A Year Of Tour, Pt. 2

A street poster for the Moscow gig (note the date)…

My Worlds Collide: The Strokes & The Futureheads in line at the airport in Spain…

Me enjoying the lovely Irish summer…

Ragan stuck between the bus & the ferry wall…

Waiting to film Jools Holland, BBC Studios, London…

Baby James somewhere along the Great Ocean Road, Australia…

Lucas mocking James…

Albert & Julian at the Natural History Museum, London…

Richard in Red Square, Moscow…

Lyon, France…

A Year Of Tour, Pt. 1

I was looking thru all my photos of the last year on the road with the Strokes and figured I’d post some of my favorites that I haven’t put up yet. So here we go…

Promo tour…

Matt & the giant baby in Brazil…

Nick in Brazil…

The crowd in Santiago, Chile…

The Strokes in Santiago, Chile…

Lucas & Matt in Brazil…

Matt’s not a morning person…

An Albert in motion…

An Albert at rest…

A big baby in a big tube. Berlin, Germany…

Fab in the light…

The old man himself, Brian Dunn…

Lucas & Bri…

This is what happens when Lucas goes on a tour with nothing to do…

Drummers are crazy!

My First Week Back, Pt. 2: The Roll

(Photo by Beana)

Besides seeing some great music since getting home, the only other thing I’ve been doing (besides sitting in my apt.) is enjoying the perfect weather on my new Ducati. Beana & I had a great day cruising around the city, going from Twin Peaks to Ocean Beach, Baker Beach, Fort Point (which sits underneath the Golden Gate Bridge), out thru the Presidio and over to the Swan Oyster Depot for some yummy seafood. It was a good day.

Downtown from Twin Peaks…

The GGB from Baker Beach…

The menu at Swan Oyster Depot…
(Photo by Beana)

On Monday I took Val for a ride up thru Marin to Tomales and back. It was another beautiful day and a fun ride. No ride in Marin is complete without a stop at Joe’s Tacos in Mill Valley. I think tomorrow I’m going to hit the Santa Cruz Mtns. The forecast for the rest of the week is sunny and in the 70s. Did I mention I love SF in October? Well, I do.

Val rocks the leather in Tomales…

My First Week Back, Pt. 1: The Rock

(Photo by Beana)

Within 2 days of getting back to SF my friend Beana landed in town for a weekend crammed with music and other assorted good times. It was one of the best 3 days of music I’ve seen in a while. We started with 2 of the 3 nights of Yo La Tengo at the Fillmore. Bean had never been to the Fillmore so it was a special treat for her and while I’ve been there many times, both to work and see shows, it’s among my favorite venues in the world (and I’ve seen some venues), it’s walkable from my house, and Yo La Tengo are among my favorite bands in the world (and I’ve seen some bands). So it was a special treat for me too. The first night was great but marred by REALLY inconsistent sound. The second night we were in a better sounding spot and the band played one of the best shows I’ve ever seen them do. If you aren’t down with the Yo La, get with it. Their new album is amazing and has one of the best album titles of all time… I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass. Buy it. Apparently if you buy the vinyl you get a code for a free download. How sweet is that?

On Sunday we ventured south to Shoreline for my first Bridge School Benefit. This is a show put on every year (this was the 20th) by Neil & Pegi Young. It benefits the school that they started for their son Ben, who has severe physical disabilities caused by (I believe) Cerebral Palsey. The line-up is different every year with the only constant being Neil opening and closing the show (and sitting in with almost everyone). Everyone plays acoustic (mostly) and the back of the stage is packed with all the students and families of the Bridge School. The end result is a great day of music with a very special vibe to it. The weather was absolutely perfect as well. I love SF in October. The lineup this year went (in order):
Neil Young, Devendra Banhart, Gillian Welch, Death Cab For Cutie, Trent Reznor, Foo Fighters, Brian Wilson, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews and Neil Young. I’ll run down the highlights for me…

Neil.

Gillian’s whole set but particularly her version of Gram Parson’s “Hickory Wind”, by request for Pegi. Gillian is among my all-time favorites and I’ll see her every chance I get.

Trent Reznor was easily the surprise bonus of the day. I’m not really a NIN fan but his set was amazing. It was him on piano and singing backed by a string quartet. It was some of the most harrowing music ever.

Dave Grohl doing Everlong. I’m not really a Foo’s fan either but I have much respect for them, especially Dave. He’s not known as the nicest man in rock for nothing. Here he did a beautiful acoustic version of one of their best songs.

Brian Wilson. His whole set was amazing, a mix of Pet Sounds classics and Beach Boys hits. The band he has is spot on with the vocal arrangements and it all sounded great. Brian was much more lucid than when I’d seen him at Roskilde a couple summers ago. Then he seemed unaware of where he was and it was almost embarrassing to watch. Here he was just a little awkward, which is the best you can hope for with him. Lucas thought he sucked, but he also thinks Anal Cunt are a great band. Sometimes we differ.

Pearl Jam is another band that I respect but have never been a huge fan of. Their set was solid front to back and had a few tunes (Masters of War, Betterman, Black) that gave me goosebumps. Black was possibly the best thing all day.

