West Indian Girl

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