California Tour - End of April 2008 Part 1 - LA

The last week and half has been a busy one - four shows with that many groups in that many cities bookended by recording sessions. It all started last thursday night with a set-up session for Ton Trio - we went into the studio to record seven pieces. We've been playing the music for a bit now so it was time to get it down properly. A recording should be available sometime this summer.
Drove down to LA on Friday the 25th with Trevor Healy. He set up some show down there for his duo Paper Legs and included Settled on the bill at the Echo Curio, a storefront space in Echo Park. It was an afternoon show on a Saturday, and a hot one at that. LA can get hot - I think it was in the low 90s, and the summer isn't quite here. The Echo Curio stayed pretty reasonable though - Settled played first out of three bands. The crowd that came sat on the concrete floors and let me take my time with my set - though I hadn't done a performance of that music since December, I felt comfortable with my set up and made music unhurried. Gang Wizard played the second set, five folks playing drone-based noise music. They chose to play in a small room in the back of the Echo Curio, which was a bit cooler temperature wise due to its location without windows and being lower a foot or so. A good setting for the wizards - almost a cave. Paper Legs played third - Trevor on acoustic guitar and effects is joined by Brian Osborne, who lives in Brooklyn and plays small percussion through effects for this group. Their music is slow changing, with deliberate choices made to keep the music moving forward. An almost sleepy ending to the afternoon show, the sunlight always threatening to take over, but not quite doing so. Afterwards we had a great meal of South Indian food and Trevor and Brian gave me a ride to the Burbank airport where I flew back to Oakland that same night.