i've been gone less than a week.  is it too soon to give you an update, gentle reader?  probably.  but here it is anyway.
first show was saturday night at viento y agua in long beach - or the lbc, as i like to call it.  (i'm pretty sure i made that up.)  viento is a great place and they gave me a bagel sandwich with a lot of veggies on it, for which i was grateful.  in addition to our little show, there was also a benefit going on at the same time for needy kids needing toys at christmas time or something like that...sue me.  also happening was an energy drink promotion, which seemed redundant to have at a coffeeshop, but no one asked me.  the drink is called CRUNK!!! and it comes in sugar-full and sugar-free varieties.  it's carbonated and it's pinkish reddish in color.  the CRUNK!!! people were very friendly.  i was on stage and mentioned something about the dangers of double fisting a triple espresso foamy redeye and CRUNK!!!, and also told the good people of v+a not to crunk and drive.  god, i'm funny.  our sets went well, i played after a guy named good avery, then leila played a few by herself, then i joined her on guitar.  v+a guru and soulful singer angie evans was our host for the evening (thanks angie and justine) and took us out for mushroom tacos afterwards.  we had been driving all day and thusly were feeling a bit tired and lame by the time midnight rolled around, so it was off to bed.  day one done.
next day we headed up to venice to hang with one of leila's friends and have a look at california's finest.  it's so strange to me that the venice beach boardwalk exists every day.  it's always seemed bizarre to me, but this time it just really wouldn't let go.  every day!  stayed the night in venice, back to long beach on monday, drove up to santa cruz tuesday for show 2. 
show 2 was at a place called bocci's cellar, and went a little something like this.  we were supposed to play from 8-11, which is a long time any way you cut it.  free meal provided by the restaurant - very nice.  pasta in tomato sauce that was more like v8 - not that nice but that clearly didn't stop me from eating it.  bocci's has a bocci ball court area in what appears to be a former greenhouse or stable - hard to say which.  leila and i played, and i would say that i thoroughly trounced her, but that would be a lie.  i think we tied.  here's us looking awesome playing bocci.


went back into the bar/restaurant area to set up, where there were about three people hanging out plus two bartenders.  good ratio for quick service.  one of the patrons was a very friendly and very very very elderly gentleman who, upon hearing me tuning up my guitar, turned around and said, "MUUUUUUUUUUU-SIC!   MUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-SIC!"  he also told leila he had the inside track on the hip music scene.  next time we'll be hitting him up for advice on where to play.  3 hours later the show was done, and the owner/manager told us we were very good, and he would know because he's been doing this for 30 years and he once fired kenny loggins.  so there's that. 
since we didn't know anyone in santa cruz, we decided to suck it up and drive into san francisco after the show.  two white knuckled steering wheel death grip hours later, we arrived.  no shows in the big city, so we get to hang around and not do much, which suits me just fine.  more time for bloggin!  last night we hung out with a few of my friends and got tickets to the giants/cubs game.  i love ball games.  i had stuffed myself at pizzeria delfina in the mission before the game so i didn't have my usual hot dog for fear of internal combustion.  we had "view seats," about 15 rows closer to the field than the goodyear blimp, but it really was a good view.  it turned into a good game, a few home runs, including one into the water.  cubs won 6-5 in case you care.  since our seats were so high up, we were basically sitting in the fog as it rolled in.  after the game ended, there was a fireworks extravaganza with a soundtrack of some marches, a little journey, and some mariah carey just for good measure.  drank a few beers, headed back to our san fran home, more sleep.   tonight we're heading over to el rio to see my buddy joe stevens (half of coyote grace) play some music at 7 pm - you should come.  tomorrow we head to sonoma county to play at ace in the hole for super happy freedom hour at 4:30 along with coyote grace, and onward from there.  you should come to that too. 
does anyone else have a floppy jeans problem?  i have this pair of jeans i wear a lot (like all the time) but i have to wash them a lot because after wearing them once they get floppy and baggy and butt cracktastic.  any advice?  it is becoming quite annoying.  so annoying that i think about it whilst blogging.  i'll stop.
that should just about do it, i think.  oh yeah -  we had shows canceled on us for unknown reasons in spokane and salt lake city, so if you have ideas for places we should try to hit up last minute, let me know.  happy 3rd of july - don't forget to celebrate america's independence tomorrow by blowing up a small part of it.
cr