West Indian Girl

washed ashore on ocean beach 11.3

Fran’s Flashback
well, it seems q and nathan have finally decided to contribute to a show report again (its about time). that’s music to my ears because it gets old only having my perspective on things doesnt it? because of this im giving tony this show report off. so…after the 94.9 interview we went back to the bar for sound check. after sound check we went to sean simpson’s house for a 6 course home cooked meal. it was tight to say the least. oddly enough we had never met sean before but everything seemed to work out well. he is now a permanent part of west indian girl lore. after hanging at sean’s house q, tony and i walked over to doug’s place where we regrouped with some tea, beer and whisky. the crowd and show at winston’s was awesome and the evening so much fun to be a part of. the set list changed a little from the night before and i felt like the changes we made really kept the energy up. it was an exciting show that we needed.

dressing room and rider wrap up:the guy i dealt with at winston’s was ted wigler. (appropriate last name for dealing with us wouldnt you say) ted was a great guy and oddly enough due to my crazy schedule that day, really the only one at the club i dealt with. ted gave us an early load in and even helped move gear. the stage at winston’s was nice, it had a lefty slant for the drums but that was cool because it made us flip flop our normal stage positions. the sound and lights were also no problem. everything was easy – we had plenty of time for our sound check and the merch area was big and friendly. load in and load out was also simple. i have no idea if we had a rider or backstage area for the band, or even beer tickets…wow, this is the first time i can say that i dont have a clue about these details because i was so busy with all the other stuff going on. (where is my tour manager ian?). i was only at the bar once and that was after the bar closed. i guess sometimes you throw your ratings system out the window when you have so many friends in the area that serve as your dressing room and rider i guess. im giving winstons a solid 7 and that’s laregly because of a man named wigler.

stuffed zucchini flower thanx to:bill young for his behind the scenes work in getting us over to ocean beach and bringing sean into the fold. sean for the great food, wine and party favors. doug (above), kristi and walt for always being so clutch – it was great chilling even though it was only for a half hour. doug stayed and even helped us load out (kampyesque), call down fire for opening the show, thomas for taking pictures…please send when get them, and all of the great people of san diego’s ocean beach community.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: ocean beach reminds me of huntington beach minus all the plastic chicks. it’s what haight street would be if it was a beach community.

The Venue: winston’s was already a legend in my mind. an old sound guy, kevin, used to talk endlessly about winston’s. winston’s this and winston’s that. winston’s winston’s winston’s. i now see why he loves it so much. cool bartenders, fantastic owner and a great stage with quality sound and fun lights.

The Show: went by way too fast… waaaay too fast. to say that performing that night was fun would be an understatement.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: i kept wondering if the guy who had the camera under my nose got any decent shots of my heart shaped nostrils.

Interesting Things After The Show: i reunited with leo — he owns the first article of clothing i had ever signed that wasn’t west indian girl merch. if you look back on our first casbah san diego show report, you’ll see a picture of me signing leo’s backside. to make a long story short, he busted out those jeans that night. word up, leo! there’s nothing like seeing your autograph on a dude’s ass — it makes your evening juuuuust a little bit better. another highlight was catching up and dishing out with my friend, troy rassey, an outstanding photographer. we talked about future projects and he listened to me blabber about life. after loading up our equipment, we said bye to the staff at winston’s and headed back to our gracious host for the evening, sean’s house and pigged out on leftovers. earlier that evening sean was kind enough to cook a six course meal. he had a pre-party with all the fixins ones heart desired. i gravitated towards the cheese and the red wine while others were magnets for beer and greens. back in leftover land, nathan all hopped up from the various delicacies ingested that evening, started writhing on sean’s neighbor’s lawn. please refer to the picture i took below. at around 3am we decided that, despite all the fun we were having, it was time to lock it up and head home. mark and i spent about an hour, out of our minds and taking pictures of everyone, but mostly each other. m&m forever. look into that.

Nathan’s Nonsense

so the dog totally ate all my previous blogs. for reals. that’s ok though. i got no beef with the dog. so our show in san diego went surprisingly well. probably one of our finest moments as a band yet, though there was still room for improvement of course. ocean beach is a pretty laid back community comprised mostly of surfers and left-leaning eccentrics. i’ve always felt very much at home there when visiting, but this was my first time setting foot in winston’s bar. my friend jason hartley
(once the drummer of another inauspicious band of mine), who managed to come down with a group of friends in tow, had informed me that the place was rather small, and that it seemed a significant step down from our last performance at street scene. thankfully, this wasn’t really the case. the place turned out to be a perfectly laid out mid-sized club which we ended up packing to the hilt. before the show, we were all treated to one of the best home-cooked meals i’ve had in a very long time, courtesy of the local OB guru, sean simpson (below). i may as well note now that this was another one of those nights where i met a slew of people whose names i am unable to recall. my memory sucks these days. not just when i’m drinking, but all the damn time. very frustrating business. so sean hosted a lovely little pre (and post) party for the show, fed us like kings, and practically poured wine… and…. stuff… down our throats.
sean also opened up his house to us to use as our own personal dressing room, which was excellent considering the club had no such accommodations. i had fun hanging out with the opening band (can’t remember their name) and talking shop with their keyboardist, uh… paula? i think that’s it. have to say though that just before showtime i was starting to get really worried that some of us- myself especially- may have gone a bit overboard with the festivities. fortunately, this seemed not the case at all. somehow we pulled it together and locked in tightly with the groove. the sound was magical, thanks to our no-nonsense frenchy sound guy, christophe. the crowd was in to it every step of the way, egging us on with their fervent energy. stay classy, san diego. let’s be friends. friends with benefits, even. any city named after a whale’s vagina is alright in my book.

walt walt walt walt
teddy wigler front and center
kampy kampy kampy we love kampy
rob and chris b
cristophe asleep on the job
with call down fire post show
later ob – see ya in the spring