May 28 and 29th the Road the Nostalgia
Breakfast buffet at the Marriot then our final time checking out from what seemed like the millionth single-serving-shampoo-stocked-hotel. Then we cleaned out the cab of the van in preparation for the great 19 hours of freeway we’d be pulling under us over the next two days. We had 14 hours our first day to drive from Lynwood, WA to Hayward, CA where we’d be staying with my mom again. The drive didn’t seem long somehow as we drove in shifts, slept and slept and slept. The drive was grotesquely hot as we passed through southern OR/northern northern CA. With no AC, the windows down just blew hot air onto our damp bodies.
On the road we spent some time talking about our goals for the coming year, sort of a state of the band talk. We deemed the tour as a flaming success, but expressed our concerns and desires for the future of the band from a business standpoint; we all made goals and articulated our aspirations for May of 2010.
When we arrived in Hayward, my mom (bless her heart) made us some fried lwuh bwuh
gao, Chinese noodles, and shrimp dumplings for her weary travelers. Wilson, our friend from UCMerced and Deanna from the SF show after after after after party came out to hang with us for our unofficial end of the tour party. My mom was a great host and a great supporter of my music and my lifestyle, thanks ma!!
Friday morning was a straight shot. For the last time the 98 Dodge Caravan, aka The Love-Van, aka The Purple Nurple sailed over the freeway, bouncing over oil stained pavement, dancing between white bumpered dotted lines, propelling our gear, our bodies, our music across the lands, and finally, we are home. The van left Long Beach 5 weeks ago, 3 oil changes ago, over 10,000 miles ago, with about a hundred fewer bumper stickers, and with a different battery and front left tire. We pushed this vehicle to the limits of its GM engineering; the limits of physics, and what seemed to be near the limits of God’s grace (theological disclaimer: God’s grace is limitless). We are blessed by such a smooth and car-trouble-free tour and we have your prayers and the mechanically savvy angels of our heavenly militia to thank.
At this point I’d like to switch gears and rather than commentate, make some random observations and conclusions on the tour as a whole to wrap up this blog. I’d like to make everything from satirical observations to epic spiritual revelations all in the span of a few paragraphs so buckle up. First some observations and comments on what I’ve learned about each of the boys:
Pete: When he started this tour, he said that “I don’t play poker much,” by the end of it, he’d played several full games of no limit Hold ‘Em, won two of them, and played over 10 hours of video poker on Nate’s DS. Apparently our touring is poker addiction forming. Pete is also a fantastic band leader/manager, not only bearing the creative burden but also the business burden of the band. It’s a feat that’s increasingly impossible for one human to do as the band grows in popularity. It may be the last that he manages us as we seek external help, but he did a smashing job on this tour.
Jon: Apparently Jon likes the music I like, a lot. He requests it repeatedly, especially a song by Royksopp which to him sounds like he’s in the dressing room of some avant-garde cutting edge clothing store trying on $500 leather pants. Jon also apparently appreciates how I delegate, aka the “kai effect” which he coined and Marcelle defined. Since Jon likes me so much, it’s obviously pretty easy for him to be on my A list. Jon probably set up and tore down the merch table 90% of the time. He was the silent servant and we all appreciated it.
Nate is an anomaly to me. I’ve always felt that I am the outgoing crazy one, but Nate has outdone me. He can stay up late playing pinochle, stay out later playing poker, wake up early and play a gig, then go out and play basketball with some of the kids that he’s met with no problem… then repeat a similar schedule the following day! Here’s what happens with kai: kai tries to keep with Nate, kai gets sick. Basically, I can’t regulate myself very well, and I don’t like being outdone by Nate, so for the next tour I’m going to have to learn how to say “no” and observe a 4AM curfew (I know, brutal).
Kai: Some observations by the boys. I like hitting my quads when I’m driving, it frees up the lactic acid burn I get when sitting still. I sneeze loud, and I always sneeze twice (almost always). I also make lots of references to being Asian/Chinese. This is something that was clear to me before, but I guess the dudes are just noticing now. Have I mentioned recently that there are 1.3 billion Chinese ppl in China? And… we’re going on 1.4, that’s one hundred million more; the US population is only around 300 million. Think about it.
Now for my final lessons learned/observations/conclusions on touring:
1. Touring is absolutely consistent with my philosophy on community.
When I began the tour I have to admit I was weary about the whole leave my wife for 5 weeks thing. To restate: I believe that central to the Christian Faith, central to life, central to the purpose mankind exists is… connections. That is, the connectivity within family, community, church, etc. is the basis and the sustenance of human existence on Earth. Connections define, sustain, and validate us as individuals. The question is: can the nomadic lifestyle of touring support and perpetuate such a philosophy?
The answer is absolutely. Of course a touring lifestyle is probably not the ideal environment to nurture community in one’s life, and touring 100% of the time would be absolute death. But to the extent that it’s moderated, living on the road and making tens of mini-satellite communities does provide the connections that sustain us. I make the following comparison with much humility because what we are doing is not nearly on the same scale, but the Apostle Paul must have wrestled with this same query all of the time. So often in his letters he wrote about hid heart yearning to be with these mini-communities he had set up. I hear that Paul wanted to settle down in one place, in Corinth, in Thessalonica, or Philippi. But God’s calling brought him around the world and his letters and prayers were his way of exponentially furthering community everywhere he went.
Certainly, without my wife and church and small group and family and group of friends here in Southern California, I would waste away. But from this platform I can spring forth and send the love for connections that God has given me out into the peaks of Park City, the cafes of Gresham, and the plains of Idaho. I suspected that on the road all connections would be shallow and meaningless, like saccharin sweet at first but dissolving immediately on the tongue and forgotten. I now find this to be untrue and look forward to the blossoming of relationships that were seeded on the road.
At the same time the community between the four of us as a band grew and matured, refined and cauterized. I could depend on the guys for laughter and support and we built up our mini-mobile community in the van everywhere we went. We are required to apply God’s love daily lest we be torn apart. I am encouraged and admonished by the guys; we are each other’s cheerleaders and accountability. The community we built and will continue to build is tangible and substantial.
2. I did not pause enough to reflect/meditate on what I was experiencing. .
I think I may be able to speak for all of us when I say this, but I did not leave enough time to reflect and give thanks; I was so busy touring that I didn’t have an opportunity to be present in the touring. At the beginning of the tour when Pete was delegating tasks to each of us, I took for granted the magnitude of what I had done when I volunteered to write this blog: I had fortunately committed myself to ritualistically reflecting on the tour… if you have been keeping up, you noticed that I fell behind a lot, and often the blogging was tedious, obligatory and forced. The blog should have been a time for me to process all that was going on. I did not have enough discipline to rest, and I think my appreciation and cognition of the tour was compromised: I truly renewed my appreciation for the 5th commandment.
Things got tedious on the road. I mentioned in very early blog that, relationally speaking, touring is just like test driving every make and model of car out there; constantly experiencing something new and exciting. Well, without resting even this got tedious and routine! I poured too much of my efforts and energy into the middle of the tour and by the end of it, I was exhausted and treating something exciting as standard faire and my performances and connections-making suffered. Hence my desire to fulfill a 4am curfew, no more sunrises for me!!!
3. I have a renewed appreciation and connection with my wife.
All corniness and mooshiness aside, with complete sincerity I say that I love my wife more than I did at the beginning of the tour. I made an agreement with myself that if my time away from her was too injurious to our marriage that I would forego my dream of touring and prioritize my family, but I prayed I would not need to make that decision.
God is faithful and answered my prayers! I feel closer with my wife and I know there is a greater mutual love and respect that we have for each other. Back to the car illustration, my wife is that 99 Corolla with 120 thousand miles on it that just won’t quit. I put some work into her, keep her maintained, and she gets me where I need to be every time. I have met some beautiful, interesting, wonderful young girls on the road (and if you are reading this remember what I told you about not devaluing yourself and waiting for someone who treasures you as much as I treasure my wife), but only Rebekah can fill my need and be the connection that sustains me. Touring has produced the unexpected product of showing me that my wife’s love for me is valuable, real, substantial and… it is good. It is always good. And I am thankful.
May 27 THE LAST DAY (day 34)
Upon receiving bad intel from my local friend Austin, we left for Auburn, WA, a northern suburb of Seattle 1.5 hours before we needed to be there. It only took us 50 minutes to get there from Tacoma, so we rested in the parking lot off Edmonds Community College for 30 minutes before our 9am load in time. Today would be the final show of our tour…
The event seemed very well put together and our sound guys seemed very competent. The courtyard we played in was filled to the brim with activities like BBQ, climbing wall, inflatables, badminton, etc. etc. We played as the very first band to kick off the event, at 11am. We opened for the jazz band, a tap dancer, etc. It was tough being the rock band at the very beginning of it all but we tried our best. When we went on we were really competing unsuccessfully for the attention of droves of kids waiting in line to pop balloons with darts or ride and then fall off of a mechanical surfboard.
Given the circumstance I don’t think we could have done better. We engaged a few ppl and played a good final set. The real finale for our tour was that we got the pimpest rooms of our entire tour at the Courtyard Marriot. After paying our dues at Travelodges across the northwest, we finally arrived at 2 spacious rooms with 2 queen beds each, and to top it all off, Nate and I got a balcony!! Hot tub downstairs, courtyard with a gazebo in the back… after marinating our bodies for a few minutes we crashed out until dinner time.
After some deliberation we decided to do our on-the-band-end-of-the-tour-wrap-up-dinner at Claim Jumpers. We reminisced day by day of the tour, laughed a lot, cried a little. The food was delicious, the portions and the dessert were gluttonous and we got some strong closure.
Afterward Yin (my long lost Asian sister) and Cari came out from Edmonds along with my friend Austin again (you guessed it, we played Pinochle). We kicked it and played an amazing game of Celebrity (ask Nate about that one) then stayed up and talked till we got sleepy. Of course it was appropriate for Nate and I to hang with students on our last night of touring, but I have to admit that I was getting tired. Although I was 100% after getting sick, my body was telling me “You can’t keep this up, dammit!” I will remenisce about what I learned from the tour on my next blog, but I was learning that I can’t keep this up. My apologies to Austin, Yin, and Cari if I was over grumpy and/or over-asian-prided…
The next day we’d be driving back toward my wife and my cats and I was thrilled.
May 26 Pew-wall-up (day 33)
Once again the zippers flew and we gathered our lives into the van at an early hour. We were scheduled to play in Puyullup, a city back in the Seattle area, at 12 noon. We arrived at the indoor location of the show to find a sound system that could cause a small nation to go deaf. As Pete put it: “we’re going to blow their clothes off”. The main speakers had four 12” speakers on each side, additionally; there were FOUR 15” sub speakers, plus tweeters to boot. There was enough power in that room to play Dodger Stadium.
With qualms about being too loud and clearing the room, we set up unsure of what was to come. As it turns out, the sound guys were very knowledgeable and it was NOT too loud. We gained a captive audience with the support of two monkeys, a chicken and an eagle. (A few students dressed as random mascots and hyped the crowd, to, little avail). After the gig we had some of the best crowd response we’d had on tour, and the only response we’d had for a long time, so it was refreshing to have a crowd at the merch table after.
What was additionally refreshing is that most of our fans were high school students. Pierce College in Puyullup has an exchange program with local high school students where you get your AA by the time you graduate with a high school diploma. Our audience was mainly juniors and seniors in high school with a few freshmen in college being the elder members of the fans. Appeal to this age group is a good sign of life and potential for us as a band. We don’t want to get to heady/intellectual/complex in our music so as to lose this audience; at the same time we don’t want to oversimplify (aka over Britney-fy) our music, but I don’t believe we’re in danger of falling off that extreme.
