(no subject)
so for the past week or so, i've been on tour with my folk band. this was by far the most epic and insane road trip of my life thusfar. we played 15 shows all over the state in 7 days, spanning 1700 miles, 1 flat tire, a parking ticket, and almost 1300$ in cash, all made exclusively by playing music in the streets. so fun.
we started last monday with a early morning 6 hour drive to arcata. i had been staying at washboard j's house (he plays the washboard, cowbell, slidewistle, etc.) since i moved out from campus and that place is a trip and a half on its own. random 30 something hipster fixed gear dudes crashin on the couch, xbox all hours of night and a diet that consists of 95% beer. all and all, good times with nothing to do. brady and i (he plays banjo) had been sleeping there for a couple of days when monday rolled around. we packed the car full of shit, got a quad and were off for arcata with the money we'd been saving from playing on pacific in santa cruz. we left at like 9 or so and arrived in a misty arcata around 4 pm. arcata is a beautiful place, and oh so peaceful, it reminded me of the sunset district in san francisco mixed with an almost small town european town feel. and of course, theres tons of dank herb in the area too.. we played in the town square there and froze our asses off (the only time our sleeping bags would really get put to use) and made an alright pittance for our music, got dinner at some pizza/doughnuts place then ended up staying with a friend of a friend of a friend crashing in an empty bedroom.
next day we were off to chico to play an afternoon show. as we crossed over and through the mountains, it got hot as fuck. (humboldt has idyllic weather this time of year) with fred(accordion player) driving, around noon, we got a flat in some hot ass buttfuck nowhere place. luckily with some inginuity and a lot of effort, we managed to switch the tire and get to the next town on the spare. we pulled into the nearest service station to find out a new tire was like 75$. obviously, that wasnt gonna happen. we went a little further down the road and got a super sketch studded winter tire (which is actually illegal to drive on during the summer) for 25$ no questions asked. with that taken care of, we were back on the road, flying off at top speed through the central valley on our way to chico. we get there and make a whopping 15$. a 6 hour drive including delays for such a small amount of money left our confidence shaken and our morale low. this was only day 2 of our journey and although it started out alright, it seemed like things were going south fast. things changed however once we got to nevada city.
with sunken spirits, we pulled into the small town which still retained much of its wild west charm. there was a lively local bar scene on one street and masonic emblems were emblazoned into just about every surace within a 10 foot radius of anything. we proceeded to set up on a corner randomly and give it our best shot. despite the tiny size of the town the response we got was nothing short of incredible, as within 2 songs, we had a crowd of about 50 people watching. people were shouting and clapping from the balcony across the street and there was one guy who was dancing in front of us as he dropped dollars into the accordion case. (people really love to dance and try to talk to us while we're playing our sets, which is always rather amusing). people pulled over from driving to watch us, and some of them even stopped in the middle of the street. we made about 90$ from our set and gave those people everything we had, feeding off of each other's energy. after the set, it was like we had an orgasm, as we were all completely exhausted. we picked up a 6 pack of beer and headed to fred's aunt's farm in grass valley.
as the night unfolded beneath the full moon and quiet fields, we sat outside after the epic feast prepared for us by fred's aunt. EVERYTHING fresh, fresh beef, fresh milk, fresh bread, cheese everything... it was paradise. throughout the trip actually, we all ate extremely well.
in the morning we toured the farm and said our goodbyes as we headed off for san francisco. as we tore down the highways as fast as we could in our crowded altima and the weather got hotter and hotter with every mile as we approached what we believed was the epicenter.
our first stop was berkeley, and this was the first time in a long while that i had seen black people en masse. it was very refreshing to see such diversity,i must say i missed it. we played 2 sets in berkeley and both were less than well recieved, but taught us a valuable lesson that didn't really sink in until the end of the tour,
1)tourists will not pay attention to you because all they want is a photo of "attractions"
2)commuters will not give you the time of day because all they want to do is get where theyre going
3)the day is a terrible time to street peform ( its hot as fuck and people are NOT about to stand in the sun to watch you no matter HOW good your music is)
as we headed for the city across the epic bay bridge, we began to feel the toll the tour was taking on us as our hands began to bleed and our instruments took a beating. we also felt the heat from a fire right next to the road as we passed through the north bay.
we arrived in san francisco and headed downtown to try our luck at union square. surprisingly, as the hour got later, people were more and more responsive. our energy increased as the sun went down. with all this playing, our music also began to tighten. cues came more naturally, errors were more subtle, singing was louder, clearer and better than before, songs were played faster and with new interesting twists. all and all, we did fairly well in san francisco.
