from mike baggetta:
"I first met John Herndon back in 2017 when my friend Devra Hoff took me over to John’s pad in L.A. to play a session together in his garage. This was about a week before I made the 'Wall of Flowers' record with Jim Keltner and Mike Watt and I was playing a few gigs around town with Devra on bass and Scott Seiver on drums beforehand to kind of help myself learn some of the music I thought we might record the next week for that album. Anyways, Dev suggested we get together with John one afternoon and see what happens. I actually don’t remember a lot of what specifically we played, but I remember the deep & sick grooves for sure. I think him and Devra had a good history playing together because I would have been just as happy sitting there listening to the two of them play all afternoon, as I was trying to make some music with all three of us. I probably said about 7 words to John that day, but I remember the playing was like really fierce and super… easy? in a way, to get creative stuff flowing. I thought that was really cool and its stuck with me all these years. Looking back on it now and realizing that I met John Herndon and Mike Watt for the very first time in that same week now, in hindsight, seems kind of interesting.
I’m really excited about this new band, Casa Sueño, that me and John and Watt have put together. We have played, as of this writing, exactly zero gigs together, but somehow it already feels like it has a strong collective spirit to the whole thing already. Back in December we got together at Casa Hanzo in Pedro to record the 2 tracks that Nomad Eel Records is putting out as our first 7” in advance of these shows. The song I brought was kind of a two-parter (side a & b) and it kind of gets to the heart of the matter for what I think the music we’ll be working towards could be… Some things that are more like song-songs, and some things that are more free-songs…? I have been getting towards trying to play a music that has no boundaries since as long back as I can remember. And that doesn’t just mean off the wall freak out stuff (I mean, thats a part of it sometimes), but a music that lives inside of improvisation and song forms in equal parts. That flows back and forth between rubato and groove, between drone and harmony. And one that can flow between the people making it just as easy as the people listening to it. Like the real early blues recordings I’ve heard where there’s no pressure to keep 4 beats to every bar, but the vibe, groove and beautiful sounds aren’t suffering any.
So here we are, getting ready to play 23 shows on the west coast (u.s., Mexico and Canada) and learning what its like to play a new music together with each other, and you all in the audience, every night together. Again, as of this writing, I am not really sure how many songs we have and I haven’t even finished the demos for my 5 or 6 or 7 or however many I have rolling around in my head all jumbled up so far that I am trying to put through the hopper. Mike Watt’s been on point though and already has his 6 songs done! So we’ll have a mix of new stuff to play for you, but more important is that we are gonna maybe have a new ‘way’ of playing it for you. The last band I had with watt, I felt like maybe I had hit a wall about how far I could take that concept, just from my own side I mean, about writing all the parts for everybody for all the songs. I learned a lot doing that, but one thing I also learned is that the music always got better when the other guys would change the parts I brought in to suit the song and their style better. This time around I want to have less control over that type of stuff, so right from the get go we are all coming up with our own parts (notes as needed) for the songs we are gonna be playing. I was also heading a lot more towards drone based ideas and finding ways to stretch the music out that wasn’t just like in a fusion way, but still you could be playing a song, or it could be a free thing, or maybe both together, but exploring different parts of the music without just a full on jam all the time, and I think we are gonna get deeper into all of these types of ideas with this new Casa Sueño band. We’re also doing something else a little different on this trip and that’s making a record somewhere in the middle of the tour after the Portland, OR shows. We also have a couple stops of double-nighters, in Vancouver and again in Portland, OR right before we record.
Anyways, I think it’s gonna be a blast. I already know I like traveling around the country in the boat with watt, and I already know I love hanging with John too. I also know that I love playing music with both of them and I’m excited to see where these new songs and sounds take us on this west coast trip, and I truly hope that you all find a way to come out and join us for these special shows!"
(click here for tour flyer)
casa sueño
"I-5 tour 2026"
thu, sep 17 at the sardine
1101 s pacific av, san pedro, ca
fri, sep 18 at the wayfarer
843 w 19th st, costa mesa, ca
sat, sep 19 at the black cat bar
4246 university av, san diego, ca
sun, sep 20 at the moustache bar
av francisco i madero 1250, tijuana, mexico
mon, sep 21 at pappy & harriet's
53688 pioneertown rd, pioneertown, ca
tue, sep 22 at the bakersfield sound co10715 rosedale hwy, bakersfield, ca
wed, sep 23 at veni vidi vici
1116 fulton st, fresno, ca
thu, sep 24 at winters tavern
1522 francisco bl, pacifica, ca
fri, sep 25 at art bop beer co
102 talent av, talent, or
sat, sep 26 at blast off vintage
860 high st ne, salem, or
sun, sep 27 at the crypt bar
421 4th av e, olympia, wa
mon, sep 28 at the shakedown
1212 n state st, bellingham, wa
tue + wed, sep 29 + 30 at lanalou's
362 powell st, vancouver, canada
thu, oct 1 at the tractor tavern
5213 ballard av nw, seattle, wa
fri + sat, oct 2 + 3 at strum pdx
1415 se stark st, #c, portland, or
mon, oct 5 at the sound lounge
225 se h st, grants pass, or
tue, oct 6 at the miniplex at richard's goat
401 i st, arcata, ca
wed, oct 7 at the arlene francis center
99 6th st, santa rosa, ca
thu, oct 8 at bottom of the hill
1233 17th st, san francisco, ca
fri, oct 9 at decades hifi lounge
5840 traffic wy, atascadero, ca
sat, oct 10 at zebulon
2478 fletcher dr, los angeles, ca
out now is the debut casa sueño release
"house of dreams / house of dreams (postlude)"
seven inch vinyl via nomad eel records
thursday, september 17, 2026 - san pedro, ca
from mike:
Six days of good prac
Pieces falling together
Almost too easy
from johnny:
First day of tour. We had a practice at Watt's practice space before the gig and sweated so much I wrang about a pint of liquid out of my shirt. Drove, shirtless, to The Sardine. While putting the drumkit together, Mike Bagetta nonchalantly tells me that George Hurley is in the opening band, which didn't make playing our first gig more terrifying or anything, lol. Our show was fun, kind of a blur. Thinking too much, trying to relax and get inside the music. But I think we got into some good zones. Honored to be setting sail with these cats
from watt:
pop at five bells and cook up some italian sausage w/onions, celery, red bell pepper in olive oil and when that's browned add water and groats - you know of those? I learned about them about a year ago and cook them once a week, part of chow sched. they fuckin go w/anything. I do the same thing w/millet, been working in some grains w/my sautes, I can dig it. my health is good. sure, I'm using a muleta (crutch, also called stampella or tsue) cuz the surgeries I had in my twenties to help w/being born w/bad knees wore but I have no pain and that is very important to me. ok, so I also play gigs sitting down but I have no pain, my hands are in really good shape. we did six days of many hours of prac for this tour and it was no problem. I'll be sixtynine in december but I am in good health - part of that is what and how I chow but it's also the 1358 of me w/no alcohol - big help w/my life these days, crimony.
