West Indian Girl

veronica and mario drove 5 hours to see us!

we played the gypsy tea room on friday night and i barely have any pics from this show. actually, i dont have any of the show. the promoter told me that because of SXSW this was one of the 2 worst days of the year to play in dallas (the other day is xmas eve). even though dallas was deserted it was still fun to play there. the gypsy tea room has a great stage and system. i thought we put on an excellent show. our set list included one new song plus 7 from the cd. still lost, trip, miles from monterey, hollywood, new song (untitled), northern sky, what are you afraid of. we played an extended extended version of what are you afraid of. i really love jamming on that song because i have no idea what’s going to happen from night to night. although the atendance to the show wasnt amazing the people that were there to see us enjoyed a killer set. one guy, jeremy j, even sent us an email saying this: “Your show in Dallas last night was great. I was the guy in the orange shirt taking up the floor space. On behalf of Dallas, I apologize for the piss poor showing. Always merry and bright.” that’s great huh. there was also a couple that drove up from san antonio just to see us – veronica and mario. anyway, they were real cool. i kinda wish we would have played longer just for them cos they drove so far…next time we will. anyway dallas, we’ll meet again soon.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: The Gypsy Tea Room was kind of gangster. I loved how they had two rooms… one huge performance bar and the not so ginormous one at the front. Our dressing room(s) were probably as big as our rehearsal space. I dig I dig. The Gypsy Tea Room treated West Indian Girl proper. We had an amazing soundcheck, which is rare and they stocked our dressing room with all the water, towels, fruit and chocolate my little figure could handle. I’m all about going back there. Fer Sher…
The City: Downtown Dallas is visually stimulating. It’s urban and dirty but not filthy… you know? I wanted to walk around and take snapshots of all the amazing graffiti art I saw on the various building walls I passed, but I was a little cracked out from my serious lack of sleep. I managed to slip in two hours in between Los Angeles, Phoenix and Dallas. The city was surprisingly dead during the day but at night… oh… oh my… let’s just say the freaks come out. Yee haw. No just kidding, I didn’t see a single cowboy, I did however see lots of freaks. Take it the way you want to… freaks could be a good thing or a bad… but I really really enjoyed Dallas. I went shopping with Lewscious and Carter and got some super choice items at this place called Counter Culture. We went to two other stores but I don’t remember their names so I think my “The City” section should end right here. Moving on…
The Show: I was running on two hours of sleep and a total of six shots espresso. viva la caffeine… ole! I think this show, pardon my french, kicked some serious asshole. No really, we killed it… I think the progression of our performance as a band is just unreal. I fucking love us. Pardon my french again. Too bad there were only like, twenty five people at that bar… whatever though… twenty five people left The Gypsy Tea Room completely in love with West Indian Girl and that’s all that matters.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how wonderful it is to have caffeine in my life. That was pretty much it. Seriously.
Interesting Things After The Show: After the show we proceeded to journey on to Austin… to my surprise, Bernie drove the big van and he stopped at some czech bakery or whatever and all the boys except for Carter (he was on the same page as I was and was passed out) decided to load up on sammiches at three in the morning. Nothing makes my stomach turn more than eating at three in the morning so I opted for a parliament light and some quality time with the back bench and dreamland. Too bad I got woken up by fucking Fran (pardon my french once more) at like five in the morning. He decided to tenderly wake me by shaking me and yelling “Q bert, Q bert, wake up!” He’s awesome.

Carter’s Conscience LAX international airport. Thusday Morning: Way too many people. Way too little sleep. I have a theory that Mark Lewis used to get trouble a lot back in elementary school for things he didn’t do. He accidently cut in front of a quarter mile line to go through security, and got yelled at by airport security as well as the other people in line. It was funny really, because he honestly just didn’t see the 500 other people standing there. Dallas: Friday. Playing at the Gypsy Tea Room. The particular part of town where the Gypsy Tea Room is located is amazing. Incredible graffiti art everywhere, a tatoo parlor, coffee shops, etc.. Reminded me of the Silverlake area in LA. And the weirdest thing is, it was almost deserted. Hardly any people. That town just has an intense energy to it, you can feel the ghosts. Props to the vintage store there, I think its called Counter Culture. The show itself was a little quiet cuz we booked it last minute, and everyone was at SXSW but the people that were there were really cool and the venue sounded great.

…lewscious

that’s bernie with tony while we were in the van

oh man, seattle was drinking…and more drinking

and trying to stand straight so you can go sight seeing

we played at chop suey on wednesday. it was the last, and probably best show of our west coast tour. seattle is officially our new “home away from home”. seriously, there’s a great and exciting fan base to play in front of in seattle. i love this club too. the mercir boys opened the show and put on a great one indeed…this is their home town and they didnt disappoint. oh yeah, did i mention that we co-headlined with the brazilian girls who i really didnt get a chance to hang out with. they seemed a bit stand-offish to me…or maybe they’re just from new york…whatever. anyway, our show kicked ass and part of that was because of the fans. gotta thank my old friend juan (on the right) for watching the merch booth. i left him there only to come back to a wad of cash. thanx bitch. also want to thank the mercir crew again, misti for buying another shirt, ryanne for taking some pics (of which are posted), and last but not least my main mofo Afrakkah-Dukkah who not only came down to the show but came down prepared to play an acoustic version of “dream” for us. ADMF is DOPE. i’m glad you showed up man.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: Chop Suey… ah, I lost my performance virginity at this venue when we opened up for Phoenix. I was excited on coming back and showing them how “experienced” I had become since our “first time”.
The City:I was happy that it wasn’t raining and they fixed the pothole that caused me a chipped tooth and a very bruised ego. Whoopee. I had sushi that was disappointing… how weird is that? Bad fish in Seattle. Stranger things have happened I suppose… like me choosing to get coffee at a 7-11 instead of a Starbucks… sometimes I’m such a moron.
The Show: Well, the beginning of the set was a little nerve racking because I found out that my tambourine and harmonica were missing. I didn’t want this to affect our performance so I just released all my stress through sweating and dancing throughout our whole set. It was by far the most fun I have ever had on stage.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how hot it was onstage because the lights were right in my face, how awesome the house monitor guy, Julian, was… I was wondering where my tambourine and harmonica had magically walked off to and some other things that are totally private and really, none of your business. Kisses.
Interesting Things After The Show: I don’t know about interesting, but as I mentioned before, my harmonica and tambourines were missing… big bum out. Then I found out someone stole a hundred and something dollars in cash out of my purse, which is always really awesome. Bah. I think meeting Affrakah Dukka Muthafucka, I hope I spelled his name right, might’ve been, not only the highlight of Chop Suey but the whole trip in general… that kid is amazing…

