7/5/08, San Luis Obispo

10:53AM, San Luis Obispo

We now write to you from Linnaea's Cafe, where we are playing tonight in SLO.  I am very glad that we are able to spend time here because, although I have only been here for brief amounts of time, I really like it here.  The cafe looks like another wonderful place to play, and the kind of place that Mack would like to live.

We played at the Zephyr Coffee and Art Gallery on Wednesday, and the show went great.  We played outside on their patio, and there were three people there just to see us.  This has become our new benchmark for each show.  Although there were few people there for us, there was also a group of five (most likely) Armenian men gambling and smoking from a large hookah.  When I first saw them, I feared that they would be bothered by our music, but they were very nice, and bought a few CDs.  One man even gave us $20, but didn't a disc, saying that he would "burn a copy" from his friends who also bought one.  After we played, we were given delicious free food by the baristas, and we ate and hit the road again.  The money that we had made bought another tank of gas, and we set off towards our Motel 6 Reservation in Ventura.

-Joseph

11:34AM - Hey everyone! Sitting here with the boys at tonight's venue. This is my first time in SLO and I absolutely love it. It's a precious town with a really cool vibe. We left Ventura on the morning of July 4th (happy birthday America!) and headed towards SLO. We stopped at a grocery store for brunch which turned out to be extremely delicious. Lots of fruit and veggies and Mack bought himself a whole baguette which I'm pretty sure is gone by now. 

I drove from there so the boys could eat and it was a gorgeous drive. We passed vineyards aplenty and the grass was pastorally yellow. We have decided to do a vineyard tour when we're all 21. Supporting local and organic grape growers and wine makers. And the scenery would be beautiful! Sign up now for your seat on the bus (we'll have a big bus by then, of course).

We pulled over once we got to SLO and called a few hotels. All the prices were very jacked up because of the holiday. Joe used his handheld GPS and we called almost every number in it, vowing to not take a double room over $129.00. We started calling all the ones with the sketchiest names, and they got progressively less expensive, but progressively more sketchy. Finally we got ahold of 'El Toro Motel' which was $99.00 per night, and of course we said YES PLEASE! We found it pretty quick, but our insides started feeling uneasy, as it looked a little bit too much like Norman Bates resided there. The sign outside, instead of advertising features like 'Heated Pool' or 'WiFi', proudly advertised that it had 'HBO' and 'Phones'. Please, let the phones be functional, we thought as we timidly checked in.

It wasn't so bad. We left that evening, and Mack and Joe dragged me to go see Hancock. Hancock. Really? REALLY? That is 100+ minutes I will never get back. Still, we had a lot of fun making fun of the bad story line. The best part is when Will Smith picks up a beached whale and throws it back in the ocean, but accidentally hits a sailboat. Yes, that was the best part. 

After that, we had dinner at this asian/western fusion place. It was very tasty, especially the hand-mixed ginger ale. We wanted to see some fireworks so we drove out to Pismo Beach. There were SO many people there, so we found a side road to park on, and we sat on the roof. The ones we could see were nice, and we had a lot of fun listening to Charlie Haden + Ornette Coleman, "The Shape of Jazz To Come". Says Mack, one of the most influential albums of all time. 

We went back to the hotel and got our Twilight Zone on for a bit, before falling asleep. 

Today, we plan to go to 'Nit Witt Ridge'. We're going there because I had a twice reoccurring dream about a house, and then one day, months ago when I was in Barnes and Noble, I picked up one of those 'Weird California' books on a whim, and when I was flipping through, the house from my dream was right there on the page. I had never heard of it before. I told Joe, and we sort of forgot and I forgot the name of the place. Then, when we were on our way to see the movie, that book was on display in the side window of SLO's B&N. I went and found the name of the place and it just so happens it's in this area! I have been convinced that if I go there, something amazing will happen, so we are going today to find out. 

Our show is tonight, it should be a good one! Talk soon. 

All my love,

Kelpond Small

11:45AM - Kelsea is addicted to honey. I've seen her eat like of these 6 honey sticks she got in Pasadena. This coffee shop is cool despite my sub par soy latte. K&J were unnecessarily freaked out by the motel, it was just fine. The manager was kind of an ass though. He was bothered that Joe was 17 and told me about 4 times not to drink wine in the room even after I pointed out to him that I am 20 and couldn't get any. He also scrutinized my ID for way too long. He did offer us another night for 30 bucks less this morning but we declined. Our meter is up.

Mack