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True Margrit



Last Updated: 12/7/2009

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Status: Single
City: SAN FRANCISCO
Country: US
Signup Date: 5/25/2005

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Friday, November 27, 2009 
3:49 AM 
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009 

Current mood:  blissful
Category: Music








After taking Saturday, November 14th REALLY easy--we all sleep & eat quite a lot-- Sunday, November 15th 2009 dawns, clear and cool with breezes out of the west. The members of True Margrit rise somewhat later...I wake up from a dream about the show in which GRIDDLE perversely insist on playing their set at 4:30 am in the Steve Allen Theatre (the Hollywood venue where we played the Tomorrow Show last week) instead of the scheduled time/place of 1pm at BOTTOM of the HILL. But, haha, it's just a dream. Andrew also relates his peculiar anxiety-type dream about today's show--in his dream, he has to order around a militia at gunpoint to get the show rolling without a military coup halting the proceedings...

Whoa.

We hurriedly undertake our last-minute preparations: bathing, eating lots of protein, procuring the promised complimentary donuts, loading the truck (and filming the loading in stop motion--for today we have a professional film crew of: Sarah Dunham, Heather Carawan & Chelsea Walton)! WOW!!


We get to BOTTOM of the HILL and there is a bevy of activity that continues  to rise to a fever pitch right up to showtime. The members of   GRIDDLE,  TRUE MARGRIT, and  20 MINUTE LOOP greet each other affectionately and with  the eagerest anticipation of the day's forthcoming rock.

GRIDDLE jump into the ring first with a SMOKING version of "BOXCARS" from their 2004 album "Turning Violet". WOW! They are sounding ...simply perfect! And the set continues in that vein--crisp & pumping versions of their catchy smart tunes. Hot damn! And as if this sublime rock weren't enough, their set also includes a performance art element: singer/keyboardist Kevin Seal is wearing a white jumpsuit and has placed a rainbow of sharpies at the disposal of the audience so they can pop up onstage and decorate him as the band plays. Most amusing...




So very excellent is their performance that I have a minor misgiving or two about following Griddle's spectacular set, but these  shallow insecurities fade into the ether as the act of playing music pulls us into that special zone where time is both expanded and contracted and stretched and the  melodies reel out their shapes and the piano chords ring and the bass thumps and the cymbals shimmer the air and I look out into the packed house while I sing and am truly joined and filled with this supreme moment of the public communing and sharing of the magic of live music.

Whoa, indeed. Not to mention: Dianne Nola's tapdancing is so vaudevillian and fabulous during THE JUGGLER's PROGRESS's titletrack (you guessed it) "The Juggler's Progress", that the crowd bursts into spotaneous applause--spiffy!. And our other special guest, SYMON MICHAEL blasts his bari sax into the stratosphere reprising his role as heard on "500 YEARS" on the album.
























Lastly,  20 MINUTE LOOP  take their turn, and it is a bittersweet glory if there ever was one--sadly, this is to be their last show as a band after 10 years of bandhood. They play a selection of sparklingly brilliant songs from all four of their TRULY inspired releases. The whole room is with them every wry lyric, every phrase of two-part harmony, and every jangly-sweet riff, and as the show finally comes to a close, there is not a dry psyche in the room.

There is much milling about & hugging and we invite the all the bands to our after-party. The truck is swiftly loaded and we are off to the ranch to chill.

The after-party is also Andrew's birthday party. We are homored by the presence of most of the members of the three bands, much pizza is eaten, a bowl of guacamole is decimated, beer is drunk, birthday cake is served. Very very very nice. When Kevin takes his leave, I hear him say to Gary:

"Great show....one for the ages". If Kevin Seal says it, friends, you KNOW it's true.

But the after-after-party is not over yet for the inner inner circle. Andrew is still drinking--a prime source of entertainment and pathos. He becomes a bit emotional....hungry...kissy...&  we all wax surreal































Goodnight. Our work here is done...for now.

3:31 AM 
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Sunday, November 15, 2009 

Current mood:  thirsty
Category: Music
We hasten up the pike To Elk Grove and  arrive at Kevin & Danielle's lovely airy abode around one am--oops, we are kinda inconsiderate. Kevin doesn't bat an eye at our late arrival, and  in fact stays up chatting with us, offering us beers (Andrew continues his evening's impressive beer-count) and San Pellegrinos (that's what Gary & I opt for--yum--so refreshing after rocking out!)

