Thursday morning my wife woke me up at 8:30am. Far too early after the excitement of the night before. We walked up to the parking lot behind the Whisky to hit the road towards San Diego to visit my in-laws. Once in the lot we see feet sticking out the window of Doug's truck. Lee had decided to sleep in the truck to put Doug's mind at ease about our gear. Plus he has issues sleeping in a room with as many people as we had at the hotel. He kind of woke up as we got ready to take off in the Toyota.
We made our way through LA morning rush hour to the freeway. Just then my wife told me she was far to tired to drive. Something that honestly irritated me to know end. I was woken up at 8:30 to hit the road and now I have to make the drive. Oi! Anyway, she pulled off and I took over behind the wheel. Hopped in the HOV lane and head on down toward San Diego.
We rolled in around 10:00 and called my father in-law who drove back from his shop to let us inside. We got in and we were both relived to take a shower and a bit of a nap. A little later as I walked over to Starbucks for some coffee I got a call from the other fellas. They told me that they were heading toward Carlsbad and were going to find a beach or park or something to crash out and catch some sleep.
My wife's mother showed up shortly after we got there. She had been picking up my sister in-law at LAX early that morning. She had flown in from Florida to see my wife and the rest of her family. We then all decided some nice rolled tacos from La Posta was a good idea. La Poata is a small taco stand in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego. We got back to the condo with some dozen or so tacos and by that time my father in-law and brother in-law were all back. So we sat back and ate our dinner, which instantly destroyed my stomach. These tacos are what my brother in-law referred to as Mexi-trash. Something that my northwestern stomach is not accustom to. Since they have been eating there for so long they had built up an immunity to Mexi-trash style of cooking.
Around 6:00 or so my wife and I hit the road to get to Hensley's Flying Elephant. Some 45 minutes north of San Diego. It was right off the freeway. It looked like a converted Denny's. Had that token Denny's style architecture. As it turned out it was a very cool bar. Good sized show room. We happened to be the only band playing that night. Which was a good thing. We wanted to go on early and get back on the road early so we could get back north of LA and miss the traffic to head for Oakland the next night.
There's was a fair amount of people there for a Thursday night. A pleasant surprise, because I didn't really expect much anything. We got set up and did our sound check as my wife's family showed up. Her parents, both sisters, her brother and her cousin were all in attendance. Shortly there after much of Lee's family showed up as well.
We went into our set, most of the folks in the bar stayed out in the main bar area. A few trickled into the show room as our set progressed. We played pretty good that night despite the fact we were all pretty tired. There was a small incident of instrument cables before we went on. One of Wes' came up missing. Not entirely sure where it went, but I'm amazed that the only thing that came up missing throughout the entire tour was a cable.
We finished up our set and hopped off stage. Then suddenly a mad rush on merchandise took place. After finishing up all we had left was a hand full of CDs, 1 t-shirt and a few girls tank tops. I was amazed how much we ended up selling that night, just because of the amount of people who stayed outside the showroom. I guess it doesn't mean they weren't listening.
We had our pictures taken with varying family members and Lee started pontificating with my father in law while he drank an obscenely large glass of whisky. We got the gear loaded up. And by this time my wife had decide to stay down in San Diego and fly back on Sunday. So the tour finally took it's first casualty.
So my wife and I said our goodbyes, we all hopped in to the cars. Wes and Doug in his truck and Lee and I in the car. We set out to make it back to Buttonwillow Junction for the night. It was roughly a 3 hour drive to get there. All of tired. It made this leg of the trip rather difficult. Everything was just fine up to the base of the Grapevine.
Before embarking over the Grapevine we stopped for a bathroom break and me downing some more Pepto in order to curb the stomach pain of the Mexi-trash tacos. Lee and Wes opted to partake in some Wendy's chicken nuggets which Lee promptly decided he hated. The horrible stench permeated the car the rest of the way.
We head up the Grapevine. At night this just flat out sucks. The lighting is nonexistent. They had been doing some sort of road construction through much of. They had grated a portion of the roadway as well so lines were impossible to see. Construction cones shutting down two lanes, reflected light back at you making it that much more difficult. Eye a little blurry from exhaustion played tricks on you as you try to gauge the distance of the vehicle in front of you. At one point I had mentioned to Lee that the drive was getting real tough to see anything. A statement that he didn't much want to hear.
Much to our joy we made it out of the Grapevine and hit the flat land of the other side. Which strangely smelled funny. 60 miles or so beyond that point we found ourselves back in Buttonwillow Junction. It was right around 3am. We checked into the same Super 8 we were in before. We had a few beers and bitched about the ridiculous drive that just occurred then made our way to our respective rooms and passed out...
Coming up next... Oakland.
Adam
WCG
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Full Account... Part 2.
During that evening in Redding we discussed the "Cloud of Lee." Now let me explain. Lee, for some inexplicable reason, can lose everything. We decided he is much akin to Pig Pen from the old Peanuts comic strip, but instead of dirt, he has a cloud of his own possessions. At any time, one or more of these possessions can be lost. Just sitting in the front seat of my car, he has the ability to lose his lighter, a pack of cigarettes and his cell phone. It's often times quite comical. I think throughout the trip he lost and bought 4 to 5 lighters. He almost lost his wallet in a Walmart parking lot. Luckily for him a nice woman saw him drop it and handed it back to him. Which made us wonder where he stores his wallet. The best theory was on his head.
Anyway, after leaving the casino/card room we went to the liquor store to get some supplies. You know; pork rinds, pint of Jim Beam and a half rack of beer. As we walked in we heard the strangest noise. It sounded like a fat guy with sleep apnea. Come to find out it was just a very hot and fat bulldog guided by his master on a skateboard.
