| upcoming shows |
[Feb. 25th, 2009|12:34 am] |
friday, february 27th
spaceland pre-party for ROCK PAPER SCISSOR art exhibition
1717 silverlake blvd.
los angeles, ca 90027
$10 advance, $12 at the door, 21 and over, 8:00 pm
with:
mike watt + the secondmen
lee ranaldo of sonic youth!
the niche makers featuring raymond pettibon
special guests:
old war shirt
bob rokos
m.s. garvey and the hootenanny all stars
slings
this is a very special show which will be the pre-party to a big art exhibition opening that our good friend jon cournoyer from old war shirt has curated. as you can see, there are some big names playing! we'll probably only play a couple of songs as slings, but we'll be on the stage for many of the other acts too. please come join us for an unforgettable night!
a very similar show will be happening the following sunday afternoon (march 1st) at the santa monica museum of art.
for all information about the art show and the musical performances, go here: ROCK PAPER SCISSOR
tuesday, march 3rd
tuesday tunes
la sierra university student center
4500 riverwalk parkway
riverside, ca 92505
FREE, ALL AGES, 8:00 pm
with:
ann lynn
winston and the telescreen
last american buffalo
wednesday, march 18th
calvary chapel tustin
330 west 6th st.
tustin, ca 92780
FREE, ALL AGES, 7:00 pm
we’ll be playing for the youth group service and the show starts right at 7:00. from the parking lot, go up the stairs into the small auditorium where the youth group is held. there is another building where a regular service is held at the same time, so make sure you’re in the right place! more info here
thursday, march 26th
the hyperion tavern (acoustic show - no mics, no amps!)
1941 hyperion ave.
los angeles, ca 90027
FREE, 21 and over, 9:00 pm
with:
the preacher's son
cave country
josh hedlund
tommy santee klaws |
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| photos from our cd release show |
[Feb. 20th, 2009|01:46 am] |
this is ridiculously after the fact, but i did want to go ahead and share these photos of our cd release show that was at evocal in costa mesa all the way back in september of last year. wow has it really been that long?!
i won't try to explain the show in words other than saying it was THE BEST SLINGS SHOW EVER! it was a truly unforgettable night and everything we could have hoped for. enjoy the photos...
our friend mason:
bob rokos:
((sounder)):
old war shirt:
greater california:
charlie's brother kasey breneman took these awesome photos of our set:
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| request slings on the radio in CA! |
[Oct. 8th, 2008|09:55 am] |
we have sent our new album, "the old hopeful trail" to all of the following stations in california with a note asking pretty please, can they give us some airtime. if you're a fan and listener of any of the following stations, it would definitely help for them to get some requests for us!
if you hear us getting played, please let us know...
and also, if you know of a good station that isn't listed here we should send to, by all means, tell us!
thank you all for your support!!!
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Indie 103.1 FM - Los Angeles and Orange County
www.indie1031.fm
online song request
we were recently played a couple of times on mr. shovel's show "check one two" (sundays 6-8 pm)
KCRW 88.9 FM - Santa Monica College
www.kcrw.com
KXLU 88.9 FM - Loyola Marymount University
www.kxlu.com
KUCI 88.9 FM - University of California, Irvine
www.kuci.uci.edu
our friend kyle has been giving us some plays on his show "things that are square" (thursdays 6-8 pm). thanks kyle!
