California!

[michael]

How I Spent My Winter Vacation

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by Michael Earhart

A little background information:
Back in July of 2004 I came home from a family vacation in San Antonio to an interesting email from Just Plain Folks (JPF), an organization I joined when my CD, Surface Tension, was released. CD Baby handles Internet distribution of my CD and Derek Silver, who runs CD Baby, recommends JPF for all his artists. I signed up just because Derek said I should.

The email informed me that one of the songs on my CD had been nominated for best instrumental. I went out to their website and, sure enough, (The Only Good) Fire Ant…was nominated! I couldn't believe it. I immediately began making plans to attend the awards ceremony in November.

The plan was for Kay and me to attend together. When I told my friend Jimmy about the event it occurred to me that he might want to come along, so I invited him and his wife, Dawn.


Let's move even further back in time:
A few months earlier Jimmy and I attended the Eric Clapton Crossroads Festival in Dallas. We went to the first day of the 3-day event. Jimmy wanted to take in the OHM concert. He had seen them earlier in March in Deep Ellum and became an instant disciple. OHM is a three-piece fusion band, with Kofi Baker on drums, Robertino 'Pags' Pagliari on 6-string fretless bass and Chris Poland, formerly of Megadeth, on guitar. I was astonished at how good these guys were. After their set, Jimmy and I got autographs from the band, and Jimmy began a conversation with Chris that lasted an hour and a half. There was an immediate rapport between them, which has since turned into friendship.

Chris Poland

Once Jimmy and Dawn had decided to make the trip to California with me, he contacted Chris who then scheduled a gig with OHM close to the hotel we were staying at. He did this just so we could come and hang out with the band!

As the time approached to leave for the West Coast fate conspired against us to change our plans. First of all, Kay had to make a choice between L.A. and her college reunion. She struggled with the decision and finally settled on not going to California, which was no problem for me. Jimmy had troubles of his own, which I will describe in a minute.


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Friday November 5, 2004:
I woke up on Friday morning with a terrible headache, a sore throat and an upset stomach. Rats. I chalked it all up to nerves, took some sinus medicine and had a good breakfast, thinking that would all make me feel better. And I wanted to feel good; this was the day I was going to Los Angeles.

Jimmy and I had a great itinerary planned out: Friday night at La Cave in Santa Ana with Chris Poland's band Ohm, Saturday morning and afternoon sightseeing in Hollywood, Saturday night at Martini's Blues Lounge in Huntington Beach where I was scheduled to perform, Sunday morning at Chris Poland's studio where Jimmy was going to get a guitar lesson from Chris, and Sunday evening at the Just Plain Folks awards ceremony at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana. But fate was conspiring against Jimmy.

On Wednesday, two days before our departure he had a family member get sick and seriously so. It was obvious that no matter what happened, Dawn was not going to get to go, which was a real letdown for Jimmy because they have not had a chance to have a weekend away, just the two of them, since the birth of their children. They were both very sad about the situation, and for a few hours on Friday morning it looked like Jimmy wasn't going to get to go, either. After struggling to make arrangements for everyone, and with Dawn's blessing, we left for the airport. Dawn drove us there so we could save a little money by not leaving our vehicle in the long-term parking lot.

So, we were dropped off at D/FW Airport with circumstances being what they were, and it was a lot less joyous than we hoped. I idly wondered what was going to happen next. A late flight? A mix-up with our car rental? No hotel reservations after all? An earthquake? A toothache? Hangnail? What?

None of those things happened but I was going to have problems anyway.

Once we got checked into our hotel room and had a chance to get a light meal and some relaxation we headed for La Cave. La Cave is literally an underground restaurant/night club, and a little pricey. Turns out that Chris Poland made reservations for us, just so we could hang together! We arrived at the club, found Chris and his road manager waiting for us. We had dinner and some great conversation.

Chris Poland at La Cave, Nov. 5, 2004


Robertino 'Pags' Pagliari

Ohm's drummer Kofi Baker and bassist Robertino Pagliari arrived shortly after dinner and the three of them set their gear up on the small stage. I secured their permission to videotape the show, which turned out great by the way, considering the small amount of light in the club.

Kofi Baker, Jimmy, Chris Poland

Ohm is one of the best fusion/ power trios I've heard, period. I can't believe these guys aren't worshipped by millions of music lovers. To paraphrase the words of my good friend Clark Byron, 'don't be stupid, check these guys out and buy their music!'



