June: a Busy Month of Gigs!

Instagram Photo, Courtesy Mark Gartland.

Summer is here, and it’s been a busy month on the music scene.  It started on Friday, 06/08/12 when Agency EL84 played a benefit for World Oceans Day in Sausalito.   The highlight was some old geezer (in reality probably not much older than me) who came up a couple of times to vehemently tell us to turn down.  Kinda felt like being back playing a Jr. High School Dance.

The next night, Saturday the 9th, was Bond Girl’s re-debut with me on bass at the Rockit Room, a pretty legit music venue in SF: 

We played well and the set came off fairly well I think, but there was a little tension on stage between Cherie (Bond Girl herself) and Andy (the guitarist).  Andy is a bit of a “fiddler,” always messing with pedals and tuning, etc, and Cherie gets a wee bit anxious between songs.  I didn’t find the delay to be so bad, but the tension was noticeable to the audience.  However, major kudos go to Cherie for putting this together and pulling it off.  We split the bill with two other bands, Rue 66 and ZZ Topless, and bottom line, we had 90 paying customers between the three bands. All-in-all, a pretty good outing.


And then:

Sunday, June 10^th , was my first performance with the West Sac Community Orchestra.  We played better at the performance than we had ever played in rehearsal - which frankly is not saying much - this is NOT a Class A high performance institution; it is a non audition Communtiy Orchestra.  The concert was free and, ahem, you get what pay for….  Anyway… We repeated the program on Tuesday, and in general it was even better, but the orchestra came the closest I’ve ever been to an out-and-out train wreck!  The beginning of the overture to “Girl Crazy” has some syncopated rhythm and the orchestra just was not feeling it.  It really fell apart.  Nobody knew where they were, and most just stopped playing!!!  Luckily we all found our way to a common downbeat a few bars away, and we fell back into place…

Then, on Saturday the 16^th, G-Men (The Agency plus Mark Gartland) played our now annual gig at Keenan Winery.  I left Sacto on Friday and headed to Boethe Napa State Park, where I had reservations for the weekend.  It was a beautiful spot, lots of shady trees and a brook running nearby.  Good thing it was shady, because temps hit the 100’s!   The gig went well, pretty similar to last year.  Same great catering – oysters, shrimp cocktail, fresh tacos, wood smoked sliders, all great stuff. We were again re-booked on the spot, and a number of people at the event gave us really good complements.  Maybe more work will come? 

View from the Stage at Keenan Winery

I had been coming down with some sort of bug, so by the time the gig was over at 3pm, I went back to the campsite and crawled into bed.  I didn’t get up until the next day around 8:30 am, so I had over 16 hours of rest, but dang was it hot in the box!

That brings us up to the final weekend of the month!  Friday the 22^nd I had a rehearsal with Bond Girl to play at Andy(the Bond Guitarist)’s 50^th Birthday party on Sunday the 24^th.  I arrived at rehearsal at 7pm, having left work, jumped in my car and driven down to SF from Sacto, to find that Steve the drummer had slipped on a ramp at work and broken his wrist!  No drums for the party!  Andy had already rescheduled the party once, so we made the decision to do the party sans drums.

In the meantime, I filled in on bass for two Parlor Tricks gigs, both on Saturday the 23^rd.  The first was a wedding party out at the Marin Headlands Hostel.  It was a really interesting place.  A bit shabby around the edges, but certainly with a lot of history and charm.  The park had once been an army base and the hostel was a large house that had once been officers’ quarters.  There are also several buildings that have been converted to artist studio space.  Hmmm.  All nestled on the cliffs of the Marin Headlands, just above the Golden Gate Bridge.  How do you get one of those artist studios?????  That’s what I want to know.

I was first of the band to arrive and could find nobody in charge… There was no cell phone reception and I was not even sure I was in the right place.  Luckily the other members arrived about an hour later and we confirmed we were in the right place for the right party, which turned out to be a blast.   We were on from 7pm to 8:30pm and the whole party danced the entire time.  It is really so much fun to play when the entire audience is into what you are doing.  They give you so much energy back.  That is why we do this thing!!!

Eddie Scher, Parlor Tricks

Wedding Dinner al Fresco, Marin Headlands

           

At 8:30 we had to pack up and high-tail it to the Rockit Room in SF.  We were the third of a three band bill.  We got there in plenty of time, but I was mystified as to why we were on this bill.  The first band was a screamo-metal band, the second was some kids doing original music, sounded kind of Cars influenced.  And then Parlor Tricks, an “industrial ragtime band,”  Apparently someone in one of the other bands saw a P-Tricks video online and loved it.  Whatever.  By the time we got on stage at 11:15, the place had pretty much cleared out.  But we had small group that stayed to hear this curiosity ( I am sure), and they were really into the band.  They danced, added a clapping rhythm section on one song, and generally had a great time.  Which made us have a great time!  Again, its all about the energy you get BACK from the audience.

Gotta love this poster!  Now how San Franciscan am I???

