1
We've been busy being other people lately, so to speak.  Eric got a chance to put together a devastating band rolling out some great early COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS tunes (Chelsea, Lipstick Vogue, Green Shirt and others), on December 10 at the Viaduct Theatre:  Ellis Clark (Kevin Tihista's Red Terror, Epicycle) on keys; Brian Stout (Organ Wolf, Decoy Prayer Meeting) on bass; and the massive sounds of Steve Osterman on drums.  (Who put these fingerprints on my imagination, indeed).  Had a blast playing on that bill with Clyde Federal, John Aselin, Phil Angotti, Jay Bennett and other talents, too.  Similarly, back in October, The Bon Mots had  groovy time "becoming" THE BYRDS for the Halloweekend shows put together by Chris Andersons, who used to book Nevins Live up in Evanston. (Nevins has recently determined to do something quite risky and culturally relevant -- by adding itself to the list of big screen-tv sports bars.  Whew!  Was starting to wonder if there'd be any sports bars left in this town).  A big thanks to Tommi Zender (Trinkets of Joy) for doing a very nice job as (a young and hungry) David Crosby and to Brian Stout for bringing Chris Hillman's bass playing and magic harmonizing to life.  Also, Eric had a chance to croon miserably, take off his diaphanous shirt, put it back on, take it off again, throw flowers, lie on flowers, and generally mince about, as he, Tommi Zender (Johnny Marr), Brian Stout (Andy Rourke) and Tom Clark (Epicycle; playing some Mike Joyce) became THE SMITHS.  (Incidentally, keeping things as accurate as possible,  Brian and Tom were paid very, very little for their efforts).  Eric's got top sing "Still Ill," with the mighty Tributosaurus. back in November too.   Oh, and  . . .  Smiths is dead:  If you must go to work tomorrow, well, if I were you I wouldn't bother . . . 

2
We had a good time playing on Chicago's massive Q101 on Friday July 30. We played live to air "Idiot Kiss" and "Under Wraps," as well as Donovan's "Sunshine Superman," (right after they spun a Slipknot tune). Proving once again that truly, nothing is so heavy as Donovan . . .

3
We've been playing some fun shows lately, with folks such as The Waco Brothers, Marty Willson-Piper from The Church, and The Minders. Thanks to everyone who made it out to any of our recent ones. On August 13, we'll be at the Abbey with Frisbie and The New Constitution. Should be a good one. Eight bucks, 9 pm solid.

4
'Le Main Drag' entered the CMJ charts last week as 8th most added record; charting at 149 in the CMJ Top 200. Will hopefully climb further -- one truly can never tell, you know?

5
We've got some newish reviews under "Notices" from: All Music Guide, Amplifier, and others. Reviews also upcoming in Spin and Magnet.

6
The Bon Mots were on WXRT Radio Chicago for an on air interview with Richard Milne on April 18th. We have it up here if you'd like to have a listen. Richard Milne picked "le Main Drag" as one of his "Local Anesthetic Top 5" records for 2003, and continues to spin Bon Mots. Nice one.

7
Dagger Zine out of Portland, Oregon ran John Gray's interview with Eric and Mike in Issue #34.

8
Chris Payne of Q101 Chicago has been playing "Ghetto Falsetto" and "Nocturna" on his solid local show. Maybe he'll dig even deeper into "le Main Drag." To Monsieur Payne, who also recently ran an interview with us on air, we say, simply, "Merci, exactement!"

9
We'd like to thank Brian Royer from Analog Radio for sitting in on keys with us for four shows in April: Thank you Brian.

10
You ain't gonna believe this, but it's true: "le Main Drag" is being played on the radio in the following locales: Cadiz, SPAIN; Stuttgart, GERMANY; and SERBIA Freakin' MONTENEGRO!

11
Magnet Magazine, a bi-monthly glossy, now comes with a CD sampler of tunes. "Idiot Kiss," a tune off 'le Main Drag' can be found on the CD sampler for Magnet #64, on stands late June 2004. Magnet will be running a review of 'le Main Drag' in the next issue as well.

12
Eric will be heading to NYC to play CMJ Festival with Le Concorde, at Fez on Friday October 15. Rounding out the Le Concorde band are Ellis and Tom Clark (Kevin Tihista's Red Terror, Epicycle) and Brian Stout (Organ Wolf, The Deans). March Records is having their CMJ label showcase at Fez (which has played host to The Mingus Big Band for many years and counting). Should be fun. As the Lilys would say, if you happen to be a Nanny in Manhattan, and free that night, come on out.