The Solvents on touring, children and the brilliance of GBV

Ill never forget the first time I met him. There was a lot of anticipation. All of us kids who thought we were in bands had heard the rumors around town about this wiz kid guitar player who could play any Jimi Hendrix song no problem. Solos and all. I was totally amped to hang out with him.

I saw him sitting on the hangout bench on the dock. He was super skinny with greasy long hair that hung in his face. He had a 40 of old English 800 that he was sipping on. In public no less…in broad daylight….before noon. I remember as I was walking towards him, I felt scared. Scared but excited. I could tell just by looking at him that he didn't give a shit about anything.

I sat down and said hello. He asked me for a smoke. Well, he demanded one actually. Of course. I pulled out my pack and handed it to him. He took the whole pack and stuck it in his pocket. I didn't ask for it back.

"So you play guitar?" I said. I instantly felt like a fool for saying it. "So do I". I blurted out before he could even answer me.Damn it! I sound so stupid! And I don't really play the guitar either! I pretend."Yeah, I play the guitar." he slurred back and smirked taking a long,cool drag off his cigarette. I was instantly infatuated. This guy was almost too good to be true. I asked him what type of music he played and he looked me straight in the eye and said "grunge". I was in love.

Jason and I didn't become friends for a few months. I was too much of a fan. I would go to watch his band practice every chance I could. I was a dork and I knew it but I couldn't stay away. The music those guys made together was astounding. All of the songs were written by Jason. It was like nothing I have ever heard before or since. Some how, Jason combined blues with thrash. Loud and heavy. It was pure punk but it sounded…better. Jason flowed on the guitar. It was a thing of beauty to watch him play. He was totally aggressive and totally graceful all at once. And he had attitude. He would be in the middle of an amazing solo and with his strumming hand, he would grab his ever present 40 0z and pound it while his chord hand danced all over the fret board. It was reckless and nasty but he never missed a note….it was consistently mind blowing.

As the main songwriter in the group, Jason was a bit of a control freak. The band would always fight. Almost to the point of throwing punches. It was usually because Jason wouldn't change the arrangement of a song."I wrote it and that's how it fucking goes." he would say. And he was always right. That was such a huge lesson for me. He had a vision and he wouldn't let anyone tamper with what he was after. I kept that idea with me ever since.

Months went by as I struggled to learn the guitar. I tried so hard but it wasn't working out for me. I would daydream about Jason and how he played and I wished more than anything that I could play like him. I couldn't do it but I didn't give up.

Jason and I became pretty close friends. He told me a lot about his life. His father had recently died and left him with a small trust fund that got drank away in a couple months. He was guilty because that's the last thing his father would want him to do with his money. He also told me about the schizophrenic tendencies that ran in his family and how he feared for his own sanity sometimes. At the time, I thought it was bullshit but later I would begin to see the "signs".

A few weeks later Jason started showing me how to play the guitar."This is a power chord. Its all you need to know ." he said. Suddenly, I was not only playing the guitar but I was writing my own riffs as well. Jason always stressed the importance of writing your own material. I lived by that rule ever since.

I remember one night he and I were listening to Black Sabbath. He asked me if I "knew how to listen to music". I said of course I do. "No, like really listen. Like break everything apart and hear everything. "I paused to think about this. We were really stoned. Was Jason just fucking with my head? Was he losing it? Was I losing it? I told him to show me. He rewound the tape. "Now, just listen to the drums. Block everything else out". I did what he said and I was floored! The drums were so amazing! Id never really paid attention before. We rewound the tape again and listened to the bass guitar. Once again, I was knocked out. We did it again for the vocals and again for the guitar. I was so blown away at how hard everyone in the band was working. Every sound was totally important to the whole. It wasn't just the singer or the lead guitar that made it happen. It was everyone. After all of that, we listened to the song again and focused on structure and arrangement. I remember wanting to cry at that point. Just thinking about how much work,time and love went into the creation of the song "iron man" touched me in some way I still cant explain. It was a very important lesson that I never forgot.

A few years went by. I was in a band and enjoying myself. I was 19 and pretty free to do what ever I wanted to do. Music meant everything to me. That's when Jason asked me to join his band.

I cant really explain what that meant to me. It was like if John Lennon asked me to join the Beatles or something. Of course I jumped at the chance. I was to play rhythm to his lead. It was going to be the best band ever.

