Tuesday, February 9, 2010

------> Los Angeles

Cruising the 101 to LA:

Ladies and Gentleman, the Pacific Ocean!



Around 8:30 we arrive in K-town, LA to meet up with 2/3rds our entourage. This is a Sopranos pic of Monick, Topu and Hanie (not pictured was SHARON) also shout out to "Pickle", "Carl", "Ellie", and "Leonard" , the 4 dogs living with Hanie.
We were fortunate enough to link up with our NY buddy Brian House and his artistic LA based partner Sue Huang. Together they form Knifeandfork. They accompanied us for our two shows in the city of angels. Everybody we talked to in LA knew their work and for good reason.. They are amazing! They helped SO much on the back end of everything and are truly amazing human beings!!!
1.30.10 - Fais Do Do

This was a large-ish club in downtown LA that hosted us. We played with LA's finest: Detangler, and C. Vincent Plummer. These bands all whipped ass in their own unique way! We're grateful we got to share the evening with them.
1.31.10 - The Last day. 10:00am awake, Beach, Echo Curio, Drive to San Francisco and fly to NYC.

First off, Live Footage would like to thank these people here:


That's Monick, Hanie, Sharon, with us. Without them our experience would not have been nearly as fun and convenient so thanks ladies! Also greatest thanks to George and Galena for allowing us to borrow their car! Without them there is no way that the trip could have taken place. Tigran and Grace maddest props for picking us up from the airport, treating us so kindly. cooking us every meal, making us feel at home. Jeff (Tigran's neighbor) so generously allowed us to borrow his guitar amp, bass drum and hardware for the trip to LA! amazing! Also, Vince, Davin, Sam, Andrew, Jay, Brian, Sue, Dan, and Rob offered crucial assistance.

Echo Curio was easily the best show of the entire trip. My friend Jeff Eliassen recommended this small art Gallery in Echo Park. Everything felt right about the vibe of the place and the crowd was great! Sam Robles' band Tango Nuevo slayed the first set.

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Recapping the last day in LA goes like this:
10:00am - Awake
2:00pm - Santa Monica beach
5:00pm - Doughboys for dinner:: much anxiety about whether the car is fit to drive 7 1/2 hours back to S.F. with breaks that don't always work.
8:00pm - Echo Curio set up begins
8:50pm - **Injury report** Mike realizes his snare is broken. Topu's main midi pedal is injured.
9:10pm - After much deliberation and unsuccessful attempts to repair, Jay drives me at top speed to the nearest Walgreens to buy zip ties. Meanwhile Tango Nuevo begins.
9:25pm - watch Tango Nuevo
10:15pm - Live Footage
11:30pm - Finished set, and preparing to pack the car for an immediate 7 1/2 hour drive with sketchy brakes to San Fran.
12:45 am - Goodbye's said to all, and we're on the road..
12:50 am - Numerous wrong turns, and worry about the car begins to set in.
3:00am - Still no car problems, and we're about half way to San Jose. Route 5 is the straightest rode in history.
8:00am - Safe arrival in San Jose to drop off gear. Immediate departure to San Francisco to return more gear.
9:15am - We drop off the bass cab in northern San Fran, and immediately head back to San Jose to catch a 12:00 flight.
10:30am - Arrival to San Jose to hastily pack for our flight. 24 1/2 hours no sleep.
10:45am - Tigran awakens for the 2nd time that morning to drive us to the airport with our heads in the clouds.
11:10am- Smooth check in. "Sure we'll pay the extra fee for that bag", "Sure you can search that bag", "Its musical Instruments.."
12:00pm- Departure to Houston
4:40pm - Depart Houston for La Guardia
10:00pm - Arrive in NYC. Cant sleep on planes, so going on 36 hours virtually no sleep.
10:30pm - Retrieve bags from baggage claim...... Wait.... Where's the big Duffel Bag? FUCK!!!!
10:50pm - Claim made at Continental for lost bag. Goodbye keyboard, snare, cd's, and a bunch of other stuff.
11:00pm - Randy and Ali pick us up! Hurray for NYC, we're back to the bleak NY winter!
12:01 am (2.2.10) - Sleep.



Mike is listening to Delby L
Topu is listening to Janos Starker

San Fran continued, then off to the city of Angeles.

We couldn't come to Cali without sampling the famous Mexican food, so we did. Thanks to the advice of our good friend Gary, we dined at an un-assuming place in the mission that blew our minds. Here's a pic of the ceiling:
Our last gig in San Francisco was at a quaint little cafe in the Castro called Duboce park. Everyone was really cool there, and the turnout was spectacular!! Here's a pic of us making a set list: Thanks to Beartrap Mind for playing an amazing set before us (pic by Sha Sha Chu, and she wrote a great review of the show). They jumped through hoops to get us some gear to borrow, and Andrew from BM said it best when we were having the typical NY freak out about getting the gear in time: "Mike, now that your in Cali, just go with the flow. Eventually everything just works out, so chill". This ended up being the motto for the duration of the trip.