Fast Times: Kids in America

We have a lot of gigs coming up in the next six months, and you won’t be able to see most of them. They’re private shows or weddings or casino gigs out in the tribal-owned areas of California, and while you’re certainly invited, we understand most people want to see Fast Times when we come to your area, not the other way around. So we do have a show coming up in about two weeks, on a Friday night in San Francisco at the Dirty Martini. And if you click this, you’ll get a nice big PDF that you can print out and give to all your friends.

The easiest way to give you directions is “it’s literally across the street from the In & Out Burger up near Fisherman’s Wharf.” And there is a dress code so please come prepared — they will turn you away without a collared shirt!

…what the bucket.

I like our new bassist, Quatro. I really do. And every gig or practice, he seems to pull out a different gorgeous and interesting bass guitar. He auditioned with his homemade pink J-bass, which he often uses on stage:

That’s metallic pink, with purple sparkle block inlays on the fretboard, a purple sparkle diamondplate scratchplate, and believe it or not, purple and green hot-rod flames around the edge of the body. It’s worth coming to a gig just to see this thing in person.

But that bass was one of many — he later showed up with a lovely Marcus Miller 5-string Fender, an American Standard Jazz in Sunset Orange Transparent that shows the wood beneath (”Ash!” he screams every time he uses it), and a well-worn but very obviously loved mahogany Carvin. Even the otherwise-standard-looking red P-bass has been, um, “modified” with stickers and attacked with a drill, just to give it some “personality,” he says. It’s an interesting collection; nothing’s a cliche, nothing’s boring, and he plays them all with incredible passion and skill.

And then one rehearsal, he showed up with this.

“What…what the hell is that?” I asked. “It’s ugly, isn’t it?” he beamed. “We need to find a stronger word,” I replied. I took a close-up photo, much like a gawker might do at a particuarly bad road accident.

“That’s eggshell,” he explained. “The white stuff. It’s eggshell, sealed into the finish.” Ooookay. And the aluminum one-piece fretboard and frets…um, is offset by the gold hardware? The color is a murky dark green that looks black unless you look directly at it, which I do not advise.

“I had to have it when I saw it,” he said. He explained that it was the work of a small luthier in New York and was too weird to pass up — he knew someone had to adopt it.

I’d like to say something funny here but I need to run to the men’s room.

Finally got the photos posted for the Mix 106.5 and Cache Creek gigs. In the former, our photographer was also our sound engineer so she couldn’t grab too many pictures; in the latter, there were strict rules about taking photos in a casino (as there often are, we’ve found) so she only got to shoot for one song. So a few is better than none, right?

We’re in rehearsals for the next month of gigs — got a casino shot at Black Oak, a charity gig for a children’s hospital, and a few others that I simply don’t even remember right now. It’s a busy time of year.

We were really happy overall. We’re not sure that the Hotel Valencia knew what they’d agreed to, because it was a small room and we make a big noise. Even keeping it as quiet as we possibly could, we were too loud for them. But the folks who were in attendance really enjoyed it. And oh, the fashions! Great hair, great 80s clothing on display.

The guest list was limited, because you had to win tickets on the air. We figured there might be 200 people, but not everybody who won showed up. That’s a shame, as we had a lot of people asking us if they could come to the show, but there was no comp list. Ah well. However, it did look like everybody who showed up stayed until the end. We finished at midnight, and my voice held up. I let it rip on “Rebel Yell” and it felt good.

Photos to come, as I’m still sort of slipping in and out of naps over the course of today.

If you’re in the Bay Area today, tune into 106.5 FM — Mix 106, Today’s Best Mix — and hear Chynna and Elektro live on the radio! The station is really behind the Flashback Formal so they wanted to have us on the air to talk about it. We should be on around noon. Totally awesome.