tonight's the first gig of my seventyfourth tour. it's actually not _my_ tour but instead I'm a part of the first tour ever for mike baggetta's brand new band casa sueño and I'm so glad we kick stuff off here in my pedro town. I came here from norfolk, virginia sixty years ago this summer, crimony - just thought about that. that was summer was kind of blurry for me and I would even get mixed up whether it was a year later but these days it's way more clear... ain't that trippy? anyway, six days at my prac padup at the angels gate cultural center - more date infos: I'm the longest lease-holder there now, have been there forty years now and anyone in a band will tell you how important a fuckin prac pad is, crimony! so mike lives in gainesville and arrived in so cal the day before our first prac last friday. us three have played together before - back in december one day at peetzo's (he's my secondmen organman also) recording studio _casa hanzo_ we recording two tunes for the debut casa sueño release, the house of dreams seven inch so we had one afternoon together as our first time. so last friday was the second time and we put in five hours. mike has me to bring some tunes so I brought five and we learned four of them that day. the next day we learned the five he brought. I used some charts at first to learn the tunes (even mine!) but quickly let go of them, using a crutch to hobble around is enough for me, I don't wanna use them for bass for gigs, capito? johnny's prac'n on a kit that perk procured for me around twelve years ago that was for an il sogno del marianio u.s. tour that then became my prac pad kit and though I can't play them, it's a fuckin time waste having cats schlep/set up/tear down drums for every prac I'm doing w/them at my pad. same w/the guitar amp, mike's using this peavey fake-tweed 4x10 my buddy dirk (the one who shot the cover of "double nickels on the dime") made be so for me. when it's time for prac, I like getting right to it w/a minimum of futz and dawdle - this goes back to minutemen days when we didn't have this prac pad, it wasn't in my cards yet but minutemen is where we learned to jam econo - that wasn't a slogan when I wrote that as part of the lyrics to "the politics of time" - it was a way of life. I never "out-grew" that, still hold fast to it. johnny used no charts, just recorded stuff on his leash for later listening. I have to say that I adjusted my tunes to whatever they were in "wattworld" to the way he played to them cuz I really REALLY like playing w/him. me and johnny actually recorded twice before, for a proj bucky pope got going called tone scientists which recorded a two tune seven inch (in 2018) and a five song twelve inch (in 2023) called kiiroi tori" w/peetzo at _casa hanzo_ and then last year I did an improvised gig at a santa monica art gallery w/him, randy randall and hagop najarian. my experience w/mike was recording w/him and drummerman jim keltner and the later w/his mssv band which did I think five albums and three seven inches... this will be our sixth tour together. of course the first prac was a total pants-shitter for me but man, johnny really helped me get over that and became very optimistic and in fact changed the first tune I showed him and mike from "toppin it off" to "kickin it off" and asked to fuck, kick it off. the next five pracs took work but it was a happening spirit and I never noticed the time we put in weighing even an ounce on me, it was a good time in fact and I was real interested in how each bambino would develop. another tune I brought in, "in the coche now w/you" I asked johnny to cue the changes cuz I felt I didn't want some form for this one etched into some kind of stone.
our last prac was today, gig one of the tour. on the way to the prac pad I wash the new boat at the self-wash on pacific and fifteenth. last month I had to replace the air conditionging pump - it went w/a week to go left on the the three years warranty... damn, it ain't really the "new boat" any more, huh? well, a clean boat is a happy boat so I'm happy to scrub. I meet mike and johnny at my prac pad - we're running the set mike came for us two pracs before (these were fuckin real productive pracs... some yammering/sermons but mostly no filler) once more before loading the boat for the first time to schlep the stuff to the sardine in pedro's old downtown, the building used to be the old "ramona's" bakery where the bread for the "busy bee" sandwiches (I was way into the roast pork w/mustard, onions and pepperoncini ones) and recess records boss toddski turned into a gig pad in 2019... only a mile from the apartment I've lived at for twentyone years, I love this place, love toddski. we got proj called jumpstarted plowhards that began w/him asking me to write him some tunes so I wrote him forty w/just bass and told him he could put whatever guitar and singing he wanted to, just record them each w/a different drummer. he's working on the third but in the meantime, back in december we started playing these tunes live w/drummerman jimmy who kicks up much dust and I really dig playing w/and I gotta tell - it must be something starting w/georgie but I really take to the drummies I get to share the beats w/and I'm telling you it ain't casual, I really
we get to the 'dine just before six pm and a cat makes way to give me happening parking, very kind. half a block north is a chow table setup called "juquilita" which I love (also at the chow coche "habanero man" across the street in the "ray deeter's tire town" lot when it's there) and get five pastor tacos. I might blow some clams but always have good gigs chowing pastor tacos before. we soundcheck w/soundman justin: mike's using his benson amp stuff he used last tour I did w/him along w/the sam saul koll guitar but it's got different pickups. johnny's playing this brand new c & c kit he had them just make. I'm trying my bergantino 1x12 to go w/the 2x12 nxtse bergantino speakerbox powered by a bergantino forte hp ultra amp. in front of that I got the watt box nathan at sushi box fx made for me and a polytone tune. my bass is reverend guitars wattplower mark II, the same I've been using for a bunch of tours now - I help design this thudstaff. trippy playing it after all these days of prac w/the bass I keep at my prac pad, "the dan" bass... I used that to help joe naylor bring the wattplower but cuz I'm playing in a chair, it sits on my leg different and putting the neck in a slightly different way but it's no huge deal and "a poor carpenter blames his tools" anyway, correct?
