420 Roundup of our first tour: too much fun
After much ado, we are on our way back home. The east coast, especially brooklyn, proved to be a treasure trove of oddities and loves.
After playing beneath a chandelier of clouds at Glasslands with our good friends and San Francisco natives, CAVES, we wandered to a rooftop party along the river. Alas, the rain began, so we decided to ditch carrying gear up 7 flights of stairs only to risk electrocution, and simply stayed up all night with boy genuis Virgil Polite. Polite blew us away when we saw photos of an airplane he built when he was 14. We wiled away the wee hours thanking him for the omnichord he gifted us and playing with the myriad of electro-engineered toys he constructs for music videos and other creative endeavors, integrating art and technology in a beautiful and seamless fashion. We’re looking forward to seeing him in San Francisco soon! A few days later we caught up with Al and Ronnie of Neon Indian in Bedford for some karaoke, and delivered a harrowingly drunk rendition of Talking Heads “Take Me to the River.” Later Al tore it up with “Jessie’s Girl,” man that dude can dance!
Next up we traveled all the way to Cincinnati to play a single show at the Northside Tavern (driving 10 hours from Brooklyn…Crockett’s a ROCK!). Sandra and Crockett tasted their first bite of Skyline Chili (strange concoction of chili on spaghetti noodles with oyster crackers) and perused the selection of overalls at Casablanca Vintage…. Our good friends Lucia and Gabe of the Mobo Bike Coop put us up and made us a most tasty breakfast of heuvos and hash. We also got to nestle in the hills above the trainyards with Jay Bolotin and check out his closing show at Carl Solway Gallery. Pretty amazing stuff, we look forward to seeing his next feature length film comprised entirely of woodcut prints in the fall. After thanking Megan Hutch for setting up the show and drinking a few beers with old friends (Jean’s from Cincy sorta), we headed back to Brooklyn.
Later we traveled to Philly, to play at a cool spot called the Fire, also home to IOU Records. The booker/label dude, Derek, is super cool and is coming to SF in a month to race a 400 mile-long bicycle race. Good luck man and come drink a beer with us after you’re done gettin sweaty. Our friends CAVES were playing down the street so we went to catch their show too and they tore it up!! Their new 7” came out just a few days ago, and a couple dudes who bought em were on their knees playing air guitar after their set. Taking that as a pretty good sign for what’s to come. Also our very own Jean helped them mix and master the 7”, and she’s singin on the title track “Face the Wall,” which was guerilla recorded at Grace Cathedral in SF with the help of Andrew Duncan and Sound Arts.
Post Philly, we met up with soft and cuddly Baby Alpaca aka Chris Kittrell, back in Brookyn. Chris and Jean went to a few crazy partys with Brahms and stayed up more all nighters…met some interesting folks from a ‘consensus-based’ art space called Surreal Estate. These kids are the same folks who repainted over the bike lanes in Brooklyn after Bloomberg was baited with campaign funds to paint over them in the first place. Public Safety = 0, late young entertainment and sticking up for our rights = 100!
These kids hosted a tri-level anarcho film & music festival, which was conveniently located across the street from Baby Alpaca’s place, sometimes Anarchy is easier than you think** Definitely want to check this spot out next time. Thanks again Matthew for showing us your ultra cool digs.
Lastly, we hunkered down in an old drug dealer’s house from the 70s, complete with black lights on dimmer switches, a baby grand piano, glitter on all the ceilings and a wall made of mirrors….strange times and fast tales await us…till Sandra’s childhood piano teacher picked us up to take us to Newark airport. Thanks Fran!!
