soniczen

While camping at Live Oak 2009, made these guys. Stuffed only with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. Next time I’m going to put some meat or mushrooms in there.

Gig with Inna Vision. The place looks like it never burned down, except for the nice fresh paint and a little less of the Willie Nelson vibe. We played well, good monitor mixes, crowd could have been double but the spring break crowd was more interested in the DJ-dance vibe provided by the venue next door.

As expected there was a “scene” that moved out into the parking lot. I guess you could call it a fight but I fell asleep at a booth until Raeme woke me up to tell me that they were clearing out the bar. Cops were in the lot inspecting each car for herb smoking criminals.

Mixing station was a trip. It is located about 150 feet from the stage on the second floor. The Tascam digital mixer is about 1 foot off the ground so if you wanted, you could lay on your stomach and mix the show.

It started to rain, we settled the $$ and bouced back to the hotel.

Tropics Bar and Cafe was a welcome first stop for the tour. This place reminds me of Frog and Peach: stage as you walk in, tables, messy walls, pieced together sound system. Definitely a reggae vibe here. Clean upstairs bar area and capacity is an intimate 150 persons. The people at this half bar, half internet cafe are your normal mix of bar folk at 5pm. Some getting in on with the cheap drinks, and others mooching the free wifi. We met up with John, drummer from Ooklah the Moc, after he got off work and he showed us how to get to Tropics. Pat, bar owner, was there to give us details on the night. Opening band, Guidance, was to start around 10, then we would finish the night. Nice bar tab and food situation confirmed so we grabbed a cab back to the hotel to rest up a bit and get ready.

Guidance, a nice little four piece with three of them singing, killed their set I thought. Per Hawaiian standard, the male vocal harmonies were on point but the bass player really stood out. The sound situation was classic. 20 channel Mackie on stage by the drummer, monitors on stands at head height and two mains, one with a sub cabinet. Nothing matches.

By the time we played there was about 50 people in the bar, and it stayed that way for most of the night. Not the spring break crowd by a long shot, but a few rastas and people that generally wanted to hear music and not scream at a DJ. Out set was nice and… loud? Man, the monitors right next to my head had me and Tony (trombone) switching positions every few songs just to save our ears. Our set was good for being as tired as we were, and when we were done we were all amped and wide awake, which was good because we had a 6am flight to Maui. Headed back to the hotel around 2:30am and checked out at 4am. No sleep.

…in Hawaii. I can understand how it would feel nice, but really?

Oakland International. Mike and Tim working and updating our myspace. Tony, supervising.

Either way, something shady goes on here.

Our trusty mixer. It has a configurable speaker amp built-in. I have nothing but good things to say about Yamaha gear. My only complaint is that it only has 2 aux sends for monitors, but the model with 4 sends has no built-in amp. Direct outs would also be nice.

I’m glad, I always thought I was doin it wrong.

This missing closing paren was preventing millions the two people who read this from seeing my megapixels and elequent prose banter. Sorry, I’m back.

Pro top: Talk and be friendly to strangers and they will probably buy you a drink.

I’ve probably killed a few days worth of hours in the alley behind downtown brew in SLO. I’m diggin this stage-side entrance and wondering why I didn’t notice the mural until now.

Inlaws in Thailand for a few years and told me give their truck a spin once in a while, so it has become a carpool vehicle for long-ish band trips. Tonight we head to Stateside in Santa Barbara for a show and we’ll be reclining in leather for the trip down and back.

There’s no phone service out at Pozo saloon, but there wifi.

Got a little over 2 hours to kill on the pier. Nice night and a lot of friends coming out so I’m thinking it will be a great night.

Gig: Tobin James night 1, Paso Robles, CA
Um. Just killin excessive time at a wine club members gig in Paso. Super nice night. Expected about 500 people tonight and 1600 tomorrow for round 2, wine industry party.
Free bottles of syrah trump the miller in the cooler.

A usability tip!
Ever found youself trying to tear off your paper wristband only to find that it just stretches and hurts your wrist?
Try this! Its super simple.
Turn the sticky part upside, and pull the “thingy” (as shown) and BAM! Your annoying wristband is off, and you didn’t accidentally bitch-slap whoever was next to you.

