West Indian Girl

i just wanted to post our tour dates again as the show in providence got moved to portland, maine. we’re really excited to get out to all these cities that we haven’t palyed in yet. it should be a blast. we will have tons of cool merch too – new t-shirts with an elephant on them (a nod to our new video which i will be posting in a day or so), women’s tanks, buttons, and best of all a limited edition tour litho. the litho is really cool – printed, silk screened, numbered, signed (if you want) and ONLY 200 made. yesterday night i finished making the new merch sign…what a bitch because i only had one stencil for each letter so it was painstakingly slow. but it’s done…it is what it is…a massive homage to our superiour merchandise (it folds too). all the new merch probably wont be available online until after our tour but i’m gonna try to make it happen before that.

so the last few days we have been demo’ing new material for our next record as well as cleaning the studio up. i cant wait til we finish writing this new batch of songs. right now they all seem to be 8 minutes long though. so check this link out – it’s another interview we did a while back for rhino online. i just saw the video for what are you afraid of and it’s pretty cool. look for it.

7/14 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
7/15 Boston, MA – TT the Bear’s
7/16 Portland, ME – The Big Easy
7/18 Annapolis, MD – Ramshead Tavern
7/19 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
7/21 Toronto, ONT – The Mod Club Theatre
7/23 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
7/24 Chicago, IL – Double Door
7/25 Minneapolis, MN – Ascot Room @ The Quest
7/28 Vancouver, BC – Richard’s
7/29 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
7/30 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
8/01 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
8/03 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
8/04 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
8/05 San Diego, CA – The Casbah

random notes: this morning when i was walking tony i met shelly winters (won an oscar in 1959 and 1965) …she was in a wheel chair but she was wearing some gangster shades. she said she’s going to our troubadour show…for real. i dont think she understood what i was talking about but she seemed like she was still having a good time. then while i was on my way to the dentist i got pulled over by the beverly hills police and they gave me a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. fuck, i wish my truck would beep when i dont put it on…i just forgot. sucks. no cavities though. a bit later on while i was waiting at a stop light (with my seat belt on) anthony keidis from the red hot chili peppers drove past me in a light green vespa. strange. —F.TEN

mariqueen and r james lost in space june 14th

we played with the coral on tuesday night and i gotta tell ya…i have absofuckinglutely nothing good to say about those guys because their crew (ie road manager and roadie) were assholes. these 2 completely ruined any chance of me saying something remotely nice about that band in this blog. the attitude they gave me…i still cant believe it… seriously, i’m still shaking my head about it. hmmm, it’s like me flying to london and being a royal dick to everybody in the club as well as the local band that is doing us a favor by warming up in their own back yard. ok, enough bitching about the coral but did i mention that their roadie actually threatened me? i feel sorry for the guys in the band because their people made them look really bad. on second hand i dont feel sorry for them at all because they’re the idiots that hired them in the first place and to top that off they should have at least apologized to us for taking a 6 1/2 hour sound check and giving us the stage (begrudgingly no less) 15 minutes before doors. gee, that was nice of them. did i mention that despite all of this we rocked. i thought we played a great show…it was loose and the energy was palpable. hats off to the crowd which was really inspiring. it was by far my favorite show in la to date. thanx to everybody for coming out to support the “opening” band.

i usually dont drink too much after shows but this one was an exception…i was pretty buzzed…probably because my friend thomas(right) was giving me tequila shots and morgun was giving me vodka. i cant do that anymore because by the end of the night i was selling our shirts for 5 bucks. i still dont know how i got home…good thing i live a block away. on a random note – i got a call tonight from a blocked number saying i was hitting on his girlfriend. dude, get over it and call me from an unblocked number so we can “settle up”. how did you even get my number fool? —F.TEN

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: the troubadour is the comfiest venue to play at. i only say this because it seems like we’ve had a trillion shows there, but in actuality it’s only been like five. i love the troubadour and their staff. the only thing i was bummed about was not getting our usual dressing room. i was not pleased with our stinkathon of a closet. it smelled like funk… tres nasty.

