...In Which The Heated Is Asked To Play With Two Remarkable Strangers From Texas

Look, with Renegade around the corner, time is a commodity that I am short on and I already wrote the dorky press release for this show when I listed it on so I'm going to just post that. Is that ok? You'll still show up, right? I'm headlining, people! 

Press Release: The email The Heated received from Golden Arrow Holy Face & Wols had the following subject. "...In Which The Heated Is Asked To Play With Two Remarkable Strangers From Texas." The Heated is based in San Francisco and the remarkable strangers, engaged in touring, received word from a friend in the area that The Heated is your go-to when looking for a bedroom folk companion on a bill at El Rio. It all came together and now you have the fortune of catching a great night of local and touring music at one of your favorite bars. But wait, that's not all. Opening the evening is Charles Sommer of The Cannery. All of this for only $4.00 at one of the best bars in town. 9:00 pm start time.

Wednesday April 21st, My Party People

What are you doing next Wednesday? You know you don't have plans. I know you don't have plans. Come to my show. The Matinees and The Better Maker will be playing. The Better Maker even made this flyer just for the show?

Why don't you come? Oh, you have work the next day? Psh, I'm on at 9:00. You'll be in bed at a decent hour. Oh, you don't have five dollars? Can't help you there, loser. Ok, ok, I'm sorry. That was mean. I'll buy you a beer. No, just one beer. Fine, two beers and a hooker. Come to my show!

Show Review: El Rio, March 22nd

As you know (because I am awesome at marketing, a.k.a. "harassing") I played a show last Monday night at El Rio. The day before the show, I woke up feeling completely worn down. By mid-day I had chills and my throat was feeling tickly. So, of course I started to really worry that I was going to catch the cold that my wife has had, which made her lose my voice. It's really bad to lose your voice before a show.

A word about me and colds. It used to be that when I caught a cold, I stayed sick for weeks. Weeks! This is undoubtedly because I used to smoke like a chimney. Besides staying sick for a long time, I also got sick often so there were a few years where I was perpetually ill. But then a few years ago, I quit smoking and got my act together. Now, I think I've only been sick once this year, maybe twice, and my recovery time is one week. God, I love not smoking.

Anyway, I had chills and just felt off so I got into bed around two o'clock and just kind of hung out in bed all day. I was pleased when I felt fine upon waking up the next morning. The show itself nearly went off without a hitch (I forgot the lyrics to the second song in my set and had to play a very abbreviated version) and I reached an important milestone in every band's career: SOMEONE CAME TO MY SHOW TO SEE ME WHO I DON'T KNOW PERSONALLY! Except now, I do know her personally because she came to my show. All in all, I brought out ten people on a Monday night. Success!

Other than that, Seattle's Eighteen Individual Eyes really impressed me. Two great guitar players, one of whom sings beautifully, plus just the right amount of bass for their sound plus this awesome drumming that was frenetic yet loping at the same time. They had these really weird song structures and all these interlocking parts... I just liked it. I was telling one of them how I had played in Seattle about ten years ago and she said, "oh! You've been doing this a really long time." I have. Yes, I have.

Mama Lion was cool too. I didn't get to see too much of their set, to be honest as I was working the door for the last leg of the evening but from what I could hear from outside, I liked it. Posted below are some pictures from my set as well as a thirteen second long video.  It was my wife's first time using the video camera and apparently the default film-time is thirteen seconds. So enjoy it! Every damn second of it! This song will eventually be released on the Twelve Songs Project. Oh, never mind on the video. I guess Blogger isn't feeling video anymore?

Show At El Rio, March 22nd

Lobster claw! I whipped this little beauty up recently and thought it seems proper to get it out there. The show will be on a Monday night and I'm on first which means 8:00 pm, sharp at El Rio. It would only be proper to then stay for Eighteen Individual Eyes (on tour from Seattle, show some hospitality as they seem to enjoy a good time, party-wise, from what I can tell on their blog. They like shots!) and then, closing out the night are fellow locals, Mama Lion. Music! Fun! Monday, March 22nd!

A Proper Engineer

I've been ignoring you. It's true. Mostly because I haven't wanted to say that The Heated no longer has a drummer again but that is the case. Why? It just wasn't working out. We're better as friends. I've also decided to put a full band together. My time-line is to accept applications through mid-November then contact applicants for interviews in early December. Rehearsals will start in January. In the meantime, I've been recording again so as to have demos ready in order for new band members to hear and learn songs.

I've wrangled my friend who actually took classes on recording into the project. We've got one full song recorded and plans to do more. I've decided to just record guitar and vocals, not percussion yet. I'd like to musicians to be able to hear themselves in there. Of course, I don't have the application process finalized yet but more details are coming soon. The timing is tentative.

Set-up and coffee

It looks like she's talking into the mic, but she's not.

Fast. So fast.

What else?: Right! I have a show coming up. This show will be extra-special as it features bands that I have old friends in, Mikel and Donnelle. Their bands are both very cool too. Winfred E. Eye and Marabelle Phoenix. I feel supported. I also feel like I'm really digging designing these flyers. It's as if I just discovered color. Color!