UCLA Radio - University of California, Los Angeles
www.uclaradio.com
KSCR 1560 AM - University of Southern California
www.kscr.org
CHAPMAN RADIO - Chapman University, Orange
www.chapmanradio.com
KBEACH - Cal State University Long Beach
www.asicsulb.org/kbeach
KPFK 90.7 FM - Pacifica Radio, Los Angeles
www.kpfk.org
KUCR 88.3 FM - University of California, Riverside
www.kucr.org
KLBC - Long Beach City College
www.klbc.org
KCSN 88.5 FM - Cal State University Northridge
www.kcsn.org
KSPC 88.7 FM - Pomona College
www.kspc.org
KCR 1620 AM - San Diego State University
kcr.sdsu.edu
KCSC - Cal State University Chico
www.kcscradio.com
KCPR 91.3 FM - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
www.kcpr.org
KSBR 88.5 FM - Saddleback College
www.ksbr.net
KCSB 91.9 FM - University of California, Santa Barbara
www.kcsb.org
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
90.7 FM KALX - University of California, Berkeley
kalx.berkeley.edu
94.1 FM KPFA - Berkeley, CA
www.kpfa.org
90.3 FM KUSF - University of San Francisco
kusf.org
90.9 FM KCSF - City College of San Francisco
www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Broadcast/KCSF
90.3 FM KDVS - University of California, Davis
www.kdvs.org
90.1 FM KZSU - Stanford University
kzsu.stanford.edu
91.5 FM KKUP - Cupertino, CA
www.kkup.com
91.1 FM KMUD - Redwood Community Radio
kmud.org
89.5 FM KVMR - Nevada City, CA
www.kvmr.org
KSSU - Cal State University Sacramento
www.kssu.com
90.7 FM KFSR - Cal State University Fresno
www.csufresno.edu/kfsr
KFJC 89.7 FM - Foothill College, Los Altos Hills
www.kfjc.org |
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| oc weekly review of "the old hopeful trail" |
[Sep. 26th, 2008|10:28 am] |
the oc weekly issue that just came out yesterday features a really great review of our new album by erin dewitt!
[LOCALS ONLY] SLINGS, 'THE OLD HOPEFUL TRAIL'
BY ERIN DEWITT
The Orange-based duo of Dustin Poulton and David Pope have, with their band Slings, created a fanciful world in which songs are stories and the harmonica is a totally serious instrument. On the band’s newest ethereal collab, The Old Hopeful Trail, an innovative balance has been established that allows both natural and mechanical elements to coexist. The harsh industrial-grind slashing doesn’t ruin the organic textures here, but rather complements them, helping Slings to diversify an otherwise granola-crunching persona. Listen to the team take a combo of acoustic guitars and undiluted country vocals and make it fresh with heavy distortion and grit. The album’s opener, a sleepy western titled “Gold Teeth,” melts together monosyllabic onomatopoeia with a line of shocking fuzz that recalls the similar hum-worthiness of Ohio band the Sun. “Christmas Carol” veers away slightly with a higher tempo and filtered, almost transparent vocals. (Far as I can tell, the song isn’t holiday-themed—more of a lonely love song—but it’d sure be a welcome change from the constant drone of ear-numbing traditional carols.) Taking a cue from M. Ward and Iron and Wine, Slings also find the beauty in eloquent songwriting, but add touches of adventurous quirk. “This Ain’t No Last Dance” wraps around a Dick Dale-inspired guitar riff and leans into some Nick Cave-esque ominous brooding before exploding into a cyclonic crescendo of clashing. Not only an escape from the mundane, the world of Slings is one where an imagination is free to streak naked through the woods. Like a verse from their track “The Songbird,” “The harder the work, the more lovely the dream.”
to see the article along with a pretty picture of us in the snow, click here:
locals only by erin dewitt |
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| next two shows |
[Sep. 16th, 2008|01:10 pm] |
just letting you all know about a couple of shows coming up in the next week. sunday is our first headlining show at spaceland, which makes us kind of nervous, but it'll be a great night no matter what! then next thursday, we're playing at the american legion hall in old town orange. supposedly it's a huge, beautiful ballroom so that should be fun. we can pretend we're playing at a high school dance in the 50s!
we'll be posting up some photos from our recent shows soon, including the cd release show at evocal in costa mesa, which was AMAZING! thank you so much to any of you guys who came to that one. it was really a special night for us.
flyer by carly pope
sunday, september 21st
spaceland
1717 silverlake blvd.
los angeles, ca 90027
8:30 pm, 21 and over, FREE!
with:
patrick thomas
old war shirt
the world record
also...
thursday, september 25th
orange.BANG!
the american legion hall
143 s. lemon st.
orange, ca 92866
8 pm, 21 and over, $5
with:
my pet saddle
joe allen
solo clique
also featuring dj lexaunculpt and artist jason ruthe |
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| CD release show next week! |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|11:00 am] |
flyer by carly pope of course!
friday, september 5th
eVocal
814 w. 19th st.
costa mesa, ca 92627
7:30 pm, $5, ALL AGES!
a special guest and friend of ours, mason mccullough will open up the show with a couple of songs that he will be performing live for the first time ever. then the incomparable bob rokos will play a couple of his own songs, which will surely be a treat. bob will be playing in slings too.