We got back to the hotel. We had 2 adjoining rooms. We took a peak in on Doug, who was sound asleep. We had a few more beers in the other room while Wes enjoyed his pork rinds and Lee his Jim Beam. Just then we heard an odd chirping noise. Chirp.... Chirp... Chirp.... The fire alarm battery was going out. So I grabbed a chair and hopped up there to pull out the battery. I pulled the whole alarm down and monkeyed with it for awhile to figure out how to get the battery out. Finally figuring it out Wes decided we needed to notify the front desk. He and I walked down to the office. We looked through the window and no one was manning the counter. Then as we got closer to the door we noticed the night attendant sound asleep on the couch in the lobby. We walked in and stared at him for a short time. Kind of wondering what our next action was going to be. Wes looked over to the counter and saw a bell. He walked over there as I stood there kind of shocked that this was actually going to take place. Wes' hand hovered over the bell as he buried his head in the crook of his arm. His finger came down on the bell twice. The night attendant flailed a bit and hopped up all flustered and wiping sleep out of his eyes. Then one of the strangest conversations took place:
Night attendant: "How can I help you?"
Wes: "Hey man, sorry to wake you. I'm not trying to give you hard time or look for a discount or something. We just wanted to let you know the batteries in this fire alarm are going out. You know what happens when the batteries in these things go out?"
Me: "Chirp... Chirp... Chirp..."
Wes: "They chirp."
Me: "Chirp... Chirp... Chirp..."
Wes: "We just wanted to let you know in case there's a fire or something that we get a free room when we burn."
Night Attendant: "Oh ok."
Wes: "Sorry we had to wake you, you can go back to sleep now."
Me: "You were awfully cute sleeping away."
For some reason I was embodied by Flavor Flav during that interaction.
The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast at Denny's and set out again on our southern journey. Another day of solid driving and weird conversations and Lee losing everything on his person. Not to mention spilling peanuts all over the front floor boards.
At one point we had to stop for a bathroom break. Doug and Wes were carrying on in the truck. We figured we would catch up with no problem. It took us literally 150 miles to catch up. Which seemed strange. Doug wasn't going to fast and I was doing 80. But we finally caught up right around the town of Lost Hills (The town where James Dean died.) We were texting and calling back and forth. Lee was on the phone with Wes as we tried to figure out where they were. He was getting frustrated trying to figure out any discernible landmarks or mile markers as to their location. At one point he hung up on Wes. Then promptly called them back as they said there was a bumper to watch out for. So I'm looking all over the side of the road for this bumper as a land mark. Then realizing he meant it was in the middle of the freeway. Everyone swerving willy nilly. I know this probably unhinged Doug a bit trying to navigate the truck and trailer around this bumper. We got off at the next exit. A town called Buttonwillow Junction. Located about 60 miles north of the Grapevine. We pulled into the Super 8. Wes and Doug got a room together. Lee wanted his own room for the night. My wife and I had our own. The edge everyone was feeling from the rough drive and bumper incident was fading a bit. Through our weird conversations we had determined that Lee's new rock name was to be Randy Cooch. I'm not exactly how we came to that. I think it transpired over the coarse of 300 miles.
We were all pretty hungry. My wife and I headed across the street to the TA truck stop. It had a Taco Bell inside. We decided to order a 12 pack of tacos. We took that back to Wes and Doug's room. We sat and watched some Family Guy eating tacos and Top Ramen. We had noticed when we first got to Wes and Doug's room a litany of beer cans and cigarette butts sitting on top of the AC outside. There were few guys just sort of sitting around drinking. We weren't to sure what their deal was. A bunch of guys just partying? Who knows. We had a few beers in the room then went outside to have a smoke. Wes and I got to talking to the guys outside. Come to find out they were seismic drillers out of Canada. They were staying in the area for some 20 more days working up at Lost Hills. For the rest of the night we sat there talking and drinking with these guys. They found out we were in a band touring and playing the Whisky the following night and they were all pretty excited. They bought a bunch of t-shirts and CDs. They had us autograph pretty much everything. Lee retired to his room having some paper work to get done and my wife went back to our to watch the season finale of Master Chef.
Lee came back and made token appearance to sign some autographs. My wife came back after awhile as well after the show was over. Doug made her stop talking about the show because he had DVRed the show at home and wanted to watch it when he got back.
After a couple beer runs across the street to the TA, the night came to a close. We woke up the next morning and enjoyed yet another breakfast at Denny's and headed back out. We hit the Grapevine around 1:00 or so. Doug was having a tough time will his truck up the hill loaded down with all our gear. We buzzed up in the Toyota to a gas station near the top and waited. Doug had to pull over at one point to keep from overheating. Considering at that time the temperature was skirting with cracking 100 degrees, I'm not entirely surprised that he was running hot. He finally rejoined us near the top as we crested the hill into San Fernando Valley. The smog was pretty thick that day. You could just see the haze down in the valley. We ran down the hill and then in to LA. After a few off ramps and freeway swaps we found our way to Hollywood. Passing by Grauman's Chinese Theater and all the characters out front. We finally hit Sunset. We head on down towards the Whisky. We stopped at the light just before it and Lee points to the marque. White City Graves playing tonight! What an awesome sight!
We turned up San Vicente Blvd to find parking. There was a sign that said Whisky parking. It was a squirrely little lot that I'm surprised Doug was able to weasel that trailer up into. The attendant wanted $40 for us to park there. We thought that was a little pricey. So we walked over to The Whisky to see where we should park. We left Doug as collateral that we would be right back. We went and talked to the club and they told us to park on the back side of the club. So we all moved our vehicles over there. In the end we still ended up paying $40 to park. We still had a few hours before we had to load in. So we plopped ourselves down at Duke's next door. We grabbed something to drink while we waited. Finally we came to load in time. My wife at this point was rather cranky because of the hotel prices in the area and lack of availability. She didn't want to burden Wes and his wife and her cousins by crashing on their floor at the Hotel London. But it was looking like we had little choice.
We loaded in our gear and did some quick guitar fixes. My wife went for a walk and to do a little shopping to calm herself down. We did our sound check and I have to give credit to the Whisky staff. They are true pros. 2 guys manning the sound. 1 dedicated to the monitors and stage sound. The other dedicated to the house sound. It's one of the few times that I could hear everything from the stage. We finished up and pushed everything toward the back of the stage. Grabbed our guitars and took them up to our dressing room. Yes we had a dressing room.
