Alright, I might just have a moment to write. I'm wound up about some stuff, but don't want to go into it... grrrrrrr. Anyways, the sun is out and it's so beautiful in Oakland right now. I'm in an old boat-hangar next to the water which has been converted into the quaintest little abode. I hear a train and a plane and some birds. Tonight I'll be playing a house-party in this exact little space with the woodstove as my prop. Last night I played on KALX in Berkely and, although I was nervous, I think the interview part went over great; the DJ Jason asked insightful questions. Now I'll recap the last few days on the road...
On the 6th I awoke early and drove to the land of $2.19/gallon gas, i.e. California! I made it to Nevada City around 6:00 pm and began my search for Jaime and Abbey who my friends at the Department of Safety had told me about. Five hours later Jaime called me back while I awaited my turn at an open mic at The Wall Street Cafe in Grass Valley. Those five hours were perfect as I had time to relaxedly explore both of those little historic, gold rush towns. Nevada City is crawling with personality; in fact many of my heroes have lived or still live there, for instance Jonathan Richman, Utah Phillips, and Neil Young. Even better, though, were my new heroes who I met that night: Jaime, Abbey, Matt, and Aaron. We crashed an all-girls party at midnight until we all got too sleepy and returned to Jaime's house. The next morning we drove a winding, dirt road to a semi-secret section of the Yuba River, which matches any of Montana's most beautiful waterways. Aaron did a back-flip off a 30' high rock into it, but no one else felt like braving the cold. I plan to return to Nevada City very soon. I was so happy to have a crew to be with for a day!
At 5:00 pm I drove three hours to the agricultural center called Modesto to play my show at the Mustang. I arrived early and almost left early, but I'm glad I stuck around. The Mustang is a gay bar, and when I walked in with my cowboy hat and mustache and saw the crowd, I felt that "fear of self" that so many fellow Montanans have been known to feel. This experience, though, liberated me from the stereotype I've associated with gay bars. By 10:00 pm the crowd became equally lesbian with another third being punk rock kids who just wanted to hear good music. I used two wireless, karoake mics and commenced. The sound was kind of tinny, but they all seemed entertained and I sold a few shirts and CDs afterwards. A real surprise came when a woman named Madigan introduced herself and gave me one of her CDs. Her band is called Bonfire Madigan and I've known of her for years, since she used to record on Kill Rock Stars, which is an Olympia label. She knew of me, too, and we instantly hit it off. She was there with her partner, Sean, who played in one of the bands after me. (Interruption: my friend Troy's here and we're going to go eat now); to wrap up, Madigan and Sean asked their friend Ian if I could stay at his pad who said yes. The next morning I met Ian's friends who were super friendly, albeit still drunk, and we relaxed on the lawn in the sun and I sold a couple more shirts and then split. Now I'm here. Bye...
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