Stranger's Story

catching up with greg.

2010-01-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

greg is such a good blogger (this is brooke speaking now) and i have never blogged before. in in the past, i wrote in my diary. i guess that is like secretive, hand blogging. i am trying to be less secretive these days. what i've put down so far (bear with me):

1.15.

the tour started off with a bang. 3 hours before show time and I start feeling the miserable discomfort, the hot burning that is a UTI. I run to the drugstore across the street and buy triple strength cranberry extract pills. I take 8 of them at once and try to pee a lot. As if that wasn’t enough, we find out that the promised PA at Socha Café is nowhere to be found. We call everyone we know in search for a PA. We leave many messages but can’t nail one down. 15 minutes until show time cb comes through in a big way. We throw that pa together quicker than quick.

So many people were there in that café. G’s photos looked so beautiful. I felt so supported by this ex-city of mine. Makes me want to win her back.

1.17.

so the music part of our santa cruz show gets cancelled last minute due to weird music licensing legalities at the abbey lounge. We show up a day later to hang g’s art and the people at the abbey are just about as affable as one could be. The Abbey lounge is adjacent to their affiliated church. They invite me to sing an outro at their church service that evening. I say, why not and then play for 200 people in the beautiful cathedral with lcd projectors around me and a Christian rock band opens. This is a first. I announce that we need a place to stay the night and 15 people generously offer up their homes to us. One girl lives a block away and promises her big house and a good party. G and I have a wild night of debauchery with college kids. It’s a defining moment for us. We feel 40 and 14 all at once. We crash hours earlier than our youthful hosts and appear more sensitive to the alcohol, loud music, and potato chips that we consume. So we sleep like rocks on the hardwood floor in a little nest between two girls in their twin beds. The storm outside goes unnoticed.

1.18

the finest coffee shop in Monterey is ours. We fall instantly for its elegant stone walls separating petite room from petite room. The tiniest one is where we’ll perform. G puts up all 39 of his photos in record time. Tim helps us with sound and gives us tips on driving conditions to san luis Obispo. G and I are foolishly ambitious to drive through big sur. We parade our east coast upbringing with mudslide oblivion. Nancy and I talk about boston. We agree that Monterey is better. So much better. Outside it is raining again. The coffee shop is quiet but it affords us the intimacy we are looking for. This time a man called Russ takes us home and lets us pass out on his futon couch in the living room. He is a relaxed host. G and I sleep hard. Again.

1.19.

the ride to slo is the most beautiful ride in the world. It feels other wordly. This time of year the hills are so green it reminds me of the bucolic beauty of wales. The sun comes out but the waves are still enraged from the storm. The water is brown mixed with green mixed with blue. It looks a tapestry or a collage. Beirut is the perfect soundtrack.

G and I just made the most seemingly home-cooked, not-very-cooked travel dinner. A rotisserie chicken, micro waved baked potato and steamed broccoli. Our chicken was $5.98. sorry, chicken. sorry, farmer.

1.20.10

g and I think it is just a rainy day but after talking to the locals, we understand it in a different way. J says that this is the biggest storm in 7 years. He blames it on el nino. Roads are closed. It is all over the news. Meanwhile g and I have a different reaction- we nap a lot and watch tv.

Tonight j takes us to two open mics. You can tell he grew up here by the way he takes the turns on the tortuous back roads -with such controlled speed. It is a little bit magical. I’ve never played two open mics in one night. The first one i bomb, the second one is more comfortable. There might be a correlation here with consumed whiskey. I sell a cd to the man at the bar. And another guy takes a cd without paying. that's never happened before and i don't know what to say. i hope he likes it.

1.21.

i think tonight is our most beautiful show, aesthetically speaking. g hangs his 3 portable, canvas walls for the first time. he is up on the ladder and twisting wire around hooks from the ceiling with such ease. a true sculpture major. the acoustics in this room are stunning. i sing for 75 minutes without a microphone and the audience hears every word. that is the best thing ever, i think.