we got the wrinkling brothers opening up the gig and they bring it at eight pm. it's joe dean's band but as far as I can remember georgie's always been on drums. vince meghrouni is joining them on sax. vince was also a big part of that tone scientists proj w/bucky and johnny - small world! the got a chair w/wheels on it that they let me use here at the 'dine - bof to work gigs and to witness them so I move on over to stage starboard in front of 'tonian cuz that way I can see georgie's face - I never realized after all these years he moufed all the fuckin beats... tonight I watch him do each one, never taking my eyes of him cuz I can't. no offense to 'tonian or joe dean but I am mesmerized. I talked to georgie about this afterwards and he tells me he's always done this. well, in my defense I was an idiot in when I was more younger and we had georgie behind us which now days as I got less younger I never try to let happen - I always try to be w/the drummer so they get face and not culo from me, always. I love having drummers up front, love it. for me, anything else is in full-on denial of what's up music and especially this kind which big time rhythm music. he is amazing drummerman and very inspiring for me, I can lit. 'tonian great on the sax to though toddski's gotta getting the sound here at the 'dine more happening... I'm gonna talk to him about that later, just a suggest. joe dean does good too, he's working fretless bass. besides the two guys I'm gonna share the stage w/shortly, the wrinkling brothers really got this tour going, absolute... especially georgie being georgie!
our turn is quarter after nine... my sister melinda's here, I see her talking w/georgie. I put her in my second opera, in the "piss bags and tubing" part. anyway, I am so fucking nervous that I start the fucking first tune - I ain't supposed to start the first tune, johnny is - what a dubmfuck! I hate jumping the gun, hating stalling and really hate bogarting but that's no excuse, I just weirded out seeing my watch show 9:15 - damn me so big time for that. I look over at mike and he's like w/the "you're hired" face - I look at johnny w/the sad eyes but then get over cuz fuck, the boat's in the water. johnny really changes up stuff all the time, I love it - no sleepwalking in this band! second tune I clam also, I come in at the correct time, correct chords but fuckin totally lost the ostinato, fucking baka! I won't say I made full-on chowder of the gig but there were sure a buttload of them that I blew. we did break the water though and for a first gig, I think that's real important. the gig-goers in pedro were most kind - brother matt's here, brother steve also - love them bof! for every bucket of shame I put my head into up to the collar of my green coat I also a head full of happy cuz there was also much good time and damn if the shaking in my body didn't calm some. well, like mssv drummerman hodge told me when we were recording my first opera when I was fretting much: "being a little scared is like being a little excited" - wise words from hodge... I think of them lots in sitchs like this and take them big time to heart.
I spiel a long time after the gig w/'tonian, we discuss reading - I've really gotten into that since putting the plug in the jug. I flowed him a bio on eric dolphy (I dedicated "hat & beard" to 'tonian when mike asked me to same something about it to help close the gig), he's been meaning to get on... the last bunch of years I always got a music one going, much-way through john chilton's coleman hawkins one now. mainly though I'm doing fiction, twelve chapters into herman melville's "the confidence-man" but I gotta suspend that for tour like all my reading, gotta focus!
back at my pad eleven, gig one getting done fills my shoulders w/a lightness that transports much ballast that had been pushing down on me, crimony. really REALLY looking forward to this tour, really am. konk beat but happy... the boat's in the water, tour's undeway!
friday, september 18, 2026 - costa mesa, ca
from mike:
Boats in the water
Happy energy on stage
The goldfinch agrees
from johnny:
Drove to Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, in the morning and got my kick drum pedal repaired. I love going to that shop, I'm so happy it exists. Old drum shops have a rare mojo. So much traffic en route to Costa Mesa. It took an hour and forty minutes to drive there in the afternoon, took about fortyfive min to drive home after the gig. See Night was the opener, Linda Sao, playing solo, guitar and vocals, sounded great and the crowd responded enthusiasticly, which made me really happy. Saw a couple friends at the gig that I don't see very often and that was nice. Our show was fun, still working it out and very exciting!! Drove home and got there and Jennifer was still up so we got to hang a little before crashing. Tomorrow we get in the van for the remainder of the tour. Happy to be here
from watt:
pop at five and hose off. cook up onions, zucchini, salmon 'til brown then bring bulgar wheat. getting all caught up or trying to w/what I can get together before I'm away from my pedro town for the next three weeks...
gig number two of the tour's in orange county, about thirty miles southeast of here in costa mesa. there's much traff so it's pretty much through long beach on surface streets 'til I-405 time just east of long beach stage and the v.a. hosp right before that... that's where missingmen guitarman tom watson lost his pop a few years ok, he was always very kind to me and now last week tom lost his ma - bof would come to see tom play w/me... very sad. I got a spring 2027 tour for the missingmen to coincide w/an album called "staticz" and the plan is to record a third missingmen album (remember my third opera "hyphenated-man" was the first one) halfway through the tour in brooklyn w/tony maimone, tony's idea after witnessing bof a gig and then a prac while here looking for a college for his son milo - so trippy how life brings and takes things.
four bells and we're at the wayfarer - ok, four minutes late but arrived alive! good to see padboss eric again and also soundman frank who does a check w/us, the same "throne" chair as last time is here, respect! they chow really good here too, the very happening fish tacos, most grateful. my old friend gomez and his wife mia join me, always so good to see gomez, last time was in ktown near the beginning of the year... we talked about going to new york city to do a movie w/raymond using his scripts - we plan to do this after the missingmen tour next year. I really miss raymond really do... huge hole in my life w/out him. not his fault though, watt has to get it together.
