The barmy army take Mellow Johnny's
Today was the much anticipated live KEXP show at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop. A lovely setting in a bike shop (obviously) owned by Lance Armstrong. The shop had a coffee shop, bikes and bike stuff, a stage and possibly the cleanest bathrooms I have ever seen in my life.
We bought a coffee, but I passed on the tee-shirts because at $30 a pop they were just a tad too expensive for me.
TWP perform at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop live on KEXP
The set was a corker and David used the opportunity to plug the new Seamonsters cycling shirts, which in true Wedding Present fashion, were not available.
This was the last gig we saw our buddy Derek at, as he had to leave and get back to him family in Boston. We bade him a sad farewell and mourned his loss for about 6 minutes until we started on our plans for the next gig.
Mellow Johnny's setlist.
Flyer for Mellow Johnny's.
After the KEXP gig the band were due to show up for the Valentina listening and record signing party.
Unfortunately the barmy army had to give this one a miss as it might have meant us missing out on the Brooklyn Vegan as it was expected to sell out. No biggie, we all had our copies of the album anyway and could have got them signed if we wanted.
We drove across town and after circling the venue half a dozen times, finally found a parking spot.
Flyer for the Brooklyn Vegan.
The Wedding Present were due to play outside at the back of the venue, and it has to be said I have never been so grateful to remember my sunblock as it was a scorcher.
We watched a few decent bands that once again I fail to remember, but The Drums were on right before TWP, and I have to admit that I enjoyed them a lot.
As usual TWP delivered and we even had the added bonus of the band playing a request (Dalliance) for a young lady in the audience.
Setlist for Brooklyn Vegan.
Dalliance was played via request just before Deer caught in the headlights.
Kia, Mark and Steph from I&S.
Barmy army at the Brooklyn Vegan
Another newsworthy item from this event was that the lads in the band (and Mark) all took advantage of the free haircuts on offer next to the bar. Pepe declined, which was pretty smart of her because "Super Cuts", who were the sponsors, are pretty much the McDonalds of hairdressing in the USA and I wouldn't have trusted them with my head, never mind the lovely Miss Le Moko's.
Don't talk, just snip.
Model, actress, whatever.
Clip, Clip.
It's a trim
Later that evening TWP were due to play at a mini festival in San Antonio called The Big Spill.
Kellie decided that she was pretty knackered and would give it a miss and take the opportunity to relax, have a shower and catch up on some beauty sleep.
Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph hitched a ride with the band while Kia, Mark and myself were to follow them in Kia's rental car, easy peasy huh?
Well not exactly, I have previously had to follow Jessica "lead foot" MacMillan when I transported the band gear to the rehearsal studio in L.A. She was driving a swanky town car that time, while I had a mini van full of gear. She wove in and out of traffic without a care in the world while I struggled to keep up. She eventually lost us on the way to the Cat and Fiddle, luckily I knew where I was going.
Anyway as we set off for San Antonio I half jokingly asked David to keep an eye on Jessica and her habit of speeding and weaving so we didn't get left behind.
Kia assured me that he'd keep up and Mark put the address to the venue into his i-phone sat-nav, so surely nothing could go wrong, right?
Well you'd certainly think so, but alas, Jessica was up to her old tricks, Kia was too busy serenading me with Wedding Present songs on his ipod and Mark fell asleep in the back of the car.
"Has she lost us Kia?"
"I don't think so Andy, isn't that her up ahead?"
"No Kia, it's a mini van"
"Mark, Mark, wake up, we're lost"
Mark woke up looking all dazed and confused, like a deer caught in the headlights... DING!!! Sorry about that, it's an old scopitones inside joke.
Anyway Mark finally came around and I asked him to find us the directions with his phone. Unfortunately his phone battery had died while he slept, so we were officially lost.
I called DLG and got the address again, Kia looked it up and we were on our way again. We found the venue, checked in with Jessica, got our wristbands and then set off in a quest to find somewhere to eat. That shouldn't be too hard in a city the size of San Antonio right?
Wrong!!! It was a Thursday night and only just after 8pm, yet pretty much everything was shut. It reminded me of a Sunday night in Manchester in 1978. We just wandered around aimlessly, walking miles and miles for nearly an hour. I finally spied a deli and devoured a sandwich while the others went for a posh Mexican meal.
I left them to it and headed back to the venue. I grabbed a couple of beers while I waited and chatted to Jessica who said she was off to find the promoter in order to get paid before they played.
This turned out to be the master stoke of the week as 15 minutes after she bagged the cash about 20 undercover and uniformed police officers showed up, started putting handcuffs on various members of the venue staff, arrested a few and then announced that the place was closing for the night which obviously meant that the gig was off. The word I got was that the police had showed up for noise complaints as the venue was next to a posh hotel. Then some of the bar staff didn't have the right credentials to tend a bar, which is a big no-no in Texas.
Charlie showed me the setlist that they were going to play and it was a cracker, we were gutted.
Looks like Kellie made the right decision after all.
The "missing" setlist.
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