After kicking it with Anje, Caroline, and Krrrstn, we packed up our gear to rest at the hotel. Nate took off to go play B-ball with our friends today, then we all met up again for Pho. Afterward we went to an area near downtown Puyullup where they have an outdoor firepit and a 24 hour café. Caroline is a dancer, so she taught Nate and I some ballet/cheerleading moves. We also busted out the guitar and made up some nonsense songs about the security guard. Finally we bid the girls adieu as we headed back.
By the time we got back (Pete and Jon had gone first, my friend Austin took Nate and I back), I found Pete smoking his pipe on the bumper of the Love-Van. Surprisingly, he said he was down to learn and play a game of pinochle and I couldn’t resist. So Jonny could sleep, we went into the lobby of the Travelodge and stayed up till 2am playing. After that Nate went to the neighboring poker parlor and lost his shirt (aka $40).
May 24 and 25 (day 31 and 32)
Pete was basically so fed up with the low end motel fiasco that we cancelled our second night at said motel and booked two rooms at the Ramada down the street. I have to say, whatever the price, it was a good call. We finally got to rest, one bed per bandmate, in comfort. We checked in at 12:30 and I slept till around 5:30pm.
No gigs today so we took it easy. We met up with my friend Austin and we saw Terminator Salvation at a local theatre (entertaining, but the ending was overblown), then Chipotle back at the hotel while watching TV (heaven!!!). Austin and I used to connect in Boston playing a card game called Pinochle and we taught it to Nate and stayed up playing (heaven!!).
After checking out the next day (Monday) we hhad time to kill before our 7pm load in time in Portland OR, only about 2.5 hours from where we were staying. We drove down lazily and checked into another travelodge that would unbelievably steal the prize of worst accommodations on the tour! We already knew that something weird was going down when they required us to give them our identifications so they can copy them and keep them on file.
Kelly’s Olympian is a “biker bar” in downtown Portland in an area my wife and I explored when we were in town. We arrived before the soundman and found that the room looked great, like a legitimate rock venue. They even had our name on their Marquee, a first on the tour. A couple of our friends showed up for the gig: Wes from Heart for a Tinman, Brock and Adele (that’s fantastic) whom we stayed with when we were there last, and a Gresham girl herself Nikki made a surprise appearance.
On stage we had Brock come up and take a solo during rumor with my guitar (he was obviously not briefed on the fact that we were going to bring him up on stage since he was wearing swim trunks and sandles). He took that solo and shredded it to pieces, we were so happy to share a stage with him.
Afterward the band and Wes walked over to Voodoo Doughnut just a few blocks away. I ordered a “Captain my Captain”, which was Captain Crunch cereal frosted onto a doughnut… amazing. We stood out front of the doughnut shop at 1am talking and experienced all kinds of local characters, most of whom were asking us for money. One of the guys who asked us for a quarter, when overhearing that we were walking back to our van declared with wide-eyed child-like abandon “I’ll go with you!!” and started skipping alongside of us… So, we now have an addition to our van personnel, but we make him hang on outside (I’m lying).
Back at the hotel, after we parked Jon and Nate went in first and Pete and I lagged behind. Earlier in the day we were just jumping in and out of our first floor window because it was a more direct access to the parking lot and the motel was so ghetto there was no screen. The two of us figured that Jon and Nate could go in and just open the window for us. After a few minutes, we got kind of concerned and as I was calling Nate he walks into the room with Jon explaining that the lady at the front desk was hating. Just then the lady at the front desk walks out into the parking lot and hates on us, yelling that she’d call the cops if we jumped into the window (no joke). She required us to show our ID and go in through the front. Jon later told me that after cynically checking his and Nate’s IDs that she would not allow him to wait in the lobby Pete and I to let us in. Even with the defense that she was really looking out for our safety and the security of the motel, if that’s the type of neighborhood we’re in, one old lady at the front desk is not going to prevent anything! Lesson learned: no more Travelodges.
May 22 and 23 (day 29 and 30)
I arose early to have breakfast with my friend whom I met at NACA 07, Amanda Markley. I had been trying to hang out with her every time we were in Spokane (a total of three separate occasions, wow). And, of course, in Amanda style, we waited till the last minute to do it; we were leaving Spokane for good at around 11.
Afterward, my wife had a small banking crisis so I had Amanda take me to the BofA downtown and I walked back to our downtown hotel. I took the long way home and saw the falls and the riverfront, and I have to say it was magnificent. I understand why ppl decided to build a city around such a beautiful sight. I only wish the boys could join me for the walk.
Lady Danville had a show at SCC that day, and we were meeting them in Seattle for two shows Saturday. We got up earlier and just dragged our feet leaving the city, stopping for food and sights. I drove the first leg and I do not drive faster than the flow of traffic/speed limit (for good reason, Jon got pulled over on the way back from Auburn, but thankfully the quite chipper cop let us go with a warning. We are now 1 for 2 in ticket evasion). About an hour and a half the guys from Lady D caught up to us and it was a bromance reunion right there on the freeway.
Upon arrival in Seattle, we stayed at probably the worst accommodations we’d had on tour (including the Knights Inn, Reno, NV!!) The room was hyped as “two queens”, there were “two full sized beds” in the stinking room. The money was paid and it wouldn’t have been apt to complain, but I will tell y’all. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES STAY AT THE AIRPORT BEST VALUE INN NEAR THE AIRPORT IN SEATTLE!!
Laundry and blogging on this day of rest: nothing extraordinary. The three boys left to see Lady D’s gig in Seattle that night. I stayed in and met with my college buddy Austin. I found a Thai place that served us at 10:30 and chatted it up in Thai and Chinese with the grandma working there. Oh, the Thai place was connected to the glamorous Econolodge. Austin would later confirm that we are in the worst, most ghetto part of Seattle: Seatac. We stayed in this area because it had the cheapest accommodations, but in hindsight, it was actually not worth the cost in terms of the rest that we’d lose.
The next day on Saturday our gig was not till later that night so we slept in until check out (usual faire) then went off to site see at Pike’s Market, downtown Seattle. I told the guys that they throw fish there, and, standing somewhat cynically aside, we paused for a moment only to witness a massive beheaded 40+pound fish being heaved through the air. We saw the first Starsucks and the old school 1920s era street band that performs in front, washboard and all.
After filling up on some delicious seafood Nate, Jon, and I went off to the “Experience Music Project” at the Space Needle. It’s a humongous museum paying homage to the Seattle Music Scene, Jimi Hendrix, and a huge interactive area where you can play and jam on the instruments. We were meeting up with Jon’s friend Lelani from his church and two of her friends. The museum was way cool, but very busy. In the whole interactive area I felt bad making 10 year old kids wait for their first change to step into a recording studio, or take a first whack at a drumkit, or strum their first chord on an electric guitar (although some middle aged shredders on the guitar had no problems with that). If you make it out there, try to go when it’s less busy, not memorial day weekend!
After the museum we met up with two of our friends, Nicolette and Lauren who came up from Gresham, OR to see us play! After some severely overpriced carnival rides that are a permanent fixture around the Space Needle, we headed out to the venue. The Laughing Ladies Café is a relatively new suburban café in northern Seattle. The show went good, and, somewhat unfortunately, we brought the entire crowd. Between Jon’s friends from Socal, the Gresham girls, and Lady Danville’s girlfriends, the Californians and Oregonians dwarfed the locals. Too bad we didn’t really get to connect with a new audience… we’d find mainly the same reception at our next show.
“The Troubador” is really a practice space out in Auburn, a suburb of Seattle. The owner of the space, a musian himself, was hosting an all night party with 16 or so bands. Centrevol and Lady D was to finish up the night (we went on around 1:45am). Definitely not the most pivotal gig of our careers: new audience members were definitely high and/or marginally interested. But it was a great opportunity to jam with Lady D. We invited them on stage with us at Laughing Ladies, so they invited us on to close out the gig. Pete grabbed a tambo, Nate and I set up his kit again and I placed his crash cymbal high over and behind his head. I banged on the floor tom while and the three of us made good on Lady D’s grooves (Jon was asleep in the van). Overall the shows were fun and effective as a reunion and strengthening of existing contacts despite the fact that we didn’t really make any new ones. Phil, our host and owner of the Troubador was grateful for our performance and we’re looking forward to working with him more, thanks Phil!
After having a heinous experience with the local motels, Nate and I went out with the Gresham girls for pancakes. Once again the sun rose on the end of our day. Our server at ihop loved his job and was a pleasure to dine with. Nate asked for the biggest OJ he could get and got a carafe with a double straw sticking out of it. We rolled back to the Travelodge (do not stay at this motel ever) around 7am for an 11am check out…
May 21, Spokanite (day 28)
Our noontime show was at Spokane Community College, a school with an apparent high smoker/capita population. Upon arrival we asked three separate ppl where the “Auditorium” was, that is, the location of our gig. All three not only didn’t know where it was but sounded surprised and somewhat cynical that such a building even existed. We took this as a bad sign but pressed on.
The Auditorium at SCC does indeed exist: it’s a bona-fide theatre with acoustic sound barriers hanging from the high ceiling and massive Shure main speakers as sidefills (I didn’t know Shure made speakers!!). There were also oodles of theatre props and costumes backstage, something we could not resist. After we got set up Pete gleefully hopped skipped and jumped multiple trips behind stage producing props of trees and fake rocks each time. By the time he was done it looked like were playing in a jungle.
Before we went on, Tom, our soundguy, allowed us to announce our show over the intercom in the building. Since I don’t attend the school, I figured I’d take a little risk and ham it up. Nate and I went on the intercom as mock DJs for “Radio SCC” announcing that a band would be playing the auditorium naked, giving out free bacon to anyone who showed up. People were running down the hall, no joke.
The show had to be one of our most energetic. We had kids dancing on the stage (often in an awkwardly scandalous manner) and rhythmically clapping vigorously (I was afraid they’d still be clapping when they returned to class). The show was a success and we had Kendu to thank for it… Thanks for bringing us to your campus, bro!
Afterward the response was really positive; the Spokane kids are not only clappers, they are Centrevol fans! We found, to our delight, that when promoted for our second show, taking place at the Baby Bar that night, ppl were responsive and declaring they’d come out. However, they also told us that it’s called Baby Bar because it’s tiny, it’s a baby bar, like not full grown, like the size of a standard hotel room.
When we left SCC we went back to the hotel to relax for a while. Then we went off to Luigi’s for some Italian food as one of our on-the-band weekly meals. When we got to the bar, we found that indeed it was tiny. It’s adjoined with “Neato Burrito”, a burrito joint under the same ownership. The set up was in the burrito side of the room as the bar is literally about 12×12.
Lady Danville, the opening band was already there and setting up. These are three dudes we met at NACA, an LA band, they have a token Asian guy, they’re also touring the northwest… us and them it’s too perfect, it’s like Centrevol needs to have a romance with Lady Danville. Tonight is the first of 3 consecutive gigs we have planned with these guys. The room was empty and we were slow to get started. I was soliciting on the sidewalk meeting the locals outside trying to get them to come inside. Then two cops pull up on their bikes just chatting with us asking about the show, then Lady Danville with a ukulele, shaker, harmonica and guitar serenade the cops and the bystanders for an impromptu show. It was great, and by the time they were done playing, the place was packed.
