On the Air

Am I on? Hello?

Yes, indeed. The Casket Lottery show @ The Che Cafe was stupendous! First of all, the setting was inspiring, a small artsy cafe surrounded by trees on the campus of UCSD (University of California San Diego). The weather was great and we were anxious to see them, after having missed them the night before in Hollywood.

I knew it was going to be awesome when Nathan asked me to help him do the set list. Holy crap, that's never happened to me! What an honor, I must say. It must've been in appreciation of my obsessive fanboyness of The Casket Lottery. When asked to come out to their van, I thought he might turn around, punch me in the stomach, and say "quit stalking us!" Fortunately that didn't happen.

Songs I requested were "One Trick Pony," one of my favorites, "Vista Point," one of the wife's favorites, "Heaven Help Me", knowing it was one of Brock's favorites from Survival is for Cowards, "The Bridge" and "On the Air," because he wanted to play at least one new song. They started out with a 12 song setlist, but because his voice was shot and they were driving to their next destination that night, they cut down to like 9 or 10. Despite that, however, it was the best show they put on that I've seen. And as Brock mentioned, possibly one of the best shows ever.

A major highlight was "Lost at Sea." They dressed it up a little and it sounded really good live. Thanks to their friend, Brent, for helping them out to make those songs possible.

I also videotaped the show on my brand new Panasonic mini-DV camcorder. Brock will pleased to know that it came out quite good for the circumstances. I'm working on editing it now.

More about the entire California trip later. Brock, feel free to expound on it.