Hello friends,
Much has happened since we last spoke. We played a show in Visalia, California : a weird town that sneaks up on you. After driving through empty fields for an hour there was a Target and a Guitar Center and a sign that said welcome to Visalia. We played a rock show at a wine bar called the Cellar Door. The security guards there wear earpieces – because it’s serious.
The people of Visalia were great, as was the Cellar Door, but our hotel (The Lamp Liter Inn) while nice felt like the set of a 1970’s zombie movie. Not a reccomendation.
Next we drove to Santa Barbara, a town full of people with lots and lots of money, and home to Jeff Bridges, who finally won his first Academy Award for best actor while we were in town. We celebrated by quoting the Big Lebowski all night – that is to say, it was a night like any other. SOhO is a nice venue, and the crowd (though they seemed a little Sunday) was big and appreciative.
I write to you now from Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, California. Home to NWA, pretty good Mexican food, and the ghetto. Alex’s Bar was apparently the bar where a bunch of scenes from the television show True Blood was shot. I wouldn’t know, because Vampires are for the birds. Lots of people here, they’re buying lots of merch, cheering really loud, and generally being cool. Tomorrow we drive to Las Vegas, where it will be my birthday after load-out It’s going to be a good day.
Photos : Blake’s inconveniently huge bag, Please Baby Please harmony practice in Long Beach, The Presidio Motel in Santa Barbara, Bazan w/ his painted look-alike.