I met back up with my wife who wanted to see if we could drive to the outskirts and see if we could find a hotel. But once again the cheapest we could find was $350 for the night. Little too pricey. We went back to the club admitting defeat and realizing we were floor bound. We met back up at Duke's again where we grabbed a bite to eat. A delicious Monte Cristo.
After eating my wife and I headed up to our dressing room. She wanted to change and wash up a bit. While she was doing that the singer for the band Vette was warming up. They were on right before us. She had the strangest warm up method I had ever heard. "By by by BY. Guy guy guy GUY." and so on. My wife finished up and we headed back down stairs to watch the opener.
The open was this girl who was doing a solo singing act. She had kind of an airy sound like Enya or Bjork. Something along those lines. She ran through her set as the crowd looked on. She came to her last song, "Lipstick, Jewels and High Heeled Shoes." A line that she repeat several times throughout the song. Then at the end of the song the music stops and she says it one more time and starts laughing then in a man's voice she says, "You know you love them." Everyone in the audience was beside themselves. She was actually a he! None of us had any idea.
Vette then went on and they played their brand of what would be best described as bubble gum punk. Female fronted local LA band that, vocally, reminded me a little of the band Aqua. The ones who did that Barbie Girl song. Just with more guitars. They played a good set.
We were up next. I gotta say I was pretty nervous. I don't usually get that nervous before a show. But this time I was pretty worked up. We got set up and they shut down the house lights. It was completely dark. Wes started into the intro and I realized that to start that intro I have a long slide. I can't see my hands at all. A little bit of panic ran through me thinking I was going to screw up right out of the gate. Luckily after playing it enough times, muscle memory kicks in and you just go. We started off a little rocky. I'm sure nerves were in play for all of us. You just think about the people who have played that same stage and it's pretty daunting. We pulled ourselves together and ended up playing one of the best sets ever. People were really diggin it. Even the sound guys. That surprised me because, well they hear hundreds, if not thousands of bands. One of the sound guys actually told us we need to move to LA. He said that we would kill down there.
We played great. Not to brag or anything like that. But the way we played I would have paid to go see us that night. The only real glitch was my mic came unplugged during the last line of Anger. Other than that a true balls to the wall 30 minute set.
We got off stage and loaded out our gear and were immediately mobbed outside by bunches of folks. Some we knew, some we didn't. Folks wanting pictures with us and so on. Later I would ask Wes if he thought people driving by thought we were famous or something because of all the cameras. We got everything loaded back in the trailer and went back in to hear the rest of the music. All the while my wife making a killing on selling merch.
There were 4 more acts after us. The guys right after us were along the lines of more straight laced rock. Then a more blues oriented band, after them was just a guy and girl who apparently were suppose to be there with their whole band. But their band disintegrated in the middle of their tour. They were the only ones left. They just did 2 songs. Then the headliner. A band call The Product. They were originally from Hawaii and had recently transplanted themselves to LA. They played very heavy handed reggae mixed with rock. They were really good. I guess their next stop was heading up here to play Hemp Fest here in Seattle. An oddly perfect band for that kind of venue.
The Whisky actually closes down really early. 11pm. So we were wondering what to do with ourselves then. We didn't want to have to pay a $12 cover to get into the Viper Room, The Rainbow or The Roxy. So we walked on down Sunset looking for something open. A lot of the strip really closes down early. At first we got a table at Mel's Diner. But all of us agreed we didn't really want to sit there and pay $9 for a Budweiser. So we ventured further on down. Lee, Doug, my wife and I found ourselves at the Comedy Store. Since it was late they weren't charging a cover to get in. We went and sat down, ordered a few drinks. I ordered gin and tonic, which I think was a poor choice considering how I felt the next day. We all sat off to the side in a dark corner. The comedian that was on noticed us. He commented that we looked like we were in a band. Everyone laughed at us. Then he started asking us questions. Imagine his joy when he found out we were indeed a band. That really opened a can of worms. He then asked us what we were doing there. We all replied that we were on tour and just played the Whisky. He then clarified by asking what we were doing at The Comedy Store at midnight. Our response was it's the only thing open. From then on every comedian that went up took their shots at us. Calling us Incubus, saying that we know a lot about hookers and blow and so on. It was awesome! Very funny!
We stuck around for 4 or 5 comedians. Then one went on and started to bomb. We decide to leave. We went back to the hotel London. Wes and his wife were still up, but her cousins were out. We stayed up for a little while chatting and watching the drama unfold down below on the strip from the balcony. Police, homeless guy and some random drunk hooker. Good times. Shortly after that we all crashed. My wife and Doug were on the L shaped couch and I got the floor. I only had my shirt as a blanket. Comfy.
That's all for part 2... San Diego and Carlsbad coming soon!
Anyway, after leaving the casino/card room we went to the liquor store to get some supplies. You know; pork rinds, pint of Jim Beam and a half rack of beer. As we walked in we heard the strangest noise. It sounded like a fat guy with sleep apnea. Come to find out it was just a very hot and fat bulldog guided by his master on a skateboard.
We got back to the hotel. We had 2 adjoining rooms. We took a peak in on Doug, who was sound asleep. We had a few more beers in the other room while Wes enjoyed his pork rinds and Lee his Jim Beam. Just then we heard an odd chirping noise. Chirp.... Chirp... Chirp.... The fire alarm battery was going out. So I grabbed a chair and hopped up there to pull out the battery. I pulled the whole alarm down and monkeyed with it for awhile to figure out how to get the battery out. Finally figuring it out Wes decided we needed to notify the front desk. He and I walked down to the office. We looked through the window and no one was manning the counter. Then as we got closer to the door we noticed the night attendant sound asleep on the couch in the lobby. We walked in and stared at him for a short time. Kind of wondering what our next action was going to be. Wes looked over to the counter and saw a bell. He walked over there as I stood there kind of shocked that this was actually going to take place. Wes' hand hovered over the bell as he buried his head in the crook of his arm. His finger came down on the bell twice. The night attendant flailed a bit and hopped up all flustered and wiping sleep out of his eyes. Then one of the strangest conversations took place:
Night attendant: "How can I help you?"
Wes: "Hey man, sorry to wake you. I'm not trying to give you hard time or look for a discount or something. We just wanted to let you know the batteries in this fire alarm are going out. You know what happens when the batteries in these things go out?"
