Cowboys, hippies, and ATV's.

Everyone seems to have heard about our little incident with "Pissed Off Pete". I keep hearing from folks about how they are SO sorry our show got canceled. They are SO sorry we drove all the way to San Francisco just to be denied. They are so angry at Pissed Off Pete! Well let me tell you, it's never fun to be disappointed but IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. It's just one tour date. It's just one show. And at the end of the day it's usually all a big blur anyway. Fuck it, we're big boys. We can handle it.

They say that when one door closes, another is opened. Sometimes that door is nothing more than an entrance to a bar in the next town. After enjoying Mission district Mexican food, we concluded it was time to get the hell out of San Francisco. Tour mishaps are best digested with a big glass of "get on down the road". How about Oakland? I've never been to Oakland and they certainly must have drinks there. Besides, George Corona III (co-founder of Terrorbird Media) lives in Oakland. We had a plan.

I called George and he was ready to drink. We snagged a room on the waterfront and George met us in the lobby and took us to the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady is a former brothel in the heart of Oakland that has been hosting neighborhood drunks since the turn of the century. Just my kind of place! Me and the band hung out with George and drank the place dry. This was just what the doctor ordered. Terrorbird is now getting started on our national campaign, so we had plenty to talk about. George got a quick lesson on the history of the Rodeo and we got to know the man behind the best independent radio/PR company in the business. Damn, this is getting good! George has got big plans for our campaign and I'm ready to back it up with a kick ass tour.

PRESS RELEASE FROM TERRORBIRD at the link:
http://terrorbird.com/blog/2010/08/brent-amaker-and-the-rodeo-prep-new-album-premiere-new-track-star-in-adults-only-graphic-comic-book/

Nothing like hammering out business in person over drinks. Sure as hell beats the internetz.

Feeling good about the future, I was ready to hit the sack and get some sleep. Before going to bed, I ate the caramel I had been given at Pissed Off Pete's. This was a perfect ending to what started out as a fucked up day. All was now in order.

I woke up rested on Saturday and the band was ready to go. We had a secret show in the hills of Northern California and we had been looking forward to this for a while. You see Johnny Podhradsky (our tour photographer) went up into these hills six months ago and we haven't seen him since. We got a call a couple of months back and he had arranged for us to play a private event (a good paying gig) in a mountain town that is completely off the map. There was no address, no phone number, no details other than it would be a huge party and we would be the entertainment. I trust Johnny's judgment on these things, and honestly I've been a little worried about him. It was time to check in on the little bastard and make sure he was still alive.

We were given coordinates through a series of phone calls from what I can only assume were burners. As we got closer to the destination, cell phone service would disappear and then return. We hit three different pre-arranged spots where service was live. At each of the spots Johnny would call and give us instructions on how to get to his location. Eventually we arrived at a dirt road and this is what we found:



Johnny took off on his little go cart and we followed him in:






We settled in, had some beers, and got ready for an evening of drink, food, and good times.

Tiny Dancer was afraid he might catch the hippie, so he put on his surgical gloves. I think this was a good call given the situation.


I retreated to my green room a took a nap before the show.


And then we rocked it.

I won't go into a lot of detail about the rest of the evening, but let's just say it was interesting. The scenery was beautiful, the people were friendly, and before the night was over it seemed like 75% of the folks on the hill were tripping on something. Maybe it was their reaction to our music, but I have a feeling it may have been something else. This was a show to remember. And what a great example of Rodeo tour strategy. Make new friends, wind up in crazy situations, get some great stories, and bring the music to the people in style. Thanks for the hook up Johnny. You really nailed it this time.

Before leaving town, we pulled Johnny aside for a sit down. We needed to make sure this hippie stuff hadn't made it to his brain stem yet. He was able to handle a lot of complex subject matter during our conversation. I think we may have gotten to him in time. He agreed to get the hell out of there in time for our next tour. We didn't address the pony tail, but I think it will be gone next time we see him. Cross your fingers.