opening for us tonight is linda in woman alone mode w/her guitar for her see night proj. up front I watch her sing and play, very compelling tunes w/much feel. my first time hearing of her so it's most happening for it to be literal, you know what I mean. I had to do a man-alone gig for jim and 'beachlife' fest back in may and I was shaking like a leaf, let me tell you. it is something I ain't used to. there was something not too much before that, a benefit here in pedro and it was only one tune but even that really fucking tore me, I mean shaking so hard I could bare get the bass or the words out - it was a cover of a james taylor tune about a lady working at a factory... d boon really dug james taylor's "fire and rain" and I tried to think of him being brave in man-alone mode... well, I'm just not used to it.
eight bells and it's our, mercy on me for having mike and johnny up here, truly! I don't fuck up the beginning of the set even! I do play the stuff better (mike'll tell me later I did a good second gig set) but it ain't clam-free, nope. I ain't totally unaware - thinking about that now, I think same w/the first gig: at least I wasn't untethered to the point of not know what the fuck, more like execution or confidence errors. the gig-goers are very focused, they pick up on johnny kicking up much dust and I'm right there w/them, it's fucking happening to witness such a thing by which I mean using a tune as not something to remanufacture but to use as a springboard to see what fuckin happens, I'm way into that! I screwed up the order last night of one of the tunes that I don't do tonight - progress, huh? mike likes to work the set like one big piece so no banter which I'm into. even though it's a collection of tunes, it's also a gig and maybe letting the music speak helps from diluting that experience, huh? I really enjoy this gig, not just relieved for not hurting it w/lameness but having experienced it happening, whoa. something else. tour's got a happening begin, huh? most grateful watt!
most grateful to most kind gig-goers bringing most kindness also - hagop's here, whoa - yesterday I mentioned chimping about me and johnny getting to play w/him last year! there's some people who saw me play w/tom and raul last week not too far from here in santa ana at the observatory, ain't that a trip? got that a gig a week before! there's a man who brought his son who saw me a banquet hall at a mall in fullerton! life is a trip. people from other gigs - they tell you about these and I used to be so caught up in the now that I thought in a way gigs before didn't exist... there were some long beach gigs at alex's and this cat went to bof, I remember him totally. I gotta say I'm kind of shy and I feel awkward but at the same time I wanna let people know that them bringing kindness really counts and should never be taken for granted.
I think about this on the way to back to pedro... mike and johnny bof separate from me after a gig for this tour. trippy to start a tour this way, it is a really new way to do it for me, the "easing into it" in a way huh? I hose off at my pad a konk happy.
saturday, september 19, 2026 - san diego, ca
from mike:
First taco run here
Sudden set changes work out
First trance jam goes good
from johnny:
Drove to Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, in the morning and got my kick drum pedal repaired. I love going to that shop, I'm so happy it exists. Old drum shops have a rare mojo. So much traffic en route to Costa Mesa. It took an hour and forty minutes to drive there in the afternoon, took about fortyfive min to drive home after the gig. See Night was the opener, Linda Sao, playing solo, guitar and vocals, sounded great and the crowd responded enthusiasticly, which made me really happy. Saw a couple friends at the gig that I don't see very often and that was nice. Our show was fun, still working it out and very exciting!! Drove home and got there and Jennifer was still up so we got to hang a little before crashing. Tomorrow we get in the van for the remainder of the tour. Happy to be here.
from watt:
pop at seven bells, make the last batch in coff in pedro for the next three weeks... cook up last asagohan also: ground pork from the mercado on fifth w/the rest of the celery and half the onions I got left in the fridge along w a cup of millet I first cook in the rice cooker set on porridge (I use one to one w/water amount), all of that in a saute w/eggs cooked on the as final stage, not scrambled in. I chimp diary, receive entries from mike and johnny, so glad they join me. I send out the public blasts letting people know of tonight's third gig of the tour. I record on three tunes mike and andy sent me for the next mow, we each take turns going first for our collab w/me already sending my three w/bass alone back on labor day after I returned from the march in wilmas celebrating that day. I've always been a big mold omen fan so getting to do mow w/andy and mike means a lot to me, much respect.
I get my clothes backpack wack together w/it containing another pair of levis and five pairs of chones. numaki (pajamas) also and my shaving gear. I remember the days of not shaving on tour - never again. it's gonna be about a 120 miles to san diego today and the first time the whole band travels together in the boat. mike and johnny arrive at three and a half by way of ride-share trip cuz mike had to drop rental at lax... no prob, we get there when we get there just as long as we get there safe is I think the policy. I wheel us over terminal island using bof the big bridges connecting pedro to long beach and spew history yammer being informed by what's witnessed by my eyeballs, like when I first came from virginia and one of these bridges didn't exist - there was a pontoon one its place, I shit thee not! let me tell you it wasn't the vincent thomas one though I hear maybe that's gonna be replaced some time down the road... I point out the queen mary where it's beached for life and got turned into a 'tel - I forget though to tell them that's the only time my ma saw me play w/the stooges, twentythree years ago this november. crimony. I lost her back in 2019 cuz of copd - so glad I'm thirteen years plus now off those fuckin coffin nails. crimony.
usually it's total stau ("traff plug" in german) on the I-5 to san diego and there's some parking lot mode right between camp pendleton and oceanside but it's calm enough to allow us to reach the gigpad two minutes before the six and half load-in sched'd time, spice mike there to hold a spot for us right in front of the black cat bar hatch which is in the city heights neigborhood, my first time playing this venue. real nice soundman william not only's our fourth man for the night but also let's me use his shoulder to get up and down from the stage, most kind of him, truly. padboss matt's way happening also, nothing like working w/good people. I spaced and forgot to chimp about me last night not using the bergantino 1x12 speakerbox, switching it out w/the barefaced one10 (no tweeter version - watt is not into tweeters for bass!) which was modded by me by switching out its driver w/an eminence cannabass 10" 450-watter. actually, the nxt 212 last spring blew a driver and I replaced that w/an eminence kappalite lf 12" and I'm really digging the combo of all three. ok, fuckin gear spiel, huh? here's a little more for tonight: ac power's too hard to get to so although I'm bumming on not using "the watt" box and its 350 volt tube and ota comp, I'm adjusting to the sitch. "work the room" is an old saying from vaudeville days that I'm using 'pert-near every moment of my fuckin life. I'll tune by ear like I did w/d boon in minutemen days. actually my belief is gear is so much secondary to music, music itself is the priority in my way of thinking, always. gear is just a way of helping to bring it and that can take many forms.
