breakfast at eddie's diner - greasy spoon owned by chinese couple who quite openly expressed their shock over mike's unfinished sausage.

hopped a bus to the mission district.  coffee at ritual.  explored a mid-century furniture store.  walked around dolores park.  beat back traffic to loquat's practice space.  collected gear and passed another level of freeway frogger to cafe du nord.

took on a rather enjoyable show in a warm space.  a lot of great conversations.  hearing loquat again live was a treat.  the dancing panda on stage with head like a kite as also a treat.

after the show, we explored upstairs, the swedish american hall, where iron & wine had also performed that same night.  it was like a high school auditorium with folding chairs and a balcony.  a little bit like the cedar in mpls.  not ideal for rock n' roll, but probably a great place to see sam beam's beard.  there was also some sort of valhalla banqueting room, furnished with wooden thrones.

after long deliberations on post-midnight cuisine, we finally picked up a pizza and retired to our sailor's quarters.

one of the great american cities.

took breakfast at town & country.  were given a bag of cookies for the road by the owner.  had coffee at intelligentsia.  ran into some friends from mpls.  were offered cigarettes by sarah silverman...

there are definite advantages to travel by road rather than sky.  california is green, golden & gorgeous.  the hills lay like great lions in the marigold-kissed fields.  periwinkle temples impose on the horizon.

the leafy hilltops of san francisco could perch a xanadu.  we arrived at sunset over the haunted bay, through the fog and into a twisted jumble of romantic sea lore.  we met up with loquat at their practice space, unloaded some gear, and over to anthony & kylee's (loquat).

anthony & kylee live in an old french baroque apartment, constructed in 1901; it's exterior accented by the former decor of an english vessel.  the building itself was purchased by the mayor of sausalito in 1930 and ran as one of five brothels that she owned.  it was later a heroin den and then something about vampires and blood creeping through the paint... it's redeeming quality are the stained-glass windows, hallowing this former den of iniquity.

we headed over to harlot (club, no relation to our accommodations) by bus where anthony was DJ-ing for the evening.

this is one of the great american cities.

"i love... L.A.  .... that's hard.... to say..."

took a swim in the hotel pool at the lafayette in san diego.  pool was designed by johnny weissmuller, and florence chadwick used it to train for swimming the english channel.  we felt very old hollywood - it was great.

flanked by tanks and choppers to the east, the pacific to the west, and cars stretched to infinity.  we were stuck in traffic for over an hour just outside of san diego.  accident.

we played at the knitting factory, a mad labyrinth in a strip mall on hollywood blvd.  it was a good night with much minnesota blood in the room.  apparently, the sound person was pulled from her death bed to handle our microphones for the evening; something dark is after us.

hung out with friends afterwards at the cat n' fiddle and stayed the night with a friend of a friend in santa monica.

not bad.  not bad.

awoke refreshed in gilbert, arizona - thanks to our friends josh and elizabeth.

bagels and the road.

phoenix is one giant golf course.  the cacti give you the finger on the way in, as if they somehow know you don't have a/c in your vehicle.  our thinnest vintage t-shirts on, we watched baby dusters spin and swirl about the desert brush as the sun pressed shadows into the contours of the mountains.  creamy dunes run along the mexican border.  somewhere north of calexico the dryness broke, the air cooled and we could smell oxygen again.

you'd think the border patrol would stop and inspect a 15-passenger van with tinted windows and bunch of gear covered by blankets in the rear...

saw a camel transport.

we pulled into san diego as the sun lay down.  played a full set and then an encore to a nice set of folks at the soda bar.  aaron treated the rest of the greycoats to their first in-n-out burgers.  el cajon blvd feels a bit like lake street in mpls.

took shelter at the lafayette, an old resort/supper club for movies stars in the 40s.

our friends, james and deborah, made us breakfast burritos.  we ate them on their porch as we watched the neighbors across the street work on their sprinkler system to sustain the small patch of grass they called their own.

the land grew desolate as we entered arizona, then evergreens, mountains, then cacti and heat.  a man could forget himself in this expanse.  no a/c in the van made for a stuffy entrance into phoenix.  cooled off with some iced coffee and took a meal at carly's.

phoenix is really spread out; everything's hidden.  one needs to keep an open eye.

we played a benefit show for ashley foster at modified arts. ashley had a a very complicated medical procedure done that cost nearly $4 million, insurance only covering $1 million.  you can read more and donate here.

staying with a friend in an artificial community.  crickets and stars and man-made ponds.

grycts.

man checking out at hotel in denver to clerk:

"do you normally have unemployed young men riding their skateboards around in the parking lot?"

it WAS saturday, after all; those kid SHOULD be working!

coffee at dazbog, breakfast at le peep's - titus witnessed one of the employees vomiting into a urinal.  probably swine flu.  not good.

beside the ghosts and light playing off the mountains in the west, we drove, racing sage and antelope.

invested in the colorado economy via state trooper.

albuquerque:  city of the future.  city of clay.  city of characters.

a night worthy of kerouac.

we shared the stage with three metal bands, one of which were all-girl; they shredded.  not that that was a surprise.

the bar next door was hosting reggae night.  a dread-locked white girl sat on the sidewalk, playing a shaker and looking to the sky for enlightenment.

we stayed in a quiet, picture perfect neighborhood only moments away.

pretty sure we'd see kevin arnold riding his bike down the street come morning.

grycts

our host, jake, made us breakfast.

stopped at lowe's for a merch lamp.

did the speed limit and then some

o'er the winded plains of nebraska.

played to a cooler, rainy night in denver.

small venues make for crowded rooms

and stroke the ego of the touring band.

grycts

the bluffs of western iowa roll with quiet beauty.

the fabulous aaron fabbrini is filling in for matt through san francisco.

did an interview via text on the way to omaha.

spent the evening with friends at blue line coffee.

onward to denver.

and upward to l.a.

grycts.