A Week in the West; Lucero, wild burros, rattlesnakes and roping cattle

Reached California a week ago, May 15. Saw three redwood forests on our way to San Francisco. In SF I made a crew shift again with my folks shipping back east. For my return voyage I’ve been joined by a shrimp. Check her out on the beach in the pictures below.
It’s been an interesting week since then. We hung out in San Fran for a couple days, I stuck my toes in the pacific and saw Lucero at Slim’s on Saturday night. I missed them when they played around home in April, so it was nice to catch them out here. They opened with San Francisco - they strapped half stacks to roof racks and drove to the parties. They played lots of songs from the next record, should be a good one.

We hit Yosemite National Park, which was amazing. We saw wild burros in Oatman, AZ (a ghost town on old route 66) and spend a couple nights on a cattle ranch near Kingman AZ. At the ranch we branded cattle and battled rattlesnakes. It’s all documented in the pictures below. At the ranch I also had the chance to play some shanties to a life long cowboy (the real deal) who said Rio was "longer than and indian love song". I have no idea what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment.

More recently we went to the Grand Canyon in AZ and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Last night we pulled into Austin TX, which seems to have over 100 bars on 6th street, everyone with bouncers announcing “1 dollar shots, 2 dollar beers.” Anyway, we’ll hang out in Texas the next day or so before heading east.

SCC has a few local (and not so local) shows in the works, as soon as they are confirmed, I’ll post them.

May 23, 2009 3 comments Share

Buffalo slow us in Yellowstone; sandstorm stops us in Idaho…

Played an open mic in Bend Oregon tonight. Real nice people who appreciated the sea songs. We were supposed to be in Eugene OR tonight, but a sand storm in Idaho prevented us from getting thru the state. Tons has happened in the past couple days. Crewmember James shipped back to Providence after our show in St Paul and I’ve been joined by a new crew of two (Mom and Dad Come Cruisin’). We’ve seen some amazing stuff from the Badlands of SD to Yellowstone. Check out the pictures. Moving on to California next, more pix to come……

May 14, 2009 1 comment Share

Here we are in central time

So today we left Chicago after spending a couple nights in the windy apple. Here’s what’s happened between Providence and central time.

Friday, 5/1, we stayed in Brooklyn. We got there pretty late cause traffic is an absolute nightmare going thru south eastern Connecticut anytime. We had a good time hanging out, eating thai food and a Polish breakfast.

Saturday we made our way to Roanoke VA where we played a basement show with the Wading Girl. Lots of fun (pictures posted below). A big THANK YOU to Shawn for having us AND for sitting-in with the upright bass. Thanks also to Billy for setting up the Roanoke and Cincinnati shows.

Sunday morning James recorded a drum track on a Kinks cover, then we drove to the home of the Salem, VA Red Sox. The remainder of Sunday we spent driving to Cincinnati, OH via Columbus. We neglected the GPS lady and paid for it dearly. Lesson learned, consult with Garmin frequently and often.

We rolled into Molly Malone’s in Covington, KY around 9. James played a set w/ Billy, SCC played most;y to Billy's family. Sunday nights sleeping arrangements we’re the strangest to date. A friend of a friend had some room at her house and she put us up in a bedroom decorated in Strawberry Shortcake linens. The room was super bright and kinda creepy. While we very much appreciate the hospitality, we realized the next day could have stayed anywhere in the house that night, but our host just got a big kick out of us sleeping in twin size beds decorated for a 12 year old in 1988.

Check out the photos below, we play tomorrow in St Paul at Dubliners with Loud Ray. Tell all your friend and family in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area.

May 7, 2009 1 comment Share

Shipping out, shaving head

Running around finishing up some last minute things before we head out, but I wanted to post these pix from last night. It isn't everyday you find yourself looking at a month out of work, what better to do than shave your head? Pleasantly surprised to discover my noggin’ is not very misshapen.