((sounder)) will be the first band and you don't want to miss it because not only is the music great, but we'll be sitting in to help out on drums and some other stuff. please go buy ((sounder))'s new album "good things come and go like bad things" because it is very, very good.
old war shirt will be next and again, we are part of the band. if you really want to do your ears a favor, you will pick up old war shirt's incredible new album "nighttime songs under the stars of san raphael."
then we play!
greater california will close out the night. we're really happy to be playing with them for the first time and looking forward to hearing them live!
PLEASE help us spread the word about this show! we want to get lots of people there not only to make the night more fun, but also to help support eVocal. it is a really great little place run by really great people with big hearts, who are incredibly supportive of local musicians and artists. we need more places like this and we need to help this one stay alive and strong! we specifically requested to make it an all ages show, so we would really love to see all of you youngsters there. since it is all ages, eVocal can't sell booze, which is even more of a reason why we need lots of people to show up. for those of you over 21 who do like to partake of alcoholic beverages, there are two good bars right next to eVocal.
we chose all of the bands for this night, specifically to try to make it one of the best shows ever. the music should be great and also, we'll be selling our new album "the old hopeful trail" along with some specially made limited edition artwork by carly pope. please come join us for this celebration and spread the word! thank you!!! |
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| The Old Hopeful Trail is finally available! |
[Aug. 1st, 2008|11:34 am] |
We're very excited and proud to announce that our debut full length album "The Old Hopeful Trail" is now finally available! It's been a long time in the making and we hope you all enjoy it!
Includes the following tracks: Gold Teeth, Under The Blue, The Son, Christmas Carol, The Old Hopeful Trail, Awake At Dawn, Salty Breeze, This Ain't No Last Dance, The Songbird, In With The Tide, Holy Ghost, Stay Awake For The Ending, O' Fill My Heart, In The Garden
Only $12!
If you buy the album from us, we'll send you this 11"X17" poster FREE!
To get it through paypal, go to our myspace profile and click on the handy little "buy now" button.
If you don't have paypal and want to get it directly from us, just write us a message on myspace and we'll handle it that way.
Also, you can get it on cdbaby.com by clicking here.
For those of you that prefer digital download, you can get it at digstation.com by clicking here or just wait for it to be available on itunes, which should happen soon.
We really appreciate all of your support and inspiration over the past year or so while we were making this album. Please consider it as our offering of gratitude! |
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| two shows next week |
[Apr. 30th, 2008|02:23 pm] |
we have a couple of great shows coming up next week. they are both cd release shows for ((sounder)), who we are big fans of. we've heard their new album and it's amazing so you'd be doing yourself a big favor by coming to one of these shows and picking up a copy. little wings from k records is playing at the echo park show so that's pretty exciting too. please come join us if you can!
and as always, the amazing flyers were made by the one and only carly pope!
thursday, may 8th
detroit bar
843 west 19th st.
costa mesa, ca 92627
9 pm, $7, 21 and over
with:
((sounder))
the japanese motors
friday, may 9th
echo curio
1519 sunset blvd.
echo park, ca 90026
8 pm, suggested $5 donation, ALL AGES
with:
((sounder))
lateral hyetography
little wings from k records |
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| recap of 3/13/08 spaceland show |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|01:07 pm] |
a big thank you goes out to anyone who was at the spaceland show last week. we all had a great time and in many ways, it felt like it was just about the best show we've ever played. we played with a new band that we've never played with before, which included our beloved charlie breneman on keyboard, organ, accordian and saw, blake carver (the genius who recorded and is mixing our album) on guitar, bass and mandolin and matt pool of ann lynn on drums. it was a real treat to be joined by such wonderful friends and talented musicians who all played so wonderfully and helped bring the music to another level. for the first time ever, we were able to play some of the songs from our upcoming album in the way they were written and recorded, the way they were meant to be. having matt behind the drums allowed david to stand up for once and actually just play guitar and sing! it was a whole new feeling for us and a really good one. hopefully we'll be able to play with this band more and more in the future.
