If you are reading this post for the first time, I recommend you follow this link to my first post detailing my entire trip. I arrived in San Fransisco a little before 4 pm, and took a little adventure on the BART, San Fransisco/Oaklands public transportation system. I got picked up by Al Z at a BART stop in Oakland and he drove me around the Oakland area for a bit before gettin to his house to meet up with his lady friend of 7 years, LuLu, and then headin out for the show.
On our journey to Santa Cruz, we stopped and met LuLu\'s family for some bangin\' mexican food dinner (her dad loves the Breakfast, but unfortunately was not able to attend the show). A margarita, some fajitas, and bunch of info about Solar Power later, we were on the way to the Crepe Place again, with LuLu\'s step-brother now along for the ride as well.
We arrived to a tiny venue packed to the gills for a decent opening band. As I met with Dave and Mike I could tell Dave\'s mood was down after finding out the band was playing in a small room with no stage and an awkward set up. Imagine a room about the size of Richters shaped like an L without the tables. I told him to cheer up cuz there was obviously an enthusiastic crowd, and Wolfman always tells me that the Breakfast plays killer shows in rooms with a low roof.
Note to .info- Wolfman is right.
The first three songs of this show were perfect. The crowd was lovin it, energy was through the roof, and PapaPeck\'s mood was totally turned around by Doughboy, which I will have a picture for in the future, haha. I was yellin for Cut Me Some Slack and was very very happy when it got played. World Needs Us seemed to change the mood a bit when it started, but by jam time, everyone was in full swing again, specifically a couple of uber-heady chicks in the front row that I could have watched for hours...
See the Light I was not expecting at all for some reason and it was very well played- including the eery almost acappella ending(in the inverted style). Vermont Song was a lot of fun- I am totally turning around on this tune that I used to throw aside as generic and boring- and I was surprised when they didn\'t end the set there and instead played Reel Time, which was good but I don\'t think the band was comfortable with the sound system, repeatedly trying to get the sound guy to change volumes on all sorts of things.
With the crowd groovin and dancin, I felt Beef Barley was a really good 2nd set opener. I still swear there was a song between Beef and Cut My Hair, but either way, when Cut My Hair got going all the noodley chicks went to the bathroom, and all the old guys in the room (including PapaPeck) moved up and raged the front row. Cut My Hair was long and really good. I was bustin Dang-Elise\'s balls about all his pedals he has and how I never saw him use them so he got my attention as he ran through and utilized all his effects, which was very cool, and Tunage included the opening drum roll to Peaches en Regalia before going back into the closing section. Obviously I shed a tear.
The band definitely didn\'t think they were gonna be allowed an encore, but after a solid "One More Song" chant, they got back on, with Tim saying they were gonna have to be quick. I thought they were gonna do Living Daylights, but was relieved and pleased to hear Cult of Personality, which left everyone Not asking what Santa Cruz can do for you, but fearing nothing but fear itself.
I slept well in the car (Sorry Al) and on an air mattress at Al Z\'s apartment (Thanks Al) and the next day after a pleasant Diggery Diner breakfast, I took off for
Crystal Bay, Nevada in Al Z\'s Hatchback with Al, PapaPeck, and MikeyHelluvaHat, who I know better as Ringo.