Me: "Chirp... Chirp... Chirp..."
Wes: "They chirp."
Me: "Chirp... Chirp... Chirp..."
Wes: "We just wanted to let you know in case there's a fire or something that we get a free room when we burn."
Night Attendant: "Oh ok."
Wes: "Sorry we had to wake you, you can go back to sleep now."
Me: "You were awfully cute sleeping away."
For some reason I was embodied by Flavor Flav during that interaction.
The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast at Denny's and set out again on our southern journey. Another day of solid driving and weird conversations and Lee losing everything on his person. Not to mention spilling peanuts all over the front floor boards.
At one point we had to stop for a bathroom break. Doug and Wes were carrying on in the truck. We figured we would catch up with no problem. It took us literally 150 miles to catch up. Which seemed strange. Doug wasn't going to fast and I was doing 80. But we finally caught up right around the town of Lost Hills (The town where James Dean died.) We were texting and calling back and forth. Lee was on the phone with Wes as we tried to figure out where they were. He was getting frustrated trying to figure out any discernible landmarks or mile markers as to their location. At one point he hung up on Wes. Then promptly called them back as they said there was a bumper to watch out for. So I'm looking all over the side of the road for this bumper as a land mark. Then realizing he meant it was in the middle of the freeway. Everyone swerving willy nilly. I know this probably unhinged Doug a bit trying to navigate the truck and trailer around this bumper. We got off at the next exit. A town called Buttonwillow Junction. Located about 60 miles north of the Grapevine. We pulled into the Super 8. Wes and Doug got a room together. Lee wanted his own room for the night. My wife and I had our own. The edge everyone was feeling from the rough drive and bumper incident was fading a bit. Through our weird conversations we had determined that Lee's new rock name was to be Randy Cooch. I'm not exactly how we came to that. I think it transpired over the coarse of 300 miles.
We were all pretty hungry. My wife and I headed across the street to the TA truck stop. It had a Taco Bell inside. We decided to order a 12 pack of tacos. We took that back to Wes and Doug's room. We sat and watched some Family Guy eating tacos and Top Ramen. We had noticed when we first got to Wes and Doug's room a litany of beer cans and cigarette butts sitting on top of the AC outside. There were few guys just sort of sitting around drinking. We weren't to sure what their deal was. A bunch of guys just partying? Who knows. We had a few beers in the room then went outside to have a smoke. Wes and I got to talking to the guys outside. Come to find out they were seismic drillers out of Canada. They were staying in the area for some 20 more days working up at Lost Hills. For the rest of the night we sat there talking and drinking with these guys. They found out we were in a band touring and playing the Whisky the following night and they were all pretty excited. They bought a bunch of t-shirts and CDs. They had us autograph pretty much everything. Lee retired to his room having some paper work to get done and my wife went back to our to watch the season finale of Master Chef.
Lee came back and made token appearance to sign some autographs. My wife came back after awhile as well after the show was over. Doug made her stop talking about the show because he had DVRed the show at home and wanted to watch it when he got back.
After a couple beer runs across the street to the TA, the night came to a close. We woke up the next morning and enjoyed yet another breakfast at Denny's and headed back out. We hit the Grapevine around 1:00 or so. Doug was having a tough time will his truck up the hill loaded down with all our gear. We buzzed up in the Toyota to a gas station near the top and waited. Doug had to pull over at one point to keep from overheating. Considering at that time the temperature was skirting with cracking 100 degrees, I'm not entirely surprised that he was running hot. He finally rejoined us near the top as we crested the hill into San Fernando Valley. The smog was pretty thick that day. You could just see the haze down in the valley. We ran down the hill and then in to LA. After a few off ramps and freeway swaps we found our way to Hollywood. Passing by Grauman's Chinese Theater and all the characters out front. We finally hit Sunset. We head on down towards the Whisky. We stopped at the light just before it and Lee points to the marque. White City Graves playing tonight! What an awesome sight!
We turned up San Vicente Blvd to find parking. There was a sign that said Whisky parking. It was a squirrely little lot that I'm surprised Doug was able to weasel that trailer up into. The attendant wanted $40 for us to park there. We thought that was a little pricey. So we walked over to The Whisky to see where we should park. We left Doug as collateral that we would be right back. We went and talked to the club and they told us to park on the back side of the club. So we all moved our vehicles over there. In the end we still ended up paying $40 to park. We still had a few hours before we had to load in. So we plopped ourselves down at Duke's next door. We grabbed something to drink while we waited. Finally we came to load in time. My wife at this point was rather cranky because of the hotel prices in the area and lack of availability. She didn't want to burden Wes and his wife and her cousins by crashing on their floor at the Hotel London. But it was looking like we had little choice.
We loaded in our gear and did some quick guitar fixes. My wife went for a walk and to do a little shopping to calm herself down. We did our sound check and I have to give credit to the Whisky staff. They are true pros. 2 guys manning the sound. 1 dedicated to the monitors and stage sound. The other dedicated to the house sound. It's one of the few times that I could hear everything from the stage. We finished up and pushed everything toward the back of the stage. Grabbed our guitars and took them up to our dressing room. Yes we had a dressing room.
I met back up with my wife who wanted to see if we could drive to the outskirts and see if we could find a hotel. But once again the cheapest we could find was $350 for the night. Little too pricey. We went back to the club admitting defeat and realizing we were floor bound. We met back up at Duke's again where we grabbed a bite to eat. A delicious Monte Cristo.
After eating my wife and I headed up to our dressing room. She wanted to change and wash up a bit. While she was doing that the singer for the band Vette was warming up. They were on right before us. She had the strangest warm up method I had ever heard. "By by by BY. Guy guy guy GUY." and so on. My wife finished up and we headed back down stairs to watch the opener.
The open was this girl who was doing a solo singing act. She had kind of an airy sound like Enya or Bjork. Something along those lines. She ran through her set as the crowd looked on. She came to her last song, "Lipstick, Jewels and High Heeled Shoes." A line that she repeat several times throughout the song. Then at the end of the song the music stops and she says it one more time and starts laughing then in a man's voice she says, "You know you love them." Everyone in the audience was beside themselves. She was actually a he! None of us had any idea.