Kevin then introduces us to Linus & Lucy the basset hounds. Linus is particularly taken with Andrew--the affection certainly goes both ways. They have a wee growling dialogue--Andrew goes, "Grrrrr" and Linus replies, "Grrrrrr". Awwww.




Our host, Kevin!











I drift off into a dream about a puffer fish in a takeout carton that Andrew growls at. The puffer fish responds: "GRRRRRRRRR". Whoa.

We meet our supercool hostess, Danielle, in the morning and enjoy a rousing political discussion about the slowness of paradigm shift in Elk Grove, CA. Sigh.

It is getting up on noon somehow & we are RAVENOUS--it's been over twelve hours since our pub grub. We set out to hunt and gather.

Sadly, we end up at Mimi's which has a surreal Vegas-like atmosphere & decor, and the food: ick. After we eat the oily salty stuff, I reflect that I would have gladly bactracked  to Sacto for a real meal...ah, live and learn.

yuck

Anyhoo. We drive on to TURLOCK and head to  KCSS the college radio station in Turlock that has songs from THE JUGGLER's PROGRESS in  regular rotation!









We meet some nice peeps there and give out various promo True Margrit items for some  random & lucky CSU students...ooooh.

We then hit the evening's venue-- The Grizzly Rock Cafe--even though it's only 3pm. Frank the booker/ proprieter/  Roadhouse-chef extraordinaire sets us up with  the password to go online, and we all bust out our laptops in a row at the bar and do some computing/ blogging/what have you. Geeky? Yeah. But Frank's bartender tells us he always prefers the bands who sit at the bar with their laptops. So there.

In due course we set up & play, and some of the peeps are quite taken with us, and some are tapping their toes, but looking around a bit perplexed. After all, we are bit different from the usual fare at the Grizzly Rock. But Frank really wanted to share our sound with the good folk of Turlock. So we do in fact rock out. And after the set we sell & sign a few CDs & chat with various Turlockians (and our kind hosts who came down from Elk Grove to hear the show). Then  Broken Trojans starts in on their set of rockin tunes.

Meanwhile, we order some of Frank's delicious sandwiches (I have the tri-tip sandwich *YUM* with Frank's amazing home-made BBQ sauce), Gary has a scrumptious peppery burger, and Andrew is sent into ecstasies over the buffalo chicken sandwich, pronouncing it PERFECT. Thus loaded with protein, we pile into the truck (Gary driving, as Andrew is ,,, well, hammered). We come back over the Bay Bridge around 1:15 rocking out to Jethro Tull's, "Thick as a Brick" to which Andrew lustily sings every lyric. We are fatigued, yes, we are bruised, we are scratched from carrying drum hardware, yes, one of us is recovering from knee surgery (GARY! You champ!)--but we have our sights eagerly locked on the next show: OUR BIG ALBUM LAUNCH MATINEE at  BOTTOM of the HILL--in less than TWO DAYS!

The suspense is killing me....oooooh.
3:30 AM 
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Sunday, November 15, 2009 

Current mood:  sweaty
Category: Music






Oops-- a bunch of pix  were taken from The Fox and Goose show--why not share them with you, my friends?

True Margrit action shot...







our name in lights
















Cory & Laura B from Hot Mix 106 pose with us after the interview





True Margrit action shots...



3:28 AM 
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Saturday, November 14, 2009 

Current mood:  jedi
Category: Music
Sunday, November 8th: another travel day... we plan to zoom up Highway 5 back to San Francisco! We leave as early as we can bear to (considering that after getting back from the Tomorrow Show we  went to sleep sometime after 4 am).  And we do our best to zoom. But we are still one hundred miles from San Francisco when the sun sets.



We pass through a landscape that looks a lot like THE JUGGLER's PROGRESS album cover.

Go figure.


Lapse of time....three days off--yes  sir yes sir three days off!

Thursday, Nov 12th. We hasten over the dubious Bay Bridge (PLEASE: FIX IT!) towards Sacramento. We are to play tonight at the awesome Irish Pub & rock venue The FOX and GOOSE.
We arrive at our destination  quite early, so Gary & Andrew start in on the chocolate stout. I'm not quite ready for my beer--but soon, soon....

