Gig Archives: 2010
(Disclaimer: this may be incomplete or inaccurate)Sunday, March 14th, 2010 Kind of a warm up gig at Kimo's (in SF) for the big festival show at the end
of the month. It was put together by Seattle's awesome
Wah Wah Exit Wound, who got this bill together which included a duo
version of Mujaheddin Bernstein Affair, and us to open
the show. And then at the last minute we discovered Kimo's booked a fourth band
Over the Falls for good measure. It was good to shake off the rusty
performance ya yas but I really biffed "Black Fruit" bad. No excuses really -
I should have been better prepared to play in utter darkness (couldn't read
the music or see the frets), and was also completely spaced out from lack of
sleep, which I corrected at the last minute with an espresso shot, which in turn
needed to be corrected by a few swigs of beer. Hey - you try playing in 23/16
(with occasional random bars of 2/16, 4/16, 7/16, and 9/16) in the dark!
Well, nobody noticed exactly how devastating my errors were as the music was
sufficiently complex, and the other tunes were much more solid. All told
it was a good meet-n-greet kind of gig for all the like-minded bands involved.
Friday, March 26th, 2010 The first of three gigs in three days with three different bands (and with
me playing different instruments at each). This was a doozy at the good ol'
Starry Plough in Berkeley. A pared-down version of Ultralash went on
first (just Karry and Michael). Then MoeTar hit the stage and got down to
business. Honestly, it felt like one of our worst shows, but a lot of people
there were seeing us for the first time, and we're quite psyched about it all.
Fair enough. Closing the event was Faun Fables, who mostly played chunks from
their current work-in-progress, a collaborative rock opera written with (and to
be performed with) high school kids down in SoCal, with Cornelius sitting in
on various reeds/flutes. Fun stuff.
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 Back at the Starry Plough for a second night in a row, and this show ended up
being even more epic than last night. A lot of the same faces in the crowd,
too. God bless 'em. Anyway, Freddi Price kicked off the night with a
solo set - always a treat but pretty much waiting for Max to get there so
Rube Waddell could play a full set as well. Nice to touch base with
those guys - it's been a while, plus some of those songs I haven't heard in
like, shit, 10 years. God bless those guys, too. We hit the stage and killed
it. Danny was in top form, inspired by the large crowd. Closing the evening
was Khi Darag who were simply awesome. Great music, great sounds,
great musicians.
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 We were the "headliners" (i.e. the final act) of the annual
Switchboard Festival
in SF, held at the Dance Mission Theatre. Basically a new music
marathon featuring tons of new-music acts from 2pm to 10pm. Lots of great
sounds, great musicians, and several faces I haven't seen in a while (like
Karen Stackpole and Matt Small) and many I've seen the past couple of days
at the other gigs. Being the headliners sounds like a great deal, but of
course things were running late so we didn't get on until after 10pm. It
was a school night so people were dropping like flies. Well, all those
who stuck around really dug it. The video/music stuff went along seamlessly.
The only issue I had was the A/C fan/vent was right above my head, literally
blowing music off my stand. Who knew you had to bring clothespins to an
indoor gig? Plus I was freezing, despite all the warming up I did earlier.
Funny. Well, they shut off the fans eventually but maybe this was a sign
I should get off book already.
Friday, April 9th, 2010 Played at 21 Grand in Oakland as part of a 4 band bill set up by Seattle's
X-ray Press (which I've been trying to set up bills with for years
as they pass though town a bunch). Up first was the local band Photons
who were a pleasant surprise, then us. We kept it real and had a short set,
catered to songs that I could sing/play drums on but then it turns out Jenya
could play the set after all so it was the "full band" (me, Nat, Wally, and
Jenya). We started with a Robert Wyatt cover ("Born Again Cretin").
After our set X-ray Press killed it - they were awesome. Then Napa's
The Planets totally blew it to pieces. Kind of a crazy night there.
Fun as hell.
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 Our sister band WITT from San Diego is in town, so we set up a gig with
them at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. Since I'm still relatively new in the
band I actually hadn't seen them before but it was a real treat, especially
as they also played a half set as Snuffaluffagus which is a rather different
but equally delightful alter-ego of sorts. We went on, and despite a giant
scaffold on the stage (supporting a wide screen tv for World Cup viewing purposes)
I ended up having more room than usual for myself. We had me singing backups on
"Banana" for the first time, and we also debuted my new tune "Hapax Legomena"
which went quite well, I think. Closing the evening was Japonize Elephants
who I hadn't seen in ages, and their set made me happy.
