Day 1
        We all land in ..Sea-Tac.. ..Airport.. coming from all points of the globe, I fly in from ..New York.., Chris is coming from ..Wisconsin.. and Juancho and Manolo are flying in from ....Madrid.., ..Spain..... Chris and I land first and as we wait, shooting the the shit with Scott from The Boss Martians who was kind enough to pick us up, the shit starts to hit the fan! Bryan our tour agent had told me we should get work permits but I had just shrugged it off, who needs work permits for an underground tour like this, there wasnt gonna be much money anyway and it sounded like one big hassle so I didnt give it another thought until the customs agent called me and started asking questions..."Are you waiting to pick up two fellers from Spain? They say they are here to do some shows with you...how many shows are you doing?...will they be getting any compensation for these shows?" Oh shit I could just see the whole tour going up in flames as they send Juancho and Manolo packing back to ....Spain..... I had to think fast and I did..."Well officer as you know this is a tough business and these boys are just coming along to help me do a little promotional tour, I did say I would help them out with their tickets but as you know there aint too much money unless you hit the big time!" That seemed to do the trick and after 20 excruciating minutes where I was thinking of what a jerk I would look like if I had to call Bryan and tell him that we would not be able to play, Juancho and Manolo came waltzing down the escalators and into our welcoming arms! My good friend Ingrid who I had not seen in some 20 years also showed up in her BMW convertible rocket to give me a lift back into town and we all blasted out of Sea- Tac as fast as we could! This was the beginning of my first West Coast tour in some 20 years! We were going to be the openers for The Avengers and Pansy Division for the next 11 days, going from ....Seattle.... to LA.
       After settling into our respective pads we all went out for some drinks and a little R&R! That night we went to the Comet to see who was playing and have a few beers, I was pleasantly surprised to see our good buddies from NY The Weight were in town and they always put on a helluva good show. I was pretty Beat so I went home to get some kip and get ready for rehearsal the next day at the Boss Martians rehearsal studio, Scott and Evan from the Martians have been our buddies ever since we met them at SXSW, we have played with them in Houston and they have been to Spain and whole bunch of times, one of the hardest working bands around. Chris is always busting a gut for Vietnamese food so we had to go and get some, everything was fine until we started playing and Manolo turned 5 shades of green and went down for the count and that was the end of rehearsal...shit tomorrow was our first show and we really needed to warm up! Fortunately after a good night's sleep Manolo recovered and we were able to get a quick rehearsal in before sound check. We were playing The Fun House which is right in front of the Space Needle so it wasnt hard to find! Our driver/merch guy Jay met us at the club in what would be our ride for the next 11 days, a brand new white Ford Expedition that I immediately named "The Great White Shark!" Jay was an old buddy of mine who had worked with the original Beat way back in the mid 80's, We had toured the US numerous times and it was so great to have him back on board, the guys in the band took to him immediately. I was a little nervous because I hadnt seen Penelope since we played together at the Road to Ruins festival in Rome a few years back and I had only met The Pansy Division guys briefly when they had played NY a few months back and I was anxious that we would all get along and have a great tour together.
Load in went fine and we all started the bonding process drummers with drummers bass players ect, The Funhouse is a real rock club and Brian the owner was quick to give everyone a beer and start things off right! Sound check went smooth and my band sounded rocking I was confident we would have a good first show and Brian said they had already sold over 150 tickets I was feeling good! When we hit the stage the joint was rocking and we blasted through our set with our balls to the wall! After it was all said and done we were feeling pretty good about things, Pansy Division and The Avengers both kicked ass and we knew we were a part of a great triple bill!....

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Day 2
After having eggs and biscuits at Ingrid's favorite greasy spoon Jay and I pulled out of ..Lake.. ..Green.. and headed over to Scott's to pick up the boys and head for ....Portland..... The weather was stunning as we left town under blue skies and sunshine....it felt good to back on the West Coast! The Great White Shark was packed to the gills but she still had room to spare and we were all very comfortable as we picked up speed on I-5. Tonight we were playing Dante's in downtown ....Portland..... In no time at all we were pulling into the Hollywood District and we put the shark into park in front of brother Rex and Sarah's beautiful little bungalow house.