after soundcheck w/william where we try out some ideas that were hashed out in the boat on the way here on our first debriefing of the tour. johnny's into debriefing which for me is happening. the more I prac, the better I feel so I am never bummed on getting to play for souncheck. we get done and mike finds two big carnitas tacos from somewhere using his leash and I really enjoy them in the boat. once chowed, I realized myself quite tuckered and konk hard on the boat's back bench, maybe two hours plus? whoa, I was out.
mike rousts me w/ten minutes to go for twenty after ten go time. gig is clean ("sold out" in olde-timey vaudeville talk) and the room's got great feel. we bring the third gig of the tour and I think it's the best one yet. I'm very inspired watching/hearing johnny, really digging it trying to let into my playing like I'm a glove for his hand in a way - I picked up on that playing w/chris corsano during a 2024 tour w/did w/joe baiza, I learned so much from playing w/him and hope to do the same w/johnny, my favorite music teachers are what drummers bring w/their playing, it's just the best for me. now I ain't saying I didn't blow clams but none enough to get our keel out of the water. the set flows as a big piece, I'm way into it... a kind ear-movie for the gig-goers. I still got a lot of work to do w/the richard hell words I do in the encore - man, do I owe him: my first punk hero.
jovi's here, yes! love this man. he gives me a book of poems called "bone lyre" from a cat named ted washington he's working w/on a proj called pruitt igoe and I invite him on the watt from pedro show... I read this poem from the book:
"oz"
wnderful mystery of emotions
of coming and going joyous
at the sight longing at the
leaving and wonderment lives
in the questions that remain
dancing and swaying to and
back here again to move
in time away to mysterious
space unfilled unfulfilled
quest for the wizard for
courage in the face to face
your face to face you
- ted washington
much kindness from the gig-goers, a fellow bass wrasler from alabama asks me to sign his wattplower mark II case, he talked to me earlier about my basses and we had a good time w/that. gear... his hug for me is genuine however and I hug him back like I hug jove... most grateful for good people in my life. the doorboss wes said he's been to the 'dine many times in pedro, wears his black cat bar shirt though, fuck yeah: community. spice mike gets my speakerboxes in the boat correct w/the bergantino 212 all the way port w/wheels aft and handle up, amp purse in the wheel-well and finally, the barefaced one10. now to the sidehatch, bass behind the backbench and the bass player's done stowed his stuff... I go up front and get in the wheelhouse. the bass player for stripped for parts raps w/me, sorry to miss his band cuz of being konked but it couldn't be avoided.
boat loaded, suddenly we depart. the konk pad is a quarter an hour away in national city, mike got it via the internet and though there's some scary dog stuff for him, he pops the hatch and we drop anchor, our first konk of the tour together. the only debrief was discussing two tunes getting switched around early in the sit and mike decides to keep it that way. I'm also thinking about digging the churn part near the end of the set and him and johnny are developing, love it. just after midnight I konk.
sunday, september 20, 2026 - tijuana, mexico
from mike:
15 min to cross
Witches and devils with John
Great folks here, good gig!
from johnny:
from watt:
pop at eight, crimony if that ain't the latest I've popped in a good while. first time on the air mattress and digging it much, whoa. tour mode. middle of the night I was got real cold and had to get on numaki, that was terrible... rilakkuma numaki makes feel like rilakkuma (relax bear), yokatta. johnny makes for the first wander and enlightens miss hiyori about a mercado that's got a chow pad in it and brings back one of the best desayunos ever I've chowed, love it! I talk w/johnny about some of the good stuff georgie has brought to my life and how I keep some still w/me, scotty-san from the stooges the same... I find myself sometimes in sitch's where w/out thinking I'm thinking (!) "what would georgie do or what would scotty-san say?" and it fuckin helps, fuckin does. johnny enlightens me to the fact that dan from tortoise was first drums for tar babies w/bucky and robin - damn, I'm a slow fuckin learner. I hose off and then when refitted w/outfit, bring the boat south and it a short time we're at the border w/mexico.
the weather is mild and so is the frontera. after much speed bumps and camera snaps (the line is very tiny) we meet a border man who examines our stuff and then asks to go to a second inspection where I show him some of our equipment and takes photos, takes photos of my passport card - yeah, I got one of these w/my passport renewal earlier this year that's good for crossings like w/mexico and canada. these days it seems it's good to have two forms of i.d., correct? drivers license is "the real i.d." also... had to show my medicare stuff and my car's pink slip to get it at the dmv... it also says "senior citizen" on it, crimony! this border man is most kind and let's us continue into tijuana, my first time here in thirtyfive years, I played some pad called "iguanas" which, well... I've always wanted to come back and play somewhere else but damn me for not trying harder and spacing on that. I make the wrong turn so it takes a little bit to get to the gig pad but it ain't far, we drop anchor at the mustache bar just before one. it's all closed up so mike and johnny wander while I guard the boat and chimp diary. there's a gas station I can see a block w/gas at 25 pesos a liter works out to about $5.60/gallon u.s. luis arrives just after three and opens stuff, he's very cool people. his buddy ezekiel arrives and he's a drummerman so has much to speak w/johnny. it's a real good time rapping w/these cats really know about what's up even w/them being young men, gran respeto! mike brings these tacos from nearby and some authentica chipotle salsa in a bolsa that's fuckin righteous sabor, whoa! great fuckin chow. first sunday of the tour reminds me of the sunday back in 1983 georgie, d boon and myself spent on rosarita beach, south of here and also july fourth - that's when and where d boon wrote "corona" by the way and we got real sunburned on our bald heads - the first time ever me and d boon ever got a hair cut like that, we gave it to each other using one disposable bic one-bladed shaver and d boon went second and I cut him badly, his resulting scalp looking as if it was motocross track w/the cuts and I felt like such a fucking idiot. it was actually for a gig opening at the whisky for johanna went the week before but he haired-out and never did cut his head bald, what?!
