Crystal Ballroom, Friday

spoon plays

For the second gig with Anya Marina, we played between the bands Black Joe Lewis and Spoon. Kate got me into Spoon a few years ago and they are one of my favorite bands, so I was quite excited about this last minute opportunity to not only see their show, but to open for them. Anya was nice enough to get me two extra all access passes, so Kate and I brought our friend Lawrence, who had originally introduced Kate to Spoon’s music. We watched Spoon from side stage, taking care not to get in the guitar tech’s way, and the band played a fantastic and airtight show. I’ll admit that I’ve been taking backstage access privileges for granted over the course of this year, so it was especially fun to watch how excited Kate and Lawrence were to be so close to the action. However, I couldn’t help but chuckle at how much the horn section- borrowed from Black Joe Lewis- fit the horn player stereotype (ie Napoleon Complex) to a tee. They played great though, especially the baritone saxophone player. All in all, a really fun night!

Anya Marina

Having just awoke from my first post-Blind Pilot night of sleep,  I surprisingly got offered a gig playing trumpet for Anya Marina at the Crystal Ballroom. There’s something to make one feel good!

Anya Marina is a really awesome San Diego based singer and actress- she starred in the movie 100 Girls and is on Atlantic Records. I learned my song from an emailed mp3 that was very richly orchestrated (her record was produced by Britt Daniel of Spoon), so I was kind of surprised to show up on Tuesday to find only her, a guitar, and an iPod. Having never met or played together, we briefly talked through the tune as Band Of Skulls thrashed about on the stage before a sold out house. When they were done, the two of us stood on an otherwise empty stage in front of our microphones, Anya cued the iPod, and we played the song. I came in at the wrong place with my trumpet solo, but she was a champ and we powered through.  I don’t think many people noticed us – as Anya put it, her nightly mini-sets were the ‘palette cleanser’ between two hard rock bands.

Band of Skulls

After spending so much time in Blind Pilot’s ‘indie’ world, I really enjoyed watching Band Of Skulls. They really tore it up! They gave the audience everything they had (how very unhip) and I thought that they were a terrific band. Tomorrow I will play a second show with Anya- we’re playing between Black Joe Lewis and Spoon, a band I’m really excited to see. Should be a fun time!