Another tour with eX-Girl from Japan on the record books. This time a short trip down the west coast of the US. Seems it’s near impossible to rent a 15 passenger van in San Francisco now. There is Bandago, but the insurance options made that more expensive than renting two mini-vans. So Brendan and I grab a van in SF and head up to Seattle. Next day in Seattle we grab another van, pick up the girls at the airport, and head off to the first show, supporting Quasi at Neumo’s in Seattle. The band surprises me with a last minute request to take care of some video projection for the intro. They have the intro on DVD, but upon closer inspection to the DVD player they brought to play the disc on, we find that it’s really a VCR. DOH! Luckily my mac has a DVD player and an s-video out, so after a quick trip out to buy a cable, we are good to go.

The next day a short drive to Olympia for a show at a small bar called the China Clipper. Not a well attended show, but it was Easter Sunday. None the less they put on a good show and I have some fun projection some screen savers and whatnot during the show.

Another short drive the next day to Portland for a show at Lola’s Room, which is right below the Crystal Ballroom. Here I find a little Midas Venice, and learn that you really need to make sure the projector is high enough to get over everyones head…

Then we had a couple of days to make our way to San Francisco, so on the way we made some stops around Mt. Shasta is the girls could reconnect with the God Mountain.

Right before we finished the trip to San Francisco we made a stop at the Marine Headlands, where they could get a great view of the city, a trip to the beach, and a look at some old WWII bunkers.

An evening off in San Francisco to rest from the past two days drive, and we play yet another show at the Bottom of the Hill where the Allen and Heath is still kicking, though I’m not sure the eq’s actually do anything…

The next day we drive down to Hollywood, and with not too much traffic to deal with we find our way to the in-famous Hollywood Motel 6. Not all that bad really… Next day we make our way to Spaceland for the last show of the tour. Ken Samurai opens the show with his movie inspired comedy act

The next day is off in LA as I hang with fellow Tön Meister, college class mate, and now grammy winner Greg Collins (congrats to him on his work on U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”). Early early early the next morning we take everyone to the airport for their trip back to Japan, return one rental van, and then Brendan and I make our way back to San Francisco, and with little traffic we have a smooth 6 hour trip.