The Show: i coasted my way through that entire set. i thought it went well despite the pathetic soundcheck (big thanks to the coral for that) and the fact that i had two inches to move around on stage (once again, the coral… you’re awesome)… and i had been sick for what seemed like forever and on the verge of recovery. i didn’t hit my notes like i thought i should’ve but i heard that people thought that was one of our best shows. my expectations… they increase by the minute… i’m sorry if i don’t agree. i gave this show a seven out of ten. i was just stoked on how much fun we all have playing. i like how we all move as one… i give our band unity a ten out of ten. we kind of rule.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “is that morrissey?!” “wow, i love my job…” “i wish i had more room to move, i feel mark’s cymbal poking my ass…” “two words – air conditioning… like now… i can’t stop sweating…” “oh no, here comes the breakdown, i hope my voice will survive”…

Interesting Things After The Show: well i got to hang out with two members of the once infamous Femme Terror $quad. it was magical… if you don’t know what i’m talking about then i feel sorry for you.

dark side of the balls

Carter’s Conscience LA- the Coral– It was a bit weird opening up for another band at the Troubadour, just because we’ve been doing our own shows there. The reason we were opening was that we were supposed to do a little West coast tour with the Coral, but it got cancelled for reasons beyond our control. It was actually great because lately it seems like weve played a lot of high profile shows, and this one felt relaxed and stress free. I think we were all really loose on stage, we got a great ovation, it was all in all a great show! On a side note, I guess one of their crew guys was a real dick to Fran during soundcheck, just giving a lot of attitude and being a real stress case. that sucks because we were really cool about the fact that we got almost no soundcheck in the first place, considering that those guys had all day to do theirs.

I didn’t get to meet any of the guys in the Coral, I’m sure they are really cool, buts a lesson for any band, including ours– the crew you take on the road are ambassadors for your band, and if they behave like dipshits, like it or not it reflects on the band. Its a bummer because one of the kids on their crew was really cool, helping us unload our equipment, etc. I guess one bad apple ruins the bunch (sic) But all in all that was nothing more than a speedbump, I had a great night. now we keep writing and get ready for our next tour. talk to you soon
Carter

famous journalist alexander laurence was there


annie and heidi

and angela, todd, morgun and joe

adies and gentlemen…the amazing zontobi

carter and ?, zontobi and lewscious

hahha – coworkers from day job i try to forget

joe d my merch brain, peg, warren, and mike

these live pics were taken with my shitty camera

looks like the cover of mbv’s loveless…me love

—F.TEN

hey everyone, due to circumstances beyond west indian girl’s control we were forced to cancel 3 upcoming shows (see below). the first two are ones with The Coral in San Francisco and Seattle and the third is the massive Street Scene in San Diego. yes, this totally sucks…believe me when i say that we are way more bummed about this than you are.

SHOWS CANCELLED
6/15 San Francisco – Slims – w/The Coral
6/17 Seattle – Crocodile – w/The Coral
7/30 San Diego – Street Scene

BUT…on the bright side of the things we are announcing our first official U.S. tour with Turin Brakes who are also on astralwerks. this tour is going to be a great summer treat so mark these dates down as it will be our first time in many of these cities. more dates might also be added at the end of this tour so stay tuned for more info.

SHOWS ADDED
7/14 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
7/15 Boston, MA – TT the Bear’s
7/16 Providence, RI – The Call
7/18 Annapolis, MD – Ramshead Tavern
7/19 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
7/21 Toronto, ONT – The Mod Club Theatre
7/23 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
7/24 Chicago, IL – Double Door
7/25 Minneapolis, MN – Ascot Room @ The Quest
7/28 Vancouver, BC – Richard’s
7/29 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
7/30 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
8/1 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
8/3 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
8/5 San Diego, CA – The Casbah

new show reports will be up tomorrow – here’s a link to an interview we did recently for SFburning just to tide you over—F.TEN