We spent a lot of time working on songs. Just the two of us at first. Jason was pretty happy with the parts I was writing which thrilled me to no end. I was working my ass off to impress him. It felt so good to be collaborating with him and the songs were amazing. It was a wonderful time for me.

We got the rest of the line up in place and started practicing all the time. It was really good at first. Then it got bad. Jason was drinking non stop and I was sober. That put a wedge between us pretty quick. Then he started talking to himself and yelling at people who weren't there. It was getting a bit scary. We would be playing and he would throw his guitar down and run out of the room. The other guys in the band thought he was just pulling some "rock star trip" but I knew something else was wrong.

It got to be too much for me. It was sad. I had to quit the band and not hang out with Jason anymore.

Jason and I didn't talk for along time. He moved away. I thought about him a lot. I heard rumors about his condition. Sometimes he was doing good, sometimes not. I never forgot the things he showed me and in a way, I feel like I owe him something. I still feel guilty for walking out on him when maybe he just needed a friend.

Years later, on the way to the store I saw a couple policemen talking to some guy. There he was. In the flesh. Jason Beeson.His clothes were ripped and dirty and he looked like he hadn't slept for a long time. I stopped to ask what was going on. One of the officers said that he had called them because someone was "going to kill him". I told the officer that he was schizophrenic and that I could take care of him for the night. They left him in my care. He didn't really recognize me at first but once he did he was pretty happy to see me. He rambled on and on about aliens(they were after him), the f.b.I.( they were after him as well)and being homeless and the time he spent in either jail or the mental hospital.

We were driving around aimlessly when he turned to me and said " We used to be in a band together,huh?" and "I used to be an artist,didn't I?" I said yes. I wanted to try and explain how he had taught me so much and that he was so amazing and that he shouldn't be a bum or be crazy….but I didn't. We just drove around and smoked cigarettes instead.

http://www.soundonthesound.com       We received this amazing peice of art in the mail, and found it was an album sent to us by a band from just across Puget Sound, the Solvents. It was a hand printed book with amazing art, so we had to give the album a listen. We were pleasantly suprised by what we heard: a inspired and unique blend of folk and pop that seems familiar but stays interesting through the last song. Vocal layers, diverse song construction and emotionally unencumbered (dare I say inspired?) singing give this music an authentic quality I only see in veteran songwriters who've matured into a more wholistically focused sound. This is the Solvents eigth album, but their first as an actual recorded band, as up to this point it has been the project of single person, Jarrod Paul Bramson, who managed all the instruments singlehandedly. I will relisten to this album over and over again. Especially the last song "For Rebecca."

lad to see Jarrod Paul Bramson and Emily Madden to pass finally at the stage of the album and, which more is, to have found one (micro)label (CDR) it to lodge, Sanitary Records, carried out by certain Matthew Hoppock, itself talented songwriter under the nickname of Manipulator Alligator. After a first ep CDR own-produced chroniqu here, followed of another live and a third to the format mpp left on Sundays in Spring - and which one finds three titles here -, here thus this ' I hear the desert is has lonely, hot place to die ', which directly lets see two changes or evolutions. Ppremirement, an improvement of the sound and production even if the spirit folk lo-fi remains there. Secondly, the songs, benefitting from these new permissions, exploit more on textures and environments, basic, playing more extremely than before on the authenticity, a few pieces are more noisy and exploit electricity and distortion, leaving The Solvents some share in sound space separating Elliott Smith from the beginnings, Sebadoh de Lou Barlow, crossbred of incipient psych-pop temptations. Ca begins with the very beautiful one and poignant ' I amndt not has human ', a song intimist, a guitar in arpeggios, a little echo and of reverberation to distil a feeling of infinite with the melancholy which surprises us and carries us in the second part, the such wind which seizes the autumnal sheet and makes it whirl high in the sky before projecting it on the muddy ground. One passes to pop indie electrified almost noisy with ' John Lennon ', with a escapade psych-folk one minute thirty hardly with ' Hey Snow '. One arrives then at what constitutes well the jewel of this first album, ' Past Lives of has Broken Cello' with the superb melancholy where the violoncello dances sumptuously around the guitar without never letting itself capture by this one. There is definitively something of Carissa' S Wierd in this song, this same poignance astounding. On ' The Cocaine' S Gone' one finds environments of the old men Elliott Smith, a certain rural charm, calms it campaigns, the appeasing of the ends of days, time that it is necessary to think of oneself, to turn and turn over in all the directions our sorrows and worry in the hope to foresee a break. Very beautiful sentimental song with ' Your Sparrow ', between violoncello and harmonica, which takes the airs when Emily comes to take the second voice, creating vocal harmonies a such rainbow while a drum imitates the sound of the rain on the ground. Melody more supported on ' Please Don' T Tell Me ', almost to The Posies but for not worked as much, with very beautiful thres guitars which surprise with half of the piece and take us along completely another share. One exceeds the eight minutes course with ' You Are has Woman ', which in its first part is also the piece more noisy disc, with the most tracks and distortions, Jarrod also sings on two of them. Then oddly, whereas the piece reaches the shape of apex, very stops and one finds oneself with an acoustic guitar and the song of Jarrod; starting from this point, the piece is rebuilt, under an organic screen, folk seventies or almost with very beautiful arrangements psychedelic and bucolic, while the song is transformed into a planing tablecloth. All is packed then in the two last minutes, The Solvents still leaves another share, a battery and song completely reverberated before finishing in a kind of song as a choral society underlined of organ. In short a piece which holds more of the medley than of a considered structure. Emily sings on ' It Doesn' T Feel Like Home ', accompanied by tambourine and organ, but it is not especially convincing. The album finishes on a ' Ballad of Jack' dodelinant with the soft perfumes psychpop which however do not contaminate nature folk relatively intimist of The Solvents. A good first album on the whole built well like a whole and which is listened from one end to another with much of pleasure. Didier 03 DEC 05

