San Diego Pride is supposed to be one of the biggest Prides - they claim 150,000 but that's still a lot less than San Francisco. But it is set in gorgeous Balboa Park right by downtown - which would have been even more gorgeous if it hadn't been gray and drizzly - it felt just like home!

It was a slightly up and down day. We had to get our equipment in by 10am, which meant an early start and lots of hanging about - although Tori managed to sneak in a manicure while waiting. And then just before we were due to go on, the stage manager said that the band before us hadn't turned up, so could we go on earlier and do a longer set. Hee. But then, just awe were starting to move stuff, they turned up they had been directed to the wrong stage. So we had to calm down again and wait.

Once we finally got up and started playing, the sound was really strange. Natalie had hardly any band in her monitors and couldn't really hear the amps spread out across quite a big stage, so played the whole gig without much feedback - and still did really well! And Tori's keys (which were direct into the board) had some kind of vibrato added in both the monitors and out front. But those are the kinds of things we are pretty used to now - and we really played a strong high energy set - and got a really good reception - and sold CDs etc. So overall... pretty kewl.

Plus it was great to share a San Diego stage with fellow SFer Ethel Merman - and we heard a few Flock of Seagulls songs on the way out (although apparently it's only Mike Score from the original line up). And lots of thanks to our friends (Marty and Diane, Nigel and Margy, and Alex and Gena) who put us up and came out.

So... then back to San Francisco and the Eagle on Thursday night - invited by the Nervous Breakdowns. It seems like it has been a while since we played local gigs (after Fresno, Portland, Las Vegas etc.) and that contributed to a relaxed setting - also helped by a lot of friends coming out and by a non-frantic changeover / setup between bands. We did the same set as in San Diego, starting with Losing Sleep and segue-ing into Don't Think About Love - which is very dramatic and always makes Shawna beam like crazy (!) - and we were really on from the first few bars - both musically with Natalie really driving - and performance wise connecting with the audience. Some friends, who have seen us quite a few times said it was the best gig they had ever seen us play!

So now... we have a few weeks in practice while Natalie learns all the current material and stuff from the first CD - to the point where if we get a chance we can do an hour plus set. And then we start doing colleges... getting out there...