End of tour- Portland

The last show of tour was in Portland with White Hinterland, who put on a spellbinding show. Their new music is so perfect, sultry, and soulful. Best thing in 2010, I know.

WH

Jeremy was at Marika's with this cool dog.

Last Conan show ever. Weird jam.

California / Oregon

Scenes from the last week on the West Coast.

delicious granola

Kenseth's cat

Liz Janes and Rafter Roberts recording in San Diego

Che Cafe

Kenseth Thibideau

Alps in L.A.

Castanets in L.A.

San Francisco. Castanets with Trevor Montgomery.

Arcata

Testface in Eugene

Catalina

Bree Joy Scanlon & Dylan Metrano perform 'Catalina' at the Bootleg in L.A. 17 January 2010. 

Shot by Janelle Randazza.

LOS ANGELES

Mandy and I have a week off in L.A. We're staying with friends and trying to see as much as we can...

Griffith Park Observatory

Ella

Janelle and Mandy

We saw Vampire Weekend and Paula Poundstone on the Late Late Show.

Mandy spins the Wheel

Santa Monica

LACMA

rehearsing with Bree

Sean at the Family Guy studio

Family Guy in-progress

tiny art show at the Family Guy

The Pee Wee Herman Show

New Zealand in a nutshell

Our home base in New Zealand. Thanks so much Sam! You're amazing!

Our last show in New Zealand was in Auckland at the Wine Cellar. Matt Crawley promoted the show and opened for us. I love this guy! He has the voice of an angel and Hugh Grant comic charm during his stage banter. Meeting him and watching him perform was a real highlight.

On the road between Wellington and Auckland. The landscape was varied and breathtaking.

This is what the city of Wellington thinks is an appropriate width for a two-way road in winding hilly neighborhoods. Terrifying!

Seth Frightening in Wellington at Happy. I loved these guys! They were so good!

Tim, Denise, and Rowa eating a late dinner on the porch of the lake house Thomas set up for us to stay at near Rotorua.

Ray and the sea planes catching the late afternoon light.

This water was hot. Seriously hot.

Soda Springs in Rotorua

More Lake Rotoiti

Lake Rotoiti

Trail on lake Rotoiti

Roadside in Rotorua

Darwin

Thomas was an amazingly thoughtful host. This is the morning after the Hamilton park show (which was literally on the other side of Thomas' fence).

The view from the Pa was spectacular. Here you can see the downtown with the Sky Tower in clear view.

Day Two in Auckland. Sam took us to a "Pa" that has a lot of historical significance, as it was the site of the first treaty signed between a Maori tribe and English Colonialists.

New Zealand

New Zealand

Auckland

Delicious Indian treats

"pas"

On the 5th, we saw Ponytail play in Auckland.

On the 6th, we drove to Hamilton, and recorded a radio session on a community radio station, then did a show in a park.

Our buddy Sam Hamilton did a laptop set. The police came, and we moved the show indoors.

Castanets

In Tirau, they make everything out of corrugated aluminum.

We drove to Rotorua, a town with a nasty sulfur smell, but an amazing landscape and history.

Soda Springs. Amazing hot springs!

tiki dude

On the 8th, we played Happy in Wellington.

On the long drive back to Auckland, we saw lots of sheep...

Our last show was at the Wine Cellar in Auckland, with Matthew Crawley, who was wonderful- one of my favorite musicians we'd seen all tour. Check him out on MySpace.

Stefan from Pumice sat in with Ray on a few songs. Great drummer. The next day, we flew to L.A...