day two - cotati

~or~

life in the land of the street fight

it's interesting: we're taking a lot longer to get to our destinations this time. it might be due to the rain (lots and lots and lots of rain), or the fact that our familiarity with these venues and their locations has led to a more laid-back attitude toward the whole thing. not exactly a problem, but quite possibly something that could get us into trouble in the near future if we're not careful.

if drumming ever leaves the picture for me, i could easily take a gig as a tour manager. i'm that type.

unfortunately, one member of this band isn't, and it's beginning to cause a bit of an issue with omarr and myself. the guy in question is a brilliant musician, but he's got a bit of a lazy attitude towards things sometimes. this is true of everyone, of course, but it can be downright dangerous when you're on the road together. no one is along for the ride out here. there's a lot of work involved, and everyone needs to do their part. this is a team. he's always the last one ready to go, the last one to arrive, etc. anyway, enough of that. it'll all work out.

the venue is called sweet lou's. it's in cotati, about an hour north of san francisco. we've played there twice before, and have always had a great time. they have some of the best italian food on the west coast, and probably the best pizza i've ever had in my life. and even though my throat and chest is now burning with the fury of acid reflux, i had some pizza anyway. some things are just worth the pain.

sweet lou's has yet another claim to fame. it used to be called the inn of the beginning, and was host to some of the people who have made music history. the grateful dead, van morrison, janis joplin, tower of power and tim buckley all used to play there. in the back patio area, there's a section of brick on the ground that spirals out in a circle from the center. the hippies back in the day referred to this bricklaying anomaly as the center of the musical universe.

yeah.

we've personally seen at least one knock-down-drag-out street fight every time we've played here. and it has always happened during our set. it usually begins with "hey! you lookin' at my woman?!?" i guess i never realized what kind of blinding, gutteral rage marvin's "what's goin' on" could incite in people. fortunately, tonight was peaceful and all about the music.

speaking of which - the gig was just amazing. it was put together by a local band here who has an enormous draw. they advertised us as their opening act, so we got a large amount of their folks out to see us. people danced. people smiled. the band gelled.

one of my main goals as a drummer is to make people move on the dance floor. to make heads and butts bob. and bob, they did. quite rewarding for a musician to see. one of those nights where everything just clicks between band and audience, and we go on a sort of musical journey together.

if you like j5, the roots or james brown, you owe it to yourself to check out a band called derivative. they can be found at http://www.derivativesound.com/. just an unbelievable freaking band. three mc's up front, killer rhythm section, horn section from hell. great bunch of guys, too. they thought highly of us and our music, so we're going to be hooking up a tour with them after the new year. i love the way things work sometimes.

since cotati's a 3 hour drive from chico, we're staying in motel rooms tonight. i get my own bed. nice. hope omarr doesn't snore.

3:20am. good night.

posted on friday, as we have no internet connection here.