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02/24/2010

Mark Growden gets all dark and dramatic tonight at the Redwood Bar & Grill

09:53 AM PT, Feb 24 2010

Singer, songwriter, accordionist, banjoist and more. Mark Growden makes darkly dramatic music in the style of Tom Waits, as well as cagey covers of Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and gospel tunes. All are rendered with a faint sense of the macabre, or "American noir" (as he likes to put it), by his muscular voice coupled with baroque instrumental flourishes. He's almost ready to release his ninth studio album, "Saint Judas," and will be back at the Hotel Cafe on March 16 to celebrate. But for Wednesday night, it's the pirate-themed Redwood Bar & Grill for Growden. If we're lucky, he'll play us a ditty on the handlebars -- his bicycle's handlebars, that is.

Redwood Bar & Grill, 316 W. 2nd St., $5, 10 p.m., (213) 680-2600

-- Ramie Becker

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February 24, 2010 in Music | Permalink | Share

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Tour day 2.

We awaken in Chico, CA, greeted by heavy freezing rain. I am quickly becoming acquainted with how lovely winter touring conditions are in the northwest. We say our goodbyes to our gracious host Sara Rose and prepare to head on our way.

We take a quick tour through downtown Chico, in which Mark had previously lived for a bit, stop at a grocery store to restock our fruit supply, and pay a visit to Naked Lounge, the local coffee/tea spot. It is here that I discover “The Vietnamese Hammerhead” – a double espresso topped with coffee + condensed milk. My dreams are finally realized. Alex gets a quad-mocha, only to top it off later with two tall energy drinks from the gas station. Truly impressive.

A day of driving later, we arrive in Eugene, OR. Alex spent a few years here getting one of his degrees (he has his pHD, so it could be one of many), so we were expecting a warm welcome from Alex fans.

Mark & Alex were playing an in-store performance that night. Things began to develop in a most interesting fashion… setup became an epic battle of performance vs. feng shui.

By the time we had finished setting up, all I had to say was this. And I’ll leave it at that.

[6:42 PST]

Rargh. These are the times when I sort of wish I still had a relatively small, little-known email list where I could post detail after ridiculous detail of my tour stories. I suppose I still could, but I have unfortunately started to develop some sort of tact-filter in my effort to avoid posting any sort of blatant negative material. Alas.

Next task: find sustenance. We decide to go to the nearby mall and find some food.

We find ourselves in the middle of a department store, completely overrun by crowded store displays and agitated families, the children completely jacked from of the abundance of edible samples every few feet or so. People are looking strangely at Alex, who happens to be carrying a human-sized cello case on his back. Mark and Alex and I weave through the chaos, grabbing cheese samples as we went. Alex almost accidentally takes out a child with his cello. I am the only one who notices.

We find ourselves in the middle of the food court. It is still oddly crowded. There are children in costumes everywhere. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.

Mark wanders off to explore, and Alex and cello and I sit down to eat our delicious food court meal. Next thing we know, we are in the middle of a holiday dance recital. Yeah. In the food court. Dozens of children dancing to The Nutcracker within the confines of a 10′ x 12′ space cleared out among the food court tables.

Here’s to another normal night of tour.

Back at the venue, the show begins, and the listening room is so packed that people are overflowing into the side retail area. People were astounded, whether they be old friends of Alex, or old fans of Mark, or curious newcomers who happened to read about the show as “pick of the week” in the local paper.

After some post-show grub with old friends at a local brewery, we head to our night’s final destination – the Cortesia Sanctuary.

Hm. Where do I begin. Cortesia Sanctuary is a beautiful, secluded 22-acre property located in the woods of Oregon. It’s owned by Dr. Forrest McDowell and his wife, Tricia Clark-McDowell. Both are renowned best-selling authors of countless books, launching international movements in gardening, and becoming popular speakers at conferences around the country. They are also internationally-noted authors and contributors in the field of herbal remedies and philosophy.

I of course had no idea about any of this upon my arrival.

I knocked on their front door to be greeted by Forrest and Tricia, who I had not met until this moment. I found myself in the middle of an incredible, rustic but architecturally complex cabin, adorned with high ceilings and lofts, both of which I have a weakness for (I am an architecture nerd and originally planned to be one for a living – I’ve changed my mind approx. 80 times since then).

