As I sit here next to the pool at the phoenix hotel, I ponder what other musicians have sat in this very seat, drank coffee at this ver table and saw the sun ever look this beautiful at 8am? This hotel is known for being the “party” hotel and is run by goth rockers and they pretty much tell you to expect the noise and parties until 2am; it’s simply part of the deal I suppose. Plus there seems to be a “riot grrrl” convention in town (I am not making this up…it HAS gotten to this point…) so there has been lots of indie rock chicks and indie rock guys about town. yes, but they don’t rock, do they? Which brings us to last night…and anyone who ever catches our act in Odense, Denmar, knows how those first tour-day gigs can be oh-so-fun…..and this one just put a whole new spin on IMPROMPTU….

We pulled over the Bay bridge around 4 and hit the venue to sound check around 4:30. We were tired and a bit hungry so Gene had the venue get going on the sandwiches and drinks. There was a film crew there as well…pretty much the same lot that filmed us in Los Angeles the whole entire day of the knitting factory. These guys are nice and you barely notice them sometimes, except when they follow you to your hotel room, like they did Chapple an dmyself, and start filming you while you are sitting in bed writing tour diaries! But they’re really cool and Arthur is being good about it. When we get to new york, an east coast film crew, led by Lisa Rosenberg, will take over, if I’m not mistaken. But these guys are doing the west coast swing. What, no one wants to come to the midwest? You guys got something against Cleveland?

So we got back to the venue about 9:15 and showtime was supposed to be a 9:30. We hit the stage a little after that and didn’t walk off until 11:40…well we LEFT THE STAGE! Arthur stayed and treated the audience to some of his awesome piano playing. So, the show REALLY didn’t end to close to midnight. Easily 2+ hours of music. Also, Arthur had some interesting conversations with several members of the crowd…pretty much all night. Arthur also kept asking Gary, our touring soundguy, to turn up his mic. This prompted the groud to chant, “Turn it up Gary!” And even a few hippy “Turn it the fuck up, dude!!” comments. So we finally got out of there around 1am and split for the Phoenix. Our roadie, Chis Lee, kept it up about how hungry he was so we all, sans Arthur and Gary, went to TOMMY’S JOINT for sandwiches, seeing
as it was only around the corner!

So it was roast beef sandwiches and turkey sandwiches all the way around. plus 2 pitchers of Anchor Steam, San Fran’s proud local beer. Got back to the hotel at 2am and hit the ack, know that, the next day I’d be sitting by the pool, drinking coffee and writing this.

Well, it’s about 8:30 now and we drive to Eugene, Oregon today, which is a day off for us. But too bad its not a day offin San Francisco.

Mike Randle