Rex is Jay's brother. He is a filmmaker and an old friend from way back. Sarah, his lady keeps a lovely house and as we walked in the aroma from the curried chicken she was cooking up in the kitchen made our mouths water. After a few beers sitting in the sunshine of their garden we chowed down and headed over to Dante's for sound check. ....Portland.... is pretty with lots of rivers running through it, Dante's is downtown in the shady part of town with lots of derelicts hanging around, the Great White Sharks teeth were gleaming as we parked in front, as if to let everyone know, "Don't Fuck With The Shark." Dante's is a big room with all pro sound and a stage that's high up. As we load in with Pansy Division and The Avengers we replay last nights events, it seems like everyone is getting along great. The cast of characters is as follows, Pansy Division: Joel on lead guitar, John on guitar and vocals, Chris on bass and vocals and Luis on drums. Luis and Joel play double duty and are also part of The Avengers an long with Gregg on blistering lead guitar and of course one of the grand dames of punk Penelope Houston on lead vocals. Chris Pansy and I are becoming fast friends and we wind up calling each other everyday from the road to swap travel advisories and road conditions. A big part of our income on this tour is the "Million Dollar Merch" table. John is an expert with merch and The Pansy Division carry an impressive array of swag. They have shirts and CD's and DVD's and John's book that he wrote of their early years on the road, Penelope also runs a tight ship, and they have buttons and stickers and LP's, CD's 45's and she even had an Avengers dress. We needed 3 tables put together to handle all the stuff. Jay was our man for the merch and he did a great job giving the peeps all the inside info on our array of products. We were carrying Nerves CD's and LP's & shirts along with my last 2 records, Flying High and Ribbon of Gold and a lovely 3 color Beat shirt. I was proud to see the whloe thing once it was set up!

Soon it was show time and we were on stage again rocking out. My band has become a rock n roll steam roller, we have been doing shows all over the place for some 3 years now and it has become a greased machine. ....

Our set list for this tour is as follows:
HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE
WORKING TOO HARD
LET ME INTO YOUR LIFE
KIDS ARE THE SAME
I STILL WANT YOU
THAT'S WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT
I DON'T FIT IN
SHE DOESNT WANT TO HANG AROUND WITH YOU
WORK A DAY WORLD
HELEN
HEY DJ
WALKING OUT ON LOVE
USA
ROCK N ROLL GIRL
DONT WAIT UP

Not too shabby if I do say so myself!
The crowd is great and and I can pick out old fans along with new ones singing along as we rip through our set. Next up is Pansy Division and the put on a helluva show! These guys are really funny and their stage banter is hysterical aside from the fact that they are fantastic muscians. When The Avengers hit the stage the crowd is primed and ready. Penelope has a wonderful stage presence and Gregg is an amazing guitarist, his sound fills the room, an avalanche of guitar! They end their set with a great rendition of Paint It Black as Portland's punkers jump around in glee. ....