Vette then went on and they played their brand of what would be best described as bubble gum punk. Female fronted local LA band that, vocally, reminded me a little of the band Aqua. The ones who did that Barbie Girl song. Just with more guitars. They played a good set.
We were up next. I gotta say I was pretty nervous. I don't usually get that nervous before a show. But this time I was pretty worked up. We got set up and they shut down the house lights. It was completely dark. Wes started into the intro and I realized that to start that intro I have a long slide. I can't see my hands at all. A little bit of panic ran through me thinking I was going to screw up right out of the gate. Luckily after playing it enough times, muscle memory kicks in and you just go. We started off a little rocky. I'm sure nerves were in play for all of us. You just think about the people who have played that same stage and it's pretty daunting. We pulled ourselves together and ended up playing one of the best sets ever. People were really diggin it. Even the sound guys. That surprised me because, well they hear hundreds, if not thousands of bands. One of the sound guys actually told us we need to move to LA. He said that we would kill down there.
We played great. Not to brag or anything like that. But the way we played I would have paid to go see us that night. The only real glitch was my mic came unplugged during the last line of Anger. Other than that a true balls to the wall 30 minute set.
We got off stage and loaded out our gear and were immediately mobbed outside by bunches of folks. Some we knew, some we didn't. Folks wanting pictures with us and so on. Later I would ask Wes if he thought people driving by thought we were famous or something because of all the cameras. We got everything loaded back in the trailer and went back in to hear the rest of the music. All the while my wife making a killing on selling merch.
There were 4 more acts after us. The guys right after us were along the lines of more straight laced rock. Then a more blues oriented band, after them was just a guy and girl who apparently were suppose to be there with their whole band. But their band disintegrated in the middle of their tour. They were the only ones left. They just did 2 songs. Then the headliner. A band call The Product. They were originally from Hawaii and had recently transplanted themselves to LA. They played very heavy handed reggae mixed with rock. They were really good. I guess their next stop was heading up here to play Hemp Fest here in Seattle. An oddly perfect band for that kind of venue.
The Whisky actually closes down really early. 11pm. So we were wondering what to do with ourselves then. We didn't want to have to pay a $12 cover to get into the Viper Room, The Rainbow or The Roxy. So we walked on down Sunset looking for something open. A lot of the strip really closes down early. At first we got a table at Mel's Diner. But all of us agreed we didn't really want to sit there and pay $9 for a Budweiser. So we ventured further on down. Lee, Doug, my wife and I found ourselves at the Comedy Store. Since it was late they weren't charging a cover to get in. We went and sat down, ordered a few drinks. I ordered gin and tonic, which I think was a poor choice considering how I felt the next day. We all sat off to the side in a dark corner. The comedian that was on noticed us. He commented that we looked like we were in a band. Everyone laughed at us. Then he started asking us questions. Imagine his joy when he found out we were indeed a band. That really opened a can of worms. He then asked us what we were doing there. We all replied that we were on tour and just played the Whisky. He then clarified by asking what we were doing at The Comedy Store at midnight. Our response was it's the only thing open. From then on every comedian that went up took their shots at us. Calling us Incubus, saying that we know a lot about hookers and blow and so on. It was awesome! Very funny!
We stuck around for 4 or 5 comedians. Then one went on and started to bomb. We decide to leave. We went back to the hotel London. Wes and his wife were still up, but her cousins were out. We stayed up for a little while chatting and watching the drama unfold down below on the strip from the balcony. Police, homeless guy and some random drunk hooker. Good times. Shortly after that we all crashed. My wife and Doug were on the L shaped couch and I got the floor. I only had my shirt as a blanket. Comfy.
That's all for part 2... San Diego and Carlsbad coming soon!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A full account... Part 1...
Now that about a week has gone by since we got back from our tour it's time to account for what actually happened. I have to write it all down while it's still some what fresh in my head, because it was kind of a blur.
I will try and be as accurate as possible, but the days do kind of fade into one another and this is just from my perspective. The other fellas may have a different take on how things unfolded.
We'll start off with the tour kick off show. The Victory Lounge. Although it's a small club, we kind of wanted to keep it that way so it had more of a party atmosphere. A Sic End was on the bill and they played a great set. Looking forward to playing with them on their tour finale. During their set however, there was an interesting back drop. Out on the deck there was a guy making out with some girl. I have no idea who these people were. Well, when the guy took a break to come up for air he was approached by some other girl. The other girl started yelling at the guy. This argument seemed to move all over the bar. Then eventually out front during A Sic End's set. So as we watched them play behind them through the window was this couple arguing and the girl was very animated in making her point. Arms waiving akimbo and what not. It made for a really weird back drop for their set.
Anyway, we went on and play. The energy of the room was awesome. Whenever there's a good energy in the room we always tend to play better and with a lot more energy ourselves. It always makes it a lot more fun. We played pretty much every song we knew. We wound up our set and all those in attendance were nice enough to wish us well and help out with buying merch so we had a few bucks in gas to make the next show. We appreciate all the support from our home town fans. Couldn't have asked for a better kick off.
