A GOOD NIGHT

One of the perks of being a musician as well as a restaurant owner is that you get to meet a lot of famous people. Sometimes by chance, others by circumstance, and yet other times according to plan. The chance ones are usually the best because of the spontaneity of it all. When there is no plan, sometimes things happen that you would never even had dreamed of in the first place.

A week and a half ago I was at the restaurant getting ready to go back home. This was a Saturday night in which I had no plans except to spend some time with the family at home. As I am walking out of the restaurant I am surprised to see my friend Joe Santiago parking outside the restaurant and helping his friend Jerry Gonzalez (of all people) out of the car. If you are not familiar with Jerry Gonzalez and his band "For Apache Band" you should look it up online to see what I am talking about. Jerry has been an innovator in the genre of Latin Jazz for decades. Having played with some of the biggest names in the scene, including, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Ray Barreto and Tito Rodriguez among many others. Check out his myspace page to get a sense of what he is all about.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=27367577

As I see them I decide I needed to make some time to get to know Jerry seeing as I am a big fan and all. Over dinner both he and Joe (through a lot of arm twisting) finally convinced me that I needed to join them at the Triple Door to catch Jerry's show. It was a thrill to get to experience all that and meet the rest of the band as well. Went from the restaurant to the hotel to the show and my only regret is that everything seemed to go by so fast. What a thrill it was. The pictures above are of us at the restaurant, another from a backstage view, and the last from the side of the stage. I am at a loss for words in trying to explain the feeling of getting to meet and hang out with a living legend (in my view at least) I'd like to thank my family for letting me take the time to do all this... As I said, some of the best times in life are the ones that come by chance. This was one of them.

Go check out the link, and enjoy

Alfonso

SO IT ENDS

After finishing our gig at Placerville we decided to make a final push to Portland Oregon so that we could get there by Saturday. We wanted to get home as soon as possible and also return the van on time which meant getting to Portland by 1 pm at the latest. We did make it in the morning after traveling all night. I believe the pictures on this post reflect the mood of everyone after this initial tour of Picoso. (By the way, Izaak is not dead, that's just what happens when you drink as much rum as he did) : )

Exhausted from so much traveling and playing, we could only wait to make sure that everything went well with returning the van (it did not but I am tired of writing about those incompetent and unorganized bastards) Went to get our cars and loaded up to begin the final journey home to Seattle.

The final tally?
-5 bottles of rum $100
-1 bottle of tequila $45
-10 cases of beer $200
-1 broken cajon $???
-1 broken and fixed bass $179
-over 4,000 miles $3,000
-lots of dancing $0
-very little sleep $0

-Getting closer as a band and as a family..... PRICELESS!!!

I'd like to thank everyone who made this possible. Credit! to Credit who filled in marvelously (as usual you rocked!) at the Portland show for Izaak.

Natali (our new manager in training from Portland) who effortlessly tried to fix Keith's bass in between sets as well as find us some other gigs in the Portland area.

Keith's sister for putting us up in Eugene (sorry to your roommate for the loudness)

And all of those who put up with us throughout this tour. We hope we made a good enough impression and behaved well enough to come back knocking once again in the very near future.

And of course, Ferípula, Tati, and Liquid Love (ahem, Borat) for being awesome and following us through the blog. As well as the wifey and the in laws. We'd love to hear from more of you and feel free to post comments on any of the posts.

GRACIAS!!!!

I will try and keep this blog updated on a regular basis with our local shows and what ever else might be happening with the band.

By the way, our next show is on October 25th at Nectar and it promises to be a good one. We will have an opening band called grupo ASHE.

Also, as we speak, Miami Grill called to find out if we would play down in San Diego for their New Year's party so we could be back down there before you know it.

Stay tuned

The mine

We had to check out the old mine below the Cozmic Cafe before we left
the place. It was very funny because they have actual tables down
there were people can hang out and have a meal, yet the ceiling was
pretty low so getting there without banging your head was a little
tricky. Very interesting place indeed.

Party time

We did not know what to expect at Placerville. Kept hearing how it was
in the middle of nowhere and there was not much to do there. Why would
we want to play there?

I have to say that we did not spend much time there to be able to say
exactly what we think of it with much certainty but if you ask me, it
had a very sleepy town feel. Like a tourist town. But if what people
say about it is true, I'd say the Cozmic Cafe is an oasis in the
middle of that dessert. It was originally a mine and the building was
built around the mine. The building is 180 (I believe that's what
Chris told us). On the second story, it has a small ballroom for
concerts which is where we played.

The crowd was full of very good dancers. Most of them dancing for the
whole show. Since we did such a small first set, we decided to make
the second set extra long (we played for an hour and a half when we
usually play forty five minutes to a set)

Decided to unwind a bit after the show, some of us were in the mood to
party a little but all of us were tired. I think the picture of Eli
above best explains the mood (yes, that's a painting of Jimmy Page and
Robert Plant on the wall which was very fitting since that's what we
were listening to on the way to Placerville)

Placerville California

We left the comfort of Half Moon Bay geared up to go conquer
Placerville. After trying to figure out what to do after the final
show (if we are going to make a push for Portland or try and take is
easy getting back). We got in the van and decided to play it by ear.
We figured we would get a feel of what to do after the show. That and
the van rental place apparently fired the manager at their Portland
location and would not be available for a return until Monday (very
long explanation on this one so maybe another post)

Unfortunately (due to horrible traffic) a trip that usually takes 3
hours actually took 6 into Placerville. We got there late and got off
to a late start. Rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon in the bay
area is almost comical. I'm not even sure I can do it justice in
trying to explain the mess that it was.

Fortunately, the owner of the Cozmic Cafe (her name is Chris and she
is pictured above with Keith) was very understanding , as well as the
crowd. The show was supposed to begin at 8 but we began setting up
around 7:40. Done with soundcheck around 8:20 we wanted to eat before
starting the gig (we had not eaten anything on the way because of the
traffic situation) but decided against it and began the show at 8:30.
Played a short set and then proceeded to fill our bellies with some
yummy food. If you want more information on the place by the way, chen
out their website. Thecozmiccafe.com

Half moon bay CA

We arrived at Keith's uncles' house at 7:30 in the morning. His name
is Nigel and is pictured here with Lalo, Eli, and Sam. He was very
accomodating and put us up at his house one very short notice (try two
hours notice).

We crashed there for a few hours before getting back on the road for
our next (and final) gig at Placerville.

Thank you uncle Nigel for being so kind

Autopilot

Here's a shot of my copilot Izaak. I was trying to show the reflection
of the sun rising on the side mirror as well as Izaak's drool (poor
job though). :)

In all fairness, he was a trooper and had just fallen asleep after
helping me stay awake for the last 5 hours of driving. Izaak rocks!

Fortunately everyone else slept on the drive to Half Moon Bay