yes…our first show in broad daylight

the sacramento heritage festival is all about real music for real people damnit. this festival was really cool cos it reminded me of some of the towns i grew up in. unfortunately for me the day started way too early for my liking but that’s what happens when you have to sleep in the van the night before. you see, the night before at the super 8 motel the lady refused let me bring tony in. needless to say i just couldnt leave the kid out there by himself so i slept in the van with him and thus ended up waking up at like 7am when the sun came beating in down on my face. fun? no. even though it sucked it was kinda cool cos i got up earlier than i think i have in years, fed tony, and walked over to some psuedodenny’s type restaurant to have myself some breakfast. i also took tony for a long walk and called my dad who was wondering why i was calling him so early in the morning. as far as the show went i thought it was pretty awesome because we were real loose. i kinda liked playing outdoors in the daytime. yeah it was weird but it was cool to be drinking beer and playing on the banks of a river on a sunny day. overall i had a great time. the sacramento people were all no nonsense music fans and that’s a nice change of pace from the average detached snobby la industry wank that take up precious space at la shows. brian (above right) was a cool promoter and i’m gald he booked us at the festival because we made a bunch of genuine fans. on a really random note – i played the whole show with my fly down which is really fucking funny…and funnier that noone in the band told me. you can see it in the picture.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: um… i’m not a big sacramento fan only because i used to loathe chris webber. however, since playing this festival, i’ve changed my mind. sacramento is a beautiful town with some of the friendliest people ever.

The Venue: it was outdoors and grassy… nice and clean… as pleasant as pleasant can be. except the burritos… ugh, the most substandard burritos i’ve ever had to eat in my life. i should’ve gotten the barbeque chicken sandwich… i’m still kicking myself for it.

The Show: we were all a little disheveled from last night. we’re not used to playing our set before 9pm… much less outdoors. i didn’t get to go through all my usual pre show warm ups. no hot tea, no dropping deuces… no vocal warm ups. in spite of it all we managed to bust out the set. we got a great response.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: i was jonesing for a hammock and some iced tea for most of the day. but most of the time these thoughts plagued me during the set, “i can’t hear myself”… “i can’t believe we’re playing outdoors in the daylight… crazyyy”… “i can’t believe i’m up right now”… “god, i must sound like crap”… “i need tea”… “oh i hope abbey or sabrina don’t think i suck (they were sitting right at the front and kind of making me nervous)”…

Interesting Things After The Show: well, i tried to buy sunglasses and found that no one at the outdoor festival was selling any. weird. what else? um, i used the port-a-potty… is that how you spell it? that was especially interesting because i hadn’t used one since last year’s coachella and i had just gotten a visit from aunt flow and i was in all kinds of weird chinese acrobatic positions and it didn’t exactly smell like a bakery in there… num sain? fear not… i am a pro and worked everything out. i hope we get to play in sacramento again… i have one request though… i think they should totally bust out the cowbells… i have a hunger and that’s the only thing that will satisfy it.

Carter’s Conscience Sacramento — talk about a doing a 180! Fillmore at night, then the Sac heritage festival during broad daylight. We played at 2:00, which is just crazy. I don’t even bother calling Fran or Rob at 2:00 on any average day, because more than likely there still in bed! But having said that, the crowd was really appreciative and cool, and we got a warm welcome being that it was our first time in Sac. I had a beer, ate a BBQ sandwich, wore a wifebeater and had a great time. For the rest of the afternoon people were stopping us and telling us how much they enjoyed our set, etc. I think that was the first time I’ve ever played with a band outside during the daytime. Sorry about the Terminator, SAccers, that was our bad down here in LA!

bernie – making it happen

what my bed looked like

what everybody elses bed looked like

well rested people outside my hotel room

again…what my hotel room and roommate looked like

— F.TEN

the crowd at the fillmore….the best ever

after 3 hours of sleep it was back in the van but this time with everyone, including bernie who decided to actually get in the van with us for this road trip. great bernie memory #1: at the anaheim show i remember looking out into the crowd at the soundboard and i could see bernie jamming while he was mixing us — now that’s totally inspirational when you see your soundman into a show like that. i’m real glad he could do this tour. anyway, back to san fran. so the trip was pretty smooth until i had a subway tuna sub for lunch. let me tell ya, subway sucks. an hour after that delicious meal i was sitting on some dirty ass toilet seat in the middle of nowhere california taking a dump while feeling some serious subway pain. question for jared…is it really that good?