first up at quarter of eight are a local trio called piñatas and the bass lady is having bass probs so I let her use mine. they're young people and have a style all their own. after them are _patos del mar_ ("sea ducks" en español) which is a trio of a little less youger cats than the piñatas but no way as old as me - maybe halfway between me and the first trio? anyway, they got their own thing but what they have in common is big spiels in between each of their tunes. there's so many ways a trio can be different, I love it and have been a firm believer of that since the husker du / meat puppets /minutemen days! third up is melting lillies which is a four piece and the singer lady has actually been to the 'dine to my pedro town and has seen me play there - she told me this earlier today before the music started. she has quite a singing style that's all her own and very expressive in her bringing it, gran respeto. there's a gig-goer that gets really lit by it's and starts doing cannonball rolls across the cement deck, it's pretty big time incredible - I think I've never ever seen anything thing like it my 'pert-near fifty years of seeing gigs that have been part of the movement (first one was the bags at the whisky in west hollywood w/d boon after being hipped to that scene by nicky beat who was actually from pedro).
it's our turn at ten and a half. there's no monitors but w/this sitch I think that's way ok, good open air gig - first of the tour. the tijuana gig-goers are most kind to us. johnny really kicks up much dust. cuz of the power sitch, I am again going straight into my bergantino amp w/no sushi box fx "the watt" box and though I'm missing some of what I dig I still think I bring what I can to help the band bring the gig. this gig I feel is another important chapter in us developing this band's trip, the learning what we are by doing even though the six days in my pedro prac pad were important, these gigs are the big time "reality on the dealio" (to quote my buddy jovi) for the casa sueño evolution arc. I really enjoy tonight's gig, really do. much gracias to the good people here in tijuana tonight, also to mike and johnny and the gigboss people, luis and ezekiel. before the encore I apologize lo siento for not playing their town here for thirtyfive years, like what the fuck is wrong w/me? I wanna also chimp here soundman daniel was very key as our fourth man for tonight also... as I was packing my stuff up, he says I was reminding him of chris squire and wanted to play some yes but understood this tour it's alice coltrane mike has provided for the music before and after the casa hanzo performances this tour. ezekiel helps me off the stage and then loads the boat w/my stuff, most kind and way solid - gran respeto to him, truly.
a little after midnight we pull anchor but we won't reach the konk pad 'til just before two even w/only a short number of miles involved. the first hurdle is finding a way to the san ysidro border crossing we need to take to get back into the u.s. cuz mike's leash connect w/the internet ain't providing much help and after several deja vu movements all over again, I suggest we back the boat out further from the frontera cuz I think being so close doesn't allow access the to the fuckin plugged-up river of taillights its kind of obvious we need to be in so by getting us through some little neighborhood roads, alto sign by alto sign, we are finally able to find a sign guiding us to "all I-5 traffic" and that's what we need... what we need to get in a stau that takes like a hundred minutes to go less than a mile, so be it cuz at least we're after the fuckin "forever wander" mode, correct? the u.s. border man is kind to us w/just a look-see into the boat's back and side hatches... back to the pad we konked at last night, drop anchor and soon I'm out, one tuckered but happy pinche guero - so glad I just played in tijuana... and w/bof these marineros!
monday, september 21, 2026 - pioneertown, ca
from mike:
Wrong side of the stairs
Eric, Joel, Mike at the gig!
Despite clams, good gig!
from johnny:
from watt:
pop just before eight... again, whoa but considering the sitch, I can comprendo... again I chow what I did for desayunos yesterday and it's an excellent shovel, hicole! (I used that for a tune mike had me bring to this proj that's got some george russell inspiration) I catch up on the emails I can, so glad to get this one from bassbrother tony telling me of his new proj museum of errors - he's inspired me so much since seeing him when d boon, georgie and me saw him and pere ubu bring "the modern dance" to the whiskey in 1979... all the members of the band had a profound effect on me, the idea of the ensemble really made more sense than it ever did that night to me. crimony, the idea of an ensemble being a most interesting discussion among other stuff.
we must vacate at eleven so soon after that cuz of my tardy ass, we pull anchor and head north w/much mild weather, I'm digging that. there was like six weeks at least recently in my pedro town where it was the most humid ever along w/high temps, crimony - you can imagine how it was for peetzo and jer (my secondmen, they're also longshoremen) down on the docks! I've been in pedro sixty years and never experience anything like that for so long. anyway, we're north on ca-15 which turns in to I-15 and through temecula and I think of bassbrother andy fraser who we lost in this town, his bass wraslin had huge influence on me which makes me think of what's coming through the boat's sound system - it's the first time we've used it this tour and I got 'pert-near 11.7 thousand pieces of sound on a usb stick that feeds it a random shuffle mode and damn if after at t-rex tune w/bassbrother steve currie on bass, we get a sam locke-ward tune w/me on a bass for a proj we got called slw cc watt and I discus this big time w/mike who in the boat is always shotgun and never gets tired of me w/the windbag yammer about what went/goes into the way I work bass. I'm sure I owe steve currie very much, I think... I really do. you know the first gig me and d boon saw was t-rex, correct? in 1973, at the long beach auditorium. at desert hot springs I pull us over just before two bells at a "pilot" for our first pump and dump outside of pedro of the tour, $5.80/gallon but first I gotta find a pump that's free cuz motherfuckers don't just use spots at pump for just filling for fuckin long-term parking shit... you know, like in the meantime grow a garden or have a thanksgiving chow but first raise the turkey from a chick, correct? it's unbelievable to see every vehicle empty while people are what using the on-site hot tubs for a good soak 'til their skin is wrinkled? I always fuel up and then free up the space by parking where there's spots made for shit like that and wait for my team to finish fouling the facilities from there... it seems to me so indicative of how self-centered people can behave, a total parallel to how the driving is on the roads: buttloads of me-me-me fuckin narcissist cosplay, hooray for our team.