We decide to set up our gear before our interview with Hot Mix 106  ( all I can say is:...!!) which is at 7pm (before the show). We unload the  gear from the truck, set up the gear, eat some yummy pub grub, I apply glitter liberally to my face, and our interviewers Cory & Laura B promptly show up & ask some  questions which they record for a piece on Hot Mix 106 about True Margrit. And then it's time for the opening act  RACHEL LOMAX  to start. Rachel plays some SUPER COOL music--intricate, melodic, zesty, and clever. All the members of True Margrit love it. She is accompanied by James Clark on guitar who plays some  extra tasty sweet licks & harmonies that blend perfectly with Rachel's tunes.

I order my own chocolate stout ( it really does taste like choclate!). We dive into our set and have a grand old time playing for this happy warm crowd, who send love our way. As the rock simmers & boils  & I jump up on the piano, somehow my microphone keeps getting knocked off the stand. Don't know my own strength...oopsie...or it's the chocolate stout talking. All in good fun and rock.

After the show I  have a hilarious chat with James the guitarist during which we become very silly--I love it! I try to convince him to come to our CD RELEASE in San Francisco, but we reason that  as he'd be traveling from Sacramento, he'd have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn (as they say)...  no, earlier...the rectum of dawn...nope, the colon of dawn... NO NO NO--the acid reflux of dawn!!! Haha. Gross. And funny.

We also talk about the viral nature of glitter. I notice that from shaking hands with me, he has acquired glitter on his face. And others in the club have also fallen prey to my insidious glitter conspiracy and are be-flecked with the shiny stuff. Mwa ha ha.

All thing must wind down, so we hurl the gear in the vehicle & head to Elk Grove where lives our  generous host & hostess (Kevin and Danielle) who are putting us up for the evening. Off we go, leaving a cloud of dust--and of course, glitter.
3:26 AM 
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Monday, November 09, 2009 

Current mood:  surprised
Category: Music
Notwithstanding the above date that I'm posting this entry-- for the purposes of the story I'm telling y'all it is now Saturday, November 7th 2009.

Since our gig tonight isn't until midnight, Gary & I head down to Hermosa Beach & visit more of my family! YAY!



That's my very own sis, MIM EICHLER RIVAS who is famous and cool.







...and her hubby, my bro-in-law (also hella famous)  VICTOR RIVAS RIVERS!


and Eli my nephew--destined for all kinds of  greatness, mischief, and music!





Though Josie the Jack Russel looks alluringly at us, we nonetheless head off to prepare for tonight's event:THE TOMORROW SHOW. After a delish meal of smoked tri-tip & taters & home-made rolls that ANdrew & Lynn whipped up (WHOA!) we get ourselves &  our gear to the Steve Allen Theatre.

When we take the stage we are thrilled to see that the show is standing room only! WOW! Sold out! FUN! Adrenalin! Yay! Like three little rock vampires, we are feeding off the humans in the room, and we bring the rock up yet another notch and plow through our mini-set with fervor. Since this is a variety show with comics, knife-throwers, and jugglers, the juggler generously agrees to juggle during our tune "the Juggler's Progress". It is pretty much perfection--popular with the us AND the audience. At the end of our last song, I'm busting some kind of silly stage-move twisting and gesturing on the big finishing note when my foot connects with my hat (which has somehow fallen off---hmmm) and I surf for a few yards and then go down flat on my ass right as the songs ends. Hilarious! Awesome!

There are tons of peeps here we are thrilled to see & be seen by, including but not limited to:


EBAN SCHLETTER (the  fabulous friend and genius who also happens to be one of our many former drummers)







AND could it be? really?? OH MY GOD!

HARVEY SID FISHER!!!




Of Astrology Songs fame + so much more!


Wow! We ARE in L.A.!! we will remember the Tomorrow Show tomorrow & tomorrow & tomorrow....

3:24 AM 
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Monday, November 09, 2009 

Current mood:  overstimulated
Category: Music
We head over to Santa Monica around 2pm to grab a bite & chill. The traffic is---well, it's L.A. ... y'know. By the time we park, we are getting the low blood sugar, grouchy, sleep-deprived, we live out of suitcases, we have been around each other a LOT feelings that make it hard to think straight enough to choose a restaurant. And there are so many options on Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade.  Somehow, we are mysteriously drawn to Cafe Monsieur Marcel. And there it is. We harmonize culinarily and share an order of the Cafe Monsieur Marcel charcuterie plate--which, when it arrives, clearly puts the cute back into charcuterie!



Thus fortified, we walk unto Santa Monica and...WAIT FOR IT....ok, here it is: we do a bit of shopping (!!!!) at Wasteland (no go), a spice store, (Gary scores some spice), and Leonidas Chocolate (we all score something here, natch). We then hit Kathmandu Boutique and Andrew buys some presents for Heather & himself & we meet some super-sweet new friends!







