Show Journal 2009-06-12
Go figure that the best Portland show we’ve had all year (well, except for that Guttermouth one) would be in someone’s living room. There was a lot of stuff to take in so I’ll keep it brief. The Seditionists were up first. Brash, snotty, fast, sloppy, low-fi punk rock. I would dare say quite enjoyed it. We Play Quiet was up second and featured a saw. Yep, saw as in “I bought this at Home Depot to cut things” kind of saw. I suppose you could cut fools with it too, but a blade is much better for that. The saw had a very strange almost theremin like sound to it. Interesting take on the genre for sure. Bill Skins Fifth was 3rd, but sadly I didn’t see much as we were catching up with Mayor. Not Dave, the Mayor of Tri-Cities, but the Mayor of Compact 56. We spoke afterwards and he seemed like a cool guy and that gets props here. Destroy Nate Allen was next and he/them was the reason we took the show. Nate used to book our Roseburg shows back in the day and was probably the coolest small town show promoter we’ve ever come across. Everything ran on schedule, pay was always fair, and many times you’d even get fed. Pretty amazing since I think he was in high school at the time. He’s played solo acoustic sets for quite some time and has written many good songs. His new incarnation, featuring his wife on vocals equated to quite possibly the feel good show of the year. Fun songs, easy singalongs, clever lyrics and a DIY spirit few can duplicate. It was Nate, his guitar, his wife and the both of them singing to one another, with a huddled in crowd, no microphones and a room full of smiles. Very cool. They are off for a 6 month tour (!) so we wish them the best. Our set was a blast to play. The room seemed loud, energetic and as the immortal Buster Pointdexter would say “hot, hot, hot”. Speaking of which, I never realized Buster was the singer for the New York Dolls until recently. I almost touched him once exiting a log flume ride many years ago at a Six Flags. Wow, this is a fascinating show review isn’t it? Didn’t I say it would be brief? Anyway, we had a fantastic time playing and I can’t thank everyone who came out to watch us play. Absent Minds was last and in keeping with the theme of the evening they too also had an unusual instrument, a cello. For a while it was inadvertently coming out distorted which sounded pretty awesome. They were pretty excellent. I wanted to watch more but I’m old and old people can die in hot weather so I spent the rest of the night outside in the cool air. Thanks to all who participated in the show. Extra big thanks to Nate and the folks who run the Coop!
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