Wonder Why In LA

The west coast portion of the tour has come and gone. The show in LA was the highlight so far. It was at the El Rey which is a really nice room with lots of big red velvet curtains and chandeliers. It was sold out and, as is usually the case at Strokes-type events, well-attended by celebrities of various levels. Dustin Hoffman & Borat were the only ones I really got a kick out of. Fab & Nick came down so it was a bit of a reunion. The show went really well and there was an afterparty at Cinespace which was a madhouse club scene. Nothing makes me feel old & lame like a packed dance club. I always wonder why people try so hard to get past that velvet rope just to be crammed into a dark room that's so loud you can't converse with anyone and get charged $12 for a drink. I wonder why...

The next day we did an instore at Amoeba records which, while a pain in the ass, went pretty well too. Afterwards I jumped in a cab and barely made a flight home to SF where I got to spend 2 nights at home while we did a gig at Popscene. I hate Popscene. That's all I'll say about that.


I had a bizarre experience while I was riding the 5 Fulton bus home from downtown the other day. I was listening to my iPod so I missed some of it, but basically this woman, not a crazy looking woman but a normal looking, middle-aged Asian woman, stood up at the front of the bus and asked all the people in the front to tell her whether she should "go ahead and go away or, you know, stay alive". I missed when she explained whatever it was that motivated this question so I wasn't ready to yell out "stay alive!" but some woman sort of meekly gave her this advice. Then after a minute a youngish (late 20s?) hip-looking black man went and sat next to her and talked to her for the rest of the ride. I felt glad that someone had stepped up and given this woman a little bit of humanity and couldn't help but wonder what her story was and what he was saying to her. And I couldn't help but think that that guy might've saved her life. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but maybe not. I also found myself wondering if anyone would've reached out like that if the same scene had played out on a NYC subway. Regardless, it was a surreal bus ride, even for SF, which provides no lack of surrealistic moments.

So anyway, now I'm in Denver. After a couple days here we're looking at a week in Texas, including 2 days in Austin for the SXSW festival. If it's anything like my last experience there, I'll be venting about it here soon enough.