Heads up to everyone who loves The Features, the Polyphonic Spree, drinking a few beers and walking to a gig to swing by and have a pre-drink at my place Wednesday August 11th. Door opens when I get home from work at 4:30 PM (shoving off early). Since drinking can get pretty pricey at UM and the parking here is plentiful I welcome all to our apartment to have a couple and walk over (10 mins) to the show. You can find us at 2305 Elliston Place Apt# B1. That would be the old building with the courtyard to the left of Jersey Mikes. Go to the door on the left and press the punch code 5,3,1 (everyone knows it anyway) We're on the second floor right where the diamond stained pattern is in the wood. I hope you guys can come by and walk over to a great night of tunes!

And here I thought THe Features were playing in Ann Arbor....

Don't park in front of Heads Up in the Chez Jose shopping complex. They towed my car last last week.

this from NME.com:

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE have revealed how they found themselves at the centre of a bomb alert.

A terminal area and five gates were shut down at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas after fears that an explosive was being carried in the luggage of percussionist Brian Teasley.

A bomb disposal robot was deployed to remove his suitcase and after a water cannon was used to open it, bomb experts found a custom-made Copperphone.

The luggage was destroyed but according to Teasley, he was apprehended by armed government agents when he arrived home.

The Texan percussionist told Billboard: "All of a sudden, these cars block me in my driveway. They've all got tinted windows, ‘X-Files' style.

"Then here comes one guy with a bullet-proof vest on, another with a gun showing. It was a very harrowing day."

Despite the airport drama, Teasley said that his microphone is still in working order.

Pitchfork reports....

Polyphonic Spree Drummer Brian Teasley Makes the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List
Godspeed You Black Emperor laugh it up from underground shoebomb facility

Cory D. Byrom reports:

Brian Teasley, percussionist for Texas-based indie-pop outfit The Polyphonic Spree, caused a major ruckus at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last Thursday, and in the process managed to weasel his way onto the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list-- for about an hour and a half. The offense? Concealing a microphone in his baggage-- a Placid Audio Copperphone, to be exact-- that was subsequently mistaken by airport security for a bomb.

No word of the scare had reached the Birmingham Airport Thursday evening when Teasley arrived in Alabama, where he currently resides, though he was disappointed to discover his luggage hadn't arrived. So he filed a complaint with American Airlines, then proceeded to do what anyone else in this situation would do: He went to Taco Bell.

It was upon arriving back at home that Teasley was approached by an FBI agent. Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, the agent asked, "Are you Brian Teasley?" When Teasley replied in the affirmative, the agent stated calmly into his lapel, "We got him." As Teasley tells it, cars immediately came from every direction at once, blocking off the driveway and thoroughly congesting the street. It turns out that after the airport security discovered the device in one of Teasley's bags, five gates were shut down in the C terminal, the bomb disposal robot was called out, and the FBI was contacted.

"If you're looking for a solid alibi, being on a national TV show is a good one," Teasley joked in a telephone interview with Pitchfork, referring to the fact that The Polyphonic Spree had recently performed on Late Night with Craig Kilborn. Once Teasley realized the source of the misunderstanding, he told the agent that he had the performance on TiVo, and could easily show them the microphone in question. After viewing the performance, the FBI were able to confirm with Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that the item in question was, in fact, just a microphone. However, why the agents were unable to just disassemble the damn thing and figure out that it wasn't a bomb is a question you might not want to ask yourself, if you'd like to feel good about the state of national security.

"I don't want to over-dramatize the situation," Teasley stated, "but there were two or three minutes when I thought I was going to be in Guantanamo Bay with the Abu Ghraib people holding a thumbs up while pointing to my penis. I wasn't really scared about Guantanamo, I just didn't want people to see my penis. I'm a very private person."

(Edited by holeypeacoat at 8:34 am on Aug. 11, 2004)