Viv says: "Apparently the Gusters like your banana bread better than mine. Damn you."
Damn right I make better banana bread. It's a family recipe handed down from, um, my mom and well, just my mom. We don't have very many long standing family traditions.
The last two days have been spent sitting in a metal folding chair with very little padding for one's bum. What a difference a few inches of foam can make. After listening to all these technical presentations on Heavy Oil (hey, it's my job) I'm ready for the weekend and I still have all of tomorrow to get through. Even worse is that I'm presenting. Even worse than that is we are the very last presentation of the forum and right before lunch. Most definitely not my most favorite thing to do.
My rock-n-roll weekend continued with a drive to San Diego to once again see Guster. This would be the 16th time that I've witnessed the bongo banging band (which pales in comparison to Viv's 100+ shows). So I drove to San Diego with the thought I would be staying with my friend I've not seen in a long time. Now, this only became an issue when I was unable to get ahold of her to get the rest of the directions to her place. Note to self: don't ever let directions to someplace end with "then just call me when you get close" or something like that. After many messages were left I
continued my drive to Cane's.
Now, I had baked banana bread since I'd gotten rep tickets for the LA and SD shows. It's the least I could do right? (Actually, it all started as a joke when I baked some for a friend who's friends with Guster's tour manager...long story). Anyway, I had forgotten it in my truck so when I went back to get it...um...I locked my keys in there. But hey, I had banana bread.
So there I stand somewhere in San Diego with my keys locked safely away. First I approach the security guard driving around in a truck asking if he had a number I could call to get a locksmith. He tells me to talk ask the lifeguard. Said lifegaurd tells me to call 1.800.LOCK.OUT, which I do. The guy on the other line was helpful up until the point I tried to tell him where I was. I'm not that familiar with San Diego so it was a little confusing (and I'd blanked out that I was near SeaWorld). Luckily all this didn't matter when he confusedly asked, "what city are you in?" Upon my reply of "San Diego" he laughs because, "um, we are in Columbus, Ohio. Not sure why our number is working from out there, but if you give me, oh, 18 hours and a plane flight I can have someone out there to get you unlocked."
Next I proceed to the phone booth, where there is no phone book. Damned if I don't wish I had AAA about right now. Into the souvenier shop I go to ask for a phone book and wouldn't you know it, I walk in right behind the guys from Guster. I'm on a mission though, so I write down a few phone numbers and go outside where I have a signal and start dialing. I'll spare you the rest of the details to the retrieval of my keys, but it did involve calling two locksmith places (two are better than one right? at least one might be faster than the other), not exactly knowing where I was parked (evidently there are quite a few parking lots around this place), get asked if I'm from Santa Clara upon giving my cell phone number to the dispatch ("you aren't? oh, because my ex is from there and his number starts with 661 too"), and me looking at my watch very often.
The truck was finally unlocked about 10 minutes before Guster was to go on. As I headed to the venue I saw Pasty and gave him the baked goods thanking him for the tickets when he launched into what a bad day it was for him - no close parking for the truck/bus, three tickets, no hotel for the night yet so I have to go call some and, oh, you are missing Clem Snide. The last comment I took for a subtle blow off (I've heard/had it happen before..."oh, you are missing , you should really go check them out." So into the line I merged and tried to relax knowing that I didn't have a place to stay yet, but hey, I had my keys.
After the last cymbal crash of the night, I have to say, all in all the LA show was better. This could be partially because I wasn't in the best frame of mind (having dealt with the keys issue and wondering where the nearest Motel 6 was throughout the show). Also, there were no lights and the giant (I'm talking 4' diameter at least) mirror ball wasn't even used. Cane's is a very small cramped venue (with a view of the sea!), it was hot, and I had people singing loudly and off key behind me. Didn't even get an acoustic JOTR to end the final show of this "tour." Needless to say, I left the venue immediately, checked my voice mail (to find a message with directions to my friend's apartment), and sped off with the A/C cranked.
I saw a mirror ball that was at least 4' in diameter. And that, may just be the highlight of my weekend.
One constant in my life is music. I'm one of those people, that you want to have at your party just for when that song comes on, and you know that you know it, but you can't think of the name or who it's by...yea, I'm one of those people that most likely, will know.
So this here is going to be my attempt at putting down the music that fills my head, the concerts that puts mileage on my truck, and artists that you really should have heard of by now.
After recovering from the late night in LA, the group gathered up to head downtown to see Mraz wow the crowd at the Fox Theatre. We'd gotten front row tickets (not in the PIT), so we sat through the show and enjoyed all that Mraz had to give. Comparing it to the show in LA, he was much more relaxed, rambled on talking, and "experimented" with a few songs. Had to laugh at his choice of opening song, "10,000 Motherfuckers" just in that, well, the blatent cursing. Everyone I coerced into going to the show had a good time, at least that's what they told me.
Welcome to Los AngelesBe glad I didn't post about this when I got home from LA last night (which was at 3am...)
Here is the setlist with the few comments I can remember for Guster's big rok show at the Henry Fonda Theater (which I kept referring to as the Henry Ford Theater...oops)
I spy -> outro
I kept thinking, wow, those lights look like peppermints (the pseudo swirly red and white ones).
Careful
Quite possibly could have left after this song and been happy.
What You Wish For
The Talking Heads' Nothing But (Flowers)
Everyone is right...amazing cover.
Parachute
Homecoming King ->
Amsterdam
After the song Ryan tried to tell about having taken Joe to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles for the first time and soon as he launched into the story realized it was lame and going nowhere.
Ramona
Not a big fan of the song but I liked it more live.
