L.A. & San Diego via Marisa

* We are - despite repeated promises to not let this happen - woefully out of date. It's my fault. So, in an attempt to at least finish what we started, we've divided up the remaining catch-up posts among band members. Sigh. - Kelly

One of the first things we did when we got to LA was go to Hollywood Forever cemetery to pay our respects to DeeDee Ramone. We also saw Johnny Ramone's grave, which is totally nuts! Check out this picture of Rikky with it! But if you're going to look at famous graves, you should first go to Griddle and eat a pancake. I say "a" pancake because you could not possibly eat more than one, if that. Check out this other picture- that huckleberry flapjack was bigger than my plate!

The first of our two LA shows was at a place called The Derby, which is not the kind of place we usually play. We were in The Lounge, the smaller of two performance spaces there. I wouldn't recommend it to any of the bands we know- it's plush in a stuffy way, the staff aren't as nice as other places, the sound was not so great, they didn't pay us, etc. Plus the other people we played with (all John Mayer-style singer/songwriter dudes) were mostly ignored by the patrons, who talked so loudly over the performance that it was hard to hear it at times. It was really, really depressing listening to these guys singing their hearts out and and plugging their myspace pages, and absolutely no one cared. That said, we definitely made the best of it. Luckily, we were too loud for anyone to talk over and we actually managed to win over a few folks, who formed a Peanuts-style dance pit. Plus, we got to perform for some really good friends who came out and were incredibly supportive. Overall, successful show!

Our next show was in San Diego at a house/studio/venue called The Habitat, which is considered to be the best place to play in town and I can see why! The sound there is really great (the owner, Roy, is an audio engineer), the turnout was fantastic and we had lots of fun meeting people and enjoying the other bands. Plus it has the cleanest bathrooms ever! One bummer was that they had us go on first, and a bunch of people showed up later to see us and missed us- including Joao, who had driven over 3 hours! But we still had a really good time. Thanks to the other bands (The Facets who were playing their first show, and the Modlins, who were so so good), Roy, and all the San Diegoans we met.

Our second LA show was part of The Tomorrow Show, a weekly comedy night at the Steve Allen Theater that features one band playing at the top and bottom of the show. We were really looking forward to it, and it totally delivered. The comedians were awesome and we were well received- people actually stuck around till 2am to see our second set. It as also really nice to break out of the indie-rock-show mentality and see other types of performance. Plus, our awesome friend Mike Singer (who works at a cupcake shop) brought dozens of cupcakes to share with the crowd! Once again, a bunch of old friends came out to see us- it was really touching to see how supportive people can be. Our friends are the best.