Me, Robertino 'Pags' Pagliari, Jimmy

After the gig, Jimmy and I hung around and bought band compact discs and got autographs and photos. We finally called it a night somewhere around 4 a.m. (our time) and went back to the hotel. And that was our first day in Southern California!

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Saturday, November 6, 2004:
The next morning my headache was even worse than on Friday. I had only been drinking water (no alcohol) thinking 'OK, it's not nerves, maybe I'm dehydrated or something'. So, I bought some Tylenol from a convenience store on our way to Hollywood, and continued to drink as much water as my body would allow.

Which brings me to another thing about California. The prices fluctuate wildly between extremely affordable to ridiculously expensive. Most food is cheap, but a bottle of water is almost $4. Gas was $2.48 a gallon. Ouch!

Back to Hollywood. We drove to Sunset Boulevard and parked on the street about a block from Guitar Center Hollywood, the first of the national chain. In front of the store is the Rock Walk of Fame. Handprints of some of the greatest musicians in the world adorn the cement in front of the store. We both took some terrific pictures!


Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash


Jeff Beck and Steve Vai (note the additional finger on the left hand!)

Inside, the Guitar Center was nothing special. They all pretty much look and sound alike. I played the new Line 6 Variax Acoustic guitar in relative peace (the guitar is pretty neat) and Jimmy got to try out a POD XT device. He's busy looking for a good ring modulator and Univibe effect, but he hasn't settled on one or the other yet.


Kansas

We walked down the street to a few more guitar shops with lots of vintage gear and the Carvin shop. I admired the fine-looking guitars, astonished at how affordable they all were. If you haven't tried a Carvin guitar, what are you waiting for?

While we were there I began to feel really bad. Headache, nausea, sore throat, etc. I asked Jimmy if we could take a break for lunch, and he readily agreed. Jimmy is one of the best guys around, and I'm lucky to have him for a friend.


We drove back down Sunset because we passed the IN-N-OUT Burger, a truly classic eatery. I'm a fan of the movie 'The Big Lebowski' and the IN-N-OUT is featured in it. Jimmy hadn't seen the movie, and asked about the connection. I found myself completely incapable of explaining it without sounding like an idiot. Those of you who have seen the movie know what I'm talking about: 'Yeah, these three guys get their car pounded with a tire iron, so they go and have an IN-N-OUT burger because it's close by. And those are good burgers!' Har-de-har-har.


IN-N-OUT Burger

While we were in the parking lot for the IN-N-OUT I called home, to tell Kimberly where I was. She likes that movie, too, and I got some pictures of the place as well. What a dork I can be sometimes. It's almost embarrassing. Almost.

I felt a lot better with some food in me, so back in the PT Cruiser and back down Sunset to hit a few more places. At least that was the plan. Little did we know that the gods of liberal politics were going to piddle on our good time.
An anti-Bush/anti-war rally sprang up on Sunset while we were eating and it turned into a full-blown riot, complete with cops, fire trucks, more cops, helicopters, dogs, cats, cops in riot gear, infant protestors (I'm not kidding), protestors with homemade signs, cops on motorcycles, angry people jumping on cars, angry people with bull horns, two guys with their jaws hangin' full of IN-N-OUT Burger, and cops. I have the videotape to prove it. At one point Jimmy said to me, "Hey! Pull over and let's get out! We could get some great video footage!" All I heard was "Hey! Let's get out and go to jail! We haven't done that yet!" And as much as that appealed to me (and I told Jimmy this) I thought we should just head back to the hotel. So that's what we did. It was a full ½ hour before we heard anything on the radio about the argument that sprang up between 2000 protestors and 2000 cops. It seemed to me to be a well-organized protest, except someone forgot to call the media! Those crazy Californians!

