![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
We woke up and ate some really great Mexican food with our friend BIG COTTON in Santa Monica before heading north to SF. Not much else to say except that Santa Monica is... really super nice.
The drive up was pretty uneventful... except for the fact that we were fighting about the set list. There are three camps when it comes to the set list:
1) Bill, Phil and Josh (me) - would prefer to play the same or similar set list(s) every night
2) Tommy and Adam - would prefer to play VERY different set lists from night to night
3) Rick - will play anything any time except "Fanfare of the Imbeciles" and "Mursketine II".
(JAB - or anything else in a major key!)
When we arrived at the Elbo it was raining... just like the last time I played there with Golden Arm Trio only not quite as hard. Anyone who's ever played the Elbo will likely never forget the required pre-show workout that they call "loading in". The stage is upstairs... and we have a lot of stuff (BILL!!!!!!).
The people at the Elbo were already annoyed with Estradasphere for some reason so that made for tense night. Apparently the owner claimed that Esphere had damaged a piece of gear the last time they were in town. This was all par for the course - this was the one show that had never confirmed us and about a month before the tour, informed Estradasphere's booking agent that we wouldn't be included on the bill. Fortunately, enough people in the area vouched for our quality that he chose to have us afterall. whew.
RIGHT before setting up on stage, Tommy and Adam kicked the set list debate up a notch. Now... what was funny was that they are in the same camp from the list above! In the end Tommy was very pissed off and played the whole show with hardly a smile. When it ended, he packed his gear and hit the streets alone. For me, this was the second least fun show we played on the trip (the worst was Sacramento at the Blue Lamp a few nights later) but one of the better sounding! We played "Love is a Fist" and the audience actually knew it this time. We'd played it before in the bay area but no one seemed to know it.
This was also the night that someone filmed us playing "A Night on Bald Mountain" and they posted it on you tube here ----->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFGTV0Hrk
The only bummer about the clip is that he ran out of tape or juice or something near the end and it's missing about 2 minutes of the quite section of the piece.
We actually have some better footage that we should put on you tube.
We saw a lot of friends at the show - particularly John from Hammers of Misfortune/Ludicra. He was our soundmand and we stayed at his place that night. It was pretty cool to stay at Hammers Central! Although, Bill and I didn't get to sleep there ---> we wound up sleeping in the van with all our equipment. Since you have to park in the streets overnight in SF, it's a common practice amoung bands to sleep IN your van. Bands often do this when I host them in Austin. I guess I learned why.
FYI - if you're in a band and you stay with me - you don't have to sleep in the van. It's Austin.
The next morning was bright and sunny, but nice and cool. Bill was unhappy to wake up with my posterior about 5 inches from his face. I started thinking, "When do we move here?" and haven't really stopped yet.
The drive up was pretty uneventful... except for the fact that we were fighting about the set list. There are three camps when it comes to the set list:
1) Bill, Phil and Josh (me) - would prefer to play the same or similar set list(s) every night
2) Tommy and Adam - would prefer to play VERY different set lists from night to night
3) Rick - will play anything any time except "Fanfare of the Imbeciles" and "Mursketine II".
(JAB - or anything else in a major key!)
When we arrived at the Elbo it was raining... just like the last time I played there with Golden Arm Trio only not quite as hard. Anyone who's ever played the Elbo will likely never forget the required pre-show workout that they call "loading in". The stage is upstairs... and we have a lot of stuff (BILL!!!!!!).
The people at the Elbo were already annoyed with Estradasphere for some reason so that made for tense night. Apparently the owner claimed that Esphere had damaged a piece of gear the last time they were in town. This was all par for the course - this was the one show that had never confirmed us and about a month before the tour, informed Estradasphere's booking agent that we wouldn't be included on the bill. Fortunately, enough people in the area vouched for our quality that he chose to have us afterall. whew.
RIGHT before setting up on stage, Tommy and Adam kicked the set list debate up a notch. Now... what was funny was that they are in the same camp from the list above! In the end Tommy was very pissed off and played the whole show with hardly a smile. When it ended, he packed his gear and hit the streets alone. For me, this was the second least fun show we played on the trip (the worst was Sacramento at the Blue Lamp a few nights later) but one of the better sounding! We played "Love is a Fist" and the audience actually knew it this time. We'd played it before in the bay area but no one seemed to know it.
This was also the night that someone filmed us playing "A Night on Bald Mountain" and they posted it on you tube here ----->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFGTV0Hrk
The only bummer about the clip is that he ran out of tape or juice or something near the end and it's missing about 2 minutes of the quite section of the piece.
We actually have some better footage that we should put on you tube.
We saw a lot of friends at the show - particularly John from Hammers of Misfortune/Ludicra. He was our soundmand and we stayed at his place that night. It was pretty cool to stay at Hammers Central! Although, Bill and I didn't get to sleep there ---> we wound up sleeping in the van with all our equipment. Since you have to park in the streets overnight in SF, it's a common practice amoung bands to sleep IN your van. Bands often do this when I host them in Austin. I guess I learned why.
FYI - if you're in a band and you stay with me - you don't have to sleep in the van. It's Austin.
The next morning was bright and sunny, but nice and cool. Bill was unhappy to wake up with my posterior about 5 inches from his face. I started thinking, "When do we move here?" and haven't really stopped yet.
1 comment | Leave a comment