Carter’s Conscience Seattle– Great crowd, lot of fun what can I say about Seattle. A lot of people come out to see us up there, and its so inspiring to play shows where I see people in the audience singing along. My big keyboard was acting really strange at that show. Thats the thing about the synthesizers I play. They are like people, and they can get a little bitchy sometimes. During the song Green, which is one of the most intimate, beautiful and quiet songs in our set, my big Moog let out one of the loudest, ugliest sounds I’ve ever heard! I think my leg brushed a cable while i was playing, it sounded like a huge set of dishes breaking – right during the quietest part of the song. to make matters worse the cable was running through my delay pedal, so the sound was repeated for about five seconds, which seemed like an eternity. So my bad Seattle for ruining the moment, but we went on to finish the set strong. At least it didn’t happen on Saturday night live or something like that!

gotta love this kreid shot – a man and his guitar tech


afrakkah-dukkah giving us a great rendition of “dream”

juan trying to hit on mariqueen

hi ryanne thanx for the pics!

steven and julian (booker and soundman extraordinaire)

i’m into this picture of james but i think mark “thumby” lewscious took it

we drove 2 days just to get back home…boring

ryanne gerry took the b&w pic, and the 2 live shots
kreider took the the marquee, admf with rob, troy, admf with us, and juan with q pics

—F.TEN/>

can i have the fir burger please?

we played at the doug fir lounge in portland on tuesday. this place rocks for a few reasons. 1. the restaurant upstairs is killer 2. the hotel that is attached to the bar is like the standard in l.a. 3. the sound system and club is brand new. this place is a stylish relaxing rock n roll compound that makes for a great tour pit stop. the hotel doors are one big chalk board and there are fire pits outside. kreider took some pics that i posted below. as far as the show went, well we rocked…carlos, our soundman, finally hit his stride on this, his third show with us and krieder also took the projections to new levels. the only bad thing about the night was doug fir’s crappy merch booth. it literally was stuck inside of a coat check room….lame. we played with a local band nordic, (whose cover of the cure’s “fascination street” was way cool) and mercir again. all in all the show and the night was one big party. i posted some video for the first time and i hope it works. i also posted a pic of carter wheeling lewscious around on a dolly in the loading dock. it was hilarious at the time cos we were all pretty drunk. i also posted some pics that xilia faye sent me. she was at the show and took some really rad shots. thanks xilia! anyway, on to mariqueen.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: this is by far the best venue I’ve ever played. It doesn’t get better than Doug Fir. The place is aesthetically pleasing and classy and the food is fucking amayyyzing. Hi Brent, you’re outstanding… for real.
The City: Portland is definitely on my top ten best cities in the United States list, I wish I could spend more time there.
The Show: for a Tuesday night the turn out was great and even though there were a lot of technical difficulties I think we had a great show. the response from the crowd was great and there were some people dancing like they were tripping on psychedelics right infront of me, that’s always inspiring.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: hmmm, I wonder if you can guess? Yeh, I was trippin about how I could NOT hear myself at all. It was bumming me out more so than any other show. I think it was because I didn’t expect this to happen… at all. I stress out way too much on my monitors. maybe I should get over it. Hmmm, highly unlikely, when it comes to my vocals I’m a perfectionist on the verge of having a disorder, but that could be a whole other entry in itself. Or not. I was very amused by the dancers in the dark and a little cold because there was a slight breeze coming up my dress that made me tickle in my special place. Rad.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met some really groovy ladies and after awhile Fran, Carter, Mark and I went to Galaxy to karaoke it up. The highlight of that night had to have been when they met that stripper, Kitty and she was making googly eyes at Fran and he just totally blew her off because we were in deep discussion. Band drama over groupies rule… It wasn’t really band drama… I think just drunken bickering on our part. When you’re in a band you become a family so arguing is a given. Mix in some alcohol and you might find some of us on the verge of a fist fight. Making up is always nice though… oh god, I love our West Indian Girl family I might just tear up. Over it… moving on… ohhh but the super duper highlight was when Carter and I went onstage and did “Flashdance” and I got to see Mark’s alter ego, Lewscious, dancing and jumping and practically body slamming innocent bystanders. This inspired Chris to writhe on the floor a la Madonna at the very first MTV video music awards. Fantastic.

mariqueen and carter karaoke video 1
mariqeen and carter karaoke video 2

Carter’s Conscience Tuesday– Douglas Fir– Great hotel rooms, cherry blossoms blooming, Portland was beautiful. Did a little karaoke, MariQ and I did “what a feeling” by Irene Cara. A stripper gave a rendition of Black Velvet that brought a tear to my eye. Karaoke is just good clean fun. [as usual, carter really letting us get to know him]

carter dialing it in

q during sound check – i like this picture

cara is the best waitress around

carlos and troy is the best crew bar none

carlos finally getting brazilian on us

view from the hotel room

view of the restaurant

view of the downstairs bar where we played

rob and q rehearsing before the show

zadok and i at doug fir’s shitty merch booth

xilia faye’s photography




kried picture credits: the 3 hotel shots, carlos smiling, rob and Q, zadok at merch