The following day, we all were busy getting our ducks in a row. Making sure our respective dogs were looked after and so on. We met up at the studio around 4:30, loaded gear and started our trek on down the I5 corridor. First stop... The Agenda in Portland. It was a strange club. From the outside it looked like a very nondescript kind of random bar. Something that your would find here in Seattle somewhere on Aurora. It was situated next to a Chinese restaurant called, and I'm not kidding here, Hung Far Low. As we walked in we realized the place is actually really nice inside. Not the dive bar we had anticipated. We hung out for awhile. Wes and Doug shot a few games of pool. Lee made a friend in some old fella out on the back patio who seemed to know the entire history of the area. My wife and I wander back and forth between the 2. The other band showed up after awhile. Go Ballistic. Great name. We worked out the details of who would play first. We decided to go first since it was just the 2 bands and we had no draw to speak of. We hung out for awhile longer, trying to hold out for a few more folks to show up. Suddenly a slough of people showed up all at once. They were all dressed really strange. Like they were running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Seriously, red sashes and all. Come to find out this was a pub crawl heading through the area. We rapidly set up and started to play. This way we would have a crowd through half our set. Now the down side of The Agenda... Their PA is pretty sad. It wasn't made to deal with the shear volume of us. It would cut out and distort. Oh and club only had 1 mic. Luckily we had packed all of our own. The pub crawlers, however, seemed to enjoy us. Forming a small pit. The only down side to this hap hazard pit, was one of them slammed into my mic stand and left a welt on my lip that plagued me most of the week. The group took off about half way through our set. We finished up for the small crowd that remained behind. Go Ballistic went on and they have their own brand of rock. Falling somewhere in between psychobilly, country and metal. It was a very cool sound. That brings us to the drummer. The guy was amazing to watch. He looked a bit like a robot playing, but he was still really animate at the same time. A very difficult style to describe. Lee noted that it was a bit like Kieth Moon.
We finished up at The Agenda. Our first road show under our belt. We were going to stay with Wes' sister in law at her house. She was nice enough to put us up for a couple of nights, which was awesome of her. It's a lot to ask someone to put up with four smelly guys and my wife. But her and her husband were more than welcoming. We went out that same night to a small bar around the corner from their house called The Lion's Eye. It was a nice relaxing joint that served us up some food and Old German beer. We all drank far too much that night. Including my wife who decided the best plan for her was to challenge the entire bar in pool. Which in doing so she proclaimed, "I WILL BE VICTORY!" Which coined the term for the entire tour. "I AM VICTORY." Which she desperately wishes now that she did not say. Especially since she proceeded to get her ass kicked the following game. Shortly there after we stumbled back to the house. We all passed out and woke up the next day feeling rough. Well, with the exception of Doug who inexplicably kept waking up at the crack of dawn.
That day my wife, Lee and I set out on a trek to visit my grandmother who lives in Tigard (a town just outside of Portland). Wes and Doug stuck around at the house. Doug was taking a nap and Wes was watching golf. We stopped for a bite first at a place called Cartlandia. It was a large parking lot full of food carts. I had a cat fish po' boy which was stellar. Lee decide he just wanted a few pieces of cat fish which the guy at the southern cooking cart couldn't seem to understand why. It became quite an ordeal just to get a few pieces of cat fish and some sauce. It really seemed to throw the cook for a loop. Then he also ordered a taco from another truck as well. My wife just stuck with the tacos. From there we went on to visit my grandmother, who in her 90s, was still pretty coherent even though I had heard stories to the opposite. But she didn't entirely grasp what kind of music we played. She kept referring to the big band era and dances she use to go to. Then went on to call us a bunch "dingies."
That evening we went for dinner at Foster Burger, the place where Wes' sister in law works. It's gourmet burger joint and the food was great. Although squid ink for dipping sauce for your fries was a little off putting. Especially with a hangover. Although very tasty it probably wasn't the best pre-show meal. We headed over to the Red Room for the show. For myself personally, we couldn't have gotten there soon enough. Hair of the dog and all.
We were set to play first, followed by Flexx Bronco and then The Altarboys. We went on and the sound issues that plagued us the night before were gone. The sound was great. Wes was having a few issues with trying not to puke on stage and was later told he looked like "hammered shit." We finished out our set and played surprisingly well considering the shape of everyone. Personally I felt much better once we were done.
Flexx Bronco went on and played their set and did a great job. At one point their guitarist sang one song and opted to do a stage dive into the sparse crowd. They grabbed him and lifted him. Pinning him up against the low ceiling, which was just hilarious. He didn't miss a note singing though. Has to be commended for that one. Not to mention the ceiling of the Red Room is not the smoothest of things. Kind of a stucco, rough, jagged texture to it.
The Altarboys came up next. This is an interesting band. They play 1 show a year. It's whenever their singer comes back to visit from Amsterdam. They ran through a couple songs and I was hooked. Wes, in his unfortunate condition, had to leave a bit early. So all but Lee, my wife and myself were left. We watched the Altarboys put on a great set. Just wish they played more often. I would love to play with these guys again!
The show let out and we all headed back to the house. Most everyone was asleep or watching Lord Of The Rings. Lee, Wes' sister in law and I sat out on the porch chatting for a couple more hours. I opted to sleep in the room Lee was in as not to disturb everyone in the main living room. I started reading a book. I got 1 page in and promptly fell asleep. At some point in the night I started sleep walking. Apparently searching for the bathroom. Lord knows how long I wandered around our room, but I was told I did step all over Lee. I made my way out and almost went into Wes' sister in law and her husbands room. Thankfully my wife woke me up just before my entrance. That could have been disastrous... On my return I fell back asleep in the living room again. Only to wake up the next morning and seeing Doug, awake early again, staring at me.
We all proceeded to roll out of bed, some easier than others. Got packed up and headed back out on the road. We didn't have another show for 2 days. Those days were dedicated to solid driving. We had 2 cars. Doug's truck with a UHaul trailer and my little Toyota. Lee rode with my wife and I through this leg. Which created hours of silence with everyone napping to the strange conversations of movies and arguments over which mountain is which. At one point we stopped at a rest stop for a bite and stretch. Doug pulled out a football. We played a little catch and I realized I throw a football like one would a baseball and the result just looks idiotic. We managed to get to Redding that night.
The town of Redding kind of sucks on a Monday night. Doug opted to stay behind and get to sleep early. The rest of us set out to find a bar. We were staying at the Vagabond in that night. All the Motel 6s were booked solid, which seemed weird. We thought we'd just go to the Denny's in the same parking lot as the hotel and hang out in their lounge. This particular Denny's had no lounge. We asked the advice of a waitress as to where to go. She said the bowling alley. So we walked over that direction, only to find the bowling alley was closed. Across the street however, was a video arcade that was also a partial bar. We went there and played a few games and had a beer. The problem was we get there at 11:30pm and they closed at 12. So dejected again we went back on the search. We asked the employees of the arcade as to the where abouts of a decent watering hole. The guy, which we don't know his real name, but Wes decide he looked like a Derek so that shall be his name from now on... Derek. Derek named off several different places. We didn't find any of them. We even tried the Red Lion lobby bar, closed. We came across a casino/card room. It had a separate bar with karaoke going. Seemed as good place as any. We walked in and sat down. Wes ran off to the bathroom. We order and strangely Wes hadn't come back. After about 10 or 15 minutes. He finally came back and told a heroing tale of being locked in the bathroom. This is how he told it. I'm par phrasing of course, Wes' depiction was far more animated.
