West Indian Girl

live at the casbah 11.19.05

the casbah was sold out with quite possibly the best group of people we have had the joy to play in front of. we played every song (if you count a half assed attempt at dream when rob’s acoustic blew up) we knew. i think our set now clocks in at about an hour and 20. there are so many people to thank i dont know where to begin. let’s start with midori from 94.9. midori is the best and i credit her as the catalyst for our time in the san diego sun. she has been playing us on her show for a while now and unlike most fm stations she isnt bound to play the same songs that it seems like every station plays. thank you for taking a chance with us. next is mark sgarbossa for stepping up and designing what goes down in west indian girl history as our first “rock” poster. one day soon i will make them available in the store. then of course there is the usual band of troublemakers walt, doug, nik etc etc. kampy was also there bootlegging the show on video which is going to be cool to see. thanx to emma and tommy for doing the interview with rob even though they weren’t old enough to stay for the show. who else am i missing – well, basically thanks to everyone that came out to support – like bill from ocean beach. we appreciate it and it makes it all worth while. i’m really liking our new stage set up with mariqueen in the middle because i like being able to face rob during the set- it makes for way better communication when we jam. oh yeah, also want to thank michael lunsford (on right with derek) from ono sushi for hooking me up with a great meal and way too much sake before we played. you just might have started a dangerous new sd ritual for me.

parting thought number 1: say oyes to ono

parting thought number 2: san diego, we are now officially dating you.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: san diego is my favorite. i love the city and the people that inhabit it. some day when i get enough money i want to buy a loft in the artists’ district and throw many a soiree for all you righteous people.

The Venue: let me just say that the casbah treats you right. andrew, my knight in shining armor. you are my hero and i love you. forever. remember when i said i had a stalker and he came to the detroit bar show? well, he also came to the casbah. no joke. security had a bad feeling about him and wouldn’t let him in to bring me a book that i “would be happy to get from an old friend”. thank god for intuition, you guys rule at life. i adore you all to pieces. thank you thank you thank you. these last two times we’ve played at the casbah i’ve been able to bring it, full force style. maybe it’s the gangster stage? i’m thinking that something about the whole venue has really amazing feng shui. fuck. yeah. mariqueen ♥ casbah por vida.

The Show: we had tons of technical difficulties [super messy guitar blow out during what should’ve been a cozy acoustic rendition of dream… ugh] but the vibe of the packed house [especially seeing my mom and dad front row and center] made for a magical show.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “i hope i don’t look fat in these shorts”, “oh my god i hope maile isn’t screaming in my dad’s ear”, “why is my mom the cutest thing in the universe?”, “fucking san diego, fuck yeah”…

Interesting Things After The Show: i finally met midori from 94.9… youre the greatest, thank you so much for all your support. i also got a chance to talk to mark sgarbossa, who did our amazing poster, and his lovely wife. seriously san diego, why are you filled with so many quality people and why can’t you all just move to la? i let doug, walt and nik drink some of my whatever i had after that black label. when i say some i mean barely even a lick. doug-ass: you look really spiffy sans baseball hat. waltimate: i love you too but youre a weirdo, im into it. nik: i barely saw you… insert sad face here. i also got a chance to hang out with debbie and angela, my bitches from around the way. can i pack both of you up and take you with me to every show? i suppose i’ll use this section to give more san diego people shout outs. let’s start with derek murphy: THE BEST TOUR MANAGER EVER. you are such a joy to be around and are a consumate pro. these last four shows [sts9 included] have been a breeze because you’ve been by my side. love you! kampy: even though we didn’t get a chance to do any jaeger [i am too lazy to do the proper html] shots, i’m glad you’re still in the crew and it made me smile to see you at both the costa mesa and san diego show. maile: stop yelling in my dad’s ear el: my most favoritest house of blues backstage slave. you didn’t show up and now you’re dead to me. i hate you, miss you and love you. please come to la and kidnap me. now. michael: youre fabulous, thanks so much for the amazing sushi… next time i’m coming and bringing my sake throat. my ridiculously cool aunt and uncle: tita tima and tito alex, thanks for coming and dancing and putting up with some rowdy audience members. last and never ever ever least, momma and daddy: thank you for being front row and center as the coolest parental paparazzi ever and staying cool despite all the ruckus in the front of the stage. you both make my heart melt and i love you.

theme of this blog: “i fucking love san diego… get into it”.