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 MoeTar went on tour! Well, sort of - just to Fresno and Berkeley. We drove down
(braving the 100+ degree heat in the central valley) in the afternoon, treated
to some fine hospitality at the homestead of Felix and Brian Kenney Fresno
before headed to the club to load in and all that. We played at Audie's Olympic
Tavern, a place I hadn't been to in 15 years. Last time (and the only time) I
played Fresno before was here in 1995 (when the place was called Club Fred),
performing with Dreamland who was opening up for E is for Elephant and Idiot
Flesh. In fact, that was when I first met Tarik. And here we are many years
later. Anywho, Brian opened the night with his special birthday set (including
appearance via satellite by his brother Ryan Kenney Poughkeepsie). Then we
killed it. The crowd contained Tarik's old Fresno pals who were quite pleased to
see what he was doing lately. Closing the night down were local rock heroes
Rademacher. Enjoyed stayin' up late one night soaking in the Fresno
summer heat.
Friday, July 23rd, 2010 The next day drove back to the Bay Area to do it all over again at the Starry
Plough in Berkeley. Except that opening this evening was a drum/guitar ambient
duo Lovely Builders. We then killed it like last night for the Berkeley
crowd, including a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. These two gigs were
sort of CD release parties. Well, maybe not, but we sold a ton of the new CD now
that it was freshly pressed. Brian closed down the night with a similar birthday
set as last night. Fun stuff!
Saturday, July 24th, 2010 Shook off the MoeTar tour and got ready for a big miRthkon gig opening up for
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum at the Great American Music Hall. We were all pretty
psyched. This was my first time playing here performing original
material. We weren't sure about the video, and abandoned it at the last minute.
We started right at 9pm sharp, happy to see that many people were already there
despite the early downbeat. So we had a great crowd and they ate it up! Due to
nerves we took everything really fast, but that just added even more good energy
to the set. That plus the missing video meant we had 5 minutes left over at the
end, and so we threw in Daddylonglegz as well. Yay! Little Teeth went on
next, and then of course SGM destroyed everybody's hearts and minds with
their special magic. I actually played acoustic guitar in the crowd as part of a
pre-planned coda of their newest tune. A lot of hanging out in the green rooms
downstairs - all four of the SGM babies (with babysitters) were down there.
Friday, August 13th, 2010 Another public gig for Casino Royale in Alameda. We played the last of the
monthly summer series of outdoor concerts at Crab Cove. It's a regular built
in crowd at these events, as it's simply a nice hang at the cove for the
family. This time the band was me, Wes, Jamison, Scrote, House, and Steffanos.
Scrote was actually late to soundcheck as he got rear ended just as he was
arriving by a drunk woman who hit another car en route to his. Luckily no
injuries. Also there was Jenya et al. with Vesta Flatbread serving
up a bunch of yummy sammiches near the stage. I repeat: Yum!
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 Matt Heulitt assembled a band for a private wedding which ended up being
MoeTar minus Dave plus Hud. It was a lovely gig, at the Log Cabin in
the Presidio (near the GG Bridge), and a rare lovely sunny afternoon these
days in those western parts of the Bay. We played dinner jazz, then after
cake was the dance set. It was a real party, i.e. people were dancing and
into what we were doing. So we gladly complied when they made requests,
pulling various 80's/Beatles songs out of our asses. We're such pros. Instead
of wading through SF I drove home over the GG/San Rafael Bridges, which was
probably faster, and much nicer.
Sunday, September 12th, 2010 For the fourth year in a row played in some form or another at the Webster
Street Fair in Alameda, each time with a different band. Actually this time
it was two different bands. miRthkon went nuts on the Lincoln Street
stage, running a lot of the crazy material we'll be presenting at the
upcoming CalProg festival. Sound issues aside we rocked it pretty hard and
the family-oriented crowd enjoyed well enough. Then the all-star one-off
band called Waiting for Tom close the afternoon down with a fun and
well-received set of Tom Waits cover tunes. The band was me, Jenya,
Jamison, Nick Peck, David Cooper, and Karry Walker, all organized and led
by Dren McDonald. This was the first time Nick and I ever played live
together, after first meeting 16 years ago. First time I played with David
in 8 years. And I got to pull out the rubber band bass for a couple tunes,
first time using that in 10 years.
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 We played CalProg 2010! This
annual event happens down in Whittier, CA. What a crazy weekend...
