The Rocket to Saturn crew is taking the rest of August off to follow up some exciting leads in our search for a new lightspeed battery. Keep an eye here and at www.myspace.com/rockettosaturnkc to find out when we'll come rocketing back, sometime in September.

Thanks for a great summer and to everyone who came out to the Ex Post Facto show, and a special thank you to those of you who stayed until the wee hours of the morning for our last show at Davey's.

We'll see you in a month or so with some new songs. The Rocket may hit some turbulence from time to time but nothing can get in the way of this ride. Be safe out there.

Thanks to everyone who came out to make our CD release a huge success. You know who you are! Now that we're comfortable with your primitive recording technology, we're hard at work writing new material. You can catch some new stuff when we perform at the Battle for Red, White and Boom, 7 p.m. May 22 at the Uptown Theater. Come check us out, along with some other great bands. The Uptown is a fine venue and if you haven't been there yet, do yourself a favor. We'll also play Hootenany for Hospice, a benefit for KC's Hospice House at 3 p.m. June 13 at the Brick - see quite a few bands and contribute to a noble cause as well. Keep an eye here for some tracks from our new CD Black Hole Blues, coming soon.

That's right, good 21st century people. After nearly a year of struggling with your primitive recording techniques we are finally ready to unleash Black Hole Blues upon the world. Get your copy first at 8 p.m. Friday, May 1 at the Riot Room (4048 Broadway, KCMO). And as if a Rocket to Saturn performance and new CD wasn't enough, our friends Rocker Lips and Them Damn Young Livers will also be there to blow your minds. And don't forget sci-fi burlesque from Two Gun Tease. The show starts early, so get there, order your beverage of choice and settle in for a night of star-spangled, intergalactic rock'n'roll.

Well, friends, we've appreciated your fanatical support over the last year and a half. The fact that your primitive 21st century intellects can understand and groove to our tunes almost makes being stuck here on Earth worthwhile. Unfortunately, we are still several billion dollars short of our goal to obtain a new lightspeed battery and repair our bruised and battered rocketship.

We need your help! Come on out to Davey's Uptown (3402 Main, KCMO) on March 14 for a fabulous night of entertainment. Rocket to Saturn will be playing, of course, along with our dear friends LOVE TUSK (who rock it like nobody's business), Robots vs. Dinosaurs and The Sixteens. Four bands, $7. Can you beat that? No. Hope to see you there. No promises, but you might actually hear some brand-new material - the first songs we have written since we arrived on Earth.

Meanwhile, work on the album Black Hole Blues is almost finished. Delays arising from the primitive recording technology of your world have been inevitable, but we're now ready for our big-ass CD release party at the Riot Room on May 1. You'll get the exact lineup as soon as we do but we're expecting some special guests from out of town - way out of town.

Two shows to tell you about. We'll be performing at the Club Wars finals on December 20th at the Uptown Theater. Tickets are $10, which for 14 bands is something like $0.71 per band. A bargain that you can't afford to miss! And we can't afford for you to miss, either, with over $1,500 on the line in cash and prizes. We're looking into whether we can sell tickets through this site--until then, email me at baxter@rockettosaturn.com for ticket information.

We will also be sharing the stage at The Brick this Friday, November 21, with Red Kate and Heidi Phillips. This is going to be a killer show, so get there early and you can have some dinner and perhaps win some money playing Trivia Riot.

Two shows to be sure not to miss. First, we'll be playing at The Brick on October 18th with Kansas City's penguin-dancingest band The Threes--but that's not all! No, friends, not even close, because Chris Schutz (The Tourists) and Steph Hayes (The Good Problems) will be swinging through on tour, kicking asses all through the midwest on their way from Philadelphia, and they will be performing that night as well. Whether or not you're technically alive, whether or not you're human, you'd be an idiot to miss this.

Second, Rocket to Saturn has worked out a preliminary agreement to participate in Club Wars. Up to this point we have been hesitant to participate in any so-called Battles of the Bands because, being from the distant future, we have an arsenal of futuristic chords and beats that the primitive minds of 21st Century humans can barely comprehend. Often the reaction is one of distaste, much in the same way that Americans turn their collective noses up at the delicate treasures of offal; but I digress. The point is, we're going to need all the votes we can get, and you can't vote if you're not there.

"And where, exactly, is there?" Glad you asked. Davey's Uptown, November 1st. Not sure of the time yet, unfortunately, but you'll know when we do. Tell your friends and relatives, if you have any; if you don't, despair not, I am in negotiations with the venue to allow pets in and have their votes counted as well.

If you happen to be friends with us on MySpace, check your bulletins for important information. If not, you should add us (http://www.myspace.com/rockettosaturnkc) or you could miss some stuff that you might not want to miss. Anyway, we will be collecting donations this Saturday the 19th at the Studio Bar at 1118 McGee, in beautiful downtown Kansas City. Show is supposed to start around 9:00.

We've also signed up with the Rocker Lips to help them kick off their CD release at the Riot Room next month (August 16). We're supermega excited for them, and when we finally get our CD done hopefully they'll do us the honor of rocking the stage for us.

Unhappy with the primitive digital recording technology of the 21st Century, Rocket to Saturn has decided to release several of the already-recorded tracks as an EP and re-record the album with new gear. This will delay the album's release until late summer or fall.

The band will be playing at Davey's on May 10th with The Threes.

Added a bunch of new photos courtesy of Camille Brecht, taken at Davey's on December 15th, 2007. Really great work, thanks, Camille!

Got a couple more bookings in town while we continue to work on the album, which is coming along nicely. We'll be playing February 2nd with the fabulous Love Tusk at the Studio Bar (1118 McGee) and at Davey's on March 15th with the wonderful The Threes for what is being billed as the official release of their forthcoming album Head Voices.

The upcoming release of our disc Black Hole Blues is tentatively scheduled for April. More info as we get closer.