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Day 3

Next morning Sarah whips up a huge mess of scrambled eggs and fresh fruits, hot coffee, OJ and toast which have out on the veranda under sunny skies! Life on the road can be tough sometimes! We drain the moca java and pile into the Shark and make tracks for ....Medford..... As we headed out of ..Portland.. we pointed The Great White Shark towards ....Medford.... and slapped on the cruise control. Nothing like being on the open road in the US of A! Four lanes wide open and smooth sailing. When we travel we love to sample the local fair and we were in good taqueria country. After a few near misses we found a great road side taqueria that had great food and the price was right. We chowed down some burritos and tacos and piled back into the Shark and made for the Musichead. We were the first to arrive and at first glance it looked like an abandoned record store, we didn't even see any posters for the show so we were doubtful we were even in the right place...but we were. Once the promoter showed up and opened the place up we could see that it was a massive record store with an adjacent area with a nice size stage, all we needed now was some peeps, this was going to be an all ages show on Sunday in Medford out in the middle of nowhere! The Pansy Division and Avengers all showed up looking doubtful but we loaded in set up the gear. Outside of being consummate musicians all the guys in my band love to collect records so they had a field day going through the enormous amount of great old vinyl records that were stacked up all over the place. After some Chinesse food next door it was show time!
The record store owner had a band called Virgin Release and they opened the show and did a good job of it. The band that had opened for us in ....Portland...., Silent Majority never showed up so we hit the stage at about 8pm and played for a handful of appreciative kids. The sound was surprisingly good and our set went down smooth. Pansy Division hit the stage and then things started to go haywire, the electricity started to cut out and then the PA went down, not to be daunted the Pansy Division showed their great skill and showmanship and made it through their set with flying colors! I was very impressed at their professionalism! Penelope and company carried on and with more technical difficulties put on a good show despite all the set backs. Afterwards we loaded out and when Penelope handed me $73 we grinned at each other and said.."Well at least got gas money!" ....

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Day 4
We were looking at our one day off and we were planning to spend it at the Jay Thompson ranch in ....Redding.... Califonia....EEEYYYYDOGGIES Giddiyup...move em out lets hit the trail! We put the pedal to the metal and The Great White Shark was eating up the apshfalt all the way down I-5 to ....Redding...., we got there at about 2 AM and woke up Jay's lovely wife Olivia who was more then happy to have her hubby back home safe and sound!
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Well hot diggidy dog we got a day off! We woke up surrounded by mountains, sun shinning down in the outskirts of ....Redding..... First order of business for me after a hot cup of Joe was a dive into the pool buck naked! Jay's ranch was sprawling and the boys spread out nicely, Chris and Manolo took the downstairs den and Juancho and I had our own bedrooms, where Jay and his brothers used to be long ago. Olivia treated us to a nice breakfast of quesadias and fresh fruit and then it was off to do a little sight seeing compliments of our hostess of the mostest Jay. First stop was the Whiskytown Damn inaugurated by John F Kennedy himself, we stood there listening to his speech he had made so many years ago, for any American it is a moving experience to hear JFK's voice again after so long.

Then we went to see the bridge that the famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed over ....Turtle.. ..Bay..... It was lovely and we walked across it and saw all the big geese swimming around as the fly fishermen fished away...delightful to say the least. Then it was off to meet the legendary Steve Huff bassist extraordinaire of The Beat and my com padre from way back. We cruised downtown passing the old Thompson Big and Tall clothes store that Jay had the unfortunate duty of closing down after three generations of service to the community and we rooted Steve out of his office where he does soft ware trouble shooting. Steve appeared to be glad to see us and he agreed to join us later for a tri-tip BBQ at the Thompson ranch. Then we need to get supplies so Jay took us to the best spot to stock up on booze and tobacy. Back that the ranch Jay's kids had the grill going and old friend Bob Sell showed up with his private stock of home brewed liqours...peach shnaps, plum whisky and god knows what else but it was good and it was strong. After shots and beers and shots and more beers it was dinner time and we all helped ourselves to big portions of Tri-Tips and beans and corn on the cob, salad and then peach cobbler for dessert...yeah we was living large! After all that good food and booze it was bed time for the nipper...tomorrow was another day....

 

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Day 5....