oh yeah, the show…well it kicked major ass. it was a memorable evening to be on stage because it was one of those slow motion nights where you could pick out people and faces in the crowd that you knew. one of those people was my friend andrew (on left with lewscious) who was backstage when i was taking pics so i’ve got a bunch with him. andrew is running the 2005 dublin marathon in october and is raising money for the fight against AIDS. if you would like to donate some money for a good cause ie – the san francisco AIDS foundation, as well as help sponsor andrew then you should click on this tax deductible link.

anyway, at the end of the evening i was pretty bummed that we couldnt hang with casey and the fischerspooner people but we had to roll to sacramento for a daytime festival. these shows with fischerspooner were our best shows to date so if you were lucky enough to catch one of them then i’m glad you were able to share in the experience with us. it was a great moment in time for west indian girl.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The City: it’s always a pleasure going back to san fran. great town. just fabulous.

The Venue: i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. the fillmore is legendary and i always get excited when i find out we’re playing there. one advice… don’t eat the fish. the food guy was great… i wish i could say the same for his source of protein. dammit, i forgot our backstage manager’s name. she was amazing. she turned me on to something called throat coat. sounds a little x rated, right? well check it, throat coat is the new jesus juice. she brought me some ginger and lemon and taught me a new way to save my voice. i’m sorry i suck at names so forgive me. but just know, that you are fantastic and when i see you again i’m going to give you a big fat hug.

The Show: holy shit… despite digestion problems for the whole band we managed to put on what seemed to be one of our best and most fun sets ever. dear rob, fran, chris and mark, we’ve come a long way in only twenty two shows… i really love you guys. yours truly, mariqueen. excuse me mr. casey spooner, someone started a rumor about me and you and our backstage antics… it includes us going to second base… get into it… love you… can’t wait to see you and the new band again.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: i think the reason why we had such a great show was because i wasn’t thinking… at all… i just coasted and throat coated my way through that whole set.

Interesting Things After The Show: hung out… took some pictures with some beautiful and fabulousss men… mhm. we discussed boyfriends and how amazing we were. god i love gay men. then after the whole show was over i said my good byes with the fischerspooner camp and wished them well and secretly wished i would be going to the red room with them. but noooo… i had to go to sacramento and sleep in a stinky motel 8 or some horrible ashtray smelling dump… in a huge bed with no warm comfy body (you know who you are) next to me. worst sleep ever.

Carter’s Conscience San Francisco– What an experience playing the Fillmore. So much history, I mean you can feel the ghosts in that building. Just seeing all the photos on the wall of all the bands that have played there gives me goosebumps. Also, this was a chance to redeem ourselves, as first experience at the Fillmore (opening for Gomez) was bittersweet, as we really didn’t have our best show that night. This night was a whole different story, the crowd was so into it!, and I had maybe the most fun playing on stage that I’ve ever had. It was like the crowd just put us in a trance and induced us into playing our best. I could hear the sounds I was creating echoeing off the back walls, looking into a dark sea of people grooving, and at some times I was watching my hands play like I was watching a movie. Everytime I looked around at Q, Fran, rob, of Mark, it seemed like they were in a similar zone, really amazing. Thats how it should feel!

As a band we are getting pretty good at playing without a proper soundcheck, which is what happens pretty consistently when you are the opening band. In a strange way, I think we play better sometimes without one. When you have 20 minutes, you get up there, make sure all the instruments are making noise, do a quick vocal check, if your lucky you run a chorus of one song, then you get off the stage as the doors open. In that situation I don’t even worry about trying to get things in my monitor. I just adjust my stage volume to match the band and listen for the sound as it reaches the crowd. Thats not a knock on Fischerspooner by the way, they were really cool about trying to give us much time as possible. Thats just the way it goes, when its your show as the headliner you take as much time as you need. We do it when we headline, and the opening acts have to suck it up then as well.