updates this week the last week previous weeks artists # A B C D E F G H I J K L Mr. N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z labels # A B C D E F G H I J K L Mr. N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z any other business how to Be reviewed by derives? information/contacts/newsletter matamore recordings (label) matamore (forum) sundays in spring (netlabel) music blog (english)

WWW.INDIEPAGES.COM REVIEW OF "SCREENPLAY FOR THE SLEEPLESS"I don't normally go for the "solo singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar" thing, but the songs on this disc are both well-written and well-recorded enough to keep my interest throughout the entire disc. And that really says a lot. You may have heard the Solvents on the third installment of the Asaurus EP club (in fact, three of those songs are included here), but if you haven't, it's the project of a fellow named Jarrod who lives in Port Townsend, a small town just across the Puget Sound from us. For the most part, it's just him and an acoustic guitar, but he also adds some other instruments here and there, and invited his friend Emily to sing and play violin on the last track, "Average Angel". His songs tend to be fairly melancholic, reminding me a bit of Mark Kozelek; and though his songs can sometimes run a little long, this disc is short enough so that it ends before I might start losing interest.                                                                                                                                                                                                     WWW.SHAMATRECORDS.COM REVIEW OF THE ASAURUS E.P. CLUB#3...The other band on the CD that I'd heard of before are Solvents. "Psychic Birds Don't Crash" is a nicely strummed acoustic number as are most of the songs, although this one reminded me ever so slightly of that Kansas song "Dust in the Wind". "Convince Me" and "Just Like Living Alone" are also acoustic but substitute hand claps (his hands must have sure gotten sore) for drums to keep the rhythm through the entire songs. Singer Jarrod reminds me of James Mercer of The Shins crossed with Mark Kozelek. I like the melodies on these songs a lot.

WWW.OLYMPICVIGILANCE.ORG REVIEW OF "THE SONGS THAT GOT STUCK IN HIS HEAD" .........the environment within this 15 song, 3 year culmination is comfortingly familiar. its as if the man behind this project took some of my favroite emo-pop and threw it into a malt mixer.that is not to say it is derivative in any matter. for starters j. bramson(sole proprietor/porttownsendlocal)expresses a thank you to vicodin in the liner notes.anyone with long term back pain knows what a help this stuff can be.such a person would also know the loose, warm, floaty feeling that comes as a welcome side effect to the relief. the exposed nerve syndrome that fallows withdrawl, however, can leave one feeling like a gaint ouch cube. case in point, "the girl who cried shards of glass"(note: everything on the cd is written in lowercase,this speaks volumes.) the name of the disc alone is enough to shred ones heart. yet around the somewhat disquieting lyrics is an often upbeat and/or drivingly soliloquy(as with"waking up the japanese"). the recording is all really raw,in a good way. this material wouldnt be half as endearing in polished mold. jarrod heroicly recorded most of the tracks himself using equipment like a 4 track and a minidisc. the latter was used to catch some of the recordings live(including a bit from the boiler room). the result is the feeling that he and his freinds are right there in the room hanging out. by the way,emily madden's violin and vocal stylings are a highlight on the disc. lastly every thing about this stuff is truly sincere. it is vexing,though,because as the e.l.o. refrain goes, i cant get it out of my head.-rev.raikes

