Tour Diary: Sacramento and San Francisco, CA
Tour Diary: Sacramento and San Francisco, CA
After another big disappointment, I rallied with a day in the Sacramento Valley, and a pair of solid Bay Area shows.
Thursday morning came with a bit of a thud as I awoke before the sun came up in Richmond, CA. The night before had been my lowest point thus far on the tour. Despite repeated follow-ups with the venue, my gig at the Baltic Kiss in Richmond, CA fell through just hours before I was supposed to arrive. This made for three cancelled gigs in four nights and I found myself struggling for cash and optimism.
By the morning, most of my despondency had faded and I looked to make Thursday a marked improvement over the dismal day prior. I showered and shaved before checking out of the Seahorse Hotel and hitting the road to the Sacramento Valley.
Traffic was thick as I headed northeast for a brief stop in Stockton. I tooled through town to see if anything interesting was happening and I found little to tickle my fancy. I continued on up the road to Sacramento and headed for the Old Sac portion of town where a series of buildings from the original mining town days have been preserved as a park and restaurant/shopping area.
I pulled Aretha into a parking spot along the edge of an old bank building that now featured a series of souvenir stores and candy shops. Exiting the car, I hoofed it around the area littered with tacky shops and gaudy, faux-vintage signage. After walking a few blocks of tourist alley, I as able to find a small section of buildings that had been historically preserved and left in original condition.
Throughout the park area there were perhaps three blocks of buildings that had been restored and left on display for a sense of the true old Sacramento. Two of these buildings have been turned in to historical museums for the curious public. There is a California History Museum, which was sadly closed for a private event when I was there. A second building also houses the California Railroad Museum, which looked interesting, but I chose to pass on it.
For a while longer, I ambled around the area checking out the buildings, people watching, and investigating the aged railroad yard that used to bring the new prospectors to the area, and shipped the newly found gold back to San Francisco. The sun shone down to make for a very warm and pleasant October day in the Sacramento Valley. I was back at Aretha a few minutes later, headed to find a spot for lunch.
A quick cursory search for local restaurants pointed me towards a local sandwich shop called Dad’s. I ordered a Governator which featured pastrami, slaw, provolone, pickles and the signature Dad’s sauce. The meal deal included a Coke and chips, and soon I found myself outside people watching as the folks inside dad’s dutifully tended to my sandwich. The Governator was delicious, highlighted by the tanginess of the slaw complimenting the unctuous pastrami.
I lazed in the sun a few more minutes after finishing my sandwich. I watched a Dad and his young daughter talk and laugh while they waited for their food. I thought of my own girls, and how long it’s been since they were little. In some respects, I pine for those days when they were innocent and excited little sponges, however I am mostly pleased to see what smart, resilient young women they have become. Seeing the pair together made me miss my girls and I felt my first true tinge of homesickness on the trip.
With lunch completed and the afternoon waning, I hopped back into Aretha and began the short drive to my home for the night in Winters, CA. My host Drew was ready for me when I arrived just after 5:00 on a Thursday evening. I’d met Drew through a pair of guys who have launched a new app called Couch Concerts. Drew is an old friend of one of the founders of this app and he was willing to be a Couch Concert guinea pig on my behalf. A few weeks ago, Drew hosted his first house concert which was a success and encouraged him to host more shows.
Together, we loaded my gear into Drew’s lovely back yard where I would be playing underneath his lit pagoda. I set up the stage and merch table with my gear and got things ready to roll before the guests began to arrive. Just after seven, a a small crew arrived and we all got acquainted. I shared some of my stories form the road and how I ended up at Drew’s place. The attendees were all fascinated and incredibly supportive of this wild journey I have undertaken.
Just before 8:00, I started my show with a story about an old friend and wasted days and launched into the Stick’s tune, ‘Redtail Hawks’. From there, we were off. Despite a trio of cancelled gigs, it felt wonderful to be back onstage playing in front of a group of attentive and engaged listeners. The small crowd made for a very informal divide between stage and audience. I fielded questions, went off on side tangents, and found that several of my stories that night were longer and more detailed than they usually are. That is a testament to the attention of the audience that night.
Once I had finished up, I took care of a few merch table purchases and chatted some more with the crew. Being that it was a school night, the crowd headed off to bed at a reasonable hour. I cleaned up the stage and merch areas, and then repacked Aretha before heading to bed myself.
Drew is a math teacher at a nearby high school, and as such he needed to get out the door before 7:00 am. With my tendency for early wake-up times, I was easily up by 5:45 and ready to roll long before Drew needed to hit the road. We chatted for a minute while we each prepped our stuff for the day and sipped some coffee. I thanked Drew again for his generous hospitality and his willingness to host a stranger for the night. I signed a poster for him and left a couple of records on the counter as a way of giving thanks. We hugged, and I jumped back in Aretha to return to San Francisco and a day with my buddy, Pete Coe.