Carter’s Conscience

Saturday night– The Casbah, San diego– Man, San Diego is the best! The show last night at the Casbah was sold out, and so much fun! All our crew of homies was out in full force, Walt, Doug, Kampy, to many to list! Best part of my night was seeing the boys from Sector 9 skateboards, Rob molt and Craig Beck! those guys were my older brothers roomates in college, and Beck came with us on a surf trip to Costa Rica when I was sixteen. Haven’t seen him since until last night. Classic! Anyway, our fans/friends in San diego kick ass, they make it so much fun to go down there and play. We had a good show, minus a few technical difficulties. We tried to do our acoustic version of Dream, and Robs guitar started feeding back like it was going to blow up, so we gave up on that one. Those things happen though, you just gotta push through it. All in all it was a great night though, thanks to the AM Vibe for making the cool posters, and thanx to San Diego for all the
support!

q with mark sgarbossa
tommy and emma with rob before soundcheck
q, kampy and frank
doug and walt
our hottest woman in rock
midori, our official godmother
the family maandig
jade howe t-shirt endorsements anyone?
lucy, deb, q, and angela

F.TEN

professor ten grading out pitzer with high marks

i actually liked going to college – it was a time in my life when i really got musically educated – i went to school in ann arbor mi and i was able to see tons of cool bands that i had never heard of before. it was life changing in many ways. anyway, i digress… i sincerely hope our playing at pitzer opened some of the same musical doors for the students there as it did for me when i was in school going to see bands. let me tell you – pitzer is pretty cool and the kids there were uber unbelievable. we got to play outside at night and i love playing outside. this was only the second time we have done that. our dressing room was wonderful and the campus was lovely. if only the band was treated like this on a daily basis. we loved this college and are definitely coming back to host an advanced west indian girl lecture. they even had a beer garden with grumpy beer man in a fezz who yelled at me for touching his plastic cups. seriously, he yelled at me. i asked him politely if i could touch his lemons but he failed to see the humor in it….he was the beernazi. big thanks to our man david bendett and his son dan for making this happen. it was our first college show and a great memory.

parting thought number 1: i cant believe i went to college for 6 years and still havent figured out how to pay my bills

parting thought number 2: going to college educated me on the finer things in life… like getting wasted and exposing me to rampant drug use. oh wait, correction… that was the elitest high school i attended.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: claremont… i don’t know much about the city. i’ve never been fascinated with the inland empire. but i’ll tell you this much, the city’s got some rad college students. 🙂

The Venue: pitzer college is just fantastic. hi dan! thanks for having us… you’re top notch, just like your father. i looked at our “stage” set up and said “what?” twice. i’m not used to playing outside and it made me uneasy. i am most comfortable singing in hot, sticky, closed venues [i am slowly getting over this… hello, festival stages, here i come… purrr]. the pitzer campus is beautiful and our dressing room was fully equipped with everything – towels, pasta, salad, candy, fruit, soda, water and sandwiches for days – so goooood. we were all full, bloated and happy, but no one was more full, bloated or happy than nardo : P

The Show: well, i can’t say i was especially pleased with it. there were a ton of technical difficulties [for me]. as you may or may not have already known, i am very very very hard on myself. i believe i messed up at least four different songs, so for the last two songs i decided to kick it into over drive… man the fuck up and perform like a professional. the kids were into it.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “ugh, i keep fucking up.” “it’s cold” “it’s hot” “it’s cold”… “those kids [a group of obnoxious children] must be freshman… it explains a lot” “god, i feel ancient”…

Interesting Things After The Show: i jet setted to paris with my male model paramour of the minute and i turned down his proposal whilst lip locking at the top of the eiffel tower.

sike.

Carter’s Conscience

Friday November 18th, Pitser college– I’m not sure I spelled Pitser right. In fact, I’m not even sure I spelled college right. But i’m not getting graded on my blogs, so fuck it. So this was the first college show that we have ever done, and it was a blast. We played outside with a big glass building behind us, and the sound was amazing on stage. Honestly the acoustics were great up there, I could hear everything crystal clear. Its so much fun to play when you can hear everything thats going on! It was a free show, with a free bar-b-q and five free kegs of beer! Can you believe that? It was hilarious to watch a few of our LA friends mooching free beer and food all night. . . but the show itself went really well, everyone was really into into it, and we played a good show. Gotta say thanx to our manager David Bendett, and his son Dan, for helping put it together! Everyone was really cool, we had a blast. The only bummer of the night was that me and Mark couldn’t find the afterparty! Oh well, I’m sure its for the best. . . Carter

happy show afterglowa troubled lewscious loading the uhualfree beer and music make happy fanscan i see you after class mariqueenalex with the lovely lady event plannersq with professor sensitivecan i also see you after class mariqueen

