Show #58-July 23, 2002-San Fransisco, Ca.-BIMBO’S

After Roskilde, we had about 2 weeks to recover from virtually being on the road for 6 weeks, before doing a week’s worth of rehearsals for the USA tour. The first stop was S.F. and the club, called Bimbos, was packed with a line around the corner. I remember the sound being terrible that night. The sound guy from the Knitting factory show, the one who rammed his RV, was the sound guy for the SF show. Problem is, he added delay to everything…EVERYTHING…and it got quite confusing onstage. I recall this being quite a “dramatic” show plus a film crew followed us around all day which was a bit annoying considering how I was on my hotel bed trying to write diaries and these guys are filming me while I’m doing it! After the show, we all went to one of my favorite SF Deli’s, “Tommy’s Joint”, and had sandwiches and pints..midnight…Yum…

Show #59-July 25, 2002-Eugene, Oregon-WOW HALL

We drove straight thru to Oregon on our day off and arrived that night around 10pm. Gary, the sound guy, left the tour and went back to LA (1 day on the gig…). Since we were off we went to a local pub and had some beers and appetizers. Our hotel was across the street from Wow Hall so we kind of had it made. My thing was to get some pizza or something, a good amount of drink and flip thru the channels. usually I would find Columbo (my FAVE!!!!) ,but, any ol episode of Rikki Lake or Jerry Springer will do. As a matter of fact, my friend (filmmaker) Lisa Rosenberg, gave me 2 Jerry t-shirts so I am representing like Roni Size.

A lot of people don’t like Jerry but when you’ve lived, loved and lost like Jerry well, only then can you truly appreciate life….SO BACK TO WOW HALL…

it was the smallest turnout of any of these tours. The venue held 400 max and we had 80 people show up. And somebody asked me when we were coming back…

But I thought the show really rocked and there were some youngins’ out in the audience…sort of the “flying Burrito Bros.” type of dress…you know…I don’t know what the name is…country shirts with sideburns and tucked-in shirts and belts with big buckles. A lot of those kids. Yes, that was Eugene. A great city, I might add. Not a bad place to raise kids, I would think…

Show #60-July 26, 2002-Portland, Oregon-The ROSELAND THEATRE

I was surprised we were booked into such a big place. I would have been perfectly fine with the Satirycon. This place held 1200 easily and I think we got 4 or 500 in there. Again, the west coast was sweatin’ us. Of course, if this were Manchester or Edinburgh or London or New Castle or Stockholm or Madrid or Oslo or Copenhagen or Paris or Amsterdam, we wouldn’t even have a problem. And see, I LOVE Portland. it’s one of my all-time favorite American cities. And I think the people are intelligent, down to earth and just a blast to be around. So again, we played in a half-empty house but rocked even harder and just gave everything had. We forgot about the people who didn’t come and played for those who did come-the ONLY ones who mattered. I even decided that the folks in the balcony were on a crusade to see us thru this and I directed my performances toward them; I could see them all totally into the show. They helped make that show a success. Every person that showed up.

Show #61-July 28, 2002- Seattle, Washington-EMP SKYCHURCH

Now, we were supposed to play Vancouver on the 27th (yesterday) but, due to unforeseen circumstances that everyone (including myself) is tired of talking about, we didn’t play that show. but we, as a band, hung out that night and had dinner (minus gene), courtesy of the SINGER, who treated us.

At the Seattle show, we had dinner (minus the SINGER, who was meeting up with JAZMAAN and Leon Hendrix later) and some beers and looked at a bit of the Experience Music Project (EMP, duh…), which was really amazing inside. I think you should go to their site, where ever it is.

The show had a decent crowd, about 200 people. But the club area isn’t all that big. And they wouldn’t allow people with drinks into the music area. very rock and roll.

After the show, went back to the hotel and popped on the tv set. Kicked back and was glad to be safe and warm inside. I cracked open a beer and thought about the 3-day drive to Minnesota that was coming up the next day. I’d done that drive at least 5 or 6 times. I thought about Montana and how nice it was. the west coast was tough on us and we were showing our scars; Chapple lost his shoes…one of the members of our entourage ran up an exorbitant “movie” bill on his TV ($86 worth…)…I won’t say who but it certainly wasn’t the Singer…and we got dissed by them damn cannucks. it was time to hit the midwest, where the wheat crackles in the wind, the corn rows dazzle the eye and the farmers’ daughter shows you that southern hospitality only a big city fella could appreciate.