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We pulled The Great White Shark out of Jay's Ranch and headed down the mountains and back onto I-5 direction ....Sacramento..... Tonight it would be just us and Pansy Division at The Fire Escape in ..Citrus Heights... The sun was shining and we were in good spirits after all the good spirits we had! Olivia had whipped us up a great breakfast of eggs and beans with tortillas, OJ and lots of hot coffee to fuel our drive, what a lovely lady she was! The Shark was shimmering in the sunlight as we barreled down the road. We mad good time and as we pulled into Citrus Heights I spied a road side Mexican joint that fit the bill so we pulled over for yet more good Mexican food! You can never get enough burritos! The Fire Escape had all the trappings of a good ol rock n roll joint. The sound man knew his stuff and for me it was one of the best sounding gigs we did. The joint wasn't too big so there was no need to mike up the instruments, it pure unadulterated rock n roll. There was a local band opening whose name escapes me at the moment but they had members from The Mr. T Experience and they did a great version of Paper Dolls from The Nerves. It was the first night that I really got to listen to Pansy Division's set and they really rocked, they are all great musicians and I was really happy we were on the road with them, aside from the fact that they are all just the nicest fellows you could ever want to meet. John was a fan of mine from way back so he would pick my brains about the old days, it was really kinda of touching the way he would want to know things about my past which he seemed to know a lot about. Cris from Pansy Division and I were well into becoming fast friends and Joel and Luis too, it was one big mutual admiration society all the way around! After the show we had a few more beers, chatted with the fans who all had been thoroughly satisfied, loaded up the Shark and we hit the road for ....Berkley.... and our good friend Eric Blakely's house. We arrived at about 3 am and Eric was waiting up for us. We had to completely unload the Shark for security measures and then figure out how all of us where going to sleep in Eric's very small apartment! Thank god I had had the foresight to get Jay to buy a Coleman blow up bed for the trip, tonight we put it to good use! Soon we were all snoring away with rock n roll music in our dreams! We were half way through the tour and it was going by way to fast!

Day 6
We all woke up a bit stiff from sleeping on Eric's floor, although we did give the one free bed to Jay and Manolo, got to take care of the driver and the talent! After some good Java we loaded up The Shark and headed for ..Santa Cruz.., the weather was still holding beautifully, clear blue skies and lots of sunshine, your typical ..Northern California.. day! The ride to ....Santa Cruz.... was gorgeous and we got there early enough to take a stroll on the beach, Juancho and I couldn't resit so we jumped in! After yet another Mexican meal at Las Palomas we made it over to the club. We took a slight detour as we got lost into the mountains of ....Santa Cruz...., really spectacular with the huge Eucalyptus trees! There was no place to turn around so we pulled off onto what looked like some old railway tracks which scared the shit out of Chris who immediately jumped out of the Shark..."You guys are fucking nuts!" I was a bit scared myself as we were in between the railroad tracks and a cliff!
The Blue Lagoon is situated on main street right down the street from The Catalyst where The Beat used to play all the time back in the day.  Tonight we were back to our usual line up with The Avengers, Pansy Division and The PCB. After sound check we all took off for a stroll down main street and Juancho and I picked up some new Converses, mine where bright red leather! The show was good and everyone was in good form. It was so cool to see Penelope dancing to our set along with Chris and John who always seemed to be watching when we played. The bands where getting closer and closer with each show until it seemed like we were one big family...it was the perfect ....California.... vibe!
Our good buddy Alan Ziffer showed up with his wife and a bevy of beautiful babes in tow, they took to Juancho immediately calling him Nacho, "We want Nacho!" That has become his new nick name! It was late when we left town and headed towards our good buddy John Padilla's house in ....San Jose.... to spend the night. When we booked this tour we knew that it was going to be crucial to the budget that we stay with friends and not in hotels. At the outset I was unsure how we would do this as I had not been on the west coast for many years, but friends came out of the wood work to help us out and in the end it really made the trip very special, we were the recipients of much generosity! We pulled into ....San Jose.... at about 3 am and went directly to sleep, I had stayed with John before when I was doing House Concerts with my good buddy John Wicks(more on him later) so I had my own bedroom and got a good nights sleep in a big comfortable bed! ....

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Day 7....