THIS REVIEW IS FROM A WEBSITE FROM BELGIUM. WWW.DERIVES.NET  I HAD TO PUT IT THROUGH A "RAW TRASLATION" PROGRAM SO SOME IF READS KINDA WEIRD...An esthetics and a technique of recording which point out the recordings intimists of Eric' S Trip and Sebadoh, a songwriting and an expression which have some common points with Elliott Smith and Mark Kozelek, have very we to like Solvents and the catch occurs inevitably on this first own-produced ep CDR. For as much, one does not have to expect that the melodies jump us to the throat, it is necessary to take time to persuade them, to approach them and to cherish them like humming cats. Jarrod Bramson is the only Master on board, song, guitar, low and battery, the whole put out of box on 4 tracks Fostex cassettes, as with good old days, even if the mixing were done on hard disk. It is certain that Jarrod would have made fury at the time gilded lo-fi, beginning of the Nineties, but like quality and the sensitivity are there, there is no reason not to be caught the arrow in full heart and to slip tenderly into the state of melancholy sentimental and delicately melody which opens with us. Of entry ' Cold staresl summertime' is a melody little marvel where the voice of Jarrod, whispered with enthusiasm marks points, delicately posed on a bed of guitar and battery to soft sonorities. It is that which much also makes, the sound advisedly uses all this heat and sensitivity which one four tracks can release, but that does not manage any more to capture a digital recording. It releases as of the these songs a form of innocence and of purity to which one can only adhere and as soon as this state of the things noticed the trap was closed again on us and one is discovered fan. An acoustic guitar only walks in intro of ' National geographics' then the song strips arrows of a tough melancholy and environment darkens. A contemplative lament which rise with a certain passing, three minutes hardly and an atmosphere which points out the beginnings of Julie Doiron. Then comes the tube, ' Physic birds (of which crash) '. A sunny and ultra melody touching which is fixed directly in our memory and starts form of a fragile and feverish euphoria. If Blackbean & Placenta existed still they are there that should have left this ep, between those unforgettable of Metronome, Minnetonka and Wio. For three minutes one is found transported one morning of May, under green trees and a blue sky, the heart in love. With the listening of ' Convince me' one has the impression that the song was recorded in a corridor, acoustic guitar and song, one morning of spring, windows and doors open to seize the atmosphere and the particular temperature, the perfumes of the trees in flower. The mixing is very lo-fi, the added slappings of hand are a little too ahead, but oddly that contributes to the charm of the unit, that gives me almost the tears to the eyes. For ' Just like living room alone' it is certain, only one catch, guitar and voice on a microphone with the significant breath, a pop song a little more traditional in the direction Big Star of the term, between Lou Barlow and of Posies lo-fi. ' Before you edge (junkies lullaby has) ', two hours of the morning, counting rhyme melancholy recorded squatted on a bed beside somebody who sleeps, just some very discrete tablecloths of electricity added, a terrible breath as a heart which beats fear of awaking the other. It is very beautiful. The ep finishes on ' Average Angel' which trails nevertheless a little in length and where certain Emily Madden comes to play of the violin and to make the second voice. One imagines very well which Jarrod wonders could conceive with means of more evolved/moved recordings, less lo-fi. The sensitivity, the song, the songwriting are there. A very pretty ep and touching discovered that one hopes to re-examine on these pages one day or the other. Didier 23 Jan 05 See too

 another review from the belgium site .this one is for the live on kdvs in davis ca. cd www.derives.net