Back at the hotel I laid down, hoping to get a little sleep before the gig at Martini Blues Lounge. I did sleep a little, but not enough because I woke up feeling terrible. I couldn't believe it! My opportunity to play in S. Cal and I had to get sick! I turned to Jimmy and said "You know, tomorrow is such an important day, and I don't want anything to keep me from enjoying it. So, I don't think I can do this tonight." His response to me was "That's terrible! Are you sure? I was looking forward to watching you play. You sure you can't make it?" Very gently pushing me in that direction, but trying not to make me feel worse than I already did. I knew he was right, of course. I got on the phone to my wife, Kay, and told her the same thing. She sympathized with my plight as well, but was more direct, "You won't be pleased with yourself tomorrow." So true! She advised me to get a shower, get dressed up and at least go to the club. If it turned out that I was too sick to perform, so be it. At least I would have showed up for the thing. She's so smart.

That seemed like really good advice. So, I took my shower, took some more Tylenol, drank another huge bottle of water, grabbed my Taylor 514ce guitar and said to Jimmy 'let's go'. I think he liked that decision!

We found the club in about 15 minutes, very easy on & off the highway. That highway! Jimmy and I had a good laugh at Highway 55 in Santa Ana, because there was no north-bound ramp to be found near our hotel. We had to go south until the highway stopped and make a U-turn! Hilarious. Especially if you are easily amused. Jimmy is. Not me.

Anyway, there were about 150 to 200 people in this small room at the club waiting to perform. We got there a few minutes after 7 p.m. I decided I could do this after all, but we had to go back to the hotel room anyway. I forgot my Boomerang! Not to worry though, plenty of time to get there and back.

We were shown to our seats by a very nice lady (I'm still not sure how she managed to find two seats together in this room, but she did) and we had a meal and listened to the musicians. We were allowed one tune each to play, and there was some very eclectic music. Some eclectic sound problems, too. A sound man did not show up until after 9, so the music up until that point was inconsistent at best, thin and feedback-y at worse.

It was close to 10:30, and I had not played yet. I was trying to keep my head off of the table and losing the battle. I believe I could have handled all of my symptoms with no problem if I could have gotten rid of the headache; it would not go away. All I wanted was sleep, and I turned to Jimmy and said as much. 'Are you sure? Let me go see where you are in the lineup now'. A minute later he came back to tell me I was next as the M.C. introduced me.

As I left the table to get my guitar Jimmy asked me what I was going to play. I hadn't given it any thought! 'I dunno. I'll decide that when I get up there'. After I took the stage it only took a few minutes to get the 'Rang powered up and a sound level. I decided on the spot to play a tune called 'Paper Tag', which is cool sounding and flashy looking and well-rehearsed! I launched into the song, too sick to be nervous or wound up at all. I was sure that I wouldn't play well, but I felt so bad I didn't really care. I surprised myself. Only two bum notes. The video Jimmy shot bore that out, and I didn't look half bad, either.

I finished the tune to a very nice round of applause and left the stage. Jimmy and I hung around for a few more artists and then we left. I would have liked to stay around a bit more, but as that great American hero Popeye once said: I've had all I can stand, I can't stands no more.

Back to the hotel room for much needed sleep. By the way, PT Cruisers are fun and comfortable to drive, but hard to corner and park. Example: Saturday afternoon I had to pull a U turn into 3 lanes of road and I had to stop in the middle of the road and back the car up to get it done! 3 lanes!


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Sunday, November 7, 2004:
Sunday morning I woke up feeling better but the headache was still there, although manageable instead of blinding. We grabbed a quick fast food breakfast and headed for Chris Poland's studio, where Jimmy was going to get a guitar lesson from one of his heroes. I was excited by the prospect, and Jimmy was nervous. I tried to put myself in his shoes, wondering how I would feel sitting across from one of my guitar heroes.

We found Chris' studio with no trouble and walked up three flights of stairs. Chris greeted us warmly and invited us in.



Outside of Chris Poland's studio

Hallway to the stars...


Chris Poland's rig...

From that point on the morning took on a surreal quality, as Chris and Jimmy traded solos over blues progressions and Chris answered Jimmy's questions about his soloing technique.



...and his floorboard controller!


Jimmy playing Chris Poland's guitar! Note the look of extreme happiness on Jimmy's face.

Jimmy worked hard at not degenerating into total hero worship, which would have just embarrassed Chris to no end. Jimmy was so cool! And I was pleased and proud of him. You would have been too.

