After the fairly impressive venues on the previous nights, I was pretty surprised to walk into the Red Fox, which was basically a bar, with a posted capacity of 157 people. The stage was tiny, and I think the sound system left much to be desired for Brian, but the stage sound was fine for me, aside from a kooky drum monitor toward the end of the first night.
There was an awesome hospitality spread at the venue, with a veggie tray, gourmet cheese tray, and the biggest bucket of Sabra hummus I’ve ever seen. Jon Dooey showed up and capped it off with some crazy homemade organic vegan salad, so I was happy to have my dinner completely taken care of without having to wander around the town for it. We went back to the hotel to chill for a bit before the show, where I watched some American Idol (Go Adam!!), and came back to the venue about 15 minutes before I scheduled showtime. The place was absolutely empty. I was thinking to myself, “Not only am I gonna play a ‘bar gig’ with Steve Kimock, is it going to be a bar gig to an empty room?” We pushed back the start time at least a half an hour, and by mid first set, the place was packed, with certainly more than the allotted 157 people.
The atmosphere on stage was more relaxed than the previous shows, and I felt like Johnny was starting to get some more confidence and take charge a bit with the jams. We had an insane 20-minute “Ice Cream” with a great jam in the middle of it. Johnny, Melvin, and I locked into a funk/disco groove, and Steve apparently decided that some crazy feedback noises would go well with it. And somehow it worked. A little Bee Gees meets The Who, I guess. At one point, I look over and Steve was holding his guitar in front of the amp making crazy feedback, with a huge goofy smile on his face.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
3/30/09 Day Off
No show today, so we had a lazy checkout of the hotel, and I enjoyed a big breakfast at a local diner with Melvin, Chris, the Girls, and Charlie. By now, I had Charlie trained to summon me at the sight of any pettable dog, so I got to pet THE cutest little puppy outside the restaurant. We then made the 4 hour drive to Eureka, with about 3 bathroom stops. We got to enjoy a relaxing night off, and I grabbed some take out from a Mexican restaurant around the corner from our hotel.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
3/29/09 Mystic Theater, Petaluma, CA
I had breakfast plans with Denise before I had to leave town. I was planning to take her to a great mom and pop café that I had eaten at during the rehearsal days earlier that week, but upon arrival we discovered it was closed for an emergency. We found another place to get breakfast about a block away, an “Italian” restaurant staffed entirely by Asians. It was cheap and non-offensive. I bid Denise farewell, and she went off to enjoy some other San Francisco sights before catching the red-eye back to Philly, while I headed off to the next show in Petaluma with Charlie and the girls.
I grabbed a sweet nap and shower at our Petaluma hotel before needing to be at the venue for soundcheck. Melvin, Steve, and Johnny were already jamming when I arrived, a new tune of Melvin’s called “Movin’ and Groovin’.” I didn’t have a chance to join in on it though, because as soon as I started playing, I realized my amp was completely fried. Steve and Brian were quick to troubleshoot, and they replaced the head with one of Steve’s extra guitar heads that he had brought as a backup. Completely skeptical that a guitar amp would do the job, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very warm tone. I ended up using this head for most of the rest of the tour, and what a treat to not have to deal with any stress with this mishap. The crew took care of everything.
We worked on one of Steve’s new tunes a bit during soundcheck. A few days prior, I made the mistake of suggesting the title of “Crazy Engine” for the song, since the “A” section kind of sounded to me like a train chugging furiously down a track. Steve didn’t like it at first, which made me reconsider it as well, and despite every attempt to retract my suggestion, the title ended up sticking. Anyway, at soundcheck we attempted to assign some sort of arrangement to the sections of the song, but it was a futile effort since our showtime performance that night of course strayed from what we decided on in rehearsal. Again, entirely unpredictable. We would later hone this arrangement more decidedly at my insistence and by the end of the tour, we were playing a consistent arrangement and the song had a lot more confidence to it. It was cool to see the evolution of the song over the course of a few shows.
The show went great. The room was fairly large and had some bounceback, but the sound was OK, and I think the band was feeling more comfortable on our 4th consecutive night. I got to meet some cool people backstage, including photographer Bob Minkin whose photos are featured in this post. Thanks Bob!