It is the history of a CDR ep which arrives so scratched that one wonders how it can still be coutable. One had already crossed The Solvents, alias Jarrod Bramson, for a CDR ep, here of return at the time of some titles recorded in a radio station at the time of a round which had taken it along to California. The notes of small pocket retranscribe so much well the atmosphere of until one will wait there that I do not resist the desire for retranscribing them just as they are: "It really doesn' T get much funnier than getting into your bus and driving like crazy to make it to Arcata to hang out in the red woods and play has show for 4 really excited people and somehow making 30 dollars. More driving... down 181 all the way to S.F. playing more shows and making friends. The craziness of this city is hardware to could your mind around... goal you cuts to. Losing your keys one the Height street calling the locksmith and some street kid comes up and hands you your keys... Magic. Driving to A.C. and playing really good in Hollywood. Going to Joshua tree and playing Gram Parsons songs in the spot He was cremated. Playing one radio the. That' S where this recording cam from. I was so fucking nervous! Like really scared. Emily played it cool and played really well. Please excuses some of the vocals. I was trembling. It thought Id totally blown it. Then I listened to the CD and realized it wasn' T that bad. There really isn' T anything much funnier... " Eight pretty titles live of folk lo-fi with Jarrod with the song and the guitar, accompanied by Emily to the violin. As on its ep the charm acts, but even more stripped by the conditions live, a completely authentic and natural disc, far from the productions sometimes a little too stereotyped and forced that one can hear in the kind. One feels somebody who saw, sensitive, concerning and there are the emotion and the brittleness of the moment too. Basically attaching. ' John Lennon' is the title of a song and there is a resumption of Gram Parsons. Didier

PART 1. "LEAVING HOME".... 

i didnt keep a journal on the last tour because i was too busy filming everything for "the solvents tour movie" which hopefully jake kelly and i are going to edit in jan. so i guess ill try my best to remember everything.....

emily and i went to the food bank right before we left. this is something i highly recomend for the econo tour. we got tons of bread and bagels and tuna and veges. not having to buy this stuff means money for the gas tank. so our first stop is olympia to go pawn my les paul and some other gear....i was sad to pawn the guitar, but im going to get it back. i got 150 bucks that we really needed to make this tour work. so we drove and drove untill we pulled over somewhere near the boarder of ca and slept. were traviling in a small sadan type car, but we set up the back so we could sleep. it was quite cozy.....

PART 2"THE REDWOODS AND THE GOLDEN COAST.

the next day was the redwoods and nor cal coast! what an amazing place. we stopped at beaches and tourist attractions and had a great time. on a side note, this is emilys first trip to ca. she was quite blown away and i was glad to be showing her around. next is arcata ca. we got there early so we just kinda played around in the redwoods and on the beach. nothin beats touring with the girl you love. its really amazing. we played at an all ages place called the placebo. its kinda out of town, right on the beach. there were 4 people there. they were really excited so it was a really fun show. i guess its better to play for 4 stoked people than a bunch of fools who dont give a damn. we hung out for a while and right before we left, they gave us 30 dollars! i dont know where they came up with that much but we thanked them for their kindness....

we left that night and drove 101 south. i let emily drive and she ran over something that was kinda big. neither of us saw what it was. then we pulled over and went to sleep.

 PART 3 "SAN FRANCISCO"

we woke up and drove to san fransisco....i love that view of the city and the goldengate as your rollin in on 101...its amazing. emily was blown away for sure. then you get into the city, and the driving just gets nuts! we were trying to find the venue but of course i didnt mapquest anything, so i just had these hand scraled directions to go on. it was a loose operation..in fact i drove the whole tour with A SUSPENDED LICENSE AND NO INSURANCE...im not the type to let some idiot bullshit law stop me from making my dreams come true..

anyway we found the venue. its this place called the brainwash. its like a cafe/bar/laundrymat. we had like 10 hrs to kill or something insane like that so we went up to the height st. we just walked all around...through the park and stuff...i like the park i like think ing about all the crazy hippie action that went down in that place...i bet it was fun wandering around that park on the cleanest acid in the late 60s...

 after that we went down to the venue. we figured out that each member of the bands that were playing got a 50 dollar tab. i tried to get the cash out of them but they werent having it. im hanging out talking to some dude from the other band and he starts telling me how bad the room sounds and the pa and how noone listens and shit and i start to get really nervous..like really nervous. emily noticed the guy talking to me then noticed me trippin before show time and came and tried to calm me down. i was like a nervous wreck. i could hardly tune..there was also a fair amount of people there. once i started playing , it was fine. they even had to replace a mic cord mid song and i kept going. once my solo part of the show was over and emily joined me, things got alot better...she helps me so much. i do love making music with her. she tends to blow people away....

