RC ROADTRIP
Day 5
Molly Malone's (Hollywood)
The three of us got out this morning and followed Avram to a bakery in Emeryville. We miraculously managed to not run out of gas before finding a gas station in one of the worst parts of Oakland, picked up Pete from the BART station and headed out for the long drive to LA. The 5 drive is totally boring. We gazed out at the overcast gloom, cleaned up the van, watched dvd's, cellphoned, typed up a lot of this diary, stopped for Carl's Jr, and listened to the Big Star tribute and Pete's ipod on shuffle. I never cracked either of the books I borrowed for the trip. We all missed the most exciting part of the ride, because we were all sleeping. Apparently, Dylan closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he opened them, a huge truck was a lot closer. Eek.
I would've been fine skipping LA on the drive home but the guy at Molly Malone's liked us, especially since we'd just done a festival with Flogging Molly, who got their start and their name there. We had plenty of time to set up in their very cool room and hang with a bunch of friends who came out to watch (thanks guys!). Unfortunately, the other bands don't have any earlybird friends and only a few folks doing open mic next door peeked their head in. No one told us that 8pm on Monday night isn't party time in Hollywood. No matter, we played unquestionably our best set of the trip and the sound onstage and outfront was really good. I wore my "Kiss Me I'm Jewish" t-shirt and wished everyone a good Yom Kippur. A good way to end things.
We were too late for the guys to see how cool Farmer's Market is but Chipotle tasted really, really good. I drove the whole way home while everyone else slept and only got a little lost going back to the freeway. Listening to Zumpano's "Look What The Rookie Did" seemed an appropriate way to finish the trip. As tired as we were, we unloaded the van and found all kinds of stuff we hadn't seen in days, except for Andrew, who's missing a bag of stuff.
So, once again, nothing incredible happened and nothing awful happened. Thanks to cancellations and folks not getting back to me, the whole thing was arranged pretty last minute, so I'm glad we were able to arrange what we did (6 shows in 5 days). More than anything, it was just good to get out and about. Even when we played to practically no one, everyone watching came up and said nice things afterwards. Plus, with our band fund and what we made on the road, we didn't pay for a single meal, drop of gas or motel room. So, it was a five day all-expenses paid roadtrip. Fun. See you next time.
Adam
October 3, 2006
More photos: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/peterbayard/album?.dir=b80ascd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/peterbayard/my_photos
"Because I'm talkin' about the road."
-Tenacious D