Arts The Cops “I Can’t Stay Focused” Tour Blog, Installment 1
Saturday, March 11th
We’re now in Eugene, where we play at the Indigo District with Clair de Lune and our Seattle homies, the Divorce. The Indigo District is a giant restaurant that morphs into a hipster club after dark. There are several people in the place, but they all seem to be in the bathroom during every band’s performance. Poor fuckers missed a real good rock show. We stay with our amazing friends Katie and Aaron, and breakfast on eggs, country ham, and Katie’s homemade biscuits. The van smells more like a bar than a vehicle today, but not too bad. The soundtrack of the day includes Marvin Gay, the Pretenders, Black Mountain, and some punk/new wave mixes. Michael buys a new Gibson SG in Portland.
Sunday, March 12th
Up next is Oakland for a show at an art space, Lobot Gallery. Before the show we hang out at this killer hip-hop dive bar called the Golden Bear. John tells the bartender that she pours a strong drink; she replies, “welcome to Oakland bitches!” Dave subsequently invents a new drink he christens “Rumgin” that consists of 4 shots, 3 cubes, and one glass. You do the math. The show is sparsely attended but we see several friends. We eat granola and crappy chips in the van and conclude that we’re now writing checks our body can’t cash.
Monday, March 13th
After spending the night in the art gallery (which doubles as a residency for 11 artists), we start heading south to L.A. to play a show at Spaceland with Seattle bands the Lashes, the Divorce and the Dane band, Figurines (on Sonic Boom owner Nabil Ayer's label Control Group). Our L.A. stop includes at trip to Sea Level Records in Echo Park, where John buys Rudy Ray Moore's This Ain't No White Christmas; Brian picks up Tristeza and M.I.A. After load-in we hit El Conquistador for some deliciously strong margaritas, good Mexican food and the delightful presence of our pals Tad and Craig from the Hold Steady (fresh back from an Australian tour).
After we catch up, we head over to Spaceland and walk into an extremely crowded venue. During their performance, the Lashes hand out 50 free Domino's pizzas to the crowd. I'm guessing Columbia Records paid for that one. We headline the show and play to a very receptive crowd; best show of tour to date. Our good friend Gary "Gorilla Man Davis” opens our performance with his 5 best jokes as voted on through a "highly scientific poll.” Gary "Gorilla Man” Davis used to live in Seattle under the name Matt Olsen and he is obscenely funny. Today we eat eggs, potatoes, breakfast meat products, more chips, and coffee while listening to much music, including Scientist, Lee Hazelwood, Barry White, the Cure, Aerosmith Rocks, the Band, Neko Case, Centro-matic, Olivia Tremor Control, and Motorhead.
Tuesday, March 14th
We finally take a left and head towards Arizonawe're making our way to Austin via Tucson for SXSW. Tonight is Club Congress in Tucson then we're off to Austin for 3 days. Our livers are very, very frightened; however, our van "Falco” is holding out like a champ and smelling pretty lively.
Signing off for now the Cops, somewhere in the desert...