after the show we finished drinking our tab and then this lady came up and interviewed us! that was kinda neat. we spent the night a half hour outside the city at our friend myas house..thanks mya. the next day we met up with this guy nick who had gotten us a show at some party for the night after. we didnt have a show booked on that sat. because we were going to see guided by voices at the fillmore. anyway i called nick and he said we should come play at his coffee shop before we went to see gbv. we said sure mostly because it was right on the height st and because we didnt have much to do. the stage was really cool looking. like some old stripper stage from the old days with a red velvet curtain and stuff. we played allright,but without the energy....people were pretty indiffrent. it was weird because noone was there to see music, so it felt like wew were buggin fools. some people liked it....we made 2 dollars.

 after the show we went down to the fillmore. what an amazing place to see arock show. since it was gbv we got pretty drunk. the band was great and i was pretty bummed that this would be the last time id get to see it. we got on stage for a salty salute. i sang it with bob and then dumped a beer on him...what a great way to see gbv one last time..... 

 PART 4 " I GUESS WERE NOT GOING TO FINISH THE TOUR."

the next day was our last show in s.f. we headed up to height st to meet our friend nick. as hes getting off work and ready for us to give him a ride to the "whiskey party" that we were playing, i suddenly realize that i dont have my keys. pockets are being searched,franticly. "do you have the keys,emily?".....she gives me a look of fear and anger. "no". panic....no spares...no spares... ive got a hole in my pocket. ive been walking up and down height st all fucking night....wouldnt i have felt them if they had slipped down my leg? the park! i had layed in the park earlier...i took off running,leaving nick and emily standing outside the coffee shop....

 i made it to the spot but they werent there. its pretty much dark at this point...i run back to the height and try and re trace my steps..all the way down and all the way back..nothing. i walk back to the car and nick and emily are sitting there looking bummed...i dont need to say a word..they know im keyless....nick sais he has to go. he asks me what im going to do and i look him straight in the eye and say"im going to find my keys." emily and i walk the strip again,in hopes of some something....we run into a cop and ask if he can break into our car for us. he sais no..call a locksmith maybe the keys are locked in the car and we just cant see them...

 as were walking back to the car,emily asks this guy if he has a coat hanger. he runs into his garage and gives her one. we start fiddling with the coathanger. i give up after 30 seconds. emily starts working her magic. suddenly i just grab the handle and open the door. she didnt even know she opened it. no keys in the car...now a cop pulls up behind us. i was kinda waiting for this because we were in a residental area. and wouldnt you know it was the same cop that wouldnt help us out eariler. and of course, he doesnt remember us. once we convince him that thid is our car, hes on his way. i decide to go call a lock smith. emily stays at the car to guard it. im up at the coffee house and im calling. the lock smith needs to know what year my car is, i give him the year i "think" it is. he quotes me 160 bucks...the tour is over....were going home. i decide to go back to the car and grab my registration just to be sure. yep,i was right. were fucking going home.

 now this is where things get strange and very cosmic. from this point on,every fucking second,every move, every word...counts. im dead fucking serious about this too.

back to the story. for some reason, i ask emily to come with me. i needed the company. she thought she should stay and guard the car. i put a little preasure on and she was walking with me. then im like" we should call home and get some money wired to us." emily was bummed on that idea and asked if i would call. i wanted her to call. she reluctanly agreed and dialied the number. i go into the coffee shop and emily stays outside. i ask the guy to use the phone book again and gets all pissy with me because the last time i used it, i left it on a table and didnt give it back. i assure him it wont happen again. as im looking for the locksmiths number, i can hear emily yelling into the phone"were fucked. were in san fransisco and we lost our keys." at that very moment, a street kid was walking by and heard her painful cries. he sais" did you lose some keys? what do they look like?" and he pulls them out of his bag!!!!! emily screams and hugs the guy. i run outta the coffee shop and scream and jump around and stuff!!!! so fucking releaved. the kid said he found them on the sidewalk a couple hours ago. i gave him some money and we started running to the car, keys jangling in my hands.

suddenly i hear a voice."hey man whats your problem?" its the coffee shop guy and hes holding the phone book that i left on the table. he looks really pissed...i just kinda shrug my shoulders and wave bye,bye. now i wonder, is there still time to make to the "whiskey party"?

