The Living Rockumentary

Two shows in a row in places that are clean and smoke-free and friendly. Two places that celebrate creativity and expression instead of money and booze. After a weekend like that you can almost get your hopes up too high.

It seems like forever since Brian and I went on a road trip to a show. Back in the day we use to travel a lot more. These days even when we do have a an out-of-town show we usually take two cars, Brian's and mine, so we never ride together. It was fun. We listened to Ken's improved order of songs for The New You twice. Once in almost complete silence and the next time we talked about it as it played. We listened once more on the way home with Ken and I think we came to some good decisions about two songs to leave off. We'll talk about it with the rest of the band soon.

This weekend I felt more focused musically than I have been for a while. We played two great shows, reviewed our almost completed new album, had a bin of brand new T-Shirts, and got some very nice press in a town we had never played in before. Also, in Portland we spent some quality time with Jose Ayerve who is always a well of inspiration and motivation.

Ken did an impressive job picking up the bass for our show in Portland. We were our original touring trio from two or three years ago when we went south down 95. He even filled in some of the missing Tony riffs here and there. Whenever we play as anything but a five piece, I always miss the missing ingredients but it's also nice to hear the songs in a new light. Keeps you on your toes.

The Pace show came through far better than I had imagined. We had a respectable crowd and the sound was wonderful. Switching on and off with Spanish for Hitchhiking was a really good thing, too. It was nice to be able to watch them in between our sets. They were so good. The audience was so nice and quiet that you could hear every nuance of the music. Very intimate and moving. I can't wait for their new album.

The sound on the stage was excellent, too. I had a perfect mix in my ears, it was like we were in the studio. I think that was one of the reasons I kept messing up the lyrics to some of the songs, there was nothing to worry about. I didn't have to strain to hear my voice or anything and my mind began to wonder.

The new songs sounded really good, I thought. Is this the first show with no Omnivore ever since it's brith? I don't know. Seems like it.

Tony Westcott king of bees.