West Indian Girl

well people, the time has almost arrived. in a few days tony, mariqueen and myself will leave the lovely confines of los angeles and drive for about a week straight until we hook up with the rest of the band in “bahstin” for our first show. that’s a lot of driving if you think about it (im trying not to).

below is the official list of shows for the next tour. 20 shows in 26 days so far with one more probable add on the 22nd so keep checking back for more updates.

4.1 Boston, MA – Boston University (closed to public)

4.2 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe

4.3 Asbury Park, NJ – The Saint

4.5 Northampton, MA – Iron Horse

4.6 New York, NY – CODA

4.7 Easton, MA – Stone Hill College

4.8 Washington DC – GW University (closed to public)

4.9 Baltimore, MD – The 8X10

4.11 Pittsburgh, PA – Brillo Box

4.13 Traverse City, MI – Union St Station

4.14 Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre w/ Bump

4.15 Marquette, MI – Up Front and Company

4.17 Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig

4.18 Kalamazoo, MI – Club Soda

4.19 Grand Rapids, MI – Intersection w/ Bump

4.20 Moline, IL – Bent River Brewery w/ Bump

4.21 Chicago, IL – Martyrs w/ Bump

4.23 Minneapolis, MN – Ascot Room w/ Bump

4.24 Kansas City, MO – Record Bar

4.26 Denver, CO – 3 King’s Tavern

WAYS TO WIN FREE TICKETS!

JamBase.com – is going to be giving away a pair of tickets to each one of our shows on the tour so please check out their site and enter to win. jambase is a great music resource if you havent checked it out yet.

MySpace.com – even though the shows at BU and GWU are closed to the public we do have room on our guest list for ten lucky fans in both cities. so if you want to be a part of this special list just leave a comment telling us why you think you should be one of those 10 lucky people. there is no right or wrong answer…winners will be chosen completely at random by the powers at be. if you sound sincere or just make us laugh you will probably get picked. it’s all about spreadin the love baby.

also, if you want to record the show – just send us an email ahead of time and let us know so we can work it out

see ya at the merch booth
F10

Daaaang, we are finally going on tour again. against all odds this band is back on the road with a new keyboard player, a new sound man, and a new tour manager. this tour will be a blast for many reasons but the main one is because we will be headlining or co-headling almost almost all of the dates rather than opening. the tentative schedule has us starting in vt and staying on the east coast until the 12th when we hit the midwest for the next 10 days. we will be hitting many new cities such as denver, kansas city, pittsburgh, ann arbor, grand rapids, northampton and even marquette, mi. please check the tour section on the site for all the confirmed dates thus far.

another highlight of the tour will be getting to play some shows in the midwest with our friends from Bump. Bump are good people and big thanx to joe choma and jc for working us in on the bills with them. i’m looking forward to those dates in michigan — especially grand rapids becuase that’s where im from so not only does the band get to stay at my mom’s house and have her cook them breakfast but a bunch of my friends from high school should be at the show… good but scary times. ian, the president of the wighead street team is also going out on the road with us as our tour manager/do-everything guy. kevin our spiritual sage burning soundman from san diego is also making the trip. 7 good people on the road should reap plenty of good karmic rewards. the real only drag about the tour is going to be how it starts. mariqueen and i are going to drive the equipment out east and meet the rest of the band there. yeah of course it will be tons of fun to drive with Q but 45hrs of driving is never fun even if its with a car full of comics. good times for sure and tons of good stories for the blog to come. what an intense road trip and tour to follow. ok then, much more to come about this in the next few days.

brian – i expect to see you at a few of these shows.

hey frob you better be in kc with a beverage in your hand.

jim wellington, the same goes for you in pittsburgh

F10

nathan nathan nathan – to be honest with you i really dont know much about nathan. i dont even know his last name until a few days ago. what i do know is that he is tall (6’4″), thin, and a wicked ass keyboard player. as far as nathan’s personality goes, well he is quiet and reserved…the kind of guy that lets his playing do the talking. interestingly, his personality also seems to be laced with a dark quality which i find very comforting. so you ask how we found our tall thin duke…well, lewscious sauntered in to a rehearsal a couple weeks ago with nathan in tow and the rest is history. so far after 5 rehearsals nathan has learned 6 songs – that’s a pretty great pace. the songs have changed a little bit because all the keyboard parts are being interpreted by a different player but that is a natural evolution of the music. just on the basis of hearing the songs after one week of rehearsal i can confidently say the music will not take a turn for the worse. oh contrare, i think our songs will grow and change even more because of nathan’s talent at free form jamming. i also really like his chord choices…he tends to stray away from major stuff which is always a plus in my book. anyway, welcome aboard nathan we are all really glad to have you in our fucked up family.
F10

Mariqueen’s Mind

oh my… nathan van hala, welcome to the family you tall drink of water. i suppose you have already found your nitch as the dark & quiet middle child. i’ve already given him twenty five bonus points for impeccable taste and twenty five extra points for having a dope ass first and last name, plus the ten he had in his pocket for knowing mark lewis and never mentioning it to me a year ago…

weird — i knew nathan before he ever got the new position in west indian girl. one night after our summer tour my friend jenn had a movie party at her house. we drank wine, watched “old boy” and then hit up the jacuzzi after. i remembered meeting this super tall, quiet and witty guy who was dating the rad girl named amanda. fast forward one year later and now we’ve reunited under new circumstances… he’s been playing with lewscious for a minute and now he’s gonna go on tour with us… isn’t that crazy???

this world is too small. too small for my own good…

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again… i’m into it.

due to reasons beyond our control chris carter has decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. it seems that sitting behind the keyboards wasnt enough spiritual satisfaction for chris and the allure of being a front man/guitarist for his own band was simply too much for him to resist. as far as i was concerned the news was particularly devastating just because i considered chris my good friend and buddy. i knew carter before he joined west indian girl and i will truly miss him. it seems like i called him every day when he was in the band – he was the number 5 on my cell phone speed dial – he still is actually but i never call him any more. i actually did last week to tell him that i missed him but he seemed like he didnt really give a shit. that withstanding, chris is really a fucking awesome guy and i wish him well and hope his dreams come true. his new band has an official standing invitation to open for us at any show they wish. hmmm, maybe that will give him a good reason to call me again. carter, thanx again for your loyalty to the band over the past 2 years you were the best keyboard player we had. i love ya and miss ya bro.
F10

Mariqueen’s Mind

cartier,
i’m sorry i didn’t call you back yesterday i got swamped with stuff… you know how it goes. i hope you had a great time at the oscars. um… i hope you’re doing well and that tokio is tons of fun. whenever i have free time from work and rehearsal and recording and the boyfriend and life i will come and see you cause i miss you so much.

this is uncomfortable. so… um see ya…

well what do you expect? like all break ups i tend to move on… and fast.

listen, chris… i know i’m gonna see you soon and i know we’ll work together again it’s inevitable… whenever we get our schedules synchronized i’ll come over and you can make me some of your spicy pasta stuff and i can drink more of your wine and we’ll discuss the perils of being young and good looking in los angeles, ok?

love to love to love you forever…

Qberta

PS… email me so i can send you all the priceless pictures i have of you…

Cheers to Memories of Chris Carter

at hob with fischerspooner

at niagra falls

at the stick in detroit

at XPN in philly