Coma Tour – Santa Fe

Last show of the tour, at the Santa Fe Brewing Company. When we arrived, there were only groups of families at tables, a high number of individuals who were new-born infants, another section of people performing sign language with one another. It didn’t look like a fitting gig for us, but it was good in the end.

My cousin Jon (John Courage) came to the show. Eventually, more people came out because they saw an article about us in the Santa Fe newspaper.

Coma, Hellas Mounds, and My Dads shared one last farewell moment in the bar. I ended up talking with Hellas bassist Emily the most, about Aliens, Reality, Human Existence, Massage Therapy, and how upright bass F-holes can be combined with Salvador Dalí’s style in tattoo form.

And then I decided to play ping-pong, secretly with a foosball ball; always a crowd-pleaser.

Coma Tour – Albuquerque

We reunited with Hellas Mounds tonight, pre-show, to eat a delicious culinary chili dish that Tommy made. The Mounds were super happy, because they had been living in the parking lot behind the Launchpad for 12 hours in the cold with no food.

The Launchpad gives drink tickets to bands, 2 per person, every time we play. The good thing is, I had saved up a lot of them from previous shows. So did Dustin. Whiskey tonics for all. Here’s a video from the Albuquerque show brought to you by Paul Dackiewicz:

The Coma Recovery – Illuminator (Live 1/7/10) from Paul Dackiewicz on Vimeo.

Coma Tour – Tucson

Tonight there was a kid desperate for attention, being super imposing with everybody, shaking hands, exclaiming things about his good mood, dancing around, singing at people. There is often this type of guy at shows, and it’s starting to wear on me. We had one in Pomona too. It’s the type of person who stands in the very front when the band plays, dances, looks at everybody straight in the face, pumps his fist in the air to the music, tries to high-five and hug people around him, and is usually dressed in Mervyns clothes.

I see it happen all the time in Albuquerque, but apparently it’s a world-wide phenomenon. There really needs to be a name for these people, because they all act the same. While they smile and act like they’re super high on life, there’s this underlying feeling that if anybody gives him an “omg, stfu”, he would flip out and a fight would ensue.

I really hate fights. But lately I let my mind explore vivid, personal beat-down scenarios; the common fantasy to be the ultimate lesson-giver, law-layer, Chuck Norris-type figure.

After the show, we set off to drive straight home through the night. We played lots of word games, including making up band names, which seemed pretty hilarious at the time.

Coma Tour – Phoenix

We dished out cash for a hotel last night, just outside of the city, so this morning we decided to drive back by taking highway 1 through Malibu.

For breakfast we went to an organic market called Erewhon where I spent another $20 on a single meal, most of it being the price of a super tonic tea. I felt pretty good after drinking it. But eleven-dollars-good? Maybe. Chances are, it added 11 minutes to my life span.

We made the drive from LA to Phoenix, AZ. Tonight we played at Revolver Records, another Vinyl Record shop.  Josh came to the show and we stayed at his house, where old friends and Las Crucians John and Paige Ashcroft live.

Coma Tour – Los Angeles

Today, Tommy, Noel, and I went to RAWvolution in Santa Monica. It’s a raw foods restaurant with super high-priced everything. But boy, was it delicious. Even Helen Hunt likes it. I never would have known it if Noel didn’t point and say “that’s Helen Hunt”. What a curse to be famous.

I got Nori Tacos and a Maca Smoothie. $20 later, we walked down to the beach to meet Dustin and Will, and prance around like a bunch of tourists in the sand.

A little bit of joy was unearthed from the forgotten mantle of childhood emotions.

We played tonight at Vacation, a vinyl record shop. I started to like the idea of getting into and buying vinyl… for my non-existent record player that I’d also have to buy.

Coma Tour – Hollywood

Last night we crammed into a one-bedroom apartment with touring mates Hellas Mounds, making a total of 15 people to find space to sleep. Noel and Tommy slept in the van, and woke us up in the morning. I guess we all stunk up the place pretty bad, but I didn’t notice because I was immersed in whatever-stench the whole night.

