Nathan Hubbard solo tour fall 2004 (the nate(squared) tour)
Day 1 (thursday september 30th 2004) - up early, load and on the road. arrive Bakersfield early, drive around, check out the sites. two performances, first, solo for Kris Tiners intro to jazz class, talking and explaining. lots of good questions. second, lead the Bakersfield College big band through where's han?, an interesting hour running parts, cleaning and a few run throughs. next, the road - to Sacramento, dinner with Lee, then more driving to Portland. several stops, including a hilarious pitstop in Coos Bay where we can't find the freeway entrance. crash about 5am, hour and a half outside Portland, can't see, sleep for a few hours at a roadstop. wakeup, drive into Portland, straight to Wards house.
Day 2 (friday october 1st 2004) - alive after a 20 minute nap, i head out Ward Baxters door to make soundcheck at the IFCC. get lost, late. find the place, drop my stuff off, set-up, head back to Wards. lunch, radioshack, etc. back to wards to build some contact mics, bought a bunch of funny stuff - suction cup mics, pillow speakers. get another 20 minute nap, then back to IFCC. short soundcheck, wait.
Day 3 (saturday october 2nd 2004) - Tom took us to the movies. Then i played at the Jasmine Tree.
Day 4 (sunday october 3rd 2004) - Late start, breakfast with the Baxters, then the road. Stop in Salem, lunch with my cousin Andy Collins. On to Eugene, late. Radio show with James Cervantes, talking and a few Born On Tuesday, Skeleton Key Orchestra and Return To One tracks. Record a metal sculpture on campus, head to Philomath. Pizza for dinner, get lost, find my uncles place.
Day 5 (monday october 4th 2004) - a beautiful morning in Philomath. Head into Eugene, lunch with Theresa Archer, hang out in a park. Nothing to do, hours to waste, trapped in Eugene, head east to check the sites, find a record store, buy some vinyl. Back to Eugene, setup, wait. Nice gig at DIVA (Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts), solo set then trio improv set with flutist Daniel Heila and bassist Rob Kollar. Meet some people playing next door. Back to Philomath to crash.
Day 6 (tuesday october 5th 2004) - another beautiful morning in Philomath. Late start, buy beef jerky and bratwurst for breakfast. South thru Oregon. Stop in Rice Hill, ice cream and trickets. Stop in Weed for t-shirts and crap. Solo at the Soda Creek Undercrossing, frame + pignose, lots of feedback. Nate2 takes pictures. Make it to Redding in time for dinner. More driving into Oakland, arrive about midnight, crash with Danny Cantrell. We ate to much beef jerky today - in loving tribute to Justin Grinnell.
Day 7 - Awaking to Oakland, back in California, up late for breakfast and hang w/ Danny. Head into the city, spend a few hours at the Exploratorium, back to Oakland, then back to the city later to drop Nate2 off and meet up with my aunt and uncle for dinner. Meet up later with Jesse Hix, end up crashing there, hang out, drink a few beers, talk about music (mostly metal) and the fine art of brewing beer.
Day 8 - wake up, try and get ahold of Nate2, head to breakfast. Nate2 takes the BART back to Oakland after a not so fruitful night in Daly City. Head to Davis for a duo gig with Lee Elderton (woodwinds) at a bombshelter in the backyard of a house in Davis. Buy some junk for percussive uses, do a bit of recording in the bomb shelter. Good gig, Alto/Tenor duet for opener, then Lee and myself. To my amazement, 15-20 people climb down the ladder into the shelter to listen to us play.
Day 9 - (day 8 continued) drive thru the night from Davis to SD. at around 2 we decide to call Justin every hour on the hour till we get home. Hit the grapevine about 3:30am, are in San Clemente by 5:30am. Stop for Denny's (first of the tour), bad breakfast, then head to San Marcos, trade cars, head home. Get stuck in a 45 minute traffic jam on a side street on the way to Encinitas. Nate2 falls asleep behind the wheel of his car in traffic. Home, crash, up in a few hours, return the rental car, lunch. Head to SD for the final gig, NWEAMO @ SDSU