So we get a call at 9:30 this night asking if we want to play a show at 10:30. Why not – we were going to go to EJ’s to see the show anyway. So with the help of Rob the Stalker we ran out to our practice space and essentially broke in so we could get our guitars and amps. It was total mission impossible. Normally our place locks up at 9:00 and the alarm activates so we (Dave) had to hurriedly scale the wet barbed wire security gate, open the space up and shuffle our gear over the same barbed wire fence and get going before the police arrived. Not to mention as soon as we stepped foot over the fence we tripped the motion sensor and the alarm started going off. The other bad news is that they do have a security camera that points straight at the gate. The whole time I’m thinking about Judas Priest singing Breaking the Law. Of course, according to our friend Rob the only laws that Rob Halford breaks are the laws of nature. (Rob’s opinions do not necessarily reflect that of the band.) Anyway, back to the stealth mission – we arrived safe and sound and had a great time despite our criminal status. There was a good turnout and as always Bomf! rocked everyone in a huge way. So far we are still running from the law … all for the name of punk rock!

I’d really like to write about how great our show was, but it was overshadowed by another event. It turns out that a guy named Billy, a long time employee and local at EJ’s died last night. Most of the people at EJ’s tonight were there to mourn and pay their respects, not to see music. There were a bunch of flowers at the bar. It was really awkward because even though we had met him several times, we still didn’t feel like we really belonged there. We felt some attachment because he was in the same “scene,” but detached on a personal level because he wasn’t a long time friend of ours like every one else there. Given the circumstances and atmosphere the show went fine (as all shows at EJ’s do) it was just unfortunate for the reason behind the crowd.

This was the best local show I have seen in Portland to date … period. The Leeches rock. Elmer rocks. Bomf! really rocks. The crowd rocked. The bathroom didn’t rock, but who cares when everything else was so good. It was such a fun show. Thanks to everyone who came and made this such a great night.

I should have known this was going to be a bad night when the sound guy asked me “are you a rock band?” Bad show indeed. In fact the only good thing was that we only live 2 blocks from the club which means a brief walk to clean bathrooms. A rare treat in the music scene. Anyway, Rexsole was pretty cool … even Loree says so. If you like happy music go see them.

The cool thing about being in a band is that you get to see a lot of shows. Some are boring, some are long, some are lame, but every now and again you get to see a really really good show. The kind of show where none of the bands suck and everyone there appears to be having fun. Tonight was one of those rare nights. We got to play with The Leeches, The Blackouts and Elmer. If you haven’t heard of Elmer before you will some day. They play a weird mix of country and punk that is hard not to like. Catchy fast and funny. But anyway, it was another good night at EJ’s. I’m glad to hear they aren’t closing after all!