GREAT GIRLS BLOG
Installment #35: New drummer Ev secured a July 11, 2011 free studio session at EXPRESSIONS SCHOOL FOR THE DIGITAL ARTS in the Oakland area, Emeryville I think. So we had an 8-hour session to work with students, being graded by an instructor, in a Pro-Tools studio recording environment. We moved our gear into a beautiful, spacious hard-wood studio....restrooms, auto-mat.....the works. The students began feverishly measuring (I mean to the inch: with a tape measure) the distance of the room drum mics from the kit to create a perfect equal-lateral triangle. I suggested an isosceles triangle, but it didn't take. And it was like 10 students. Anyway, things seemed normal accept for that. Then just when I thought we might start playing, we had to wait another hour for each student to get their pro-tools boards synced. And it was just then that I realized that the name of the studio room our class/session was taking place in, "Heptogon", meant more than just a cool word. And I began to see what I was in the middle of: one big studio room, with 8 more smaller rooms, each with their own missing board and computer. So not only did one student record us on multi-track digital gear, but more students were doing their own mix on their own gear, all of us. And each student was looking at us from a large, connecting window. It was like the first scene in the first Superman movie when the 3 criminals were being sentenced by Superman's father, Jurel, and the other Kriptons. Sounds impressive, but it really just ate up a bunch of time. By 1am we escaped with the raw tracks of 5 songs on DVD. Thanks to the students, the instructor, and Eric the lab tech (who really did the work).

Installment #34: So although we haven't actively been seeking out a drummer to join the band, we have always been open to the idea. And if you read our tour histories, you will hear about our life in Minneapolis as a rock trio. Anyway, EVAN MARTIN from EXTREME ELVIS, had become a fan the Blouse. And one night HATE CRIME (short-lived project for the blousers) had a gig at Oakland's STORK CLUB one drummer short. Well this Ev guy said he could play, just give me the disc, I will listen in the car, then in one hour I will come back and play the show. Well it fucking happened, just like he said. Needless to say we were impressed. Well, all of us accept for MIKE SKIPPER from SKELETON TELEVISION (also in Hate Crime) but enough about him. So Ev said he wanted to drum for the Blouse so we gave it a try: GGB is once again a rock-trio. We got out the tube amps (does anyone know how to fix a tube amp) and the effects, etc. The rest will hopefully be history.


Installment #33: Imagine moving clear across the county, from the East Coast to the Midwest, finally landing on the West Coast, always in search of new musicians to work with and a better music scene. Well we all know that the SF scene is far superior to both Providence, RI and Minneapolis, MN. But what about the musicians. There are definitely more creative and open minded people in the Bay Area, but is there someone to complete the Blouse and give them the hard rocking trio status they once enjoyed? Yes..and where does this mystery man hail from? Guess. No? That's right: mother fucking Providence, RI...the place where I was born and bread...the same state where I met Amy. Fucked up, huh? So EVAN MARTIN is now the skin pounding third member of Great Girls Blouse. The screaming tube amps and battered stomp boxes are out of storage. Here is comes, open wide, it's not gonna go down easy.

Installment #32: 2011 is here and I hope the year is better than our New Year's Eve. Too many parties, substances, waiting for muni and walking in the rain for my liking. But at least we got plenty of gigs on the horizon for the coming year. In fact, we just last night had our first gig of 2011: HOTEL UTAH OPEN MIC FEATURE on 01/10/2011. It was our second feature and it was perhaps the greatest moment of my life. We were both sick and not very practiced, but the place was packed, we busted out a bunch of new songs without a hitch. TIKI HOUSEMAN was so insistent on hearing "Evil & Apathy" so we did it for our encore. Thanks to the open mic host JJ SCHULTZ for having us feature. And thanks to everyone for coming out and watching us. It was really a good time, although I drank too many cheap whiskey shots.

Installment #31:
After lame results from the radio campaign we decided to stick to local gigs, by local I of course mean San Francisco & Berkeley. There are a lot of little towns in California but there are just like small towns in other states aka all the cool people moved to the city. And if you're reading this right now in a small town and feel insulted, don't. But maybe you'd be happier if you moved to a cool city.

Installment #30:
So in our first attempt to make hey out of the radio campaign, we booked ourselves a gig all the fuck way to McKinnlyville. We had to bring the PA and fill 3 hours of music at SIX RIVERS BREWERY. So we brought DEATH TO THE WEST along to fill out the night. Leave nice and early on Friday of Labor Day Weekend, pick up DUSTIN of Death to the West in Oakland, load his big ass speakers for the PA, I mean these things must weigh 150 lbs each. The metal handles broke while carrying them. So we drove but oops, its Labor Day Weekend so that added 2 hours of drive time to our expected 6-hour drive. We drove and drove, through the hot sun, through the redwood forests, by the sun tanned filthy Humbolt county hippies. We drove past Eureka, past Arcada, then finally, to the place. A nice place, they paid us well and fed me tri-tip. We played and played and played. Then at about Midnight we headed to the campground. We built out tent, then decided to just sleep in the van. Made a nice campfire as well. In the morning we headed to a lumberjack all you can eat breakfast place. I can eat a lot of breakfast.