Show review: El Rio last Saturday

Let's just start out by saying that the show went awesome. Really good. It's nice having Gina around because she gets nervous enough for the both of us. I can totally understand why though. The truth is that I have played a lot of shows before. With The Pre-Teens, we played the back room of El Rio at least three times... though the stage used to be along the back wall and there was a bartender where the stage is now... memory lane. Anyway, I've been doing this a long time now. Even before The Pre-Teens, I played solo and before all of that, I was a total band geek., which really does prepare you for performing. Once, the marching band played in the parking lot of KFC. Even as a teenager, I realized that was a shitty venue. You learn quick.

It's nice to open the show because nothing makes me more nervous than waiting for the other bands to finish. "Is this their last song?" you start asking people around you. It could be Cyndi Lauper up on that stage and I'd be all, "God, I wish she'd just stop now so that we can get on before I have to go nervously pee again."

This was clearly the biggest audience The Heated has had so far and was mostly filled with friends, which is just the best, best crowd you can have. I'm pretty sure I snagged a few friends on the mailing list too. Start with your friends, man. There were hoots and hollers and clapping in the breakdowns just like I'd imagined the crowd would do once The Heated's music moved them so. Special thanks to the "Little Helpers", especially my door crew... and then especially the door person who had to cover during our set. It could not have been done without you.

Beatbeat Whisper is just the coolest, nicest, prettiest band that I've played with so far. Please go see them play. One of their band members lost a bag that night. If you have any information regarding where it might be now, holler. I ended up seeing Grand Lake's set from behind and even from the other side of glass patio doors, I could tell they were rocking it in there. They sounded great. The staff at El Rio totally helped everything run smoothly. Everything came together and it was the pinnacle of success for The Heated so far. the one thing that didn't happen? Pictures! Sorry, kids. The one below is all we got.

Finishing Touches

We're as ready as we're gonna get for the show this Thursday (at El Rio, 9:00 pm for reals). We've practiced and practiced and honed our seven little songs. They're shaping up, for sure. I took the liberty of screenprinting some patches then sewing them on to Gina's new homemade cymbal case and stick bag. The stick bag is designed to hook on to the snare drum stand to simulate the bass drum with decal that we don't actually have. I am a complete and total dork.



Little apartment, big ambition: When you live in an smaller apartment, you have to use all of the space you have. This often means building up. I'll be building up my tea towel inventory in a serious way this month because The Heated is sharing a booth with ciuccio at the Renegade Fair next month. To accommodate the number of towels I'm printing, I've strung up hooks for clotheslines. Yesterday was the first time I felt like a professional screenprinter with my press and my clotheslines.

Momentum

The Deli SF has begun featuring the show. Check it out!

Good idea!

Have I talked about the show coming up on June 11th? First off, The Deli SF is presenting it (big ups to Anna from The Deli for cho-cho-choosing us and to Nicole for keeping the show on as Anna has now moved on to Stranger Dance... things move fast, people) and seeing as how having a promotional sponsor makes things special, I decided to take it one step further and asked my friend Jill (a.k.a. small stump) to design a poster for the show. Can we all agree that it's bad ass? (Is "bad ass" one word or two?) Grand Lake and Beatbeat Whisper are also both bands I would go see, even if I wasn't playing and I hate going to shows (irony). Mostly because I hate people. Anyway, extra-extra-special.

Show review: El Rio last Saturday

I can do better than telling you how the last show went. I can share video with you (don't crank the sound... it gets louder... sometimes)! Oh, technology. How you enrich my life... except when my shared drive disappears and it takes me three hours to figure out how to get it back in my network. Then, I hate you.

There were a few weird things going on with the mixing board causing the microphones to drop out. The entire mixing board actually died one song into Ayla's set. But her resourceful mind realized that she could plug the microphones into amplifiers and soldier on. Anyway, it threw me off my game a little bit and I had more stumbles than usual. Overall, it went well and there were a ton of people there so hurray for Saturday night.

Camp Out was very sweet. They reminded me a little bit of Electralane but that's most likely due to Maddy's voice. Plus, Jackie had this super-cool, all-white drum set so yeah, I liked them. Ayla Nereo was remarkably good as well. I couldn't wait to clap when songs were over. We did a little cd trade at the end too so I can continue to check her stuff out. Good deal. Except, I'm not sure where it went. Probably lodged in the back of my amp. I know I had it in the car on the way home. I'll find that sucker.

So original

I went out and put up flyers in various establishments up and down Valencia Street on Sunday evening. I must admit, I was really happy with the way this flyer came out. The deer and the tree are actually two totally separate images. It just occured to me to make the tree smaller and they'd look like they belonged together. So I went out to put up my awesome flyers and noticed another band had the exact same idea I did. They had a deer and it was the same size as my deer, facing the same way. Man. It was very "collective subconscious". Theirs was hand-drawn but othewise, it was the same damn flyer with different band names on it. If I run across the other flyer again, I'll take a picture.



You should come to this show, by the way. Please notice that I'm moving up to weekend shows. Sure, it's free and starts at 7:00 pm but I'm still happy. Plus both Ayla Nereo and Camp Out have been so nice in their emails that I have positive feelings about how things will go.