—F.TEN

playing in eugene the night after san francisco always presents you with the unenviable problem of an 11 hour van ride. that means right after san fran you have to haul ass and drive as far as you can before you have to crash. when we got to eugene i kept wondering if people actually lived there cos i didnt see too many. as far as the show went we played at john henry’s with Mercir (our boys from seattle) and Gram Rabbit. that’s colin from mercir with me in the pic….colin, who loves ya baby? the show was cool but like i said, i dont think people live in eugene and the club kinda creeped me out. some guy tried getting me to give him a cd and kept saying he didnt have any money to buy it. i finally broke him down only to see a wad of twenties in his pocket. weird how people will try to low ball you for a cd you are already selling at cost….anyway loser i hope you enjoy the music.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: I thought the stage set up was perfect. I liked the fact that it was easy for the rest of the band to wheel their equipment up. The bathroom was especially fascinating. There was random graffiti and safe shooting stickers plastered everywhere… how rock and roll can Eugene get?
The City: it’s a really sleepy college town where the Starbuck’s closes at seven pm. I was upset by this but thank heaven for 7-11. The people were sweet and enthusiastic and supportive. Rrrock.
The Show: I was delirious by the time we actually played. We didn’t start our set until midnight and I had been running solely on caffeine and five hours of sleep. Yet once again, I couldn’t hear myself but I still had a good time. Kevin Reid’s visuals might’ve added to my feeling of euphoria… I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but I still had fun, I ALWAYS have fun.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was fantasizing about my bed and my powerbookG4 and how funny it was to be playing for ten people at twelve thirty in the morning.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met a nice girl named Katrina and we talked extensively on how rad we both are because we’re both Aries and have pretty fresh ink on random parts of our bodies. There was also a really sweet bouncer who bashfully asked for an autograph and a picture. He looks like he could kill you and skin you and not even blink an eyelash while doing so but in the picture we took he looks like a big ol’ teddy bear. Apparently, he was dubbed my boyfriend by Francesca, but he’s a douchebag ♥ so whatever.

Carter’s Conscience Monday — Eugene. Check out a band called Gram Rabbit. Things can get a little strange in the desert, they are from Joshua tree and sing about cowboys and aliens. Its more of a cult than a band. Anyway, I loved it. Here is a poem I recited at the show: Eugene Eugene made a machine-Joe Joe made it go-Art Art blew a fart-and blew the whole damn thing apart. I was proud of the poem ( I learned it in kindergarten) but at least one girl in the front said that it sucked. the lesson, leave the poetry to Rob.

finally, a picture of mariqueen’s boyfriend
mariqueen and zadok of mercir at the merch booth

carlos loving the short drive up from sf

great picture of lewscious

18 beers later…lewscious spell bound by gram rabbit

pic credit – kevin reid took the mountain, eugene sign, and lewscious u haul shots.

Don’t haight us cos we’re from LA

we played at cafe du nord on sunday and to be honest with you, i wasnt really expecting too much given that it was a sunday night, the oscars were on, and it was pouring rain outside. loading all of our gear down the stairs at nord also sucked major ass by the way. to my surprise, the evening turned out to be real fun – i really had a blast. the crowd was very very warm and easy to draw inspiration from. for some reason it was one of our more looser times on stage. i was sick all day but playing the show knocked out whatever i had left of a cold. the most memorable part of the evening was meeting drew and erin who drove down from sacramento. we met drew and erin at the fillmore when we opened for gomez. they are starting a real cool website called 420synema.com that synchs up movies to cds… it is difficult to explain but if you ever read about the wizard of oz synching up perfectly with pink floyd’s “dark side of the moon” then you will understand what they are doing. according to them our cd eerily synchs up to the move “the cell”. i cant wait to try this and i cant wait for drew to finish the site. i hope the show was worth the drive you guys. ialso want to thank max and her sister for helping me with merch, birdmonster for helping to make the bill a much better one, and mike and john from the band mansville for showing up and getting wasted. oh yeah, also rick audet who sent me the live shots i posted in this blog. thanx guys!!!

Carter’s Conscience
Saturday– Boring drive at night to San Fran. Learned a valuable lesson. try to avoid any kind of conflict with your girl before leaving to tour. Your mind can beat you up when your the only one wide awake on a six hour car ride in the middle of the night.

Sunday– San Fran! Troy, our tech, is a pretty funny dude. He does most of the driving, and he brought a total of four CD’s on tour. Of those four, he only played one for almost the entire trip. It is this funk CD by the Eisley brothers. Troy gets himself enough red bull to kill a raver, plugs in the Eisley brothers, starts rocking out, and I swear to god that guy could drive to New york without stopping. If there was a soundtrack to Troy’s life it would be “Girl I want to be with you” by the Eisley brothers. Anyway, the show was cool being that it was Oscar night and it was raining. Fran stopped the show and presented me with an Oscar award, and I gave a nice little acceptance speech during the middle of our set.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: I thought Café Du Nord’s atmosphere was really groovy and intimate. Thank god I have boobs, if I had had to load the equipment up and down those killer steps with you guys I might’ve collapsed from a heart attack.
The City: I love San Fran but I was bummed about not being able to really enjoy the sights and shops of the city because of the rain. Shopping makes me happy and rain makes me want to cuddle… I had no one to spoon… insert sad face here.
The Show: This was our first show with our new sound man on the road, Carlos. I thought it was great even though only ninety people showed up… I suppose that’s a decent crowd for a rainy, Sunday, Oscar night and yet once again, I couldn’t hear myself through the monitors… but seriously, I can NEVER hear myself… I think the band should invest in some ear pieces… ahem.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how cold I was and how great Rob’s guitar sounded but I was also thinking about how stressed out he might’ve been because I knew he couldn’t hear himself… I know I couldn’t.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met a really dope couple from New York who insisted that we come there and play because they believed that we would have a cult following… how awesome. Around this time Troy started to freak out because he lost his wallet and Kevin Reid sat on an equipment case, smoking, with one pant leg rolled up and a big bag of ice on his exposed knee. Poor Kreider, those killer steps I had mentioned aggravated an old knee problem or something… I capitalized on the moment to get some amazing shots of our amazing on hand photographer. The pictures are great if I do say so myself. If a photographer likes a picture you took of him then you know you did good.(picture to be included)…

mansville and mariqueen

kreider after he busted up his knee

downtown before the show at a cool cafe



more down time…lewscious

good times in the van playing scrabble…stoned

note the use of the words “whaler” and “bandy”

and “anus”

kevin reid took the following shots: red wall band, carter’s head, mansville, the 3 cafe shots, lewscious skate boarding, 2 van shots

