Anna Phoenix: 106. THE GIGS!

We are sorry that pictures and stories are a bit late, but Alex just didn’t have strength to get it done last night after the gig, but now we are ready to tell you all about the last few days.

On Thursday Ryan, the kind and awesome tourist guide, drove us over the Santa Cruz Mountains to Santa Cruz. We saw some spectacular nature, and had a blast. We’re glad we took the extra time to go a bit off-road (or off-freeway at least) to see the mighty forest, and cool down his boiling car (yep, cars tend to overheat if you push them too hard going over the mountains).

So we arrived in Santa Cruz and found Asana Tea House where the gig was going to take place. We put all our stuff in their storage space and set off to the streets. While Anna and Harju sat on the sidewalk practicing the set list Alex went to talk to an awesome guy who made bracelets a couple feet away.

He made a really strong point by NOT selling or trading the (hemp) bracelets, they were only there for appreciation. A group of young people were totally mind boggled by the fact that they couldn’t buy the bracelets and offered him pretty much anything just to OWN the bracelets (that they hadn’t even really looked at that much, it was just a matter of getting what you can’t have). Alex on the other hand got his point right away and sat with him on the street for a while discussing the world and art. In the end he got Anna’s album, and sure enough he wanted Alex to have a bracelet as well. She didn’t really get his name though, so she doesn’t know who to thank for that experience and the gift, but he said he’s bad with names, so Alex will just give him the Native American name “Bad With Names”. :) Thank you!

Bad With Names

After having something to eat (and trying some small Elixir shots, Alex tried a Crown Chakra shot, Anna tried one for the heart and Harju tried a Solar Chakra shot) at the tea house we met up with Amanda West, a talented Californian singer/songwriter who Alex has been in touch with since long before the trip. She helped us set up the sound system, and then we played the first gig of our California tour. The place was a coffee shop so there were almost no people in the audience, but we played for a few excited faces that really seemed to appreciate the music.

After the gig we headed toward Felton together with Amanda, to stay at her and her fiancé Pete’s house in Felton for two nights. And we’re telling you, their house is the most amazing house EVER! It’s a small and dark tree house up on the mountain side that was originally built to be used as a summer cottage in the 1930’s. The yard is wild and filled with interesting, small objects and plants. And the inside of the house: WOW. The interior is amazing, it’s really colorful with old fashion furniture in warm, earthy colors, and the walls and the fridge are full of pictures and wise words to read and get inspired by. And all around the house you can find a lot of cute hippie paraphernalia. We love this place!

Pete & Amanda

We slept really well our first night despite Anna’s fear of the huge spiders that are said to wander around the house sometimes (she managed by sleeping closest to the edge of the bed, pinning Alex against the wall, which she wanted to do in order to be able to run away if a monster approached her). We woke up to a beautiful Friday and ate a delicious vegetarian breakfast. Later in the day we headed downtown together with Amanda, visiting a big and totally awesome organic grocery store called New Leaf Community Market. We were excited and spent way too much money there, but it was okay since we just don’t see big eco friendly stores like that where we come from.

We bought delicious sandwiches at the market and drove down to New Brighton State Park beach which was on the way to Monterey where we were headed. The beach was really beautiful and we enjoyed the sun and the waves while eating our sandwiches.

Jeijj! (But notice the dead seal behind us :/)

We then drove down to Monterey and found the East Village Coffee Lounge where we were to play later that night. They did a great job promoting the gig, we found ourselves in Monterey County Weekly (thanks for the beautiful words!) and on posters all over the coffee shop.

Who's playing tonight? Oh, Anna Phoenix!

So after checking out the town a little (strangely enough almost all the stores were closed, but we found a really cool Bob Marley-store where we bought all kinds of different Rasta stuff) and having a bite at the Coffee Lounge we set up for our second gig of the tour. This time the small room where we played was almost full to start with, and the gig went really well. We made some good connections with great people who bought the CD’s and really seemed to enjoy the music.

Anna & Harju were on a big screen in the main room of the coffee house while playing in the music venue.

We then headed back to Amanda’s and Pete’s house and almost instantly went to bed. This morning we once again woke up to beautiful weather and ate a fantastically delicious breakfast out on the porch together with Amanda and Pete. We had some great discussions about politics and what not, and then got ready to leave for the frat house in Berkeley.

Amanda played some awesome tunes!

After travelling by bus (Greyhound of course, which Anna thought was really cool; the movies you know) and Bart we met up with a really nice photographer and got the key to his house where we are going to stay later next week. We then took a taxi and finally got to one of the UC Berkeley frat houses, where we’re going to stay until Tuesday. And well what do you know; this place actually looks like a real frat house! We met our fellow Couchsurfer Mason Smith and some of his friends, and had some Thai takeout. We’re now planning on chilling with them for the rest of the night. Alex says: o.O!