San Diego, Gramercy, Philadelphia and Silver Springs. All for now.

So! I'm sat in New York, relaxing on our last evening of the tour. It has flown by and I'm not sure if I'm ready to go home or could do with a couple more days surfing...
Since my last update we did a San Diego show at The House Of Blues, a New York Show at The Gramercy, a casino show at The Moheegan Sun, CT, a Philadelphia show at The World Cafe and our final show at The Fillmore, MD. These last gigs have, for the most part, been larger venues than we're used to which has allowed for a stretch of the legs shall we say. It's great because we are really together now as a band and the shows are a breeze and really fun!
We hit the ground running when we got back to New York with an appearance on Good Day New York as soon as we got there-back to work.  Although I have the blues about leaving the easy life of cruising the Pacific Coast Highway in a luxurious SUV, these feelings have been pacified by days and moments spent with official and may-as-well-be family members here on the East coast. I have been treated like royalty by various incredibly generous loved-ones; you know who you are and I look forward to getting out here and seeing you all again soon. My treat next time...

For now, that's all I can muster. I've probably missed out half of the stuff we've done but I hope it gives you an idea of what it's been like out here. It seems to have become harder and harder to find time in between sound-checks, TV shows, epic journeys and meal times to sit down and give you a detailed summary of my days here, so for now please allow me to excuse myself with a brief summary of my thoughts... P.S. Excuse my childish humour but somehow I don't think I'll be ordering number 11.

I think by now my brain is well and truly fried by consistent early mornings, late nights, loud noises, squeaky ACs and enthusiastic fans. I have for 5 weeks now been unable to recollect what day of the week it is or what I did more than 16 hours ago. I haven't made a bed, a meal or a drink since we got here and have indulged in new-age water alternatives, organic pulses, curly fries, mega-burgers and coffees ranging from the intolerable to the sublime. I have been berated, adored, told off and ignored. Most of the time I feel boundlessly energetic but have had several reminders that I am merely human. I have stared out of windows for thousands of miles, journeying across a vast collection of states, in my own varying states, assembling my thoughts for new ideals and philosophies. Was this the way to do it? Am I ready to return? Could I do this forever? I think right now it's a yes to all the above so give me some brief r+r but please, send me back into battle soon...

California and a 3 day holiday.

As you can see, my blogging has slowed somewhat on this trip. It has been difficult at times to keep it up due to long journeys in the van taking up lots of free time and creating a seriously weary drummer. I'm aware that this is a bit of a weak excuse though so here's a full update since last time.

It was a joyous moment when we crossed the California state line and knew that our journey down from Yakima was nearly done. I'm sure it was amusing for the staff at our hotel to see 9 jubilant travellers emerge from our van and practically kiss the ground under their feet. 

The travelling was far from over though and the next day we travelled down to Capistrano to perform at The Coach House to a large and enthusiastic crowd. The venue itself was as you'd imagine: fairly isolated from most things except the freeway; imagine Bob's Country Bunker from The Blues Brothers but with a good crowd. Immediately after the show we travelled 120 miles north to a hotel for a brief overnight rest stop and proceeded towards San Francisco the next morning. Our show that night was at Cafe Du Nord-a great underground venue in the Upper Market district. It was a great show again and same as the night before, we travelled about 120 miles (this time South) to a rest stop before returning to LA the next day for our show at the infamous Roxy Theatre, known for apparently being John Belushi's final hang out and slightly more positively, having been host to near enough any band you can think of. For example, Neil Young was the first artist to play there and was closely followed by the original Genesis line up. The show was great and I had a surprise meeting with a family friend (whom I had never met) who presented me with some photos of my Grandparents and my (very young) Dad-thankyou Robert Snively. 

The Roxy Theatre show marked the beginning of what I'm calling a 3 day holiday.  Me and the Tour Manager, Dan, had made all the necessary arrangements for a surf safari, spending as much time on the Pacific Coast Highway as possible. I'm told that as a first surf experience it was about the best anyone could hope for; riding at Manhattan beach in California, not too many surfers at our spot and to top it all off, a pod of wild dolphins playing within 30 feet of us. To top it all off, we met a group of friends out here to watch The LA Angels beat The Texas Rangers at the Friday night baseball and as if to top it all off, Friday nights are fireworks nights at Angels games and we were treated to a spectacular show; $9 well spent!

We surfed again the next day and were too worn out and sunburnt to do anything with the evening-despite it being a 'holiday' we forced ourselves to meet at 8am each day. On the final day (yesterday) we decided to give surfing a break and instead check out Huntingdon Beach where some of the best surfers in the area can be seen ruling the waves and jostling for the best positions on the pier break. Walking through Huntingdon we were treated the sights and sounds of surf paradise: live surf-rock, surfer girls, long boards and the searing California sun. We finished the day in style driving up to Paradise Beach, Malibu for dinner, feasting shamelessly on vast amounts of seafood. Please let me know, did we do California right?

That's it for now, San Diego tonight and then New York tomorrow. What a tour, what a life. New favourite film/artist Robert Smithson, check out the film Spiral Jetty-the perfect post-surf relaxation material. More soon...