Side note: Our friend Savannah, whom we met at SCC earlier that day, was in a car accident on the way to the gig. She was sitting in the passenger seat of a small car, a truck backed into her side and the bumper of the truck hit her NECK!!!! When the cops got there the only thing she tripped about was being late to the gig! She made it before we started playing and we had a blast!
I have to admit that I had some low expectations for the gig, but when we played it I had some of the most fun I’ve had on this entire tour. It’s a tiny room so we started off with Nate on the brushes and us playing our quiet stuff. By the middle of the show everyone was standing up and dancing, by the end of the show we had skipped all of our slow/quiet songs and played the most rocking set of the tour. Again, expectations get smashed. I just had to walk in front of my mic stand and I was in the dance floor;;; believe me, I did this often.
Afterward, the guys from Lady D and several of our newfound friends went to Blue Spark, a larger bar down the street. The beats were hot at this place and Nate and I continued to dance ourselves into soggier messes. The bartender ordered the DJ to stop playing at around 1:45am, I jokingly said “well, we gotta keep it going”, put my foot on the stage and started stomping out a beat with hand claps… by the time I thought the joke was over, everyone was stomping along and ppl were dancing. We even got more ppl to stand up from the bar and dance to our organic beat!! The DJ and bartender just stood astonished, and the bros in the room with perfectly flat billed baseball caps across their eyebrows frowned and nodded disapprovingly from their bar stools.
Afterward, Nate and I stayed up with our friend Cortney at the Hotel pool talking about agnosticism, atheism, and the essence of Christianity. ‘Twas a big day indeed… off to Seattle tomorrow.
Special mini-blog: The Kai effect
By Marcelle Beall
A term coined by fellow Centrevol bandmate Jon Guinta in reference to the magical charismatic powers possessed by Kai Ping Liu. Defined by the power to alter the course of events in the universe by some charm or winning unknown quality; the ability to get things other people would either be unwilling, unable to ask or incapable of getting.
Example: Dlo (Deanna) and Marcelle find themselves in a strange house (with a kick-a** view) in the clothes they went partying in the night before. “What are we doing here?” says Dlo. Marcelle laughs and says “I dunno, let’s go, we should get back to the city!”. In strolls Kai. “So, you know what would be dope? If we go and get breakfast for the guys and come back and eat it with that killer view. And we’re going to the post office.” Dlo and Marcelle hypnotically /robotically say “OK”. Kai: “And I was hoping we could take your car.” Dlo drives.
…Oh but these unsuspecting ladies started tasting the Kai effect many hours before all this. Talked into Coit Tower around midnight in the thick fog, onto Hayward at 4am just to glimpse a stellar view…
Arrive at post office:
Pinay grandma Ofelia at the Hayward Post office. Kai saunters in with nothing more than a people magazine and a sob story about his mom being in China with the mail on hold and leaving his shoes in Montana or Wyoming or something bearing nothing but a grin and a people magazine (his only proof of address). Kate Hudson or somebody was on the cover. He walks out with the coveted box in hand about 10 minutes later.
Meanwhile Dlo’s in the car Googling bagel shops. Kai wants Panera. God rearranged the universe and dropped a Panera in our path, say 2 blocks from the post office. We order up a baker’s dozen. Lady asks, “do you want them sliced?” “Yes please” says Kai. She walks away. “Ooh, he says, do you think we can get her to toast all 13 of them, or is that pushing our luck?”.. He asks, she toasts every last one. We walk out, breakfast in hand, bag full of napkins, sugar, etc. Marcelle paid (I am myself subject to the kai effect). Dlo drove.
Kai affected it all into being and wonders aloud if God will soon smite him for it- for always getting his way.
May 20, Gandalf vs Saruman (day 27)
The gig today was in Auburn, WA, 4 miles west of Cheney (an hour or so away from Seattle). My fever broke late last night, but some other undisclosed symptoms led me to want to call my Doc back in Downey, CA. En route, I got a call back and she suggested I go to Urgent Care or an ER… sigh. I knew that it was wise, but I also knew that it would take forever (insert rant about dysfunctional healthcare system here). I felt bad burdening the boys with my illness, but they were gracious and helpful.
We decided to do the gig first (mom, calm yourselves, I did indeed survive). The show was at Green River Community College; a school that is literally in a forest; steeped in luscious green ferns and foliage; as if the school yielded to ancient towering trees and negotiated where the buildings could fit between the ancient Ents. It was as if we were little Hobbits on a journey to find the venue where we were playing.
Well, we found that the room was an indoor auditorium/cafeteria with high ceilings and a sound system partially set up. The most hilarious thing was that there were two gray-haired sound engineers stalking around the stage area setting up. They were crusty, they totally ignored us when we arrived, they cussed like nothing I’ve heard, and they tore into each other in a way that made my eyes water. A favorite phrase I heard one of them use (and I censor) was:
“Mother effing gosh darn shift!”
The four of us set up our gear and stood awkwardly by as the two grizzled men found faults in the system, swore at each other, troubleshot in fatalistic apocalyptic grandeur, then repeated over and over again; until finally every squeak and buzz was out of the system. The four of us awkwardly and meekly asked for more of Pete’s vocals in our wedges. So, I immediately knew in my head that when I blogged about these guys that they would be forever known as the dueling-old-crusty-wizards-of-sound-design ravaging Middle Earth with their epic main speakers and inconsistent wireless microphones.
The actual show was a weird one. Jon lamented later that it seemed like anything we did cleared the room a little more. When we did fast ones, some ppl left because it was too loud, when we did ballads ppl left because it wasn’t rocking enough, when we did covers ppl left because we were doing covers! We thought the only thing we didn’t try was to stand there in absolute silence.
Despite all expectations, despite the mainly empty room we played to, despite the fact that all of the activities the school had set up for us were outside, but Gandalf and Sarumon insisted on setting up inside because there were a few gray clouds in the sky… the show was great. When we played our last song everyone in the room stood up and walked to our merch table. We sold more CDs here than any other show (including Boise when we opened for Everclear and RBF). Once again: no expectations, please.
Special thanks to Anna, Mary, Amber, and Eric who set up the gig and brought us to their fair school. We hope to grace the campus again. Speaking of thanks, Mary, our intrepid activities board member who was going above and beyond her duties then led our van to the local urgent care where I received the necessary attention for my ailment. Again, no details here, but I will say that it took me 4.5 hours to get diagnosed and get one bottle of antibiotics. The dudes waited with me the whole time, bless their hearts, and Pete and I got to watch The Little Mermaid, twice.
On a good note, I only had to pay $10 for everything and I feel fine now (smiley emoticon). Moms rest assured, the drama of kai dying is over. Four hours back to Spokane and I slept on the floor the whole time.
May 19, Cheney and the itch (day 26)
I got sick today. I was only conscious for a small amount of today so if you want the real details you should probably consult with the other mates. I’ll also explain up front that me getting sick is largely why I’m so stinking behind right now on my blogging. My wife probably hears me say “I gotta sleep and blog” over the phone more than almost any phrase (besides I love you;).
I won’t get into the gory details of what I would later find to be the name of my infection. Let’s just say the proof is in the pudding, and, it’s worse than what you are probably assuming right now. And to address briefly why I got sick. My true age is 29, but I’m really pushing my body at 22-year-old-miles-per-hour. I think pure and simple is that touring is exhausting. I love community and I get an extreme high out of getting to know new people and their stories, but I pour my entire self into it. That, plus performing, plus driving=kai getting a fever. The biggest piece is that I didn’t rest in Portland. When Bek flew in there was a dissonance because she wanted to hang and treat the time as a vacation (righteously so), but what I really needed was a day of staying in and watching re-runs of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (or Starcraft). My wife and I will pursue a better balance in the future…
Anyway, onto the show: Cheney, Washington (pronounced Cheeney, unlike our deposed Vice President) is only 20 minutes out of Spokane where we stayed. We joyfully celebrated our absence of driving. It’s a pretty large school and when we pulled up to the area we were playing it was flooded with students walking between classes. Crystal our illustrious host met us with lip pierced smiles and the ultimate question: To play outside or to not play outside.
The forecast was for showers, and, although rain seemed unlikely, it was windy as hell outside. We weighed audience size (better outside) against sanctity (warmer and more controlled inside) and went for the audience size. Now, I’m from Cali, and the warmest outfit I had was a thin thin hoodie, and we were facing upwind (as Pete would later put it, it was like we were filming a rock video with a headwind blowing in our hair every time we got to the chorus). I chugged cranberry juice, water, tea, and OJ like nobody’s business, but I felt yucky on stage. I even layered up with t-shirts under my hoodie to get better insulation, but I did the ultimate cardinal sin that all moms across the universe shall cringe at: Feeling under the weather, I proceeded to play outside in the wind with my neck exposed with no windbreaker. The audience was thin, probably due to the weather; I mean, I wouldn’t want to stay outside and listen to a band. But the response at the merch table was good, and there’s no point looking back on our decision.
After the show we ate with Crystal and two others from the Activities Board, Rachel and Anna. Then I went home to the Sumptuous Holiday Inn, raised my core temp up into the triple digits, closed my eyes, and the rest of the day was gone. I heard that Pete and Jon went into the Lukewarm-tub downstairs, binged on Law and Order and did laundry. Nate actually benevolently played nurse for me in a major way: He brought me a salad, OJ and tea, refilled my H20 and adjusted the temp in the room; he even put on a nurses outfit for me (one of the aforementioned statements is not true). After that he went out with some of the ppl from the activities board and I heard that Nate reached a new level of humility when playing pool against Rachel, but you’ll have to heckle him about that directly.
May 18, Gresham (not Gotham) day 25
Not after one more stop at the Sweetness Bakery, we were off to our show at Mt Hood Community College in Gresham, OR. It was another outdoor show, and we had made the call to dress formal for this one, so we were looking at a crazy amount of sweat.
I think all of us are maturing and getting better at playing outdoors. It wasn’t our best show, but I think we brought it. Also, a kind word about the school’s architecture and activities board: The courtyard we played in was very centrally located so we had a lot of ears on us. Plus, the Student Activities Board promoted it well, had the food out and the beach balls and did an overall great job. Certainly our best afternoon time show ever, thanks Mt Hood!!
During every show we do a break down section after the song “Rumor” and we invite audience members to come up and join the band with some tambo and maraca shaking. So we grabbed our two (somewhat unwilling) volunteers on stage and they started shaking it, everything’s normal. Then this kid named Jared, absent of any inhibition runs on stage. Awkwardly standing around, Pete got him some sticks to beat on Nate’s floor tom. When the solo section was done, we had the audience applaud for our new band members, but Jared was still up there! The other two left stage and I didn’t know what to do (my wife and I exchanged WTF glances).
Pete handled it really well, I gotta hand it to him. Trouble shooting like that scares me when I’m on stage so I’m glad I got to defer. We built it up again and gave Jared his shining solo solo on the floor tom and (thankfully) he left stage after that. Following the show, he proved to us that erratic behavior is his forte, but I’m glad he liked the music. We met many other friends at the end of the show; the response was great. I hope we can come back and play there again!
Afterward we were off to Café Delirium, a local café that seems to be a hub for local culture and community (down with Starsucks!). My wife ordered the Delirium Salad and it was pure deliciousness. Our friend Nicolette whom we met at the show met us there along with her friend Lauren and our friends Nick and Amee. It was great getting to know all of them and their interesting stories. I then had to (sad) walk my wife to the bus stop and see her off (sigh).
We would discover later that Gresham is kind of a Christian town with a high church per capita and a location that serves as respite from the secularism of Portland. Nicolette is an Arab Christian and spontaneously started reading us scripture (very cool). She and Lauren will be coming to Seattle on Saturday to see us play again, we are a band gaining momentum!!