With Chris' permission I videotaped the entire encounter, and now Jimmy can look at it for years to come and realize that it wasn't a dream after all. All of the video we shot turned out fine. In fact, we have shipped out all of the original tapes to Chris, who intends to convert them to DVD & MPEG for possible future release as bonus clips on a professional quality film. It's still in pre-production if I understand correctly.
After the lesson we went to lunch with Chris to a place called The Pantry, a world-famous eatery and an event that Chris said would cause immediate envy in anyone we told 'we ate at The Pantry!' The Pantry only employs ex-convicts, teaching them a trade and helping them get a foothold back into society. Great food, too. Chris recommended breakfast food even though it was lunch-time. I love breakfast food anytime night or day, and we had pancakes & eggs.


Jimmy and Chris with Jimmy's guitar pointing in the right direction(ahem).


Michael, Jimmy and Chris outside of The Pantry

Visiting with Chris, who is known and loved by Megadeth fans all over the world, was eye-opening for me. He became less 'one of the gods' and more 'one of the guys'. Very down to earth, humble and hard-working, placing more importance on being close by for his wife, his in-laws, and OHM. He turned down an opportunity to join Megadeth for their current world tour. It would have created more hardship than help at home. He told me that his father-in-law is his best friend, and is struggling with an illness. He is making fair progress, to everyone's relief.
Finally, lunch was over and we all had places to be. We reluctantly said our goodbyes, and Jimmy and I headed back to the hotel, where we had a little time to relax before going over to The Galaxy Theatre for the awards show.

Outside the theatre we got our tickets from Will Call. I had my ever-present bottle of water with me, but a very sweet-natured lady met us at the door and loudly said to me 'THE RULES HAVEN'T CHANGED SINCE LAST YEAR! NO OUTSIDE DRINKS ALLOWED!' Isn't that precious? I'll take my contraband back to the car; I don't want any trouble, lady.
Once inside the Galaxy I was struck by the cool architecture and interior design. We arrived about half an hour before the show began, and it's a good thing we did, because most of the good tables were already taken.

The category I was nominated in was very early in the ceremony. I took Second Place! The first place winner was Michael Allen Harrison, a pianist, and a very fine one at that. His tune 'Journey Home' was performed live that evening -- an incredible composition. I enjoyed it immensely. When I went for my certificate and photo op, Mr. Harrison walked up. He suggested we get our picture taken, 1st & 2nd place winners together. Very cool!

We had to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning, so we made an early evening of it, and got back to the hotel around 10.

Jimmy and Michael at The Galaxy Theatre


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Monday, Novemer 8, 2004:
L.A. traffic at 5:30 a.m. is ridiculous! It's supposed to be a 45-minute trip from the hotel to the airport. Our plane was scheduled for 8:30, and by the time we got the rental car back and shuttled to the airport we were pressed for time. We got a little entertainment while standing in line at security by a little foreign man who was re-directed to another line when it was his turn. He was not pleased, and he LOUDLY made his annoyance known. Airport Security in Texas would not have tolerated it like the L.A. guys did. He was so pissed it was funny, but a little embarrassing, too.

Breakfast was LAX Burger King with just enough time to wolf it down before boarding the plane. A little more sleep and a few hours later we touched down at DFW. It was good to be back home.

I called Kay as soon as the pilot said we could, and told her we were back safe and that I would be home by about 2. Since I had students scheduled at 3:30 that afternoon, she said she was going to leave work early so she could see me at the house for a few minutes before I left again.

When Jimmy and I entered the baggage claim area -- there was Kay! She wanted to meet me at the airport as a surprise. It worked. I was very happy to see her, and since Dawn was on her way to pick up Jimmy, I left with Kay.

A great weekend, all-in-all. Thanks to all of my friends, family and fans who have encouraged me every step of the way. Just when I think my musical journey must surely be close to its finish, something like this happens to give me new life. I have new songs in the works, all of which I like, and one I'm in love with. It's a tune called 'Hi!' and to me it sounds like a very good friend. I like it so much that the prospect of playing it anytime gets my heart racing.

A special thank you to Brandon Bumpas and Alan Davis for providing very cool percussion and bass on (The Only Good) Fire Ant…. You guys made my tune sound much better than I would have by myself.

Thanks again to Jimmy for friendship, musical camaraderie and pushing me out the hotel door on Saturday, the 6th of November.

Jimmy's account of this trip can be read here: radioking.proboards50.com/index.cgi?board=jimmy&action=display&thread=1127400848

Michael Earhart