Friday, September 7, 2012

Adventure #55 and 56: Summer Tour 2012: Los Angeles and San Diego, California


There are some shows you play for money. There are shows you play for exposure. There are shows you play because artistically you think they'll be good. There are shows you play as a flimsy pretext to see old friends. And there are shows you play for their proximity to the beach. The show in LA was the latter. I was under no impression that a show on Labor Day Monday would be anything special, but the venue seemed really cool, and what else were we going to do? So the show was OK. Enough people to make it worthwhile but not so many that we were in danger of being mobbed by adoring fans and trampled to death by the sheer force of their adoration. But you know what was better than just OK? The beach. This is Pen Pen living beside the ocean, leaving the world behind, swimming out past the breakers, and watching the world die.


We spent the next day on the beach in Santa Monica. Then drove to San Diego and promptly spent the rest of the day on the beach. Because we've been in the mountains for weeks and I never got to the beach when I was with my family on the Cape. Priorities. Besides, the show had fallen through and then been resurrected at the last second, so my expectations were pretty low. This is Pen Pen trying to convince a flock of seagulls to come to the show.


Dan, the guy who put it together, is a super rad dude. And against all odds it ended up being one of the most fun shows of the tour. Joshua and I decided both to screw the PA and play totally unplugged in the bar area. The crowd seemed to be into it and participating in all the right bits. Also I'd never played on a bar before, so that was fun. Afterwards we crashed out at this girl Morgan's house who works at the zoo(!!) and said she could get us in for free next time we come through. Also she had chickens and could hypnotize them probably for the same reason that I can sing “Row Row Your Boat” backwards. This is Pen Pen winning at cock fighting through the power of hypnosis.


This is a song I wrote one time. You should download and share it with your friends.


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