May 16-17 R&R in Portland (days 23 and 24)
We had two days off in Portland since we cancelled a show that we formerly had on Saturday. Plus, Pete and I had our wives in town so it was a delicious time of getting back to normal.
We stayed in the SE quadrant of Portland, and, with few exceptions, hung out in the area. I found that the area has a unified aestheticism that’s impressive; a rustic, vintage, and organic feel to the city, not the polished clean (or neglected and crumbling) vibe of Los Angeles. I interpret it as a town submitted to the roughness of humanity; one that prioritizes artistry over perfection. Portland is also a very green town, which I admire, an area where LA is lagging hopelessly behind. Overall, I liked the city a lot and would like to visit more often, especially since it seems like my sister in law is planting roots there.
The two couples and Jon and Nate each stayed in different places. Since I can only vouch for what Bek and I did, I will switch modes in this blog from a band informative/introspective one to a tourist informative/travelogue in case you ever visit this beautiful city. Yelp was a pivotal website in informing us about the sites we were seeing, so I am going to contribute back to it. I wrote a yelp review about each place we visited. Please click on the following links for the details!!
Sweetness Café
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sweetness-bakery-and-cafe-portland#hrid:KVjl8rSAJ0ECngoSVa9dJA
Waterfront Park
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tom-mccall-waterfront-park-portland#hrid:u1OX9PG6-5c0j_9J076iSQ
Portland Saturday Market
http://www.yelp.com/biz/portland-saturday-market-portland#hrid:swvaiWH6XjmMwUU8FHbhyA
Voodoo Doughnut:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/voodoo-doughnut-portland#hrid:xpk8OuhDnBcYMTzZ_zTUTA
Multnomah Falls
http://www.yelp.com/biz/multnomah-falls-lodge-restaurant-and-gift-shop-bridal-veil#hrid:QsbrvBlnEM3Cgt_V7EHVXw
The Pied Cow
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pied-cow-coffeehouse-portland#hrid:0ApiNwXVZJAXKrotASdFUg
Imago Dei Church
http://www.yelp.com/biz/imago-dei-community-portland#hrid:868QbpP5kTWzOgw6yZC2Xw/src:self
Rocky Butte
http://www.yelp.com/biz/james-woodhill-park-at-rocky-butte-portland#hrid:lrPi9koghkdEoZCU3GcQUQ
Washington Park
http://www.yelp.com/biz/washington-park-portland#hrid:nrTtJd-kSRw8UodkerYySQ
May 15th, La Grande, (day 22)
After rolling in at 4am the night before it was pure brutality to get up early enough for a pre show radio interview at KEOL, the local college radio station.
The staff there was kind and sincerely interested in our wellbeing and promoting us to the masses. Madison, a dedicated Oregonian and freshman at Eastern Oregon State was finishing up her set when we got there and kindly stayed for our interview. Brian, the interviewer asked us about our album, our website, and gave us plenty of opportunity to adlib and commit all kinds of shenanigans on air (including me offering some belly-button lint to caller 10).
The actual show was tough. It was outdoors again, and we were competing for attention against a volleyball game. If it was our job to be background music for the other activities going on, then, mission accomplished. If it was incumbent on us to engage folks and get them into us, then we accomplished that only to a minimal extent. I’ll speak on behalf of myself and not the band, but I feel like I’m getting more tired and less excited about shows and more apt to be discouraged about uninterested crowds. Pete was doing great about being vigilant and trying to get everyone into it, but I was not giving quite my all (a transgression I had chastised the band about committing in Merced). It had been multiple nights of staying up late, driving, not sleeping well, then getting a few hours of sleep then repeat. Right before today’s show, my keyboard wasn’t turning on and I was getting really frustrated and discouraged; losing my cool and dragging the dudes down too. As it turns out, the on/off toggle switch, which I never touch, got flipped off. It was a simple problem with a simple remedy, but before I realized that I completely thought my life was crashing down around me. Fatigue was finally settling in, in a major way for me. God rested on the seventh day and I was seeing why.
I had difficulty reading the activities board staff and whether they were happy with our performance. To their credit, I thought they did a great job: The activity was well advertised and well attended, among the better that we’ve seen thus far. I hope they will invite us back.
Sigh, not all shows go perfectly. As a consolation my wife was coming into town tonight in Portland, and we were on our way to meet her!! Pete’s wife Sara-Britt was also in town and we had 2 days of R&R to look forward to back in Portland.
As a side commentary, I wanted to mention that the Columbia River Gorge is a monument of grandeur, a teeming landscape of unspeakable sites and indescribable beauty. Massive swaths of forest green fields, sloped at treacherous uninhabitable angles, glisten and shimmer in the sunlight. Vertical cliffs stand as graying sentinels, cubic-angular and stalwart. The turgid waters dotted by windsurfers crest into millions of white headed swells, marching down in a seemingly infinite army toward the dams that convert mother nature’s generosity into energy. Towering and slender wind turbines lazily wave in their clockwise constancy. Words or photos could not do justice to the sight.
Props to the states of OR and WA for preserving this treasure… but much moreso we give praise to God for his generosity in reminding us via nature that he is sovereign and creation is a gift. I see his works in nature (that I’m largely sheltered from when living in the concrete megalopolis of LA) as an expression of his will from us: a merciful and creative God who makes infinite beauty perfectly accessible to us, if we’d just look up.
May 14, The Red Room in Portland (day 21)
We thankfully had a late morning since we were crossing time zones: we gained an hour. The drive was pretty uneventful except that it felt long! Conversely to the benefit of gaining the hour, we still had to drive that hour. On the books it was a 6 hour drive, but it felt like a 7 hour drive… because it WAS a 7 hour drive. We rolled into Portland strangely exhausted and antsy.
Not before a quick stop at CDBaby, an ingenious company that enables small indie bands to have national distribution. They are helping us with our billing materials and we needed supplies… normally the supplies are shipped to us, but the venue we were playing at so happened to be down the street from their headquarters so we picked it up in person! It was pretty amazing to see where such a beneficial company works and thrives.
The Red Room is a rock venue, through and through, (and a sportsbar). They have mug shots of famous artists framing the stage area, from Ozzy to Bowie to Sid Vicious; it inspired me to want to get arrested just to increase my rockstar status. The manager and bouncer were generous purveyors of drinks, barfood, advice, Oregonion tips, Portland sightseeing, and random tidbits of unrelated information. (Did you know that Portland has the most strip-clubs per capita in the entire Union including Vegas?).
Pre-show The Lucas Cates Band came in early from Madison, Wisconsin. The manager of the bar was generous enough to let band members play pool for free, so we got a little rivalry going on between the Cheeseheads and the Tree-huggers. They SPANKED Nate and I the first game, and the second game we gave up a huge lead. But, Cali boys being vigilant, we sunk three straight eight balls after that with a clutch closer in game five.
The first band to play was “Heart for a Tinman”, a local band whose singer would later be pressing his body against me in a sweaty mess (future blog about this one to follow). As it turns out, the band-members are all believers, and two of the members attend Imago Dei, a church that my sister-in-law attends. My sister-in-law, Lydia, was also at the show with her boyfriend Josh who also attends Imago Dei. Then, after our set, some dude walks up to me and says “hey, did you climb in Long Beach?” Where I said, “hell yeah, I remember you!” It was my friend Derek who I rock climbed with who also attends Imago Dei. It was a reunion in Portland!
Ahead of us was a 4 hour drive back toward Boise to La Grande, OR. Jon, Nate, and I had to make the trek starting around midnight from the venue (Sara Britt, Pete’s wife flew in and they were shacking up in Portland). The drive was pure brutality.
May 12: Every non-mormon in Salt Lake (day 19)
Theoretically this will be a short entry because I did not wake up until 4pm! Waking up in time for an evening soundcheck is definitely one of the most rock star things I’ll do on tour.
“Junior Giant”, a local Salt Lake City band with a tremendous amount of parental support, hosted the show. The three members are all young, around 19 years old. Apparently, the father of the singer plays in the band as an auxiliary support player along with another musician of his generation on keys. Brian, the name of the dad, who apparently was a member of an active and signed band back in the day, also serves as the seasoned quasi band-leader. The band name, if you think about it, is thus very fitting.
Then there’s the bassist’s parents: they own a Lacrosse store near downtown, a warehouse filled with gear and wares related to the sport; the back of the store features a mock field complete with nets and goals, I’m assuming for demonstrations. Well, today the field was used for a stage. We set up next to a goal on Astroturf, a bit wary of what was to come.
An exciting thing about touring is that we are building up crowds in each of the towns we have visited before; today was proof of that. Jessalyn brought out some of the SLCC kids, Haley brought two friends from PC, and our eternal friend Bushy even made it out in his 88 Suzuki Samurai. Thank you Salt Lake for your love and support. And the show was super fun. The crowd was energetic and the room actually sounded nice. After decorating, the room looked like a cool all ages underground warehouse gig rather than random kids hanging out in a Lacrosse Store. Playing for an audience who know and love the songs is so refreshing vs. playing for cynical kids cold turkey whom we are trying to convince of our merit.
Meanwhile, kids of all ages are engaged in non-mormon activities which I won’t specifiy here, but, judging by the extent of the activity, and the aroma of the particulates in the air, I’d estimate that we had every non LDS member in Salt Lake at the show (this last statement was at least a slight exaggeration).
Ironically, Jocelyn, our friend from UVU and an LDS member, was barred from going to the show when her parents called the venue ahead of time and found out that drinks were going to be served! Jocelyn, we’ll connect next time when we are playing the Mo-Mo Temple circuit (this last statement is a joke and not intended to offend anyone).
Junior Giant was great. They have a jam band/rock sound that I liken to Rooney meets Sublime. I truly think they have a lot of talent, a strong following, good songs, and thus a lot of potential. I have to give another special thanks to the band and parents for making the show a possibility and really putting it together in acclimation with our schedule. Plus the sandwiches and drinks served were deliciousness. Before we left, the bassist’s dad and owner of the Lacrosse store handed me a huge batch of sandwiches, which we devoured on our way to Idaho Falls the next day.
The night ended at Dee’s for some amazing dessert and cheese fries. The amazing Jessalyn hosted us at her place near the venue. Nate and I stayed up chatting with her as we drifted off to sleep.
May 11: kicking it on the farm (day 18)
Some days are just too overwhelming to talk about but I’m going to attempt to squeeze this all out in one volume or less. Take note that “today” lasted from around 10am Monday to 7am Tuesday.
We got up to a lazy start and ran errands around Park City. I got new cables and supplies. We got back to the house a couple of hours before dinner and, using epoxy and a staple gun, I fixed my gear and brought it back to a functional place. Meanwhile Nate and Jon played on a mini ATV gassed up and prepped for shenanigans. While on the phone with my wife a little later I’d look over the valley from the house and notice Jon occasionally crisscrossing my view on different dirt roads with hair whipping behind his head. Our hosts Ralph and Cary fed us with freaking chicken and shrimp tacos and tamales. It was savory in my mouth with nutritious deliciousness.
After some video games with Ralph and Cary’s two boys we were off to Haley Barndt’s house, a Boise State student who grew in Park City. She and her friend Alycia are two members of the Furious Five, a group of girls we connected with after our RBF show. When they found out that we were going to PC next, they decided to road trip out to hang out and go to our show in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
Well, it almost didn’t happen. Haley, my then acquaintance, but now basically my adopted little sister, almost punked on me. While we were running errands and getting the oil changed on the van (second oil change of the tour), she called me and told me that her Spanish prof. moved her final and that she couldn’t come anymore. This is probably the most flagrant use of the “kai effect”* here, so pay attention: I told Haley to walk in to her office hours of her prof and use the following terminology: “I have a family situation” and I need to get home. Oh, it worked. The prof shrugged it off, moved the final, Haley read her Horoscope (more on that later) got Alycia and got in the car.