Show review: El Rio last Tuesday

Allow me to tell you how the first show with The Heated's new drummer Gee went. First off, we showed up around 7:15 pm to unload and there were literally two people in the whole place: the bartender and the opening act (Julie Schurr, she has such a pretty voice). No big deal. It was still early. We got our stuff unloaded and invited Julie out for burritos. Gee and Julie didn't eat much while I plowed through two tacos. A little boy in the taqueria showed me how high he could jump. It was really high.

We got back to El Rio and there were maybe seven people there. Everyone I had invited was taking their sweet time to arrive. It took so much time that I was starting to worry that no one would show up at all. I started to send panicked text messages. Gee's friends were all there and ready to go by 8:00 pm. They're very prompt, that group. My friends? Not so much. But finally, slowly, they trickled in and by the time Gee and I hit the stage, I would estimate there were a good thirty people there (including these four hot German lesbians who kind of looked like they might all get it on with each other. You go, ladies).

As soon as we started playing, it was on, as they say. It was as if we had been playing together for way longer than we actually have been. I would easily attribute this to the fact that Gee has clearly been practicing her ass off, which is appreciated. I've been less on the practicing lately what with my shoulders and the energy I've been expending in the marketing department, plus how I have a full time job and am taking two classes but I've had a bit longer to memorize the songs so I was ok. I will say though that of the two slight flubs, I was accountable for both. Thanks Gee. My friends are excited and are saying things like, "new beginning", "exciting", "Gee's awesome", and "it's just what you needed". So, you know, that's good.

This might sound familiar

Did my brilliant press release make it to the masses? Hell to the yeah. Many thanks to The Deli Mag for their remarkably sound decision to post it on their home page.

Press Release

For Immediate Release:

Cristina Espinosa placed an ad for a drummer for her previously solo-project The Heated on a whim. The ad read as follows:

Low-key drummer sought. Must be ridiculously good looking.

There were actually two replies but when the first respondent realized there was no money involved, only Gee Fortycoats remained as a contender. The Heated’s self-titled, debut EP was released this past April and already included far more instruments than Espinosa could hope to include in a live performance as a solo artist. So when it became clear that this new drummer also plays guitar, mandolin, various percussion instruments and banjo, Fortycoats was asked to stay on. Thus it is with great pleasure that The Heated announces this new line-up will debut on September 16th at El Rio. The show begins at 8:00 pm and admittance is free.

Show review: El Rio last Tuesday

Ah Tuesday night. Not as worthy as Monday for a drink. Not as close to the weekend as you'd hope. Still, I was in good spirits. I was feeling positive. I went out to Spork for dinner before the show. Spork is so named because the spot used to be a KFC. I can kind of remember when it was still a KFC but it's hard to know seeing as how I have not been in KFC for at least a decade. In fact, there is one less than a block away from the apartment I have lived in for eight years that I have never been inside. Yeah, my money still does the talking.

Anyway, I was a little nervous all throughout dinner but not so nervous that I didn't eat every damn bite of delicious food that came my way. Everything I ate at Spork was tasty. Recomended. But it took a little longer than I'd hoped and in the end I had to throw money down and run. I don't like being tardy.

I needn't have worried. There were some minor sound problems going on so I had extra time to pee every ten minutes, as I do when I'm nervous. I swear, I was there half an hour and peed three times. Finally I was up and I must say, it was one of my better shows. It all just kind of came together and that's nice when that happens. It was a bit of a rough night as most everyone I knew either flaked or was attending Dolly Parton. This hurt, coming from Dolly. If I wasn't at El Rio I definitely would have been at Ms. Parton's show. Now that's a performer. Anyway, I brought four fans, three of whom were engaged in an all night gossip session. I'm not judging, I'm just saying. I maybe made some new fans because, well, that's kind of the point of playing now isn't it?

Truth be told, I need an outgoing, loud friend to get some people paying attention to the fact that yes, you can sign up on an email list and become informed for the future. I know it sounds a little pushy but marketing must be done. I'm not standing up there with a guitar in my hands for my health, unless you mean mental health in which case, that's exactly why I'm standing up there... anyway, what I'm saying is that I got business to attend to and I need an associate. Where are my loud friends at? You know who you are. I'll buy you drinks. Be my bitch.

Anyway, after I played there were two more performers, both of whom had such pretty voices. If you see that they're playing again, don't say no. Say yes, yes, yes to Chantelle Tibbs and Jo Boyer. Whoa, ok, you don't have to be that into it. Geez. Whore.

Even when I was 17

I made this little number up to give to members of my street team ("Little Helpers"). By street team, I mean my friends... they could be a team. It covers three months worth of shows cuz I like to plan ahead.

Show!

It may not be the finest flyer I've made but I'm under the gun here, people. I got word this week that my proposal to play a free show at El Rio has been accepted but I only have one week to promote. El Rio is located at 3158 Mission Street between Cesar Chavez and Valencia in San Francisco California. C'mon, it'll be fun and you'll be annoyed you're back at work after the three-day weekend. Extend the party, booze hounds!