Ladies and Gentlemen, I present: Driftwood!

We spent the day walking around Portland. It was rainy though, so we went back to Nire’s house, hung out with the dogs for a while, and had some hot chocolate. Later we went to Mississippi Pizza and had some really good pizza. Ray from Castanets and Scout Niblett came to the show. Also Randy from Junkface and Nire. Lots of friends in the house. And the nice girl who really likes Unbunny is back, and she bought some of my artwork. Tiger Saw played a good set. Dave on bass again. He played on all of our songs tonight. There were little kids in the audience, right up front. It made me feel good to see them at the show. Testface played with a totally different configuration again tonight. It was a more country rock vibe. They sounded good. It’s interesting to hear them night after night. The songs are unfolding for me. I like Dave’s songs, and the arrangements are really interesting. I don’t think they’re the kind of songs that grab me right away, but I do think that they are really good, and will stick with you once you’ve spent some time with them.

Unbunny, on the other hand, is the kind of band whose songs sound classic and perfect the first time you hear them. I’m such a fan.

The Hotel Alexis played a really rockin’ set tonight. I sat in on guitar, and both Chris’s played as well. There were lots of improvised bits, and noisy sections, but it all came together when it needed to. The Hotel Alexis is sounding good these days. I wish this part of the tour was longer. I feel like it’s all starting to get really good; we’re all having so much fun.

Tiger Saw, pizza, Portland

Unbunny. Twin drum thunder!!!

Nate and the Magic Vest

The next morning we went out to brunch with Ray, Scout, Erin and some other friends.

"take me to Alaska!"

A joke from Ray Raposa: “A termite walks into a bar, and asks ‘Is the bar tender here?”

Three of us all bought the same new Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy CD today. It sounds okay. Ray said it was supposed to be the best since ‘I See A Darkness’, and that may be true. Still- the songs are good enough, but it doesn’t excite me the way ‘Darkness’ did, or any of those old Palace records did. It came with a bonus CD with old 7”’s compiled, and that was pretty fun to listen to. I got the new Adrian Orange CD too. It sounds like Adrian. Some good turns of phrase, some weird guitar parts. Lots of songs about “the world”. Good stuff.

We drove to Eugene, and had dinner at Dave from Testface’s house. We cooked a big spaghetti dinner, and spent the early evening with his seven cats. It was relaxing and nice. We went to a bar before the show, and played this video music trivia game. It was really fun. After a few dollars, we got the high score. We cheered loudly when we did, and our friends outside thought that something exciting had happened with a sports game on TV. One question asked what Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band was called, and one of the multiple choice answers was ‘Feathers’. We thought that was funny because the makers of the game probably didn’t know that that is even a real band.

HIGH SCORE!!!

The show is at Luckey’s Cigar Bar (not misspelled and no cigars in sight). It’s a big club, good stage. Super LOUD show. Everyone was great again. Testface gets better every night. Sid and Dave sat in for Tiger Saw’s set. We played some songs we hadn’t done yet on tour. For the last song, everyone from all the bands came onstage to sing ‘Postcards’. It was great to have so many people singing with us. My friend Lesley was at the show. She moved here from Boston to go to school. It was nice seeing her.

Testface at Luckey's

I slept in a loft in a garage at Dave’s house. I was afraid I might roll off the edge, but I didn’t. It was a late night, and I slept real well. In the morning, we all went out for brunch, and I got another burger. We drove down the coast to California. We stopped in Crescent City, and saw seals on the rocks. There was all this driftwood on the beach, and we played it like xylophones. It was really fun! Chris Holt has never been to California before, but he really wanted to stop here. He has a desire to live in Crescent City. He just had a feeling like he should be here. I respect that.

Seals on the rocks, Crescent City, CA

Sid & Gregg

The debut of our supergroup: DRIFTWOOD!

We got to Arcata, and hardly anyone was at the show. There was a party across the street, where it was suggested we move the show. We checked it out, but it wasn’t really our scene. Our bands did have some of their beer, though, then headed back to Das Gasthouse and played the show. Some people did turn up, and we ended up doing an acoustic show. They have had some noise complaints, so we had to make sure it was a quiet show. It turned out to be a really great show all around. Tiger Saw opened up, and Chris played an upright piano. We had lots of sing-alongs, and everything sounded good. I was happy that the other bands were able to see a Tiger Saw set like this. We had been playing so many good shows like this before we met up with the Hotel Alexis et al. Then when we met up with them, we started playing louder, rock sets. I was glad that they could be a part of this too. The Hotel Alexis played three songs , and they were understated and beautiful. Gregg Porter played a song, too. I always love to hear his songs. Unbunny played a full set, with James on the piano instead of bass. They played lots of songs that they hadn’t yet done on tour, and some that they hadn’t done before at all. It felt like a really special set. A great, intimate performance. I will remember it as a highlight of the tour.

Gregg "The Reporter" Porter hard at work

Jarid rocks us gently

Mo'bunny

After, we went back to the party across the street, and it was silly. I’m glad we played where we did, and didn’t try to play for a house full of people who didn’t want to listen.