I grabbed a sweet nap and shower at our Petaluma hotel before needing to be at the venue for soundcheck. Melvin, Steve, and Johnny were already jamming when I arrived, a new tune of Melvin’s called “Movin’ and Groovin’.” I didn’t have a chance to join in on it though, because as soon as I started playing, I realized my amp was completely fried. Steve and Brian were quick to troubleshoot, and they replaced the head with one of Steve’s extra guitar heads that he had brought as a backup. Completely skeptical that a guitar amp would do the job, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very warm tone. I ended up using this head for most of the rest of the tour, and what a treat to not have to deal with any stress with this mishap. The crew took care of everything.
We worked on one of Steve’s new tunes a bit during soundcheck. A few days prior, I made the mistake of suggesting the title of “Crazy Engine” for the song, since the “A” section kind of sounded to me like a train chugging furiously down a track. Steve didn’t like it at first, which made me reconsider it as well, and despite every attempt to retract my suggestion, the title ended up sticking. Anyway, at soundcheck we attempted to assign some sort of arrangement to the sections of the song, but it was a futile effort since our showtime performance that night of course strayed from what we decided on in rehearsal. Again, entirely unpredictable. We would later hone this arrangement more decidedly at my insistence and by the end of the tour, we were playing a consistent arrangement and the song had a lot more confidence to it. It was cool to see the evolution of the song over the course of a few shows.
The show went great. The room was fairly large and had some bounceback, but the sound was OK, and I think the band was feeling more comfortable on our 4th consecutive night. I got to meet some cool people backstage, including photographer Bob Minkin whose photos are featured in this post. Thanks Bob!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
3/28/09 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
Two nights in the same venue/city was sweet because I had the entire afternoon free before the second show on Saturday. Denise and I grabbed lunch and did some shopping in Chinatown, saw the crooked Lombard street, stopped for some photos at the Golden Gate Bridge (despite my neurotic fear of bridges), and then headed up to Muir Woods, a beautiful national park about 10 miles north of San Fran. We didn’t have much time to spend at the park after dealing with the traffic on the way and the parking once we arrived, but we saw some awesome Redwoods and other natural wonders. We even somehow managed to enter the park without paying the $5 entrance fee. Sorry, Muir Woods, it was an accident!
Saturday’s show was a sold out affair, and I think even more energized than the first night. Steve had lots of smiles on stage, which I’ve been told was a rarity up until this tour, and I had a lot of fun with the tunes as the music was becoming more familiar and comfortable to me.
Thanks to Susan Weiand for the live photo!
Saturday’s show was a sold out affair, and I think even more energized than the first night. Steve had lots of smiles on stage, which I’ve been told was a rarity up until this tour, and I had a lot of fun with the tunes as the music was becoming more familiar and comfortable to me.Thanks to Susan Weiand for the live photo!
Friday, March 27, 2009
3/27/09 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
On Friday afternoon, we made the trek back to San Fran, stopping for a photo opp by Lake Tahoe, an absolutely beautiful scene.
We checked into our hotel before heading over to soundcheck. Once again, a kind of weird non-chain hotel called the Phoenix and nicknamed the “Rock and Roll Hotel” due to its history of housing many musicians playing at several nearby venues over the years. I found that was rooming next to Ami, the Kimock publicist, and she hooked me up with a cool Tsunami Publicity tee. The gift trend was on a roll!
I then met up with my sister, Denise, who flew in from Philly for the shows. She was just in the midst of a cold, so I neurotically avoided any germ-spreading contact, and loaded up on Vitamin C, Zinc, Echinacea, and other assorted preventatives.
Leaving her to take a nap, I was shuttled over to soundcheck at the GAMH. It was a breathtaking room, even with the house lights on, and was slightly intimidating. Very cool ceilings and a kind of heavy vibe of history in the air.
Dinner was catered in the house kitchen, and I gingerly enjoyed a few bites of food on an antsy pre-show stomach. Steve finally wrote the setlist, and I scrambled to get my charts in order before we took the stage. I think I could have done without the charts, but I was still kind of attached to them and didn’t want to risk anything at such a high pressure show.
One of the many idiosyncrasies of this band is that when we take the stage, it seems like ages until we actually start playing. With FGC, we try to make a point of hitting the downbeat ASAP after we get up on stage, leaving little dead time. With SKCE, we get up there and I play the waiting game until we’re ready to start. Not much is really happening during the wait…people check their instruments, tune a string or a drum, or whatever. It drives me crazy at a “big” show because I’m always a little nervous until I actually just start playing, so those few minutes of waiting are like torture.
But once we did finally start, the show went great. The room was packed from the dance floor up to the balconies, and you could tell that this was an appreciative hometown crowd for both Steve and Melvin. I forgot about being nervous after the first song or two, and was totally energized by the crowd and music.