PART 5"THE WHISKEY PARTY"

we show up at the address that nick gave us. its at this really cool house. its kinda one of those "typical" sf places. the ones that are all skinny and tall and they kinda look victorian. anyway,everbody there is drunk allready. and everone is comming up to us asking to hear the keys story. were feeling like theres no stoping us tonight! we sit down at the kitchen table with some strangers and start taking shots. lots of shots. suddenly, im drunk. as is emily. i stumble out on the deck and see some stairs going up to the rooftop. i stumble up the stairs. when i get to the roof, i suddenly realize that im in the most beautiful place in the world. a full on 360 view of the city at night. it really was breath taking, i run back down to got em and she is blown away as well.

 now its time to play and were shit faced. i bring a bottle up with me and do shots inbetween songs. our set was pretty sucky. i remember fully trying to strum my guitar and missing all the strings,quite a few times. emily is staggering around the room, trying to show off her violin riffs and just sounding really bad. we ended the set by butchering "sweet child o mine". people loved it.

 now is the most fucked up part...we got in the car and drove out of there! i dont really know what i was thinking. i we got on the bay bridge,headed for oakland and i5 south. emily was totally passed out in my lap and i had to keep checking her to make sure she was alive. it was really scary.

i drove and drove...for like 3 hrs. somehow i ended up on 101 south. i truly dont remember how. i really glad i did because it might be a little slower than i5 but its 100 times more amazing.

 i finally pulled over somewhere and passed out at like 430 am. emily was still alive. thats good. but we were about to face one of the worst hangovers of our lives.....

PART 6 "101 SOUTH TO HOLLYWOOD"

for some strange reason, i decided to get up super early and drive. emily was long gone in the back still. it was an amazing drive. just the coast and the palm trees...blue skies. the weather was perfrect. i was begining to feel very so cal. driving through places like san luis obispo and all the other,smaller coastal towns just made me feel so glad that i was doing this. and im on my way to play another show tonight!

 we got into hollywood via up and over laurel canyon blvd. i love it up there in the hills. some pretty nice houses for sure. emily,once again was floored. i like driving around up there. those roads are totally fun and crazy. not quite paved with gold like youd imagine.

we went and hung on the blvd. its a fun place to walk around. during the day, it feels pretty safe with all the tourists and stuff. it seems as soon as the sun sets,the creatures come out.

 we went and found the venue. kaldi coffee and tea. a friend of mine that id met from the tour before hooked it up. the only problem was that the owner didnt know it was tonight and he was kinda bummed at us. i was a little bummed to and secretly i was hoping he would cancel it and let us go.

 no,were playing. no pa at all which was great. it was by far our best show of the tour and there were some people there even. it kinda made me realize that with emily and i playing together, theres a thin line between a good show and a really amazing one,which is what we gave that night. im not sure what happened. but we were good. and people were blown away. and they bought cds!

 after the show i was talking to the owner(who was much nicer now) and we got to talking about joshua tree national park. he was telling me how amazing it was and how it was like an hour and ahalf ouside of l.a. holy shit! i thought it was fucking in utah or something. being a gram parsons fan, ive allways wanted to travel to the place that gram loved so much. the place where he died and the place he was cremated. luckly our sandiego show got canceled so we decided we were going to joshua tree!

that night we ended up staying with some kids who worked at the coffee shop. i walked in and right off the bat, took a huge bong hit. not really the best idea. i got really scared. i didnt know these people and i gt very paranoid...what the fuck am i doing here is all i could think.  i had to go out side for a long time and come down. i went back in and ended up having a great time......we all stayed up super late talking.

one thing i didnt mention is that even though the coffee shop people couldnt pay us, they eneded up giving us a bunch of lattes, some sandwiches and a great, clean safe place to crash. i cant thank them enough. we sorta went into hollywood thinking we were going to meet a bunch of cocksuckers who wouldnt like our music and tell us to get the fuck outta dodge,,instead we got to hang out with some really nice,generous,genuine down to earth folks.  it ruled....