At the Barndt compound in Park City we met up with about 7 of our friends from Salt Lake City (including our good friends Jessalyn and Jesse, as well as the unexcitable Ata) whom we met during our first tour in the area February of this year. We all flung hugs around each other on the gravel parking, then got the tour of the estate: A fully custom ranch home, amazing vaulted silo like ceilings, loft for a full-sized pool table, barstools made from tractor seats, not to mention the barn that featured goats, chicks and a bunny. Upstairs in the barn there was a ping pong table where much hilarity ensued. The whole estate was breathtaking and a blessing to us. Our host Mr Barndt in a gesture of infinite grace and trust gave 4 rockstars and their 7 guests full reign over his property and his two girls (Haley’s younger sister April kicked it with us too)!!! Good thing we’re all good Christian boys (smiley emoticon).
The next part will probably be the highlight of the tour. The others got settled in a poker game around the dinner table, Haley and I sat down in her room, I explained the good news of God’s Love, and she received it! She has joined our community of believers who put love paramount over all. Everyone who’s reading this, I hereby order you to have a little party where you are at and celebrate with us. This is what it’s all about ppl, this is why I tour: Using music as a bridge, then sharing our lives to enrich others. Mission accomplished. And I quote from Nate: “if our whole tour was for this night, it would have all been worth it.”
After that it was a celebration indeed: Multiple poker games with Pete winning the first one (and pissing off Jessalyn to undefined levels) and Alycia (the shark) taking the second; A trip to the store for Cup o Noodles and frozen Pizza where April served as enthusiastic server and I as enthusiastic chef (boiling water); Games of Spoons and Billiards; A ceremonial burning of two of Haley’s teddy bears (ask Haley about that one); Hanging out with the Barndt horses Pepper and Chico; and finally viewing the sun rising over the amazing mountains of Park City. We arrived back at the house at 7am, dizzy from the experience.
May 10th ideas (day 17)
Today was Sunday and one of two days off, so not too much happened. Did I mention that I woke up in the most comfortable bed on earth in their guest room? All must must experience this bed, email me and I’ll give you their address so you can stop by and lay in this thing, I’m not kidding around, this bed is comfortable. We worshiped at Calvary Chapel Mountain Home with our hosts Melissa and Paul Gensic. It was actually the first time we worshiped together as a band, good times.
Afterward I went off to Wally World with Paul and picked up groceries for a BBQ at the Gensics. Paul is a good, lucky guy, cuz Melissa is the effing bomb. As it turns out, Melissa, whom I was friends with in Boston was at the infamous snowball fight that Nate and I met at. It’s so funny that, on that fateful wintery day in 2003, as my now wife and Allison (whom we will also be staying with in Portland) were holding me down while Melissa was shoveling snow into my face and mouth, Nate and I were starting a relationship that was going to chain reaction into where we are now… very interesting indeed.
Back to the BBQ, Paul is a world-class pole vaulter and the starlet of the Airforce Pole Vaulting team. During the BBQ I asked him if he was really really in a jam and needed to, for whatever reason, get off his property fast, whether he could clear his backyard fence with a broomstick. He said no, but he does have legit poles in the garage.
The trip from ID to UT was uneventful save a stop at a Wendy’s where we received the absolute worst and most hilarious service of all time: All orders were placed “to go”, and after a dreadfully long wait, the 14 year old, pigmentless kid placed Jon’s sandwich directly in Jon’s hand, and the rest of the food on trays… I said “all the food is for here, awesome.”
In Park City we stayed with the same friends we did on our last tour throught the SLC area. A humungous mansion on the side of a hill with a Jacuzzi overlooking Park City, we smoked a cigar and soaked our weary bodies in 103°F bubbling water.
Since not that much happened today, I’ll fill today’s blog with some random tidbits that I’ve been building up. We also happened to be at the halfway point of the tour, so here we go:
1. Best quote of the tour:
(While driving through some funk) Jon: “It smells like old man”
Pete: “I could really go for a Werther’s right now”
2. All the state capitals we’ve seen thus far
Carson City, NV
Sacramento, CA
Boise, ID (capital building looks a little gray)
Salt Lake City, UT
3. Advice for when you guys go on tour
Wash your face twice a day everyday no matter what. With all the smoke and foreign particulates one gets from gigging nightly, your pores take a beating and typically lose the battles. I stupidly shared facial soap with Nate, giving me not full access.
Hydrate like crazy, Constantly chug water, do not stop drinking H20. I think it’s part altitude, part stress on the body, part irregularity of meals/sleep, but mainly because in every new motel room I have some sort of mild allergy and I’ve been sleeping with my mouth open. I’m constantly thirsty and facing mild dehydration symptoms.
Eat your greens. Kinda doesn’t need a description… it keeps you regular.
4. General Philosophical rant on touring thus far: I’ve found that touring is about 5% music, 95% social. Now, of course, if you’ve been keeping up on my blog, you know that I have a huge personal philosophical and theological bias, that being I believe that connections and community is paramount, and the reason we as humans live on this Earth. My bias aside, I’ve found that networking, hanging out with, and getting to know the locals in all of these towns has been the substance of our tour. Not to say that music is trivial, that 5% is the connector, the bridge, and if we didn’t play music with excellence, we probably would not have the luxury of meeting all these people. But, while actually on tour, the music because a precursor, the preview, the John the Baptist, if you will of the greater work we are doing here: sharing our lives with ppl across the country. I think when we get back to Long Beach, music will gain in importance, and that will be our focus. But the rhythm seems to be, with touring bands, that you work and work on your music while in the local scene, then when on tour, cash in that work and reap the contacts you gain from it. Assuming this is all true, this invigorates my perspective on touring because this absolutely aligned with my goals and callings in life.
5. Rant over. Did I mention drink a lot of water?
May 9, Reel Big Fish (Day 16)
As a quick intro house cleaning wise, I updated “Day 15” with another story that will make you laugh to the point where your glutes will start falling off your bod. Check it out if you haven’t. Also, now that we’re into week three, I’m going to start naming the blogs by their dates, rather than from the starting point.
So, we wake up, get ready for the gig, thinking it’s just going to be a normal day. Gracious Melissa cooks a delicious mushroom and cheese scramble for us and we’re off for Boise. We know it’s going to be an outdoor show, Pete said it might be the biggest gig of the tour, but I kept my expectations low. I thought maybe we’d be playing a side stage or something for a few dozen people. We show up, I get my “All-Access-Pass”, and I’m like “big deal” all sarcastic… I flip the thing over and it has the following lineup after us:
Centrvol
Everclear
Reel Big Fish
(Pause for effect)
WHAT?!?!?!? WE’RE OPENING FOR EVERCLEAR AND REEL BIG FISH?!?!?!
Yeah, after the initial shock of seeing that our name was misspelled, I nearly fell over when I found out that we were opening for such veterans. So, I’m thinking to myself, we had the easiest road to get here: Before us was a band named Twelve 21 who had to win a battle of the bands to get the opening slot. Everclear had to write hit songs, sell millions of records, Reel Big Fish had to pioneer a genre, sell millions of records, and we had to just play 15 minutes of music at NACA, hell yeah!!! Praise God!!!!
I mean, I’m still reeling (no pun intended) about how amazing the day went. People were getting into Everclear when I was in high-school, and 12 year old kids in the audience were screaming “Swim out past the breakers, watch the world die.” Reel Big Fish are one of the few bands (sharing the list with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and No Doubt) to get significant mainstream attention during the last wave of ska. These are some heavy, heavy bands, this was a big, big deal, and a memorable experience.
At showtime the grassy area was about half full, I’d guess there was about 400 people and growing (?). We invited the kids to come up and stand in the front, and about 3 songs in we had a sizeable crowd in the front, I was pretty stoked. Now, I’ll say right up front that we laid it on thick and put on a good show: I jumped off the drumriser, did not stick the landing, effed up my knee and ended up on my back, still playing; poured on the token asian guy jokes; gave away a free girl shirt to milk audience participation and movement; and got the coveted encore request. Although the encore was sloppy and my gear started cutting out, by then the crowd was ours. We were a no name band playing for an uninterested crowd waiting for the big acts, and by the end we had the kids clapping and dancing and asking for more. God is good, can I get an amen???
The kids in Boise love the autographs and we signed all kinds of stuff (no body parts); the response was warm and positive. I’m confident that the next time we’re in town we’ll do well. One activities board member even said, unprompted, that she thought we did the best out of all the bands (notice I said “unprompted”, not “unbiased”).
Everclear then Reel Big Fish got on stage and tore it in two. I’d love to be able to get crowd participation like that someday. The kids were singing songs that were 10 years old or older! We got to take a photo with Everclear and then hang out with RBF for a while (since we were sharing the same green room [!]). I spoke with one of the horn players for a fair amount of time about touring and about how RBF used to get booed off the stage… it makes me think that playing for empty rooms is not all that bad. We also reflected on the influence and longevity of a legendary east bay indie punkska band: Operation I.V.
Afterward, we got to hang out with the kiddies, one of the benefits of being a small band is that we’re not too big to hang out with the students. We went out for Thai, then to a hookah bar where the party snowballed into 20+ people. A little hookah and a little hip hop equals lots of conversations about spirituality, love, and the function of ethics (praise God!). Although it’s cornball to say this (get over it), out of the whole day between playing for hundreds of ppl and kicking it with rock veterans, hanging out with the fans was sincerely the funnest time for me; namely kicking it with the “furious five” (Nancy, Haley, Charlene, Alycia, and Orange, I came up with a name for you guys!), some of whom I convinced to come see us in SLC Tuesday!
After the hookah bar, some of our 21+ fans wanted to engage in 21+ activities, so with reservation from me, we moved on to China Blue, a bar right in downtown Boise. We met Nate, the owner, at the show and he comped us access to the upstairs members only room as well as drinks. The party upstairs was hoppin and we met up with some other Boise State kids. As the party is winding down, I will end with one last amazing story told from my main man Jon Guinta:
When I was at the bar, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and said “Hey, were you from the other band that played tonight?, I said yes and he said “well, you guys rocked out, [I] thought you guys did good.” In my ignorance, I said, ‘hey, are you from everclear’, he said “yes” and I said ‘you guys rocked it too…’ and then banter ensued.
[Revised] Day 15, May 8, 2009: Payette,
The ride from Reno to Payette was long and uneventful. The shady and desperate place known as The Knights Inn once again served as a refuge for us weary travelers. Ironically, I drove the exact same leg that I drove from Spokane to Carson City, backward. Indeed, our tour has not been a linear one, more like a toddler scribbling on a colouring book of the northwest.
On our way to Payette (apparently pronounced “Pay-ette” not Pai yette as I previously thought before being corrected harshly on stage) the GPS said we were only a few miles away from our destination, but we were still in desolate rural contryside… The boys expressed some wariness about the show, and I made the joke that if there was any chicken wire on stage that I’m leaving*… well, you guessed it, I wasn’t too far off.
Upon arrival, we entered into a typical dive bar called The Sundance Saloon with blackened walls, a high ceiling, and the classic sour smell of spilt alcohol. The bartender Trish (who would later become an accomplice in our on-stage shenanigans) was a princely hostess and invited us to “load in upstairs”… I immediately thought there was another room upstairs where they had the bands, only to find out what she really meant was for us to load into what we affectionately call “the dungeon.”
