okay so, we're still gonna do a live studio album this year--it's called "¡wet paint!" and I say that onstage at least once a week--but when a chance to record a live session on the Pacific Coast arose, how could the word "no" fit anywhere in the story?

in typical fashion on this program, the massive opportunity came out of absolutely nowhere.

there we were, sitting on the sidewalk after our bimonthly band rehearsal (whether that's every 2 weeks or every other month depends on a number of interpersonal, economic, and meteorological factors but on average bimonthly it is) when flowers arrived for ZiZi, as they often do and should.

the friendly new face expressed enthusiastic appreciation for her voice and our music, casually offering the band a slot at the city's weekly public presentation series out on the Malecón before taking leave. 

the invitation swam around in my mind for weeks.

see, I've personally walked to and by that stage so many times during my years in Vallarta. on many Friday evenings there were musicians in the boardwalk's amphitheatre. some featured colorful dancers. some others clowns delighted children. on this day, all of the above: The Pleasant Uprising would bring in the sunset.

what a deeply satisfying sentence, in or out of context.

the stage would be a purely promotional one--unpaid labor is almost synonymous with a musical career, sadly--but we rehearse in public places (much love to Mestizo, Foro Bibaani, and Gusto Lounge!!!) because a few passerby invariably stop in for a drink and find out who we are.

good things tend to happen when new people find out who we are.

besides, a core tenet of my belief system (and therefore deep in the source code of the band's OS) is that everybody alive should have cool things sometimes, fun things, pretty things, silly impractical delicious nonsense.

...and so at times it is imperative to give pieces of your heart out for free.

I ACTUALLY HAD NO IDEA THEY WERE RECORDING THE ENTIRE THING FOR POSTERITY

hell, maybe that made us looser...it's definitely one of our stronger shows, it's like subconsciously all 5 of us knew it was Picture Day at the very least. 

made an early decision to throw out all the surefire bops--go big or go back to work--and everything landed.

I knew about a couple songs in, when I spotted an abuela snake-necking to "¡DÁMELO!", that we had won this crowd over. this public. this city.

our city.

"WHO RUN THIS TOWN???" I roared at the setting sun extra-loud during what is probably the best and now-canonical version of "apagón."

oh btw, I now consider my beef from episode 35 won. on to the next, try again next time sucka.

...but yeah pretty much everything went even better than normal that afternoon...I sometimes joke that I'm a [7] singer on my best day...and shxt, it was a good day to have a best day. you can really hear me just trying everydamnthing this time out...and sticking the landing more times than not!

as I also sometimes say, nobody else is out here making lil tykes get jiggy to bars about pulling the piug on the Epstein class so I know where my highest stats lie.

of course Zi exhibited her standard excellence (just listen to all those different inflections on "ima be myself", lady understood the assignment) but I have and will continue to lacquer her plenty in this space...who I really wanna call to the podium as MVP of the recording session is Val, whose presence and contributions during his yearish in the band I really have not typed enough about.

as a bassist, he is as much a part of our sound as any instrument, and as a human being I probably couldn't engineer a better bandmate in a lab: a friendly, intelligent, compassionate, ideologically aligned person in a big box perfect for carrying heavy equipment to the checkpoint.

the mf can really play too...I mean, I guess you better be able to ball if you show up to the stage with a glittering purple fretless bass, these are max-level choices. from smooth funk lines and fuzzy rock-style riffs to some super technical jazz/prog type stuff I couldn't even begin to MIDI up, this guy got the juice.

Top Cat is pretty much our lead guitarist...absolutely carries "refrigeraiders" musically, the arrangement is intentionally sparse because we are having a conversation here but his style just adds so much to the sound, it's exactly what we need and more that I could have never imagined. 

he's the best and I hope he knows it. takes great pics too, look at that smile he's fn adorable.

lemme shout out our drummer Andro too, he's the man (love that stage joke because it is both silly and true plus it's strictly for B students and above).

I basically don't compose drum parts other than some shaky digital sequencing and live beatbox drafts but he has a great understanding of what rhythm and vibe we're going for with every song and has definitely taken some basic ideas and made them into something special.

think we have time for a segment about Uli as well...idk whether it was the angle of the sun or the fresh sea breeze, maybe a new brand of guitar strings, but this might actually be his best work so far in the band, you can tell he was feelin it!

as a unit we set out to make memories that day and got more than we bargained for: the sun will never quite set on that Friday afternoon as long as any of us live.

we took a bow and a picture. everyone clapped. (no, for real!)

...and I still remember the exact moment I found out we suddenly had a live album after a solid six months of fruitlessly trying to even get a high quality recording. 

bent over at the waist, preparing some tools for transport between job sites--yes, our weekly 3-hour set at Sanctuary still lay ahead of us--the mundane half of being in a band turned back into the magic half.

I heard a song played over the onsite PA, same as it would when Dua Lipa or somebody came on the radio, nothing out of the ordinary...but wait wait hold tf up IS THAT ZIZI'S VOICE?????

we all looked up and around at each other in shock, and it wasn't half a second more before I felt those familiar gears up top crank into motion.

"the pleasant uprising: LIVE on the Pacific Coast" is now on Napster and wherever you get your podcasts.

...so I guess from here what happens is up to you. 

all we can do is "release" the music, let it be born and drag itself across dry sand, past pelicans and salty sea dogs toward the life-sustaining embrace of the waves, developing muscles and connecting neurons every second.

or else.

it is not an efficient system, which is where we begin to share the story.

YOU are the conservation program for our little hatchlings. it is only youyesyou that can ensure we get to where we need to go, educate your friends about the importance of these efforts, support the release with investments of time and tangible resources.

we're taking this show on the road real soon so if ya got a spare band van that would be cool, if you find yourself on the route come see us and bring a friend, or hey maybe just slip a track or two into your party playlist.

...because sure, right now we live (and thrive, which doesn't rhyme in this context because English is a stupid language slapped together from spare parts by criminals and drunks) on the Pacific Coast...but all together, the pleasant uprising can go all the way around our beautiful blue planet.

all power to The People.

--Flor!