that night we stayed with my friend karen at her house and drank whiskey and blazed like no other. it was nice to sleep in a bed again for once. the next day we woke up to try our hand and our skills on san francisco again. this time we decided to try the more tourist filled areas such as the wharf and embarcadaero. bad idea. people took pictures of us, but weren't really interested in our music as much as the spectacle of 4 young men yelling strangle lyrics and playing absurd instruments. once again, there was a drop in morale and a spike in the temperature as things began to go sour once again. we listened to music and smoked bowls to pass the time. that evening, we played in menlo park, washboard j's hometown. the crowd was really surprised and i will never forget the look of shock and terror i saw when i looked to my left and saw a small asian woman reeling in fear from our music. hilarious. brady's vocal solo on "hold me close" made me do a double take it was so loud. j and i just glared at each other in disbelief.
we slept at washboard j's house and were served excellent burgers by his sister who strangely reminds me of two girls from santa cruz i know put together. one is a violent tomboy and the other is a future homemaker. strange combination indeed. we took turns on the piano and were off to bed.
next stop on the trip was santa cruz. this was also a mistake because 1) we played during the day, and two, santa cruz is absolutely dead during the summer. don't go there. its boring. we found a homeless guy who was super down with our music though. he remembered not only who we were, but some of our names, song titles and lyrics. to be honest, i was a little creeped out. but he did pretty awesome work by telling random people to watch us. we hooked him up with some of the money we made there and got lunch. the show in SC went pretty bad because there were no people, but financially, we didnt really need the money anyways. by this point, we had already made more money then we started the tour with (500$) and were pretty much set, but we pressed onward. that evening we headed for santa barbara and got there super late because of some fire based detours that had to be taken. we played on state st in front of a movie theatre and got a pretty good response but it was there that the heat began to take its toll on us. we were all drenched in sweat by the end of the set as a result of the humidity. some reporter from univision wanted to do a story on us, but we told her we weren't interested. throughout the duration of the tour, we changed our names several times. we all knew this would be the last time we'd be playing together for a really long time anyways, so we pretty much just did not give a fuck and went buck wild.we had multiple names, sailing south, anchors away, the hollow mountain hound dogs, the billygoat bastards, anything that would get peoples attention and that could be said without having to be repeated. we slept in a bro - gnar house that belonged to one of j's friends. isla vista is beautiful, but at the same time, disgusting and outrageous. i have never seen so much debauchery in one place, but all and all, santa barbera was fun.
saturday morning we smoked a fat joint with justins friend and played with his dog on this nice little lawn overlooking a cliff. it was sunny and warm, but not too much so. we had been eaten alive the previous night by all the bugs and nasty things in the moist santa barbara air. after a few stoney delays, we were off and headed down further south to Los angeles, the promised land. it was hotter than a fuck when we got there. we played right down on venice beach first. we got a prime parking spot one block from the beach and set up over by the skatepark and the grassy areas on a little corner. we only played half our set because it was super hot, but we ended up making about 36 dollars. the most important part was that people were SUPER down for our music, but it was just too goddamn hot to keep going. after we packed up we saw some other UCSC students and chatted it up for a bit, this was a mistake because as we were walking back to the car, we ended up with a fat parking ticket. 40$. not chill.another appropriation of band money. next stop was hollywood. we parked at hollywood and highland and set up next to the other street performers. we played a few songs but gave up in disgust, after we realized that wolverine and spiderman were making more money than we were, and that this was just a waste of energy with still one more set to go. we ended up leaving and heading to pasadena. it was here that my hometown came through for me, as we broke our single session playing record. 130$ + 4 beers for a set of music. old town was bustling and the sidewalk was lined with people who were down with our music. the feeling was indiscribable. afterwards, we slept at victors.
finally, sunday was for san diego and the end of our tour. we headed down there and played in balboa park. things were finally starting to cool off and the drive was almost tolerable. the car felt less crowded despite there being more shit in there and it was starting to dawn on all of us that this tour would soon be over. we gave them everything we had one last time and even though we were all tired, hurt and our instruments were fucked, we played hard and gave them a good set. some of our songs were faster than ever before. the washtub bass was ruined pretty much by the end of the tour, it had a crack in it the hole in the bottom was getting bigger and the rope kept coming loose, but nevertheless, i continued to bust as hard as i could on that thing until the very end. we played one last stop, and that was at brady's grandparents house for his brother's birthday. it was kind of cheesy, but the food was amazing, so i couldn't complain. brady's family was extemely kind and so were all the people we met along the tour.
so many people helped us and in the end we had about 700$ to split amongst the 4 of us. we did alright and the craziest thing was ALL OF THIS was paid for ENTIRELY by just playing music on the streets. i drove back from SD to pasadena and the ride on the 15 was beautiful with roaring downhills and epic vistas of valleys and hills. as i write this now, i know that somewhere out there, justin and fred are still driving hustling back to santa cruz.