—F.TEN

Peace and Love ALWAYS at a sold out troubadour! thanx to all our friends that came out to support. the evening was a complete success and there was a ton of good music to be had. ironically, our set was hilighted (in my mind) by a technical glitch in the first song. not a good way to get started but i dont think too many people noticed. a sample was triggered incorrectly. far from it being an ashlee simpson moment, it was only one keyboard sample track from the song hollywood that was somehow playing during still lost. it was bizarre. in retrospect it was pretty funny cos i kept listening and thinking “holy fucking shit, is that the sample for hollywood? why is this happening? who is going to stop this? is everyone else freaking out?” anyway, we got through it and went on to play a hot show. we even pulled out an acoustic version of dream to end the evening. now that’s a tender way to send’em home.

Carter’s Conscience
Friday at the Troubadour– I love LA. There, I came right out and said it. Everyone knows theres a lot of glitz and bullshit, but there’s also a lot of cool, creative people and energy in this town. We got a great crew of friends, and everyone showed on Friday. The highlight of the night? Mark Lewis coming out from behind the drums to play the shaker on Dream, our encore song. Genius. [photo credit jessica daschner]

Once again…Chris Carter…a man of few words

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: I LOVE playing here. Great backstage lounge area always stocked with the essentials – fruit, tons of water and champagne. PERFECT.
The Show: That show was great. The vibe of the audience was outstanding and I felt that, at the time, this was one of the best shows I’’d done thus far. I love playing the Troub, nothing beats home.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about how many of my friends were in the audience and how many people might be able to see up my skirt. I think about really bizarre things. Most of the time, my mind is preparing me for the next note to hit.
Interesting Things After The Show: I don’t know about interesting, but, I missed soundcheck due to heinous Friday gridlock to the Troub from Orange County. Then, I was so sketched out about not being able to soundcheck that my stomach was acting up and I dropped a deuce in the bathroom and almost burned Fran’’s nostril hairs off. Sexy, right? During the show my friend told me that I was inaudible… perhaps it was because of the bass cabinet right in her face, I dunno. After the show, nothing too interesting happened except… um, hmm… well… nothing. it was just good times with great people. I don’t find that interesting at all, it’s the norm and I love it. [photo credit jessica daschner]

all of the pictures in this entry were taken by marc goldstein except where noted

lewscious


the many sides of chris carter


jones and holtzman asking rob to not take 15 minute solos

rob not listening

thanx tommy t for helping me unload the truck (photo credit – me)

thanx bernie and carlos for doing sound (photo credit – me)

thanx marcos and brooke for selling merch!

dressing room – pre show bathroom moments

total 70′s soft focus playboy centerfold shot…love it

did anyone say

fleetwood mac

mai, marcos and tatiana

chocolate…back from the betty ford clinic

my asian twin louie

q’s crue = debbie, jenn and malytziah

vela and vivi backstage

there’s sammy

—F.TEN

surprise surprise…hello laguna!

we played an announced show in laguna at the ocean st brewery as a warm up to our west coast tour on thursday night. it was laid back and fun…just like you would expect something in laguna to be. we would definitely like to thank thiery who was the man with all the hook ups at the brewery…thanx bro. the whole show was a good dress rehearsal for the band, kevin (who was doing visuals) and troy who was guitar tech’ing. at the end of the night and a bunch of wheat beer…mission accomplished – the people at the brewery were stoked, bought a bunch of cds and got us wasted. what more could you ask for? i’m sure somebody got lewscious stoned too. dj jon thayer closed the show for us – it was good seeing jon (even though he lives right across the hall from me in my apt building i never really get to hang out with him). his parents even made the show. gotta like that kind of support…touching. as far as the pics posted below i didnt take most of them…i handed my camera to mariqueen’s cousin/body double debbie right before we played and these pics are what she gave back to me.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The Venue: I was extremely excited about playing this particular venue because this was where all the magic BEGAN. Memories from when I had first met Rob and told you that I was perfect for the band fondly filled my head and made me determined to prove that I don’t bs. Despite the small size of the bar I think Ocean St. Brewery is lovely. The outside area was right next to where we played so EVERYONE could hear how amazing we are. I just wish the sound system was more befitting for our band… but ya know… we played a great show so whatevs.The City: Hmm, what can I say about Laguna that hasn’t already been said? I love Laguna for one reason and four words… The Boom Boom Room. Viva la gay men. Ole. That is all.

The Show: Despite the fact that it was extremely hard to hear myself sing, I thought the show was a success. All of my friends that came were BLOWN AWAY by the band. They loved all of the songs especially “Out Of Pink” and “What Are You Afraid Of”. I received a lot of positive feedback from the audience as well. The male audience attendees were especially sweet. They always make me blush in the most flattering way possible. Aw… hugs. Anyway, the Laguna show was fun and stress free… exactly how every show should be.

What You Were Thinking While Playing: I was thinking about what I sounded like. We had absolutely no monitors and no sound check so I really had to find my voice in those speakers which was difficult. I then realized that the key to finding your voice isn’t really to look for it in the speakers but to really find it within yourself. Does that sound super cheesy? Well it’s true, so bite me, ok?

