West Indian Girl

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