In Santa Monica, in the winter time...

...the coldest place is on the Promenade. Yes, for those of you that know your bad 90's music, those are lyrics from a Savage Garden song. I had their album when I was in middle school, and couldn't get that awful song out of my head while bumming around Santa Monica with my brother, Cody. Naturally, I had to share the song with him every time he said "Santa Monica." And now I had to share it with you.

Though it is not quite winter time, it was beginning to feel like it back in Wisconsin, getting far too cold far too early. So it was a nice change of pace to arrive into sunny, 80-something Los Angeles in mid-October. My brother picked me up at the airport and we drove straight to Santa Monica to enjoy the seaside weather.

I have it on good authority (Cody) that palm trees are not native, but were brought to California from Hawaii. In exchange, Hawaii got sand for its' beaches from California. Apparently Hawaii does not have naturally sandy beaches, rather rocky, sharp, volcanic ones.

Beach. With a background of smog.

Sunset. Cody. Santa Monica Pier.

Cody's new pad in Van Nuys. It looks nice on the outside, but its kind of a dump. The living room is my favorite part, and Cody says it best, "its meant for nobody to use." His new roommates seriously have it set up with two couches, neither of which have the cushions on them and so are unusable, and there are random arcade games around, as its somebody's hobby to fix them. Weird. Either way, its a place to rest your head.

*Maybe you were confused about this post and didn't even know I was in California or headed that way as I didn't mention it in an earlier post? Just to fill you in, I am spending 9 days or so visiting my brother, who lives in Los Angeles. We are spending a couple days in San Francisco (where I am currently) and playing a gig there, and then heading further north to do some camping, play a gig in Fort Bragg, and then head back down to Los Angeles next weekend for a gig in Hollywood and a visit from our friend Tony, who lives in Vegas. Thats the intinerary, don't stalk us, we are armed with instruments. And in case you didn't realize that I also have a songwriter-inclined brother, check out his rad tunes right here: Cody Statz

"Darndest Things" footage

I was spending my Saturday night as any professional musician would, playing Risk and watching B-movies with friends, when I received a call from my buddy Nic Thorson inviting me to take part in a movie shoot the next night. Nic is a good friend of my brother's, and also lives out in Los Angeles, but is home in Wisconsin for a bit making a short film entitled "Darndest Things". He need somebody to play the host for an open mic scene being shot at the New Moon Cafe up in Oshkosh, WI, so I said, "sure, what the hell?"

My role is a pretty tiny one, just saying a few lines that any open mic host would say, and then playing a song (Nic asked for a "slow and tender" one, so I played "Everything To Me", which I wrote in West Virginia last year).

Anyways, Nic posted some rough footage on youtube, which you could take as a trailer if you wish, though Nic is probably coming up with something far slicker for that. The song behind the footage is being played by my friend, Laura Schultz, who also plays the lead role in the movie. I make a brief brief cameo appearance in this footage, but hope you enjoy seeing some cool shots and great music!

Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Si17_kHwc

More from Spring Tour

I played at the Tribal Cafe in Los Angeles on Saturday night with my brother, Cody Statz, and Phil Yates, a songwriter I played with in Chicago three years ago who now lives in L.A. Above is a picture of my brother playing some of his most excellent songs while sporting Bucky pride during March Madness.

The night of the Tribal Cafe gig was my last in L.A., and afterwards we headed to a North Hollywood bar near Cody's home for a few drinks. My old roommate and current Las Vegas denizen Tony Flanagan is in the middle, flanked by Cody and myself.

San Francisco! I had three gigs in the San Fran area, one in Penngrove, one in Fairfax, and one in San Francisco itself. I stayed with my friend Branden, who I used to hang out with way back in my Freshman year of college. He is a radically cool dude, and showed me all around San Francisco during the few days I was there. Of course, we had to make a trip to Haight Street.

Haight Street and the neighboring Golden Gate Park are filled with hippies, gutter punks, and street people. Here is a group of them hanging out in the Park. You cannot walk 20 feet in this park without someone trying to sell you drugs. Whispers of "great bud", or "excellent weed" were commonplace, and when someone whispered only, "good nugs", you had to wonder how he could compete with the aforementioned "great" and "excellent"?

If you are a child of the 90's like I am, then you will recognize these houses from the opening credits of "Full House". Yes, I am a dork and asked Branden to show me where they were.

The Road... continued

This is where my tour started feeling more like a vacation...So after my Sunday gig in Flagstaff, AZ I drove up to Las Vegas to spend a few days visiting a college roommate/bestest bud of mine. Tony teaches photography at a Las Vegas high school, and is loving the city and scene. Pictured above is one of the nicer Casinos on the Strip, the Bellagio. I didn't have any shows in Vegas, but it was a good way to spend a Sunday through Tuesday, generally days when you will find mediocre gigs anyways. Though, I probably could've picked a cheaper place to lay low, Vegas bleeds you dry. This was my first time to the city, and I actually swore I'd never go until Tony moved there. I can no longer sing the line in Ryan Adams' song, "never been to Vegas, but I've gambled all my life" with sincerity, drat.

After Vegas it was time to head to Los Angeles, another city I had never been to. My brother Cody recently moved here to try his hand at the film industry. Here Cody is pointing to his Kingdom, in North Hollywood.

While I did play some gigs in L.A. and Long Beach, this was definitely vacation mode. My parents flew out from Wisconsin because they had not yet visited Cody, and that weekend Tony drove down from Vegas so we could all hang out. Above is my mom trying her luck with a penny in Chinatown.

The Griffith Park Observatory, located up in the hills above Hollywood and Los Angeles. It has been featured prominently in many films, most famously in "Rebel Without A Cause" with James Dean. It has some really neat exhibits inside, and provides an amazing lookout over the city. Definitely worth a visit.

The Hollywood sign off in the distance. It was pretty hazy that day, not sure if it was fog or the smog, but probably both.