our good friend bob rokos opened up the show with some solo songs on accordion, guitar, crazy ipod sounds, trombone and a variety of other sound-making devices. his performance seriously blew us all away! bob is a true performer and next time he plays a show, you'd be doing yourself a big favor by making sure to be there.
we played after bob and then old war shirt was next. the real reason behind this whole show was to celebrate the release of old war shirt's first full length album, "nighttime songs under the stars of san rafael." as many of you may know, jon cournoyer is the man behind old war shirt and a really great friend of ours, not to mention one of our favorite songwriters ever. some of you also may know that for old war shirt's live shows, we both play in the band with jon to help bring his amazing music to life. it's a real pleasure and privilege to be able to play these songs that we love so much. the set that night felt great and we had a lot of fun playing. just like the slings set, it felt like one of the best shows we've ever played. old war shirt's album should be available on itunes, cdbaby, etc. in a couple of weeks or so, but if you want to get it now, just go to the old war shirt myspace profile and write to jon. he's selling it for only $10 and you get 22 really, really great songs!
m.s. garvey and the hootenanny all stars (which included me on keyboard) closed out the show. as always, it was a fun set full of garvey's seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm. the group is made up of so many talented musicians and performers that i always feel so lucky to play with. in addition to garvey and myself, the band includes jon cournoyer, bob rokos, nicholas staub and tomas jacobi and nico barry, two amazingly talented guys who run a recording studio called circle of sound.
it was a really fun night filled with music and great friends. hopefully we'll get some more shows booked soon!
thanks for reading,
dustin
blake's very talented brother nick carver took some really great photos of our set. thanks nick! here they are:
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| two shows |
[Mar. 7th, 2008|02:20 pm] |
hello everyone!
just wanted to let all you fine folks know about a couple of shows we have coming up in the next week...
tomorrow night:
saturday, march 8th
isgoodmusic.com presents @ crane's tavern
1611 north el centro ave.
los angeles, ca 90028
9 pm, 21 and over, FREE!
with:
correatown
lo-fi sugar
paul avion
(we go on second, probably around 10:00)
and then next thursday:
thursday, march 13th
old war shirt cd release show!
spaceland
1717 silverlake blvd.
los angeles, ca 90027
9 pm, 21 and over
$7 at the door or $5 if your on our unlimited guest list (write us to get on it!)
with:
bob rokos
old war shirt
m.s. garvey and the hootenanny all starst
this is a really special show for us because we'll be celebrating the release of old war shirt's first ever full length album, "nighttime songs under the stars of san rafael!" as many of you may know, jon cournoyer (the genius behind old war shirt) is a great friend of ours and we also play in the old war shirt live band.
also, we're very excited about this one because the amazing matt pool of ann lynn will be adding some rock and roll drums to our set!
all the performers for the entire night are good friends of ours and we'll be on stage for pretty much the whole show. we plan to blow the doors off the place!
please come join us for a very special and memorable experience.
adios!
dustin |
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| every night in february! |
[Feb. 1st, 2008|10:31 am] |
hello everyone!
just letting you all know that we will be playing every friday night in february at the unknown theater in hollywood. it's kind of difficult to describe what these shows will be like other than to use the word "hootenanny." all of the performers for the entire night are good friends of ours and we're all sure to be on and off the stage repeatedly throughout the evening. basically, each show will be one big musical party and we'll be busy musicians all night long. trust us, it will be lots of fun. if you come, you may even find yourself on stage or at least playing an instrument at some point during the night!
here are all of the amazing performers we'll be sharing the stage with:
tomas jacobi and nicolas barry of circle of sound
bob rokos
old war shirt
nicholas staub
m.s. garvey and the hootenanny all stars (the all stars consist of all of the above)
some info on the venue:
the unknown theater
1110 seward street
hollywood, ca 90038
323-466-7781
the shows start at 10 and we go all night until they close. it'll be crazy, fun and unforgettable!
flyer by christian glawe |
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| we're done recording! |
[Nov. 20th, 2007|10:40 am] |
just a little update (with some photos) to let you all know that we are officially done recording for our first full length album! it's been a very fun and exciting process and now we are eager to start mixing everything. hopefully that won't take too long and we can have the album ready and available soon. we'll keep you updated of course!
