But why were we looking at it in the first place?

the insanity never stops man, it’s like woah, every day is crazier than the one before! no not really, but i did fix the problem i was having with my new atm card by getting a new pin number and i almost got in a fight with a rather vulcan looking bartendress yesterday afternoon.

i put an informal complaint in to our waitress at the marathon bar saying that the newcastle i ordered tasted a little thin and like it ran through the tequila well tap. i didnt actually say the second part but that was the truth of it. the woman who i assume owned the place came over to the table we were all sitting at with a shot of the fowl beverage in hand and said to me that that was the way tapped newcastle tasted, inferring that my experience must be limited with such endeavors. i honestly didnt want an argument or even a free beer, i said i would pay for it and that i just wanted a beer in replacement so i could have something to drink with my gyro, which was quite tasty.

she stormed off more angry than she should have been with the exchange and i got a free hefewiesen. i tipped the waitress exorbitantly and invited her to come to the show. she didn’t come, surprise.

the so-cal boys dont like portland, they think its mossy and dirty looking. but i actually enjoy it quite a bit, there’s so many trees on every block and it just seems slower for a big city. a radio host once said that, in referring to the level of attractiveness in women, a portland 10 is a california 7. that made me laugh and so far i cant see the untruth of it. it looks like everyone here is going to art school. on the other hand its kind of nice to not be surrounded but unnatural levels of beauty even though i miss the university of arizona eye candy. but i cant say i ever talked to any of them, so really, what’s to miss.

again last night the turn out was sad but the show was good and i found a couple new bands i like and i got a shirt and some cd’s. i took a picture of a homeless man named dick and gave him a couple bucks and a cd and he put shoe polish on his face like war paint and a plastic bag on his head which resembled a chefs hat with E.D. comedy, it seems, is all around us.

we found a sex shop to entertain us for a while before we had to set up for the show. comedic moments whilst inside: finding pauls twin, sideburns and all in a gay porn, and finding a marital aid called “the great american challenge.” i’ll let you use youre own imagination on that one.

<3’s for everyone.

Out in the Parking Lot

i deeply dislike wal-marts. we use them for their well lit, well cleaned bathrooms, but i try to spend as little time in them as possible. they seem like cultural wastelands piled to their impersonally high ceilings with nicknacks that range from slightly to profoundly useless. employees man the wide automatically opening doors with blue vests stamped with the seemingly friendly slogan, “how may we help you?” how may we watch you shop lifting?

my sour feeling toward mock authority stems from last nights encounter with another wal-marts parking lot security patrolman who felt the need to harass us intermittently while we had our rv parked. apparently “rving” because according to this man, rv is a verb, was prohibited in that parking lot and regardless of the fact that we explained to him on multiple occasions that we were only doing to be there a few hours to rest and catch a movie he felt it reasonable to question our motives.

and it wasnt that we were rude to him… to start with. i smiled when he told us the rules and said we wouldn’t be there over night. i smiled when i walked over to his truck with obnoxious flashing yellow lights to ask him if it was ok to stay there while we caught a movie at the cinema-plex across the way. i didnt even become rude when he gave me the stone faced look of a man who reveled in his place of power and told me we had to move the rv to the curb side of the the lot so we wouldnt impede other shoppers driving. his point was that our trailer stuck out about 3 feet into the road space between parking stalls. i laughed a bit at this and in an obvious attempt to show me he meant business he stared at me like a drill sergeant might stare at a soldier in training. that was the breaking point for me.

everytime he would drive be from that point on i would wave condescendingly at him with a big smile and a wink. we took pictures of him and as we walked back from watching the longest yard, and gave him the double finger point like “hey tiger!” i dont know why these little things give me such pleasure. but when you really have no recourse against being wronged, the only available actions sometimes take on childish heir. sometime after that he informed us that we had ten minutes to leave before he called in reinforcements because he thought we had lied about seeing a movie. he stood outside the camper out of my sight from the loft above the drivers seat and i called to him “would you like to see the movie stub?” knowing that would catch him off guard as he assumed he was correct, and he said “no, i don’t want to see it.” the surely nature of his reply made me laugh and i knew that i had won this stupid game.

i flipped him off as we left and felt satisfied with myself. have i grown as a human being from that experience? no, but i wont pretend that im above pettiness. we all slept in till around noon today and now we are sitting here eating and deciding where we are to go next since we don’t really have much to do till around 8 or so.

apparently the ugliness of the people we have seen here has not been lost of my companions. of course we take our sample from wal-mart parking lots so it’s had to say thats representative of what oregon really has to offer. all for now. its guitar time.

