Malu and China drove down from Los Angeles and met a few of us at the beach in the afternoon. The waves were powerful — good for body surfing but not much else. At sound check, we begin rehearsing “Burning Down The House,” as we’ll add it as an encore on the San Francisco dates, where the Extra Action Marching Band will join us. By the end of half an hour, it sounds almost ready to play! Mark had spent part of the day programming keyboard sounds and Paul, Graham, and Mauro already knew it, so it came together quickly. We’ll have an hour to work with the marching band at sound check before the SF show. And they, the marching band, have suggested that they teach our dancers the steps they’ve worked out for that song. Perfect! All told, that means there’ll be about 36 people on stage when they join us at the end of the show.
Latecomers
At some of the recent shows, some percentage of the audience, I guess assuming that there will be an opening act, straggle in during the first half hour of our show. It’s a little disconcerting to walk out and see scattered empty seats…seats that get filled after these stragglers arrive. All I can assume is that these audience members think they’re being clever and missing the opening act, but there is none. We have suggested to the local promoters that they add information to their ads that say, “No Opening Act,” and “Show Starts Promptly” — but we’ll see.
After sound check, Malu, China, and I go for a walk along the seaside, which is right next to the San Diego venue. Pelicans stand on the breakwater. We pass a picnic where they’re playing my music. There’s a gorgeous sunset.
LA
Malu and China join us for the bus ride to LA. We spend most of the ride watching YouTube favorites (the bus has wi-fi). A fight between water buffalo, lions, and an alligator. The butt-sniffing monkey. A one-man history live performance montage of pop dance. A Steve Coogan character doing a duet with Björk. China texts some friends in LA to enquire regarding suggestions for a place for us to hang out and meet friends after we get kicked out of the Greek Theatre’s backstage. The bus drops us off at the LA hotel at 1 a.m. The next morning, I wake up and go out for a New York Times and breakfast. Duke’s coffee shop is walking distance. On the side street where the hotel is located, there is an attractive blonde woman in a skirt and heels. I do a double take when she begins to walk towards Sunset Boulevard; her tits, in a tight black sweater, are as big as those of 50s girly cartoons, completely unrealistic and exaggerated out of all proportion. Welcome to LA! As usual there is no one about, the blonde and some Mexican road workers and myself, but there’s lots of traffic. The night’s mist has yet to be dissipated. The young Goth guy at the counter at Duke’s says he’s coming to our show.
Last night was the Biden/Palin debate. I listened in, but only a bit. Palin tries to throw out key phrases and push the buttons the voters want to hear (lower taxes, less government, economic security) while Biden gives hard evidence. Her platitudes are mostly lies, as is the Republican style. They often rightly assume that no one will actually check or call them on their bullshit. Sadly, their technique of lying till people think it’s true often works — a pathetic reflection of the American voter. I sort of wish the Democrats would take off the kid gloves and call these people on their bullshit. I mean, the Republican policies and the Bush administration facilitated the credit-banking mess, the attendant economic decline, oil-friendly energy policies, the huge debt the US is saddled with, and the expenditure of billions a week on an endless illegal war. The McCain camp has appropriated the Obama “change” mantra, but their behavior says more of the same.
