PHOTOGRAPH THAT CITY

El Fin

Skip Allums — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:17:30 +0000

Wow. What an amazing in to a really great little tour. We were a little frazzled from braving I-80 traffic… here’s a little footage from driving INTO Sac, after stopping at In & Out in Davis (naturally). Last night’s Sacramento show was all sorts of fun: spinning lights, a German Shepherd named Tinkerbell, hushed voices, Shasta cola, old friends, new friends, Maggie’s mom playing tambourine… just another warm Sacramento Summer Evening. Many thanks to Larry and Genaro for taking care of us at the Hub, to Julie Meyers for snapping some rad pictures (the bulk of which can be found here), and to Christina Antipa for opening and helping to put together a truly amazing little show.

We drove slowly back across I-80 to our homes by the Bay, listening to Christina’s wonderfully schizophrenic new album, The Royal We.

Now we must bid adieu… thanks so much to all of you who have come out to see us, told a friend about us, forwarded Facebook messages, let us sleep on your floor, let us pet your dog/cat/chicken/goat, eat your yummy food, and rock your city.

Keep up with Maggie’s happenings on her MySpace, or visit The Shants here and here. Ghosties can be found on Myspace as well, and their new label High Scores & Records. Most of our pictures from the road can be found on Skip’s Flickr stream.

STATS:

miles driven: 2700
cities/towns: 12
sleeping bags lost: 1
granola bars eaten: 47
legs broken: 0
memories made: infinity

TTYL DUDES

Thank you San Francisco!

Skip Allums — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:45:04 +0000

Last night’s show was definitely one of the highlights of this tour. Thanks to all of you for coming out. It really is nice to be home! Here’s a few more pictures from the show, including some really excellent ones of Ghosties, if I do say so myself.

Tonight the tour ends in Sacramento, and we can already tell its going to be a bittersweet end. Soon we’ll have to go back to our jobs and classrooms, and though we appreciate sleeping in our own beds and not wearing the same clothes every day, we’re going to long for the carefree, anything-is-possible lifestyle of the road.

Tonight we’ll be joined by the lovely Christina Antipa, and since Ghosties had to drive back to Portland today, The Shants will be filling in… sans pedal steel. See ya at the HUB!

Oakland recap

Skip Allums — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:42:54 +0000

Oh Oakland, its good to be back! The show at Mama Buzz was an intimate affair, really warm and welcoming. It was so nice to see familiar faces at a hometown show (for Jon & I at least) and to have a nice Yay Area-style welcome for our tourmates Ghosties. Here’s a photo from The Shants set, with Jon and Maggie guesting on drums and harmonies, respectively. See the rest of the pictures from the eveing here.

Sadly, The Bears have caught up to us, and at some point in the evening they stomped on my melodica… rendering it useless (unless a song happens to be in the key of C#m… which is the only note it will play now). Maggie Morris: 4, Bears: 5.

Tonight’s the Hemlock in San Francisco with Foreign Cinema. I am stoked to get to use my “real bass amp” rather than the practice amp I’ve been touring with…. but I am not stoked about lugging it down a flight of stairs. We need roadies. I’m mostly kidding. Mostly. We’re expecting tonight to be the biggest show of the tour, and we are beyond excited.

Tonight: Oakland!

Skip Allums — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:21:08 +0000

Tonight we start the final leg of this lovely tour, at the legendary Mama Buzz Cafe in the Oakland arts district on Telegraph. This sweet little venue had been on a hiatus from live music for some time, but we’re pleased to know they’ve started up again. Sadly, Christina Antipa had to cancel, as she is still up in Oregon, but she will join us in Sacramento on Monday. Skip’s new project The Shants will kick things off at 7ish.

Which reminds me, the Sacramento News & Review published a really nice write up of our Davis show, and even plugged our Monday show. Thanks Becca!

Tour photos

Skip Allums — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:28:22 +0000

I’ve gone and posted TON of photos from various stops on the tour here… including a handful from my old Holga, which are truly lush-looking and sentimental.

Feel free to send us any photos you’ve taken of us during this crazy ride.

