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I feel like a platinum plated bottle of Don Perion champagne, still bubbly after a four night run of fun that will go down in history as totally insane. We did it folks, we won! Now i’m gonna rap a little bit about how it all begun.

“And we would’ve gone to Eau Claire!” -CA HAHAHAHAHAHA!

No, it had to go down like this. We had an agenda and it was meant to be. 2 nights in Vegas, 2 nights in San Franscisco. A trip like a roller coaster, but better because you might spill your drinks on a rollercoaster.

Starting from the San Jose airport I was already excited and was getting numerous “Viva!” texts meanwhile trying to tame myself with $13.00 airport coctails. I boarded the plane and took the first seat in the front; an open seat in between two older professional looking guys with laptops. I immediately started into conversation about Vegas and the prophesized adventure and that we all needed drinks stat. The guy to my left leans over to the guy on my right and says ” This is going to be a really short flight.” They both laughed largely and then entertained my nonsense the whole time.They wern’t even going to Vegas, they were getting off at the layover in L.A. and I was going to send them home with the funnest airplane conversation they’ve ever had. It was pretty bad…in the best way. The next leg was Vegas bound and I got a new aisle mate. She was a grade school teacher who wore a mu-mu and a blindingly bright gold cross. The guys in the next row gave us drink vouchers and we got more Bloody Mary’s and talked the whole trip about what we’d do in Vegas. It was hysterical. She was a dirty 60 year old grade school teacher, and we both knew we were gonna ROCK Vegas. So my flight felt like 5 minutes and I arrived pretty tossed. Met up with the amigos and it was on. Friends flew out from all over and I met a lot of new enthusiasts as well. Everyone’s smiles were as brilliant as the Vegas lights themselves. We had been ready, we were finally there.

Thursday night was the first show and it was scheduled to be special. The solo sets with each band member of Tea Leaf Green sans Scotty. The fantastic Reed Mathis opened the show and sat poised on a pedistal with a guitar and a mic and played us some beautiful originals and a couple covers. It was a real treat because we’d never seen Reed in this light as a stunning solo artist. Good stuff. So, next up was a great rockin set from Mr. bad ass himself, guitar virtuoso extraordinaire, Josh Clark, who brought us such classics as “F**k you blinking light” and “Your mama’s got nothing on me. To cap the night off was a sultry set of keyboardand classics by our well seasoned solo señor Trevor Garrod. Later in the show, he brought out a gorgeous and talented cello player to accompany a few songs who was none other than our company’s own Stebbie Dewart!

{welcomed distractions are present at the time being seeing as though I’d still like to review the second night in Vegas as well as the 2 night SF GAMH blowout awesomeness, then Guitarmegeddon last night, however I am heading out the d oor to head up to Quincy for my 8th year tradtion of the High Sierra Music Festival!! And I’m pleased to announce that as of confirmation yesterday, I will be head in out to NYC 2 days after I return from the mountains to join the east coast chapter for a week of TLg and Turbine on the boat. ) So, with that, i’ll have to get back to these reviews and updates later and keep the ball rollin.

Happy 4th of July weekend everybody!!! Celebrating our Independence, Freedom and our ability to rock the f**k out!!! Enjoy

to be cont’d…

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I probably should feel just how I look this morning which is ironically interesting after getting home at 3am after an all day trip from San Diego to Santa Cruz but my initial greeting to the world was a boisterous smile and pat on the back for my good taste in agendas. In short, we rocked the phuck outta Southern California this weekend and I should also mention that our favorite band was in town as well.

Of course when Tea Leaf Green schedules a L.A. run, I will be there. It is my old hometown that taught me how to rock so I like to give back to the town by showing it all that i learned.

Because everyone is gearing up for the Vegas>GAMH run in two weeks, this trip was a little off the radar so that made it hard to find other leafers to roll with so I put an ad on Craigslist. This led me to a kid that goes to UCSC and just finished for the year and he needed to get back home to Hollywood. He traveled with a guitar, a briefcase and a microwave. He was a very cool indie kid that now loves TLg. A day before I was to set out south, I got a call from my famed friend Joe Femino and he was to join us in the trip and join me in stirring up the nether regions of our state on our lil’ Tea Leaf tour. This was good. This was a great story itself.

We had an 8 hour drive to L.A. and a lot of music to share along the way. The indie kid in the back seat was diggin many of our picks and we all shared rounds on the sounds. I got us lost in Oxnard (rep’n the OX) trying to find my brother at a wake so I could get a key from him so I just hopped on PCH, Highway 1 and we caught the rest of the drive along the ocean for a fantastic sunset and a perfect way to enter L.A. What was really perfect is that even though I lost us some time there, we were still going to make it for TLG’s set and the kid who we had to drop off lived a block from the venue and gave me great directions to weave our way through that part of the city. Plus, as difficult as it is to park in the city, we found an overnight lot for $5. What? Super cool.

