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!