2005-05-09 - 1:29 p.m.
The ferry to Vashon is the shortest scenic ferry ride ever. Of course that’s a ridicules statement as I’ve not been on every ferry in the world. You head off across a thin arm of the Puget Sound with Mr. Rainier as a backdrop. From this perspective it looks just like those classic Japanese prints of Mt. Fuji. I find myself standing on the prow with the wind stiffly blow straight on. The briny smell wakes me up and reminds me of growing up near the Long Island Sound. In fact Vashon reminds me very much of the north shore of Long Island, all quaint, evergreen and rolling hills; the sound of seagulls on the sweet salt air.
Vashon is neat little town and the home of Bishops, where we’ll be playing this evening. There’s a fantastic book store just next door and I make a beeline for it. I pick up two books, “River Sutra” and “Fly-Fishing Through My Mid-life Crisis” (Ha!). At $6 each, how can you lose? The Golden Tee game in the club still has me listed as the only person to have hit a hole in one, a drive I hit the snot out of on a par 3 that rolled up a little hill and right into the cup. They sent me a check for $25 a couple of months later for my effort. It was pretty amazing considering I generally suck at the game. Alex Anderson is our good friend and promoter of the show on the island. We’re sure no detail will escape his attention. It was a great, sold out show put on with the style and class we’ve come to expect from a show put on by the inimitable Mr. Anderson. If all promoters did as well our lives would be a lot easier.
After the show we are invited to spend the night at the house where Alex and his girlfriend Kim live. The house is an extension of their eclectic tastes with surrealist paintings sharing wall space with concert posters and other ephemera of the various cultures of the planet.
We start a three show run as support for the band moe(they use the lower case to spell their name). I really don’t know much about moe except that they’re pretty popular. We did a show with them in Virginia a couple of years back and we shared the stage with a few of them and the Cheese back in Park City a few days back. They have a great crew and know how to get things done. They even set up their own wireless network wherever they go so I had the opportunity to get my e-mail right in our dressing room. Very cool! I watch them do a couple of tunes for their sound check and then head out to the Pike Street market. You’ve probably seen this place on TV. It’s where they throw the fish to each other. When I was there they talked this cute young girl into doing it. She missed the first time but caught a real big one on her second try. It was a real hoot! Pike Street market is a multilevel public market that sprawls along the water front in the center of Seattle. I sampled fiddle heads (they grow in the wetland woods near where I live) and sea beans in a great vegetable stall and some really delicious and spicy chicken sausage with cilantro and peppers at another stall. There’s a couple of great bookstores and record shops there as well so you can see why I dig this place.
The show with moe goes well, the moe fans seem to like us just fine. I like these guys, they’re kinda nutty and both Chuck and Alan are great guitarists. It’s decided that there will be some sitting in the following evening in Portland.
Portland is a great town. It’s a city but it has a small-town feel about it. There’s a wee bit of a dark side with their share of street people and whatnot but I dig the place enough that it makes my short list of places I could be comfortable living. We’re playing at the Crystal Ballroom. It’s a beautifully restored ballroom that has been the host of many great shows in the past. As proof the show posters are all over the place. There’s a great record store across the street and I pick up the Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” on CD and a disc of the music of Raymond Scott by the band from the Netherlands called the Beau Hunks. I could easily have dumped $100 on music there but wisely resist the urge to spend such sums whilst on the road. The show was an absolute blast and we had a great time sitting in with the moe boys.
I need to do laundry but the hotel we’re in doesn’t offer that service so I’m up early armed with directions to the closest laundromat. I’m enjoying a beautiful spring morning as I go in search of clean clothes. Where we are staying is downtown right on a square that is also the home to a huge mall and museums. The small-town feel of this place increases as not three blocks from the hotel I find myself driving through beautiful little neighborhoods with craftsman cottages and well manicured lawns and fresh-planted gardens. I find my way to a nice, clean laundromat situated between a coffee shop that serves breakfast and some art galleries. Sweet! Food and stuff to look at besides my clothes going round and round.
Eugene. In the dictionary next to “college town” there is a picture of Eugene. There seems to be a greater than average population of street people. In this way it reminds me of Colorado Springs. There’s a nice Tibetan store across the street where I have a nice conversation with the proprietor. Most Tibetan stores are actually owned by Nepali’s. This was not the case here. The woman who owned the store was actually Tibetan. I can’t resist the urge to ask her about her past. Tibetans usually have fascinating stories which may or may not include sneaking out of Tibet into India over the Himalayas. Sure enough she and her parents came over the mountains in the summer of her sixteenth year. I asked if they settled in Dharamsala and she said that they had settled in South Central India. She hated it and I can imagine why. Going from the cool mountain plains of Tibet and an altitude above 10,000 feet to the steamy jungles of South India. She got milaria and almost perished and endured the strangeness of the culture and it’s inherent feeling of being ostracized. She emigrated to the United States and now she’s a successful business owner. Ain’t America grand?
The show in Eugene goes well. It was a nice venue and we ripped it up. Once again some of us sat in with the moe boys and had too much fun. It was great playing with moe but it will be nice to get back to playing full shows.
We’re up early and off to Bend, Oregon, a cool little town on the east side of the Cascades in the high desert. We followed the McKenzie River for a couple of hours. It’s one of the most beautiful river valleys you’ll ever see! I fell in love with it and have placed a good portion of it on my short list of places I would like to live. Bend’s a neat place and we had a great show. The crowd wasn’t huge but they were great. Bend’s in a unique place geologically speaking. We were advised to have chains on to get over the pass into Bend but we didn’t have any trouble and the weather was fine. It’s high desert up here and amongst volcanic rubble fields. Very primitive. I’d love to go back and next time I’ll try to make time to fish the Deschutes and McKenzie Rivers!
Next: On to California!!