Interesting Things After The Show: Ha! Before the show I went to the bathroom, like, a million times. I also remember a moment where I saw our names as “West Indian Girls” and I thought to myself, “That would make a great picture to put up at the studio”. Nothing interesting in particular happened during the show, but after… oh myyy… some overly inebriated individual was staggering and spitting compliments all over me. He told me he was from Canada and started comparing my voice and sex appeal to Esthero and even threw in an, “eh” at the end of his drunken babble. he then proceeded to hit on someone else after I told him my boyfriend would be flattered to know he thought I was extremely sexy. Classic. There was also a really sweet sweet man who said he was going to be opening a new venue in the city and that he really really really wanted us to play there. He was absolutely blown away. It was sincere and sweet. I wish I could remember his name.

Carter’s Conscience
Laguna – The unofficial first day of our tour! I love playing a show in my home town, and everyone at the ocean ave. it’s like family. All the local Laguna jokesters came down, it was great. Worth mentioning that we played our very first show there only a few short months ago.

As you can see Chris Carter is a man of few words…
anyway check out these pics below

dj jon thayer


…lewscious

check out troy tuning in the back

—F.TEN

Mariqueen signing Leo’s ass

we played at the casbah in san diego this past sunday night. overall, I thought the show was great. the only drag was that we started at 9pm. sometimes, when you’re opening for an americana act like jolie holland you get the shitty spot on the bill. it would have been nice to have played a bit later. we ended up playing before her opening act so in a sense we were an opening opening band and that’s never good if your goal is to actually play in front of people.

so check this out. we ran a contest and only 2 of our 4 contest winners showed up!!!??? Leo and Christina showed up and got all the love but what the fuck happened to the other 2? dana and krystal, where’s the love girls? we had a blast though – mariqueen signed leo’s ass and christina rocked our t-shirt and got free drinks with us. Hey Leo and Christina , thanx for winning and then…thanx for actually going.

kevin reid was in charge of our visual presentation. it was his first night on the job and he did pretty well…i think he had the crowd stunned. i had the flu and felt shitty all day but oddly enough after a few tecates i felt great on stage. the stage was too dark but the sound on stage was pretty good…it was easy to get into the set. we ended the show with an extended version of “what are you afraid of” where we break the middle instrumental break down into a whole new jam. i had no idea what to expect while we were playing it because we have only jammed on it a few times. this was the first time we played that version live – i think it went over really well. it was definitely the most fun that i had on stage all night….probably because it was uncharted musical territory and none of us had a real definite idea of where the song was going or how we would end up getting back. it was a cool adventure i cant wait to take at our next show. sort of like a mars volta meets the doors adventure.

other little notes: maggie chang and yen ma graced us with their presence, bernie was working sound and troy was holding it all together. i also got to set up our new merch case which is so dope it’s sick. thanx for everyone who came out to see us and signed our email list! on to mariqueen

Mariqueen’s Mind:
The Club: I was stoked on playing The Casbah because it’s legendary, if The Clash put you in the chorus of a song then I think you’re a pretty big deal. To my surprise I found out that we were going to play at the new location. Bah. So much for that whole playing at legendary gigs dream. Cest La Vie… I was on the Fillmore stage so I guess not doing the original Casbah isn’t so bad. I thought the layout of the new Casbah was great and there was a mirror right next to Fran on stage so that everyone could check themselves out in between or even during our set. Hot.

The City:I used to live in San Diego so it holds a special place in my heart… aaand cue the violins…

Your Performance: I was disappointed with my performance, and by disappointed I mean mortified. I felt like I gave a 6 out of a possible 10 which is a D- on the verge of an F. I am used to getting A’s with my pipes. I spent most of the show facing the back because I was entranced by Kevin Reid’s visuals. When I wasn’t facing the back of the audience I was checking out if my lipstick was all over my face. I’m never wearing red lipstick on stage ever again. I bet the audience thought I was either, way into Mark… or way into Fran. WRONG. The only person I’m way into in this band is myself. I keed, I keed… I like you all… you’re very nice boys and I’d love to take you all home… to meet my mom.

Thoughts While You Were Playing: Here are some random thoughts that went on in my head… “Oh my god I sounded like shit.” “Whoa, I look kinda fat in this mirror”… “Wait, what? Is that Fran in Kreider’s visuals? I want to be in the visuals… no fair.” “Oh man why did I wear this jacket on stage, I feel like I’m going to faint.” I’d share more but I’m not going to. Bye bye.

Interesting Stuff After The Show: I signed someone’s butt, it was kind of intense…

Kreider and Bernie

before the show

after the show

contest winner christina – she was rad

size “super titty” west indian girl shirt

lucky leo

mariqueen and the other opening act

slut..only kidding

finally…lewscious god damnit

this couple was seriously sweet – thanx for buying our cd!

vocal moment…the end

—F.TEN

san fransico was a blur. we had to meet downtown at 10 am to load the van! unfortunately for us, the cargo elevator was broke so we had to move everything down via the small regular elevator which really sucked ass. i tell you what though, the guy we had working with us, troy (in the picture above) was the proverbial “gift from the rock gods”. this guy is the best tech/driver you can ask for. troy is a total pro and has been doing this kind of work for 15 years so this was no big deal for him. considering the fact that most of the friends we have had help us get way too fucked up to actually help at the end of the night, troy was a welcome addition to the crew. he even drove us all home from frisco at 2 am and unloaded the van back in la at around 8am. crazy trip. i expect we will be seeing troy on the next tour. thanx man.

anyway, on to the show, the fillmore was pretty cool. tons of history as well as tons of cool pictures on the walls of everyone that has played there. it’s just one of those “one of a kind” rock clubs that you have to see to believe. kinda surprising how bassy and boomy the stage sound was though. it was really tough to get into the sound on stage but maybe that’s because our monitors were all jacked up. it was weird – you would think at a place like that your stage sound would be great but it wasnt…maybe next time though. aside from that the crowd ate it up like a nice pot brownie and we were all cool. i never left the club the whole time we were there – we all just hung out in the dressing room and partied. our dressing room was freezing but they had a little heater (see below) going on which became a little campfire for us.