And now it's time to head to this evening's venue:TRIP. We arrive when the hilariously snarky bartender is setting up for the evening and a few other quiet drinkers are peering meditatively into their beverages. We strike up a conversation with a very intriguing dude from Australia who is in the film & TV music licensing universe (ps: I hope he likes us!)


In due course, the opening act goes on, customers/fans/friends/family arrive (including our delightful former guitarist NIALL FORDYCE and his lovely wife ANDREA) and we take the stage for our rock du jour. And it is good. Yes it is.

Sadly, our late night snack at Du-Pars is not so very good. It's best to generally draw a veil over the ill-fated repast--but the question that rings in our ears/stomachs as we head home to sleep is: how extremely tepid can tepid get?

3:23 AM 
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Friday, November 06, 2009 

Current mood:  bouncy
Category: Music
It's now Thursday, November 5th and we head off for Los Angeles around 10:30, newly revivified ( to a certain extent) by our downtime in San Francisco.

We  make excellent time, shooting past the usual landmarks in California's vast Central Valley.  The windmills. The sad and massive beef cattle holding pens of Harris Ranch--which some locals with a dark comic bent refer to as,"Cowshwitz".

We also see a cloud shaped like a giant crab





I have made this trip many times with True Margrit-- and also many times with my former bandmates in Sparrows Point






On one such trip we went to Magic Mountain...today it is looking foreboding in the dusk...

At 4:15 we arrive at our hostess, Lynn's, fancy abode in Grenada Hills. I jump in the shower then we jump back in the car & head to Hollywood. We get to  MOLLY MALONE's while  King Washington is soundchecking. These guys sing like TOTAL angels. Wow!

We are using the club's drums and bass rig so, Andrew just puts up his cymbals/snare, Gary his bass  & of course I get my trusty lusty keyboard up onstage. Soon enough our friends, fans, and family are arriving and it's time to rock. The sound is super duper clear, so we can all hear each other and play EVEN better than usual. Ahhhhhh, fun.

After the show we are VERY HUNGRY & our beloved Canter's Deli is SO CLOSE! Off we go--that is, the members of True Margrit + Gary's compatriot Gary Mollica (aka Nervo) from the infamous Berkeley band, THE JARS







My friends, I lived in West Hollywood briefly, quite near Canter's. But I was a vegetarian at the time, so I never got the Reuben  back then, But now...now.
5:13 PM 
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009 

Current mood:  groggy
Category: Food and Restaurants
Nov 2 is  to be a travel day--after which we have two whole days off before our Los Angeles shows.

After a tasty breakfast at Golden Harvest in Eureka we head south-that is, after the waitress runs out  to the parking waving Gary's credit card which he left on our table. The ongoing  theme of feorgetting our belongings continues...


The scenery is quite lovely traveling down Highway 1.

And tasty is the food at our second stop at PASTA FARM--although the offering of  "Hot Dogs, Sandwiches, Kids" on their menu is a bit disconcerting... wait a  minute...




In due course, we come over the Golden Gate Bridge and enter into the bliss  of our three nights + two days off--home, in San Francisco.




5:11 PM 
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Monday, November 02, 2009 

Current mood:  sleepy
Category: Music


Sunday, November 1st, 2009, 7:45 am: I am awakened by Andrew who is intoning my name in a mysterious dialect that utilizes a very soft r --sorta like: "mawgwit". Ugh--that wasn't very much sleep. But we have to drive down the coast to Arcata, CA & it's pretty far.

We get ourselves all bundled into the vehicles and off we go down Highway One. About an hour out of Newport, I realize I'm not wearing my necklace. DAMN! I left it on the bedside table at the bungalow.  And thus begins the portion of the tour wherein we forget many personal and/ or professional items--or better yet we THINK we are forgetting them, some actually turn up, not lost after all. The point is, we are very sleep-deprived. I call the motel & they agree to mail me my missing jewelry. Nice.



We arrive in Arcata at Muddy's Hot Cup around 3:30 and  set up our instruments slightly wearily. It's a good thing we are doing this show in the afternoon--we won't have much steam left later on, that's for sure.  Our opener, The Phoebes do a lovely set of gentle tunes, then we get rowdy for our portion of the show, and then it's all over. We tear down the gear, stuff it in the truck, and go across the street for some  good vegetarian hippie food. We are definitely back in California.
4:50 PM 
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