Greetings my dear friends, greetings from the lobby of the Hyat hotel on Sunset blv, L.A. The same hotel where the members of the legendary Led Zeppelin drove their motorcycles through the aisles of the top three floors three decades ago. This city makes me feel like a little kid in an all-u-can-eat candy buffet....

The trip over here was like an colonic treatment; relatively easy but still a pain in the ass and it seemd to last forever. But with some (well actually quite many...) gin tonics to help us with our "aeroplane tutuksi" it was quite ok. After the ridicilously slow passport cheks at L.A.X everything has been a total blast. Weve done a good share of "L.A tutuksi" , seen some great bands, eaten more food than in the past four months together and ,oh yes, played a gig.
The gig went well. Under the circumstances, it went really f&Bng well. The sound check time was very limited and we really had to struggle to get our gear on stage and together, but we had our own super-crew Toni, Jaska and Pasu with us , and those guys really did an unbelievable job in getting the whole shit together for us. It really felt like it was our own stage, even though there was three other bands gear on stage. So kudos and hot-dogs for the crew. U guys polka. No...rock. U guys ROCK!
The gig went pretty much like planned. Id like to think that we kicked serious ass, but I guess Im a little biassed to say that. We had a good time and the feedback was good. All we can hope for now is to some big music biz dude to feel that tingeling KWAN-magic in his heart and nipples and sign us big time. The crowd was mostly corporate people (which in this case is good) but we had atleast one true fan come over, Shae from here in L.A somewhere. It was really neat to have her there.

The trip is coming to its end. Everyone is heading home tonite, except for Mariko who is going to N.Y for a week, and me whos heading to Phoenix for a fiew days. It s been sweet and even if nothing happens busines wise, itll be one hellova memory. All u finnish friends, or apinat, as I like to call u dudes and dudettes, hope to see u soon at the upcoming gigs and festivals.

Ill end this post with a great line I learned from some local dude one night while doing some heavy duty L.A tutuksi at the Rainbow:

"Kind words are necessary"

They are!

-tatu/KWAN