Seattle . February 11, 2005. The Crocadile Cafe'
February 13, 2005 05:31 AM
Sonic Boom - Just Like We Do.
Delinquent, I press onward - struggling to form thoughts that can be turned into entries attempting to journal the shows on this, Eisley's Winter West Tour.
Please try to understand... I'll post th details of the day here, but just so you'll know, I went to bed at 4am last night, woke up at 6:00, (2 hrs sleep) left at 6:30am for Boise....drove 9 of the 11 hrs. I can't even see straight right now. bd
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Re-tracing my cortex, I pull from burnt synapse and fried short term memory:
It was a beautiful drive from Boise to Seattle... except for those stink factories in some town. Blue skies, good times. I worked on trying to find a way to fix Sherri's amp; We called Aaron Sprinkle and the guy who produces all of Jeremy Enigk's records....and his guitar tech. Nothing really workied out. tight schedules.
We had to get to Seattle in time to check into our hotel, get over to DMX so the and could do "id's" bby 3:30. That's where they point a camera at you and someone say's, "Hi. This is Eisley and you're watching...." It takes about 40 minutes and we had to be at the venue to load in at 4:30 and over to Sonic Boom Records way across town at 5:30. Impossible, but we did it.
The in-store went great. We learned later that Eisley was #1 most sold record last week at the Sonic Boom chain in Seattle. sweet. Great people, a great vibe. And i have a cool T-shirt from the store. So does the band.
We got lost getting back to the club, and didn't get a sound check but... it was pretty chill and we decided it didn't matter. Besides, we just wanted to hang out with Aaron and enjoy the evening.
The show was a hoot. Blake n company came out at Eisley's encore to deliver the Sea King as an end of tour gift. I'll have to find the video clip. Words can't explain it. It was a great finale' to the tour.
After our long goodbye's, we left the Elected, went back to our hotel, I finally fell asleep at 4am ton the hotel floor while trying to map our way out of Seattle - toward Boise. In the morning, i grabbed the data, we loaded out in the dark (up at 6:00 - woo hoo! - 2 hours of sleep!) and quickly got lost in downtown.
Portland. February 10, 2005. The Nocturnal
February 11, 2005 12:36 AM
Portland FEBRUARY 10, 2005 Nocturnal
Wow. Wireless. I'm sitting up on this kingly high-rise against a wall,just in back of the merch booth - with Sherri, Stacy and Collin watching the Colour - overlooking the nice little crowd who has gathered in this small room to hear - what I selfishly assume is Eisley - gauging by the applause that occurred when these guys said they wanted to thank them.
More and more, I'm finding wireless for the artists at venues and we're pushing hard to spec hotels with wireless as we travel around. There are 4 Mac's in our midst. If one of us gets on, we all get on because of the simple internet sharing preference feature. (Apple rules)
Shut up gRegor. shut up Thomas. (you tell 'em Luke and other Apple freaks).
Ok. I have to go now. Friends. friends i haven't seen in 4 years are here - who remember "the Towheads" and the early days at BrewTones. Will be back later. Woah!! Kyle from this forum is here! All the way from Dallas! Crazy. Gotta go! bd
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I'm playing catch up. The Nocturnal was a hoot. Well, it was hootish at least. The promoters rocked. The room rocked. The audience rocked. Come to think about it... a solid hoot.
Eisley had a pretty good set. A few bobbles, but good sound. Robbie rules. Blake sat in on Sea King again... i think i have the encore on film.
I'll try to grab something from the show. But not now. My brain has been diced and pickled.
Portland is a nice place, that Portland. it's quaint, solid, old, chipper, robust, rich, crisp and colorful.... those blue skies and trees and busy streets. When dusk settled on us, we were cold and I felt Portlandese.
bd
San Francisco. February 8, 2005. Slims
February 09, 2005 12:43 PM
Live Clips from Slims:
Sea King - Staring Blake from Rilo - QT Hi Rez
Sea King - Staring Blake from Rilo - QT Med Rez
More coming from Slims when i have time!
San Francisco FEBRUARY 8, 2005 Slims
Though San Fran is a little slow to catch on to Eisley, they doubled their numbers - from the last, small, "West Coast Tour" and that seemed pleasing - to me, at least. Slim's is a very well-run venue; nice folk; accommodating... and they feed you a really sweet, gourmet meal. I'd say the evening rated a solid 8, though I have to objectively say - I think it was a super tight set; mm... definitely the tightest set of the tour. (sorry Austin) The wedges were pumpin' volume so the girls were hearing really well. Everything was working together - Robby (sound) was incredible, the room, the vibe...I feel really good about the video that I captured.
The band did a repeat of the 'lil encore - which went over even better. This time I laughed and cried along with members of The Elected. AND, I have it all on video-tape. AND, oh...I almost forgot. Stacy sings and plays Rhodes on one of Blakes tunes. sweet. The night was very, very fun.
Hoping you guys took photo's, but i learned just before doors that the guard guys (what are they called?) weren't allowing cameras of any type. A fan brought it to my attention and I corrected the problem, but by that time, it was too late. I promise, I told my contact we were GOOD with digital camera's and professional cameras - just no video or audio. sorry.
Man, that drive from Hollywood to San Fran is goofy for us. NO more will I believe mapQuest or yahoo. It took us 8 hrs and that was with NO traffic on the Bay Bridge. (mapquest said 5hr. 40 minutes) If you pull a trailer, you have to drive the double nickel, but half was through the trip, I assumed command and hoofed it - pushing 75mph to hit the 4:00 load in target. We rolled in on time but never again... if we'd hit traffic on that danged bridge, we'd have been screwed. 9 hrs lead time next trip.
We're stove up in a crappy hotel in Oakland and need to get up... 'spose to have b-fast with friends and hit the road. 10 hr. drive today. later. bd
p.s. Special thanks to the 3 dudes who rode 6 hrs on a Greyhound Bus from Nevada to see "their favorite band"... one of them said this: "That was the most important musical experience of my lifetime... that was incredible. If Eisley weren't doing this...there would be a giant hole... everyone would feel it.". And sorry I didn't get to say bye to so many of you. They kicked everyone out and I had to keep loading out.
p.s.s. I woke up in this dark hotel room slumped over my new Apple; one hand was completely numb; the last i remembered, everyone was awake watching TV... i stumbled around looking for a sleeping bag... there was no matress; I unzipped a tiny bag that was 1/2 the length - you know, for little kids; I climbed half-way in, grabbed my coat as a bumpy pillow and was out cold until the first shaft of sunlight sworded my eyes around 8:00am. I got up and added these 2 journals. We're gonna eat b-fast and hit the road.