2004-04-23 - 10:58 a.m.
Hey folks. If you haven’t noticed the little note at the bottom of the entries, you can sign up on the notify list and I’ll send you an e-mail each time an entry has been posted. Check it out at the end of each installment.
We’ve come to Redwood City south of San Francisco to play at the Little Fox Theater. Our old buddy from Quail Hollow, Brad Lyman is promoting the show so we’re confident of a successful evening. Coming to a town for the first time can sometimes be a little stressful. You just don’t know what to expect. I’ve learned not to be too concerned because all you can do is make sure you do what is expected of you and the rest will hopefully take care of itself. With people like Brad or Alex you know you’re in good hands and all efforts will be made to promote the show properly. What a great little theater! We have a nice crowd for a weekday and once again the East Coast represents and the Happy Brigade are out in force. Unfortunately, I’m sick as a dog but don’t let it affect my performance. In fact, when I play, my level of concentration is such that I forget that I’m sick. I view this as a great blessing. Unless of course I’m having to violently throw up as a result of having food poisoning. That very thing happened to me at the Fox Theater in Boulder on my birthday 2 years ago. I got food poisoning from the sushi I ate in the lobby sushi restaurant. Perhaps eating raw fish 3000 miles from the nearest ocean wasn’t such a good idea! Just before we went on I started puking. I was some how able to resist the urge until a point in the song(s) where I wasn’t essential. Then I quickly made my way down the spiral staircase and into the dressing room bathroom just in time to heave ho and then quick back up in time for a solo or vocal part. This process repeated itself 5 times during the show! The show must go on after all. I was told I played well, though I do not remember.
The following night we play at a nearly sold out Constable Jack’s in Newcastle, CA. Newcastle is a “don’t blink, you’ll miss it” kind of town in the foothills of the Sierra’s. Constable Jack’s seems to be the only bar in town so I guess that made us the only show in town. Just as we were setting up, a gentleman by the name of Pete Grant shows up and tells me he plays pedal steel guitar with the David Nelson Band and asks if we’d mind if he sat in. After checking with everyone it’s agreed and he sets up his stuff. What a great time we had! Pete turns out to be really good and a real fine chap. The same rowdy crowd that was here last night is back again, to quote a song. It was a truly fabulous show!
We stay in Sacramento and in the morning Gayle, Andy and me head into San Fran to get some lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s really touristy but I have some fine crab cakes. We head over to sound check after lunch and check out the neighborhood. Had some great coffee at the shop across the street. Later I discover an incredible record shop up the block a ways. I pick up a long play 45 r.p.m. featuring XTC doing The Mayor of Simpleton that also includes them doing a cover of a Captain Beefheart song. Cool! I also pick up Randy Newman’s first album but pass on a Captain Beefheart that has my buddy Moris Tepper on it because I can’t afford it. The Independent is a newer venue in San Francisco. It seems a bit unfinished inside but has lots of room to dance and great P.A. and lights. The entire crew at the show are great to work with and the show is a highlight of the tour so far. A neat band opens the show. They’re called The Hot Buttered Rum String Band and they’re lots of fun and sweet people. My friend Aum is at the show. He’s actually been on pretty much the whole tour. I’ve written about Aum before. He used to do Dead tour, selling hand made burritos out of his van. Now that the Dead are not exactly the same, he tours where he thinks best, following the bands he loves; feeding the masses and absorbing the good music and vibe. It’s not so much a way to make a living, as it is a way to live a life. After the Independent show he and I head down to the town of Ben Lomand to spend the night at his friend Ruth’s house. Ben Lomand is one of my favorite towns and very close to the top of the list of places I would love to live. There is dense coastal forest here with a smattering of first growth trees somehow still surviving mankind’s onslaught. In the morning I take a shower, have some breakfast and meditate on Ruth's deck up on the hill above the house. It’s quiet, peaceful and secluded. Afterwards Aum and I say our goodbyes and head off to walk around Henry Cowells Redwood State Park. It’s a huge grove of first growth Redwoods that has a mile long trail that circumambulates it. It’s an amazing place! I am made to feel very small amongst trees that were saplings when the Buddha walked this Earth.
Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz is up next. First Aum and I walk around downtown Santa Cruz and check out the scene. It’s a neat town and the home of the Happy Brigade…woo hoo! I duck into an Internet café, check my mail and then buy a violin stand I’ve been looking for at the music shop next door. Sound check, Chinese food, red wine and the show of shows. All I can say is Holy Shit that was great gig! People seemed to be singing along to nearly every song. It was sold out (some 30 or so people waited in vain outside to get in!) and the place was on fire. I think we answered the call with one of the finest shows yet. Our new friend Peter Grant came back and laid some sweet steel on us all. Just when you think it can’t get any better!
We spend the night in the same yurt in Ben Lomand we’ve stayed in before. It’s owned by our friends from Quail Hollow, Mike and Kim. Andy and I waste no time jumping in the hot tub. A quick, jolting swim in the pool and then back in the hot tub to stare up at the stars. When we get back to the yurt Mike and all those left awake are busy trying to solve the world’s problems with conversation. I join in for a while but after I suggest that we just come out and admit that we’re in Iraq for the oil; fall back to defend the oil fields and pipelines and let the U.N. sort out G. W.’s mess (this idea is met with silence) I pass out from exhaustion. We’re off to Malibu, home of the stars, in the morning
The Malibu Inn is one of the oldest bars/restaurants in Malibu. It’s just across the street from the Pacific. Location, location, location! I give my buddy Moris Tepper a call on the way into town. He’s got a gig but we agree to have breakfast in the morning. He’s playing the following night and as it’s a night off he invites us all down for the show. The Malibu show was a bit of a let down numbers wise but the Happy Brigade and what was left of the East Coast crew make it fun. We had 2 openers and the second one was Kenny Logins son Crosby. They were good and they had a fine fiddler in the band named Paul. We talked violins for a while after the show. Our good friend Neal Casal made it out to the show and sat in on Dandelion Wine, a tune he wrote that’s on one of our albums. He rocked it and a fine time was had by all! We had a little after party as send off to the Happy Brigade and the East Coast posse at our friend Jamille’s apartment in Santa Monica. I’m sad to see all our friends off the tour. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends.
Laundry day….yeah! It’s nice to have clean clothes. Andy and I have breakfast with Moris and an artist he’s hosting in L.A., Baby Gramps. Turns out we’d played with him at Hornings Hideout outside of Portland, OR a year prior. He played with Leftover Salmon with a couple dozen topless girls sitting in a circle in front of them. Pretty wild stuff that happens out west! It’s great hanging with Moris, a true Bodhisattva, although he’s not aware of it. Andy, Todd, Aum and I go see him at Spaceland that night. First we see Baby Gramps. He’s a master at ragtime blues guitar, with that real authentic sound. He’s a real hoot and it’s a fun show. Next up, an unannounced set by the guitarist from The American Music Club, Vootie. He’s unusual and seems a little out of sorts. Moris rips it up during a short set. He’s so unique. I love the guy.
And so comes to a close our run down the Pacific Coast. It was the best yet out here and we don’t want to leave just yet but Flagstaff calls.