Got up at 4am on Friday to drive down I-5 in a caravan, ploughed through
a long ass soundcheck, Jamison weaseled his way to performing a couple
tunes with the salsa band playing a private party at the hotel where we
were staying, then attended the patron dinner (where us and the high priced
ticket buyers got to eat/meet/greet with all the bands). The next day soundchecked
some more, then performed our most involved/multi-media/absurd set to date
(getting a standing O from the awesome crowd), then checked out the other
bands and sold merch the rest of the day, then headed back on Sunday.
The other bands were District 97, RPWL, and Ambrosia.
We befriended the Chicago-based D97, having similar tastes and
influences, ending up having a beer-tasting party at our hotel room well
into the evening after the gig. Fun times. We got a lot of new
fans, plus I got to meet Paul Whitehead (the guy who painted those early
Genesis album covers, among other things). Thanks Papa J for setting this
festival up every year and having us around this time!
Thursday, October 7th, 2010 Basic Starry Plough gig, though playing with bands we didn't know, which
meant some minor/interesting cross pollination of audience perhaps.
The local Foolproof Four went on first (and made me wax nostalgic
about Mumble & Peg), then we kicked major ass. Strangely tight considering
the lack of rehearsal leading up to this event. Closing the night were
Dainty on tour from Germany. They probably shoulda went on before
us. It's hard for touring bands to keep people around on a school night
Friday, October 15th, 2010 Like a year and a half ago, we were the main musical act at the current
"Hubba Hubba Review Show" taking place at the DNA Lounge in SF. The theme of
this event was "mad science" or some such. Pretty wacky stuff. We put together
a pretty rockin' set of wacky stuff, too, including a new epic cover of
Leonard Cohen's "The Future."
Saturday, October 16th, 2010 My fourth year in a row playing this annual benefit for breast cancer
research put together every year by Susan Z. Lots of amazing singers and a
great backing band. It was a multi-venue event like last year, and once
again I was with the house band at 19 Broadway in Fairfax. A lot of the
same material as previous years, but this time threw in some Kiss songs
(Peter Criss himself is a breast cancer survivor). So
I finally got an excuse to play "Detroit Rock City" on bass live on stage.
Saturday, November 13th, 2010 A rare Casino Royale gig, and a fun one that took us out of town - we
played a corporate party at a fancy shmancy hotel near Lake Tahoe,
staying the night at a cheaper motel in Truckee. Drove up with Chris,
discussing music and poker, soundchecked our spy-theme laden set,
ate two dinners (the free one was arriving too late for our needs),
then played a pretty snappy two sets. This time around the lineup
was me, Scrote, House, Kevin on drums, Chris, Jamison and singers
John and Karina. Chris and I got up super early the next day to drive
back so I can make it to a brunch gathering where I was a zombie.
Saturday, December 4th, 2010 with Like Totally: Though coming out of the same foxhole as Casino Royale, this wasn't
really a Casino Royale gig - the band is morphing into more 80's
terrority (which is what the people want to hear). The lineup was
Scrote, House, Paul, Karina on vocals, John on drums and Holland on
vocals/keys. No horns, and so I played guitar on the more
rockin' stuff and even took a couple harmonica solos (which nobody
heard due to mic problems). Nobody heard Holland's keyboards either.
John actually forgot his bass drum pedal, and there we were setting
up for this private party in a tent behind a mansion in Atherton, but
a few phone calls (and a text to Thailand which actually got answered
right away) and John was led to a friend of a friend who lived 5
minutes away and let him borrow a pedal. Sweet. Also we were supposed
to start at 7:30 but didn't start until 10. Meanwhile we waited in
the green room - actually a bedroom where I rode an exercise bike for
a couple miles to stay awake. Since we started late we didn't play
very long - we were shut down by 11:15pm - the cops actually came
due to noise complaints. People were digging us, but interest in us
waned when we had to quiet down and everyone then realized behind the
tent was a zipline down the mountain.
Saturday, December 25th, 2010 Yet one more of these annual Satanic X-mas event, put together
every year by Karla LaVey at the Elbo Room in SF. The usual time,
crowd, bloody shirts, etc. It was nice to see old Flywheel
bandmate Justin again after umpteen years - he was sitting in
with the other Flywheel cats playing in Los Murderachis.
Dimesland was also on the bill and they rocked it before
we went on last to the crowd now at its drunkest. Adam Stacey was
in town and sat in on accordian for one tune (and dressed up as
Santa for another).
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