People are cool. LA is shit though.

It's been a few days so I’ll remember what I can. The gig in phoenix ended up being a lot of fun. Playing in that kind of intense heat is nuts. I’ve never sweated so much. Once the sun disappears all the heat seems to come in waves from the ground. Before the show we befriended Jody, and her dog City (named after where she was found) down the street. She recommended cheap eats and we got to hang out on her porch drinking beer while Joss received sage relationship advice from Jody’s friend Llama. Joss knew it was good advice because it was dark and Llama was wearing sunglasses. We played a good set and people liked it, we sold some merch too. Ended up staying with the drummer for Vin Fizz, the second band from tonight. Now, usually when you crash with someone from the opening band it means musty carpets and no toilet paper. Not this time. Although he doesn’t look a day over 30, Brant is an engineer with a 20-year son and lives in a great house about 35 mins east of the city. We got beds and coffee and met his crazy scary dog Choppo. A German Shepard Pit-bull cross. You meet the coolest people when you're a broke indie band.

So, off to San Diego where we knew at the very least we’d have a great time with out mates from Pinback. The show was an all ages affair in a new venue called the basement. It used to be a record shop and has no air con, just a big fan. I used Kenseth's monster bass rig for this gig and we played out of our skins. After us, GOBLIN COCK!!!! I will say no more. Only that we all got Goblin Cock T-Shirts that will never see the inside of Jill’s Mam’s house.

After the show was done we supped beer and watched old Captain Beefheart live performance videos (sorry, I just do not see the appeal of that guy). It was great to see Rob, Victoria and Kenseth. Victoria is due is November and is at the height of her pregnant lady glow. They all asked after Jill and we hit the hay at about 3. Next morning after rob had treated us to a kick ass Mexican breakfast we headed to Ventura for our in-store. Buffalo Records is a great little shop and Ventura is a beautiful little seaside town that seems to be pretty typical of southern California. We arrived a bit late only to find that they had been advertising the in-store for Saturday. One kid knew of the correct date and was waiting for us. He was very understanding about us not wanting to empty the van, setup and play for one person. The record store owner John was very apologetic and gave us cheap and free records. We kicked about the town for a while and I paddled in the Pacific. We took the scenic route into LA because we had some time to kill. Highway 1 brought us down the coast through Malibu beach and other famous sounding places that I just know have been mentioned on various TV shows. Miffed that Jill isn't here for some of these drives, she'd really appreciate it I think.

After ages of dealing with grid systems, (Toronto, Chicago) LA is an annoying place to drive around. One minute it's a grid, the next is has you weaving all over the place. Streets start and stop and break seemingly as random. We got lost in West Hollywood and it took us an hour to find the venue. A sushi restaurant. Odd. Had a beer and waited for the room we were playing in to become free. We loaded in and set up. The other band was mad friendly and seemed a good representation of LA, as in, they were not actually from there. Halfway through the second song I took a chunk out of my right hand index finger and proceeded to bleed all over the bass (sorry Damo, I’ll clean her all up). Very rock n'roll. Not a lot of people there again, but everybody in the room seemed to buy merch. I found a beer I really like; Red Hook IPA so had a few more of those. Tonight we are staying with Patti, an Internet fan of the band. She was at the gig but had to leave early. She left us with keys to her place and a zapper for the secure car park. Naturally we got totally lost. Our directions lead us down a series of interstate connection ramps half of which were close for road works or were crime scenes. We eventually found a street that seemed to be in the right area but couldn't find our turn off. We were having no luck picking up wireless Internet so despite warnings I asked for directions at a petrol station. Somehow I got involved in an altercation between a homeless chap who was giving me directions (Craig, it was Tyrone from Chappelles show, seriously), and the guy who worked in the gas station. Various threats to each other’s mothers were made and I ended up with two different sets of directions. The homeless chaps were right and we found Patti's pad. And what a pad! A HUGE one room apt in an old factory. It's fantastic. Patti is of at work and will return at noon with coffees. We’re not here long, but LA hasn’t made a good impression so far. It seems like a big, badly signposted cliché.

Jill is in San Francisco and we're meeting her tomorrow. Can’t wait. You’ll probably get more blogging from her too.