Tulsey Town!

Currently listening to: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones -- Live Art

We met up around 3pm to jam a bit before taking off for Tulsa, I city notorious for the constantly changing face of its music infrastructure. It seems like there is always a new venue opening up in place of an old one shutting down, responsibility and ownership changing hands and bands fading off the map as quickly as new ones emerge. Point in case: the tale of The Marquee, Crystal Pistol's revival from the 1980's and most recently (and most commonly known at this point) DFest's "hibernation." I learned some details on that from a few plugged-in Tulsa natives but let's just stick with "it's not happening this year." Don't worry--it looks like there are plans in the works for blowout DFest-relief, outdoor shows in Norman and Tulsa, both of which are being worked on by solid, accountable individuals. We may end up with the tough decision on our plates of which to attend (admittedly not the worst decision to face).

To get back on track--we met up at 3pm to jam. Looks like we may have a new one in the works; time will tell what happens with this fragmented sonic love child:

As we're loading the trailer and preparing to head out, a neighbor who just so happens to be a member of Gentle Ghost is doing the same. Wil: "where are you guys off to?" Scott: "...the show. We're playing the show with you tonight!" Come to find out the Crystal Pistol show now consisted of Gentle Ghost, Student Film, The Non and Native Lights. We hit the road around 5:30pm--everything starts late in T-Town:

We knew everything started late in T-Town but underestimated just how late. An issue with the PA put the four band bill kicking off around 10:35, notably late but somehow just right for Tulsa, really. In that down time, however, fifteen minutes of fireworks were visible to the north of the skyline. Somebody else was having a good night too, I guess. Gentle Ghost did an awesome job, Student Film was definitely having an "on" night. Seriously--so, so good last night. Student Film is one of my favorite local bands and they blew it away. Their new material is just awesome and few things are as fun to watch as Sethy doing what he does, swinging from side to side like one of those towering cranes being used to build the Devon tower downtown except on speed. Lots of speed.


Our set was equally "on." The stage was so small that we did not even set up our can lights (the four high-wattage, halogen lights that often come on and off via foot pedal at bigger local shows) and could hardly move without risking the [inevitable] collision of guitar headstocks. It was what could be called a "dry show" in terms of the visual effects: lasers, tower lights, can lights and smoke. BUT it does not take all that fancy stuff to make a great show. We all felt great about the performance and received some great feedback. Something about everything starting so late, moving in such a rapid-fire fashion (we were loaded on the stage and off in about seven and four minutes, respectively) and feeling so intense fit the evening perfectly, which took place at--let's not forget--the Crystal Pistol, a venue which saw a lot of my favorite punk bands travelling through in the 80's. I'm glad this place has been revived.


I drew the short straw and got to drive home. We hit the road, homeward bound, around 2am. Arriving back at the launchpad in OKC at something like 4am, we all took turns joking about Tulsa's endless plaid and mustaches and considering going to Waffle House:

4:30am saw my sweaty face hit the pillow, not to rise again until 2:30 in the afternoon later that day. Man, I'm ready for tour.






--life on the line continues!