What's Up! Magazine

Biagio Biondolillo

Oct. 3rd, we hit the road with high spirits in a 92′ Pontiac transporter, whom affectionately is called our Space Momma. As we headed on to I-5, the engine sound especially loud; to my alarm I realized we were in the wrong drive gear. After pulling over and correcting this, we made it to Portland without the transmission exploding. All of the bridges in Portland were made of steel and I didn’t like to drive on them; this really helped me appreciate roads that are made of stone.

The best show in Portland was in a loft studio, called the EFF Space. We opened for the travelling theatre troupe call Missoula Oblongata; let’s just say that a raccoon, a balloon and a magician make for one hell of a night. We were fortunate enough to play every night in the land of port; we were well received by the natives and their many bicycles.

We bid our farewell to Portland and headed south to the golden state of California. On the way to California we stopped at a road side attraction called the trees of mystery. They were these two colossal statues of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. Anna and Kat took a picture of me touching the Ox’s balls. Giant stone testicles. Apparently this is a very popular pastime for the visiting tourists. After playing to a somewhat empty room at a coffee shop in a burned-out hippie town called Arcata, we went out to the beach, Clam Beach, and drank whiskey and sang songs to the moon. That was the only night on tour we had to sleep in Space Momma.

We headed down to Sacramento to play at the Java lounge, only to find it was also not well attended. However, we did meet two exceptional gentlemen who opened for us that night. They asked us to join them in a pre-show drink at a bar two blocks away called The Flame Box; they seemed confused that we opted to walk instead of driving. Everyone drives everywhere in California. After the show, we headed to my home town of Santa Rosa to stay the night with an old friend and take a break from the road.

On Oct. 9th, we had a show in San Francisco at place called the Brainwash Caf which is a caf , bar, laundry mat, and a venue. We finally got a good crowd, and the food was delicious. We headed back to SR, our home base, for the night.

We hit the road again the next morning beginning an all-day trek to Lompoch, California, a town where none of us has ever played. We stop along the way at Pismo Beach, and Anna Arvan saw dolphins while playing in the waves. People drove their cars on the beach. It was weird. Dolphins and cars on the beach… weird. The show that night was at South Side Coffee; we played to a small but attentive audience. One of the baristas let us stay the night at his ranch house in the hills. You could see the whole town from the living room window.

After saying our goodbyes the next morning, we went back to San Francisco to play at the Purple Door, a very new house show/space. This was one of our favorite shows on tour. We got to play with three other great singer-songwriters from the bay area, one in particular, Adam balboa. A jamboree started after the show and we partied and talked and shared cover songs. We left the next morning to go back the SR. We played another house show that evening in Santa Rosa, to an audience of many of my old hometown crew.

We parted with our dear SR friends that morning and started the trek up through Oregon; that was when trouble struck. We were about 90 miles from a gig at Lucky’s bar in Eugene, when the brakes seemed to go out on our van. With Anna Arvan at the wheel, we opted to take the soonest exit so we wouldn’t crash to our deaths. We just happened to take the right exit that night; it led us to a Motel 6 and a 24-hour Shari’s restaurant. As we rolled into the Shari’s parking lot I could see a large pool of brake fluid pooling under our van. The flexible brake line at the front right hand wheel of our van had ruptured, rendering the van too dangerous to drive. We had to stay in the motel six for two nights and cancel two Oregon gigs.

Being a mechanic, I had packed all my tools with me, but we had to wait two days to get the part, from a nearby Napa store. After finally getting the part and fixing the brakes with the help and moral support of my bandmates, we made it back on the road to play our second to last gig in Olympia. I was surprised at how well our Olympia show went. We played at this bar called Le Voyeur with two other great acts and there was a good crowd throughout the whole show.

We left that evening to come home to Bellingham. We played our homecoming show at the Temple Bar to a packed room of all our friends and loved ones. The strength and support of Bellingham music scene always reminds me of how thankful I am to live here. I’m also very thankful to Anna Arvan and Kat Bula who helped get us a lot of extra shows on this tour. I couldn’t have done it without them.