Installment #29:
If you read installment #28 you might be saying to yourself, but Mr. Blouse, what ever happened to that radio campaign. And I would answer with the following: Amy has been hard at work booking and we got some gigs coming up to coincide with that campaign. With rotation on University of California's KSCR, we did a gig at THE CAT CLUB on the Sunset strip in West Hollywood. The gig was Tuesday, August 3 and we hit up 2 open mics the preciding nights: KULACK'S WOODSHED on Monday and CANTER'S KIBBITZ ROOM on Sunday. Thanks to Ian for booking, doing sound and tending bar at Cat Club and good luck with that Ampeg SVT's fucked up mute button. We experienced some techmological differences onstage but we managed to play it off. Needless to say, VERSAKYLE warned us many times of Amy's faulty input jack and we had the hubrice to ignore him. Well those chickens came home Kyle, those chickens came home. Thanks to Amy Zim, cuzins Robin & Sarah Russin and Sunbie Harrell for coming out to support us. Kulack's or as Zim likes to say, "Klux" was its usual earthy, pet friendly strange. We got intervied by Hanibal and his crew at WWW.LOVEANDMUSIC.com outside (I got to wear a hidden mic and they had one of those striped action clickers). Canter's we did shots of cheap whisky with the bartenders...both were impressed I could suck down a double of Early Times without flinching. All in all Los Angeles is a dreadful place full of shadeless brutal landscapes and unforgiving traffic. But hey, at least the people are shallow.
Installment #28:
The next chapter after the cd release is the beginning of our radio campaign. Thus far we are getting rotation on Berkeley's KALX. And then we are in high gear for booking to hit any areas we target in the campaign. Thus far we have gigs in Oakland, Berkeley, Log Angeles and Saratoga. But there is plenty of local action. And by action I mean drama. Like the drama at the HOTEL UTAH OPEN MIC when the big blond guy with the ponytail was invited by host JJ SCHULTZ to kindly get the fuck out. He rushed the stage but the good open mic people shut him down. On the guy's way out he pushed ROB THE BOUNCER, knocking him to the ground and giving him a head injury. So that set off the barback DYLLAN who chased him into the taco cage across the street where BRIAN was dragging the guy out of the cage by his ponytail while DYLLAN meated out a little street justice. Then there was the drama at the KALEIDOSCOPE FREE SPEECH ZONE on the evening of July 25 2010. It was a benefit show to keep the place open. SHAREEF ALI booked the night and invited us to play. We were supposed to be the 3rd of 4 bands and play at 1030pm. But SARAH, the owner, had some conflict and kindly bumped us to the last slot. No big deal, most of our friends were willing to hang in there and watch us in the later position. Then right before we were supposed to hit the stage Sarah asked the attractive and talented AMY CHORNEY to not play at all, so she could raffle off some crap no one wanted to buy, and play a film no one wanted to see. If that is the kind of thing she wanted fine, but we were asked to play, brought our gear, practiced, promoted then told no. Fuck that. I could have made a stink, but when I heard this I was so enraged I no longer wanted to play. So I just told my friends we were not playing. MIKE SKIPPER of SKELETON TELEVISION is a fan and was there to see some BLOUSE. So he had some words with Sarah. Next thing I know we are being begged to play. Well, we did play, thanks to Mike and MIRIAM SPEYER for being so supportive. I heard the raffle was not profitable. But thanks for the warm beer. That really hit the spot. You see, along with BLUE SIX ACOUSTIC ROOM, the independent art houses in the MISSION DISTRICT are having trouble surviving. Hey, give me a real bar anytime. That way I know there is a sound man and they have whiskey instead of just warm beer.

Installment #27:
OK wow the gig was great and perfect. I am referring to our CD Release Party at Hotel Utah on February 3, 2010. Everything went spot on. I was a nervous mess but I ran the ship tight like a fucking death camp. No encores for anyone. When I said the gig began at 8pm, thats when it began. I ran sound for the first 2 bands. Then JEFF COTTON helped out. Then KLAUS FLOURIDE ran sounds for JJ and us. He is amazing at live sound, it really makes a difference. Everyone came out to support us and it pretty much blew our wad. Now what?

