marriot financial center room 909
our tour in california started in san francisco. for this trip ursula rented a van complete with gps navigator system. we named her HALlee (ala: HAL 2001)…she made our trip– as we could be fearless with our driving. she always got us there. first day was a workshop presented to students by ursula rucker. evening rest and late night to a few pubs in celebration of gintas birthday…had fun even though it was raining…

Thursday we played at sf state university, and had a great show there, after a sketchy soundcheck. producer jonah sharp was there (airto, zakir hussein)…good to link up again with him after so many years. some really wonderful people at this show even met a sounddesigner from lucasfilms…discovered that brazilian girls were in town that night at the marvelous warfield, so called didi, got listed, and went to the show…packed had a nice time…after party at boom boom club were didi, and band did a live mashup…goodtime. good to see these cats again.

carmel hotel room 422/423
6am departure for los angeles…about a 6 hour drive…enjoyed the california weather and vegetation immensily.

soundcheck was great. we have a very talented engineer…but, we have to tear down the entire stage as we will play with two other bands tonight. off to hotel carmel checkin…in santa monica…met up with producer brian boland at sushi mon…an incredible dinner there, and much needed unfiltered saki (nigori), albacore sashimi, salad, sushi mix plate…so good. off to show. after 1st act, we have to reset the whole stage again and recheck. alls good after 30 min…our set is 45min…we are used to doing 2 hours…we did 7 songs ovasoul joined us for ‘brown boy’,
unfortunately we had to rush through our set, it was sonically good but unfullfilling…although most people loved it…after our show the ‘headliner’ came on who i will not name and presented such lame r+b soul music (to a mostly aged female crowd) that it forced me and my friends to get the hell out of an otherwise great club…so nice to hang here usually…but not this night…ouch…back into the night…late night: swingers diner w/ brian and gintas then to get some much needed rest….

Saturday a.m. breakfast next door at jinkys…fantastic. travel to san diego on saturday arrive at kava lounge…small but cool club. soundcheck is horrible…very fatiguing and loud…leave for lunch of fish tacos…rest before show. we stay in the san diego at the club owners house. beautiful relaxing setup high in the hills. you can see the lights of tijuanna from here.
show time: club is packed–we play to an extremely enthusiastic and vocal audience who are with us for all of the 2 hours plus set…such high energy here. was great to feel this. soundwise was tricky at times and very loud. i may have lost some hearing that night. not kidding. my ears are still ringing.
after show chatted with many fans, including the son of one of ‘the byrds’…who said he’d been waiting to see me play live for 8 years….big fan of sylk130 and some of the albums i’ve played on…so that made me feel pretty good…you never know. people were so appreciative of the show…it was nice to hear. always is nice to reach someone. after show we sampled the ‘arrogant bastard’ by stone brewery native to san diego. very good followed with some organic wines back at kristy’s home along with rice and bean burritos…mmmm…

travel day sunday…breakfast at the mission before hitting the road…amazing food here. coffee, juice, angus/eggs/pancakes…sufficiently fueled we’re ready for the long drive back to san fran (8.5 hours)…5 hours later…a stop in between LA/SF for my first i IN N OUT burger…the best fastfood burger i’ve ever had…ask Bruce Willis.
enjoyed viewing the terrain desert, hills, palm trees, cactus…
final night out in SF…3 chimays…chicken burrito serves as dinner with dj blasting beats….w/ gintas and jonathan…

back at enterprise, we say our goodbyes to HALlee…flight to philly on monday. home again.