August shows

After returning from Reno/Tahoe, the band had some time off, though we were back playing San Francisco -- at Bender's in the Mission -- in early August. We shared the bill with new local original band Hellfire, an excellent band mixing thrash and classic metal with thrashing and pounding rhythms, scorching guitar work, and powerful vocals that soared and screeched operatically -- one of THE best singers I've ever seen live without a doubt.

The show was packed and the crowd incredibly energized till the very end. It was a beer-soaked metal fest the whole night through, one of the best shows I've had the privilege to play. For me, small as it may be in the great scheme of things, it was a kind of apex.

Later in the month, after a couple of weeks off, we played two shows in one weekend (not desirable for me at this age, but it was kind of a last hurrah before the end of summer). Friday Augst 26 found us at Applejack's in La Honda, CA playing a show for our drummer's birthday. Just getting to the show was an adventure. My wife and I drove down the Skyline Highway on a very foggy evening. When I say foggy, I mean that the coastal roads -- summer in the Bay Area! -- were enfolded in wet cloud masses, resulting in minimal visibility. When we rode into the coastal hills, we wound through dismal roads with fog resting heavily on the branches of tall trees. Though daylight still was shining, under the cover of trees it was deep dusk and closing in on night.

After many hours of winding through dark roads covered by thick, tall redwood trees, we arrived at Applejack's. A very old bar whose building apparently dates back to the late 19th cetury (when it was a carriage stop, some say -- it's hard to believe anyone was out there then since it's so sparsely populated an area now), it had a homey wooden atmosphere. The old hardwood floor (maybe the same floor built in 1879) gave slightly and creeked under your feet. It seemed odd in such a rustic setting to load in amps, drums, and speakers for a metal show at the back of the bar.

What did not seem inconsistent with the metal show atmospere was the scent of urine emanating from the men's room right near where we set up! Closer examination of the urine-soaked chamber revealed a broken toilet -- not a toilet that didn't work, but one with the side of its boal smashed... How did this happen? A sledge hammer? A particularly large bar patron sitting down? A defecation of unfathomably explosive force? Such speculations promised a wierd evening...