Luce at the Broderick House

And so it was that I got back from Tokyo on Friday morning, headed into the office and did some busy-work until Michelle and Meleena picked me up en route to San Francisco to prepare for the Luce gig. Meleena was clearly excited but Nina and Nino needed a nap before we could go out and party and so after checking in at the Holiday Inn, Civic Center and getting ourselves situated in the room we did just that while Meleena read The Lovely Bones and tried to contain herself.

We surfaced at around 7:30 in time to take a quick shower (me - I was fresh off the plane and smelled like it!), put on our Luce T-Shirts (Michelle and Meleena), and head out. After dinner and an informative taxi journey across town ("Broderick was a rascal!", "There's a river that runs under that building and they wash their clothes in its water", "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle rented a house here") we arrived at a quiet looking street and begun to wonder if we were at the right place. It didn't take long for me to muster up the courage to knock on the door and as soon as it opened and Meleena caught sight of Dylan and Tom hanging out just past the staircase it was clear that we were where we needed to be.

Michelle went right up to Tom and Dylan and introduced herself, saying "I'm the person that you guys did the video for last week" and I shook their hands and thanked them for helping out with the 'My Favourite Thing About Michelle' surprise - see below. I might have overdone it a bit - I have a feeling that I may have squeezed Tom's hand a little too hard - but I still couldn't quite believe that they came through for me.

Anyway, it was a big old San Francisco townhouse with a large living room area that the band had set up and placed a few rows of chairs in. We took the third row so as to not seem to geeky and to help prevent Meleena from reaching out and touching Tom's knee mid song. They played a great set that included some favorites from their back catalog and a couple of more recent tunes - I captured a couple of them on video for your viewing pleasure.



After the show there was a chance for some more meeting and greeting - the only member of the band that Meleena hasn't had her picture taken with is now Alex (the bass player) - we bought a couple of items and headed out to catch a cab back to the hotel and see how long it would take for Meleena to be able to get to sleep after all the excitement.

As for Michelle and I - we were excited about the prospect of having breakfast at The Pantry the next morning. And it didn't disappoint...