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| 2007 summer tour with bears recap - part 5 (final part!) |
[Sep. 3rd, 2007|11:53 am] |
monday, august 6th - san francisco
when we awoke monday morning, i had two thoughts. first of all, i was overjoyed that i was rising on a monday morning and going to work was the furthest thought from my mind. secondly, i was a little sad knowing that this would be the last day of our trip with bears. before the night was over, we would all have to part ways. but we definitely had a fun day to look forward to.
we got ready and then headed over to meet bears at the place they stayed the night before. when we got there, we found out that adam's bag had been left in the alley the night before and despite all of our efforts to look for it, the bag was definitely lost for good. that was not a great way to start the morning, but after some breakfast, they all went to a local store and got adam hooked up with some new clothes and stuff. roger took us to a couple of local record shops (including the place that was the original tower records) and then we hung out for a little bit at a cool coffee shop that had some really great paintings all over the inside and outside walls. i asked who the artist was, but unfortunately i've already forgotten the name. we checked our email and stuff there, then said our goodbyes to roger and jumped on the freeway headed towards san francisco.
we didn't mind the traffic too much as we approached the city because it gave us a chance to look around and admire everything. san francisco is a really cool place and i've always enjoyed every opportunity i've had to go there. it's a big city with lots to see, but we would be spending this day entirely in the mission district, which is where the show would be. after the various interchanges, bridges, tunnels and toll booths that brought us there, we were finally within the boundaries of the strange, beautiful and always interesting mission district of san francisco.
first we located the venue so we could park there and then go explore the surroundings a bit before the show. the show was at a place called elbo room, which is a very cool bar with a nice, large stage area on the second floor. we loaded all of our equipment up the stairs (which is no small feat between both bands' stuff) and then set off to wander the city. we were quite a group moving down the street, admiring all of the cool shops, restaurants, people, etc. sooner or later the group broke up a little as the desire for food and other curiosities set in. after some shopping, a large part of our group ate an early dinner at a really great vegan restaurant called herbivore. i would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area, even non-vegetarians. me and charlie ate there on our last san francisco trip. with bellies full, we made our way back to elbo room for the sound check.
this was probably the most "real venue" type of place that we played on the trip. the kensington club in san diego and the press club in sacramento both had good size stages and professional sound set ups, but elbo room felt most like a real club, with it's big stage facing a large capacity open room and a bar with lots of tables in the back. it was a very nice place to play a show. having said that, unfortunately i think this was probably our worst show of the trip as far as how we played and sounded. we still did alright and i definitely had a great time, but for some reason things just didn't seem to click completely. the sound was a little weird onstage, which is often the case at the bigger venues. the overhead mic on the bells was picking up a little of everything and giving us a slight feedback onstage and it was just kind of hard to hear everything clearly up there. but we still had a lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play, especially during "in the garden" which was our last song. all of bears and some audience members, including our friend matt adams of the blank tapes, joined us up on the stage for that song with various percussion instruments in hand. they made it sound great and helped us end the set on a very high note.
bears played after us and delivered the same high quality performance that we had been hearing the whole trip, prompting me to wonder if they ever don't play an amazing show. their whole set sounded great and the hall and oates cover was an especially big hit with the audience that night. by far though, the highlight of their set and easily of the whole show, was their last song, "stay." that song had been wowing everyone, including us, at all of the shows on the trip, but since it was our last show together, we all decided that slings and bears should join forces onstage to play it together at the elbo room show. it ended up being so much fun! me, charlie and dillon all grabbed some shakers and tambourines and david set up his floor tom next to charlie's to double up on that part. the result was pretty amazing and in my opinion it was easily the best thing that happened musically during the whole trip. luckily we set up the video camera to film this show and i've made a couple videos from that tape, including "stay," which are posted below. after the song was over, we were left wondering why we hadn't played it like that the whole trip because it was so fun, but it was absolutely the most perfect way we could have ended our musical trip together and really made our last show special.
a very cool local band called the otherside finished off the night with a great shoegaze rock set. it ended up being a really wonderful night and we definitely want to extend our gratitude to bagel radio for setting the whole thing up.