He went to the bathroom and noticed a guy at the urinal. Being a small bathroom Wes figured he would use the stall to give the guy his space. The guy finished up and washed his hands and walked out. Wes finished up and went to do the same. He reach for the door handle and pulled and it just would not open. He thought to himself maybe it's a sticky door and just lift up on it. Nothing still. He noticed kick marks at the bottom of the door. Tried to follow suit there as well, but to no avail. He thought to give me a call, but he left his cell in the hotel room. He took a step back to assess the situation before letting panic set in. He took a look around and noticed the tiling on the floor ran a different direction. He then took a peak around the corner and low and behold... The actual door. On which he exited with no problems what so ever. Wes was attempting to break into the janitor's closet. From then on he was still a little mad at the guy for locking him in. Unwarranted of course. But as we sat out on the patio, he pointed him out as the guy that locked him in the bathroom.
Later in the evening we ran into this fella again in the bathroom. Wes told the guy the same story of trying to get out through the janitor's closet. The guy responded that he had tried the same thing many times before.
Before we left this interesting little casino, we had to take a peak at the card room. I have never witnessed a place more unnerving. All that could be heard was the buzz from the neon lights overhead. The were many tables, but only one was occupied. Surrounded by several men playing poker, they all looked as if they were part of the Russian mafia. Once setting foot in that card room they all stopped and peered in our direction. The decision to leave promptly followed.
That's enough for one day... I'll post more later on. Coming soon... Tales of Buttonwillow Junction, The Whisky, Carlsbad and much more.
adam
WCG
I will try and be as accurate as possible, but the days do kind of fade into one another and this is just from my perspective. The other fellas may have a different take on how things unfolded.
We'll start off with the tour kick off show. The Victory Lounge. Although it's a small club, we kind of wanted to keep it that way so it had more of a party atmosphere. A Sic End was on the bill and they played a great set. Looking forward to playing with them on their tour finale. During their set however, there was an interesting back drop. Out on the deck there was a guy making out with some girl. I have no idea who these people were. Well, when the guy took a break to come up for air he was approached by some other girl. The other girl started yelling at the guy. This argument seemed to move all over the bar. Then eventually out front during A Sic End's set. So as we watched them play behind them through the window was this couple arguing and the girl was very animated in making her point. Arms waiving akimbo and what not. It made for a really weird back drop for their set.
Anyway, we went on and play. The energy of the room was awesome. Whenever there's a good energy in the room we always tend to play better and with a lot more energy ourselves. It always makes it a lot more fun. We played pretty much every song we knew. We wound up our set and all those in attendance were nice enough to wish us well and help out with buying merch so we had a few bucks in gas to make the next show. We appreciate all the support from our home town fans. Couldn't have asked for a better kick off.
The following day, we all were busy getting our ducks in a row. Making sure our respective dogs were looked after and so on. We met up at the studio around 4:30, loaded gear and started our trek on down the I5 corridor. First stop... The Agenda in Portland. It was a strange club. From the outside it looked like a very nondescript kind of random bar. Something that your would find here in Seattle somewhere on Aurora. It was situated next to a Chinese restaurant called, and I'm not kidding here, Hung Far Low. As we walked in we realized the place is actually really nice inside. Not the dive bar we had anticipated. We hung out for awhile. Wes and Doug shot a few games of pool. Lee made a friend in some old fella out on the back patio who seemed to know the entire history of the area. My wife and I wander back and forth between the 2. The other band showed up after awhile. Go Ballistic. Great name. We worked out the details of who would play first. We decided to go first since it was just the 2 bands and we had no draw to speak of. We hung out for awhile longer, trying to hold out for a few more folks to show up. Suddenly a slough of people showed up all at once. They were all dressed really strange. Like they were running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Seriously, red sashes and all. Come to find out this was a pub crawl heading through the area. We rapidly set up and started to play. This way we would have a crowd through half our set. Now the down side of The Agenda... Their PA is pretty sad. It wasn't made to deal with the shear volume of us. It would cut out and distort. Oh and club only had 1 mic. Luckily we had packed all of our own. The pub crawlers, however, seemed to enjoy us. Forming a small pit. The only down side to this hap hazard pit, was one of them slammed into my mic stand and left a welt on my lip that plagued me most of the week. The group took off about half way through our set. We finished up for the small crowd that remained behind. Go Ballistic went on and they have their own brand of rock. Falling somewhere in between psychobilly, country and metal. It was a very cool sound. That brings us to the drummer. The guy was amazing to watch. He looked a bit like a robot playing, but he was still really animate at the same time. A very difficult style to describe. Lee noted that it was a bit like Kieth Moon.
We finished up at The Agenda. Our first road show under our belt. We were going to stay with Wes' sister in law at her house. She was nice enough to put us up for a couple of nights, which was awesome of her. It's a lot to ask someone to put up with four smelly guys and my wife. But her and her husband were more than welcoming. We went out that same night to a small bar around the corner from their house called The Lion's Eye. It was a nice relaxing joint that served us up some food and Old German beer. We all drank far too much that night. Including my wife who decided the best plan for her was to challenge the entire bar in pool. Which in doing so she proclaimed, "I WILL BE VICTORY!" Which coined the term for the entire tour. "I AM VICTORY." Which she desperately wishes now that she did not say. Especially since she proceeded to get her ass kicked the following game. Shortly there after we stumbled back to the house. We all passed out and woke up the next day feeling rough. Well, with the exception of Doug who inexplicably kept waking up at the crack of dawn.
