Settling in

2006-09-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

I just came across this photo from a few months ago. Once again, this tattoo brings people together. It seemed appropriate to post here because of how deep into work I've been since changing jobs (from advertising design to editorial design), and how lost I - and indeed all of us - would be without Mr. Paulus. Luckily, things are pretty much back to normal after the Back to School clusterfuck. Let's just say I learned a thing or two and leave it at that. Let us not speak of it again.
And next week, the tour begins! That will be a welcome escape from the real world of deadlines, assigments, etc., although I'm never in a hurry to leave home. I like home. Mindy will be coming to NY, though, so the trip will end with a micro-vacation in the big city. Like any good American, I plan to do a lot of consuming, in each and every way. Food, beverages, clothes, whatnot.
We (Harvey Danger, that is) have discovered recently that promotion makes all the difference when it comes to just about everything, so hopefully the word is getting out about the Midwest/Northeast shows. We promoted the shit out of our CD release show at Neumo's in August and the difference was huge. Hopefully the combination of Kill Rock Stars, the street team, etc. will pay off. Either way, it'll be a blast. Definitely a lot more fun than when we had to do it for a living. We've got upwards of 40 songs in our arsenal a the moment, which is an all-time high, I'm sure.

Music listened to recently: Razorlight, the Guillemots, Squeeze, Silversun Pickups
Oh, and remember how great R.E.M. was (and in a greater, history-of-pop-music sort of way, is)? At one point, they were about the only band I listened to. We've been playing one of their songs recently, and it reminded me of what an utterly perfect album Life's Rich Pageant is. I will vehemently defend anything they they did up through Monster. After that, it's kind of spotty, but Jesus, they've certainly earned the right to do whatever the hell they want. Nothing could diminish the importance of their best work. You should go to YouTube and check out their 1983 TV debut on David Letterman, where they play "Radio Free Europe." Oh, to be that cool, just for a second.
All of which reminds me of the greatest Rock & Roll moment of my life, but I'll leave that for later.

The HD California Tour (a quick recap)

2006-08-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

Day 1- Wed 8/9
Seattle to San Francisco without stopping! Michael (unbelievably, astoundingly) did almost the whole drive himself, with Rob stepping in to take us across the finish line. Sure, I was basically just a passenger, but I've been on some long drives in my day and that was an unexpectedly easy and fun 14.5 hours. We ended the night at Heidi's place in Twin Peaks, deliriously watching Presumed Innocent before passing out from exhaustion. By the way, if you're ever in Willows, CA, and you haven't eaten for a couple days, you should go to the Black Bear Diner. We made a valiant effort, but none of us could actually finish our heroically oversized meals. We came across this bumper sticker in the parking lot: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4given. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Day 2 - Thurs 8/10
Speed-sightseeing in SF. Michael, Rob, and I went from Twin Peaks to the Castro (home of my friend Mateo's shop, My Trick Pony), Downtown (where Rob failed to sneak us past the guards at the SFMOMA), Chinatown, North Beach, and back to the Castro to Cafe du Nord. The highlight was definitely our happy hour pitchers of Anchor Steam at Vesuvio, former watering hole of the beat writers. We met up with Jeff, Sean, and our tourmates Let's Go Sailing at Cafe du Nord, and the show did not disappoint. It was a great room, an excellent crowd, and a fun time was had by all. Due to CDN's lenient age policy, a few of the younger folks were able to get in, including Sammi, who helped us out with postering. After the show, we drove a couple hours south of the city to Westley, where warm PBRs and microwave burritos lulled us into a stupor.

Day 3 - Fri 8/11
We finally made it to LA around 6:00pm after some surprisingly light traffic. The Largo show was possibly the most highly-anticipated show of this mini-tour for us. We last played there in 1999, while doing the first mix of King James Version. After a quick bowl of matzoh ball soup across the street at Canter's (it is a requirement to eat at Canter's when one is in LA, in my opinion) with Mindy and my cousin Mike Shea, I joined the band for a quick sound check. The show was as amazing as we had hoped, highlighted by some great performances by Let's Go Sailing's Shana Levy, Lauren Hoffman, and Jon Auer, who came down from Seattle for the LA shows. There was also a 2-song ("Gold" and "$12 Haircut") Love Hotel reunion, since Sarah Paul is now an Angelina. As for the HD set, it was great to play a toned-down show with a real piano for once! After the show, we retired to Brian (of the band Irving) Canning's apartment for a little too much whiskey and not enough air conditioning.

Day 4 - Sat 8/12
Another whirlwind day of seeing stuff. Mindy, MIchael and I drove from Los Feliz out to Santa Monica to see the ocean. It was still there. On the way, we saw some places where some famous people died of drug overdoses. Once again, we were joined at Spaceland by LGS and Jon Auer, along with the Oohlas, who were all great. We turned in a loose, energetic, rocking performance, quite a bit different from the previous night. Afterwards, a few of us made our way out to Laurel Canyon and stayed up all night in Andromeda and Joshua's backyard. Aaron Espinoza wore his sunglasses at night. In the hot tub.

Day 5 - Sun 8/13
After a painfully short nap, we managed to drag ourselves out of town and south to San Diego, where Mindy, Michael, and I went to a brief family (mine) barbecue before heading to the Casbah. It's a nice little club (Galaga AND Ms. Pac-Man), and we had a bigger audience than I was anticipating, but the mysterious SD curse was still in effect. Just a strange town for rock shows, vibe-wise, I guess. Maybe it was the low-flying jets. After the show, we parted ways - Michael and Rob drove the van back to Seattle, the rest of us had to fly back for work.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should

Settling in

The HD California Tour (a quick recap)