Bootleg by Vinny Palese, our resident archivist, of our "Reunion" show in 2007. Check out the video from Taper Jim's channel - and below is a memory written shortly after the show was performed by a band member. This was copied professionally on CDr (Eric Broyhill Monster Lab Audio) with a printed CD face and sold at subsequent shows and in promo material on CDr by the Band as a simi-official release. Includes "Lung" which Gene wrote for The Ricky And Del Connection, and the previously unreleased song #18 "Mission Ignition", as well as the Hamm's Jam show closer that was played at shows throughout Kai Kln's existence.

youtu.be/a0jzD1XsLqY

Everyone in the whole fucking club was singing Punker Than Though. That may not be 100% accurate but as we reached the chorus of that song three-fourths through our set it sure sounded like two hundred people singing our song. What an awesome way to be received after so many years. People were there literally from all over California, many of which I haven't seen since before the last time the band played over eight years ago. As I looked out into the crowd it seemed like I recognized every face and each one brought back some glory day memory or some past moment from my life. An all-night dorm room party over here, a broken down van over there, a farm house in Petaluma in the back of the room, a weekend in San Diego after going to Tijuana off to the side, Smokin' Rhythm Prawns, Mason Lane, Victim's Family, Blüchunks, my wife, my brother, my oldest friends… I could go on and on. Kai and the Family Kln were at the bottom of the hill having a good time together and there was not stopping us!

After the "reunion" party last time Scott was in town we agreed that playing together was fun and that we'd do it again. Our good friend and one time manager Mark Malakie took that as a go-ahead to rustle up some shows. That quickly led to a show at The Bottom of the Hill and a month and a half to rehearse for it. So we chose an hour and a half worth of material and dove into them like a cannon ball. The once mighty Kai Kln was dusting off the cobwebs one more time.

So the night of the show we all remembered how to get to San Francisco from our glorious capitol but I think we all forgot how long it took. Mapquest doesn't figure in traffic for you. Luckily headliners American Drag forfeited their sound check and The Freak Accident are a get-on-stage-and-rock sort of band so our late load in didn't screw anyone else. Sound check went smooth and then people started showing up. Almost everyone who came warranted a little reunion and as the place filled up the party was on. The Freak Accident took the stage and Rocked the house. It was good to see our old friend Ralph Spight (Victim's Family and all permutations thereof) playing music and if you didn't take the time to check them out you should; Ralph is an exceptional song writer and musician and has put together a great band of co-conspirators for this project.

Then it was our turn. The last time we were on this stage was 1997-07-19 and it had been too long. I could feel the crowd was pumped, the band was psyched, and it was time to make some magic happen. We kicked into Roadrunner (search YouTube for a fan video) and didn't stop for over an hour. Song after song we played like no time had passed between us, and song after song the crowd cheered us on. The set was smooth with no major flaws I know of. Personally I recall only one real mistake I made and the rest of my playing was as good or better than when we were doing this weekly. Gene's showmanship was better than I ever remember it and it was a pleasure having him lead the band. Neil and Scott sounded at the top of their game too. I had forgot the perils of playing on stage and had a hard time hearing myself. Though that panicked me at first (if you watch the YouTube I'm a little lost looking) I quickly saw that Gene had the stage antics licked and I resigned myself to playing without showing off. After that I think I managed to turn my volume down during one song without my noticing but overall everything was technically great. Before we went on we found out we had about fifteen minutes less time than we planned so we had to cut a song, cut a skit our "roadies" were going to improvise, and keep the dead air, improvised jams, and my noise segment to a minimum. But that's ok, it made the show more streamline and kept us from overstaying our welcome. We got in a decent "Seven" with an extended but reasonable jam. I made a minuet or so of noise with the accompaniment of my boys before going into "Nineteen". And to close the set we did a powerful "Socialite", with Mr. James Telles himself singing and stage-diving repeatedly, followed by a reasonable Hamm's Jam that gave Gene a chance to introduce the band and say a personable good night. What a great night of rock! I did a ton socializing after the show and tried to watch American Drag (sorry guys I'll watch closer next time!) before retiring to my hotel to finish off the night right.

I saw Scott and some other friends the next morning. It was a great show and I wasn't dreaming. Hope to see you all again soon.