Don’t forget, our homecoming shows are this weekend:

Sat Aug 22nd: Oakland
MAMA BUZZ CAFE
2318 Telegraph Ave @23rd
w/ Christina Antipa & The Shants
7pm donations please, all ages

Sun Aug 23rd: San Francisco
HEMLOCK TAVERN
1131 Polk St
w/ Foreign Cinema
21+ $6

Mon Aug 24th: Sacramento
THE HUB
1819 23rd St at S
w/ Christina Antipa
9pm $5 all ages

Stockton recap, SoCal dates cancelled

Skip Allums — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:17:21 +0000

Kind of a slow night, which is to be expected on a Sunday evening in downtown Stockton. Still, it was a quality show with 4 lovely, diverse acts. Maggie & Jon were feeling a little rough from post-Davis tomfoolery. It was really nice to play with our old friend Chelsea Wolfe, fresh from a jaunt in Europe. Special thanks to Andrew Hemans for opening the show!

Plea For Peace Center has only been around 6 months, but have proven themselves to be a really cool, flexible venue… with gallery openings, label showcases, theater and spoken word events happening alongside local rock shows. Do visit them if you are in the area.

Sadly, I must report that we have to cancel our Southern California dates. The van we were going to use is out of commission, so we’ve decided to take this week off and come back strong for our string of homecoming shows with Ghosties in Oakland (Mama Buzz), San Francisco (the Hemlock) and Sacramento (the HUB, 23rd & S Street). Hope to see all of you there!

Davis: A++

Skip Allums — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:09:42 +0000

Tonight’s show in Davis was a total blast. Lots of our old Sacramento friends (and Maggie’s mom!!!) made it out to the show to say hello. It was refreshing after so many quiet days to see warm, familiar faces. Michael from Cool As Folk/KDVS really put together a great bill with us along with North Bay chanteuse Petracovich (congrats on the new album and new baby omg!!!!) and local spazz rockers Boxes. If tonight’s show was an eBay transaction, my feedback would have been “A+++ WOULD PLAY AGAIN!!!11″

Special thanks to Eric Fate for snapping a few pictures, and to the bar staff for allowing me to eat gelato on the premises, despite some stern looks. I know, the rock star life is a tempestuous one. Tomorrow we hit up the Plea For Peace Center in Stockton, with Chelsea Wolfe Andrew Hemans, and The Shants. Should be another magical Sunday night.

We feel we have lost those triflin’ Bears for good. Good riddance!

Chico brah!

Skip Allums — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:04:37 +0000

Tonight’s show was incredibly fun. The folks at Empire Coffee were very friendly, and even gave Jon one of their shirts. I bought a Bigfoot one, since I didn’t really come back with any Sasquatch artifacts on this trip. If you are ever in Chico, do pay them a visit – the coffee is excellent.

Our new friend Fera started things off with a lovely acoustic set, then the live debut of The Shants. After us, a stately local gentleman named Zach Zeller closed the night. It was slightly warm out, but in a comfortable way, and one could hear the crickets chirping amongst the bro-dudes posturing on the Chico sidewalks.

We spent the afternoon before the show wandering around looking for a guitar shop, rehearsing in the plaza and passing out flyers for the show. Tonight we’re staying in historic Paradise with Fera and his GIANT sweetheart of a pit bull named Ozzie.

Who farted? Answer: Mt. Lassen

Skip Allums — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:53:39 +0000

We’re back to civilization after a glorious 24 hours at gorgeous Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park. There were a few sulfur springs around, given the mountain’s volcanic history… so at times it was a little stinky as we drove through the park. Spent most of the time napping by Summit Lake, shooting pictures of chipmunks, and hanging with our camp neighbors (who turned out to be from Berkeley and offered us much needed hot food and a tarp to sleep on). Here’s a brief video of our shenanigans by the lake. Mt. Lassen is the 10 thousand foot tall drink of water in the background. Oh, and Jon took this photo of Maggie playing her uke by the lake.

At night, Jon and I slept under the stars while Maggie slept in the car (her sleeping bag was stolen by the Bears in Redding). We saw at least 4 HUGE shooting stars!

We’ve arrived in Chico, after a quick hop down 99 (and after stopping at Julia’s Fruit Stand for some giant peaches). Tonight we’re at Empire Coffee, which is an old Southern Pacific passenger car turned into a cafe.

Greetings from the Thunderbird Lodge

Skip Allums — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:41:46 +0000

…in historic downtown Redding, where they serve excellent huevos rancheros.

We’re stepping of the grid for the day or so, camping by a lake near Mt. Lassen where we can hopefully escape from the heat.

See ya’ll in Chico!