So our trip down south to play some gigs this past week-end started with a bang. Well, actually it was a couple hours into the trip, just north of San Luis Obispo. There we were crusing up the hill, I am plinking away at the Ukulele, when suddenly , WHAMMM…SCREEE…BAP, BAP¸ BAP, BAP, BAP, LAKALKALKALKAKLAKA…SKREEEEEEEEE…WHHAAM!.
so our first reaction is "Holy Sh…!" The car seems to be driving ok, but we start thinking, you know, time to pull over and take a look. we are looking for a spot big enough to safely pull off the road, which was not easy what with being in a van, towing our trailer full of instruments. So a couple hundred yards along, we find a sort of side road and pull off. We all jump out and look under the van, just in time to see the last of our engine oil and gas pouring out from big holes ripped in the transmission cover and gas tank. Turned out that some sort of giant sewer pipe fitting fell of a truck in front of us, and bounced along under our van destroying everything in it's path until it was eventually spit out behind us. Fortunately for other drivers, there was a CalTrans truck following us, who picked up the debris.
So, there we were.
Now on our side is the very lucky fact that it happened during a brief respite from the rain we had been driving in for the last few hours, but the bad news was that it was about 45 degrees out, and there was almost constant 30-40 mph winds.
Sitting in the car was not a great option, because the car is starting to collect gas fumes.
Standing outside was brutal because of the cold and the wind.
So something needed to happen fast.
Our slide guitar player, (who's van it was) called AAA, who were most accommodating, and dispatched a tow truck. Then we called around San Luis Obispo to find a rental capable of towing a trailer, which it turns out that none of the nearby rental companies allow you to tow a trailer.
Then more bad news. AAA says our plan only covers towing the Van, not the trailer, and the tow truck can only fit two of the five of us, and there is nothing they can do unless we buy the upgraded plan which takes seven days. The driver says that we will just have to leave the trailer here, and come get it later.
So back on the phone our slide player has a little talk with AAA. And shortly after, the tow truck hooks up the trailer, and another truck shows up for the car, and this truck has a passenger cab. So they take us into San Luis to a repair shop, where we are able to wrangle an enormous van, big enough for all of us, and our gear. The shop offers to store the trailer for us till the car is fixed, and with that we are on our way.
Down time, just over two hours.
We pulled in to LA some hours later to recon the gig at
Taix, a fancy French restaurant that houses the 321 Lounge, where on the last Friday of the month,
King Kukulele holds court with a night of Polynesian flavored antics. Turned out we had a few hours before we could get set up, so we decided to check out the local scene. As we were milling over our options,
King Kukulele showed up and invited us back to the Lemoyne Lanai for some drinks before the show. We killed a couple hours there, then went back to Taix for a fine French meal, got set up, and had a great time playing the show. After us, King Kukulele and
Crazy Al Evans provided some musical entertainment, along with some excellent Hula dancers. After the show we retired to our friend Aaron Shaw's house (of the Celtic Thrash Band
Wicked Tinkers) for some well deserved rest, but instead hit a bottle of Scotch, and found that morning came too soon.
We started the day with a wonderful spread of pastries, bagels, fresh fruit, coffee and cranberry mimosa's, courtesy of Aaron and his lovely wife Lesa, and then we lounged about on the lawn savoring our brunch until we realized that it was fairly late in the afternoon, and we needed to hightail it to Carlsbad, and our next gig at the
NAMM Museum of Making music. We got there in time for sound check, then went of to check it to our hotel, freshen up slightly, and then back to the gig. The first half of the nights incredible line up was
Sid Hausman, Travis Harrelson, Joe Souza, and Joel Eckhaus. We set up during intermission and got to sneak in an extra song to call people back to the auditorium before starting our set.
Following us was Victoria Vox, James Hill, and then
Bill Tapia. We ended the night singing happy birthday to Bill, and then mingled in the lobby until the museum decided it was time to close up shop. We left there and ended up at a TGI Fridays which was pretty much the only thing still open. We ordered some food and drinks and then I pulled out My
Tiki Fluke Ukulele and persuaded Andy Andrews to give us a song. Then the
Fluke went around the table and there was an impromptu acoustic concert with each of us pulling out some songs we hadn't played at the show. James left briefly, and then returned with his Uke and bag of percussion instruments, and many others were improvised from objects on the table. At about two am, TGI Fridays sent us on our way, so we said our good-byes and headed back to the hotel. Out return trip was thankfully uneventful, other than a few instances of really heavy rain. The shop called to say that they had finished fixing the Van, and we made it back to San Luis as they were closing up. Swapped all our stuff back into the trailer, and hit the road, pulling into the driveway at about nine thirty.
Original estimate of the cost of the tour: about $500
Actual cost of the tour including the breakdown. about $2000
Playing music with
James Hill, Victoria Vox and
Joel Eckhaus in an empty restaurant in the middle of the night: Priceless.
(there is a video of James playing
here. )
Photos are up!! go to our photo album to check 'em out