Paso Robles: It’s my birthday!
The day started off with a free birthday burger at Sylvester’s in Atascadero on our way to Paso Robles. Sylvester’s has awesome huge burgers so it was totally awesome to get a huge mushroom burger for free… After stopping by the club to set up we head over to our buddy Ruben’s place to chill before the show. After a short nap at Ruben’s place we head back to the venue for the show. This time we played at the 463 Club in Paso Robles. The 463 Club is a sports bar/music venue. We ended up having a pretty small crowd but the few that were there were our good friends and we had a blast playing for them. After the show we let Ruben show us downtown to do some birthday partying. The first bar we stop into has one of my favorite pastimes going on…. Karaoke… To say that I have a good time singing Karaoke would be a bit of an understatement. So Ryan and I sang a few songs and Liza even ended up singing a couple of songs. It was a ton of fun. After the karaoke we headed back to Ruben’s place and finished the night with a few drinks and a lot of laughs. Great food, great friends, a fun show, and Karaoke. All and all it was a great birthday!
Babylon in Fresno
Unfortunately sometimes a show will get double-booked and one of the bands ,or even an entire group of bands, will be dropped from the show. A week before we left on tour this happened to us for a Saturday night gig we had in Sacramento. I thought to myself that we were pretty much SOL, but I wasn’t going to take it lying down. So I got on the ol’ interweb and emailed 20 or so places in the region just north of Paso Robles all the way to the Sacramento area. I was sure to lay it on a little thick with the “we got dropped from our show” bit to see if we couldn’t get a last-minute show, and sure enough we lucked out big time! Within days I heard back from the booker of a cool club in Fresno called the Babylon Club. They were happy to let us jump on the bill and they even offered me a guarantee. Needless to say I was ecstatic.
The show went really well too. We played last to a smaller, but very energetic crowd that hung around after the local bands played. Also all of the other bands who played were great, and actually brought out people (believe it or not this is rarely the case). So from having a show canceled we ended up making a new contact with a booker and promoter who, I feel, really appreciate good music and aren’t afraid to do some work to promote a show. Can’t wait to come back!
Lompoc ‘N’ Around, What? What?!
Lompoc, pronounced Lom-poke, is a midsized town of California’s central coast, and scattered throughout are dive bars and sports bar-n-grill sort of places. One such bar was our venue for the night; the name was The Wicked Shamrock.
As the name implies, the Shamrock is a hybrid between an Irish Pub and a club that caters mostly to the punk/goth/darker-side-of-rock genres. Needless to say, Achachay! funked ‘n’ rolled all night and made the place their own. Like they do.
There was dancing and drinking, as much on our part as on the part of the audience. I guess that’s not exactly true, the crowd was definitely boozing a bit more. A particularly drunk group of boys comes to mind. They were pretty on fire about the show- bought merch, chatted about the band- and really brought the house down. By which I mean, one of them fell victim to gravity, and toppled himself, a table, and three of the four chairs around said table onto the floor. On the other hand, other folks were more suave, like the New Yorker named Boston who broke into various swing routines with her friend.
All in all, the show was a blast and the bar was good to us- buying us a round of Patron when the clock struck twelve and Hooch began the festivities of yet another birthday.
The Lompoc post would not be complete without mention of our hospitable host Brian. He was generous with his his time, energy, and home. We went out for dinner before the show (delicious!), he hung out
for most of the show, and then invited us to breakfast in his kitchen the next day. We found out that he was a fellow Texan and preparing to move back home. He shared stories about his experience in the air force, which had an almost uncanny semblance to passages from Catch-22, so conversation was never lacking.
Good show, good company, and we hope to see Brian back in Texas!
-Liza
Los Angeles / Tarzana
When i think about our time in Los Angeles a few Wednesdays ago I think mostly of the great people we spent time with.
- Our gracious host James Leffler was hilarious as usual (check these vids for examples of his humor)
- Ben Carson threw a pre-party and is now the only person to make it to all of our LA appearances.
- Surprise Rice friends I did not realize live in the area including Lila and Will
- I saw Marty who I studied in Ghana with for the first time in a couple of years
- Joe – one of our Ashland buddies we met through Karrgo Bossa Jova -was an absolute hoot to hang out with. We had some lively and engaging discussions about the purpose and character of higher education, with many references to Harry Potter. Nothing more can be said that is fit for print.
