San-Pho-Cisco

The next morning Shayde had to go to work, but gave me a set of keys so I could come and go as I please from his apartment. First thing I did was wake up and take a run. I just ran all the way down Polk St towards the water, and on the way there was NBD. It was raining but it was pretty warm out so I didn't mind, and there were a few mild uphills and then a few bigger downhills. After about 1.5 miles I turned around to run back... and let me tell you the hills in SF are NOT fucking around. I haven't dealt with running up hills like that since serious high school cross country meets!
After my run I showered and got dressed and got pretty and called Teva to entertain me for a few hours. He suggested we go to a Vietnamese place near where I was staying and get, what he considered to be, the best pho in the country. We went to Turtle Tower and some hot pho was pretty perfect after a run in the rain.


We then walked up to the Mission to find a "cool" coffee shop to hang out in, and on the way there I saw some really cool palm trees and had one of those "wow, guess I'm really in California" moments.

We went to Maxfield's to drink some coffee and do some writing before I had to go get ready for dinner with my college buds.

I then took the bus all by myself back to the Tenderloin, got ready, and then walked to meet my buds David and Jane from college at Domo, a really nice (but a bit pricey) sushi place. I got some "chef's selection" sashimi thing and it was small but super delicious, just like the freshest fish I've ever had.


We then walked a few blocks to Smuggler's Cove, a little tiki-type bar with a practically unmarked door that specializes in crazy rum cocktails. We got fancy drinks and sat right near a waterfall.



After gossiping about college friends and getting a little rum-tipsy we headed back to the Tenderloin to Edinburgh Castle, a cool divey bar where a soul DJ night was happening. Met up with people I know there including Josh and his gf Holly and Teva and Anne Marie. Danced the night away!

SanFranParty

After meeting up with Brace, we went to some bars in the Mission to hang out with various friends of Shayde. First we went to Uptown and met up with Jeremiah (who I met when Box Elders were in NY) and some other peeps and had drinks and fun. I know this is lame and fan-girly of me but I got especially excited to meet Thee John Dwyer (of Thee Oh Sees and Coachwhips fame) just cuz you know.



My buddy Josh who I met on my last trip also showed up and stuck around with us as we hopped around to other Mission bars including Homestead and the 500 Club.


Went home at last call, NBD. Crazy few days still to come.

San Fran Tastic!

The trip from Sacramento to San Francisco was one of the shortest Greyhound trips of my entire tour, so I left Sacramento at a reasonable hour and got into SF in the later afternoon.
I was going to be staying with Shayde, the bass player from Fresh & Onlys, but he was going to be working at Amoeba Records until 6pm so I had some time to kill. My buddy Teva, who moved to New York from San Fran and recently moved back again for a girl, came to meet me at the Greyhound station and we went up to the Haight-Ashbury area together.

The trip from Sacramento to San Francisco was one of the shortest Greyhound trips of my entire tour, so I left Sacramento at a reasonable hour and got into SF in the later afternoon.
I was going to be staying with Shayde, the bass player from Fresh & Onlys, but he was going to be working at Amoeba Records until 6pm so I had some time to kill. My buddy Teva, who moved to New York from San Fran and recently moved back again for a girl, came to meet me at the Greyhound station and we went up to the Haight-Ashbury area together.

We got to Amoeba where not only Shayde was working, but also Anne Marie, Teva's wonderful girlfriend. I dropped my bag off at the bag check and ran next door to Murio's Trophy Room, where Shayde was on his break. We had a couple of beers and chatted about things and you know how it is.


Shayde then had to go back to work, it was Black Friday after all, and I was really really hungry from the long bus ride, so Teva took me to Papalote Mexican Grill, a "famous" place in SF for their "burritos"... I'm also pretty sure I saw them kick Bobby Flay's ass on Throwdown!. The burritos were good but pretty intense.
After our burritos Anne Marie was on her break, so we went with her to a coffee shop and got caffeinated while I blogged just a bit.


In a bit we had to go back to Amoeba... I had to meet up with Shayde to go back to his place and Anne Marie had to go back to work. Teva and I saw a funny cut-out on the door while we were waiting.