A drop in the Pale

oregon so far is a beautiful state. the vegitation is lush and even the major cities like portland have trees lining all the streets. but along with the greenery comes a huge amount of rain. its almost always cloudy if not overcast and the ground is rarely dry. i enjoy it none the less, but i doubt i would enjoy living here full time. im looking forward to taking more pictures to help remember what im seeing these days.

im listening to dune on audio book and through it i feel my thoughts are taking on a more formal patern of arrangement because of the proper english usage and the focus on inward thinking and analysis of minute amounts of data from the outside world. im probably just a nerd.

oregon is also a stark contrast to the southern california feel we’ve driven away from. from fake and baked perfection seeking teenies to overwieght slices of americana, it feels like the people here are the ones europeans think of when they try to mock our way of life. in a way though i do feel at home here with my pale brethren.

A Little Short

I slept pretty much all night and all day. we drove from campbell to redding night night and then today we drove to west linn oregon to stay with some family friends of mine. and when i say we, i mean topher and paul. i slept.

this morning when we were still in the raleys parking lot in redding where we slept last night, a homeless man came up to me and asked me if i had 42 cents. i asked him why he specifically needed 42 cents and he paused for a moment and said “well im a little short.” i replied “well join the club, im a little short too.” he stared at me in probably the blankest expression ive ever seen on someone id actually engaged in conversation and i decided it was best to just give him some change and let him be on his way. my humor is so lost on this world.

that was pretty much the highlight of the day besides staying with the gomboses. they live in a beautiful little culdisack in house filled with antiques and fun little pieces of ancient americana. gail the gombose matriarch is an antique dealer. their daughter alix is a champion volleyball player and i again and reminded that i am… a little short.

on the road we play battleship but with a twist. you have to come up with a word starting with the letter of the grid. the d section is particularly entertaining.

its getting on the in the evening and we are watching family guy full of pizza and im about to take a shower. i love life.

all for today.

mt shasta is really beautiful.

cornfilth.pop

cornfilth.pop

this is the sadness of being in a car all day. thats the kind of thing you find funny. paul burned the hell out of some microwave pop corn at the circle k we stopped at after the gas lighter show in campbell and trevor said that is smelled like cornfilth,pop and we got a good laugh out of it. this was much needed after playing what was basically a worthless show where we got no money and no new fans. it reminded me of the clownpenis.fart sketch on SNL a while back.

i was really drunk last night. at the aptos club in aptos after my set the bar hand just kept feeding me drinks. and once i get going its all down hill, rum and cokes, irish car bombs, long island ice teas, damn i was rediculous. i kicked a huge dent in on of my friends rental cars, they are visiting from sweden and said that they had purchased the 8 dollar insurance.. it was only after my actions that they started to doubt their forethought. so i may owe some swedes some money.

needless to say today was spent mostly sleeping and recovering. i was glad not to have to play tonight. i would have sucked probably but i had lots of friends come to the show so i was a little bummed that i couldnt play for them. soon enough they will be repaid.

we got to hang out with veronica (vodka) on pv and paul grabbed her boob and she hit him. i laughed. i wanted to spend more time there but we are on our way to portland now and that means a hell of a lot of driving tonight. sorry veronica :( next time.

my website is coming along well which is awesome. thank you melissa. im going to try and get people to send in pics from older shows to add to the page. im excited to see where i can go with it.

my mind is just a jumble right now, so much input on a brain that usually doesnt have a lot of change going on. i just want to listen to dune on audio book and play a bit of fire emblem my new gameboy rpg. yeah im cool like that. or maybe ill learn to speak spanish like the rest of the band… me gusta libros… my spanish sucks.

reminders:

my friends are awesome
my cd is good
tour is tiring but fun
oyeyoyoy!

update: fuck you taco bell for not letting me poop. and i stubbed the fuck out of my toe on the way back here. sadness.