We played an awesome show, as usual. Los Angeles really reminds me that when it comes to my life, it often comes down to this: I love people. I used to hate the city because of the traffic, the pollution, and the superficiality. But the fact that there are so many people I love there – cousins with babies in the belly, old camp friends, comedian advisors – I can’t help but enjoy myself.
The intensity of travel and the nonstop social interaction of our tours challenges the psyche. Yet, I get so much energy from the good people surrounding us, that even a week of sleeping on the floor can’t suppress my almost constant giddiness. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to stay connected to these people distributed across the world.
Another Religion Video
Official music video for Achachay!’s “Another Religion.”
Download the music FREE at this link (right click and save file as): http://achachay.com/Another_Religion_Album_Version.mp3
Live recording FREE download here:
http://achachay.com/Another_Religion_Live_DentonTX.mp3
Spread the word and let us know what you think.
Last year Achachay! and a team of dedicated volunteers brought the Gorilla Run 5k to Austin, TX. Proceeds from the run benefit the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund. Find out more about the MGCF here http://www.saveagorilla.org/, and the Austin Gorilla Run here: http://www.austingorillarun.com
Find out more about Achachay! by browsing this site.
SLO Times
First let me say that the tour is going splendidly! We haven’t had too much time on the internet, though, and we apologize for not being better about our blog-posting. If you’d like to file a complaint, please contact your local funk-rock-band-complaint center. Thank you.
After we left the San Diego area we played a show in San Luis Obispo, or SLO. SLO is an awesome town in my opinion: it’s picturesque, the people there have been very nice and very cool to us, and it’s home to what some say is the best tri-tip in the Central Coast. A little aside here: WTF is up with Californians and tri-tip? They can’t get enough of it, and it seems like if it’s not on the menu, then the restaurant is shit! As a Texan and meat-connoisseur, I found my tri-tip experience to be very enjoyable, but nothing too special (sorry guys).
Any who, we once again played the Frog and Peach in SLO, but this time it was pint night. Pint night is where patrons can bring in their own Frog and Peach pint glasses and get beer for super-cheap. We had a great crowd for most
Playing at the Peach
of the night, and over all the show was really fun. We also stayed with Myles and his friends again and it was great to finally get to play for them.
I look forward to my next time in SLO!
Good times
Introductions: Liza
Let’s start with the basics: My name is Liza Mitrofanova and I’m accompanying your favorite Achachay! boys on their 2011 West Coast Tour. Why, you ask, do I have the supreme honor of making this pilgrimage? Well, it’s all quite simple, really. The only cosmic alignment that had to take place was their need to promote and sell merch on the road, my availability and pre-existing plans to forage into the West, and a tiny amount of social network intervention.
This is why there has been a random girl you probably don’t recognize popping up in the later posts by Jordan and the Ryan’s. So let’s get cozy – here are a few factoids about Yours Truly.
I was born in the wintery month of February in Siberia…. As a point of reference, pull up a map of Russia, now point with your index finger to the exact middle of that glorious country, and Voila! You have now, more or less, identified my birth place: Novosibirsk.
Three of the people I consider my parents are either biochemists or moleculuar biologists. Nevertheless, neither my sister or I have (or intend to) follow these career paths.
As is made obvious by my decision to embark on a six week tour in a van with three strangers, I like journeys, people, music, and all kinds of new experiences… preferably the ones you can’t predict. The elements just mentioned have brought me to an appreciation of Peruvian box drums and sharing yerba mate.
I don’t get homesick really ever (though I do love my family very, very much), but I do miss my 120 pound pooch. Home is where your dog is, I say.
All in all, I’m a pretty simple being, and all I want right now is to see the West the way Thomas Moran did… and despite all the domestication of the Wild that’s taken place, I’d say I’m feeling it.
Nice to meet.
-Liza-
O’Sullivan’s: Down with the Sickness….