Elevated by 8-10 stairs was a loft area towering above the bar and dance floor. In the dungeon we found that it was paved by uneven concrete and only bordered by a double chain linked banister apparently and aptly designed to keep musicians from crashing to their electric guitar death below. The dungeon featured flickering stage lights and a smoke machine which Nate abused but unnecessarily so because the rising cigarette smoke from the audience seemed to funnel into our elevated area. At one point during the show Nate was an indiscriminate blob lost in the purple haze of airbourne particulates.
Now, back to Trish. Most bars give drink tickets for gigs, and the drink tickets equal a pabst blue ribbon or some other cheap beer on tap. Not at the Sundance. Trish gladly created for the boys “Trash Cans”, or an AMF with red bull (I’ll tell you what the “A” and the “M” stand for, you figure out the “F”: Adios Mother). Basically, as far as I can tell, it’s a tremendous amount of liquor, one may even describe it as a bastion of alcohol, and the boys averaged 2 each. This all to set up the quote of the day:
(On stage right before sound check)
kai: “Are you having another Trash Can?”
Pete: “The question is, is the Trash Can having me…?”
The highlights of the ensuing show were Pete’s face making direct contact with Jon’s bass strings (while Jon was attempting to play his bass) and Pete nearly knocking off a large part of the wood paneling in front of the stage, almost crashing on the dance floor below. During a song, Nate got up and started dancing with the two people on the dance floor only to get a weird standoffish reaction from them. Later on, he was playing pool with one of the dancers who didn’t recognize him; the intoxicated/high local, in reference to how much he enjoyed dancing to the last band, stated that: “I was having fun until some Indian with arrows started dancing with me!”
True story.
The show in general: in spite of low expectations, was great. It seemed like the demographic was more into metal, thrash, and country, but they ended up liking a little pop-rock. The ever-gracious and benevolent owner, Grady, even paid us out of the bar, a custom that no bars seem to observe anymore. The kind residents of Payette wanted us to come back and promised a better turn-out, who knows what may happen. No matter what, we got a memorable experience up in the smoke filled dungeon.
Then we departed around 1am for Mountain Home, ID, where the kind and hospitable Gensics live, who, in their guest room, have… the… most comfortable… bed… I’ve… ever…
*Please watch the original Blues Brothers movie to get this joke.
Day 14 Man Jose
I think we’ve spent two nights in the same place only once so far on this entire tour. Living out of a bag one day at a time, zipping everything up daily to be thrown back into the bubble on the van is quite an experience. When I was in Liberia, Africa, I was working with a group of people who had just returned from refugee camps in The Ivory Coast. It was interesting how not having a home effects one’s psyche, how it punishes one’s individuality and identity… I cannot assume that what we are experiencing is even comparable in terms of magnitude, but I will say with clarity that being homeless has a strange devaluing effect on an individual.
All to say, I didn’t want to leave Molesto, I mean Modesto this morning. We stayed with Jon and Pete’s great uncle who had an amazing 30s era corner house with a sprawling backyard and a pool. The type of neighborhood where the houses are not all tracked and cookie cutter, the sweeping mature trees lean and brush over 2nd story windows, and the neighbors all know each other. The type of neighborhood that some of us dream about living in. But alas, our luggage let out their high pitched zips and we were off.
We met up with Pete and Jon’s first-cousin-once-removed Tiffany who was an amazing host and fed us basically our first square meal of the tour. She lives in a beautiful custom home with all the modern amenities, fixtures, and recessed lighting, let’s just say my mom would love to have that listing on MLS. Thanks Tiffany for the amazing salad (I had thirds) and the game of pool. Nate thank you for the 9-ball set up which allowed me to finish you off behind the back and eyes closed.
Then off to Man Jose aptly named because the tech industry has attracted such a biased work force. Man Jose being the capital of the silicon valley, home to Apple, Google, Microsoft, you name it, the ratio of marriageable adults has been known to be 6 to 1 in favor of any nerd loving ladies. The trip between Molesto and Man Jose was hot, windows down (no AC in the love van) and it wreaked of bovine anus. I have no other way to put it, our clothes, hair, everything wreaked of bovine anus.
Johnny V’s is a tiny bar on Santa Clara in downtown San Jose. We set up our gear and chilled out at “Penguin Froyo” across the street that featured Pink Berry knock off yogurt and free wireless. In addition to 2 day old fake Chinese food, I was nutritionally poised to play a show. One of Jon’s friends Shannon from College made it out along with a few others. And, to the extent that it was possible, I think we got the room enjoying our songs! Sas, the bartender and her friend Missy loved the tunes and were later modeling some our clothing lines.
Then load in and straight to Reno through my hometown Fremont. We stopped for some delicious taco hell and the Jonny full on brought it and drove the entire 4 hour shift. Nate slumbered like a baby in the back seat so that he could hit the El Dorado Poker Room again where he entertained the table there until 6am. Now, off to Payette Idaho!!
Day 13, Merdead
The after after after after party basically came together in my head on my way to the post office. Back story: I forgot my dam shoes in Powell, WY on like day 3 of the tour. The gracious and benevolent Renee not only picked up my shoes and sent them, she included all kinds of little Powell gifts. Well, I had them shipped to my mom’s house but my mom has a vacation hold on her mail, hence the clandestine early morning trip to the Post office with Deanna and Marcelle. The lady at the post office was very kind to extract the single item from what must be a pile of mail. Huge shout to Renee in Powell for being awesome! Thanks for the Powell Pinto beans and Wyoming Cowboy pins!!!
Then, using “kai effect”* we went to Panera and grabbed bagels and coffee to surprise everyone back at the house and it was Marcelle’s treat, woo hoo!!! We stormed the house and awoke everyone with breakfast deliciousness: The brothers Guinta, brothers Liu, the girls, and Nate, gorging on toasted bagels slathered with veggie cream cheese high above grids upon grids of urban jungle toiling below… it was a dream come true. Jon commented to me later that breakfast is his favorite meal and that waking up to bagels and coffee means he’s going to have a good day: mission accomplished.
(Just to dispel any curiousity: Yes, your math is right, two females slept over in the same house we were at, but we don’t roll like that. They are Christian wholesome girls, and we are Christian wholesome guys and we all had separate sleeping arrangements. The only two ppl who slept next to each other was me and Nate, and I had Nate’s sleeping bagged feet in my face, all night.)
Finally, after a brief hike and some jamming on my mom’s neglected baby grand piano, we ended the party at roughly 2pm, 18 hours after our show began at 8pm the night before. The most satisfying part of the whole night was including Jai in my life, an endeavor I have not managed to do well of late. At some point in the course of the 18 hours Jai got face time with each band member, shared lots of laughter, and drank together with me an experience we’ll not soon forget. It is a gift.
Finally, moving on to our next gig, whew!! We arrived in Merced, CA at around 6pm for an evening gig. UCMerced is the brand spanking new addition to the world-renowned University of California public school system. You’d think the UC Regents would build it closer to the freeway or along a major road, but you have to exit 99 at an archaic off ramp with only stop signs as controls, then zig zag through indiscriminate 2 lane country roads for miles before reaching a tiny group of hyper modern architectural buildings isolated by the sprawling central valley farmlands.
The show started off very discouraging. You try to expect it, you try not to get disappointed but playing for an empty room is devastating, there’s no way around it. By the time we finished our first song, there was one person left in a cavernous room that was a cacophony of echoes with almost no ears to listen. Then my good bud Rob saves the day again by texting Sonny, the baby brother of a mutual friend and former classmate of mine. Sonny brought his 3 partners in crime, and the crowd slowly started building back up, including a huge envoy of the Gentleboy’s distant family members.
The show ended up fine, and connecting with the kids turned out to be totally worth it. But playing to an empty room is a sensitive and emotional moment for a band. It’s hard to stay emotionally objective in a moment like that… I mean, we’re basically holding out our art and our lives and performing the culmination of our collective passions for music in song; when nobody responds to it… it hurts. There’s a big part of you, in that situation that wants to throw the show, retreat, or in contrast diminish the art as if to justify the absence of response.
It’s a perilous emotion that I long to explore because we should not feel shocked to play to empty rooms on our first tour. Experiences like these, in my opinion could really strengthen or break us as a band. It confronts us with the question: Do we believe in our talent, in these songs, in our calling, and do we believe in them wholly? Many many many artists burn extremely bright at first, skip tons of growing and maturing stages, careening up the precipice of success only to crash fatally down at the disappointment of more mediocre sophomore work. I believe artists must deal with the complicated emotions of rejection and failure; confronting then embracing them, finally carrying on with that sobriety.
I’m rambling.
At roughly 12:30 that same night Nate and I stood atop the Love Van wearing In-N-Out hats at the Turlock burger mecca waiting for Sonny and the gang to show up from Merdead. I pounced down upon his car with lethal precision and we all proceeded to gorge ourselves on Neapolitan shakes and fries light dipped in In-N-Out’s luscious secret spread. After that we engaged in activities so covert I cannot even mention them here. Let’s just say it had to do with the abduction of certain water-fowl.
Then back to Molesto, I mean Modesto where we were staying for the night.
Day 12, San Francisco.
(Sorry I’ve fallen so far behind, guys. I’ve toiled over, and finally decided to exclude Day 11 from the blog. It’s complicated and not as severe as you’d think, but the general reason why is basically I need to give it more time to marinate in my head before I could gain objectivity and articulate my thoughts about that day. Please be patient with me and check out these stockpiled entries I’ll be posting en masse).
Now, I begin this blog with a smile. I’ll ruin it for you now and give away that this was my best day so far, and I don’t think the boys would disagree. As I have mused about the importance, need, and power of community, it should come as no surprise that playing in the area that I grew up would be such a refreshing experience.
First thing in the morning was breakfast at Chuck’s Diner in Stockton. Hell yes it was great. The Pacific kids talked it up for good reason. A cubic foot of hashed browns with your eggs, homemade ranch with your fries, sandwiches that are made with home-cooked care and perfection… utopia.
The drive to SF was uneventful. It was Nate’s first time over the bay bridge seeing the city. The Rockit Room, located in the Richmond district is actually a pretty cool venue. Pete booked it blind where we had to bring some people or we’d lose money so I had been on the phones and FB telling ppl about the show. As it turns out my friends did not disappoint. Rob, my gradeschool friend, and his cohort Christi (Ms. Chew) brought a horde of ppl from the local City Church (shout out). My friend Jessy came with some friends as well as my dear friend Liani and, last but not least, my brother Jai. It was basically like my wedding revisited: important influencers in my life coming out to support my new endeavors with Centrevol; it was refreshing and energizing.
The show went beautifully and the room sounded great. The illustrious Marcelle celebrated being born 26 years ago so we brought her on stage to gyrate a tambourine and a few body parts… Despite the awesomeness of the show itself it seemed almost trivial to the amazing community that had formed around this little show on a Tuesday night! It really makes the point that a strong personal support group along with a scene is what makes a band.
After our set it was cigars outside with Jai, Liani, and the Guinta boys (whom we nicknamed the “Gentleboys” after someone misheard us). We randomly met Caroline, a flip-flopped and bespectacled somewhat aloof 19 year old looking blonde who offered to play us her trumpet in exchange for a spot on our guest list. She not only jammed out a little on some standards, but she also sang “The Waters of March” to me in Portuguese! Yeah, she deserved to go in for free, and the spot in our blog. I also have to say here that I love SF.