Unfortunately we had to make a hasty exit because we were playing the next afteroon in Sacramento. Bummer, because the Fischerspooner crew was ready party like rockstars after the last show of our short tour. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to do another tour together in the fall, right? One final thanx to Fischerspooner for taking us out. They couldn’t have been cooler, it was by far my favorite band that we have played with so far. So have fun in Ibiza, you little bitches! Love Carter

amy and andrew – we love ya

abbey, drew and erin – you guys are awesome

bernie, abbey and of course lewscious

—F.TEN

after the fischerspooner show at the house of blues

so before the show the s-man and i stopped over to see my bud ed at GOMC so he could fix my road case (remember how it fell off the stage in la). after that we snuck tony past 2 disneyland security check points (they’re dog haters over there) and finally arrrived at the house of blues. the show was sold out and we had a gang of west indian girl fans in the house. newsflash: i love our fans. they kick so much ass. i think it was family night as well cos carter had his sis there and mariqueen had her mom and dad there. the high point for me on stage was definitely the last song -an extended jam version of what are you afraid of – what a cool musical adventure to go on (i’m also diggin this new part in hollywood that rob and i sing a double vocal on). after the show we sold a record number of cds and t-shirts. for some reason i really love working our merch booth and hanging out and talking to everyone after the show. thanx to all you guys that helped support because you’re helping to make our dream come true. anyway, by the time i got backstage carter was playing a casio keyboard and casey was singing a song about tequila which was brilliant. i was too tired to party so i ate some cold chicken that was still back at the buffet and then went out to the van to let tony piss. we had to drive to sf in a few hours…drag.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: meh… this is probably the least impressive of the chain in california. the dressing rooms are like closets compared to san diego and los angeles.

The City: um, i grew up in anaheim… go st. boniface.

The Show: it seemed like from the time i got to the venue until curtain, there was no time to be nervous. the crowd’s energy was amazing. the beautiful kids brought out the performer in me. so far, i’d say this is probably the best show out of the fischerspooner tour. wait, san diego was really good too…. tough call.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “i hope my parents got a good seat”… “damn, this getting more fun by the second”… “wow, i have the best job in the whole world”…

Interesting Things After The Show: nothing that interesting. just lots of loving moments with momma and daddy. the last time they had come out to a show was at chain reaction and i’m glad that they got to see the progression of the band. i knew they were proud… i got a lot of hugs and kisses. hugs and kisses from my parents are worth more to me than anything in the world. i walked away from the house of blues a very rich woman. jesus, can someone pass me some kleenex over here? one of the highlights was seeing my friend vivi… she’s seen at least three other west indian girl shows but her reaction to this night’s show put a huge smile on my face and an extra hip shake in my walk. i love you vivi.

Carter’s Conscience Anaheim! My little sister Lindsey, and her friend made the show, which was awesome! Also, a quick thanx to Josh and all the boys from Electric sunglasses for all the love. Josh hooks up our band on a regular basis, and he brought shades for Fischerspooner and entourage as well! Way to go Josh, you’re a legend! I’m a little pressed for time so I’m gonna do the bullet point synapsis: The venue– House of Blues, Anaheim, Downtown Disney, right next to Disneyland. Downtown Disney feels more like a prison to me than “the happiest place on Earth”. Perhaps they should rename it “the most corporate place on Earth”. I’m not sure what that means, its just seems a bit more appropriate. however, the House of Blues is a great venue to play, everybody is always really cool that works there, and Mary Q and myself both grew up in the OC, so its a great chance to see a few friends. What I was thinking during the show– I was thinking how fun our new song is to play on stage. I try not to think on stage. The more you think, the more you fuck up. Its an exercise in meditation in a way, keeping your mind clear and focused. The crowd was great, what can I say, so much fun. . .