Installment #26:
It's been a while since I've written but basically we are plugging along with open mic and gig performances. Its 2010 and unfortunately the world has not ended yet. Did I mention after 1 year of work our disc is finished. We found our way out of the tall grass of pro-tools with Kyle Lesley and Amy Zimmitti did her first mastering experiment all over it. Sounds great! Next big event for the Blouse is the CD release gig. Now we center our social and musical souls at the HOTEL UTAH open mic so I thought it only fitting that we hold the release there. I emailed KEITH the booking guy and laid it on real thick how we are always at the place, know the bar tender, bla bla bla. And we got the gig set for February 3, 2010. JJ SCHULTZ, DEATH TO THE WEST, VERSAKYLE and JACOPO (flying in from Vermont) will all be on the bill. This is very exciting. KLAUS FLOURIDE said he would do sound for us and 200 POCKETS will run the merch table. I will tell you how it goes on the next installment.

Installment #25:
On the evening of Thursday, August 13 we got a call from TYLER GORDON who said he had a last minute out of town vision quest to find his animal spirit in Wyoming with JEREMY GOODFEATHER. That sounded plausible. So he needed us to cover for him in running the CAFE INTERNATIONAL OPEN MIC. No problem. We had done it once before and also standed in for JJ SCHULTZ at the HOTEL UTAH OPEN MIC. So here is my Friday: up at 4am for work, work all day, then go to a political protest in downtown San Francisco until 430pm. Then home to change. Then right out to Haight street to set up the PA, run sound, get the sign up sheet ready, and basically cater to the 30 fragile musician and poet egos. I get there, bring the PA gear up from the basement, begin unpacking it, and some dude starts "helping" me, telling me what cord goes where, how "not to mix them up". I got it dude. Then he is like, Oh so you're helping US tonight. No, I'm doing the open mic. But he thought he was doing it. Barista guy confirms its Great Girls Blouse hosting. But the guy doesn't understand. I come to find out his friend hosted the last 2 weeks. And this guy was helping his friend out and he got such a rush off it he didn't want to give up the gig. But all I know is that Tyler asked me to host. And the guy can't believe this either, that Tyler called me up and asked me. Maybe you just had to be there. But for the next several hours he was crying in my face like a full grown baby that is angry at G-d cause he dropped his lollipop. So then comes set up. I've never seen mics and stands in that much disrepair. OK though, we have duct tape. Then its the endless parade of egos and favors and can you give me a good number and Tyler said I could have this and where is Tyler and I want an extra song and can you make me louder. I'm like Cool Hand Luke or Jesus on the cross, just giving of myself until there is nothing left. Time for the show: start out the night with a free jam with me on bass, that went very well. But then the lists begins...and lots of new people, but the problem is it seems to be front loaded with way too many spoken word poets and comedians. Or as MIRIAM SHMIRIAM calls them, "Word of Mouth". The angry poet, the horny poet, the nerdy comedian, the Asian hy-koo guy, the woman power lady. And on and on. That stuff fucks with my shakras. The first 2 were word of mouth, and there had to be about 6 of the first 10 that way. At this point my Chi is way off. But things got a little better towards the center of the list with JJ SCHULTZ, BILLY BANKS & GREAT GIRLS BLOUSE. Then feature time with DEATH TO THE WEST, amazing as always. Then after the feature still too many acts to go so each performer only gets one number. BLAIR, DARRYLE, STEVEO. But more word of mouth. I had to cut a few guys short because its hard to tell how long one number is for a story teller...is it when they're finished? That could take who knows how long. But the last act takes the cake. We didn't have a way to put his backing music through the PA. So he went a-capella. Did some R&B slow jam tune. It was 1048pm, open mic ends at 11pm. I had it though. My soul was spent. I gave all I had. So I tapped the guy out. He didn't like that. He played most of song, which was a cover anyway. He said, why did you cut me off, because the open mic ends at 1050. Or because I finished my allotted time. Hey, I rushed the whole night through so everyone could play. Shouldn't that be good enouph?
Installment #24:
Last night (07/08/08) we had possibly our greatest gig ever. It was our second time playing the BEER DRINKING ACOUSTIC showcase at HOTEL UTAH. Thanks to JJ SCHULTZ for having us. We played with STICHCRAFT, FLEETING TRANCE & SCOTT SIMMONS. I got a little effen drunk but managed to play the most fluid bass in a long time. Amy was hot and on. We were tight and emotional and the crowd support was a great vindication for us. There were so many scenemasters and heavy hitters cheering us on: JJ SCHULTZ, NOMI, GG TANAKA, DAVE G, VERSAKYLE, JACOPO, TIKI HOUSEMAN, MIKE CHASE. KLAUS FLOURIDE ran the soundboard (a big honor) and transformed the usual acoustic folk sound of that place into a hot, big stadium. 200 POCKETS was shooting photos and SLIM was on lights. What a perfect night. We ended the set with "Dirty Diana" by the recently deceased MICHAEL JACKSON, who both Amy and myself grew up listening to.

Installment #23:
So many people are leaving/have left SF: JACOPO, COURTNEY NICOLE, SAMUEL ELI VICTOR, 1/2 STICHCRAFT, 1/2 NUTARAH, LESLIE RAFFERTY. This is very sad. Luckily, there is plenty of fresh skin coming in to the scene: NUMBER ONE FAN, JEFF ST. JOHN. I was always told that San Francisco had a transient population.