Shayde got off work and we went back to his place in the Tenderloin. It was a nice one bedroom he shares with his girlfriend, but she was away on tour. He had the cutest cat named Bruce Springsteen (but she was a girl). She and I bonded pretty much instantly, I think she'd get along well with my cat Georgina Harrison.



After hanging out, listening to some records, talking about all kinds of deep shit, and drinking a six pack, it was time to go out and hang with some peeps. Brace, a dude I know from the Internet and the band Wild Thing came to meet up with us and we all piled into a cab to the Mission.

Sacs-Giving

Thanksgiving is obviously an awkward time to be on the road. I've actually never spent a Thanksgiving away from my family, so that was kind of weird to me, but I was really THANKFUL to Melissa for letting me spend the big T-Day with her family right outside of Sacramento.
We all woke up early to cook things to bring with us. I made some brussels sprouts with bacon and red onions, Melissa made a veggie lasagna and a turducken. We loaded up in the car and headed towards her grand mother's house.
I had a great time! Melissa's family was super nice to me and all the food was great. Her niece Abby is totally adorable and a total diva.










After we ate I watched Toy Story 3 with the younger kids... man, that movie is pretty dark! There's a moment where all the toys come to terms with dying and accept their fate and hold hands solemnly! Crazy!
We then went on a walk, it was nice out and there was a dog.


The next morning I boarded a bus to San Fran... Thanks for being great hosts Rick & Melissa!

Lucky Sacky

Woke up on the second day and tried to do some blogging... I was crashing in a room that belonged to Kyle (of Ganglians fame), but he was off on tour so I had the thing to myself. I eventually made it downstairs and DJ Rick was chilling there, watching some TeeVee, and we decided to go get some late breakfast.
He took me to Black Bear Diner which is some regional chain... like a frontier version of Cracker Barrel kind of? I got ham and eggs and the ham was ridic.

Then Rick took me around to some touristy stuff, Old Sac was cool (and sounds funny), then we stopped at some "hip" coffee shop and met some very young punks that Rick knew outside.


Rick then told me he had the perfect place to show me so we hopped in his car and drove out. Rick was a great person to stay with because he's an obsessive information sponge and just knows things and everything, especially California. In the car ride he told me all about California history (especially relating to touring bands) and a crazy story about shows he booked for Dead Moon and Elliot Smith's old band Heat Miser when he just a young lad in college.
We eventually got to Locke, an old Chinese town a little bit outside of Sacramento. People still live there but it pretty much looks like a weird ghost town. There were a bunch of cats everywhere and they even have a bar called All The Wops that was unfortunately closed while we were there, but I got to ride a dragon.








After Locke we headed back to Rick's place to see Melissa/hang with the cats/watch HGTV before hitting a grocery store to shop for Thanksgiving things. Man, I had heard rumors about California produce but never really took it too seriously... ummmm... it's insane. Vegetables just look different in California, make New York veggies look gross!



After shopping, Rick and Melissa insisted on taking me to their favorite pho place, Pho Saigon. I actually had never had pho before, I guess it's not really common in New York, but apparently there are a ton of Vietnamese restaurants in Sac. The Pho was good.

We then went to pick up Andrew at the random weird record store he works at... the kind of place that sells things like Taylor Swift records on vinyl and weird/fancy beer bongs.

We then embarked on part 2 of DJ Rick's Great Dive Bar Tour 2k10. We drove around to a bunch of places, a few were closed for the holiday, and one (The Swiss Buda) was closed for a private 40th birthday party (which we were very bummed not to be invited to).
We did get into a few notable ones. The first one was The Cinch and it was pretty much just grossss and kind of scary. Andrew had half a burrito and all the weirdos at the bar were giving him a hard time about not sharing it with them...



Second was The Trap, apparently one of the oldest dives in Sacramento. It was a total hole in the wall and had really nice staff and didn't serve liquor. It seemed like most of the regulars were just pissing off the bartender and he was happy to talk to us.




Last was On The Y, a pretty authentic metal bar that was playing cool music and was pretty full for Wednesday night.

Then it was home to rest up to give some thannnnnxxxx.