somewhere between hawaii and montreal

Caught briefly in LA for a couple of days, between Hawaii and Montreal. Go Go Gadget JetSetter…

It’s the end of September, and we get one last black kite practice tonite before hitting the Pop Montreal stage on Friday night. A little nervous, but mostly in a good way.

September moved by pretty fast – some good times and some bad bad times. Like the black kites playing a show in Modesto with the Solar Powered People – and the Foreign Resort from Denmark.

We played a nice set at a well attended show, so everything seemed alright, but that was Saturday evening… Sunday morning getting ready to head back, we noticed Alan’s car, broken glass, and that was bad. Guitars and other gear stolen. Luckily they didn’t get everything, but still there was some heavy value, sentimental and financial, attached to what was gone, and it kinda put a big cloud of depression on everyone’s day. For whatever reason – this happens a lot in the modesto area, but nobody bothered to mention that to us, which kinda sucked.

Shelley hadn’t been feeling too well the whole weekend, and then around 2 am on Tuesday morning, it was suddenly really bad, and we went to the emergency room, where we sat and waited until about 6 am or so – when she finally got a little doctor time – we were there until 10 am, and they weren’t sure what exactly was wrong, so we went home, and just let whatever it was slowly get better… luckily it didn’t get worse.

So Shelley stayed home for a couple of days, I bussed to work for a couple of days, and then a few more days… and then Nick Cave.

Nothing like a Nick Cave concert to make a shitty week a whole lot better.

The Hollywood Bowl was packed, but not full, as we got there about halfway through the Spiritualized set. We sat in sound, and waited… and then the Bad Seeds hit the stage, full of thunder and fire and proceeded to just hit everything just right. Nick Cave in his western bad man moustache, Warren Ellis and his scary beard, lights and guitars and rock. The hit most of the new material, throwing in some nice moves and banter along the way, and managing to pull out some songs from Murder Ballads, Your Funeral, My Trial, Henry’s Dream, The Firstborn Is Dead, Tender Prey, Let Love In… so yeah. No complaints here.

Then it was my turn to get sick, and I’m still nursing a little chest cold – nothing like hanging out in Hawaii and coughing constantly…

We had a nice Daichan dinner with Audra and Brennan, did some band practices, did some el pollo loco… and then on the 24^th we took off a little early from work and headed straight for LAX and a pre-flight Bloody Mary.

Restless sleepless airplane flight to the island Oahu, and then it’s 4 days of the Best Blueberry Cream cheese scones ever, sunshine and sunsets… beaches, oceans, rainbows, palm trees, and tuna poke. We even ventured into Costco, where it was huge and empty and wonderful – and a poke bar. Found our Shabu Shabu place, had ramen in Waikiki in a little hole in the wall ramen house, went to Hanauma Bay – where Shelley went snorkeling and I sat and watched, Shark’s cove, same thing, and then – off on a boat – three miles off shore, where Shelley jumped in a cage with three other people and got lowered into the water to watch the Sharks Swarm. I would’ve gone in the water if I hadn’t felt all chest constricted – coughing the entire time. I do love being on a boat so much more than being in the water though. I could boat for days….

We found some interesting little thrift stores, got some great Hawaiian shirts in the goodwill, rummaged thru the salvation army, and then – more scones!

Hit the Pali Lookout, chased a rainbow, argued with the GPS, went to see Kirk and Lani and the kids on Friday night, and then again on Sunday for Angels birthday # 2. perhaps it’ll be another year before we hit the island again, but really, if it was sooner than that, I wouldn’t mind. I’m surprised at how much I enjoy the island life, but yeah – I do. K-POI Rocks. So a short, but full visit.

Then an even more restless and tiring airplane ride home – getting in to LA late Monday afternoon.

Tuesday, a last pre-canada practice, and then now – it’s Wednesday. It’s October. It’s Falling straight into Winter.

We take Diesel in to the vet at 8 am for her to get a little dental work done, and then it’s afternoon, and the vet calls Shelley, saying that the anesthetic triggered something, causing diesel’s heart to slow to almost a stop, and they had to quickly revive her. So everything is all of a sudden a little bit sadder and worry is in the air. The trip to Montreal is still happening, but unfortunately it looks like it’ll just be me, traveling alone and then crashing with the rest of the band when I get there. The show must go on, eh?

Shelley is going to stay at home and monitor little Dee, both of us hoping all will be well, and she will be her fine bratty self…

And now I finish up another day, and get ready for a bus ride home, and hope that the next time I write there will be more of that good, less of that bad, and maybe you won’t have to wait for another month for the next little entry…. and maybe canada will love them black kites…

Maybe.

Popping Montreal and Modest in Modesto

First off, It’s September.

things keep moving on and on. I guess the big news is that the Black Kites were invited to play the Pop Montreal festival in October. it just sorta happened, and we’re all very anxious and excited. First – it’s ok, we’re playing Friday Night at the Saphir, at 10 pm. good time, but there’s going to be an awful lot of competition going on at the same time. I’ve never been to this particular music festival, but i’ve been hearing good things – so i’m hoping that regardless, there will be an audience.

and then it turns out there’s some voting thing going on for some of the bands – who’s going to play the Sirius stage. so we’re all – vote for us vote for us – and i guess it worked, because we started kinda down on the list, but when the “contest” ended on AUgust 30th – it was like this:

	Artist	Track Title	Pop
	Black Kites	What To Do In Case of Emergency	34
	Flufftronix	Shark Attack	31
	The Craft Economy	OK.Ciao.Bye.	29
	Black Kites	Glass Parade	27
	Rachel Margaret	Fade (Master)	26

that was the top 5. we still have No Idea what it means, but we’re hoping it means something good.

Yay Montreal!

but before that, and before now… lessee…

I left off – on my birthday. August 14th – it was Shelley’s birthday. Together, we had a joint “party” or i guess more of a very nice gathering – of friends on Saturday the 16th. Food from Porto’s, wine, beer, brownies, great people, great conversations, and everyone finally went home by 2 in the morning. it was good.

August 18th – the Black Kites played at the Silverlake Lounge – i really like that place, except for the drinks – the prices, and how the drink tickets don’t really work for anything you want to be drinking (at least – what i wanted to be drinking…) but other than that – it was a good night.

August 20th – Shelley & I went to Daichan with Nicki. always a great place to go, and the next night it was our first full band practice with Gabe – expanding the black kite guitar count to 2. Thinking it’s going to sound great when we all start writing new songs together. It’s always a bit awkward when you join a band and start relearning old songs… i definitely know how that goes. it’s the fresh and new songs that you all hit together that really tell you where the band is going to next.

Then a quiet weekend – dinner with Amy at Damon’s, practice, practice, work, work…

and on the 29th, our first show with Gabe – at the Echo Curio. very small, very very hot. but a good place to start with a new line-up. felt like playing at the practice space whith a bunch of friends hanging out –

(pic “borrowed” from gabe’s site…)

August 30th, off to Daichan again – with Audra & Brennan. Next night, Natalia and Amy came over – we had some food and drinks (Absolut LA… we love it!). Natalia took a bunch of photos of the 3 dogs and Shelley and I – for some artwork she is going to be doing – very interested and curious to see how it will turn out. It was a nice evening – all of us hanging out.

September 1st, Steven & Tomi stopped by for a little bit – and then the long weekend was over, and it’s back to that daily grind. Saturday the black kites head up to Modesto to play with the Solar Powered People, and that should be fun.

until then – it’s just waiting for some good Canadian news to come our way….