#62 Tokyo Garden on 5-29-11

Andrew Bunnell of The Sunburns, the one picture we got of the show.

This was the last show of the tour, and it was a perfect end. Tokyo Garden is a Japanese Restaurant/music venue in downtown Fresno. 

We had postered a week prior on our way up, and had set the show up with some good local bands, so this show was nicely well attended, and the bands seemed to work well together musically. Brother Luke and the Comrades opened, and were a pleasant surprise. The singer reminded me a bit of David Bazan. 

Our set was better that the SF show, and I put a sock on the mic to keep from being electrocuted. The audience seemed very open and friendly, and I felt that we were well received. 

Next up were the Sunburns, fronted by Andrew Bunnell who I had coincidentally met on the set of a game show about 4 years ago! This was a bit of an 'idea realized' since when we met and became chummy I had always intended to play a show with him. They had it together, and played loud songs with just enough catchiness. 

Closing the show was I Do Not Exist, who are a newer band. The singer/guitarist has a 'what the Hell?' bluesy groan, poised oddly in a low-fi indie band complete with MicroKorg and percussionists. This was their 3rd show, but they delivered.

So good. Great end to this run. Quite pleased.

#38 Wolf Gallery on 7-24-10

(photo by ?)

We were tracked down and asked to play this show by East Los Angeles new wave band LeTras. We drove down to Whittier and were greeted by an apparently very tight-knit group of Latino fans and friends. I was reminded of Briggs shows back in the day, where we would find these hard-core Latino punks who absolutely lived for the scene and the music. It's such a nice contrast to scenelessness. (Yep, I just coined that.)

There was a middle-aged burnout white guy who lingered around the club before we played, and he asked us if we were going to play some 'Anglo-Saxon music' for a change, instead of all this 'Mexican shit'. We were annoyed/amused. During our set this guy kept giving half-assed Nazi salutes, and eventually left. I thought this was very smart of him.

After the set, feeling like we didn't necessarily win this crowd over, LeTras invited us to come back to their studio/practice space to hang out and drink. We joined them, and it turned into a great dance party, and we were quite happy to join them. We danced and it was fantastic.