after the show was over, we all hung around the club for awhile talking and of course, trying to sell some merch. it was with a slight twinge of regret that we started packing and loading everything up because we knew we would very soon be saying goodbye to our wonderful new friends. imagine 11 people all trying to hug and say goodbye at once on the sidewalk! it was a big love fest and we all gathered for some photos together in front elbo room before we finally packed into our van to hit the road. we stayed with some family friends of mine that night who live about an hour south of san francisco, so we had a short drive ahead of us. we were definitely sad to be parting ways with bears but at the same time we were high on the entire experience of sharing some really special times with them. we were filled with a happy, satisfied feeling as we pulled onto the freeway.
the whole experience of joining bears for this portion of their tour was extremely fun, rewarding and enjoyable. we feel very fortunate to have become friends with such cool and genuine people, who also happen to make amazing music. our extreme and sincere gratitude goes out to bears for their generosity in bringing us along on this adventure and for making it such a wonderful experience for us. we love all of them! although a fairly large geographic distance separates us, we will do everything in our power to make sure we get to see them again, hopefully sooner rather than later. we made a very strong connection with them not only as bands, but as true friends and we look forward to many more fulfilling experiences with them.
also, we really want to thank all of the people involved in helping set up the shows, including the venues, bands, promoters, radio djs, old friends and new friends. obviously, without their help, none of it would have even happened.
and a big, big thank you goes out to all of the people who came out to the shows, cheered us on, introduced themselves to us and bought some merchandise. your support is really what makes it all possible for us and keeps us inspired. we can't thank you enough for that!
it was a lot of fun and we really hope to have an opportunity to go on tour again sometime soon.
thanks to anyone who took the time to read all of this!
take care,
dustin
photos from the last day:
charlie and roger hanging out at the coffee shop in sacramento
jared and craig taking care of some important business
carly getting friendly with the t-rex
over water...
and through land...
slings and bears take san francisco!
we went all the way to san francisco to look at a cat in a window
craig and charlie plundering adam's vegan dessert at herbivore
our setup
these photos of us were taken by ted of bagel radio. you can see all of the great photos he took of the show here
all ten of us onstage during "stay"
the otherside
one big happy family!
here's a couple videos too:
"in the garden" with the help of bears and a bunch of audience members too
"stay" by bears |
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| 2007 summer tour with bears recap - part 4 |
[Aug. 23rd, 2007|12:39 pm] |
sunday, august 5th - sacramento
our show in sacramento was a matinee show, meaning that it would start earlier than usual (about 5:00), so we needed to leave santa barbara pretty early to get there in time. fearing the rush of 11 people getting ready at the same time, i somehow got up really early, while everyone was still asleep, to take a shower. whatever tiredness i had was surely washed away by the freezing cold shower that i was treated too! i tried everything but simply could not get any hot water to come out of that thing, so i just went for it and it was surprisingly refreshing. although i wasn't thoroughly entertained when i told david about it and he said that the night before his shower was nice and hot! haha... bears amazed me by all being up and ready to go in about fifteen minutes and then, under the misty and overcast morning skies, we headed off in our caravan towards our capitol city.
one reason i was happy that we played in santa barbara was that it forced us to use highway 101 for most of our trip. unlike the much more boring and tedious highway 5 that runs up the middle of the state, the 101 is very scenic and treated us all to some wonderful ocean and mountain views on our way up the coast. i'm glad bears got to see that part of california. i hadn't seen it in awhile either so that was nice and made the drive more pleasant.
again, we encountered some mysterious traffic as we approached sacramento so we were running behind a little, but everything ended up being fine. we arrived at the press club, which is a nice little bar with a really big stage and pro sound setup, and loaded our stuff inside just in time to catch the first band, california oranges. they were a great local pop band and treated us all to a bunch of fun, high energy songs. we went next and played pretty well i think. it was weird going from the record store and garage shows to the press club's big stage, with mics everywhere and big loud monitors, but everything seemed to sound good. the audience was small but they were great and appeared to be into what we were doing. it was another fun one for us. bears finished off the show and offered up their usual greatness, much to our delight and that of the local crowd. after the show was over, we hung around for awhile packing up and trying to sell as much merch as we could.