2 cool live shots taken by ming and ping

r james with the best fans ever: cameron, tommy, chris and charlie

bao vo with todd at the merch booth, doug from sd – word

lewscious with emma(who interviewed us) and casey

ed, the s-man and my road case

the tequila song

carter’s sis and her friend

keyboardists unit

adrienne and casey

best fans plus a mom, a sis, a boyfriend, emma, and garret

—F.TEN

the next afternoon i drove down to san diego with the s-man and tony. we were playing at the house of blues. i had never been to the house of blues in san diego and it was pretty nice. the stage manager was a guy named pinch (he’s in the band called the damned…crazy huh?) as far as the show goes…totally blew away la’s show as it had a totally different vibe, probably because we were way more loose but more so because the crowd ruled. my boy walt was there with his crew and i also saw leo – who is starting to remind me of zelig. san diego was a FUN time. after i packed up the merch booth and after fischerspooner ended (who were great by the way) i went backstage only to find a full on party going on. i think that’s where fischerspooner and west indian girl officially bonded. hey cara, thanx for helping me with merch. thanx to the security guys at the house of blues were all really cool too. they kept an eye on our van and tony who was in it. and big thanx to walt (in pic) for helping promote the show. i got home at 5 in the morning and i knew the next day was about to suck because i had to wake up in few hours to swap uhauls. drag

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: the newly renovated house of blues is beautiful. the only complaint i have is the lack of cell phone service in the dressing rooms. the best part of the san diego house of blues has to be el veee… she. is. the. ultimate. this woman took care of me like you wouldn’t even believe. incense, deep discussions on wine and champipple… teaching me new vocab… she was tight. hi el, apple of my eye… can’t wait to come back. for you. love you, lady…

The City: yeah, i’ve written about san diego before. so as not to be redundant i’m just going to say i love the following people in san diego…
1. dj willow… you are a musical genius.
2. jonathan castro… cacaw
3. wendy castro… you’re beautiful
4. minette lee… you are getting more gorgeous by the second, it’s scary.
5. fatima lee… come to a show, i love you.
6. susan rickard… see above.
7. feel free to put in your name if i’ve forgotten you… forgive me, i’m typing this on my laptop on my way to another show… i just got scratched on the leg by the love of my life, tony, fran’s boxer, and i can’t think properly.

The Show: let’s just say this… as soon as we got back to our dressing room, i jumped on rob and we hugged and he spun me around. mhm.

What I Was Thinking During The Show: “i should’ve worn a bra”… “god can you see through this dress”… “fuck it, i’m dancing, i don’t care”…

Interesting Things After The Show: ahem… well, let’s just say i had a good time. i hung out with my good friends, jon and wendy, whom i hadn’t seen in two years. then, i ran into my friend willow and hung out with him. by this time jon and wendy had bought me two jack and cokes… then i hung out with brien terranova from the label, you are great… who also bought me one or two jack and cokes, i don’t recall… ahem… and then after the show was all over, we partied backstage where i saw adrienne and sam fighting over a pickle. i think sam, fischerspooner’s guitar player, was shoving it in adrienne’s face (fischerspooner’s back up singer), after he had tried to shove it in my face… you know i wasn’t having none of that, child. uh uh. then fran, carter, casey spooner, ben, the bass player and i had a photo session that got a little out of control. all of a sudden adrienne started to pretend iron with a bottle of jack. i offered her my back to iron by climbing on the ironing board… then my fat ass broke it. then i tried to get back on it like it was a surf board. then fran ended up taking a bunch of pictures of my backside because i kept falling forward. graceful and ladylike as always… then i decided that it would be time for cara and i to go home and i woke up in her car the next day with no real recollection of how i got there. weeeeeee! viva san diego!

Carter’s Conscience House of Blues, San Diego – I found a little toy Casio keyboard the other day at my parents house. I used to play it when I was like 8 or 9. Its got a bunch of ultra cheesy drum beats that you can speed up or slow down, and you can make it play little chord rythyms, etc. It’s really stupid looking, and so much fun to play! I brought it down to the show as a joke, and we ended up pretty lit after the show writing songs and stupid dances. the next day i went over the video footage i shot with my digi cam. Here are few personal video highlights from our dressing room: Shawn, our utility man/ tour manager guy, and Adrienne, Fischerspooners female vocalist, having a hot sauce drinking contest! I mean dumping bottles of it down their throat! Is that the secret to being a great singer? Sorry Shawn, but Adrienne won hands down. Sam, the guitar player, attacking anyone near him with a giant pickle. Mary Q and Adrienne ironing their clothes with a Jack Daniels bottle!? And soon after breaking the ironing board. . . I think Q tried to ride it like a surfboard.. . . which was of course a genius idea at the time. Ben the bass player and Casey Spooner leading the entire band in an impromtu jam called “Magic Plastic Man” The beats were provided by Ben using the Casio keyboard. Oh yeah, and the show was great. The whole audience was clapping along with our new song (which doesn’t even have a name yet) Fischerspooner blowing up, had a great chat with Brien from Virgin, things are looking up! thanks to all our new friends/fans in San Diego for an inspiring night!

