellar year for WBC. In the meantime, we're going to be returning to The Blue Pig in Cudahy, WI (formerly V'Nuk's) on November 17th with The 57's, and some other bands TBA. Hope to see y'all there!!

Utah... Screw You

As some (or many) of you may have heard by now, Dana is now sitting in jail in the exceptionally conservative state of Utah. This is not a joke as we have been accused of, she's really sitting in a cell as I type this. The reason being as follows: The story goes that she was arrested for theft when she was still in her teens and lived in Utah, and she was put on probation. She was given a list of things to do while on probation, including drug treatment, and graduating high school which she has done over the years. The only thing she did that was an issue while on probation is leave Utah. She did this to get away from the scene that got her into this situation in the first place, so she could meet with the aforementioned terms of her probation. Since then, she has been clean, and has not been arrested once.

So last week, Dana bought plane tickets, and flew down there of her own free will to get this taken care of so it wouldn't be an issue for travel, or our touring in the future. She faced the judge on Thursday, who decided she needed to sit in jail while he takes a week to read her file (they sure do read slow in Utah), and she would have her next hearing this Thursday. What we DO know, is that she is looking at a possible 6 months of further detainment.

Way to go Utah, you're really getting the message through to Dana. I'm sure she will never steal anything from your wonderful citizens again... oh wait... she hasn't done that in OVER 10 YEARS!! In actuality, Dana isn't the only one being punished (though she's obviously getting the worst of it). In truth  we're all suffering. Marty is in a state of limbo not knowing when his wife will be home, Mike is without his best friend for a time  to be determined by some dipshit Mormon who managed to get elected judge, Dana's family is without her for the time being, all her charity work is on standstill, and Wisconsin Beef Commission is possibly down to a 2-piece for Mormon knows how long right as our new album is being released. The only ones of all these people that are being punished that have ever even been to Utah are Mike and Dana. Nice job assholes!!