and now i am tired
we started last monday with a early morning 6 hour drive to arcata. i had been staying at washboard j's house (he plays the washboard, cowbell, slidewistle, etc.) since i moved out from campus and that place is a trip and a half on its own. random 30 something hipster fixed gear dudes crashin on the couch, xbox all hours of night and a diet that consists of 95% beer. all and all, good times with nothing to do. brady and i (he plays banjo) had been sleeping there for a couple of days when monday rolled around. we packed the car full of shit, got a quad and were off for arcata with the money we'd been saving from playing on pacific in santa cruz. we left at like 9 or so and arrived in a misty arcata around 4 pm. arcata is a beautiful place, and oh so peaceful, it reminded me of the sunset district in san francisco mixed with an almost small town european town feel. and of course, theres tons of dank herb in the area too.. we played in the town square there and froze our asses off (the only time our sleeping bags would really get put to use) and made an alright pittance for our music, got dinner at some pizza/doughnuts place then ended up staying with a friend of a friend of a friend crashing in an empty bedroom.
next day we were off to chico to play an afternoon show. as we crossed over and through the mountains, it got hot as fuck. (humboldt has idyllic weather this time of year) with fred(accordion player) driving, around noon, we got a flat in some hot ass buttfuck nowhere place. luckily with some inginuity and a lot of effort, we managed to switch the tire and get to the next town on the spare. we pulled into the nearest service station to find out a new tire was like 75$. obviously, that wasnt gonna happen. we went a little further down the road and got a super sketch studded winter tire (which is actually illegal to drive on during the summer) for 25$ no questions asked. with that taken care of, we were back on the road, flying off at top speed through the central valley on our way to chico. we get there and make a whopping 15$. a 6 hour drive including delays for such a small amount of money left our confidence shaken and our morale low. this was only day 2 of our journey and although it started out alright, it seemed like things were going south fast. things changed however once we got to nevada city.
with sunken spirits, we pulled into the small town which still retained much of its wild west charm. there was a lively local bar scene on one street and masonic emblems were emblazoned into just about every surace within a 10 foot radius of anything. we proceeded to set up on a corner randomly and give it our best shot. despite the tiny size of the town the response we got was nothing short of incredible, as within 2 songs, we had a crowd of about 50 people watching. people were shouting and clapping from the balcony across the street and there was one guy who was dancing in front of us as he dropped dollars into the accordion case. (people really love to dance and try to talk to us while we're playing our sets, which is always rather amusing). people pulled over from driving to watch us, and some of them even stopped in the middle of the street. we made about 90$ from our set and gave those people everything we had, feeding off of each other's energy. after the set, it was like we had an orgasm, as we were all completely exhausted. we picked up a 6 pack of beer and headed to fred's aunt's farm in grass valley.
as the night unfolded beneath the full moon and quiet fields, we sat outside after the epic feast prepared for us by fred's aunt. EVERYTHING fresh, fresh beef, fresh milk, fresh bread, cheese everything... it was paradise. throughout the trip actually, we all ate extremely well.
in the morning we toured the farm and said our goodbyes as we headed off for san francisco. as we tore down the highways as fast as we could in our crowded altima and the weather got hotter and hotter with every mile as we approached what we believed was the epicenter.
our first stop was berkeley, and this was the first time in a long while that i had seen black people en masse. it was very refreshing to see such diversity,i must say i missed it. we played 2 sets in berkeley and both were less than well recieved, but taught us a valuable lesson that didn't really sink in until the end of the tour,
1)tourists will not pay attention to you because all they want is a photo of "attractions"
2)commuters will not give you the time of day because all they want to do is get where theyre going
3)the day is a terrible time to street peform ( its hot as fuck and people are NOT about to stand in the sun to watch you no matter HOW good your music is)
as we headed for the city across the epic bay bridge, we began to feel the toll the tour was taking on us as our hands began to bleed and our instruments took a beating. we also felt the heat from a fire right next to the road as we passed through the north bay.
we arrived in san francisco and headed downtown to try our luck at union square. surprisingly, as the hour got later, people were more and more responsive. our energy increased as the sun went down. with all this playing, our music also began to tighten. cues came more naturally, errors were more subtle, singing was louder, clearer and better than before, songs were played faster and with new interesting twists. all and all, we did fairly well in san francisco.