As far as who we saw down there – well, marty diamond our booking agent was there…that was an unexpected surprise. our 2 favorite fans from san francisco, amy and andrew were also there. that’s them in the first picture. those guys are awesome – expect to see a&a backstage at every sf show. my other friend andrew warren from jambase was there too. jambase is such a great site by the way – go check it out. oh yeah, chris’ friends melrose and janice were there as was ryanne and tom – part of the lewscious organization. overall this show was great but it was a blur and then we were home. good times. enjoy the pics

andrew and amy = best friends in sf

band photo time – i’m glad we take these

soundcheck – new stencil on the keyboard…fresh

i love seeing shit like this

happy st patrick’s day

bernie and q

lewscious.org

can i get a lewscious?

—F.TEN

LONG LIVE LOS ANGELES!

What a great time we had at the house of blues last night. we opened for gomez and once again it was amazing. the gomez fans were incredibly receptive and so much fun. seriously, they are some of the best fans ever and it was a pleasure playing for them. so many surprise guests where at the show…errol and kavi flew in from ny and it was great to see them. sort of a historic moment just because it was kavi’s first time seeing us – i’m glad we were able to represent. hey kavi and errol we love you so much, thanx for being there!! i would also like to thank matt, ray, brien, and dayna for showing up – it’s great having you guys there. everyone had a blast!

our live show is really starting to come together. for all you bootleggers out there our set stayed the same as solana beach – Still Lost, Trip (extended version), Miles From Monterey, Hollywood, Green, Northern Sky, and What Are You Afraid Of. i would also like to thank bernie, marcos, brooke, tommy and chocolate for helping out. that’s julie (above) with chris, she bought our last cd that night. ya know what, that reminds me…thanx to everyone else that came up to the merch booth and bought a cd or t-shirt. we really appreciate it! and oh yea, big thanx again to jade howe for showing up, i’m glad you got to see us on a bigger stage, especially when we were all (coincidentally) wearing your shirts. on the stranger side of things, when i went upstairs at the end of the night i saw ashley simpson hanging out with chris carter. wtf?

yeah, umm….wasted

great picture of errol and mariqueen

backstage, robert james zones it all out

another moment with brooke

carter, heidi good times and kavi

a site i never get tired of seeing –

downtown LA 3am with tony…still wasted

are you listening to your inner lewscious?

this saturday we open for gomez again in san fran …can’t wait! — F.TEN 4:59AM

what a difference a day off and a good sound check can make! last night we played with gomez in solana beach at belly up and the show rocked. the gomez guys were cool and the people that worked at the club treated us great. thank you all – it was appreciated. we went on stage a little bit after 9pm and played still lost, trip, monterey, hollywood, green, northern sky, and what are you afraid of. the gomez crowd was very warm and embraced us with a huge hug – we made tons of new fans and even sold out of cds! gotta love all the love washing ashore in solana beach.

during sound check some of our biggest fans in san diego showed up – tommy, charlie, cameron, chaz, emma, olivia, and savanna you guys all rock! even though the club wouldnt let them in cos they weren’t old enough they hung out at the door and watched our sound check from far away. we played 3 songs for them — it’s too bad they couldnt see the real show. i think we will play an all ages club around there soon and maybe their high school dance later this year

after the show this couple on the right (i have no idea who they were) bought chris and i a drink called a car bomb. i never had it before – you drop a shot glass filled with baileys and whiskey into a pint of guinness and slam it – sort of tasted like chocolate milk. probably the last thing i needed really but it seemed like a good idea at the time. maggie chang (over on the left) came down to see us too. it was nice to spend time with maggie cos it seems like it’s been years since we last hung out. thanx maggie! anyway, let’s talk about how much i really like the girls’ shirts we’re selling. i think they’re pretty sly and incredibly boob friendly. check out dana (below) in one. they’re soft and tight and perfect….the shirts i mean. oh yeah, chocolate and marcos were at the show helping out. chocolate sold a ton of merch and marcos drove the truck down and helped move all our gear. thanx you guys.

on a strange side note – right before we left town, marcos and i had a little chat with blues guitarist roy gaines in the parking lot of a mcdonalds on labrea ave – he was driving a white rolls royce…classic.

rob and mariqueen backstage – warming up

bernie who has been giving us some great sound

yen and maggie i love you

mariqueen and brooke sharing a moment

remember to listen to your inner lewscious

—F.TEN 6:45PM

last night we played in costa mesa at detroit bar. personally, i thought the show sucked ass. it was definitely not one of our best shows (especially when compared to our last show in LA). i would give it a 6 out of 10. i’m not sure what our problem was last night but i’m pretty sure a lot of it had to do with the crappy sound check we got. it was cut way too short by the club and im still trying to figure out why – we didnt even get to run through a full song. hmmm, i feel like we let our fans down and that’s not cool. im just bummed because people paid money to see us and we didnt put on our best show due to sound problems that could have ben avoided with a decent sound check. oh well, with that said here are a few good things to say.

let’s start by mentioning my friend tana who really helped me out in the morning by picking my ass up and getting me over to the truck rental place. he then met rob and i downtown and helped us load the truck. (those are GOMC road cases in the truck in case you were wondering) he also ended up doing some lights (below) and loading out. thanx tana!

chris carter with lyndsay and eugenius

stephan – the man behind the visuals

rob and lewscious before the show

pre show pose down

my friends from the oc – sean and josh

ladies and gentlemen…

—F.TEN 5:04AM

YOU ARE BUMMED IF YOU MISSED THIS SHOW. This was by far the best show west indian girl has put on to date. without a doubt it kicked serious fucking ass on multiple levels. it all just came together and the evening was extremely magical. there are a few “thank yous” that need to go out. the first one goes out to stefan viterstedt for enhancing and heightening our show with your visual wizardry. the second goes out to bernie for really dialing in our sound that night. the third goes out to KCRW for presenting the show—hopefully there will be many more memorable nights like this. the fourth goes out to marc goldstein who once again was there documenting it all. below is a taste of what he captured and what you missed. oh yeah i would like to say hi to a bunch of old friends that came out to the show and showed their support. thanx to brad barrish, peg rettino, jen hung, john the kid srebalus, angela lang, minah oh, and sascha linn for making me smile just by seeing you there. i appreciate the fact you guys went – it meant a lot to me.

