We crossed into California last Thursday after lots of driving, little sleep, and much heat. That night we played at the Blue Cafe in Huntington Beach, CA and were coincidentally paired with Brown Shoe, a band from Folsom, CA that we played with in Chicago on our last tour. . .crazy. . .Friday we played a show at the Good Hurt in LA (where all the wait staff dresses in short nurse-maid outfits) with our old friends and their new band, Pet the Dog. After much catching up, partying, and general mischief, we headed out of the city to Redlands on Saturday. Playing at the Vault was as much fun as we remember it being last time we were in Oso Rey country. The crowd was super-enthusiastic and danced all though our sets. We had a blast having Spiro (the one, the only Spiro) up for some tunes.
Monday we left for points North and headed up California Rt. 1, ocean-style. We passed through many beautiful and interesting towns, including the artichoke capitol of the world. Note the large artichoke feature of this building:
We hit Hayward, CA on the way into the city to play at the Bistro, the best beer selection in the most, um, "up and coming" area we've hit yet. Once we hit San Francisco on Wednesday, we made a point to drive through Chinatown on our way to the venue, Grant and Green, which, ironically, was located at the intersection of Grant and Green right outside Chinatown. We had a great show with some more old friends playing under the name Otto Mobile.
Yesterday we went on a hike around Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the hills outside of Oakland. We stumbled upon this really interesting labyrinth in the bottom of an old quarry.
Once we got back from our hike, we crossed the Bay into San Francisco to play an in-store performance at the Apple Store. It was really humbling to play the same stage the the Counting Crowes have played on and it was great to reach a whole new group of people with our music. We found this picture online with a caption that read "Musica en directo en la Apple Store de San Francisco. The StereoFidelics, me estan gustando mucho y son muuuy buenos. Macs y musica en directo igual a EPIC WIN" (thanks so much for the kind words and for taking/posting this shot!!) We had great sound and really enjoyed meeting and chatting with everyone after we played.
On to points north!