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smashing pumpkins

US Odyssey Part 10: Mt Shasta

Where is Mt Shasta, exactly? It’s in Northern California, and while we thought the weather would be comparable to southern California, Jesus, were we in for a shock. That day, 10 ft of snow had landed upon the mountain. Yep. 10 feet. Seriously, what’s the deal with this trip and adverse weather conditions? I was supposed to play a snowboard festival ‘Rail Jam’ but 10 feet was too much even for the ski hill. They moved the show indoors and switched the Rail Jam to the following week so I still had a gig, but nothing to watch while it happened!

Ryan Marchand in The Lottery - photo by Shannon Lepere (www.shannonlepere.com)

Regardless, both Shannon and I were there to visit with our old TBay friend Ryan Marchand, who now plays in an awesome band called The Lottery. We shared a few shows together during our Shasta visit, and it was cool to start to get to really know a town for once, instead of only staying somewhere for a few hours.

photo by Shannon Lepere (www.shannonlepere.com)

After the ski hill show, we played at the Legion, which blew my mind as it would take me about 7 minutes to get across to the other side of the bar simply because of how busy it was. It was a ‘moustache’ party, and they were also giving away free hot dogs all night, so it was a popular spot! After playing my set, I joined The Lottery on stage and did some improv vocalizations on top of their set.

Billy Corgan and Djin Aquarian - photo by Carl Johnson

We crashed at the place where Ryan was living, and met his housemate, Djin. Djin is important for three reasons; he was in an underground (yet influential) psychedelic band in the 70’s, he’s quite good friends with Billy Corgan (yes, that Billy Corgan), and he introduced me to White Flower, a strong chinese herbal essential oil that helps clear your sinuses in a ridiculously effective way.