Installment #22:
Lots of events have transpired since the wedding gig, but the big event for me was the Scenemasters Showcase Volume III on June 11, 2009. This was the third gig I put together at RETOX LOUNGE in SF to celebrate the heavy hitters in the acoustic open mic scene. It was also to celebrate the return of Dustin, aka DEATH To THE WEST after liquidating his assets in Massachusetts so he can eek out a living for another year in overpriced San Francisco. After doing my best promotion slash peer pressuring fellow humans to come out to support the gig I felt we were in good shape. And we were. Everything turned out well: good turnout, good times, etc. There was a bit of pressure from some on the lineup for the middle slots, and I did my best to make everyone happy, and I came damn close. NUMBER ONE FAN wasn't on the bill but he took the opportunity to warm up the stage with his classical guitar compositions. Then came BILLY BANKS, who has more paid dues in this town than anyone I know. Then came LINNEY & CAITI KENNEY who's car broke down on the way in not such a great neighborhood, but after fighting off some welfare zombies, managed to squeak out a good performance. Then came OTIS, which is KELLY MCFARLING. Then COURTNEY NICOLE, then JEFF ST. JOHN, then NOMI, then DEATH TO THE WEST, then GREAT GIRLS BLOUSE, then VERSAKYLE to close out the night. We had live music from 830pm until about 2am. In my drunken hays I took home the clubs microphone supply but brought it back the next day. Yes, too many PBR's took their toll on your hero, the ultimate scenemaster. Thanks to Michael, Pat and Scott at the Retox for letting my continue my megalomania booking in San Francisco.

Installment #21:
Many a happenstance has befallen the Blouse, such as our drunken performance on the half pipe at VERSAKYLE's Friday the 13th birthday party in his Bayview warehouse studio where the cops busted yet we played on, and our continued, yet controversial membership to Allison's Pier 40 JAVA HOUSE now going on our 4th performance. Rhode Island University fellow alumni ROB VIAL has been posting videos of us on YOUTUBE. And VERSAKYLE continues to labor over our cd-to be, not just on Protools but Ableton as well. But the craziest and most blog worthy event has been our Wedding gig. TOMMY, another RI compatriot, got MARRIED to SARAH on APRIL 5, 2009, with Blouse as sole entertainer. The wedding took place in the SHAKESPEARE GARDEN in GOLDEN GATE PARK. We played completely acoustic (save my PigNose), parked in the woods right in the park and drank to our hearts' content. TOMMY's Italian, East Coast family was like from a movie. The weather...perfect. Rob did video. We played "You & Me" for not only the Wedding March but also the Father & Daughter Dance. It was truly historic in the annals of Blouse.
Installment #20:
First, let me appologize to the litterally thousands of you who reads this blog. I've been too busy to write. So let me do a lightning round catch up list: we have been working very hard on our disc with Kyle Lesley at Versakyle Sounds. We played at his studio (I also tended bar) on Friday the 13th for a giagantic party that got way out of control (the cops came and shut us down). We have been playing gigs and open mics. I did sound for COEXIST recently at Hotel Utah. Been making the scene. Recently began working with a promoter. Hooked up with an old college friend I just discovered was living in the Bay Area, Rob Vial. Thats about the gist of it. More details to follow.

Installment #19:
Saturday, October 25 was the going-away BBQ for Death to the West. Hope he comes back. I brought over 4 chicken-apple sausages, a big unfolding skirt-steak, a seasoned half-chicken and a couple San Francisco strip steaks (like a NY strip, but in SF). Got em all at a great new butcher and deli that opened in my neighborhood. Walking past windows and windows of bright orange Peking ducks hanging by their necks and then stepping into this butcher shop reminiscent of Mayberry, well it just takes me back. Oh yeah, also brought over the PA and mic gear as I've quickly learned that every BBQ and house party I get invited to is just another concert or open mic. VERSAKLYE, COURTNEY NICOLE, JACOPO, LAURIE HENRY, GREAT GIRLS BLOUSE (that's us) and of course, DEATH TO THE WEST all played. But not before I had time to man the grille, forcing countless steaks, burgers, dogs, etc. on the people. At least 30 turkey pups alone made it down the hatch of those Berkeley partygoers. And Courtney's dog, Bella, had more that her share of ground dogs. But all this not before I had time to wake up with Bloody Marys, then head to Versakyle's to mix down a live track from our Pier 40 gig, polish off a bottle of whiskey with Wifey, then start the BBQ off with a couple Budweisers, then swallow down some of them sausages and skirt steak, then throw it all up, pass out, throw up again, then eat about 6 turkey dogs and man the soundboard. Now that's a BBQ.

Installment #18:
So we all know that Hotel Utah's open mic is the center of the Bay Area's singer/songwriter scene. The host, JJ Schultz, asked us to guest host on October 20, 2008 so he could meet his dad in North Dakota and shoot some birds. Now JJ's got big shoes to fill. And I was nervous, not being able to eat my usual red meat diet aka Utah burger, as I read through JJ's open mic direction tomb as I plugged in all the complicated little wires going from the main board, to his mini mixer and finally into his laptop where the entire night was being recorded live. For most of the night I ran the sound board and the stage and Amy acted as MC, introducing the performers. Amy glittered on stage and she read from the names on the sign up sheet 64 performers strong. Jimmy was the feature that night. Versakyle and Death to the West assisted with sound and moral support. And for most of the night things went well. But now I am going to tell you how at some point, the night descended into chaos, although after a bit the plane ascended back up from its violent noise dive. What no one told me was that JJ's guitarist and Utah employee had a plan to install much needed new stage monitors. So here comes this guy right in the middle of everything with large speakers telling me the installation will be "seamless". So during Mike Chase's song, dude is up on stage plugging and unplugging and loud crackles coming from the mains. And the big issue was knocking out the mini mixer and shutting down the recording. It's very important that all this get recorded for hotelutah.org. And now it was feature time. I could not let Jimmy down. So between the lot of us we figured out to simply shut down the program, restart it under a new file name so it would not overwrite. It seemed to work. We will find out when the real host gets back in town. Jimmy's performance went over great, with Versakyle doing a duet with him for the finale. And I threw every effect the board had to offer on Jimmy's guitar and voice: reverb, chorus, flange, phaser, delay, slapback. Now at some point Amy had to hit the sheets so the plan was for me to finish the night solo. I was fine but when she handed me the list it was so marked up I had no idea where we were. So I started introducing people by the wrong name. But after a little turbulence we got back to bluer skies. In conclusion it was an amazing night, a huge honor, and a raucous good time. Thanks to Laura the crushworthy bartender, JJ Schultz for having confidence in us and the rest of the Utah staff for everything they did that night.

Installment #17:
On Sunday, October 12, under the sublime glory of the Blue Angels air show, we did our thing to friends and passersby at Pier 40 per Allison Barton Rice and the Java House at Java Jam 2008. Jacopo invited and we shared a stage not only with him, but also Miriam Speyer and others. This was our first outdoors gig in San Francisco. Neither the heat of the sun nor the steady flow of beers to our throats could diminish the piss and vinegar you've so become accustom to from the Blouse. And not even the laughter of children and not the wide eyes of the middle class could shake the steamy pulse of Blouse live on stage.

Installment #16:
You'll remember from Installment 15 my story about taking over the Retox and making it an open mic style evening among friends. Well, we did it again, except it was all planned ahead. The owner of RETOX LOUNGE, St. Michael, gave us Thursday, October 2 to book so I collected a list of some of the best acoustic talent in the city and called it the SCENE MASTERS SHOWCASE. On the bill was JJ SHCUTLZ, NOMI, COURTNEY NICOLE, DEATH TO THE WEST, BILLY BANKS, NUTARAH, VERSAKYLE, FULL TIME BERET and of course, GREAT GIRLS BLOUSE. But let me tell you how it went. Myself and Kyle showed up early to set up, Mike got us warmed up on the PA and put on the scary airplane lighting (did I mention the basement of the Retox is the coolest place in the city with real airplane seats, and set of airplane aisle windows with twilighty zone lighting behind it). Then I had the musicians choose their time slot as they showed up. And since other musicians were showing up just to see the show, I squeezed a few more folks on the ticket. And there were other suprizes, like Billy Banks had to cancel because of work. Can you believe that, Billy Banks has a job...as a sushi chef! So first JARRID aka PEACE ON EARTH PRODUCTIONS aka BEST OF INTENTIONS played. Then I looked around for someone else to warm up the stage and noted LAURIE HENRY in the audience, so she played next. Then JJ SCHULTZ played some of his great tunes. Then FULL TIME BERET, then NUTARAH accompanied by accordian! Then NOMI knocked em dead is her usual sultry styles. Then GREAT GIRLS BLOUSE. Then DEATH TO THE WEST wailed out his hard working version of man love (and I don't mean that in a gay way). Then COURTNEY NICOLE finished off the list of booked players. But what the hell, the night was still young. So JAZZMAN JAMES blew a horn or two. And even though JON TREE had to cancel because he broke his fibula or ankle bone on our buddy John's skateboard at the Aqua Lunita art show, she managed to hop on down to the stage room so he played a couple tunes as well. And even though BILLY BANKS had to cancel because of work, he got off early and came just to hang, so he got to play as well. Who was left to play, well, EUGENE of POLYPHONIC MONK was there, so he got to finish off the night. Thanks to St. Michael for letting us do our thing at Retox. And thanks to Kyle and Death to the West for working the sound board. Hey it was a great night and I'm hoping to do it again. Sure I got razzed for calling myself a "scene master" but I really meant that everyone on the bill was a big player in the open mic and acoustic scene in San Francisco. Its a great town.

Installment #15:
Wow, so much has happened since my last blog entry. We featured at STARRY PLOUGH OPEN MIC in BEREKELY and this was about the best gig to date. All our friends showed up and we had a great, emotional performance. We continue to record with VERSAKYLE and play the HOTEL UTAH and CAFE INTERNATIONAL open mics. We went to see our friend JOHN TREE play at RETOX LOUNGE and the gig was sow low key and unorganized that we just took it over and made it our own open mic style gig, inviting musicians friends in the audience to play way into the early morn. We played the annual AQUQ LUNITA ART SHOW with MIRRIAM SPEYER and turned another art show into a rock concert. And we have a lot in store for October. JJ SCHUTLZ has asked us to guest host at the HOTEL UTAH open mice. Wow, what an honor. Just hope we can keep his seat warm. Yes I know this installment is boring, its more like a wrap up, and next time I'll be sure to include more steamy details. But the point is we are loving San Francisco. We've been here almost a full year and things are going at a great pace.

Installment #14:
Tuesday, July 15 was open mic friend Miriam Speyer's birthday party. The plan was to party at her flat then the entire crew to head across the street in Berkeley to the Starry Plough's open mic hosted by Girl George. We did so. Girl George and her counter part began exclaiming that there were too many people signing up and not everyone was going to have time to play 2 songs each. I suggested making it one song each. "OK everyone, its a one song night tonight" said Girl George. So there you go. So we did our one tune, but the hosts asked for another. So we did another. Then we got offered to feature. And so did Versakyle of Kyle Records. Wow, the SF invasion into Berkeley and everyone walks out a winner. Hey, this is why I moved here.

Installment #13:
On Friday, May 16 we headed out of town for a long weekend tour to Los Angeles and Long Beach. But first a gig stop in Soquel, CA. The Ugly Mug coffee house was a daylight hours and alcohol free gig...in other words, a true challenge. Lisa Miller opened with a set cut short by her voice strained from touring. We played for an hour to an intimate crowd with intense sunlight at our backs and sweating glasses of iced coffee at our fronts. We gladly ended the night with a 4-song encore so Victor Film Dude could capture us on video. Thanks to Victor for that and to Jordan for booking and doing sound. Saturday the 17 found us at Long Beach GLBT Pride festival. Another 100 degree day filled with margaritas and rum drinks in the sun at the largest Pride in the US. Somewhat tamer than the oversexed Minneapolis pride crows we were used to. Thanks to old college friend Amy Zimiti for coming all the way down to see us and bringing her man Miko to photo. Sandra B followed us on the stage. Thanks Sandra for getting us on the bill. Sunday the 18 were planned on signing up at the famous Canter's Kibitz Room open mic, but first we had some time to kill. So we walked down Hollywood Blvd in the wrong directions for hours in extreme heat. What's that old Missing Persons song, "Walking in LA. Nobody walks in LA"? I now know what they mean. Cousin Sarah bought us amazing corned beef and knishes at Canters then we headed to the bar to sign up. We got on the list among the bizarre Lost Angeles talent and make enough impression on the Saturday night booking guy to be offered a real gig. Will we make that trek soon again? Only the GLBT gods and heavy metal hairdo ghosts can know for sure.
On Monday, May 19 we planned on signing up to play Kulack's Woodshed Open Mic in Los Angeles. But first we headed to the beach to battle waves in Santa Monica. The drive back from the beach gave a muni rider free peep show at a stop light as Amy de-sanded her swim bottoms. I looked up at the smiling bus face mouthing the words, "That's hot" as he waved his hand as to fan himself. Next to Kulack's Woodshed: a well attended open mic with a professional film crew live streaming on the web and will burn you a DVD for a fee. A tiny storefront filled with 60's originals, LA regulars, small yippy dogs, caged birds and assorted reptiles. Again, it was hot, we played a tune and got great feedback and crowd response. Tuesday was the drive back home to SF. I really learned to appreciate the SF youth culture and talent. Oh, and did I mention the weather? On Wednesday, May 21 we were back in San Francisco playing our favorite venue, the Hotel Utah. The main booking folk at Hotel Utah approached JJ Schultz to put one gig each month together for the open mic-ers. And we were chosen to be on the first bill, along with Nutarah, Not An Airplane and Kelly McFarling. It turned out to be a great show, and although we had way too many drinks to hit every note correctly, our fans said it was our best performance ever. Amy bit my shoulder and dropped to her knees onstage. I remained fairly stoic, focusing on my legendary finger work. Our old friend from Minneapolis Eugene Kim showed up to pick our brains. Thanks to JJ Schultz for asking us to play.

Installment #12:
After paying our dues in the SF scene, we were finally asked to be the featured artists at The Hotel Utah Open Mic, which is truly an honor. Thanks to JJ Shultz for recognizing our proper place amongst the Utah regulars. It was Monday, April 7 and another record turnout. We didn’t have to put our name in the hat and wait for our number. Watching the hope and fear in my SF contemporaries’ faces as they watched JJ draw straws gave me new perspective: do I look these folks waiting for my number to come up, like a beef cow being led to the slaughter, not knowing if a better life or utter doom awaited at the other side, like an old man dying in a hospital bed, with peace on his face and fear in his heart, will he will reach the promised land or suffer in the lake of fire for all eternity? Well, for one night only, I got to be above the fray. But the real reward was yet to come. I have to admit as feature time came up I got more and more nervous. I was dead sober, not a usual state of mind for your hero before stage time. I had worked out with Jacopo to purchase and delivery to me 3 Pabst Blue Ribbons right at feature time. We got on stage and I began shaking, the cool SF air blowing on my naked elbows from side stage where resident photographer, 200 Pockets’, camps out her gear. I pounded as much PBR as I could between songs and eventually warmed up. Dead Kennedy’s bassist, and Pocket’s partner, Klaus Flouride, had worked it out with JJ to do sound for us (pictured below). He has taken an interest in my bass playing and wanted to ensure I could be heard in the mix. Klaus sweated over that sound board that night, not just working my bass, but also micromanaging the volume and reverb on Amy’s vocals. And when we got off stage I was not only peppered with compliments on our music, but also the sound: the sound was larger than life, more like a concert stadium than an open mic. Yes, it turned out to the greatest gig of our entire lives. And for me at this date, that’s 18 years of playing in bars and clubs. A very special thanks to JJ Shultz, Klaus Flouride, 200 Pockets and all our friends at the Hotel Utah scene.

Installment #11:
OK, since the last installment, we've become friends with Keiko (Amy) the MTV girl. We have also been offered another gig at The Brainwash. Jacopo from Italy asked us to open for him at Bazaar Cafe. And JJ asked us to feature at the Hotel Utah open mic. And Tyler asked us to guest host the open mic at Cafe International in May. Wow, thats a whole lot of Blouse in San Francisco. Oh yeah, and I've been hitting the gym pretty hard. Last Monday at the Utah I won an arm wrestling match with the bouncer at Hotel Utah. Who's the beafcake now bi-atch?!

Installment #10:
There were some interesting events that transpired during our featured performance at the Cafe International open mic on Friday, February 8th. On the way there we got stuck in traffic because a real full scale film crew was filming a movie about some Haight-Ashbury type right there, on Haight-Ashbury. And when got to the cafe (this is totally unrelated mind you) MTV was there filming a reality show. Also, our friend from the Utah, Slim, was there to film us hopefully for his PBS documentary on Bay Area open mics. The MTV reality show was True Life. The crew consisted of one very young and inexperienced musician and one camera person. We signed the proper forms and got plenty of face time on camera as the basically consisted of the star sitting alone at a table looking board and when ever someone sat down to speak to her, the camera went on. As usual, I had a lot to say. But hey, I'm in the entertainment industry, right?

Installment #9:
I must apologize because its been so very long since my last blog entry. Yes, we are still in SF, both now employed full time and almost squeaking by. And the Blouse continues to flourish. We have become regulars at the Hotel Utah and Cafe International open mics. We have played real honest to goodness gigs at Brainwash Cafe on Jan 19 (they pay you in laundry credits), The Stork Club in Oakland on Feb 13, The Retox Lounge on Jan 5. We have a gig coming up at The Red Victorian Hotel and Peace Cafe on Feb 23 and on Feb 8 will be the "featured" performer at the Cafe Intl open mic. Again, lots of doing my own sound but the gigs have been great, the open mics continue to reward, and the smoke smells sweet. On a bitter note, our good friend Jeremy Hill committed suicide. They held a Remembrance Night at the Hotel Utah where everyone was invited to play one of his tunes and they videotaped the evening for his parents. Since we already knew "Just 14" from doing it on Play Your Friends Song Night at the Utah, we decided to do it again. But this time Amy played it solo, since Jeremy didn't much like my bassline anyway. It was very sad for us but going to the remembrance night and hearing the speech by 200 Pockets helped me deal with my emotions. Please visit our own page for Jeremy on this site where you can see a few photos of him, here Amy's new song about him called, "Jeremy" and here Mr. Hill do "Just 14" himself.

Installment #8:
Even the survivors get complacent. So it was about time we checked out a few Different open mics. On Sunday, Nov 11 we played the Black Magic Voodoo Lounge on Lombard. That famous Lombard St. that took us 45 minutes of transmission destroying uphill stop and go traffic, only to do the same downhill for sightseeing reasons. But only because we were lost. We found the club on the corner, did a fat 5-song session, and even got asked to feature later that month. Then on Tuesday, November 13 we played another new one, Coffee to the People, right on Haight/Ashbury...summer of love...you know the drill....Anyway we got parking, and played on a true revolutionary cafe teaming with Charles Manson look-a-likes, homeless drug dealers, and well quaffed attack dogs. And we saw so many of the Cafe Intl. and Utah regulars: Honey B., with her new song, Jeremy Hill, with his subversive style, Matt, Gary, Goodfeather...Oh, I'm so SF right now...signing off.

Installment #7:
Date of installment is November 10 and yes I realize its been some time since the last installment, which I imagine has been a crushing disappointment to the literal thousands who are waiting with bated breath to read this thing. But alas, things have been busy in the Blouse house. We have been hitting the open mic scene pretty hard and I don't really feel the need to go through every night's story. But we have become regulars at Hotel Utah on Mondays and Cafe International on Fridays. We also did Bazaar Cafe again. The last open mic at Hotel Utah was "play your friend's song night." We learned "Just 14" by Jeremy Hill, one of our open mic friends. Another friend, photographer 200pockets, took some great photos of us at Cafe International, those are hers on the home page. Also, we have a new mp3 up, "Disaster" which you can access by clicking on the first pic of Amy on the homepage. A good list of our open mic friends is the top friends on our myspace page. 200pockets, Jeremy Hill, Courtney, Honey B. and of course, Leslie, are all up there, so check em out.

Installment #6:
On Monday, October 22 we went to the open mic everyone keeps telling us to play, in fact, I was instructed specifically to show up by Emily, a delicate warbler organist I met at Cafe International. It was HOTEL UTAH. Ooooh. Yes, that place. We put our name in the hat and drew straws to determine the order of the acts. We came up at number 10. We were on double deck, then deck, then our number came up for real. And after a little sound tweaking, we gave it to em hard, playing a brand new song for the first time live (Another Shot) and we nailed it. We must have nailed it, because the soundman told us to play, get ready for this: a second song. This is unheard of at The Utah. Nobody's Fish even asked to play a second and he was turned away, given the hook. But we, in all our glory, were given a second song. That was easily the greatest moment of my life. And the stage lights gave it that glamorous feel I long for, not unlike the Mpls 7th St. Entry, L.A.'s Viper Room, or Club Baby Head in Providence.

Installment #5:
Blouse lives to see another day. On Friday, October 19 we played Open Mic at Cafe International in SF. Yes, this is why we moved here: the parade of freaks, bizarre talent, fearless substance smokers. Blouse clawed its way toward the open mic sign-in-sheet like ants crawling on a suffering caterpillar. And we waited to play. Waited through the Russian mime circus act, the countless "I've got the blues" renditions, the effected violin loops. But it was worth it. A diverse talent pool, friendly people, cheap beer and a real sense of the strange SF culture I was hoping for made it all worth it.

Installment #4:
Today (Wed, Oct 17) we finished smog testing our vehicles for the CA DMV. So our giant Ram Van with 178,000 miles passed with no issue, but some guys brand new SAAAAB up on the lift has to be tinkered with before it can pass. Guess it takes 8 man-eating all American cylinders to grind the smog out of the California air. Also, today we played another open mic. But it was more like an endless jam, not for us, but for the sound man and his friends. Sixties anthem morphing into Sixties anthem until the cold sweat from the last hour's gin and the pain from wait drills all the gusto from a too short set of GGB. Or perhaps it was more like a Minnesota hunt, where careless riflemen shoot an unsuspecting deer in the arse and he runs bleeding through the forest. The hunter must inevitably call in more hasty gunners to pepper the beast with more and more non-lethal lead, only leading to its suffering, but never ending it. The hunters in this analogy are the jam band musicians and the deer is the song. The best part of the night was when Amy knocked the music stand into the sound man's face. Who needs a music stand at an open mic? Things did not end well for our drunken heroes this night. Does that spell the end for the Blouse. Tune in soon for more depressing blogging and find out.

Installment #3:
Today (Sat, Oct 5) we just signed a lease in San Francisco for our new apartment, so now we are San Fran residents, how about that? And on Thursday night we played on open mic in SF at The Bazaar Cafe. So take that. Uh!

Installment #2:
Today (Sunday, September 30) we just drove into California, our new home state. We took our time driving through: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada. We saw hours and hours of corn fields, deserts made completely out of salt and sublime mountains. We slept in the van with the 3 cats the first 2 nights at truck stops, but the final 3 nights we broke down and stayed in motels. Saturday night was our 10 year wedding anniversary and we ate Basque Spanish food and drank way too much, keeping us from hitting the road the next morning not until noon. We passed through 2 new time zones and white knuckled through mountains in Utah in a rain and fog storm. More news coming soon.

Installment #1:
OK, here is the blog and other scribblings from unauthorized members of said Blouse. Yes, the rumors are true, we are moving out of Minneapolis and heading West to Northern California. We are currently working on digital home recordings. The first of which is the 7 Year Itch mp3 available on our home page.