Day 24: Santa Ana, CA
Nau mai
Yesterday we played a show at The Observatory in the city of Santa Ana.
I began my day with a healthy feast, strawberries, nectarine, and blueberries piled high over a bed of granola and tied together with several generous spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.
As we were sound asleep in our bunks our bus had driven through the night. For about forty minutes anyway. A journey across the eastern reaches of Greater Los Angeles, all the way from Pomona on the eastern border of Los Angeles County down to Santa Ana in central Orange County. Just under thirty miles as the crow flies.
It was a warm, clear morning when we woke up outside The Observatory, this nondescript building in a very industrial corner of Santa Ana. We recognised the courtyard immediately, the area out the back of the venue that had hosted our cricket game when we performed here with Rosie Tucker in 2022. They had added a basketball hoop now and the temptation to try and insert the inflated leather sack through the elevated metal ring was a powerful one.
It was a perfect day for flying and Cloud Diver took to the skies aiming to soar and dance with the wind just like the long line of his ancestors, the diving kites from which he took his name. The venue carpark proved to be the perfect location for this display. In this photo Cloud Diver is tethered to Claire, one of the guitarists from Beach Bunny who had expressed an interest in this great sport and art form. I’m pleased to report that Beach Bunny have now gone out and bought their own set of kites.
It’s not all fun and games and aerial beauty. Regular maintenance is essential for smooth operation of one of these complex machines.
By the end of an afternoon with every spare minute spent pounding at this hoop we were experts in our new sport. Annie demonstrates here her newly mastered underhand three point shot.
The venue looked great on the inside with wide, arcing balconies on the floor that brought the audience right up to the eye level of the band. With the room full it felt intimate and connected.
The basketball was retired after the show in favour of the great cultural exchange that takes place when we teach our American friends how to play the game of cricket. As you can see, Lily from Beach Bunny has a strong arm and a good eye for the ball and is not at all concerned about diminishing our supply of tennis balls.
Here are the points for the day.