My friend Liani started falling in love with our mysterious bassist. Jonathan, after learning that Liani had said that she’d “go straight for him”, without flinching said that he’d “go lesbian for her.” I think this might be the start of a beautiful relationship. Liani’s response was “That’s so sweet of him. Have him call me once he’s gotten a crew cut and some cargo boots.” (Are we offending anyone here?)
The after party was at Quickly’s across the street, a Taiwanese fave for Boba drinks. To celebrate Marcelle’s bday I deftly poked a paper chopsticks wrapper into some left over cake, lit the end of it and we sang uncomfortably as the ashes lifted toward the ceiling. When I heard that we were loading gear out, I said some goodbyes and headed back to the venue. Jeff, the promoter at the Rockit room insisted on getting us all shots to say thanks for putting the show together. I deferred my shot to Marcelle and took down luke warm pineapple juice with a lip smack and a toothy sigh.
The after after party occurred at Coit tower, a classic SF destination. It’s a hill on the northeastern tip of the city with a tower on top (tower was closed) giving excellent views of the fidi (SF speak for the financial district), bay bridge, and Alcatraz and Treasure islands. By then we had whittled the festivities down to the bandmates, Marcelle, Deanna (the younger sister of a friend of mine from church) and my brother Jai… basically, everyone who didn’t have to work the next day (Marcelle “called in sick” to celebrate her bday). Deanna zipped half of the group to the tower in rice-rocketted RSX quick style, Nate thought he was in the scary sequel of “Tokyo Drift”. In the other vehicle, I slothed to the tower in the Love Mobile, and I’m happy to report that the van conquered Lombard Street, the curviest street in the world. At Coit tower, another cigar was lit and Jon took a trip to the curious public restroom. Then I laid on the “kai effect”* thick and proposed that we take the party to my Mom’s house in Hayward which has a lifechanging view of the entire east bay. The group, with no commitments to make the following morning acquiesced, and we were off.
The after after after party occurred with drinks at my moms overlooking the shimmering megalopolis known as the SF bay area. Hayward is roughly 40 minutes from SF across the bay bridge. Deanna benevolently allowed me to drive the RSX and I grew a few chest hairs as I took the brilliant nexus of Japanese engineering to 80mph in third gear (Jonathan was in the back seat breathing heavily). Upon arrival, Jai was ambitious in his drink creations and forgot 4 Heinekens in the freezer, meanwhile the ladies started to get sleepy. I was wide-awake when we wound down the party around 5am; I think the reason I wasn’t sleepy was because I was hugely energized by my revitalized connection with my brother. On the road, we’re not naïve to the fact that most ppl that we connect with will likely not be in our lives significantly in the future, if at all. Having this tour be an opportunity to connect with my own brother is a true gift.
But the party carries on…
*Read Jon’s mini-blog as to what exactly the “kai effect” is…
Day 9 and 10: mmmm, gluttony
Saturday, May 2nd
Pete conquered the first 430 miles of our massive 830-mile drive. We intersected the inland Northwest through winding 2 lane highways and country roads, back-dropped by the gorgeous and desolate landscapes of east OR, west ID, and northern NV.
Thanks to NPR podcasts for keeping me up on my shift, but the boys were totally out. Nate masterminded a system of having a body in back lay laterally across the floor while another lay across the seat. I don’t think any of the babies so much as twitched during my 3 hours driving. Although we all rested when not driving we were exhausted when we arrived. Most sane human beings spend 16 hours/day conscious, we just spent 13 of that driving.
The gig was highlighted by the odd facts that we were performing in a high-school gym; the opening band’s drummer had a double bass pedal with skulls all over it; and that the gear on stage was extremely high class. I think, in a strange backward way, my exhaustion caused me to perform with even higher energy, sending my body upward at a far higher rate of jumps/song. The gym was a huge, cavernous, echoing reminder of how few people came to the show. But, the opening band was great (Hallowed Ground, check out myspace.com/halgro), the few people there (as usual) really got into our music, and it sounded great on stage and in the house.
Afterward Western Nevada College took us out to the hoppin center of town: Chili’s! We gorged on complimentary appetizers and bottomless strawberry lemonades, mmmm, gluttony. The WNC kids are truly cool; they even invited us back to play their back-to-school events in the fall. One of the girls I really got to know is Jessica who eats corn on the cob in an extremely peculiar way: rather than seasoning and eating the corn typewriter style, she gnaws out little random patches as she sees fit. She also explained to us that she’s a 6th generation Carson City native, which may explain a lot. After stating that she wished to move to Seattle (after the dreadful life in Carson comes to a close), we invited her to come out to Seattle to see us play at the end of May and she and her friend Kelsey said “hell yes!!” Alright you two, I blogged about it so you can’t punk on us now! We’ll see you there.
Our hotel room was the Reno “Knights Inn” which sounds like a Knott’s Berry Farm style themed motel… We found upon arrival that it is a shady motel in disrepair squatting in the shadows of high rise-casinos. There were absolutely no signs of anything thematic except for what seemed to be geological layers of themed wallpapers from owners past who could not keep the establishment afloat. Now a nexus of illegal activity seems to bankroll the current façade. Long story short, we fit in fine. It was $28 and it was quiet, no complaints from the Chinese guy who’s always looking for the deal.
Nate took off at 1:30am when we arrived in Reno and hit the El Dorado Poker room. All the hours of video poker on his DS must have paid off because he cleaned up with about $450 when he wandered sleepily back into the room at 5:30.
Sunday, May 3rd
So, you guessed it, Breakfast was on him! There really is nothing that can simulate the Vegas style brunch buffets except for a Vegas Style buffet… in Reno!! Scallops over rice, Omelet made to order, Prime Rib carved in front of you… mmmm, gluttony. I saw that our server was from Thailand so I threw out a “Kam Kun Krab (thank you)” in Thai and we suddenly earned a new ally in the Silver Legacy who showed us a photo of her daughter (perhaps awkwardly looking for a suitor?) and hooked up Nate and Jon with massive, massive Mimosas.
After some shenanigans in the Circus Circus arcade we were off to Sac to meet up with my good friend and roommate for two years Michael in Sacramento. Since the day I graduated and moved out of Davis, CA, I’ve been craving the sweet green chipotle salsa of “Dos Coyotes,” a local restaurant chain that takes white washed Mexican food and kicks ass with it. Yes, indeed that craving was satisfied; I estimate I drank a cup and a half of that salsa during my meal, mmmm, gluttony.
Michael is an endearing friend, and another confirmation that community and connections are substantial and lifelong. Congrats to you my friend on your engagement and long life with Anna (your little angel, how cute). Thanks for letting us shack at thy place!
Manana we are rocking the UOP.
Week 2, babies, Day 8.
Not a lot happened on Friday. The drive through the night from Klamath Falls, OR to Spokane, WA was easy peasy with the Juanithan taking the brunt of it (1am-4:30am). We rolled in early to our 11am load in and managed to chill out at the motel; I took the most delicious shower of the tour thus far.
The show was disappointing… Our host has been out for unspecified family crises with little communication with her staff. There was no sound system, no sound guy, and few kids. I eventually got my hands on an ancient Peavey sound system and (praise God for my experience running sound at church) I managed to figure it out with Pete’s help. We connected with only a handful of kids, but, as my wife puts it: “We got paid the same.”
Finally we got some R&R… errands around the city, then tasty tasty nappies followed by an insanely awkward dinner experience at “Thai Bamboo” where cultural differences seemed to cripple any hope of having coherent conversation with our (white, English speaking) servers. Let’s just say as we were leaving to the phrase “have fun with your little band!” We think the abnormal behavior of the female wait-staff was partly due to Jon’s likeness to Hugh Jackman(?)
On a mooshy note, I must mention that the community between us as a band is refreshing. As I have alluded to earlier, as communal creatures, constantly being away from a home base is analogous to fasting, starving from the community and social interactions that define us as humans. I guess with Pete, Nate, and Jon in tow, this trip seems more of like a diet; I feel like I would be so much more drained if I were doing this alone and I only had HBO to keep me company in the down times.
Through all the little transitions, the four of us have managed to stay bright to each other: encouraging and admonishing throughout, peppering with our arsenal of inside jokes (Nickelback?), and aware of our dysfunctions we have been a little island of community. I should attribute this to the simple priority we all share that God gave us: Love and Sacrifice is paramount, and the needs of others are always higher than one’s own.
Day 7: Mel Gibson’s got nothing on us
It’s a reference to Road Warrior, that 80s apocalyptic movie where Mel, emblazoned with poofy hair, fights off bondage-leather wearing Aussies in an 80mph fight to the death. Well, back then you thought HE was the road warrior, but I’m blogging today to inform you that it is, in fact, your intrepid Centrevol boys that are the true Road Warriors.
7 hours from Walla Walla to Klamath Falls, OR, then another 8 hours back tracking to Spokane (which is actually pretty close to Walla Walla)… all in one day. When we weren’t driving, we were loading in, sound-checking, harassing freshmen in the dorms, playing a gig, and kicking it with the amazing kids at Oregon Institute of Technology.
And it was worth it, the OIT kids did not disappoint. However, I have to admit that before the gig I was a bit discouraged. An hour before showtime we found out that the local opening band was canceling, and the Activities staff was lamenting how hard it was to get kids out for bands these days, almost like they were trying to let us down easy. For our first tour in this area, we are not expecting to play in front of thousands of kids, but it would have been really draining to have to drive 7 hours to play to an empty low energy auditorium only to have to load up and drive back.
I was bemoaning this to my wife and feeling yucky before the gig (because a day old mocha and a redbull got me through the first shift of the morning drive and I was crashing hard). I was trying not to get my expectations too high… but, as it turns out I could not have had my expectations high enough.
Before showtime we were vigilant: we split into two groups and raided the dorms to get those slacker video game playing freshman out to the damn free show. We met limited success and much much apathy (let’s just say computer programming is big at this school). But we did get a couple kids out and the energy was high in the room. According to the students that we hung out with afterward, we were the first band to get everyone to move to the front and dance a little (inasmuch as they could with the space that they had between rows of seating). And, a first for us, the kids demanded an encore, and we gave it to them with Nate on the vocals and Pete on the drums… uh… yeah. That just happened totally spontaneously. (PS, Nate held a guitar he didn’t know how to play, he didn’t know the words, and Pete plays drums like a white man).
Afterward we had about a 2-hour window to tear down, pack up, and recharge with the kids before we had to leave to drive through the night to Spokane. And recharging it was because you kids are awesome. As I have said in this blog and I will say many times more and I will express in my life, connections are what feed us as humans, and we had an effing buffet at the OIT TV lounge!!
So, props and thanks to the kids that kicked it with us, I told you I was going to give shouts to you guys in my blog, so here are your damn shouts, in alphabetical order: Aaron, AJ, Half Pinai Rachel, The Mini-Juggernaught, Fashionable Kat Margie, Kevin (my new fav republican from Downey, CA who owns somewhere between 45 and 50 guns), Liz the mastermind behind getting us to OIT, Nigel (who needs no introduction), Randi, mini Stephie, Tyler, and New Kid. Is Jana just not on here b/c she doesn’t own a cell phone or b/c she thinks I’m a stalker?
Thanks kids for being awesome. We’ll get cold stone on our way back up there. I’m looking forward to your responses on the next technology for vehicle propulsion, solar cells, and whether men’s upper thighs cause lesbianism.
Hotel in the “Love Van” on the road to Spokane, more on that a little later…
Day 6: These towels don’t dry sh*t!!
Please excuse the profanity, but if you had scratchy waterproofed travel-lodge towels move moisture around your body, you’d agree with my decision to appropriate the above phrase as the title of my blog entry.