It’s been an interesting few weeks since the GAMH show. Thanks to everybody who came out — there were close to 250 people there, which isn’t bad at all considering that the bill was three cover acts, none of which is really a big draw on its own yet. Hopefully those in attendance will be able to brag that they saw those bands before they were big.

Among those in the audience were our new managers, Associated Entertainment. We’re exclusive with them, and they’d seen us before, heard good things about us, and booked us for a few gigs, but hadn’t seen our current lineup. I think last time they came to a show, I wasn’t even the vocalist. So we were thrilled to hear that they were thrilled with what they saw, and we think it’s going to lead to bigger and better things.

Those things start this weekend, with a two-night stand at Cache Creek. We’ve wanted to play there for a lwhile so we’re hoping they like what they see. Then next weekend, we’re the official house band for the Mix 106.5 Flashback Formal on Friday night in San Jose followed by a private gig Saturday. I think we have the next weekend off, but then in October, we’re really busy. Can’t really complain, right? This is payoff for several years of work. We can sleep when we’re older.

Oh, and you might hear some of us on Mix 106 this coming week. I think we’ve been invited for some on-air time to help promote the show. Not sure what form this will take, but I’m excited anyway.

Oh yes. We’ve been invited to share the esteemed Great American Music Hall stage with Sing Blue Silver (a Duran Duran tribute, a fun side project from members of Stung and For the Masses) and Japanese Baby (a tribute to the Cure). It’s coming up quick — Friday, August 24, doors open at 8pm and show starts at 9. It’s an all-ages show; tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

(Go ahead and click it for a big printable PDF)

And yes, it’s prom night! Come in you finest 80s prom outfits and win a prize! More details on the contest to come, but the brave will be rewarded.

Not gonna lie — we’ve been dying to play GAMH for a long time, and we’re thrilled to have this shot. Help us make it a success, okay? Come out and join us for this one!

Fast Times has a photography curse. That is, whenever we get together and get photos taken like a real band, people leave. It happened when Krash was our drummer; he reinjured old wrist problems and had to leave just about a month after our photos were taken. Late last year we not only got new pictures but Kat made that spiffy calendar out of them; now three of those people have moved on to other projects.

Doc Octave started things off by accepting a teaching position at a swanky Boston institute of higher learning. And naturally, that included a summer in New Zealand! (Bruce Li took over on keys, but he, too, has now shifted his priorities back to his other band.) Chewie, having been long in need of more free time due to his demanding day job, decided he’d had enough fun and it was time to get his life back. And then, shortly thereafter, McFly made like a tree and got out of here, citing much the same reasons. Hey, we’re all busy. Can’t blame anybody for putting their sanity ahead of their semi-stardom.
All is not lost. We’re welcoming Quatro on bass and Mr. Roboto on drums starting this week’s private show in Palo Alto. It’s a different vibe, and not “different” like your creative haircut in the 1987 yearbook. It’s kind of funny; we used to tease Chewie about being sedate on stage, but Quatro takes a more aggressive, loose approach, armed with a pedal board and a homemade four-string that Chewie would not be caught dead playing. It’s a different look and a different approach, but it definitely works; suffice it to say the 80s hits we’ve already got nailed will now sound and swing in funky fresh ways. Change, as they say, is good. But it’s still hard to say goodbye…especially when you’ve got the five more months’ worth of calendar photos to stare at.

You’ll note that I said we’re good on bass and drums, which can only mean one thing: we still need a keyboard player! If you have one to recommend, let one of us know. We have some really excellent, high-profile, high-paying gigs coming up this fall (more on that shortly) so it’s really the perfect time for someone to step in and reap the rewards.

Surprisingly, we’ve had a little public interest in a private project we did recently — the rumors about a 2007 Fast Times calendar are true. If you want one, you can follow this link to Zazzle and customize it to your liking. It was created primarily with the shots from our recent photo shoot plus a few classics from the past. The photos were taken by award-winning SF photographer Samantha Berg, and FT’s art director Katrin Auch put it together from there. A sneak peek: