by Darol Anger

So I climb down out of the uppermost bunk & stumble blinking out front and ask driver Dale where are we... he says "we're in a big green bus, rolling down the road!" His reply is precisely as accurate as it needs to be because there's nothing out here that looks like somewhere you'd want to live...unless you're a lizard. Sagebrush and gravel piles the size of mountains (some call them "mountains") out on the hard pan between Vegas and El Ay. The Comotion tour is under serious way, and everyone would be feeling great if they weren''t asleep. Good time for me to be sitting in the back writing this memo, still buzzed from last night's inaugural concert and the first ever Comotion show, at Las Vegas' Huntridge Theatre, cleverly scheduled just after the big Phish show at he Coliseum let out... at 1AM! Nice for a first show, 1400 people (not counting those onstage) sold out 2 weeks in advance for a new band. For a bunch of old pros, I think we did OK, playing like a bunch of excited kids, for more excited kids. Back in January when we recorded the record, we hoped we'd get to do this stuff live, and here it is, happening right on schedule, thanks to the SCI guys and gals and String Cheese management.

Mike Kang, the instigator of our multi-generational musical platypus, showed up last Monday along with Tye North And Jeff Sipe (Apt Q258) of Leftover Salmon, drummer Aaron Johnston of the Anger/Marshall Band, legendary reed player Paul McCandless, multi-string guy supreme Mike Marshall & Yrs Truly to try to remember the tunes we recorded on Head West so we'd have something to play for this tour. It was a real chart-heavy 3 days, but thank god for those flyspecks on paper, shoring up these old geezers' failing memories.

I managed to find a rehearsal space out of the phone book, connecting with out new buddy, homeopath and building owner Rosko, up in downtown Berkeley. With full-on amplification and 2 full drum kits plus percussion, neither Mike or Paul or I felt like we could try these sessions at home! Rosko supplied a real bomb shelter in one of Berkeley's 3 actual office buildings, light & air not included, but so cozy, secure and soundproof! And, we wound up right next to the UC theatre in case we got so bored with ourselves that we had to catch a flick. Never happened, though.

For old acoustic guys Mike and me, it's been a real culture shock ramping on up to high volume music, both with our band and sitting in with bands like String Cheese and the Salmons... but what a charge it is when you get not only one but two incredible, precise, LOUD groove monster drummers blasting things forward. Everyone in the rhythm section's a real card. Lots of weird sideways shit flying through the pumping ratcheting thews of whatever groove is going on, hard to keep from laughing out loud and losing your place. Maybe it doesn't matter that much, just dig Paul and that Bass Clarinet from Saturn.

I guess the generational deal is the way to go- I just can't believe I'm playing with my hero Paul, whose improvising with the band Oregon was such an inspiration to me since the early 70's...Mike & I have been playing together for 22 years now, and these young whippersnappers are kicking ours and each others' butts around all over the stage. Was thinking that there's a real kindred thing going on among the front line guys: Paul, Mike, Kang, myself: we all started (no matter how early we diverged) with classical music lessons, and I think it's shaped not so much our music, but a common attitude that enables us to work really well together. There's a common focus and feeling of constant study and development we all share. Everybody's got some musical issue that they're working on all the time, bringing it into the band context. The fact we all like all these different kinds of music is a great excuse to go out and find more interesting styles tht we can try to master: Mike's made an exhaustive study of Brazilian Choro music, Kang is on a voyage of discovery through both bluegrass and jazz, I'm on this intense Swedish music kick, and Paul is adapting all this crazy string music to the reeds. Anyway, it's working.

Everybody has been doing this musician thing long enough to try to keep the music concise and to the point in rehearsal, not waste energy. That's why it was a shock to get on the stage of this dilapidated old concrete barn in a local Vegas neighborhood, and have the whole thing explode; we surprised ourselves a bit, I think. 7 people is a lot to synch up, but when you can, and do, well, wahoo! Had a big bunch of happy tapers, lots of mic stands both at the stage and back at the soundboard. Hope to hear that show back soon and not be too dismayed. The SCI Fidelity guys came up with one of the nicest T-shirt designs I've seen, too. We're a little tiny hurricane making its way up the west coast on these nice blue shirts. The loadout took a long time; this is a pretty stripped-down operation and we're humping our own gear on & off the bus, and there's a pile. Our intrepid sound guy Dave Dennison, did most of it until Tye, Kang, Jeff & Paul & I realized what was happening. Got loaded out of there about 5:30 AM & Mike & the rhythm section guys kept ranting 'til 6":30 Am when they went & got burritos at some local taqueria. A gut-wrenchng experience.

I had already claimed my coffin on the bus by then and was capable of sleeping through any yelling they could muster. We're on our way to the weirdest place on earth, Los Angeles, to the big-time Franchise club House Of Blues. I wonder what kind of contrast it'll be to the Huntridge, a local venue owned and run by a dedicated individual who just honestly loves music. One thing for sure, the tech people we'll work with there are sure to be music lovers, 'cause there's no money there either! Well, if there's anything interesting, I'll try to send it along.. In the meantime, gotta practice some tunes...

DA