Friday, April 4th 2003
The Tongue and Groove - San Francisco, CA

James, the sound guy, is AWESOME. I'm not sure what's up with this club, but it always sounds great. Is it that the Marina has a lot of money, and so they invest in a proper sound system? Is it the way the room is acoustically laid out? Who knows. I'm gonna give all the credit to James. Cuz it's really easy to fuck up the sound in any gig. And an attentive, cool, sound guy with a great ear, is worth his/her price in GOLD. You're 24 Karat, James.

We got tacked on to the beginning of this Friday night gig, kinda last minute. So 8:45 was not the jam-packed, sweaty room that we like, but heck, we'll take it. And you know why?

Cuz Jeff came out of nowhere to see us. And then Charel, and Mpo and of course, Burke. And even though Burke is a social butterfly, and we see him a lot, there is nothing like having him in your audience. Cuz he's a dancer. An interpretive dancer. So if you ever want to know how your music moves people, literally, get this boy on your guest list. It's instant fun.

But the other kids we mentioned, we don't get to see too often, so it was a real treat. Jeffy, especially. Where you been??

Thanks you guys for coming.

BenZona (NY), Candy From Strangers, The Zim-Zims played too. And just for the record, the Zim-Zims were the only ones who showed up at the proper load in time, and actually heard the opening band....us. Thanks to the nice Davis boys for doing it right.

And for the other record, I thought the guitarist from BenZona was the most fun-to-watch performer I've seen in a while. He did his fair share of WANKIN', which really ain't my thing. But he also worked his pedal magic with a ballerina touch, and the sound coming from his rig was stunning. Made me want a Marshall stack for the first time ever. He also did this cool move (or maybe it was dumb) where he took his guitar and put it over this girl's head and behind her back, and played his solo, while still having it strapped around HIS body too. Can you picture that? Crazy.

Candy from Strangers were good too. I couldn't help being transported back to prom night. But they never cracked out Melt With You.