dressing room party – i shouldnt even post these


but i will…that’s adrienne licking sam’s armpit


leo/zelig and a nice fan – they weren’t at the party

that’s us with our new fav dj anya

at 6pm before the show at the house of blues rob, mariqueen and i met up with brien terranova (from the label) to go do our first official radio station interview on FM 94.9 in san diego. not only did anya interview us but we got to play a couple songs – we played what are you afraid of and northern sky. rob played guitar, i played a moog and mariqueen sang. it was pretty tight but we made it work. ok, a few words about anya…she was rad, funny, and cute, not to mention an awesome interviewer. given the fact that this was our first time, anya really made us feel welcome, thanx anya. so…what started out as something with absolutely no expectations turned into something that was a ton of fun. we need to go back there anyway because i was looking forward to meeting halloran just cos he’s a legend as well as meeting midori who plays us a lot on her big sonic chill show (i hope you like the candles we left you midori). we got to do some promo spots for her show as well as for the station. anyway, thanx for all the love 94.9! you guys can take the credit that you educated the masses first. we owe ya one—F.TEN

brien and owen with apparently, a cold mariqueen

even though this picture is blurry i still love it

backstage at the henry fonda theatre

we opened for fischerspooner on friday. i was pretty excited to play at the fonda just because i havent played there yet but i was also a bit nervous – i always get that way in la though. in general i thought the bill was bold because there wasnt a blatant overlapping of musical genres – it was just one cool artistic band after another cool artistic band and if you liked music you got your money’s worth. good call on whoever had this bright idea. i was also pretty psyched that the diehard fischerspooner fans were so nice to us. as far fischerspooner go, we didnt really get a chance to to socialize with them too much because the night was hectic for both bands. the reason why i liked casey (above in pic) and the fischyspoony peeps so much is because they were all just really cool, nice people with no fucking attitude – it sucks being around other bands that arent keeping it real. oh yeah, i want to thank goldenvoice and natalie for the show – i was way into how she treated us. on a sad note this venue will forever live in infamy because its the place where my crackerjack crew let my entire bass rig fall backwards off the stage. yes, my pristine well crafted bass tone dropped 4 ft onto its back like a piece of trash.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: the henry fonda is wonnnderful. great dressing rooms… actually, like ten of them. the people at golden voice took great care of us… wayyy into it.

The City: well… it’s l.a., i mean, how many times do i have to write about los angeles? didn’t i say something about this city in my troubadour show report? whatever, l.a.’s alright. it’s super pretentious but it’s still an aesthetically pleasing place to prosper. i love it… sort of. the end.

The Show: god… i was so nervous… it was obvious too… i was stiff as a board, not finding my groove… bummed out. i was just sketching out throughout the first half of our set but by the time we played our new song i felt alive and ready to blow minds. judging by what people told me after our set i’d say it was pretty fucking good. i’m telling you, man, my standards for the band have gotten way high. i thought we played ok and all these people are telling me we were amazing. gangster. marc goldstein, a wonderful photographer, and a very straightforward man, told me i continued to impress him. this might’ve been the nicest thing anyone had said to me all night because he’s watched my progress from my first troubadour show until now. we’ve only played twenty shows together and it makes me proud because i know we can only get better.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “get over yourself and just fucking sing you nervous idiot”… no, for reals… i’m serious. “can marc and kevin see up my skirt?”, “jesus, this dress is fun… i wish i could get enough balls to move in it more”… “nah i can’t move in this… marc and kevin can see up my skirt…”

