Central Coast recap, in which we test National resonator prototypes & hustle a show
We’ve spent the last two day in the San Luis Obispo area, connecting with old friends & family, and playing some music here and there. The show at Last Stage West in Atascadero was a bit off, but a few friendly faces came out and danced a bit.
Afterwards we drove out to a cattle ranch outside Cayucos to stay with Carver’s pals Jamie & Jared, right across from lots of cows, horses, and of course chickens. This makes our Accommodations With Chickens On Premises Ratio to 90%. Thursday morning, we stopped in Morro Bay for a swell breakfast at Kitty’s, then took a brief walk by the bay.
Next, we headed into San Luis Obispo to take a tour of the National factory. Definitely one of the highlights of this tour. We got see the production of these fine resonator guitars from raw wood & steel to finished prototypes, such as this experimental steel resonator with a humbucker pickup installed… the gentleman explaining the pick up mounting is none other than owner Don Young:
Next we headed down to Boo Boo Records for a brief in-store performance to a few kind folks. Tried out a few new songs, and sold a few cds. We also got to pick one free used cd from their racks. The farmers’ market was going pretty strong by this point, with thousands of people out on the street. Carver stopped by the Frog & Peach, and chatted up the bartenders to see about letting us onto the empty stage to entertain the very full bar. They agreed, as long as we ran our own sound and play a stripped down set. We set up quickly, then tore through some of our more upbeat numbers for the rowdy crowd. Soon our guitar case filled up with cash from sold cds and cheerful revelers… enough to pay for half a tank of gas, for which we were very thankful!
Crashed at The Establishment, a co-op in the Railroad District of SLO where Jack Kerouac rented a room for several months around 1953 while he worked on the Southern Pacific line, just before finishing The Dharma Bums. Back then it was a hotel/boarding house called The Colonial. Lots of friendly folks, and a really pleasant cat named Elwood.
Many thanks to Diana & Jamie for taking care of us in the Central Coast! Friday will be a surely epic LA show, then a sweet homecoming gig at the Hotel Utah in SF. We’re growing weary of our sleeping bags and peanut butter sandwiches…
