Our buddy Pete Schreiner (Thousand Arrows, The Coke Dares, Magnolia Electric Company, Sam Lowry & The Circumstance) is adding a new gig to his resume as he plays sideman to Scout Niblett on her current tour. Pete is keeping us in the loop of the ups and downs of the road with this tour diary.
Slept pretty well in the cramped bedroom & woke up, successfully alive. Had a shower downstairs. Never saw the roommates or the baby. Saw baby stuff around the house. I went for a walk to practice comedy and get a coffee. I had written down a collection of bits. Still needed to work out the order. I always like to walk around alone and practice by talking to myself. It’s helpful to say the words out loud just so I get used to them; so my tongue doesn’t trip over them. Often times, new jokes will come out of it too. It’s weird though to be walking around talking to your self. I get strange looks sometimes. Have to be careful with the blue material too: blundering around, blathering bad words. Nice.
Wandered to some main drag and went to Albertsons for a new pen. No roller balls so I got a gel roller instead; it’s pretty good and retractable so no lid to deal with. Got a donut too but it sucked. I walked around for 40 minutes maybe, around a park and just up and down residential streets. Happened onto an area with restaurants and stuff and found a coffee shop. Looked kinda cheesy but they made good espresso—iced ’cause it was a bit warm out. Went back in the direction of the house. Passed a reggae store (!) so I went in looking for Congos records but they didn’t have any so I made an impulse-buy and walked out with a Lee Perry rarities CD. Few blocks back to the house. Locked out so I sat on the steps and drank my coffee and chilled with a cat sleeping on the brick wall. Folks walked back and we packed up and drove off.
Stopped at a coffee shop for Scout but I was good for now. Thought I’d make a press-mug later. Drove toward LA. We wanted to go to the beach so we got off the 5 and went to Newport Beach. Nice tour bonus to see the ocean again this trip. Walked out the pier and on the beach a little. Water was cold but it was nice to be by the ocean in the sun. Some weirdoes were posted up beside a limo with a leather sofa on a carpet. We couldn’t figure out what the purpose was but the guys were affable and wanted everyone to sit on the sofa. One dude said the couch was for sale. “Most comfortable couch in the world.” Scout and Dan sat for a picture. We got back on the highway and OF COURSE hit traffic again. Worse than before. Stayed off main highways for a while than got caught. Needed gas too so got off the freeway and cut through town. Drove bumper-to-bumper on Coldwater Canyon, speculating about and looking up who lived there out of sheer boredom. We passed Carrie Fisher’s house at 1 mph.
Made it to Bob’s apartment again. Relief. Chilled out a while. Had a beer. Talked comedy with Bob’s room mate Andy, who was going to a blues jam later. Scout was going for a swim, Bob, Dan, and I were on the way to Midori, a sushi place that has an all-you-can-eat deal. Most of the menu is fair game, you have an hour time limit to eat, but if you don’t finish it all, you have to pay for the uneaten portion. Fair enough for $28. As Bob said, order right (the rolls are $8-15 a pop) and you’re making money. The sushi was excellent with some decadent options: rolls with baby lobster, smoked fish, jalepenos, etc., topped with crawfish, shrimp, sauces. Damn. We didn’t eat to the point of being crippled but it was within chopsticks’ grasp. Let the endorphins settle down for a bit then walked back to the car.
Comedy show up next. At a bar called Big Fish. Nautically-themed standard neighborhood bar in Glendale in LA. Couple old men behind the bar. Cheap drinks, friendly vibe. Zane Gray’s record-setting swordfish’s sword is on the wall amongst other mounted fish and boating & fishing equipment. Sean the host started things off around ten. I was up fourth I think. The guy before me yelled a lot doing his inconsistent Emo Phillips impersonation and went way over time. I did OK, little rusty, out of practice. Didn’t handle the heckles too well but I rolled with it and did 10 minutes or so with no major flubs. Bob was right after me and had a good set. Some other folks were pretty good. I like non comedy club shows for the looseness, ie bad sound, talking, yelling at comics. It’s a good challenge at least.
Days off on tour kinda suck unless it’s a long tour and you need a break. The show is the only reason for the day so when there’s no show, there’s no reason to be driving around in LA traffic like an idiot. So it was cool for me to have a performance that night. I’m glad Scout and Dan were into it. They seemed to have a good time, but I felt for them not having their show fulfillment for the day.
Back to Bob’s for sleep time. Talked blues jam with Andy and then racked out on the floor.
-Pete