ok, enough of me throwing down my shorter piece of chalk, I get us on ca-62 towards joshua tree and pioneertown is right between morongo and yucca valley, a place hollywood created to make westerns but found out quick doing that made all the movies look the same, oops. the gigpad is pappy & harriets and I put the boats culo at their rear hatch twenty of three. I played here w/the meat puppets which I think is my only time. nice people working here, soundman kaiser is also a bassman! we check w/him and then chow here cuz it's also a chowpad, I get pulled pork sandwich I dump its contents in the salad I also get, tastes good together like that. I go to the boat and konk hard.
mike rousts me and I see derek monypeny walking to his coche, he was the opener for tonight in man-alone and damn me for missing him... I've done a couple improvised gigs w/him before and he's helped me out in so many ways, again: damn me. it's ten bells, crimony! another long pre-gig konk. anyway, I start the gig off blowing many fucking clams, really damn me for that. what the fuck? I'm really trippin on this but don't let it overwhelm me and I think that's cuz many years of gigs has fortified some to weather insane stuff like this which is good cuz I blow even more clams in the second tune, what?! the third one's got real strong involvement from johnny so I rally around that get it together for that but "fall down" again some before actually getting to where I feel I got a real handle on stuff. so glad for the gig-goers bearing w/me, same w/fourth man kaiser doing the knobs. big respect from me. now, even w/this clam blowing, there is still lots for me find to enjoy about the gig - I really have a good time playing w/johnny, let me tell you. we roll w/all the territory this gig brings which is net happening one. yatta!
soundman kaiser helps me load my stuff into the boat, does it good and he tells me he's also a bassman, whoa! I meet several gig-goers who are most kind to me. so glad they can see me w/this brand new band and see what I'm doing... signing a "paranoid time" e.p. from 1980 and the cat who owns is around my age but still interested in what I'm brining really is humbling and wanting me to try even harder and harder at this journey I'm on.... I'm thinking about that right now as I chimp this. I follow derek monypeny to the artist residency pad he's been developing, my third time now and it's really together. I hose off and konk right around midnight, remembering the first time I was here w/chris corsano and joe baiza - hey there's the record dere put out by us right by my head, the woodpecker he drew postioned perfect for pecking on my fuckin head!
tuesday, september 22, 2026 - bakersfield, ca
from mike:
Desert mountain trails
Communal spirit at gig
Great playing from band
from johnny:
from watt:
pop at twenty after seven, righteous weather greets from the window and it was not cold during last night's konk... also so glad I hosed off last night before getting into nightwear.
I see this one spiel from mr tang on one part of laozi's dao de jing and am digging the bottom line he brings much... love how his pencil points to each kanji he's 'splainin. I think of getting the second missingmen album "static" done cuz it needs just a little more... me, tom and raul will tour next spring, it'll be ten years since toured w/raul, crimony? is time a fuckin freight train or what? don't stand in its way!
pull anchor just after noon and head north for bakersfiled, a buttload of one-lane-each-way road (name "old woman's spring road" by the way) as we go through old friend kim white's town landers - she couldn't make last night cuz of sickness. it's not 'til barstow before we get some multilane rock and free of lame-ass tailgating pendejos. very nice weather, let me tell you and only 82º f which is ok for these parts - I get us off at a "loves" in boron not much after two so those aboard can fill bowls of toilets what's no longer needed, miss hiyori provides salad for me to prep w/dashboard sun for the rest of the ride after filling the mouf w/some hashi-fuls, most kind of her. crew members now lighter, the boat's now lighter. we listen to what the "from the ipod" usb stick has stuck on it which turns out to be lots of john coltrane ("crescent" from "live in japan" one of them) and excerpts from irish guys reading excerpts from "ulysses" by james joyce that I got when visiting dublin on bloomsday in 2004, I'll never forget that trip, never.
I get us to the gigpad just after four, my second time here at the bakersfield sound co and richie (he's a also the guitarman in the local bakersfield band dropping in (hear them recently as guests on the watt from pedro show) big time came to the rescue and got us this after a major rug-pull from the people mike had booked months and months ago, most to richie for being such beautiful people, me and him have a big spiel about stuff like integrity. mike brings some carnitas tacos he got nearby, they're tasty and I chow them while spieling w/richie. after doing soundcheck w/him (he's also our fourth man for tonight, on the knobs), I meet tobi, bass w/tonight's band we're sharing the deck here (rug on the deck actually, am digging big time!), locals called dancing tommy and I'm getting asked about "dr wu" by the minutemen, not realizing we were doing a version of a tune by the dan... georgie was big time into the dan - we'd play bof sides of the sides of a cassette on tour, two albums at a time! tobi here says he wants to ask me about it later... that never happens but that's ok cuz we do get to talk about richard hell! anyway, don't mean to get ahead of myself, scuzi.
they kick the gig off at seven and are really happening, I get as close as I can to check their set out. they sing and play really good together and have tunes/beats I'm digging. gran respeto. what a way to get watt lit, thank dancing tony - fuck, I wanna now be a dancing watt!
our turn next at eight. I have confidence and try some stuff I never have w/the opener, "kickin it off" and only blow minimal vongeli ("clams" in italiano) w/mike's "house of dreams" which was fuckin not given what it deserved last night from a not-together bass performance, the horror. the bakersfield gig-goers are beautiful, love them. I still blow vongeli but nothing like last night, so good to rally after stinking it up some the night before, let me tell you. do the dick hell the best I have yet this tour, thank you tobi for help w/the inspiration there, thank you big time. music = a huge connect in my life. found a place where to my chair when we play so it's most happening for the whole band: even w/snare drum, love playing w/johnny and watch him 'pert-near the whole time. no disrespect to the gig-goers but johnny's helping me get my part of the casa hanzo music together, he really is and I'm digging it most thoroughly.