Today we walked and drove around Hollywood. The most notable stop was the “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” museum. Inside, there were exhibits and video stations full of propganda designed to make you think that Psychiatry is 100% evil, that it’s a playground for the dark deeds of mad scientists.

The early history of Psychiatry is pretty shocking in its archaic theories and experiments to heal psychoses (spinning contraptions and torture techniques). But this place hopes we should write off what we know about treating mental conditions completely… by playing scary music with holocaust footage, and images of lobotomies and shock treatments.

But there are no doubt some scary sides of psychiatry, such as a mandate with the whole new American health care plan to make pregnant women take anti-depressants for post-partum depression during pregnancy. It’s already been mandated in New Jersey, and a woman was put in Jail for refusing to take her pills. This is what the guy at the front desk told us.

This is a photo from the music/photography venue we played tonight:

This is also a photo from the music/photography venue we played tonight:

Coma Tour – Pomona

Tommy picked us up separately, starting at 7:30am. We drove from Albuquerque to Pomona, CA in 11 hours. Noel has come along for the ride this time. I have the whole back seat in the van to myself. I thought I would like it, but I am isolated in a way, as every conversation in front of me is drowned out by van ambience. So I made sure to lean forward, listen, and laugh along to tour jokes for a portion of the way.

Tonight we played at a bar called Characters, and sports bar. Flat screen TVs displayed ESPN highlights of football and hockey in every corner, and behind bands during performance. When people cheered and clapped after we were done, I wasn’t sure if it was because of a touchdown or what.

The Coma Recovery in the Newspaper

The Coma Recovery is going on a week-long tour in the Southwest starting January 2nd.

Today Tommy called me because a dude from the Albuquerque Journal urgently needed a photo of us within a few hours. If we couldn’t find a photo to give, he wouldn’t be issuing an article about us in the newspaper. That didn’t seem like much of a threat, because I had no idea we were even going to be in the newspaper.

We never take band photos, so Tommy and I could only think of searching for a photo from tour that was decent enough to put in the newspaper.

I thought the series of wig photos was funny enough to throw together as a possibility. Of course, it became clear that it wasn’t really an option to be selected for the article. Or was it? Nah, probably not.

Sidenote: Will is going to be doing the tour. But after that, he’s back to Austin. Sometimes, to me, leaving town for a very long time again sounds like a fun idea.

Coma Tour, Colorado Springs

Ice Orbs and Captain D

My sister let the whole band stay in her condo in Denver while she was out being a flight attendant. It was pure 5-star luxury. I hadn’t showered since Portland. When I finally washed my hair, it reeked of California campfire and gray water flowed from my scalp down the drain.

We slept late, watched Wedding Crashers, then made our way to Colorado Springs. Within 24 hours, the temperature dropped 50 degrees, and fog/snow filled the air. Only 10 miles from the venue, we got stuck in an hour-long traffic jam caused by an ice-inspired accident. We rubber-necked it as we passed the scene, and all that was left was two totaled cars and a cowboy hat.

This was the last show of the tour. I feel the need to add that it was a good tour. Good stories are derived from pain and conflict, so I may have missed listing all the more fortunate events that happened along the way.  And I’m still not gonna, because where’s the entertainment in sunshine and lollipops?

Tonight we might leave. Maybe not. It depends on if the van still slides around when we pull out of the parking lot.

Coma Tour, Denver part 2

Green what?

Today we played at 3 Kings where we fully expected to be playing with ex-Planes Mistaken For Stars members’, Git Some. They weren’t even on the bill, so very few people showed up. The good thing is, we made enough money to make it home without paying out the balls for gas.

When we got to the venue, the sound guy showed us to the greenroom where there were two huge buckets-full of Pabst on ice. “Luxury!” we exclaimed, then dove in. I quickly remembered how hard it was to finish just one can, but proceeded to drink 4 or 5 more anyway.

In the green room, the walls were covered with band promo photos. Somebody at one point in time decided it would be a good idea to cover the photos with sharpie, mostly drawings of penises, curiously placed to humiliate as many bands as possible in the most deprecating manner.

The Eyeliners (from Albuquerque) actually got off easy with this one.