Final Blog

Tonight we leave for Lake Arrowhead for our last weekend before Scott and I leave for the east, and Mark starts to work in the parts department at the Honda dealership. The photos above are of our last summer show until we meet again in Chico. We have had an unreal experience, and have had a silly time blogging for those interested in our stories. We would like to leave you with a video that really sums up the past couple months.
Love, us.

As Your Manager...

The past 4 days we have been in San Luis Obispo and Goleta. We have a lot to write, so we have structured the blog in a way that separates the trip into different events written by all three of us. Being serious blognerds, we pride ourselves over this kind of clarity and organization.

Our first show was at The Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo and me and Mark were one act of about 7 that night, so we played only a few songs. The owner then asked us to come back to do a full show on Friday. We remained calm to show him that he asking us this was standard, but later I showed an unacceptable amount of excitement. That night we stayed at a friend of Mark's house, where we watched Step it Up 2. Simply genius. The next day we practiced all afternoon before a show that night at a coffeehouse called Linnaeas. Scotty played with us for about 5 of the songs, and it added a New Jersey flare that shocked the coastal listeners. We met a pair of friends who enjoyed the music, and they invited us to stay at their house. Before we did that, we went to Woodstock's Pizza for drinks. Chico's Woodstock's is much better. Scott will continue..

-Pat

It is an understatment to say that we met a pair of friends. We met two of the funniest and friendliest people that I have encountered in quite some. Immediately, we found ourselves in a perilously humourous position, sitting on a strange roof in a strange neighborhood with some of us smoking Chinese cigarettes. It was an absolutely great time. After a late night of stories and outlandish cartoons, it was time to pick our sleeping spaces. Pat lost in both odds and evens and rock, paper, scissors, and was "forced" to occupy a sleep area known as "the nook." The nook (from the foolish outsider) appears as to be a mess of blankets and dust, but in actuality, Pat described it as a sanctuary of sleep heaven. I slept on a small blow up pad and snapped pictures of cranky late-night Mark (He's putting pressure on me to delete this comment, growing ever crankier while he stands over me). I was thrilled to have gotten to play with Pat and Mark at Linnea's and we carried that over into a great show on Friday night at the Clubhouse. We ended with the rip-roaring "That's all I have to say about that" and we had the pleasure of hanging out with all of our new friends after the show. The evening seemed to be normal (which is a relative term for this tour) until Pat tapped me on the shoulder and asked for my shoe...Mark will continue.

-scott

Late one evening after our show at the Clubhouse we found ourselves at the bar. A night of free drinks led to the inevitable quoting of Old Greg. In honor of Greg himself, Pat asked Scott for his shoe and ordered a shot of Baileys....the rest is history. Later on in the week we got totally lucky and were able to book a one night stay at the classy Bacara Resort, just north of Santa Barbara, free of charge. Thanks to a family connection to Honda. We literally lived like kings for about a day and a half, it was glorious. We met an owl named Bubba, ate classy foods, drank classy drinks, wore classy robes, and did other assorted classy things. It was a lovely change from the Motel 6 in Isla Vista the night before. On Saturday we had a show in the small coastal town of Grover Beach. Then we drove back to my house in LA and relaxed. Great week.

-mark

Scotty Jazz FIngers

Mark bought a stand up bass today, which is the most intimidating instrument ever. Scott faced the scary beast as shown below. We played at an open mic called Kulak's Woodshed tonight. Well..good night.

Pat

Activities

Mark and I played a show at the Verity Room opening up for a local band called The Harm. Mark played his nylon like he was combing a pony's mane, as I sang, begging people to differentiate me from Neil Young and the lead singer from the Format. My friend Scott sat in the back, babysitting dusty merchandise.

We went to a party last night after a delicious barbeque at the Robertsons. The party was actually a birthday party for McLovin from SuperBad who lives here in LA, no joke. Our friend/drummer Bob Reynolds joined us at both events. We haven't seen him in a long time, and celebrated his return from Alaska with a concert in Mark's living room, in which Bob played whatever percussive object in sight including the pepper shaker, rice in tupperware, and knocking on the coffee table with his fist. It was a great, nostalgic show.

We leave for San Luis Obispo this Tuesday for a few shows. I look forward to that adventure. I hear it is beautiful there.

Pat

It was all a dream

Or I would like to believe it was. small May-June compilation.
-lil' jonny jump-ropes

We'll be gone 'till November

I came to California to join the tour on July 7th, and I must say what I've experienced thus far has been an absolute blast. After traveling from Michigan to California, I was welcomed into Mark's home. I've eaten more (and more healthily) here than I have in years. I arrived to a lot of cool relaxing activities i.e. swimming, heading to an awesome record store in Hollywood, and catching up with Pat and getting to know Mark. Pat and Mark had basically just played for a month straight and it seemed as if a little down time was definitely welcome. The guys played some new tunes at an open mic at the Verity Room in Canoga Park. The crowd was full of fun musicians and they were more than receptive. People were happy to hear that we were going to back on Friday night for a full show. I've promised Mark's parents that I will pay them rent if they let me live this life of luxury here forever...they seem interested. Tonight, some rehearsing took place along with an unexpected (Sean Paul-esque) version of an old Pat Hull classic. The video should provide you with a solid idea of what we've been up to.

Scott

Down to Los Angeles

That's me, on a raft, in an underground pool, at Mark's LA pad. This makes me happy.

I went for a bike ride today, my first mountain bike adventure. It was titillating. It was actually frightening. The unstable feeling of riding down a steep rocky hill reminded me of when my friends coerced me to chug egg nog during Christmas time. I was scared and expressed this to Mark. I said we need to slow down. He understood and put his arm around me like a father whose son just could not jump in the deep end of the pool.

We played at our first show tonight. It was at a bar called 14 below. It was the kind of bar that dimmed the lights a single step above pitch black to really let you know that you should be depressed and drink as much as possible. So I had a frothy Guinness. We played a good set. We then watched the next band who was a Swedish band called Southern Skyline that sang country songs. What a life it is.