In Tongues

Touring so far is about what I thought it to be. A lot of down time driving, a lot of confusion with other bands getting sales done, small crowds and strange venue owners. Also it’s a hell of a lot of fun. You get to know the other guys in the RV probably more than you really want to, but it’s the kind of bond that only comes with being in very close quarters for extended periods of time. The girls are… interesting and although Inverse and I are relatively unknown, you can see that there bit of mystique about us in the minds of people we meet. It makes sense, we get to do the stuff that most people just see on MTV… well when MTV used to actually have music on it. And even if its on a small scale, we still put as much energy and effort into our performances and people notice that.

I’ve been recieved much better than I thought I would have been. I’ll admit I stereotyped the black clothed, fucked up hair having, makeup wearing guys and gals that have made up my audience so far, as rockers and metal heads who probably wouldn’t be interested in what I was bringing, but people have been more than complimentary and I have had quite a number sign up for my email list and have sold more CD’s than I thought I would have. Trevor, Inverses singer, said something like “Well the talent is undeniable and people pick up on it regardless of the kind of music they usually listen to,” (He makes fun of my love of Jason Mraz). But he’s right about that. On a side note he hit the crap out of his head on the stage last night during one of his more intense throws of passion. It looked like it hurt quite a bit, but nothing a little Don Pedro couldn’t fix. It’s a blast to watch him perform because he it totally into is music, which is something I’m still working on.

Where we played last night was an experience to be sure. What used to be The Gaslighter, in Gilroy is now, The Globe, a christian oriented venue thats stage is set up to look like a barn an old west gold town. On the bright side we did actually get in the venue unlike last years Gaslighter attempt but on the down side I was asked what my relationship with Jesus was about 15 times. The owner was nice enough and so were the people working there, especially this one staff member who was probably the coolest Mexican imigrant ever. He was always just right there when ever you turned around, ready to help move things, open doors, and just be generally helpful which most staffers aren’t. So to you, mystery Globe staffer, I salute you, you are in the hall of fame. Unfortunetly I don’t think I will ever see him again. Dominic, Inverses guitarist, got spoken to in tongues and was presented a bible by the Globes owner, a man who stood about 6 foot 6 who was very intimidating in the way that religious zealots can be. I think I’ll pass, but hey, we got paid and now it’s on to new and different things.

My friends are awesome. They drove fourty minutes to see me play a thirty minute show, brought my CD’s that had just been delivered to my house (3 days late) and then bought a ton of them. More of them will be coming to the Aptos show today and I’m excited to see some of them that I haven’t had a chance to in a long time.
I wanted this entry to be a little more compelling than the initial one because I want to look back at these in a few years and remember all the funny shit that has happened, but it wouldn’t do it much justice to type it all out and “what happens on tour, stays on tour.” ;)

Sleeping Anywhere

After spending the night at Paul’s parents house in Temecula, which are both way more upscale than I thought they would be, I went to see his graduation from CSULB in Long Beach. We ate lunch with his family including grandmothers on both sides and his uncle and wife then went to Topher’s (Inverse’s drummer) house and packed up all the equipment and proceeded to down town Long Beach to have some beers. I’d write more about it but honestly nothing that I found of interest happened so I think that the brief description I gave should suffice.

I spent the night in the RV that we will be calling home for the next month. It’s actually nice compared to what it could have been, I can sleep anywhere though so it doesn’t really matter.
We finally got on the road today after a few delays and we’re currently on the way to Fresno for our first show. These should get more interesting as the tour continues, most of what came before this was just tying up loose ends and packing.

All for now from I-5.