F.TEN

finer living at the detroit bar

wow, where to begin – the detroit bar in costa mesa was the first of 3 headlining shows in so cal. lots of new things all happening at once for us during these shows—new tour manager, new soundman, new set lists, new manager, new songs, new stage set up, and even a new t-shirt i was wearing that night. with all that “newness” around it was tough to look in the past as these shows basically marked a new beginning for the band. we ran an 11 song set on thursday that lasted way over an hour. usually our sets are 45 minutes. this set included 4 new songs that we are still “working out” on stage and by working out i mean “they arent done and are gonna sound different for the next set of shows”. overall the band and crew is starting to work as one and because of this i think our shows will become better and better. i want to specifically thank a few people for coming out to the show – in no particular order they are kampy and frank (why dont i have a picture of you guys from the show!???). kampy and frank really helped out with the promotion for this show and i owe them both big time. jade howe – well the guy basically dresses me. thanx for the shots and that fancy orange french vodka that i only finished half of before someone stole it. fyi jade howe is a celebrity of the couture variety. for more info on why jade howe is so rad read my 10 with Ten interview over on the right side of this page.
how could i forget doug k for checking in and also the unforgettable rob “xl” everest (on the left). rob was awesome – he sent me a dvd with pictures of the show and some vids. i’m posting the live footage of “hollywood” below. the file is massive (112mb) right now so it will literally take like 7 minutes to load. open it in a new window and let it load. be patient if you want to see it. i am going to have my webmaster of the internet/mr google sascha fix it for me so it wont take too long but for now you have to wait in line like the rest of them. thanx for the movie rob we aprreciate the sharing.

quicktime video of Hollywood

parting thought number 1: remind me never to wear a red t shirt on a red stage.

parting thought number 2: wouldnt it be funny if one day we played in detroit at a bar called costa mesa and jade howe was there.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The City: costa mesa is where i used to chill before i got so busy with the band. it’s got great people, a great scene and great places to hang out. it’s definitely my favorite spot in orange county.

The Venue: detroit bar is like my second home. for real. everyone there has seen me through some nights that i’d like to forget, if only i could actually remember. i think the venue is perfect for dj’s and parties of that sort, but as far as bands performing, the stage needs a lot more work. if you’re ever in costa mesa, check out the detroit bar, every night of the week there is something super fresh going on. you will not be disappointed. trust me.

The Show: well, considering it had been awhile since we last performed, and that the stage is kind of no bueno i think we had a great set. i kind of became a retard after our third song. we all promised to interract more with the audience and i was supposed to go first. listen, i’m a singer, not a talker… next time you come to a show, just keep that in mind. sometimes the only things i feel like saying are “hi” and “meow”… whatever.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “my feet hurt”, “i can’t believe i said hello uncomfortable silence out loud”, ” i can’t wait to get out of this dress”…

Interesting Things After The Show: jade bought us shots and we all hung out and had a good time. i’d just like to take this opportunity to tell you, mr. howe, what a great person you are. our talk before i went on was much needed. you’re a wonderful friend. to be honest, everything interesting happened before the show. apparently, i have a stalker. he came to the show but his girlfriend came to the show too and spilled her guts to me, so he split. really awesome. so the stalker’s girlfriend and i talked and i told her what a dreamboat chris carter was and by the end of the night everyone was happy.

Carter’s Conscience

Thurday November 17th, Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa– the Detroit bar is a really cool place if you’ve never been there. To me its kinda like the Spaceland of Orange county, lots of great bands play there, a bit of a hipster scene, cool ambience, etc. So anyway, we headlined all these last three shows, which means we get to play (for better or worse) everything we know, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes of music at this point. Four of the songs are new songs that will be on the next album– No One Sees You, High Above, Last Chance, and Hopi. We also busted out an acoustic version of Dream, which I don’t think we’ve ever played live. All in all it was a really fun night, and the opening bands were kick-ass as well. The first was a band called “the cold war kids”, and they really impressed the hell out of me. Reminded me a bit of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the velvet underground. Anyway I think they’re playing at the siverlake lounge pretty soon up here in LA, and they’re worth checking out for sure. The 88 was the other band, they were dope as well, kind of power pop rock, tight as hell. It was great to see Jade Howe ( of Howe clothing ) at the show! After our conversation, I’ve pretty much decided that Jade Howe is my new spiritual advisor/ life coach. He left me with two pearls of wisdom “When you’re in the forest cutting trees, all you see are more trees ahead of you. You have to look behind you to see the path” and ” its always darkest right before the dawn” I mean seriously, fuck tony robbins, Jade Howe is the man! Just what I needed to hear. . . So thats that, thanx again to Kampy for the kick ass flyer/poster, and thanx to all the OC friends for coming down. C-ya
Carter

carter with “the rookie” soundman kevinderek holding down the merch boothkampy’s flyer once again