it was still a mystery as to what was happening that night as far as where we'd all be staying. it turns out that roger, who is the wonderful guy who set the show up and the mad genius behind record club, had offered to have some of us at his place, but he didn't have the space to accommodate all of us. rachel from bears had met a girl at the show who graciously offered some couch and floor space to sleep on so we were set. all of these arrangements were made out on the sidewalk in front of the press club while we loaded up bears' equipment and our charlie, jared and sean from bears tried to strike up an acapella doo wop number. weirdos.
some ideas were thrown around about dinner and given the high percentage of vegans and vegetarians in our group (out of 11 people, we had 4 vegetarians and 3 vegans), roger suggested a place nearby called andy nguyen. we arrived and with hunger in all of our stomachs, we eagerly approached the door only to find out that they had just closed! some of us immediately started thinking about alternatives, but our charlie, mouth surely watering with the thought of the tasty vegan delights that lay just beyond that door, began to plead with the employees inside the store, offering up the promise of lots of money in exchange for food. soon enough, the desperate man was on his knees, arms raised in the air in a humble begging gesture and miraculously, it worked! we all apologized and they repeatedly assured us that it was alright. charlie's charm had won them over and let me tell you, i'm really happy that it did because the food at this place was delicious. it was almost a completely vegan menu (with some egg options) and they had a lot of meat substitutes made from soy protein and stuff like that. i was thoroughly impressed and everyone said their food was great. we had the whole restaurant to ourselves, gathered around one long table right in the center. our charlie was in heaven, devouring his own food and making the rounds to sample others. then he was in the kitchen trying to thank the cooks in vietnamese and hugging the hostess. it was classic charlie. after countless thank yous and considerably bigger tips than usual, we split up to head for our sleeping quarters. if you ever find yourself in sacramento, please try to make a trip to andy nguyen to eat because it's great!
the slings group ended up having the pleasure of going to roger's place. thank you so much for having us roger! we were all super tired but roger had so much cool stuff in his apartment to look at, watch and read that we stayed up much later trying to enjoy it all. it was like a mini museum filled with old and new records, 60s and 70s music memorabilia, music and art magazines, books, posters, dvds, figurines, etc. he definitely has an impressive collection of cool stuff. after watching some old david bowie footage, we made our beds between stacks of cds and magazines and finally drifted off to sleep. the next day we would head for san francisco.
one more entry to go!
dustin
photos:
california oranges
even on a big stage, we still somehow manage to play right on top of each other!
charlie seemed to have an overpowering red glow cast over him the whole show. oh that's right, he's a nice demon.
obviously rocking out here.
carly did our merch most of the trip. charlie is a brilliant salesman by the way.
dillon, david and charlie packing up outside the press club.
our private dinner at andy nguyen.
charlie about to hug the hostess and discussing the finer points of vietnamese linguistics.
charlie sampling leftovers. this man has an insatiable hunger for vegan goodies.
the stairway to roger's place.
did i mention he has a lot of cool stuff to look at?
the next morning, dillon and charlie still trying to take it all in. |
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| forgot to post these photos in the last entry! |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|11:49 pm] |
i must be getting senile.
but actually this works out good because now i can tell you all that i just found out the santa barbara show was recorded by josh (aka hoshwa) from watercolor paintings and he posted it up as a free download here: slings and bears - live at biko 8/4/07
a big thanks to him for doing that!
josh has a radio show in santa barbara which you can find out more about here: 5...4...3...2...fun!!
okay now the photos i forgot...
8/4/07 - biko garage in santa barbara
the biko house in all it's glory
the ghosts of slings and bears
cub scout day camp
can you find us in this picture?
charlie and rachel are not demons, but they play like bears possessed!
