Seattle and Portland 2009
We left early Tuesday morning after a brief stop to get gas and adjust the air in the tires (Ryan got in a fight with the attendant who yelled, “You want mo’ time, you put coin! YOU PUT COIN!”). Our van, which has over 177,000 miles on it at the time of this writing, has broken side doors. In order to get in and out of the van, you must climb in through the back or front. One day, we will be forced to replace this van. Until then, we are dragging its chassis across the country, trailer attached. We arrived road-weary and bleary-eyed a bit past midnight. We unloaded the trailer into the hotel room (a must, in any city) and passed out.
Bright and early Wednesday morning we woke and met up with Tim, who had flown up. We grabbed some much-needed coffee (Tougo Coffee on Westlake - a lot of thought seems to go into every pour over there). We drove over to KEXP where Kevin, the engineer, helped us sound check and made us feel right at home. At noon, we played two songs, chatted with Cheryl Waters a little, and then played two more songs. This was the first time I’d ever been interviewed where I didn’t feel really nervous and uncomfortable. Cheryl’s ease and grace spilled over onto me and I was able to answer her questions (mostly) in English.
You can listen to our performance here and look at pictures of us playing in studio taken by Brittany Bush Bollay. We played “Her Words”, “Version”, “We Wear Strings”, and “The Droplet Sounds”.
After KEXP, we headed over to the Coastal Kitchen with our old friend John. We ate and drank some of Seattle’s famous breakfast cocktails and then wandered around Capitol Hill a little bit. The biting cold made it difficult to stay outside for very long.
Chop Suey was freezing cold – literally. The thermostat was broken and it was actually sub-zero in there. We all wore coats and scarves, but had to eschew the gloves so we could sound check. The club’s sound guy, Nick, was very helpful, up-beat, and charming. Besides some radio interference in Tim’s wah pedal (which I hear is a fairly common Seattle phenomenon), sound check went without a hitch.
We caught dinner at the brewery across the street and then came back in time to watch the Tea Cozies (adorable) and Erik Blood (fantastic). I braved the cold (though the venue had heated up considerably since sound check) and wore the dress I’d brought for the evening. The show went well. We played a brand new song (Radium Girls) for the first time. It’s so new that I had only written the bridge in the car on the way over (it will be re-written again).
We woke late on Thursday morning and went to breakfast at Pesos who make fine caramel French toast and other noteworthy breakfast creations. After a quick look through the vinyl at Easy Street in Queen Anne, we drove to Woodenville and went wine tasting. Bought bottles at Bookwalter and Mark Ryan.
We drove back to Seattle, changed, and met Rob and Reese for dinner at Spring Hill in West Seattle. Ryan and Rob geeked out on production and equipment while Reese and I discussed food and cooking. Spring Hill was a a great spot with a long, open kitchen and food that tasted like it was made with a lot of care and attention. Brought a couple bottles from California that we drank with dinner. Felt a little strange with such amazing Northwest wines on the list, but got over that quickly.
After dinner, we raced down to Neumo’s to meet up with Patrick and Tim and catch Mew who were loud and typically brilliant. The end of the show was a bit controversial (I did not like the talking bear. Ryan loved it).
Back at the hotel after the show, Patrick kicked something under his bed. He reached down only to find a large jar packed full of a skunky green substance. After debating for 3 seconds what we should do with it, we called the local authorities and had them come pick it up and destroy it. Yeah, that’s what happened.
On Friday we ate breakfast at Toulouse Petit, packed the van, and drove to Portland. The drive down was uneventful. We checked into the hotel and debated whether or not we should unload the van. Then we noticed some hipsters wandering around and decided to bring everything inside. We drove over to Powell’s books and, after an hour of book-searching (we had to give ourselves a deadline for departure because that place is a labrynthian time-sucker) we headed to our favorite cheap sushi place in Portland. Going to visit the sushi train has been a tradition for us since we first started visiting Portland back in the 90s. I can’t remember the last time we went there without Greg (bass player of Halou) though. He used to pile up 9 or 10 plates of sushi. It was a wonder to behold.
Then we loaded the van back up and drove to the Parlour. We loaded in, watched Shinto play. Then we did a quick equipment switch-around and line check, and played our set. After our set, we watched Mere Mention play. Then we loaded the van and drove back to the hotel. After unloading into the room, we ate greasy food at the Denny’s across the street. Then we passed out.
Saturday, we drove home, the four of us, through freezing (and regular) rain, snow, and black ice. We passed countless jackknifed big rigs. We made it home just past 10pm. Really looking forward to the next time. Thank you to everyone who helped us out and all of you who made it out to the shows.