1.22.

not much to say here. crackheads in the bathroom. a woman rode her bicycle into the venue looking for parking. the waitstaff, aloof. we drove fast southward.

1.27.

san diego is the warmest embrace. g and o and i picnic on the beach with salami, fresh mozzarella, walnuts, clementines, apple, raisins, chocolate. so good. so good. then we get swept up by the tide when we fall asleep. i wake up on a blanket in the ocean. this is the kind of adventure that can seem devastating as an adult and magical as a child. i am feeling youthful. it is a magical mishap. o is so good at nurturing and adventuring at the same time. he makes g and i pies and chile and tamales. we let the sunshine paint our faces a little bit red. today i have more freckles than yesterday.

the paddle boat house show is equally warm. these kids are the best kind of hip with zero pretension but a lot to be proud of. i love playing in the living room.

Day 5: A list of my today (Monterey to San Luis Obispo)

2010-01-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

1. Woke up in Monterey on a futon in a house of a man we met the night before named Russ. He was sweet enough to give a place to sleep.
2. Spent the morning at a coffee shop checking emails and reading about MA senate vote.
3. Rode in the passenger seat headed southbound on highway 1 and saw many beautiful things such as:
4. Saw elephant seals for the first time, just so you know, it's mating/birthing season for the blubbery beasts a real treat. They were all rather vocal and they sounded like a gargling Harley Davidson under water, sort of.
5. Arrived in San Luis Obispo and explored a bit with Brooke on foot.
6. Took a nap on a real bed for a few hours and felt like I was in heaven.
7. Bought a roasted chicken with Brooke tonight and had a simulation home cooked meal in under 10 minutes, brilliance.
8. Watched the Biggest Loser on tv tonight and got really into it.
9. I sit now next to a remote controlled fire place, this feels like a vacation.

East Village Coffee Lounge, Monterey.

2010-01-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

After a short trip down from Santa Cruz and the wild and somewhat unexpected adventure we encountered, Monterey provided a quiet day of exploring, naps in the car at the beach, rain showers, & an impromptu photo shoot in an empty parking lot. The turn out was small to say the least. The space was perfect for us however, being intimate room with stone walls. I hung all 39 pieces of the show on the one wall, salon style which was a lot to take in and looked good. Few people out on a rainy holiday Monday night although a woman who saw us the night before in Santa Cruz showed up with a few friends.

Day 2: Final day of prep before Leaving SF

2010-01-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

How many pairs of socks does one need on a trip like this?
Last minute lists are reviewed and things are checked off. There is always something you forget and I just have to tell myself this. One of the hardest parts of getting ready for being on the road with this photo project has been thinking of all the supplies I'll need for setup in so many different spaces. Will I need duct tape, masking tape, and packing tape? Sometimes you just need to bring them all for piece of mind. Packed and ready to go.

Day 1: And so it begins, SoCha Cafe, San Francisco, CA

2010-01-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

After months of preparation we began our tour this past Friday night at SoCha Cafe in the Mission, San Francisco. After a handful of set backs the day of, the biggest one being realized an hour before the start: the lack of a PA system. After a handful of frantic phone calls, Chris Baker came to the rescue with goods. An amazing gathering of people came out and provided a reassuring send off for me and Brooke.

Introductions

2010-01-18T15:30:00.001-08:00

Brooke Brown Saracino is out and about the country celebrating her sophomore, solo-produced and recorded record, Stranger's Story - an understanding of silence and words; a perfectly accurate representation of her full yet solo sound, and somehow through the simplicity comes profundity and something that all artists can only hope for - to reach the Listener.

Paired with Brooke's performance are Gregory Bartlett's small photographs that are simple and straightforward, yet captivating. Intimate in gesture, obsessively detailed, his photographs are quietly observant, sharing unseen occurrences and untold stories.

Brooke and I are headed down the West Coast this January 2010. Check out our web page for all of our tour information: www.gregorybartlett.net/strangersstory.html

This is place for you to follow us on our mini tour of sorts.