Musically, I thought Melvin rocked this show. He had the most amazing solo in “Stop That Train” and he even turned the “Melvin Seals” lights on his custom-built organ during “Outta Space,” per my request (i.e. beg) before we started the tune. The crowd went apeshit! It’s so cool standing right next to him and watching his hands flutter around the keys. This big dude has some serious finesse.
Thanks to Kerry Barbato and Susan Weiand for the live photos!
We checked into our hotel before heading over to soundcheck. Once again, a kind of weird non-chain hotel called the Phoenix and nicknamed the “Rock and Roll Hotel” due to its history of housing many musicians playing at several nearby venues over the years. I found that was rooming next to Ami, the Kimock publicist, and she hooked me up with a cool Tsunami Publicity tee. The gift trend was on a roll!
I then met up with my sister, Denise, who flew in from Philly for the shows. She was just in the midst of a cold, so I neurotically avoided any germ-spreading contact, and loaded up on Vitamin C, Zinc, Echinacea, and other assorted preventatives.
Leaving her to take a nap, I was shuttled over to soundcheck at the GAMH. It was a breathtaking room, even with the house lights on, and was slightly intimidating. Very cool ceilings and a kind of heavy vibe of history in the air.
Dinner was catered in the house kitchen, and I gingerly enjoyed a few bites of food on an antsy pre-show stomach. Steve finally wrote the setlist, and I scrambled to get my charts in order before we took the stage. I think I could have done without the charts, but I was still kind of attached to them and didn’t want to risk anything at such a high pressure show.
One of the many idiosyncrasies of this band is that when we take the stage, it seems like ages until we actually start playing. With FGC, we try to make a point of hitting the downbeat ASAP after we get up on stage, leaving little dead time. With SKCE, we get up there and I play the waiting game until we’re ready to start. Not much is really happening during the wait…people check their instruments, tune a string or a drum, or whatever. It drives me crazy at a “big” show because I’m always a little nervous until I actually just start playing, so those few minutes of waiting are like torture.
But once we did finally start, the show went great. The room was packed from the dance floor up to the balconies, and you could tell that this was an appreciative hometown crowd for both Steve and Melvin. I forgot about being nervous after the first song or two, and was totally energized by the crowd and music.Musically, I thought Melvin rocked this show. He had the most amazing solo in “Stop That Train” and he even turned the “Melvin Seals” lights on his custom-built organ during “Outta Space,” per my request (i.e. beg) before we started the tune. The crowd went apeshit! It’s so cool standing right next to him and watching his hands flutter around the keys. This big dude has some serious finesse.
Thanks to Kerry Barbato and Susan Weiand for the live photos!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
3/26/09 Crystal Bay, Crystal Bay, NV
Click here to stream free audio from the show!
We departed San Francisco around noon for our first show of the tour in the Lake Tahoe area. The band was split up into three vehicles (Melvin and Chris in Melvin’s van and trailer; Brian, Steve, and Johnny in a rented van; and Charlie, me, and “The Girls” in a rented SUV). My group, which we eventually dubbed “Charlie’s Angels,” (i.e. Charlie plus 3 hot chicks!) had the luxury of leaving for the venue at least an hour after the rest of the group, since we had no involvement in load-in, gear set-up, etc, and just had to be there by soundcheck time. The trade-off for this extra hour of sleep each night was that my car was full of bathroom sissies, who couldn’t seem to go more than hour without a bathroom stop. Accustomed to FGC’s super-efficient 3-4+ hour driving stints, I quickly became comically frustrated with the amount of stops required on trips that should be nonstop. C’mon people!! :)
The drive to Tahoe was beautiful. Lots of mountains and cool views, thankfully with no snow on the winding roads, but the real highlight was petting a cute dog at a rest stop.
We arrived at the venue on time for soundcheck as listed in the itinerary, which I would soon learn almost always occurred at least 30-60 minutes after the scheduled time. Luckily, our hotel rooms were located literally underneath the venue, so we had a comfy place to chill while we awaited soundcheck.
The venue was located inside a casino, so it was kind of an interesting scene there, but the music room was nice and had a great dry sound, which I like. While cruising the casino and looking for some dinner, I ran into Kerry from setlist.com, and Jon “Dooey”, a Kimock fan who found me on facebook a few weeks prior. Both brought me some sweet gifts, including a setlist.com jacket and a SKB batik shirt. I crossed my fingers that the fan gift-giving trend would continue throughout the tour!