Forrest and Tricia were prepared for our arrival. They pulled homemade cookies out of the oven immediately and told us to feast. And that we did.

We all ended up sitting comatose around the living room, discussing life and our careers and aspirations until the wee hours of the morning. I finally decided to retire, and was led by Tricia to my own personal yurt, a domestic pod of sorts, located behind the house, for me to sleep in my own privacy. This place gets more amazing by the minute. I left the guys to play music together for the rest of the night (apparently they didn’t go to bed until 4 or so in the morning).

Morning arrives. Forrest cooks us a wonderful breakfast. We take a minute to explore the incredible property and gardens, located 1000 feet over a valley bank, then pack up our bags and say our goodbyes.

So ends another normal town adventure. Next stop: Seattle.

To see a bit more about Forrest & Tricia’s property, visit their website – onesanctuary.com.

Greetings from Northern California. I’m writing to you from the back seat of the tourmobile, in the middle of a heavy rainstorm, en route to Oregon.

The tour posse:

Mark Growden – musical mastermind/reason why all of this is happening.
Alex Kelly – cello prodigy/giggler/noise maker extraordinaire.
Helena Price – record label representative/doer of business-related tour tasks/photogger/myself.

I love my crew. We are eating fruit and listening to the Porto Franco Sampler. Mark just poured a rather large quantity of water all over his pants while driving. Things are going well.

Night one found us in Chico, CA. It was a fairly quick drive… only a few hours including some delays due to San Francisco outbound traffic and a few wrong turns along the way.

The venue was hidden quite well in what appeared to be a giant industrial vacant warehouse storage area. The exterior lot was pitch black and scattered with empty cargo trucks. Alex and I were fairly convinced that this would be where our lives would end.

However, we soon found ourselves within the venue, and my faith was restored.

The Frame. It was exactly what I previously mentioned – a giant warehouse space – but it’s been renovated into a wonderful open lofty venue area and film studio. One Night Music, a SF-based project, was presenting + shooting the show that night.

One Night Music films and showcases live performances by indie musicians around the country, incorporating quality HD film, photos, and illustration for a very Daytrotter-esque online presentation.

So yeah, One Night Music seems pretty awesome. The guys behind it certainly are – I know that for a fact. Ryan, Ian, and their Chico crew – Skylar, Daniel, + others (including the pug stage hand) – were great company and I can’t wait to see what they produce. I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted when it’s released.

Small world note – I was browsing One Night Music’s website, looking at their contributors, and who do I see other than… my good friend Scott Boone?? What? Scott and I went to college together in North Carolina. Scott was riding his bike across the US at the same time as I was driving across this summer, and we both ended up settling down in San Francisco. Looks like he found himself a good crew to work with. Crazy.

We knew it was going to be a good show, as Mark used to live in Chico, so this was a homecoming of sorts for him. And a good show it was. We hung around the venue for a good bit, then said our goodbyes to our new (and old) friends, then headed on our way to friend Sara Rose’s for post-show times.

The house was quite large, and conveniently happened to have three vacant bedrooms for us to sleep in. I crashed immediately, having spent my day packing for tour + working on projects + meeting with Porto Franco + going to grad school + taking a quiz + driving to Chico + all of the above. I would probably have additional day 1 stories for you otherwise. I heard there were hot tubs involved.

On a side note –

Random projects I’ve started on the road:

Creating a photo collection called “tour diet.” Subjects generously provided by America.

Collecting and forming a general appreciation for finding two-word combinations that wouldn’t logically go together but somehow work in specific contexts. Today’s example: “dollar spicy.” It’s a grammar revolution.

On another side note –

A few ironic things to share with you.

I’m on the road with my laptop. I am shooting RAW files with my camera. I forgot that my laptop does not have the necessary software to edit and convert RAW files. So…. I can’t edit any of the photos I shot the first night! Hooray! I’ll post them once I have the means. Hope iPhone photos will suffice for now. **(Update: the regs photos are up, obviously).

END!