Los Angeles: thurs. july 24, 2003.
The early morning of Thursday began much of the same as wed: comix drawing/underwear/couch/movies, only this time we awoke earlier. KFC coffee was still the drink of choice, it was hot as balls outside and at around 1:30pm, travis and I both realized we were totally and utterly starving. I remembered I’d made vague breakfast plans with my friend eva (the bartender from cat & fiddle from post #6/former bass player of mars volta) and called her up. She said we should meet her at the farmers market within 45 min. we were late. When we finally met up with her, both of us were kind of stunned. She was wearing, I guess you would call it a sundress, I’m not sure, but she looked incredible. I’d never really seen the more girly side of her. I was impressed, travis had a crush. She showed us around the market for a bit and we finally settled on a Mexican stand for breakfast. The food was amazing (coincidentally, travis and I had made an oath to ONLY eat Mexican food while we were in southern California; granted, we broke it on day 1, but every time we ate it it was a plus). I decided that I was playing a show that evening, I should just go ahead and start drinking. I had a beer. So anyway, breakfast was awesome. Afterwards we walked around, smoked, molested toys and travis and I had rootbeer floats. We goofed around until it was time to go. I had to be at the roxy at 5pm for load in.
Not knowing our way around the city, it took us about an hour to find the club. Here I am, on the phone, frantically calling luis, wondering and worried that I’m going the wrong direction. He’s telling me it’s okay, I’m okay, I should see it around the next block, etc. so we get there pretty girls make graves are already there (oh yeah, they played too), bullet train to vegas was there, I start loading in the equipment out of your enemies friends van. Ronnie and I make a run to a hardware store to buy a couple extra lights and we’re good to go. The waiting for the show to start is the suckiest part of playing one. It’s two hours of deatime. Maybe you’ll get food, you don’t want to drink TOO much, can we have another cross band acoustic sing along please? Whatever. The show finally gets going. We somehow coerce the club to give us meals and then take total advantage of the menu. I get a garden burger and something they call a “garden salad,” which only actually some head lettuce and American cheese. Do I talk about food too much? I run into a buch of LA friends at the show, most of which are asking for a substance I will from here on refer to as “pepsi”. It just so happens I have a miniscule amount that this guy gave me (did I forget to mention that?), and I’m trying to not give it up, come ons and beggings aside. Bullet train to vegas plays while we’re eating and we’re up next. I’m not sure how many of you have been to the roxy in LA, but the stage has a curtain they pull around the stage during change over. While we were setting up, I took full advantage of the curtain and the fog machine and pumped as much smoke out as possible. When the curtains opened it was like a four alarm fire, it was hilarious. I was set up with my ass kind of facing the audience, so I could see what I was doing. I hope the crown didn’t mind seeing me shake my fanny too much. I was your enemies friends first show in 8 months and they played it well. By the time we were done playing, I’d consumed several beers and felt like I needed a show. I went outside first and ran into travis, jenn root and her best friend (I forgot her name, sorry!). I recruited them to join me. We went to the bar and I paid $8 (!!) for a shot of wild turkey. I raised in the air for a toast and slammed it back directly into my lungs! Don’t do this, it hurts, really bad. I was practically crying and it took me a good half hour before I could get my voice back. Somehow the girls conned travis and I into sharing some pepsi, so we hit up the backstage bathroom, briefly. When I walked back out, I saw tammy (!). she’s missed our show (bummer), but still wanted to hang out. Pretty girls played….ummmm…awesome.
When the show ended, everybody wanted to keep partying, but without a predesignated spot, we ended up going to the three of clubs. I was super wasted at this point, apparently, if you take a shot directly in your lungs, it gets you drunk really fast. So yeah, maybe you do wanna try it. I made plans to meet tammy at the bar. Dana drove our car over since travis and I couldn’t. everyone shows up and the place is totally packed out, but in a bad way (for seattle people, like the cha cha on Saturdays). We breave it anyway since we’re running out of time. A couple more drinks later and the cars close. There’s talk of going to someone’s house, but for the most part everyone scatters, and I’m too concerned with hanging out with tammy to motivate everyone. In the end, tammy and I decide to go hang out at lexi’s. travis, who’s sobered up at this point drives his car back to the apartment and quickly passes out watching a movie. I ride with tammy. We take our time, sharing stories and being funny. When we get to lexi’s, we park at KFC and crack open a pepsi. We sit in the car and drink it. About an hour later we go inside. As stated, travis is passed out, so we decide the front porch will suit us better. We each have a jack & coke, a glass of water, and still, keep cracking open pepsi’s. we stat there until 5:30, talking, laughing and getting to know each other. It was a beautiful evening which ended with a little kissing. I think just the right amount. Eventually, she had to go home and we made plans to hang out the next night and go on a real date.
I went inside and slept in a chair.
Next: stupid, stupid LA scenesters.
August 15, 2003