Well, anyway.  Tonight, Sunday the 24^th, Bond Girl will be playing Andy’s Party, sans drummer, and it’s time to start getting ready already…. I expect it to go fairly well.  It is just a party, and for fun, so…. HAVE FUN goddammit.

Tomorrow I get to head south to Calabasas for two weeks vacation.  Mia will be returning from Oxford and I look forward to spending some time with her.

Yep,  HAVE FUN, goddammit.

Sacto: Not Without Its Charms.

Here's a few shots taken while cruising around midtown Sacto.  As the title says, it is not without its charms.  Lots of trees, victorian houses, and Capitol Offices under dramatic summer evening lighting.

Norman are you home?  Your Mother is calling.

Woman in Orange

Escape Artists

   


  

Horse at Safeway Entrance

Sacto Elks Club, Nice.

Rambling On.

My new favorite Breakfast spot: Eggies, Fulton near Arden Way, Sacto.

Yep as the caption says, I have a new favorite coffee shop/breakfast spot.  Kind of nondescript on the outside, but inside it's a typical 60's style coffee shop.  I had breakfast there yesterday (6/02/12); awfully good bacon and eggs, home fries and biscuits.  It's an authentic local's hangout and people were very friendly.  One couple even moved their car so I would have more room to park.  Certainly worth a trip back - but in reality I can (should!) only eat like that once per month. 

Back on May 20th we had a solar eclipse that was "visible" here in Sacto - i.e. visible with special glasses, etc.  I took a walk down by the river and snapped a few shots.  You really didn't see much of anything that was dramatically different, but on what normally would have been a bright sunny afternoon, the light had that odd reddish eclipsey quality, know what I mean?

Eclipse Shadow Boy

You Are Here, and the Sun is Going Away.

Eclipse Frolicers

Post Ecliptic Sunset

The following week on Thursday, I took a special exam required to transfer into my new job.  It is a three hour test consisting of some basic statistics, mathematical analysis, and organization skills.  It is a pass/fail test and I did well enough to pass - 70% or better.  I tried to get some extra info out of the person who called with the results, but the most I could get out of her was that I did "very well." Whatever....

I made it home for the long Memorial Day weekend (May 26 -28).  Justine was busy hanging a show of Art by her students, and I helped out a little with that.  We got a preview of her soon-to-be released yearbook and it looked fabulous!   The trip back north last week was surprisingly traffic-free for a three day weekend.  Not much to mention about the trip, but here's a few pix to share.  Sorry this first one is fuzzy, but it's a story that needs to be told:

only in Bakersfield.....

and... my new favorite Pit Stop on the 99:

Unfortunately, I now won't be able to get home until the end of June due to gigs and rehearsals. This weekend (June 2-3) I had a rehearsal down in Mtn View for G-Men.  Next weekend I have gigs with The Agency (Friday), Bond Girl (Saturday) and The West Sac community Orchestra (Sunday).  The following weekend is the G-Men Gig at Keenan Winery, then the next weekend Bond Girl will be playing a party for Andy, the guitar player.  Busy-busy-busy.  Then finally... HOME on Monday June 28 for a two week vacation while Mia is in LA.  That'll have been a long time runnin'.

In the meantime, Justine's yearbook has been released to the school.  Unfortunately there were several errors and omissions, and the parents involved are FURIOUS.  It is so sad to see this, after all the heart and soul that Justine poured into the project.  To have it end in such vitriol is so disheartening.  I feel so bad for her and what she is enduring.  I wish I was there to give support.

Last week I was in a class that I will be teaching soon enough:  Basic Presentation Skills.  At the end of class each student (including me!) was to give a five minute presentation.  I chose to give a five minute bass lesson to a non-musician volunteer, culminating with the new student playing "Folsom Prison Blues" along with me as I played the uke and sang.  We were successful within the time limit and it was a hoot of a presentation (if I say so myself).  I think it will be talked about for some time to come.  Other presentation subjects included a few different recipes, How to do exercises at your desk, Instruction on how to dance The Electric Boogaloo, a Beatles history and a presentation on Women's Pro Football. Apparently the Sacramento Sirens are the top of the heap.  Who Knew? At least not me.

I seem to have some new neighbors on Hallmark.  Another RV has shown up and is making the same rounds as I am:  sleeping nights on Hallmark, then moving in the morning to the "cul de sac" at the end of Ethan.  They seem to be mirroring my movements - which is a bit maddening.  But, hey, the streets are open to all.  I know there is at least one woman, three (maybe more) dogs, and possibly a man all living in an RV which is just a tad larger than mine.   The woman did make some contact with me today, calling out and mentioning that my (infamous) brake light was out.  I appreciated that, thanked her and later worked on it.  I THINK it is fixed now.  The socket holding the light was a bit loose so contact was intermittent.  I tightened that up so now hopefully all is well.  Hopefully.... 'cuz we know what might happen if that light is not operating properly... grrrrrr.

Well, that's all the latest news and events.  Now off to prepare for the week to come....

Ramble on, rambler.