PART 7 "JOSHUA TREE"

we left l.a. pretty early. it was super nice out and the driving was pretty mellow. we headed east, to the desert. we saw lots of windmills and truck stops along the way. as we got closer and closer to joshua tree, the lanscape got weirder and weirder. it felt good to be free from the smog and the hecticness of the city.

 soon, we started spotting joshua trees. they are so weird. they look like some dr. suess trees...really.

 we stopped at the hotel where gram died. it turns out it was the wrong hotel. the guy said "this is the hotel where u2 stayed while they were recording the joshua tree record." he could tell we could care less. i looked on the wall behind him and saw a picture of bono....he directed us to the right hotel.

 we went to the next hotel. we knocked and a big guy came out . "can we see the room where gram died?" "no,"he said"the room is occupied". then he shut the door in our face. we walked around and filmed the place and got on our way.

finally, we made it into the park. unbeliveable! those trees are everywhere! and huge endless piles of rocks. its hard to imagine how those rocks got piled the way they did. picture this. a perfect blue sky, a little breeze and being surrounded by a mars landscape. i really dont know how to discribe it. if youve never been there, just go. its the best place ive ever seen.

 we found the site where gram was cremated. it was great. his lyrics written on rocks by fans. someone had written "here flies the spirit of gram parsons" i think that summed it up. we eneded up playing a bunch of his songs there. my knees were knocking. i was nervous. it was like playing a show for gram

 PART 8 SAN DIEGO

after our amazing time in joshua tree. we headed to san diego. it was about 3 hrs away. emily drove and she was scared.

we showes up at len enders place and hung with him for a while. it was good to see a friend.

the next day emaily and i went to mission beach and somehow got into a fight. dont even know what it was about. we got over it and went on a rollercoaster and jumped in the ocean. it felt super good.

since our sandiego show got canceled, we played in lens apartment for like 6 people. it was a really good time. i was totally nervous. the set was great and people were happy. one of lens friends gave us a bunch of dv tapes for the video camera. stoked.

 we left sandiego feeling refreshed. another long drive to davis ca. to play on the radio!

PART 9: DAVIS CA AND KDVS RADIO 

we got to davis around 6:00 pm and decided since we havent been eating out at all so far that we would go to the in and out burger. fuck, it was so good!

 we had a bunch of hours to kill before the radio show so we fucked off in davis. well  actually, we were trying to get a hold of the radio station to try and figure out when to be there. no luck.

 davis is a cool place. college towny-but way mellow. ive been there twice and had good times both times.

finnally, after walking around all night, we went to the radio station. such an amazing place. its in the basement of the college. you walk down these stairs, thinking your headed for the storage room,but to your delight you find an awesome student run radio station with super nice people and a mother fuck load of records! its pretty heavenly.

 so we meet our engineers and get set up. everything is going smooth so far. as its approaching on air time, i start getting nervous. once again emily plays it cool. the thing about kdvs live shows is that they just give you an hour. no interview or nothin.....so you gotta come up with stuff to say and everything...

 i open up with a solo song and it goes pretty well. my knees were knocking from the get go. then emily and i play one and that helps. we do that back and fourth for the next hour. i remember at certain points being so bummed and just thinking we were blowing really bad. its funny how that works...ive come to find that its never as bad as you think it is when yr playing.

 we finish up and they give us a cd. the engineers were super nice and they liked the show alot. i figured we blew it and i didnt want to hear the recording...i stuffed it in my bag and walked out feeling so fucking tired. it was after midnight.....and time to drive to portland......

PART 10: PORTLAND,KENNIWICK,AND HOME AGAIN....

we drove deep into the night and pulled over somewhere and passed out for a short time. woke up and drove some more. emily took the wheel and i slept. that was nice. i woke up in southern ore.

later in the afternoon, we stopped at a reststop and i decided to check the tires. the two on the back were worn all the way down to the metal mesh poking out all over the place...totally freaky. we threw on our shitty little spare and headed to portland.

 we met up with friends and went to this party that kinda sucked. no show in portland. we wanted to play on our friends porch, but we went to this party instead.......emily and i left early and crashed out.

we had a show in kenniwick wa the next night,but we wernt sure if we were going to make it there. our friend heidi had to buy us new tires. thanks so much,heidi....anyway we had just enough money to either get home or drive to kenniwick. it was a gamble,but we decided to roll the dice. we brought heidi alog for good luck.

after a couple hour, beautiful drive, we made to kenniwick. i spent my last dollar on gas. i was scared.

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss

sss