I've gotten into the swing w/getting my stuff packed up and to the boat quick as possible, a helperman from this pad helping big time and doing excellent work w/getting the bass stuff stowed. tiko-ko boss roy and his wife are and rap w/me about them 'pert-near being tonight's gig and so kind to give me a "sinking ship room" sweatshirt and we talk of moby-dick book, "rachel weeping for her children" in my mind and then out my mouf. we take band photos w/dancing tommy using the boat's headlights to illuminate us, finally I get to rap w/their tobi but it's all about richard hell and I even sing the last verse and chorus of "another world" which of course is common knowldege to bof of us but it's adios time just then w/me saying "but not this one" - prolly cuz it's a work night. I did flow my email address so hopefully and can write me and I can have the band on as guests for the watt from pedro show, yes!
all packed up, we pull anchor for john's pad, actually outside the city but still not far, my fourth time konking here, he's so kind. I hose off and really dig the high pressure his shaua (sic, nihon-go) brings, really do. it's like only ten and a half when I find out to get all the lights and the do the same w/my own... most grateful tonight's gig happened, yes!
wednesday, september 23, 2026 - fresno, ca
from watt:
pop just after seven, very good konk which I needed I think cuz of no pre-gig konk yesterday... it was four hours to do the two hundred miles needed for yesterday's schlep but today's only half of that(all pretty much flat pert-near interstate-like also) so mike says we pull anchor at two - john so kind to let us hang here. me and him spiel about all kinds of stuff after he makes coff (w/no flavor - he remembers, said he read the diary!) and three over-medium eggs w/sourdough toas, most king of him. yeah, we spiel about the musician books I'm reading, then him being into prog and then stuff like some china history and stuff I think of as part of "the law of unintended consequences" and he's got a lot examples of that he relates to me. happening. I then chimp diary. john discusses w/us the stuff that ain't working in his living room, tv and stereo equip... it's me think of these two main activity a life might bring you: 1) pick it up and put over there and 2) name things and assingn them value. by the way, number one is what I'm calling the second secondmen album. I sent out internet blasts of not only news about tonight's gig but all happy bday to john coltrane who woud've been a hundred today.
two bells and it's bye bye to john, real good weather to send us off... on the way to his pad last night we had a debrief and I wanna see if mike has any ideas after my suggest last night the fourth tune we played last night... mike says he's thought about it and is gonna try something... johnny says he's gonna try something w/the tune that after that way, take his solo out of beat, alright! I'm gonna try something too, in the churn part - be a little more elastic. this gig is buttsaver one like last night, a last minute put-together cuz of a out-of-nowhere scissor so why not it also have a petri dish angle? indeed. especially appropriate on john coltrane's bday!
around three-twenty I pull us over at "maverik" fuel stop and mike gasses up the boat for $5.97/gallon (gotta remember mike uses a card instead of cash and that's about ten cents more), miss hiyori brings me another salad for the boat's dash, johnny's into it. I tell him about the time I got to play the last song of a blue oyster cult gig w/a version of the band w/just e bloom and buck dharma, it was "the red and the black" at an old art deco theatre in beverly hills and they had me hobble up on the stage via these little stairs on the side that went into the seats. when I got up there, buck dharma had me come over to him stage center and as hakim gave me his bass, he told me what was up... what was really trippy was that his voice wasn't like the one you hear on "don't fear the reaper" cuz his talking voice is more like some guy from a 30s movie new york city accent and it was hard for me to believe that's what was actually coming out of his mouf. he told me, "you guys prolly played it a lot faster but anyway, we're gonna start in 'e' and then go down to 'd' and then well get into it, ok?" w/my me nodding kind of trippin on the whole thing, thinking about d boon seeing this happen. at one point the drummer clammed and laughed - I laughed back and it was big enough to swamp the boat and let me tell you, buck dharma played his ass off, he was really really good.
we get to the part of fresno where the tower theatre and for some fuckin idiot reason I'm thinking this is the home of the first tower records but of cuz that was in fuckin sac-town and we ain't playing this tour... senior moment or what? my brother justin lives in fresno but he's in barcelona for his work, damn, love him much. I drop anchor four and a half right near veni vidi vici which is a chow pad where we're gonna play in the back, thank you so much to professor richard for making this happen, truly - also the style like revelators cats who are also gonna be the openers. so glad we didn't lose the opp to play this town, truly.
no souncheck for tonight but we do get chowed by this pad and I shovel a most happening caesar's salad w/some shrimps along side it, real good! the opening cats bring the p.a. and set it up, whoa - they're helping w/this also, much respect. it's in the nineties, pretty hot so I go back to the boat and think I'm gonna just lie down and rest my eyes but damn if I konk 'til somehow popping a quarter after seven - just fifteen minutes before go-time, what a tonto! I get situated in time though and we bring the set. I really dig most of our dog and pony show (scotty-san would sometimes call appearances that and I've been thinking a lot about him, especially on tour) w/the only thing bumming out is actually the first time I've experienced it this tour: fuckin yammering from fuckin yentas - there's three clowns right to my port-side that are relentless but also to the starboard is a lady one that's 'pert-near as windbag as all thrown clowns together and she's in soliloquy mode! I hold focus though and don't go off but fuckin kind of really want to but then that would be letting these bogarts highjack the gig for the rest of the gig-goers which would be truly not happening. I just sailor through it. I do dig mike's "events" he brings for his "trippin on the moonlight" tune, something we talked about last debriefing and also johnny's drum soliloquy in mike's "electric chair" (bof tunes part of the casa sueño album we're gonna record next week in portland) and I'm a little more together w/the whole enchilada... first week of tour now in the sack!
a gig-goer named ben helps w/the schlep and stow w/the bass gear after much good word from the gig-goers and signing stuff, I'm most grateful - also getting to thank again bassbrother prof richard, yes and also I thank sincerely one of the guitarman of the openers, nick - really kind of him to help us so and I wish him the best w/his journey in music. I wheel us to a pad mike got on the internet and not to belly-ache but compared to the firehose-strength of john's shower in bakersfield (much respect!), this is some piddly-ass dribble trying hose down my kitanai ("filthy" in nihon-fo) self. I'm still grateful to have the opp to do that though, don't get me wrong. also the early ten and a half konk time, way into that! oh, spaced on mentioning w/increase the set's medley closer to four tunes w/a big time interpretive (espeically from mike) interpretation of "equinox" by john coltrane in honor of him. amen.
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