Airport Song
Okay, it's been nearly a year since I've been to see Guster. I liked the kicked up version of the song. And the lights? Oh the lights...so good. In the absence of a mirror ball it became "fun with strobe lights" night.
Happier
Ryan started to launch into a story about playing on the Conan O'brien show and was cut off to start playing ...
Either Way
I saw bubbles even from where I was standing which was right behind Gordon and the soundboard.
Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Good....so good.
Medicine*
Okay, I'm calling this the "Journeyfied" version. Maybe it's the same as the jazzy, but Ryan leads into the song talking about how Joe can play these great 80s guitar solos like from Journey songs and that he'll be playing a "wonky solo" completely through the next song and off they go into Medicine.
Barrel of a Gun
Oh, the audience participation...from an LA crowd even!
Fa Fa Song
More fun with Strobe Lights!
e:
All The Way Up To Heaven
Maybe it's because they were playing some Flaming Lips before the show, but towards the end of the song it had a "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt.1" feel to it.
Keep It Together
Demons
---
Jesus on the Radio (acoustic)
They've done this before in LA, at the House of Blues. I was standing right underneath Ryan when they unplugged and played Mona Lisa. Tonight, while I wish I had been closer to get the full goosebump effects, it was still an amazing rendtion of JOTR. Go Banjo!
So that's it. Didn't stick around much longer than to briefly talk with Gordon the sound engineer. Lovely man who let me have the setlist. I'd say the only bad thing about the show was that it got to a late start. Kathy and I had gone down with the hopes of seeing Guster and busting over to the Acoustic Playhouse to see Matt the Electrician play. Instead we got over to that venue (2 miles down the road) to find Matt packing up. Which became a slightly weird moment when Matt thought 1. we drove all the way from Bakersfield to see him play and 2. were an hour late. After that akwardness we headed over to visit a friend of Kathy's for about an hour and eventually stumbled into the door at 3am.
Next up: Jason Mraz tonight in the Bake then off to San Diego for more Guster.
From the time I came home from work to just now I've been writing. Nothing I can share with you yet, but I've come into an opportunity to blend my interest in writing things other than technical papers (DSPs woo!) and music. Not quite sure what I think of the outcome of my work right now, maybe in the morning with fresh eyes I'll see the errors of my words (because as it stands I'm thinking myself pretty damn witty).
There's a reason why most often I can be found in some form of a sandal. Be it Birkenstock, Chaco, Teva or flipflop - my feet are comfortable. Even in the cold snowing winters of Montana I could be found wearing wool socks with sandals. That's why my choice of footwear was a bit of a joke.
It's not that I was stumbling around but they just weren't as comfortable. My feet did a collective sigh when I slipped back into the well broken in Bostons. Three inch heel be damned. Plus, at one point today I was standing around with 4 other coworkers, and I'm tall enough as it is and they are all, um, short...but damn I was towering over them.
At one point at work today I was sitting in my cubicle and suddenly realized I was surrounded by four babies. Photos of Renee's little one in North Dakota were up on my email. Across the open space was the coworker's screensaver which recently changed from a sonagram to that of his bundled up newborn. In the next cubicle sat two friends who are both pregnant and showing. And there I sat wondering if I'd be able to handle adopting a dog.
Apathetic. That's the word that came to mind last night. The people of Bakersfield missed out on some fine music. Evidently there was something better going on - watching CNN for the latest news break maybe or everyone's synthetic pants had melted into pleather couches.
For those who did venture down Schirra Court to Lengthwise on Saturday night caught the musically inclinded electrician at work. This is the second time that Matt the Electrician has played in Bakersfield and this time he brought Seela with him (which meant getting to hear her rendition of "Sunny Side of the Street" woo!).
My efforts to bring people through the door brought in about half the crowd. Unfortunately half wasn't even in double digits. Evidently the allure of a pool party with the "ultimate rap cd as interpretted by a pale Texas engineer" was too much for many. In the end the gig felt like our own private party though. In between song banter included stories about the songs which made them make more sense (so that's what "Milo" is about...). The covered song "Lawn Dart" (Ed's Redeeming Qualities) was unintentionally funnier seeing as Karen only days before was hit in the shin with an actual dart. Hit as in it stuck. Hit as in tetanus shot. The evening was even ended with Kathy requesting a song from a live show that I have, which is a cover of Ed's Redeeming Qualities' "More Bad Things" which tends to be a sing along. I once saw another Matt, Nathanson, teach an unfamiliar crowd part of "Answering Machine" in Chicago and pull off a rocking sing along but I was a bit worried for this one. Why? Because by this time in the night the crowd had dwindled to maybe 10 people plus the workers. Yet some how it worked even with the quiet "rock and roll ending."
Next time people....next time you should be there.
I felt like that kid from the Family Circus cartoons where he wanders around instead of going straight home. Drove out to Kern River today from Camino Media and on the way back took my time. Meandered through downtown, by the Fox Theatre, along Truxtun, down to Stockdale... In saying that I just remembered that today was a Spare the Air day so it really wasn't the best thing to be doing. It was a nice drive though; listening to a cd...
Yea, I didn't see it until today. Partially because I'd been avoiding my backyard when it started to resemble an overgrown jungle...a snail infested one at that. The gardener came on Thursday though, and mowed both the front and back which made me oh so happy.
Now I can make lemonade and applesauce. Or lemon-zest apple pie. Or...
It's that time of year when walking barefoot on pavement is a bad idea, although the thought was an afterthought. It was thought of after I walked out onto the driveway sans shoes. Ouch.