Upon being shown the green room, which was unstrategically nowhere near the stage, I found that there was no Gatorade, which was the only item I requested on the hospitality rider. I informed the road manager, and the venue staff had to rush out to 7-11 to buy some Gatorade for me. It was so rock star – I loved it!
The show itself went great. The room got absolutely packed, and the sound was spot on. I felt basically comfortable with the music, but quickly learned that there is a great amount of unpredictability with this band. Lots of improvisation and ever-morphing arrangements. A few shows later, I decided to try not to make any sense of it and just go with the flow!
Thanks to Kerry Barbato for the live photos!
We departed San Francisco around noon for our first show of the tour in the Lake Tahoe area. The band was split up into three vehicles (Melvin and Chris in Melvin’s van and trailer; Brian, Steve, and Johnny in a rented van; and Charlie, me, and “The Girls” in a rented SUV). My group, which we eventually dubbed “Charlie’s Angels,” (i.e. Charlie plus 3 hot chicks!) had the luxury of leaving for the venue at least an hour after the rest of the group, since we had no involvement in load-in, gear set-up, etc, and just had to be there by soundcheck time. The trade-off for this extra hour of sleep each night was that my car was full of bathroom sissies, who couldn’t seem to go more than hour without a bathroom stop. Accustomed to FGC’s super-efficient 3-4+ hour driving stints, I quickly became comically frustrated with the amount of stops required on trips that should be nonstop. C’mon people!! :)
The drive to Tahoe was beautiful. Lots of mountains and cool views, thankfully with no snow on the winding roads, but the real highlight was petting a cute dog at a rest stop. We arrived at the venue on time for soundcheck as listed in the itinerary, which I would soon learn almost always occurred at least 30-60 minutes after the scheduled time. Luckily, our hotel rooms were located literally underneath the venue, so we had a comfy place to chill while we awaited soundcheck.
The venue was located inside a casino, so it was kind of an interesting scene there, but the music room was nice and had a great dry sound, which I like. While cruising the casino and looking for some dinner, I ran into Kerry from setlist.com, and Jon “Dooey”, a Kimock fan who found me on facebook a few weeks prior. Both brought me some sweet gifts, including a setlist.com jacket and a SKB batik shirt. I crossed my fingers that the fan gift-giving trend would continue throughout the tour! 
Upon being shown the green room, which was unstrategically nowhere near the stage, I found that there was no Gatorade, which was the only item I requested on the hospitality rider. I informed the road manager, and the venue staff had to rush out to 7-11 to buy some Gatorade for me. It was so rock star – I loved it!The show itself went great. The room got absolutely packed, and the sound was spot on. I felt basically comfortable with the music, but quickly learned that there is a great amount of unpredictability with this band. Lots of improvisation and ever-morphing arrangements. A few shows later, I decided to try not to make any sense of it and just go with the flow!
Thanks to Kerry Barbato for the live photos!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
3/23-25/2009 Rehearsals in San Fran
The tour started off with a few days of rehearsals in San Francisco. My flight arrived in the early afternoon and I had a chance to grab a nap at the hotel, thanks to Steve moving the rehearsal start time to accommodate some “rest and nourishment.” The hotel was kind of retro-modern-kitschy-weird, and not at all like the cookie-cutter Days Inns, Ramadas, etc that I’m used to. Cool décor and comfy digs, but my only complaint was the phone-booth sized elevator…yikes.
Rehearsals went fairly well. The band got reacquainted with one another, going over some old tunes and learning some new ones. The usual laid-back semi-inefficient approach as previous rehearsals, but I’m learning there’s not much to be done about that!
The main story of note from these sessions was rehearsing one of Steve’s tunes called “While We Wait.” Prior to starting the tune, we sent Charlie out for some Chinese food. The Chinese food run ended up taking so ridiculously long that we ended up jokingly renaming the tune “While We Wait For Chinese Food.” It appeared on a few future setlists under the joke moniker.
Rehearsals went fairly well. The band got reacquainted with one another, going over some old tunes and learning some new ones. The usual laid-back semi-inefficient approach as previous rehearsals, but I’m learning there’s not much to be done about that!
The main story of note from these sessions was rehearsing one of Steve’s tunes called “While We Wait.” Prior to starting the tune, we sent Charlie out for some Chinese food. The Chinese food run ended up taking so ridiculously long that we ended up jokingly renaming the tune “While We Wait For Chinese Food.” It appeared on a few future setlists under the joke moniker.
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