F.TEN

i was thinking that since i’m starting to accumulate random video clips of us it’s about time to organize them on one page. so, until my slow ass web graphics guy (hi todd) can make a pretty page for me on the media part of the site this blog video page will have to do. these file types are all random (mostly wmv) so for most of them just click the link and it will start your windows media player. if you dont have windows media player just go get one here: download options.

video #1 What Are You AFraid Of – this was the first “real” video we filmed – by real i mean expensive cameras, film crew, make up, elephant, you name it etc etc. it was a great time if you ask me. Ken and Dave from Filmworks/FX did an awesome job for the one day shoot at 2 beautiful summer california locations. it was intense working with an elephant – they’re massive but really calming to be around. look closely and you will see my dog tony in it too.

video #2 Miles From Monterey – my friend and part time tour tech sean fodor sent me some of the video footage he took of us while working with us on the road. this was in dec of 2004 and documents our first ever west coast tour. it’s pretty cool and i’m really glad this piece of history was documented in a sort of bon jovi-esque way. i always wondered what he was doing with that camera.

video #3 Behind The Scenes – taken during our video shoot for “what are you afraid of” – once again, i’m glad sean was there to document it. this was june 2005. almost all of these people are friends of ours although after watching this again i realized i dont know who many of these people are. i also dont know why sean didnt put footage of the elephant in here. the elephant was actually letting people ride on his back.

video #4 At the Fillmore– this is a brief clip from a show in jun 2005 when we opened for fischerspooner. all we have is the end section of “what are you afraid of”. sean fodor took this footage also. thanx buddy. i remember thinking to myself “wow” the fischerspooner fans are really really nice for clapping for us.

video #4 Hollywood Live – this is a brief clip from a show at the detroit bar in costa mesa on 11.17.05. sent in by rob everest. warning! right now this file is massive(112mb)and it will take over 5 minutes to load. open it in a new window and let it load. be patient if you want to see it. i am going to have my web master (sascha – way faster than todd) fix it for me so that it wont take too long to load but for now you have to wait in line like the rest of them.

video #5 Portland Karaoke Live (part 1) & (part 2) – two 30 second clips i took from my camera on 3.01.01 of mariqueen and carter singing what a feeling (flashdance theme) by irene cara at some karaoke bar across from our hotel. words really cant describe how amazing this scene was to watch. the highlight of the video is lewscious doing some sort of crazy pogo dance – there’s also some annoying girl that kept trying to steal q and carter’s moment in the karoake sun. precious footage.

Damn. this poster kicks ass. the opening band A.M. Vibe in san diego had this made and it’s blowin me away. thanx guys you have done well in having your name penciled in at the very top of our “cool band’s in s.d to play shows with” list. thanx again. the artist by the way is mark sgarbossa. way to be. F10

ok, so big Big BIg BIG HUGE f’ing thanx to kampy for making the flyer for our detroit bar show in costa mesa on the 17th. i cant thank this guy enough – so cool that he helped us out. also big ups to frank for making samplers and handing them out. it really makes me proud to have rad people like this in the west indian girl world. seriously, with fans/friends like kampy and frank other bands should be jealous! F10

so my friend and part time tour tech sean fodor sent me some of the video footage he took of us while on tour with us. i always wondered what he was doing with that camera. these are pretty cool just because there isn’t much video of us at all out there. these are all wmv files so just click the link and it will start your windows media player. if you dont have windows media player just go get one here: download options.

video #1 Miles From Monterey – taken on the road from out first ever west coast tour – i’m really glad that was documented. this was in dec of 2004 and it’s pretty cool. good times on our first road trip as a band.

video #2 Behind The Scenes – taken during our video shoot for “what are you afraid of” – once again, i’m glad sean was there to document it. this was june 2005

video #3 At the Fillmore – this is a brief clip from a show in jun 2005 when we opened for fischerspooner. all we have is the end section of “what are you afraid of” haha fun stuff

Hey guys, sorry i havent posted for a while but i was sick have been leading crazy hours in the studio lately. anyway, just a quick note to let you know our video is going to be on mtv2 subterranean this sunday night nov 6th at midnight. watch for it or tivo it at least. take care – some more news coming — hopefully another west coast tour in dec.
F.TEN