got a text last week from jim, asking if i wanted to go on the Rockstar Mayhem tour for a few days. basically, jim is in charge of promotion for TO DIE FOR (at least from my understanding). TDF wanted to have a booth at the fest, to sell clothes, as they do at many other fests and events like warped tour, bamboozle.. etc.
the rockstar mayhem tour this year included slipknot, disturbed, dragonforce, mastodon, walls of jericho, the red chord, suicide silence, machine head, underoath and a few more. it is sponsored by rockstar energy.
after some arrangements, i made it possible to go. we left thursday afternoon about 3pm, with the intention of driving to marysville.. close to sacramento, for the first stop of the tour. about an hour north of fresno, we got a call that the date had been postponed due to poor air quality from fires in the area. the show saturday was to be in mountainview, about an hour south of san francisco.. so it would have been utterly pointless to drive all the way home and head back to sf the next day.
we discussed our options, and decided to head across the 152 to santa cruz, being that its an hour south of SF and its where LOST BOYS was filmed, and jim was a huge fan. i told him i knew where the boardwalk was and we could try and find the bridge they hang from.
the 152 is THE most winding, sketchy road ive EVER been on in all of america. just looking at it on the gps made me queesy.
we got to sant cruz late in the evening, found a shitty hotel and bedded down. and by shitty, i mean one of the worst ive ever been in.
woke up around 8 on friday, headed to some cafe for breakfast (i ate chicken apple sausage.. weird) and then made our way to the boardwalk. it was amazingly foggy, to the point where condensation was collecting on my eyelids. walked around for 30 minutes, saw our shit, and hopped back in the van and started driving to highway 17, a very scenic and beautiful drive.
made it to SF around noon.. and went straight to the Haight. phoned erick to see if he wanted to meet up, and he said there was a bbq at kindle’s and then they were going to see Saviours at some bar, and we should meet up when he got off work at 3. we walked around haight, i bought erakuh some stuff from kid robot, and then we went across the bay bridge to hang out on telegraph. i wanted to go to rasputins.
we decided that a bbq and stoner rock bands were going to be too much, so we grabbed some sushi and drove to mountainveiw, where the next day’s concert was. mountainview is next to palo alto, and the gps said there were 25 starbucks within 5 miles of our hotel. we ate some really crappy wood fired pizza for dinner, and watched shittier reality tv til we fell asleep.
woke up at 830, showered and i introduced jim to the breakfast jack. then we found a starbucks somehow and headed to the venue for check in.
most of the day was boring, sitting there staring at shitty people. you can only make fun of slipknot fans so many times in one day. watched some bands, at some bad food, drank some cokes and rockstars, hung out with erick, and eventually packed it up at 11pm. the van had to be back in costa mesa by 8am, and i had to pick up dev the next day, so i was to drive all night. 3 rockstars, a coke, and a bag of chips did not sit well, and when i got home at 530am, i climbed in the shower and threw up black and red for almost 5 minutes straight.
slept for two hours, and then got devin. by this time it was 8am sunday morning.
monday and tuesday were pretty uneventful. hanging out.. maybe working.. i dont remember much. watching weeds and drinking gatorade… i dunno.
wednesday morning met jim at to die for at 730am, finished loading the van and drove to san diego to repeat the events previous. it went a little easier.. except it was hotter and i watched more of the bands. got home about 1am.
thursday was spent sleeping til 12, getting a manicure, going to south coast, eating cpk and watching weeds with erakuh.
friday, today, woke up at 8, worked from 10-2, picked up dev in LA and drove to visalia. my mom and grandma spend a week at pismo beach every year, and dev was invited along this year. within the first half hour of being here, i was informed i was the “invisible child”, and that i “dont make an effort to talk to anyone in the family except mom” and then my dad grabbed my hands, looked at my nails, shook his head and walked away. then, after dinner he made the sign language for “lets smoke a joint”. i declined.
having the time of my life, minus the smiles.