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In the morning after hot showers and fresh brewed coffee we headed back to ....Oakland.... and The Uptown Club. Everything was gleaming in downtown ....Oakland.... as we pulled the Great White Shark up to the curb in front of the Uptown Theatre. Across the street the marquis of The Rex Theatre was flashing colours all over the street, the sky was that blue azure of the on coming night, in front of the stage entrance door stood a beautiful blond in a blue t-shirt. She smiled sweetly at us and welcomed us to the Uptown! Yeah I love rock n roll baby! The Uptown is the real deal, great stage and an all pro attitude. We load in and kill time until the show…occupational hazard. I had a bunch of friends that would be coming to the show, people I had not seen in years! My good buddy from radio Dave Logan showed up and we shot the shit and had a cocktail, Steve Owen my friend and compadre from the days when I was sucking eggs in Frisco back in the late 80’s showed up too. After a few more drinks it was show time…as I walked through the crowd I spied one of our oldest and truest fans from the way back machine, he was wearing his sparkling white Paul Collins Beat shirt in red letters from a show we did at The Old Waldorf back in 1980 something! We ripped through our set which by now we could play in our sleep, Manolo was all over the stage tearing his leads off in big chunks, the band just keeps getting better and better it is a joy to be a part of it. Juancho picked ....Oakland.... to debut his referee’s shirt with black and white vertical stripes, I was a little leery at first but everyone seemed to get it as Juancho whistled and made the classic hand signal for a foul! It was late when we lest the Uptown but I was feeling good, the warm ....California.... evening breeze kissing my skin. Jay and I followed Eric Blakely back to his pad in Berkeley and Chris, Manolo and Juancho headed to the ....Mission.... in San Fran with a couple of beautiful babes. All was well here in our rock n roll fantasy!

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Day 8....

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We slept in, had some good coffee and headed over to my good buddy Steve Owens pad in the outer ....Mission..... It brought back old memories as I climbed the back stairs to his house, this is where I had stayed for awhile after my first divorce, things where pretty bleak back then, a far cry from where they were today! Steve is really a great guy and we sat in his living room, Eric, Jay and I , just trading licks on the guitar and dobro, which Steve plays so well. I was happy to see my two old friends, Eric and Steve, who had never met each other, become friends, music being the common bond. We sipped on some cool micro brewed beers and let the afternoon just drift by, just what the doctor ordered after the miles that we had logged on the road. All too soon it was time to go, we cruised down ....Mission.... until ....16^th Street.... and picked up the rest of the band and headed over to Bottom of the Hill, out in the flats, now trendy but back in the day when The Nerves were playing you would only find drunks, bikers and sailors! Tonight would be packed! It was getting close to the end of the tour and we could all feel it, no one wanted this ride to end. The friendship between the bands just kept getting tighter and tighter, I had really become very fond of Chris from the Pansy’s and it always gave me warm spot when I would see him watching our show and making sure everything was ok! Tonight Penelope asked Manolo to come up and play with them on their encore, Money. It was great and you can see it here on You Tube! We rocked the house hard and there where tons of fans from back in the day, it was a very satisfying moment for me! My good buddy Chris Von Sneidern showed up as well as Radio Icon Dennis the Menace ............along with Paul Kopf and our good buddy the legendary Cyril Jordan from the Flaming Groovies and the now Magic Christians!

The girls where all beautiful and the guys were looking cool, SF is still a cool place to be! Chris had a whole bunch of friends show up, that guy knows more cute looking chicks then anyone I know! A good time was had by all and at the end of the night some dude handed me a king size pharmaceutical joint in a nice plastic tube case! I smoked it the last night of the tour in LA with Juancho and Manolo and we got completely ripped! We drove back to John Padilla’s house so we would be that much closer to our next stop, ....Santa Ana.....

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Day 9....

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The White Shark was cruising down I-5 towards ....Santa Ana...., it was hot and we had the windows down to avoid the AC which would all but render my voice useless. By the way my voice has been holding up great I was singing like a veritable bird! The waist ....land.. of ..Southern California.... drifted by and prepared us for the evenings festivities! ....