Gig: Resination, Klockwyze @ Maverick Saloon, Santa Maria, CA
Tonights second wind, that which is needed at 11pm before a set begins, is brought to you by the bourbon Makers and the cola Coke.

Gig: Resination, Zongo, The Twinkle Brothers at Pozo Saloon, Pozo, CA

 
All things considered, Pozo is probably the best venue in the area except for when Avila beach resort sets up their stage facing the bowl. Pozo Saloon is about 45 minutes northa-east of San Luis Obispo, and is usually hotter than a second story rehearsal room filled with 9 hungover fools on a summer afternoon.

The actual stage platform is fixed, the speaker cluster and lighting setup is always a little different depending on who is providing sound. This gig was BGA and obviously the promoter for the stage canopy.

Hints for musicians playing at Pozo Saloon:

1. Bring water, sunscreen (if you’re pale as snow, like me) and a cooler with beer and leave it backstage
2. You’ll probably get a meal ticket, otherwise plan on buying food there (or bring it) since you’ll probably be there for about 6 hours.
3. Horseshoe skills for the pit backstage
4. Bring a lighter. For some reason, everytime I’ve been at a Pozo gig, I always get asked for one. Straaaaange.

Zongo rocked it funky latin style. I heard most of their set and I was pleasantly surprised to see Jon Lee, Justin Perkins, Shawn (? Drummer), and Dillon Johnson on stage. Listening to their set made me want to play more funky style music. Not that I don’t love reggae, but its gettin’ a little old.

I can’t forget that when I was playing salsa with Sabroso, my range, endurance and tone shot through the roof, probably from just playing more, but I think that the excitement factor played a role too. I digress.

Pozo rocks. If you haven’t been to a show there yet, GO!

Killin time at the giants game in the Oracle Suites. Dope seats, only problem is that a six pack costs $35.

Gig weekend in The city, looking forward to this show tonight (thanks for the heads-up Mike!), Giants game tomorrow, show at Pier23, and Dezarie on Sunday at DTB.
Weather in the city is amazing. Not a cloud.
Cheers.

Gig: Resination, Day two at Grover Beach some-kind-of Festival, CA

The second day at this venue calls for a different medicine. That’s Mike (rhythm guitar) drinking the Korbel, and Tim (drums) with the coffee. The wind and bbq smoke is relentless here.

The red canopy in the background did a triple back-flip mid-set after a gust of wind lifted it airborne. Same thing happened during yesterdays set, except a person was in it’s path. (No one got hurt.) Tie your shit down people!

BTW, we are playing at Live Oak Music Festival. I don’t think they’ve posted it yet, but we will be on the hot licks stage Friday night, 10:30-midnight

Gig: Resination and Luciano at The Graduate, San Luis Obispo, CA

Our local big guns in sound reinforcement always come with these Sennheiser MD 441 U shotgun-patterned consenser mics that sound awesome on horns. Super clean sound with a nice boost on the high end for that “sheen.”

A few years ago after listening to some recordings with this mic, I wanted to pick one up until I saw that they list for about 7 bills. Since that’s not going to happen anytime soon (and the fact that I love my clip on mic) I look forward to any shows where Bill Gains and his awesome crew are running the sound.

Our set was short tonight, 1 hour, and about 50 on the dance floor. Kind of what I expected for a Sunday in SLO on a holiday but I’m sticking around to catch the rest of the show for sure. As a general rule, if a (reggae) band rolls with a tour bus, it is usually a good idea to stick around.

The Grad, hmmmm… It will be an epic post in the not too distant future. Thinking it might be on May 3 when we rock the stage with SOJA (Washington DC) and Rebelution (Santa Barbara).

(Luciano’s messenjah band playing) Oh no! They’ve got synth horns! Another post topic for sure.

…always include an ice cold corona upon arrival of the gig/hotel. 3 hours to kill until downbeat. Looking forward to tomorrows most-of-the-day-off in the city. Dreading parking.

In November 2007, Resination toured Hawaii. This is how we passed the time in Maui.

Erm, Avalon. Or maybe it really is Babylon. Eh, who cares, place still kinda sucks. It’s a good place to play pool, but it’s a pretty mediocre venue to play music. Highlight of the show was finding the set-list for the previous nights’ main act. They called themselves “The Dirty Sanchez.” I wish I remembered some of the song names. Damn.