Navigation Proclamation!

I apologize for the lack of updates… Internet has been scarce. And even when we do get it, it’s usually fleeting or leeched in some way… I promise this will be a long one.

I’m currently sitting in the passenger seat next to Brandon on our way down to Boise for our show tonight at the Neurolux. It being around a nine-hour drive, I decided to knock out a super post. We just pumped some gas, and it was only $2.91 a gallon. Not bad for flatland cow town. The air has an overwhelming stench of pies here. Cow pies. The past few days have really been incredible, and it’s going to be hard to remember everything I want to (only because there’s so much!), let alone forget the experience. Rewind a bit…

San Francisco is cold.

Very cold. It’s so cold it’s deceiving. I mean we were hitting temps in the 50’s or something in San Fran, and once we drove over eight hours north, it was back up to 100 or so. Wasn’t expecting that. That was probably the worst car drive I’ve ever been on. I mean, being in legitimate fear of a heat stroke is never a good thing.

A few things dominated our San Francisco experience… Wii, general over expenditure and two mediocre shows. We’ll go in order. I had no desire to play Wii at first until I saw the kind of excitement it provided Ryan with, who really gets into the game and throws arms around as if he were bowling in real life, and not in a simulated game out of the comfort of a living room. But I started to bowl and boy was that fun. A flick of the wrist could change everything, and I definitely saw a few turkeys… Damn the Binns! He defies the laws of nature by getting better as he gets increasingly drunk. It’s some sick exponential relationship…

I spent too much money. I need to learn a new dance move… the old reach, pull and pay is getting tiresome, not to mention expensive. Most of it was for stupid things, so now I’m trying to budget myself a little better and keep things down to $12 a day. It’s hard. I like beer.

The shows were interesting. The first was at the Make Out Room. That was a cool place. The stage was on two levels, so I was raised up and if my feet had eyes they would be looking at everyone else’s heads. I didn’t really like it. But the show went fine. I wasn’t satisfied with my performance, even though the crowd seemed to have fun. I just wasn’t happy with San Francisco shows in general. That place is unforgiving and confusing and many times unwelcoming. Who the hell starts a street on one side of the city, stops it abruptly, and starts it again in an entirely different section? It seemed like the people that lived there didn’t even know where they were going. Worst direction givers ever.

In the day of rest we had between the two shows, we went and explored Haight Street. It’s kind of overdone now, but still a cool place. I met a sarcastic old bum who said, “isn’t it funny how this used to be the Mecca of peace and love and now you can’t even get a bit of change from anyone, funny right?” all whilst laughing and pointing his cup towards me. Ryan and I also bought this horrible hip-hop record from a guy that free styled for us on the street. Talk about a waste of $5. Amoeba Music is sweet, and it was nice to see what everyone talks about. Right outside of the store we ran into a few guys who were also touring, but from New Zealand! They’re called Malenky Robot, and the conversations lead to us realizing we’re pretty much en route to the same place. Seattle… dur.

The second show was at the Edinburgh Castle Pub, which would have been awesome had people shown up. We ended up not charging at the door and just letting everyone in for free, which was perfectly fine. The other two bands we played with were incredible. There was a two-piece called Planets similar to The Locust and Hella, with just drums and bass. Both were fantastic players. They wore all white spandex suits with white sheets behind them, a white spray painted drum set, and random video footage displayed over them. I thought it needed fine-tuning. But it was a cool idea nonetheless. It was their first real show, and for that I give them two thumbs up and a kick in the ass for being so good. The second band that played was Chairlift from Brooklyn. Now those guys were great! It sucks that their EP is shitty. The live show was really captivating, and Caroline the singer has a fucking gorgeous voice. I can’t wait to see them again. How do I feel about our set? We played like shit. But who cares. I can’t really tell what the hell’s going on from behind the drum set anyway.

Oh I almost forgot! Ruby’s friend Andrew from San Fran, who’s been to the Binns’ Inn several times, just randomly showed up at the show! He didn’t even know we were playing, and came for Chairlift, but it was a pleasant surprise. We had no way to contact him, so coincidence/fate hooked that shit up.

I was content with leaving San Francisco. It’s not a place that I enjoyed very much… It’s the third time I’ve been there. I’d be willing to give it another chance though.

TO BE CONTINUED…