my friend joe puleio called me the other day and said the funniest thing when i asked him how he liked out new singer “she was blowin on that harmonica with all that lipstick on and shit…i was like damn!” hahaha i thought that was a classic—F. Ten 5:53PM

wow! i have no pics at all from this show. how weird is that? we played at chain reaction in anaheim and ya know what? – i like this place. we did it for the kids man….all ages. i need pics from this night cos the place was packed – i can’t wait to go back there and play. when u finish playing a show at 9:30 at night you know you’re at an all ages club. immediately after the show i remember thinking that i need to have at least one drink (no matter what) before i play a show. i just can’t play a show like a straight edge little punk…there is something too mentally constricting about it. One great thing that happened was having my old friend Bernie Larsen do our sound. He did an excellent job – bernie has an innate feel for what we are doing. Thanx bernie! after the show i went to pick up more road cases from ED at his shop “Get Off My Case” Ed makes the best road cases. i will show you pics of them when i write my expose on my bass set up. (that’s coming up soon and i’m sure everyone is dying to read it)— F. TEN 1:13PM

Getting to san fran was a complete bitch. after the show in portland we jumped in the van and drove all night long (i think 12 hours) to san fran. an ambien would have been the perfect remedy for a drive like that. unfortunately i left my ambien at home. san fran turned out to be an amazing show. we opened for phoenix at a wicked club called popscene. that’s chris, mariqueen, chocolate, robert, marc and chassol (from phoenix) on their tour bus in the picture above.i really dont have many pics from that night. i will try to get some from mariqueen. hmmmm the show was awesome though. it was the best show on that tour. the san fran crowds have been surprisingly warm. i never really liked sf much but now i’m starting to change my tune. a couple of our old friends made it out to the show as well, andrew was there and so was KT. thanx for coming. oh yeah, errol and dayna from astralwerks were also there. always great seeing errol out.

i think i’m gonna start asking the other guys in the band if they wouldnt mind writing down some of their thoughts on some of these shows so you guys could get a different view once in a while. hmmm those guys are kinda lazy though. ummm if anyone in the band reads this that’s a big hint to send me some of your thoughts on anything (especially the shows) so i can post them. thanx — F. TEN 3:24AM

The night after seattle we played in portland at the doug fir lounge. this place is one of the cooler bars to play in on the west coast. It’s a bar/restaurant/hotel all in one. the decor and architecture is dialed in with a sort of upscale swanky lodge vibe. the food kicks ass and the stage set up is great. the promoter – i think his name was brent was really great – he was more than accommodating and brought us a deli tray from heaven . oh the people in the pic above are (from l-r) mariqueen, brent, randy, ryanne, robert, and s-man. our special guests backstage were randy and ryanne. it was really great that they came down to see us. randy works at Dakine and he brought us some more cool shit – check out their site Dakine.com they have a cool music section that i just checked out. nice review randy – how much do i owe ya…hahaha. randy, you now have guaranteed yourself back stage passes forever. that dude is dope. speaking of dope, note to self – don’t get high with the rest of the band – just stick to drinking miller “high” life (brent had 16oz cans in the dressing room believe it or not). as far as the show went i honestly don’t remember much. portland was the one show where i was a little too out of it. when we were playing i remember looking at mark lewis and laughing uncontrollably at how badly i was playing and then wondering why rob had stopped playing his guitar in northern sky. it was surreal. the portland crowd was tough too. so tough chris contemplated suicide. —F.TEN 2:27PM

I know these show reports are a bit late but hey, better late than never right? ok, a couple weeks ago in seattle we played a place called chop suey we opened for our label mates phoenix (in the pic above Branco is next to Chris and Deck is on the right) The show was unforgettable. one of the main reasons why it was so unforgettable was because it was one of the rare times we had the luxury of flying up to a show instead of driving. i understand from the s-man and chocolate (who drove our gear up 2 days earlier in the van) that driving a van pulling a uhaul trailer through a 2 day snow storm on I-5 wasn’t really relaxing or enjoyable. (by the way, that’s us in the airport on the left relaxing and having a great stress free time) anyway, not only was it our first show out of state it was our first show with mariqueen and our first show playing in front of a packed house. overall it went great. since the stage at chop suey was so tiny our actual stage set up ended up being pretty bizarre because we had to cram all of our shit in front of phoenix’s gear. it was tight and very awkward. even though we had no sound check i guess we sounded pretty good because the fans really got into it. we even did our first encore which was kind of unexpected…thank you seattle! as far as mariqueen’s performance went, well, talk about baptism by fire. given the fact that we had no sound check, it was her first show, and it was a packed house…she kicked ass. i think after the show when she was signing autographs it finally dawned on her how crazy this whole thing is going to be. in some sort of strange karmic twist however, she did end up breaking her purse, chipping her tooth outside on the side walk, and ripping the zipper off her jacket. hahahah the whole night was classic. we even sold our first men’s t shirt to Trent and the first female t to Misti (see below). it’s remarkable how happy they both look isn’t it? buy some west indian girl merch and it will make ya smile from ear to ear.

As far as phoenix goes, those guys were cool and yeah their show was basically awesome. That’s Deck, Thomas and Chassol with Mariqueen in the pic above. Seattle was seriously a ton of fun and i cant wait to go back. i also want to send a big thanx out to the opening band Mercir (above right). I had a chance to talk to them while we were selling merch. Those guys were nice and their cd is really good too…thanx Colin. Let’s do that show we were talking about!!!

We also got a chance to see dayna from astralwerks. now that was a surpirse cos i usually only see dayna at our shows in la. its’ always great to see dayna. dayna, we love you! the last 4 photos are (clockwise) dayna with mariqueen, rob with a fan (forgot his name, i’m sorry) mark-chocolate-rob- mariqueen, and chris with a fan, i mean groupie, i mean fan, i mean girl he just picked up, i mean nice girl he was just having a drink with.

