tour - day 15

happy valentine's day?

let's see, what has happened since last we spoke: well, shirley's brakes still work, we had a great night in l.a., a great night in san diego, and the less said about long beach the better...

mr. t's in l.a. was awesome; an old converted bowling alley that has shows where the lanes would be. we played with some fantastic local psychedelic bands: electric children, spirit vine, and rocking horse people. we're lucky enough that we get to play with the electric children again in san francisco next friday.

we weren't sure how san diego was going to go; we played the same venue last year and it was a dud, but it's under new owners now and the change was unreal. we crossed paths again with origami ghosts, a band from seattle that we met up with in arcata. never met them until then, but they had their cd release the same night as ours at the high dive, left for tour the same day we did, and have already hit many joints along the way that we're hitting on the way back. apparently they've seen our fliers everywhere.

once again, long beach stories are for later.

we are sitting in the silver fox in bakersfield, one of our favorite places to play. I swear it hasn't changed since the late sixties, and it's perfect. right before walking in I was talking with joe alton on the phone, telling him about the silver fox, and, no shit, a fox ran right by me! they love their foxes in bakersfield I guess...

okay, I'm thirsty, it's time to end this rant. buenos tardes, amigos.

tour - day 12

I see a pattern developing: play a really fun show, have rv problems. I don't think it has anything to do with radio shows...

here we are in san luis obispo, california, after playing a really fun show last night at a place called the clubhouse. we were part of a "songwriters showcase," which sounds an awful lot like an open mic night, but trust me it's not. there were seven other solos/groups that played three or four songs a piece, with us smack in the middle with our five songs that turned into 45 minutes. we know how to party. some of the acts we played with were really quite good, and some were very funny. the people at the clubhouse were awesome and treated us really well; drinks, food, ghost stories, etc...

now we're waiting for the brake pads and rotors to be replaced on shirley so we can make it to l.a. for the show tonight. without a doubt, this is the most expensive thing we've had to work on yet. but hey, by the time we get back to seattle we will have an almost brand new rv, right?

right?

tour - day 10

after a couple relaxing days off in the redwoods - damn, shirley was a champ - we made our way to san francisco, with a stop along the way to get the alternator replaced. now that almost the whole electrical system has been worked on things seem to be running well.

san francisco was a great time. house of shields was the place; it used to be a speakeasy during prohibition times, and it still retains the charm. the bands play upstairs in a little loft, 10 people makes it seem full. we ended up staying up til 5:30am with sam the sound guy. needless to say, our trip to san jose (where we are right now) was a little rough, but we made it.

now it's off to santa cruz and monterrey, two shows today. and hopefully some beach if there is time...

tour - the first couple days

it started out well enough: we got to sleep at 4 am after the cd release party, got up at 6:30 am, went over to all-city coffee, and were on the road by 7:30. our radio went out in tacoma (goddamn circuit city!! we said...), but spirits were high. about an hour outside of portland we noticed that something was wrong.

it seems that shirly, our rv (named after it's speed: we'll get there, slowly but shirly), had thrown a fan belt. it turns out, the fan belt also turns the alternator, and without that, we ran the battery out with our radio, thus no tunes. (sorry, circuit city, we didn't mean to besmirch your name.) as we didn't have another fan belt with us, we called sky's father, who lives about half an hour from where we were. he came with an assortment of fan belts, we found the one that fit, and we were on our way. until shirly threw that belt too. we made it to the nearest service station and had it fixed. if you're ever in kelso-longview area, go to kerr's kar korner (or something like that), and have manuel help you. he got us back on the road for about $10.

problem is: we missed the radio show in portland. but we made the cd store show, and got a nap beforehand. I think we still won.

we got to see some good friends in portland, played a fun show at mississippi pizza, ate our fill of delicious pie, and fell asleep early. well, sky didn't, she had an adventure instead. but I'll let her tell you that part.

this morning we had a delicious breakfast with em from swallows (who we played with at miss. pizza) as is our portland custom, and now we're hanging out in eugene. sam bond's garage is an awesome venue, we're looking forward to it. man, I'm thirsty (that means I need beer).

okay, that's all for now. see you soon.