"This is what the rock & roll lifestyle is all about, talking about the best kinds of juices!" he said, speeding down I-580 on our way to the Hotel Utah.  My conversation with Jochen had taken a few turns, but revolved mainly around the following:
a) me being sick, and having had a fever of 101 the day before (I almost didn't make it to the show).
b) ways to take care of a flu, including creative soups you can make with common household ingredients
c) the amount of sugar (and empty calories) found in popular brands of soda
and
d) a spirited debate about the best fruit juices

We arrived at the venue, and I half-heartedly dragged my equipment in.  My voice was virtually gone.  After moving all the drum stands I could carry, I located Branden in the bar area.  "How's this?" he inquired, holding up his iPhone to show me the revised set list that he had been creating.  It was a group of songs consisting mainly of songs where he sings the lead vocal -- a natural result of my dubious status on vocals.  "Looks pretty good," I said, offering a few minor suggestions, and grabbing a shot of water on the way back toward the stage.

After setting up a few things I began goofing around on the piano which was now amazingly in tune, and sounded great.  I've been slowly re-learning this instrument I dumped at a young age for the guitar -- mainly because I have found myself possessed with the urge to learn a bunch of Radiohead songs (and a few other tunes) penned on the keys.  Like guitar, I'm now essentially "teaching myself" -- with pointers from friends who know what they're doing -- yet who WON'T lecture me on EXACTLY how I must hold my hands, or make me learn cheezy songs from instructional books I don't care about.  Just the way I learned guitar.  I was playing the few songs I know, and in the meantime our friend Jeremy Serwer's band had come in (from Tucson, AZ).  His keyboardist said "Nice Radiohead stuff!" -- "Thanks!" I replied, smiling.  It was the first time a complete stranger had complimented me on my playing -- and actually recognized WHAT I was attempting to perform.

We were asked by Chris T-T (a solo artist from Brighton England on a worldwide tour, headed to SXSW) if we would go on first, and none of us minded at all.  We got started about 8:45 and performed only two of "my" songs that evening -- "Something" and the new one, "Your Imaginary Friend" which I dedicated to one of the few guys I know with a sticker on his guitar case reading "Atheists Make Lousy Suicide Bombers!"...  I felt bad not being able to provide all the backing vocals that I normally can.  But the set had great energy.  I found myself hanging back by my amp and the drums, jamming with Emir on some parts of the songs.  I was really able to pay attention to the timing and intricacies of the guitar parts, and felt pretty confident on that side of things.  We reached the end of our set, and it hardly seemed we had played a full 8 song, 45-minute set.  But we had.  And the crowd was applauding.

Chris T-T had to borrow my "skeleton" guitar strap, which Emir had gifted me for our recent Du Nord gig around Halloween.  Up in the balcony, the guys and I mused that the strap was fitting, due to the morbid themes of some of his songs, dealing with war, and one with lyrics "Yes, I broke her ankles, it's true!"  A song after which he promptly inferred that was actually just a lie: "I didn't really!  It's called creative freedom," he said in his thick and endearing accent.  We enjoyed every minute

At the end of the night I went up by myself to close out my tab.  I thought "what the heck?" and asked the bartender for a shot of Jäger, pondering aloud whether that might help cure my ills.  He shrugged, and set out a pretty hefty dose of the stuff in a lowball glass, anyway.  Down the hatch!  Did it help?  Probably not.  But was it just what the doctor ordered in that situation?  Perhaps.

Unfortunately I had to wander out to the strains of Seashell Radio's set getting underway.  The arrangement of cello, keys, and drums was the perfect complement to the intricacies of Jeremy's prodigious guitar lines, and the earthiness of his powerfully deep whisky-&-cigarettes vocals.  I really wished I could stay.  But I had apologized beforehand to Jeremy, whose last gig in SF (before literally getting on a bus heading out of town) was at this same venue, with us.  "Gotta get in bed, so I can beat this thing, man... Have a good set!"  It seemed like he was.