—F. TEN 6:33PM

so we played at this place called the hotel utah saloon in san fran last night. the club was tiny and had an upstairs that over looked the stage. (check out the gallery and u will see). anyway, let me start off by thanking the band minipop who we played with. the girls in this band were really cool – they even asked us if they could help move our gear. these chicks were rad. yeah there was a problem settling the cash after the show which i think contributed to one of the guys in their band copping an attitude. i’m not sure he was aware he was being an ass but he was. take it for what it’s worth – was the crap we both got paid worth the attitude you gave me. nope.

anyway, where’s my tampon? let’s talk about some of the hi-lites of the evening. the first had to be when i walked in the club only to discover they served miller high life on tap. how fucking cool is that. there’s only ONE bar in la that serves high life and its really not that cool of a place so i dont hang there. so the girl serving me drinks was named KT and she was not only cute but really really sweet. she made chocolate, sman and myself margarita shots at the very end of the night. very good stuff and thanx for that second hug.

the second but very best part of the night was when max showed up. max does pr for sports and movie people and she kicks ass. i love her. she and chocolate got along so well. they have similar minds and i’m glad they met cos it was all a good time. those two were sitting there laughing the whole night. thanx for going max you’re the best, woman!

the last picture is of this dude i met outside the van when we were loading up. his name is art and i promised him i would put him in my journal. art is kind of like rambo- he’s a marine amphibious warrior who got honorably discharged from the war in iraq. i think his whole jeep thing was blown up. anyway, this guy was cool and was preaching peace. i might not agree with the war but i’m never going to not say thanx to a veteran or soldier that goes off and fights for the country. (I KNOW, I KNOW, EVEN THOUGH THIS WAR IS REALLY NOT ABOUT PROTECTING OUR COUNTRY AND WAY OF LIFE – YOU STILL GET WHAT I’M SAYING) veterans are veterans and should be given the respect they deserve for putting their lives on the line so we can go fuck off around the world playing music and not getting all freaked out thinking someone is going to run out of the next bar we go into and try shooting us. ok san fran – see you in a month. —F. TEN 5:45am

the show in los angeles was at the troubadour on monday — it really was the best show we’ve played to date. funny thing is i dont have that many pics from the show. probably because i was so busy running around. you see, we had to leave the next morning for san fran and it was a pretty hectic day. i think 20 people called me to get put on the list. too bad i couldnt get you all in, actually too bad i couldnt get any of you in. anyway, to see the real good pics of the show check out the gallery of shots taken by our one and only favorite french bastard marc goldstein. he was there snappin away and took some kick ass shots. hmmm, i should do a 10 with Ten with marc. good idea, look for that in the future. this picture on the top left was in the dressing room at the club before we played. all the usual suspects are in this. my friend mr google took the band the other picture- we’re behind the club after we loaded up (were actaully loaded up ourselves). from left to right is carter(i got him those sunglasses somewhere i cant remember for 5 bucks – they look so dumb they work on him), mark, rob, kurt (cool director that wants to do a video for “what are u afraid of”) gilles (my best and coolest friend from rome!!! ciao froccio) and s-man. just the laughs we had while we were kickin it in this alley were worth a million bucks. i was so happy to have my freind gilles in town. he is one great guy – and a pure gentleman. he taught me more italian while he was in town – seeing gilles brings back some terrific memories of my vacation there a year and a half ago. we had some great times partying in rome together. i mean, u just cant imagine the trouble we got into while at his hotel. the aleph – check out this link right now. i drank mojitos and listened to moon safari on the roof top terrace every night of my trip. sono strafatto. ok, back to la – so the la show was great we sold some cds and made some fans. all good stuff but it’s la and you can never be sure if your freinds clap just cos they’re your friends, but shit, what r friends for anyway. oh yeah – i met my election day backlash emailer face to face. this guy, let’s call him D for short is one really nice guy. I signed 3 cds for him — he made the trek all the way up from OC. keep sending me cool links to read D i look forward to them!—F.Ten 4:18am

great time in costa mesa last night. we played a bar called detroit. i have heard about this club for a while and it did indeed live up to my expectations. i really didnt have that many expectations though but the guys that own the bar couldnt have been nicer to us. i want to thank them for feeding us and making us feel at home. we will come back and play any time you want! plus the stage sound was great. oh yeah this club gets even more props for letting me bring tony in for a while. anyway, this was definitely our best show to date. felt real, felt good. i drove down with chocolate, s-man and rob. i don’t like ridin shotgun. i like either driving or sleeping in the back. i actually did take a nap before the show. i brought a sleeping bag and a bunch of pillows from our studio so the back of the van was pretty plush. tony and i took a nice after dinner nap there. when i woke up the bar was pretty crowded. when i walked in i was still a bit grogy. i hit the bathroom first and when i was taking a piss some guy was staring at my dick. weird, i was so tired i didnt care, but that sort of stuff would get his ass beat in some states…then again it might also get him laid at some rest stops. he kept telling me he wanted to show me his genital warts. that’s fucking gross isnt it. ok, after that bathroom incident i saw the crew and grabbed a beer and went back to our little reserved seating area. starting to see some of the same faces at our shows which is always a good sign. jade howe and esmerelda were in the house. i also met a really nice woman who bought me drinks. she claims to be an heiress that owns an island. hmmm (scratches head)….can u say island bitch boy. i’m calling her – i could go for a little vacation – what’s the worse that can happen — i get laid and get a tan? sounds horrible. anyway here is the pic low down 1. rob and jade after the show 2. chocolate thunder and rob in the living room of the cargo van 3. tony waiting for us after the show (listen, i talk about tony alot – get used to it cos he is my best friend) 4. who’s the real dog in that picture? hi esmerelda! —F. Ten 11/12 3:33pm