First of all, special props to the Guinta boys for being born in New Hampshire where they hand out “Driving in zero visibility blizzard” licenses along with their standard drivers licenses. At one point I awoke to find the van immersed in a sea of bleached white snow and Peter navigating solely by merit of the GPS screen (this comment may or may not be true).
Walla Walla is pretty cool, I gotta hand it to south eastern Washington, it’s my kind of town. I guess if there’s one definitive thing it’s the store “Hot Poop”… wait for it… yes, let it settle in… there’s a store on prime real estate in downtown Walla Walla named Hot Poop. Nate didn’t believe me at first when we first drove by it, after we entered the gaudy and horribly disorganized used CD/DVD/Music instrument store, I forced an apology. Greasy hipsters would enter momentarily, grab some potato chips out of the purple bowl served out on a stack of old Jackie Chan movies, say hi to the owner and walk out. I had to reach through the tiny opening bordered by
Cooler is Whitman College, who’s staff were fantastically excellent hosts lavishly feeding us and setting up a Wii just for me (thanks Ryan and Kali). A little back story, we set up our Wii at NACA where we first met Ryan (and where we booked this tour) and we challenged all of the losers out in college-land to play us Wii-Tennis for a free CD. All crumbled and failed at the hands of my iron fist, clutching the wii-mote with laser-cutting mastery and deadly perfection… that is, until I met Ryan and I didn’t really score. Ryan and I had some fun rematches and laughter all around. Please don’t underestimate how refreshing it is for an Asian man to be able to play video games after a few days of “drive-gig-sleep-repeat”.
Tomorrow, onto Klamath Falls, OR…
Day 5: you can “Have her”
Apparently, “Havre” is pronounced “Have-her”.
…Another brutal drive… I found myself careening through the rolling hills of northern Wyoming. Rain pouring down in sheets, downhill turns, sometimes cliffs on both sides, gale forced winds pounding the van and our intrepid bubble laterally, all the while three white boys slumbering quietly oblivious to their peril. For much of my leg of the drive I did not witness a building, much less a gas station or restaurant.
Havre, this is how much we love you.
Sandwiched between the 9 hour drive yesterday and the 11 hour drive to Walla Walla WA that we’re on now was Montana State University, Northern. A tiny university of 1000 students apparently specializing mainly in welding and automotive repair, we rolled into the city utterly exhausted. It’s still pouring.
At the school our now good friend “Hammar” was waiting to help us unload and set up. We were to set up on a rickety old stage with many of it’s parts missing or broken. After I set up my keyboard I realized how wobbly and sketch it was going to be to try to perform with it, even walking on stage sent vibrations rippling up my laptop which teeters between two metal bars on my keyboard stand. I’d either have to stand still or watch my computer tumble to the ground in the middle of the show. So, for the first time ever, we separated the parts of the stage into “plate tectonics” where my rig was on an independent free standing part of the stage while I was standing on another “plate” where my normal gyrations and jumps would not effect anyone, much less my keyboard rig. However, mid show when we really started getting warmed up, my body motions caused my little section to schism in a major way and I created a hole almost large enough to injure Pete’s future prospects of being fruitful and multiplying. Luckily he saw the hole, jumped right over it and inadvertently made a fantastic discussion point at dinner to follow.
Kids at MSUN, I gotta hand it to you, you guys are great. I mean, Hammar’s truck, a hulking orange pick up that probably runs on crude oil with smoke stacks soaring above the roof of his car and a “cattle grill” emblazoned across the front really says enough. But the ladies who continuously demanded that a certain member of the band (not me) remove his shirt, plus the cheerleaders, plus everyone else, you guys are really great. Oh yeah, and to the canooks (and the Swedes out there for that matter), go universal health care. See you next year…
Day 3 and 4: prep the expectations to be shattered
Hey guys, just getting to this stuff now. Pete’s been major on it with getting the updates in time, my blogs are more introspective, hence the latency. Thanks for reading. Lot’s of stuff happened over the last two days that reaffirms the truth about touring, expectations get annihilated often.
We awoke on Sunday (our day off) in Denver. Pete’s father-in-law was princely about hosting us and not only took shots along with Peter after succumbing to Nate and I’s superior billiard skillz but took us out to some fantastic Mexican food (which also turned into lunch in Wyoming.
The weather forecasters “blew it” and failed to mention the formidable blanket of snow on the ground when we left. Vigilant, we trekked on through a route 3 hours too long, a cliff-side CD sale, dilapidated pop. 40 (soon to be 39) shantytowns, and a little tiny encounter with the law to arrive in Powell WY for a gig.
I have to give some time and blow off all my expectations and reflect on what a unique experience the show was: The Koreans freaking loved us. That’s right, read that sentence again. The Korean population at a tiny community college in Powell WY (pop. 5K) loved our music. I just have to give a shout to Yoon and Janis and the rest of the Korean crew for evaporating all inhibitions and going nuts for us while the rest of the students (ethnicities undisclosed) wandered around in a state of oblivion.
After the gig spontaneous and somewhat dangerous indoor rock climbing hosted by our wonderful NWC activities board and then drinks at some shady bars (with nice bartenders). I have to admit that my experience at Powell, especially the people, will be one of the most unique for me while touring (although I should temper myself and not make any expectations). Rural culture is just, so, profoundly, different than anything I’ve experienced. There is this seething waiting, confinement, and voracity, in the people that is difficult for me to perceive or define, much less articulate. But I am curious, I want to get to know and to explore and after getting to know this people more I find it interesting that I grieve for them.
It’s a strange experience, this touring, because one like myself gets this high from meeting new people. It’s like the first free months of payment that you get off when you purchase your new vehicle, all the excitement without any of the costs. Then the car starts getting dirty, and broken, and expensive, and you’re not quite so excited about it. Well, an extrovert like me LOVES that initial high, but as soon as I get a little closer and glimpse into their lives I see a complexity, I can perceive the oblong effects of a brokenness that we all share as humans, and I want to reach in and love because of the compassion that was given to me…
But then we’re off to Havre, Montana.
Denver, blog no. 2
The road. The infinite road… our hungry tires pull and push miles and miles of road, hungry for more, engulfing it then leaving it behind… but the road keeps pouring like a waterfall infinitely satiating a finite will to travel. 9 hours to Denver today from St. George, we rolled into Denver an hour before we’d be on stage.
Brutal, I think my body was trying to tell me that it needed to rest and that the powers to be upstairs weren’t running things well. I had a splitting headache piercing in my left temple. In juxtaposition, the venue was amazing and artists whom we met online were gracious and sincerely excited about our music (which they only listened to at 64 kbps on our myspace). It was a profound experience to have these guys from “Faces of Radio” help us out so much and give us an opportunity to open their CD Release party, perhaps the biggest show of their career thus far! Thanks guys for being amazing hosts, and Diego, good look on fatherhood!
Speaking of community, Diego, the bass player from Faces of Radio was at Berklee the same years Nate and I were there… amazing.
Highlight was definitely dealing with the Walnut Room and the amazing soundguy there (thanks Ron for your professionalism). If the owner of the Walnut room tried to do something like that in Long Beach, I’m sure he’d do well. Lowlight was my body in collapse, and, Nate lost his camera case at the end of the nightL
Blog no. 1
Hey guys, this is kai. I have the profound pleasure of writing this blog recording the musings, encounters, revelations, and disappointments of a five-week tour from April 24th to May 30th 2009. In terms of goals for this blog, what I hope to accomplish is not only to entertain, satisfy your itchy curiosities, and make a base record of our lives on the road… but also as a sort of weird, passive, potentially unhealthy therapeutic form of soul searching for me.
Obviously, the latter goal needs the most explanation… Touring has a fickle emotion for me; although one may assume that it’s the experience of a lifetime etc. etc., there are many costs to it… costs that I tend to be naïve to. I fundamentally believe that humans are communal creatures and that community is what we need in life as much as food or water. Being on the road interrupts community, it fractures it, but it grafts in new community wherever we go, it’s quite a novel experience. I suppose this “novel experience” and the emotions that come packaged thereof is what I wish to share here, but I digress.
I fear I’m wearing down quickly any hope I have of keeping your fizzling attention spans interested in what I have to say and where we are on this nascent tour! The things I have described above are what I want to explore with you in kind of a raw, honest, no holds barred emotional free for all. But, this blog will also contain the ups and downs as well as the where’s and what’s.
We departed Long Beach today at approx 1pm CA time for Vegas. We met up with the always friendly always hospitable D’Andre representing UNLV who played host to us at Paris. We’re finding that having a friend that lives permanently in Vegas is quite a boon. Thank you D for dinner and making time for us! After our overpriced yummy meal we embarked on a windy drive to St George UT, the halfway point between LBC and Denver, where we have our first show tomorrow.
The highlight for me to day was having an honest deep conversation with the boys before bedtime in the “patriot suite” of the Coranado Inn (name of the room is made up, but if you saw the chinsy décor, you’d understand why). Pete, way to go on getting the room for four with a kitchenette for $45! Lowlight was saying by to the wife and cats back home. Although touring gives us the opportunities to connect with friends across the country, there is a spoonful of melancholy one must swallow when saying goodbye to their homes… we are, after all, communal creatures.
Thanks for reading, guys, many more to come.
Hi,
I was very happy to listen to your music yesterday. I really wanted to stay more to listen all your music, but I couldn’t. As I said, we should ride back to Cody. Because we are on the English trainning, we should follow some regulations and can’t avoid some group’s rules. Anyway I enjoyed with your band and I hope I could meet your band and take time to listen more than yesterday. Thank you for remembering us and von voyage for your music trip!!!
Hey, This is Janis(Korean) from Northwest college. You guys were really great!! Because I am new here, I thought you were the school band of Northwest college at the first time. But I found out in a few mininutes that you’re too good to be a college band. I and Yoon was very sorry to leave there before the end of the show. We had to, because we don’t have a car, and there’s no way to come back to hotel if we miss that commuting van. Anyway, You guys lit up my day. I’ll remember yesterday with my T-shirt. Bye! Good luck with your concerts!!
Uh, Yoon and Janis, this is kai. Thank you so much for your reply, but I have no way of getting a hold of you guys!! Send me an email at concept6@gmail.com with your mailing address. I want to send you a care package of Kim-Chee when I get back to LA (I’m totally serious).
Thanks for being the awesomest hype girls this side of Seoul Korea!!!
Hello Kai,
Your blog is awesome and very inspiring to read about. It is tremendous to be able to drive for hours and hours and do a gig right afterward. I will keep reading your updates.
-Wilson
Hi Kai and other fellow band members your show with Reel Big Fish was awesome and you guys were awesome!!!!!!!! and by the way this is John the kid from Mountain Home, Idaho who kept u guys what it seems like signing alot of our stuff but it was well worth it!!!! you guys rock i wish i could follow your guys band on tour but cant which is a bummer:( cuz i think you guys rock anyways before i keep writing and eventually bore you too death You guys put on a AWESOME SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! your crazy fan John lol
Just finished catching up on the final blog entries. What a great narrative our your journey! I’m glad I could be a part of it in spirit.=)
Hey Mr. Kai,
Its Matt Hall If you remember me from guitar lessons at Golden Hill.
Dude nice music im listening to you on iTunes right now and you guys are really good. Im going to try to contact Matt Sylvester and see if we can see you guys on the 30th. Well hey please send me an email I have learned alot from Mo’s in guitar and I am 30X better my email is matthall17@gmail.com!
See you Kai,
Matt Hall