"That was a great gig!  I think the sound and overall energy were the best we've had there," Jochen said, on the way back.  Having fun, getting out and playing, doing what is needed to get through, and overcoming obstacles to put on a successful show.  That's what rock & roll is about.  That, and a shot of Jäger once in a while.

-BC / WI

All in all, 2008 has been kind to Wish Inflicted, with another year full of good music, several new tunes, added instrumentation, a 2nd printing of our demo CD.  Plus we even garnered a bit of national publicity in Guitar Player magazine.  It's been a long year, but another quick one (I mean, we still didn't find those gobs of time to finish our full length CD!)...   Of course, we still managed to fit in a lot.  But when we loaded in on Saturday 12/20 at El Rio to play our last show of the year, it didn't feel like terribly long since the FIRST show in '08.

El Rio is a truly unique San Francisco venue, near the place where Mission St. finally slams into Valencia. It was a cool and cloudy winter night, but we had a good crowd on hand anxious to warm up with some live music.  The venue brought several great bands together, including Cannons & Clouds, plus our friends Atomic Lucy.  Both are very solid acts with a strong sense of musicianship and some wonderful sounds; we were happy to share the stage with them.

When I arrived at the venue I was informed by my illustrious bandmates that in fact we would debut our new song, called "Your Imaginary Friend," a tune I had just penned in November.  Though we had thrown the idea of playing around with it at the show, I came in without knowledge of any solid plans to actually do so.  Mind you, this was not something we worked on extensively -- Emir, Branden and I had jammed on it a little bit at the rehearsal space, but Jochen had never even played it with us!  But it's a fun song with a straight ahead hook, and hey, we're up for some experimenting, so we broke it out / aired it out / tested it out.  Whatever you may want to call it, our audience were our guinea pigs.

We played it as the last song, with several disclaimers up front.  I only messed up the words a little bit here and there, and the band performed admirably.  It was fun to end the tired old year of 2008 with something completely NEW -- a fresh and exhilarating piece of potential, some hope to carry us into the New Year.  The tune was well received, and several people came up to us to say how much they enjoyed it, afterwards.

Regardless, thanks to all the fans who made it out in the midst of the holiday craziness to come see us and make this a successful show, to our friends Dave and Danielle who helped us book this appearance for us, as well as to Frank on the sound board.

We look forward to more fun, excitement, and adventure in 2009.  Hope it's a good year all around.  WISH-ing everyone the greatest of peace, love, and good-will, as you celebrate the holidays of 2008.  Thanks; we'll see you next year.

Cheers,
Brian
Wish Inflicted

p.s. to hear a rough demo version of "Your Imaginary Friend" see the secret music player --> here <--

Tickets are now on sale for our yearly Fall celebration of Branden & Brian's birthdays, once again at Cafe Du Nord.  It's coming up on October 30th, and tickets are available through Ticketweb or www.cafedunord.com. This year, you'll experience some guitar-driven fun with Nutarah, and headlining is Roger Rocha and the Goldenhearts. We hear Roger was the guitarist with Four Non Blondes in a past life (or at least an earlier time), but his current project has a great sound all its own. Each of these bands is worth the $10 admission price on their own merits.  Tickets can be ordered here (Ticketweb Link).

September 14, 2008 - We loaded on to the stage, greeted by an uncommonly beautiful, sunny afternoon in San Francisco.  In the heart of the city's premier retail center, the open air Union Square Park feels like a different world.  As we began playing, passers-by and random tourists with cameras pointed every which way began to listen. 

The music sometimes just stopped people in their tracks as they suddenly "tuned in."  We could only assume that a certain song had reached out and struck a chord in them.  There's nothing quite like an outdoor show and the life going on in the open space that surrounded us - the sound was carried to the nearby cafe's, shops, and buildings, and I think we gained some new fans there.

-Brian C.