Show Report: Costa Mesa, CA

finer living at the detroit bar

wow, where to begin - the detroit bar in costa mesa was the first of 3 headlining shows in so cal. lots of new things all happening at once for us during these shows---new tour manager, new soundman, new set lists, new manager, new songs, new stage set up, and even a new t-shirt i was wearing that night. with all that "newness" around it was tough to look in the past as these shows basically marked a new beginning for the band. we ran an 11 song set on thursday that lasted way over an hour. usually our sets are 45 minutes. this set included 4 new songs that we are still "working out" on stage and by working out i mean "they arent done and are gonna sound different for the next set of shows". overall the band and crew is starting to work as one and because of this i think our shows will become better and better. i want to specifically thank a few people for coming out to the show - in no particular order they are kampy and frank (why dont i have a picture of you guys from the show!???). kampy and frank really helped out with the promotion for this show and i owe them both big time. jade howe - well the guy basically dresses me. thanx for the shots and that fancy orange french vodka that i only finished half of before someone stole it. fyi jade howe is a celebrity of the couture variety. for more info on why jade howe is so rad read my 10 with Ten interview over on the right side of this page.
how could i forget doug k for checking in and also the unforgettable rob "xl" everest (on the left). rob was awesome - he sent me a dvd with pictures of the show and some vids. i'm posting the live footage of "hollywood" below. the file is massive (112mb) right now so it will literally take like 7 minutes to load. open it in a new window and let it load. be patient if you want to see it. i am going to have my webmaster of the internet/mr google sascha fix it for me so it wont take too long but for now you have to wait in line like the rest of them. thanx for the movie rob we aprreciate the sharing.

quicktime video of Hollywood

parting thought number 1: remind me never to wear a red t shirt on a red stage.

parting thought number 2: wouldnt it be funny if one day we played in detroit at a bar called costa mesa and jade howe was there.

Mariqueen's Mind
The City: costa mesa is where i used to chill before i got so busy with the band. it's got great people, a great scene and great places to hang out. it's definitely my favorite spot in orange county.

The Venue: detroit bar is like my second home. for real. everyone there has seen me through some nights that i'd like to forget, if only i could actually remember. i think the venue is perfect for dj's and parties of that sort, but as far as bands performing, the stage needs a lot more work. if you're ever in costa mesa, check out the detroit bar, every night of the week there is something super fresh going on. you will not be disappointed. trust me.

The Show: well, considering it had been awhile since we last performed, and that the stage is kind of no bueno i think we had a great set. i kind of became a retard after our third song. we all promised to interract more with the audience and i was supposed to go first. listen, i'm a singer, not a talker... next time you come to a show, just keep that in mind. sometimes the only things i feel like saying are "hi" and "meow"... whatever.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: "my feet hurt", "i can't believe i said hello uncomfortable silence out loud", " i can't wait to get out of this dress"...

Interesting Things After The Show: jade bought us shots and we all hung out and had a good time. i'd just like to take this opportunity to tell you, mr. howe, what a great person you are. our talk before i went on was much needed. you're a wonderful friend. to be honest, everything interesting happened before the show. apparently, i have a stalker. he came to the show but his girlfriend came to the show too and spilled her guts to me, so he split. really awesome. so the stalker's girlfriend and i talked and i told her what a dreamboat chris carter was and by the end of the night everyone was happy.

Carter's Conscience

Thurday November 17th, Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa-- the Detroit bar is a really cool place if you've never been there. To me its kinda like the Spaceland of Orange county, lots of great bands play there, a bit of a hipster scene, cool ambience, etc. So anyway, we headlined all these last three shows, which means we get to play (for better or worse) everything we know, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes of music at this point. Four of the songs are new songs that will be on the next album-- No One Sees You, High Above, Last Chance, and Hopi. We also busted out an acoustic version of Dream, which I don't think we've ever played live. All in all it was a really fun night, and the opening bands were kick-ass as well. The first was a band called "the cold war kids", and they really impressed the hell out of me. Reminded me a bit of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the velvet underground. Anyway I think they're playing at the siverlake lounge pretty soon up here in LA, and they're worth checking out for sure. The 88 was the other band, they were dope as well, kind of power pop rock, tight as hell. It was great to see Jade Howe ( of Howe clothing ) at the show! After our conversation, I've pretty much decided that Jade Howe is my new spiritual advisor/ life coach. He left me with two pearls of wisdom "When you're in the forest cutting trees, all you see are more trees ahead of you. You have to look behind you to see the path" and " its always darkest right before the dawn" I mean seriously, fuck tony robbins, Jade Howe is the man! Just what I needed to hear. . . So thats that, thanx again to Kampy for the kick ass flyer/poster, and thanx to all the OC friends for coming down. C-ya
Carter

carter with "the rookie" soundman kevinderek holding down the merch boothkampy's flyer once again

F.TEN