I'm still beat up physically but I at least now have time to rest and recover, and reflect over what has been going on, I"ll take some time and do that now.
We kicked off the Carr
iage of Goods tour on Friday may 12th at the Palms, our home bar of sorts. The palms has recently been getting a bit hip and has had some work done, including a fabulous stage built by SG friend Miles Matisse. Our last show at the palms had been plagued by horrid feedback problems, so I had a major goal of having no feedback at all occur during our set. To accomplish this I decided to forgo using the Palms sound system at all, as their speakers are not at all positioned with a live band in mind. We all went in super early to set up and sound check and in the end that work paid off as our sound seemed strong, loud and feed back free. I'm always happy when we manage to do a show using only the equipment we own, it makes me feel oh so indie. I know a lot of bands that don't really know thing one about what actually makes the sound come out of the speakers they borrow from clubs or other bands and given the task of performing without the aid of knowledgeable professionals would be completely helpless. To me that just seems silly, and it seems like a person's music is far too important to not put in the time to understand how it all works. Then again there are going to be people giving the argument that they are creative artists who need not waste precious brain power learning how to hook up speaker cables and understanding minimum wattage requirements. So I'll just shut up, I don't really care to be falling off of any soap boxes today.The show itself was ultra fun, like, amazingly fun. While playing I kept looking into the crowd and seeing people who have become extremely close friends, and they were dancing and taking photographs, but most important they all seemed to be having a lot of fun, and that really meant the most to me, and it caused me to have a major good time. Definitely in my top 5 shows of all time.
We partied until the wee hours of the morning in celebration, only to wake up far too early in order to play Santa Barbara Pride. That show was strange, really strange. On a hole though I did enjoy it. I'm starting to feel like I've blogged about this all before because I feel I mentioned the HUGE scary break failure we had on the way down. If I didn't actually mention it just be assured that it happened, it was scary, and a guy named Pedro saved our ass and allowed the show to go on, and to stop when it needed to.
I left work last Thursday in a super chipper mood, oh so excited and ready to pack and hit the road in the morning. Amy and I took the escape to the car wash directly after work, getting it pretty inside and out for the long haul up the coast. I note the car wash because who should I see washing his trademark 69 Porsch as I pull in? That is correct, Rob Dickinson, the one, the only. We spoke a bit, he remembered meeting us there before, apologized for not getting a chance to listen to it yet but promised he would very soon. I asked what was up next for him, he said he was in talks with a label to re-release fresh wine for the horses in Canada, I was able to impress him a bit with my useless Catherine Wheel knowledge by chiming in with, oh yes, CW always sold very well there did they not, to which he replied, actually yes, western Canada was our strongest market. I'm that good Rob.
After completing silly tasks including blonding my hair Devin and I took a good small break and went to spaceland to watch Ghostigital. I felt embarrassed to be from LA and have only 5 or 6 people in the entire bar to watch such a cool Icelandic band, I mean really, the guy was in the fucking Sugercubes for crying fuck loud. Anyway, the show was very fun to attend, and made me have a much better understanding/appreciation for their music.
Friday: Woke up early and loaded the car. Packed to the tits it was. Devin and Marc met us in front of our house and we were off, listening to a special tour mix made special by Devin. Devin makes special things special. We had to take two vehicles, Dylans and Amy's. Dylan ended up having to work on Saturday, so he missed out on the drive up, only to fly into Oakland on Saturday and join in on the fun.
Friday's show was in Alameda, at a bookstore. This gig was supposed to be acoustic, but the wonderful women there wanted us to really bring the electro-homo rock, so we did. I still played acoustic guitar, but we rocked out much harder than we had planned. The show to me was a whopping success and we all learned a lesson about trying to be something you ain't.
After the show we drove to Denny's to crash. Denny turned out to be a wonderful host, providing food and drinks and a nice cozy comfy place to sleep and shower. I am eternally grateful. Much Love.
Saturday: After breakfast of bagels, fruit and yogurt at denny's we headed into San Francisco. We aimed directly for the Castro, where we would spend the afternoon drinking and eating at many fine establishments.
