#54 Upon landing in the land of tomatoes and rice paddies, I was impressed that we were somewhere where real problems existed. Sacramento, compared to sleepy Eugene and artsy Portland, was dirty, grimy and had real criminal problems. Living in Del Paso Heights, we quickly found out that Sacramento had a gang problem, and that the gang problem involved real crime. Gun shots, police sirens and helicopters with spotlights became the new normal for us. By the end of our first week, Tym had already had a 12 year old wearing gang colors show him the gat tucked in his waistband, we had had the police chase a suspect in a shooting through our backyard, and we saw our first episode of COPS in Sacramento which involved a pursuit which went right past our house (before we moved in). We also found out that the reason our house was so nice on the inside was because it had been a crack house prior to us renting it and the owner had to rebuild it completely before renting it out. None of those things mattered to me, because it was exciting to live in a new city with new possibilities. We quickly got to work on our sorta-new drummer, Tym, and started going to shows and networking. Within a few weeks, though, we figured out that Tym wasnt the drummer we were looking for. Fortunately, Brent had a number of friends from high school who lived in Sacramento, so our search for drummer number 3 was short lived. We quickly hooked up with Marshall, a long time friend of Brents, who was a fantastic drummer. He was a big guy and hit the drums like they needed to be punished. While his style was more John Bonham and less Thee Slayer Hippy (former drummer of Poison Idea), he was solid and easy to get along with, so we quickly went to work writing songs. Within a few months of being in Sacramento, though, I was still unemployed and had no prospects for jobs, even though I regularly hit the streets, shaking babies and kissing hands. Following Christmas in the new city, I was getting desperate for a job and started looking for any excuse to work. Fortunately, Brent worked for a little coffee joint similar to where we worked together in Eugene, so I at least had an ample supply of coffee and day old pastries to eat as needed. I knew nothing of unemployment insurance and had no desire to take a handout, so instead, I just began hanging out with Brent at work and helped him when he got busy. His boss, John Shahabian, wasnt very impressed with me and even though I asked countless times to be put on the schedule, he had no desire to hire me. I didnt care, though... I needed to do something, so I helped Brent as often as I could. Within a month of moving into our place, we found ourselves moving right back out. With no income, I couldnt afford my share of the rent on the place, and Tym moved out following our booting him from the band again, which raised all of our rents. We were fortunate, though, because Brent had a friend of a friend who rented a home, which was on the market, in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento. We quickly moved from our house in the hood to our house in the burbs. The rent was considerably lower and with both Michael and Brent helping me out, I could at least have a place to live. I finally joined the ranks of the employed when Shahabians wife, Daphne, found me washing dishes while Brent closed the store one night. For whatever reason, she seemed to like me and was always sweet to me when she came by the store and found me hanging out with Brent. She was there picking up her husband, and when she saw me working for free, she pulled the role of the Armenian wife and chastised her husband for not hiring me. While scrubbing out the steamed milk containers, I heard Daphne confront John in the office, John! For gods sake, he is working for free! Give him a job!. John mumbled something in reply, but she wasnt having any of it. John came out of the office and yelled at me that he was going to put me on the schedule for Sundays. Cool. I had a job. It was one day a week, but it was more than I had worked the previous two months, and if I had a job, there existed the possibility of more shifts and/or a better chance of employment somewhere else. Brent was already considering moving to San Francisco to attend morticians school, so if nothing else, Id take his spot when he left. I was employed, I had a band with a new drummer, I had a sweet place to live in the burbs... all I needed was to make it all come together and the move to Sacramento would not be in vain. Longest Line - NOFX https://youtube/watch?v=th2XSsshwOs
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 07:56:57 +0000
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