Interesting Things After The Show: mmm… i went to an outrageous boat party that the boys fromELSEWHERE studios threw in long beach where i’m sure everyone that went to the after party would’ve rather been. a couple of fine ladies that were at the show ended up at the same festivities and told me how amazing they thought the show was and how hot chris carter and i were. meow…

Carter’s Conscience To me, one of the best aspects of being in a band is the chance to meet and play shows with other great musicians and bands. Lately there have been a lot of speculation and rumors as to who we might tour with, and I get such a thrill when a band is mentioned that I really dig, or that I grew idolizing, etc. Fischerspooner is one of those bands for me, I’ve got both their albums, I spin at least one of tracks every night I DJ, and I’ve been really looking forward to these shows.

LA– Henry Fonda– I really don’t have much to say. Everyone in the band was really cool, turns out I went to school with Fischerspooner’s guitar player, a cat named Sam. We don’t remember each other but we have a ton of mutual friends. The show was cool, and to be honest, LA’s a pretty tough crowd. People just don’t show their emotions as much in LA, probably because there are a lot of industry types in the crowd, and LA’s saturated with so many bands, ranging from amazing to terrible. Nonetheless, it was great to play for packed house in our home town, for a lot of people who probably hadn’t heard of us yet. The party moved over to Star Shoes for a bit, then a dedicated band of mischief makers, including myself, invaded the Roosevelt hotel ballroom and pool for a makeshift after party. I wore my lucky headband on stage that night, the same one I bought for two dollars in Philly. Someone said I looked like the guy from loverboy, which apparently is pretty lame, so from this point forward I think I’ll be forced to retire the lucky headband on stage. But don’t worry, its legacy will live on! Casey Spooner told me after seeing me wear it, he was thinking of getting headbands for his entire band! Take that Loverboy haters! (Somebody tell me who the hell Loverboy is, I really don’t know) You try to supress the headband and it only grows stronger, and unbreakable chain of sweat protection and bad fashion handed down in secret from generation to generation, musician to musician! Just like in the Da Vinci code. . . except cooler! Jesus wore a head band. Its called a halo. So did big game James Worthy of the Los Angeles Lakers. I rest my case. (random odd fact – i met james worthy a couple months ago when i was walking tony down third st in front of el carmen…he was cool and wasnt wearing a headband – F.TEN)

all these pics were taken by kevin chao

all these pics were taken by marc goldstein

rob and lewscious before the big game

lewscious and joe puleio and genevieve

thanx todd and lisa, hey maria

thanx brooke and drunken fans after the show

lewscious and cool girl who bought a shirt

yup, if live in los angeles this should be pretty cool. the roosevelt hotel has just been re-done and the pool is opening – kinda old school palm springs meets old school miami. just say you’re there for the Fischerspooner/West Indian Girl after party and you’re good to go with full access to the pool bar and lunge area. this event happens wed june 1st after the show. it is being brought to you by none other than hiedi goodtimes (the best promoter in la) so you know its gonna be rad. the address is 7000 hollywood blvd., but you enter off of orange st and there is valet parking. see you there star stalkers –F.TEN

a virgin at virgin

so it was my birthday on saturday and i spent one hour of it at the virgin megastore on sunset talking to dj dave on the air. i invited everyone in the band to join me but only mariqueen made it out. it was good fun. dave interviewed us for a bit and we talked about all the stuff going on like tours and the video and did station ids for his syndicated show. i think mariqueen was kinda nervous because she’s never been interviewed before….oh well, she’ll get over herself and start blabbing away soon i’m sure of it. while we were there dave played 5 songs from the cd and we also got to sign a couple cds that some people bought (ie natalie and patrick – pictured below). it was a nice surprise to see the cd on sale and on display at the store. good stuff. so anyway, i know you are all wondering what else i did for my birthday, well since i’m broke right now i couldn’t go away on vacation like i would have loved to do. instead i went up to el matador beach and then went to eat some food at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. it was pretty chill actually. i also decided to give myself my lungs back and quit smoking…again…haha yup. so far so good. i need nicorette though. maybe lewscious will get me some —F.TEN