Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Oakland, CA, Feb. 23, 2010

Yoko Ono, Oakland, CA Feb 23 2010

Show in Oakland with Yoko today. When I landed I went straight to the train to ride into Oakland. I was told that was the only surefire way to get there quickly, as all the bridges down there have ridiculous amounts of construction all the time. It was pretty easy, and once I got there I hadn't missed too much and was able to get right into it.

The show today wasn't as involved as the ones last week. Only 2 special guests, Jaron Lanier (dude literally plays over 1000 instruments), and once again, Harper Simon. The soundcheck was alright, got through some last minute surprises, but everything worked out. We didn't have a whole lot of time to kill, so I just ended up staying at the venue till showtime. Today is the Fox Theater.

The Fox Theater is stunning. It's a beautiful vaudeville era building, maintained perfectly. It's amazing. Backstage is a xanadu of the touring world. The bathrooms all had showers, and they were better than most hotels I've stayed in. And that's saying something. You could live down there and feel at home. And the catering was great. I will always look forward to seeing "Fox Theater" on my itineraries from now on. Great crew too. Turns out one of the audio guys did monitors for Prince for 2yrs. That's impressive, especially given that he didn't even mention it himself and there was zero ego. Love this place.

The show went really smoothly tonight. It was more of a standard show, i.e. set + encore, as opposed to acts, and it seemed to fly by. Once done, I went out to the lobby bar where a friend of mine from the area was waiting. Sometimes things work out and you can hook up with people just when you think there's no chance, which is always nice when you're in so many cities all the time. Familiar faces always make you feel a little more at home. Unfortunately we had missed last call though, but there was a place down the street where we were able to get a quick one before I had to go.

I got back to the venue just in time for our shuttle to the hotel, really looking forward to crashing after such a loooong day. So, naturally, it was fitting that the front desk was closed when we got there, no one on duty to check me in. Awesome. And, a couple of the band members were locked out of their rooms, and one didn't have electricity! Boutique hotels aren't always what they're cracked up to be. We started dialing every phone number we could find, we were knocking on the doors and windows in the lobby, no answers anywhere. Finally, after about 10mins, one of the band members got through to someone, and sure enough, a guy pops out from one of the back rooms of one of the doors we had been pounding on. Would it have so hard to just show up in the first place? Sigh... So anyways, I got my room key, the band members who were locked had already climbed into their rooms through the fire escape and a window, and the power was back on for #3. Wild way to end a night.

Yoko Ono Day 2, flying home

I tired to get up early enough today to go for coffee at Blue Bottle, etc... but I was warped. Just dead from the last few days. About 30 min before we were supposed to go, I pushed everything back a few so I could at least caffeinate myself. We weren't that far away from the Blue Bottle Kiosk, so I had to make the trip. I needed beans for home anyways, so it all made sense. I power walked there and back, felt a million times better after the whole thing and hopped in a cab to go to SFO for an uneventful flight. I made it home by midnight, had a small bite to eat and I was out.