I should preface this post by saying that I was suffering from food poisoning for the 2 days leading up to this show and a day or so after… so the things I remember from the show are minimal. We played an Irish Pub. What you wouldn’t expect from an Irish pub is for the majority of the staff to actually be Irish. But O’Sullivans is different in that way. The bar staff was awesome and like I said mostly Irish. Everyone was friendly and there was good food (even though it was really hard to eat being sick and all). We had a great crowd that danced and kept the energy high to help me through a rough night. We also ran into an artist by the name of Sid who meshes together hip-hop and several other genres to create some awesome music. I haven’t been able to track him down online but once I do I will post some links to his music. After this show we had a couple days off for some much needed rest. I have recovered nicely from my little bout with food poisoning and all is well! That’s pretty much what I’ve got from that show. Hooch over and out!
Chilin in San Diego
Pic of the Pub
Random pic of Liza
Morro Bay, poo in a bucket
We awoke at 630 am Friday morning to drive a ridiculous 12 hours to Otter Rock club in Morro Bay California. We arrive to a beautiful bar on a beach harbor, play a fun long show to a decent crowd of entirely foreigners, and pop on over to SLO for the night. The show is brilliant; its a great crowd and atmosphere for our almost a capella song (ryan’s now on djembe). We also sell some Keep Austin Funky shirts to some friendly Arizonans.
Anyway, there are two stories even more worth telling here. The first is about a sweet jacket. The second is about shitting in a bucket.
(1) Flagstaff and the jacket… Ryan already mentioned the jacket but let me elaborate. There is a group of four people hanging out, waiting for us to play. One guy says he doesn’t want to stick around because he’s really cold. I’m heading to the van to warm up vocally anyway, so I grab him my one and only jacket. It’s a stylish, tight green affair from H&M that I got on the last tour. He wears it, they stay and have a really good time. Good enough that he gets drunk enough to walk off with my jacket!
A little cold, and a little bummed. We head home to Dan’s. Dan is about the most generous guy you’ll ever meet. He loves to make people feel good. He’s in the process of getting rid of as much of his stuff as possible to go traveling in a month. As soon as he hears about my plight, his face lights up. “I’ve got the coolest jacket you can have. It’s going to look perfect.” He goes to the closet and pulls out a freakin’ sweet crazy tan cow hide and sheep fur masterpiece. I don it; it fits. “Thanks Dan!” I throw a leathery wooly hug around the man, and have hardly been able to take off the jacket since.
(2) SLO and the poo bucket… Our couchsurfing hosts in San Luis Obispo (SLO) are a bunch of badass dudes. They were totally welcoming, and down to host us after our Morro Bay show even though we’d be getting in late and never met them before. We had a sweet jam with them in the morning (made hooch and I want to buy a banjo), and in general they made us feel like home. More mentions will be made of them as we stayed with them another night. The important part here is that we walk into the bathroom and there’s a red Home Depot funnel labeled “Pee here,” going through a hole in the floor, and there’s a bucket – just a bucket - with a toilet seat that says, “Composting Toilet. Poop here, cover with sawdust. No pee! Save 1.6 gallons.” Yeah, that was the deal. They poop in a bucket.
I have read about this before, but I had never had the pleasure of getting to participate. It really does save a lot of water, and investments into sanitation equipment and sewer systems (if you properly compost it. Here’s the wikipedia article about it). I’m not ready to jump on the bandwagon, but I’m glad that people are experimenting with more environmental ways of disposing of waste. It wasn’t too bad to use, and it seems to be going okay for these guys (For the record – they’re very normal people. They study mechanical and civil engineering).
Just some savory tidbits from life on the road. 
Flagstaff Round 3
Ryan before the show
We have played the Flagstaff Brewery now 3 times and we have a had a great show each time! This was our second show on the this tour and we were ready to rock Flagstaff again. It was a cool, and starry night and we had an energetic crowd for a good part of the show. We also got our friend Daniel aka Danimal to come up and play a few songs with us. He is a badass harmonica player and his band 2BUKU is great!
Highlights from the show: 1. We made some new fans 2. Jordan got his jacket stolen by a drunk/cold fan 3. We recorded some amazing off-the-cuff jams with Daniel on harmonica.
All in all it was a great night, and I can’t wait to come back to Flagstaff! Oh and don’t worry about Jordan’s jacket situation: he ended up scoring a really sweet fleece coat from Daniel later that night!
