Whysp at The Yerba Buena Center 11/18/05

Here are some photos of Whysp performing at The Yerba Buena Center on November, 18, 2005. Photos by Eric Landmark.

The Great American Music Hall

Here are some polaroids Ia took at our October 15th, 2005 show at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco with Deerhoof and Octis:

Muhmaaaapaalflaaa

Okay, false alarm about the brain hemmorhage. I was going to try to go back to Manhattan today, but I hear there's a sixty percent chance of Kong attack, so I might stay out here where it's safe. On a positive note, I hear that a couple hundred tons of explosives have gone missing from Iraq! With all this traveling around, maybe Whysp will get a chance to be in the next American city to get the shit blown out of it. I keep waiting for this collective sense of imminent doom to result in some kind of mass counterculture youth movement, but how can we get our acts together when icons like Ashlee Simpson keep disappointing us? Tomorrow we open for The Incredible String Band in Oberlin, and then we begin the long journey south and west toward Roswell.
-Tom

Day 43: New York and Crack

Toronto went well. We played at the Rancho Relaxo with John Rae Fletcher and the River. They were really good, though they insisted otherwise. They had opened for Songs:Ohia. Good enough for me. Toronto was cool but kind of strange. Like walking around a Vice Magazine Dos and Don'ts spread. Many dont's, not many dos. Montreal was fucking awesome. We played at this hippie bar called Le Toc Toc. They were supposed to be evicted, but because the landlord was a Hassidic Jew, they figured they could stretch it out an extra day because he wouldn't be leaving his house to check on it until Shabbat was over. We played a good show, with an amusing encore of Fields of Maize which we hadn't played for about a year. People seemed to be into it. After the show, John procured a joint from a Quebec revolutionary named Sam. He proceeded to talk to me for about an hour and a half about some of the most intense stuff I've ever heard. A sample:
"The only hope America has is to join Canada."
"I played in a reggae band that opened for Burning Spear. It was called Help Wanted."
"I'll be up there on top of a mountain with a bazooka. I'm an artist and I will die for this cause. No joke."
"I've done more paintings in eight months than Jackson Pollock ever did. No joke."
"America shits in the face of the black man. Not Quebec."
All you need to do is get a twenty-something wastoid stoned and talk to him about heavy shit and he'll follow you everywhere.
Tonight we are in Brooklyn for Josh's birthday. 31. We went to Mars Bar in the Bowery and the bartender kept giving me drinks in exchange for money. Now I'm completely trashed and we're smoking Mugwort. I don't know what it is, but I'm smoking it. I saw Nora tonight. It was so good to see her and so strange. We're two thousand miles away from Berkeley and yet we're hanging out again. It's beautiful. I bought a drink for some guy at the bar. He said he was 35 but he didn't look it. He was definitely drunk though. The bartender, Kat, said she'd be at our show tomorrow. She's getting married in TJ in a few weeks to some guy she met at the bar about a month ago.
I tried to slide down the railing in the subway, but I was so drunk, I flipped backwards and smacked my head. Tomorrow morning, I may be dead, and if I'm not I'm sure I'll wish I was. I love you all.
-Tom

Bonjour from Canada...

The show last night in Ann Arbor was really good. People were into it and the couch was very comfortable. We sold some albums and made some friends. We played at The Totally Awesome Supper Club with Jason Voss and Patrick Elkins. We didn't really mic anything, and I think it was one of our better sounding shows. Playing in living rooms is the key. Right now I'm typing this from a computer in the house of Liz and Graham here in Toronto. They have plied me with spirits and welcomed us to their beautiful land. Tomorrow we play a show at the Rancho Relaxo.
Driving through Michigan was a little freaky because it's a swing state so there were all these offensive Bush/Cheney billboards all over the place with slogans like:
"Boots or Flip-Flops"
"One Nation under God"
"Remember, it's your money"
It made me pretty sick, to be honest. Thank God we're out of that sinking ship of a country for a few days at least. The American people have a great chance to restore my sense of hope in the world on Nov. 2nd, but I can't help but think they'll do what large groups of people usually tend to do and act like assholes. Shit.
-Tom

Day...Who knows anymore...: De Kalb, IL

Show in De Kalb last night was quite satisfying due to a positive crowd, good lineup, and amount of social lubricant consumed (10W40). We played with Lovers and Icarus Syndrome (who I keep obnxiously referring to as Icarus Line because I have no memory) in a practice space. Everyone smoked. The train sped through town quite frequently, which explains the mysterious train noises that appear on local recordings. Nuisance, or distinctive "De Kalb Sound"? I guess that's for the natives to judge. We spent the night in the attic of this large house where I folded myself like a taco to fit on the loveseat. When I woke up the next morning, I looked across the room and saw a couch that would have been much more comfortable. Too little too late, as they say. Today we go to Ann Arbor, home of Iggy Pop, and some other things. Thanks De Kalb! Somewhere, Jesus is smiling!
-Tom

Day 4 I think

This will be brief as time is running out (in so so many ways). We drove straight to Chicago from Long Beach. It took us thirty hours, but at the end of the trip we were greeted with Thai food and rotisserie chicken, courtesy of John's aunt. I highly recommend driving through Nevada at night. It's like you're on another planet. While driving over the Rockies, we tuned into Art Bell's radio show and Whitley Streiber called in to report that his wife had just suffered a massive stroke and had bleeding on the brain. Listening to Art Bell in the middle of the night while driving over the Rockies will destroy your brain. So, we're in Chicago now, we have a show in DeKalb tonight and then it's on to Ann Arbor. The worst of the driving is over and even though we were given a ticket in Nebraska for speeding, things have been quite pleasant. I really feel like I get that Springsteen album now. The man's all over that state, hassling the working class.
-Tom

Day 2: Koo's

Our second show seemed to go off pretty well. Played at Koo's with Numbers (Part II) and Digits. Back in Long Beach, I felt like Superman in the Cave of Tranquility. Apparently, the Numbers crew went to some crazy art/science exhibit in LA of all these real human bodies without any skin. We're going to try to check it out when we come back through town. They were also kind enough to give us all their falafel (adults only, please).
After some hassles with the car rental place due to to various factors (let's just say that the only way Hugh, Josh, and I could rent a car was by merging completely together into one freakish, yet supremely mature and responsible, monster). I'm the only one authorized to drive it, as it's under my name, but I'm not sure how to reconcile this with the fact that I was planning on a three week mushroom binge.
It was good to see the homestead, do some laundry and unload a bunch of useless garbage that I won't need for a while. My brother Chris came out to the show, as did my parents. Luckily for me, we've cut the part of the show where I take all my clothes off. Now we're off to Denver for some sleep. Then we're off to De Kalb for a show. This might mark the end of consistent tour journaling, because I won't have easy access to the internet anymore, and because it's goofy anyway.
-Tom