First, I made a pit stop for coffee at a local standby, Fast Eddie’s Cafe. After filling up the travel mug, I hit the road, and was well within the confines of San Francisco before the 9:00 am church bell chimed. I texted my buddy Pete Coe to let him know my ETA and he gave me instructions for finding street parking near his pad. I found a spot for Aretha, and bounded up the steps to the front door.
Pete greeted me with a hearty hello and a hug. He welcomed me into his place and gave me the nickel tour. We chatted for a bit and then tooled Aretha up the street to the nearby hotel where I’d be spending the evening. Pete and another buddy from the Stand Up With Pete Dominick crew, Dustin had gone out of their way to secure a hotel room in the city for yours truly. It was a lovely gesture, and I was very touched.
We pulled into the Geary Parkway Motel and parked Aretha long before my room would be ready. Pete went inside the lobby to ensure that the room would be ready for the evening and to make arrangements for us to leave my car until I need it for the gig later in the evening. With details handled, Pete and I headed back to his apartment on foot to make plans for the afternoon.
While back at Casa Coe, we took our time enjoying the afternoon sunshine in Pete’s backyard patio area. We listened to various birdsong and even heard the shriek of a nearby hawk prowling the neighborhood skies. After an hour or so of conversation and outdoor relaxation, we jumped in Pete’s Honda Fit and headed over to a beer bar called the Tornado to meet Pete’s friend Steve for a lunchtime beer.
Steve is the owner of Robotspeak, a San Francisco synth shop that has a nice array of vintage and new synths and sequencers. I ordered a Pliny The Elder for myself and a seasonal Oktoberfest for Pete and we sidled next to Steve for an afternoon chat. As we found Steve’s table and began to sit, I realized that while day drinking in the lower Haight of San Francisco, I was not hearing the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane, but the Temptations. Detroit is everywhere, baby.
With beers emptied and the afternoon lapsing, Steve headed back to the shop for the last few open hours of the day, while Pete and I tagged along to play with a bit of the equipment on display at Robotspeak. Steve futzed around with a pre-programmed beat, a sequencer, and a couple of melodic tones. I chimed in a note or two in sympathetic synth improvisation. It’s always fun to get twiddle knobs and switches to explore new sounds, even if it isn’t always fun to hear the end result. After a few minutes, we thanked Steve and made our way back to the street.
Walking back to the car, we realized it was likely time for me to begin getting my shit together for that evening’s show. Back at the Geary Parkway, I picked up Aretha and maneuvered her to the neighborhood where Simple Pleasures Cafe is located. I managed to find parking one block away form the venue from which to load-in and out. Slowly, and quite laboriously, I toted all of my guitars, sound equipment, merch and accessories into the very small space afforded by tiny cafe.
I found a section of real estate near the piano to set up my small PA and went to work making things as tight as possible to keep from bothering the nearby patrons sipping lattes and reading their phones. Once I had things in place, I went through a quick soundcheck and hopped over to the bar to order a drink with which to form my setlist for the evening.
Looking at the menu, I struggled to choose between a coffee drink and a beer, but in the end opted for the caffeine boost. I ordered a Cafe Breva and took it outside to a small table parked directly in the glow of the California evening sunshine. I slowly sipped my coffee, charted out a setlist, and watched the patrons and passersby on a perfect Friday night.
My set began at 6:30 just as Pete and another friend from the Stand Up crew, Rhonda Klein arrived. It was a treat to have friends in the crowd, and as the room filled up, I could see that I was winning new converts one tune and one story at a time. A young couple smiled as I shared a story about my oldest daughter and then moved forward a few tables when the tune was over. An elderly gent wandered in form the street, and stayed for the entirety of the set.
Throughout my 90 minutes open stage, the cafe stayed heavily occupied. sadly, that attendance did not lend itself to a big payout for the night, but I was able to sell some merch and make a number of new friends and fans through the experience. After packing up my stuff, I sat and enjoyed a beer with Pete, Rhonda, and her partner, Steve before we all ended up going separate ways at the end of the night.
I made my way back to the Geary Parkway just after 10:00 pm, and found myself exhausted after a day of walking, exploring, day drinking, loading-in and out, and playing a 90 minute set in cramped quarters. Knowing that sleep was fast approaching, I hit the pillow with visions of Santa Cruz and some old and dear friends.
Cheers,
Matty C
Enjoyed meeting you at Tinkertown today. Sorry we didn’t see you before you hit the road. Good luck w the rest of your tour. What an adventure across America!
First, Detroit IS everywhere ☺️
Second, it is absolutely maddening when venues cancel shows at the last minute. Too many stories of musicians sleeping in cars or hungry b/c those dollars were crucial to meeting their budget. I’m all about supporting small businesses but there needs to be a list of clubs that do it so we can earn musicians and they can get at least half their money in advance. Or book through an online service that will release part of the money to you if the venue doesn’t fulfill its agreement.
Glad SF was so delightful.