Later that evening we scooted over to Kimo's where we would play. The Kimo's show was fun, but certainly the least attended event of the whole tour. Luckily Marc had some friends and Dylan had a pal who showed up. Marc's friend Ben made the whole shoe worth while because he hooted and hollered enough for 50 people. People like that make for great living.
After the sweaty show in the hot attic of Kimo's we hit the road for Williams, CA. Approximately two hours north. While crossing the bay bridge I noticed a green car coming into my lane, about to hit Amy's truck. I got on the brakes hard and watched as the car came full on into our lane, then I realized it was being pushed by a white ford explorer. The two cars battle back and forth like they were in a buddy cop film until the white car struck the center bridge wall and turned over onto it's side. Much shattering glass. I gunned our truck and sped around the scene as I fully expected a gun battle to follow. Later the green car passed us making a get way. Hope somebody got the license plate number and called it in...
Sunday: Waking up in Williams was hard. I was beat but excited to see Portland and Play for Church of Girl. We hit the road and saw some of the prettiest country there is to see in the United States. A good long drive, filled with rain and rush to make sound check.
When we finally arrived at the venue, in a fabulous Portland neighborhood I was very pleased. It was so super cool to meet Chris and Maryann from Church of Girl, and to see the Swallows Again. Sound check was easy and the sound girl was more than competent, which I love.
The show itself was super cool, certainly my favorite of the tour. The Highlight being the whole room dancing to "the Apple Falls". I'm thinking people really like that song.
We spent our Portland night at the more than fabulous Beauty Sleep. It's a private hotel of sorts, that provides a safe, fabulous space for good people to enjoy good living. OMG. This place rocked. Megs, who runs it and lives there was super. She even stocked our fridge with beer. We actually ended up throwing our own after party there. The party totally rocked, Portland people are good people.
Monday: On our way out of Portland we ate at the highly recommended cup and saucer, which lived up to the rave reviews. Our Waitress even bought a CD and T-shirt! How cool is that?
The drive to Seattle was easy, we arrived in the evening and easily found the Venue, which is quite certainly in the shadow of the space needle. We were able to load in at once and leave our cars in the back lot while we walked off to find dinner and to explore the city. I liked downtown Seattle, it was clean and fresh. We ate at a nice place over looking the Pikes Market thingy. We slowly made our way back to the venue enjoying the sites and drinking some coffee, as you do when you're in Seattle.
Once back at the Fun House we met the other band, Pop Slavery. They were backstage drinking the free beer provided by the club... how cool is that? Free beer! Pop Slavery were great people. It's always super cool to find a band that you can relate to, and can talk to easily. They played first, their set was fun and full of smiles and good energy. Really dig-able band. I want to spend more time and shows with them.
Our set there was fun. Amy was dying a bit from the travels and parties so her voice went out on her. She played the role of trooper well though and stuck it out even without her upper register. I was proud. At the end I had a nice feeling of having been alive on this little tour of ours, and a sense of pride at having worked hard for years on what I love. I also felt a sad that it was over. So many months of looking forward to the trip and in a snap like that it's over, existing only as a memory and blog entries.
So worth it.
After the show and some fellowship with Pop Slavery we hit that long hard road towards home. We planned to drive a few hours south that night to Kelso, WA and our last hotel and sleep before home. This drive was nice, Amy slept into the back and Marc kept me company.
Marc: Nothing less than our bands good luck charm. Actually he is so much more, he is a great friend to us all, and he LOVES pop music! There is so much great Pop Music from the last three decades that is just slipping away un-remembered, but not by Marc. He has already exposed us to so many great songs and artists. Marc is an influence.
On the drive from Seattle to Kelso Marc Introduced me to Nick Kershaw, sucking me in with "Wouldn't it be Good". I adore that song.
We got into Kelso around 1 am we all found a spot to sleep and slept like dead baby's until the wake up call at 8 am. From there on out we were on the road home. We drove all day stopping here and there for junk food and gas. We got in just a bit after 1 am. Long day, good scenery. Luckily I had great company in Amy and Marc, while I drove this is what they did.