okay maybe charlie is a demon. whoa, adam too! but they're nice demons. |
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| 2007 summer tour with bears recap - part 3 |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|03:30 pm] |
saturday, august 4th - ventura and santa barbara
the real road trip began saturday. we all got organized and shipped off around noon to head towards ventura. this day was another first for us because we'd be playing two shows in one day, the first of which was a record in-store at buffalo records in ventura. i've passed through ventura many times but never really explored much. buffalo records is in a sort of old downtown area that seemed really cool and the store itself was very nice too. we kind of expected to be playing in a little corner of the store or something but we were pleasantly surprised by a nice big stage with a full pa system and everything. unfortunately, due to strange and mysterious traffic on the way up, we missed the first band. they were packing up when we arrived. bears set up and played first and again sounded great. i shot a couple videos on my digital camera. now i just gotta find the time to upload them. it was fun listening to them while shuffling through some old records. we were up after bears and i thought it was a really fun show. you never quite know what to expect in these type of venues just because the space is usually restricting and sound quality is always a concern, but this show was great in both respects. i think we played really well and sounded good too. i'm tempted to say that for us, this was possibly the most comfortable and best sounding show of the trip. when we finished, we quickly packed up our stuff because watercolor paintings was after us and we really wanted to hear them play. rebecca redman is the mastermind behind the undeniably cute and catchy music of watercolor paintings and also the person responsible for setting up the buffalo records show, as well as the show later that night in santa barbara. needless to say, we have her to thank for even being there at all! their set was really great. a very nice gentleman with an amazing beard named josh played with her. instead of playing from the stage, they sat down in another corner of the store and we all gathered around campfire style to enjoy the cute and fun songs that they played using guitar, ukulele and harp. after they were done, we all walked a couple blocks to get some food. the vegans and some others decided upon a thai place that looked good while the rest of us grabbed some sandwiches. we browsed a couple stores, including an army surplus store that had one of the most impressive collections of knives i've seen, and then we hit the road headed for santa barbara.
santa barbara is a great city and i always enjoy an opportunity to go there. it holds a special place in my heart for nostalgic reasons i won't go into here, but also it's just a beautiful place right on the ocean with lots of cool things to see. our show was in isla vista, which is the college town area right next to ucsb, so we didn't get to visit the more upscale, yuppie part of town, but isla vista is definitely cool in it's own way. the show was at a co-op housing apartment called the biko house and the show space was literally in the garage. again, we didn't quite know what to expect, but it ended up being great. all of the people we met there were so friendly and helpful and it seemed like a really cool and laid back atmosphere. the walls and doors were all painted with colorful designs and artwork and there was what looked like the beginning stages of a tee-pee being built in the backyard, surrounded by tons of bikes and a couple tents. we got there early so we just kind of hung around talking and setting up equipment while some of the group walked down to the beach to take pictures. at some point a nice pa system showed up and they started setting up for the first band, which was a one man keyboard/drum machine act called cub scout day camp. despite some technical difficulties with his robot costume, it was a fun bunch of songs. we went next and enjoyed another fun set crammed into the corner of the brightly painted garage. like the buffalo records show, this one felt good and i thought we played good. it seemed that a fairly decent crowd had formed too and by the time bears took over, i was happy to see that the garage was full of people. isla vista has long been known as a party town, where people just roam the streets at night, on the way to and in search of parties to go to. the biko garage was completely accessible and audible from the street so i'm thinking maybe some random passers-by stopped to listen, but it seemed like there were a bunch of people there who had already planned on coming to the show too. whatever the case, it was a fun show with a good crowd that all seemed into it. again, we really have rebecca from watercolor paintings to thank for setting the show up and spreading the word locally. her amazing generosity was extended even further when she offered her house to all of us as a place to stay that night! our entire ventura/santa barbara experience would not have been nearly as enjoyable if it weren't for her kind efforts and we are really grateful for that. thank you rebecca! after the show, we all loaded up and headed to rebecca's house, which was in a very peaceful and quiet neighborhood. some of the group (which between the bears and slings crews, included a total of 11 people!) decided to turn in for the night, but me, david, carly, dillon and adam decided to go get food. when we came back everyone was asleep except craig, who was incredibly still up and watching a movie on his laptop! we quietly ate and then found our spots on the floor to turn in for the night. it had been a great day and the next morning we would head north for sacramento.
thanks,
dustin
photos:
bears at buffalo records
do they rock? oh yes. haha..
we're probably playing "what does it mean" here. thanks for letting us use your bass sean!
we often had adam from bears join us onstage to play a little drums
watercolor paintings - dueling ukes
anyone who plays the harp is cool, especially rebecca!
the slings posse
the whole posse, well almost. we're missing rachel from bears.
bears have a lot of stuff |
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