That day my wife, Lee and I set out on a trek to visit my grandmother who lives in Tigard (a town just outside of Portland). Wes and Doug stuck around at the house. Doug was taking a nap and Wes was watching golf. We stopped for a bite first at a place called Cartlandia. It was a large parking lot full of food carts. I had a cat fish po' boy which was stellar. Lee decide he just wanted a few pieces of cat fish which the guy at the southern cooking cart couldn't seem to understand why. It became quite an ordeal just to get a few pieces of cat fish and some sauce. It really seemed to throw the cook for a loop. Then he also ordered a taco from another truck as well. My wife just stuck with the tacos. From there we went on to visit my grandmother, who in her 90s, was still pretty coherent even though I had heard stories to the opposite. But she didn't entirely grasp what kind of music we played. She kept referring to the big band era and dances she use to go to. Then went on to call us a bunch "dingies."
That evening we went for dinner at Foster Burger, the place where Wes' sister in law works. It's gourmet burger joint and the food was great. Although squid ink for dipping sauce for your fries was a little off putting. Especially with a hangover. Although very tasty it probably wasn't the best pre-show meal. We headed over to the Red Room for the show. For myself personally, we couldn't have gotten there soon enough. Hair of the dog and all.
We were set to play first, followed by Flexx Bronco and then The Altarboys. We went on and the sound issues that plagued us the night before were gone. The sound was great. Wes was having a few issues with trying not to puke on stage and was later told he looked like "hammered shit." We finished out our set and played surprisingly well considering the shape of everyone. Personally I felt much better once we were done.
Flexx Bronco went on and played their set and did a great job. At one point their guitarist sang one song and opted to do a stage dive into the sparse crowd. They grabbed him and lifted him. Pinning him up against the low ceiling, which was just hilarious. He didn't miss a note singing though. Has to be commended for that one. Not to mention the ceiling of the Red Room is not the smoothest of things. Kind of a stucco, rough, jagged texture to it.
The Altarboys came up next. This is an interesting band. They play 1 show a year. It's whenever their singer comes back to visit from Amsterdam. They ran through a couple songs and I was hooked. Wes, in his unfortunate condition, had to leave a bit early. So all but Lee, my wife and myself were left. We watched the Altarboys put on a great set. Just wish they played more often. I would love to play with these guys again!
The show let out and we all headed back to the house. Most everyone was asleep or watching Lord Of The Rings. Lee, Wes' sister in law and I sat out on the porch chatting for a couple more hours. I opted to sleep in the room Lee was in as not to disturb everyone in the main living room. I started reading a book. I got 1 page in and promptly fell asleep. At some point in the night I started sleep walking. Apparently searching for the bathroom. Lord knows how long I wandered around our room, but I was told I did step all over Lee. I made my way out and almost went into Wes' sister in law and her husbands room. Thankfully my wife woke me up just before my entrance. That could have been disastrous... On my return I fell back asleep in the living room again. Only to wake up the next morning and seeing Doug, awake early again, staring at me.
We all proceeded to roll out of bed, some easier than others. Got packed up and headed back out on the road. We didn't have another show for 2 days. Those days were dedicated to solid driving. We had 2 cars. Doug's truck with a UHaul trailer and my little Toyota. Lee rode with my wife and I through this leg. Which created hours of silence with everyone napping to the strange conversations of movies and arguments over which mountain is which. At one point we stopped at a rest stop for a bite and stretch. Doug pulled out a football. We played a little catch and I realized I throw a football like one would a baseball and the result just looks idiotic. We managed to get to Redding that night.
The town of Redding kind of sucks on a Monday night. Doug opted to stay behind and get to sleep early. The rest of us set out to find a bar. We were staying at the Vagabond in that night. All the Motel 6s were booked solid, which seemed weird. We thought we'd just go to the Denny's in the same parking lot as the hotel and hang out in their lounge. This particular Denny's had no lounge. We asked the advice of a waitress as to where to go. She said the bowling alley. So we walked over that direction, only to find the bowling alley was closed. Across the street however, was a video arcade that was also a partial bar. We went there and played a few games and had a beer. The problem was we get there at 11:30pm and they closed at 12. So dejected again we went back on the search. We asked the employees of the arcade as to the where abouts of a decent watering hole. The guy, which we don't know his real name, but Wes decide he looked like a Derek so that shall be his name from now on... Derek. Derek named off several different places. We didn't find any of them. We even tried the Red Lion lobby bar, closed. We came across a casino/card room. It had a separate bar with karaoke going. Seemed as good place as any. We walked in and sat down. Wes ran off to the bathroom. We order and strangely Wes hadn't come back. After about 10 or 15 minutes. He finally came back and told a heroing tale of being locked in the bathroom. This is how he told it. I'm par phrasing of course, Wes' depiction was far more animated.
He went to the bathroom and noticed a guy at the urinal. Being a small bathroom Wes figured he would use the stall to give the guy his space. The guy finished up and washed his hands and walked out. Wes finished up and went to do the same. He reach for the door handle and pulled and it just would not open. He thought to himself maybe it's a sticky door and just lift up on it. Nothing still. He noticed kick marks at the bottom of the door. Tried to follow suit there as well, but to no avail. He thought to give me a call, but he left his cell in the hotel room. He took a step back to assess the situation before letting panic set in. He took a look around and noticed the tiling on the floor ran a different direction. He then took a peak around the corner and low and behold... The actual door. On which he exited with no problems what so ever. Wes was attempting to break into the janitor's closet. From then on he was still a little mad at the guy for locking him in. Unwarranted of course. But as we sat out on the patio, he pointed him out as the guy that locked him in the bathroom.
Later in the evening we ran into this fella again in the bathroom. Wes told the guy the same story of trying to get out through the janitor's closet. The guy responded that he had tried the same thing many times before.
Before we left this interesting little casino, we had to take a peak at the card room. I have never witnessed a place more unnerving. All that could be heard was the buzz from the neon lights overhead. The were many tables, but only one was occupied. Surrounded by several men playing poker, they all looked as if they were part of the Russian mafia. Once setting foot in that card room they all stopped and peered in our direction. The decision to leave promptly followed.
That's enough for one day... I'll post more later on. Coming soon... Tales of Buttonwillow Junction, The Whisky, Carlsbad and much more.
adam
WCG
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