Dave Matthews was some of the most boring shit I’ve ever had to sit thru (sorry Allyson). Thankfully Neil came out for an extended version of “Down By The River” that redeemed the time slot.

Neil’s closing set ended with an uber-jam version of “Rockin In The Free World” with about 50 people on stage. It was a perfect way to end.

The Difference Between First Class & Coach

COACH: Little box containing 3 crackers, a tiny thing of smoked cheese spread and a cookie. Price: $5
The doc fights spitting up his “meal”…

FIRST: A starter of mesclun greens w/smoked duck (wheat or white roll?) followed by a main course with your choice of seared sesame crusted tuna with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus or a Beef Wellington, followed by ice cream sundaes in your choice of hot fudge, butterscotch or strawberry. Price: Free
Berto & Jules enjoy their sundaes…

Seriously?

It was a gay disco, not a typo.

I Am Now Unemployed

Tonight was the last Strokes show of the year. It was a lame corporate red-carpet wank fest put on by Hennessey (the cognac). We played after Goldfrapp and before Kanye West. The building (Captiale) was pretty amazing. An old bank with crazy old huge vaults and massive ceilings with very ornate details. Unfortunately they crammed a stage and all kinds of tacky video shit in there. It was the definition of a clusterfuck. But now it’s over and I’m actually a little sad. I’m happy to go home but I’m sad to leave NYC. Now I just need to figure out what to do for money. I’m thinking high-society jewel heist. I can wear a tux and a ski mask and carry a grappling hook. I definitely want a grappling hook.
So yeah, home tomorrow. Within the first 5 days I’m home I’ll see Yo La Tengo, Neil Young, Gillian Welch, Brian Wilson and Pearl Jam among others. The forecast says 70 and sunny for the next week. Good times.

Yours To Keep

Albert from the Strokes has made a solo record with my little buddy Matt on drums. It’s really pretty great so you should buy it.

There’s tour dates coming so check it out.

Movies

One of my favorite things to do when I have downtime in NY, SF or LA is go to movies, usually by myself during the day when all my friends are at their 9-to-5s. Here’s what I’ve seen recently…

The Departed: Just go. Amazing.

Little Miss Sunshine: Also highly recommended. Easily one of the best movies of the year. Steve Carell shows he’s just plain talented and not just funny.

Half Nelson: I thought this was amazing though I think Alyson found it boring and depressing. It was depressing and very slow paced but it was incredibly acted and realistic. I think you’d have to really enjoy “film” to enjoy it.

American Hardcore: We wandered into this after Half Nelson because it was raining out. It’s an ok documentary about the early 80s hardcore scene. I liked it well enough although I wasn’t into that music.

Looking forward to Borat and For Your Consideration. I could use a good laugh.

From The Heartland To The Metropolis

I know I’ve been a bit lax about giving this thing any real updates lately. I’ll blame end-of-tour malaise. The reality is that travels through the heartland of America don’t tend to be nearly as interesting as jaunts through places like Moscow, Japan or the French Riviera. The last weeks of touring were spent doing mostly pointless gigs to less than packed houses in sad little sub-markets. Word is it was based on “radio promotion”, meaning that the radio station in Kansas City will add your song into rotation if you play their shitty town and let them promote it and let one of their douchebag DJs introduce you on stage. The problem, as I see it, with the Strokes trying to break into middle America is that the vast majority of the kids in these places get their taste in music imposed on them by MTV, and for reasons I’m still not entirely aware of (there may have been drunken punching of executives involved) MTV has never gotten behind them in the states. MTV most everywhere else in the world (and yes, it’s EVERYWHERE) gets behind the Strokes and they are big-to-huge in those places. Besides, it’s obvious that the youth of America by and large have atrocious taste in music (see Fallout Boy or Good Charlotte) so maybe not being huge in Muncie, IN isn’t such a bad thing.

We did have the pleasure of doing a show at the lovely Hampton Beach Club Casino Ballroom in NH. I grew up near here and this was the place we would come in high school to both to go to the beach but also to cruise around the boardwalk in Camaros and drink cans of Bud in the dunes. It’s a typical cheesy east-coast boardwalk type spot. Video games, airbrush t-shirts and fried dough abound. Matt drove up from NYC and picked me up at my mom’s the day of the show. We drove in through Salisbury Beach which is the town just south of Hampton and is where I spent the summer after I graduated high school. I lived at my friend’s beach house and worked at the Dream Machine arcade. It was quite a flashback to be there.

Matt on arrival in Salisbury Beach…

Hasn’t changed a lick…

Mmmm….

Oh yeah, and there’s a beach…

So now we’re done. Well, almost. We have one last corporate event to play in NYC in a couple days then we’re really done. I’ll fly home the next day and there’ll be no more busses or hotels or shitty dark clubs with sticky floors. I have no idea what the fuck I’m going to do with myself. For now I’m killing time in NYC, seeing movies, catching up with friends and eating good food. The Eagles of Death Metal are in town tomorrow night opening for Joan Jett. It’ll be the first time I’ve ventured out for some rock since I got here. Good times will ensue.

Midtown 5:30am…