We pulled into my dear friend Joan’s luxurious sprawling ranch style house complete with swimming pool and chilled out while we had home made margaritas and relived old times with Joan. She had been to most all of The Beats East Bay shows and even had an old set list framed on her wall! After a quick dip in her pool we made it over to The Galaxy, a huge club with a capacity of at least 1000 people. This was one of those gigs where they paid you a ton of money and hardly anybody showed up and you spent the whole night wondering what the hell you were doing here! We survived the ordeal and left the next morning after coffee and bagels which Joan graciously made for us.....

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Day 10 ....

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This was it! This was the wrap! The big time playing Los Angeles on The Sunset Strip how many dreams had been made and broken here, why even I had spent a good part of my youth chasing down the dream right here in Los Angeles. The Echo was located minutes away from where Steve Huff and I had relentlessly toiled day after day making The Beats first demo which would become The Beat’s first album and take its place in rock n roll history. The White Shark was parked out front as had been its custom every single night of this tour! The Avengers and Pansy Division were all here and there was a special feeling in the air, everyone knew it was the last show but no one wanted to say anything except that we were all wishing it could just go on and on. There was line to get in and the place started to fill up fast and it was a Sunday night. Jack Lee was there, Patrick from Alive Records showed up Pamela Lillig from Bug Music with her boyfriend Art, booking agent extraordinaire made the scene along with our good friend John Wicks of The Records and his lovely girlfriend Valerie amongst a host of other luminaries, fans and curious on lookers. My good buddy Javier Estrella showed up for the third time on this tour, he had been in ..Oakland.., ....San Francisco.... and now here in LA. Javier has probably seen more Beat shows then anyone I know, he is always right upfront dancing and sweating and singing along with every song! I opened the set with a short dedication to my good friend Jack Lee and we ripped into Hanging on the Telephone for the last time on this tour. Penelope and Chris and John danced for our whole set, Gregg stood and watched us as we went through our paces and then it was over and we were back in the dressing room all covered in sweat! Pansy Division and The Avengers in turn put out there all for the LA fans and record moguls and soon we where all standing out in front of the club, the gear was all packed and it was time to say good bye! Gregg from The Avengers summed it up the best when he said…Come on guys, lets just keep on going, were just getting warmed up!....

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The Avengers/Pansy Division/ Paul Collins Beat 2009  West Coast Tour

SA 9.11.09      Seattle, WA    The Funhouse

SA 9.12.09      Portland, OR    Dante's

SU 9.13.09      Medford, OR @ Musichead

TU 9.15.09      Sacramento, CA @  Fire Escape

WE 9.16.09      Santa Cruz, CA @ The Blue Lagoon

TH 9.17.09      Oakland, CA @ The Uptown

FR 9.18.09      San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

SA 9.19.09      Santa Ana, CA @ the Galaxy

SU 9.20.09      Echo Park, CA @ The Echo....

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SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

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Dagger Live Review

Dantes, Portland, OR
After a stint in Spain in the 80’s and 90’s (where he continued to release records) power pop guy Paul Collins came back in 2007 with the terrific FLYIN’ HIGH record in the Get Hip label. He has a new one but I’ve not heard it yet but his set tonight , a mix of old and new tunes , was strong (let’s also not forget this guy was in The Nerves with Peter Case back in the 70’s) with lots of good rock and roll mojo. I noticed “Rock N’ Roll Girl” and “Walking Out on Love” (which The Exploding Hearts covered) and the band, Collins especially, showed the kind of frenetic energy usually reserved for guys half his age. It’s nice to see Collins doesn’t want to merely be a relic but writes new songs just as powerful as his old one.

Eva Silverman's photos oa The Uptown show Oakland CA

Kristy Duncan's photos at The Bottomof the Hill show San Francisco CA