that night we stayed with my friend karen at her house and drank whiskey and blazed like no other. it was nice to sleep in a bed again for once. the next day we woke up to try our hand and our skills on san francisco again. this time we decided to try the more tourist filled areas such as the wharf and embarcadaero. bad idea. people took pictures of us, but weren't really interested in our music as much as the spectacle of 4 young men yelling strangle lyrics and playing absurd instruments. once again, there was a drop in morale and a spike in the temperature as things began to go sour once again. we listened to music and smoked bowls to pass the time. that evening, we played in menlo park, washboard j's hometown. the crowd was really surprised and i will never forget the look of shock and terror i saw when i looked to my left and saw a small asian woman reeling in fear from our music. hilarious. brady's vocal solo on "hold me close" made me do a double take it was so loud. j and i just glared at each other in disbelief.
we slept at washboard j's house and were served excellent burgers by his sister who strangely reminds me of two girls from santa cruz i know put together. one is a violent tomboy and the other is a future homemaker. strange combination indeed. we took turns on the piano and were off to bed.
next stop on the trip was santa cruz. this was also a mistake because 1) we played during the day, and two, santa cruz is absolutely dead during the summer. don't go there. its boring. we found a homeless guy who was super down with our music though. he remembered not only who we were, but some of our names, song titles and lyrics. to be honest, i was a little creeped out. but he did pretty awesome work by telling random people to watch us. we hooked him up with some of the money we made there and got lunch. the show in SC went pretty bad because there were no people, but financially, we didnt really need the money anyways. by this point, we had already made more money then we started the tour with (500$) and were pretty much set, but we pressed onward. that evening we headed for santa barbara and got there super late because of some fire based detours that had to be taken. we played on state st in front of a movie theatre and got a pretty good response but it was there that the heat began to take its toll on us. we were all drenched in sweat by the end of the set as a result of the humidity. some reporter from univision wanted to do a story on us, but we told her we weren't interested. throughout the duration of the tour, we changed our names several times. we all knew this would be the last time we'd be playing together for a really long time anyways, so we pretty much just did not give a fuck and went buck wild.we had multiple names, sailing south, anchors away, the hollow mountain hound dogs, the billygoat bastards, anything that would get peoples attention and that could be said without having to be repeated. we slept in a bro - gnar house that belonged to one of j's friends. isla vista is beautiful, but at the same time, disgusting and outrageous. i have never seen so much debauchery in one place, but all and all, santa barbera was fun.
saturday morning we smoked a fat joint with justins friend and played with his dog on this nice little lawn overlooking a cliff. it was sunny and warm, but not too much so. we had been eaten alive the previous night by all the bugs and nasty things in the moist santa barbara air. after a few stoney delays, we were off and headed down further south to Los angeles, the promised land. it was hotter than a fuck when we got there. we played right down on venice beach first. we got a prime parking spot one block from the beach and set up over by the skatepark and the grassy areas on a little corner. we only played half our set because it was super hot, but we ended up making about 36 dollars. the most important part was that people were SUPER down for our music, but it was just too goddamn hot to keep going. after we packed up we saw some other UCSC students and chatted it up for a bit, this was a mistake because as we were walking back to the car, we ended up with a fat parking ticket. 40$. not chill.another appropriation of band money. next stop was hollywood. we parked at hollywood and highland and set up next to the other street performers. we played a few songs but gave up in disgust, after we realized that wolverine and spiderman were making more money than we were, and that this was just a waste of energy with still one more set to go. we ended up leaving and heading to pasadena. it was here that my hometown came through for me, as we broke our single session playing record. 130$ + 4 beers for a set of music. old town was bustling and the sidewalk was lined with people who were down with our music. the feeling was indiscribable. afterwards, we slept at victors.
finally, sunday was for san diego and the end of our tour. we headed down there and played in balboa park. things were finally starting to cool off and the drive was almost tolerable. the car felt less crowded despite there being more shit in there and it was starting to dawn on all of us that this tour would soon be over. we gave them everything we had one last time and even though we were all tired, hurt and our instruments were fucked, we played hard and gave them a good set. some of our songs were faster than ever before. the washtub bass was ruined pretty much by the end of the tour, it had a crack in it the hole in the bottom was getting bigger and the rope kept coming loose, but nevertheless, i continued to bust as hard as i could on that thing until the very end. we played one last stop, and that was at brady's grandparents house for his brother's birthday. it was kind of cheesy, but the food was amazing, so i couldn't complain. brady's family was extemely kind and so were all the people we met along the tour.
so many people helped us and in the end we had about 700$ to split amongst the 4 of us. we did alright and the craziest thing was ALL OF THIS was paid for ENTIRELY by just playing music on the streets. i drove back from SD to pasadena and the ride on the 15 was beautiful with roaring downhills and epic vistas of valleys and hills. as i write this now, i know that somewhere out there, justin and fred are still driving hustling back to santa cruz.
and now i am tired