Arriving to the venue which looked like the classic old Hollywood movie theatre turned music venue complete with ticket box in front, the bright lights were upon us. We rolled in giddy and made an immediate left to the bar for shots of Patron and were front row bound. Ran into several crew members along the way and we all coagulated accordingly. Unfortunately, this is where I skip my whole review of the show and go directly to the next night. Not because I don’t remember because I do, but because I was not that into it for the sake of the way the set flowed especially for a one setter and that’s all I have to say. But I mention this because we saw two nights of shows back to back and the contrast plays a big part in the recognition of the awesomeness at hand, gives us gratitude for what we got.

SAN DIEGO!!! The next nights show in San Diego brought the heat in a major way and more than compensated for the mellow nature of the previous night . And I just have to say that as much as this band rocks my world, I would always only want them to play whatever they want even if it was a sleeper show on a friday night in Hollywood. Case and point: San Diego.

The venue called The Wave house was located at the magnificent San Diego Beach Boardwalk and the stage was large and tall and they had a great sound system. The dancefloor was literally in the sand and luckily I had gotten a call from our Treasurer earlier so I knew to wear flip flops. Beyond the crowd, there were hammocks in between palm trees and fire bits around the bar as well as a wave machine that you could actually surf in, like a ride, we were at a boardwalk afterall, with rollercoasters and everything but the best ride of the night by far…was the show.

Earlier in the day, Labiacci and I stopped by his old hometown of Huntington Beach (which ironically sued Santa Cruz for the title of Surf City U.S.A. long ago, but no bitterness here, this is a really great town and actually has good surf) and we recruited a grip of great new-to-me friends, great musicians too to caravan the 2 hours to see the show. We spent some time kickin it there so when we arrived in SD, we made it just in time to walk through the enterance at the first notes of “Let Us Go”. We found our crew and our dancing area up front and the show was on and the band was on fire! By the third song, Biatchi and I look at eachother with eyes of agreement that this already makes up for last nights show…and it kept on going and going. Every song was persued with passion the band was happy you could tell. The crowd was jumping and fists were pumping, as this was the best place to be in the whole world to be if you wanted to dance your ass off and rage it like you meant it.

Since this show was on the beach, the night capped off with some beach bull-fighting and the unvieling of the great bottle of red wine that I smuggled from Spain. The waters were warm and the wine was delicious, what more can I say, I like how it all goes down in San Diego!

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Holy crap it’s June already?

Break out the ears of corn and the wiffle balls, the heat is on!

The great 08′ is sailing by like a strong winds of stardust and it’s kicking up the necessity of my intentions; sweet sweet motivations.

Hello Summer Rarrrrrrrrrr!

Turbine will be the first band that I get uploaded to the new radio site! The site, which is almost ready to unviel it’s new look, is extactic. And I was excited to tell the guys when they called me as they were driving across the country on their way to Wakarusa as it was our 1 year anniversary of meeting! They said that they are going to debut at the festival this one awesome song that we all wrote one night on a rooftop in NYC. I wish I could’ve made it out to Waka this year but alas, I have to be working with my current job at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, which is alright but it’s no Waka. I also mentioned to Sauce to find them and introduce himself. I hope everyone has a fantastic time out there this year! I know you’re all gonna rage it up of course, it’s Wakarusa, where fun is your only option.

Be sure to tune into www.dgold.info/radio on 6/10/2008 at 6:00pst or 8:00central and 9:00 est for a very Special Edition of Honest Tunes Radio which will feature Turbine in the studio!! Our good friend Dgold hosts the show and will play music in association with our beloved Wakarusa Festival.

The festival I am going to www.harmonyfestival.com has many different acts with a broad spectrum of diversity. I’m stoked to see Arrested Development, BLVD. and Geoege Clinton WITH Parliment Funkadelic. Also very happy that our local groove Byron Space Circus will be playing there too!

On another local note, Santa Cruz resident Nathan Dennan (Brett’s little Brother) a great singer/songwriter/keyboardist, is looking for band members to join in with a new group. Post a comment if you know anyone who is interested and i will give you his email.

Next week, the transportation director and I will set sail back to L.A. and then San Diego for a lil’ TLG rendezvous in the southern nether regions of rock.

Happy Friday everyone!

Counting down the days til VEGAS! and our scheduled board meeting to defy all board meetings!

Rock on!

-Mgmt

 

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Filed under: General by phoreal