Monday morning and I’m home now from 4 days on the road with felsen. We played 3 shows: Eugene, Seattle and Cottage Grove, OR. This was our 4th trip to the PNW in about a year. 2 return engagements and a new venue in Cottage Grove, the smallest town on the tour which surprisingly turned out to be the funnest show.
The best part of the tour for me was day 3. We woke up in Seattle after a pretty interesting gig the night before. We stayed with my old high school friend and her daughter. The kid gave up her room so I could sleep in the pink teen shrine of Justin Bieber. Awesome. We then drove down to Cottage Grove, OR with a quick stop in Portland (who wouldn’t book us this time--shame on you Portland) for a meet up with some more friends. On the drive down to Cottage Grove, we had nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted listening to George Harrison’s 1970 masterpiece album “All Things Must Pass”. I never owned it, heard it a few times over the years, but finally found a used copy in a store in Alameda and have since fallen deeply under it’s spell. Upon it’s release, one critic said it was “the music of mountain tops and vast horizons". I couldn’t agree more and that was abundantly apparent driving through central Oregon on the I 5 as the sun was going down on Night 3 of the tour. I was sharing the CD with my band now for the first time. We were all feeling it. The musicianship, the songwriting/lyrics and the spiritual, metaphysical concept is undeniably breathtaking. (As i’m writing this today, I’ve been reminded that it’s George’s 70th birthday. Hare Krishna George!)
Arriving in Cottage Grove at the Axe and Fiddle we all immediately felt good. The vibe of the place put us all at ease. Everyone working there was warm and genuine. The patrons hanging out, drinking or eating dinner were friendlies too. How many gigs have I arrived at where there was the exact opposite feeling? The booker was behind the bar serving drinks. She was a little hard to read though. I attributed it to just having to deal with so many band’s BS--I imagine that could wear down even the best-intentioned person. She was clear and direct but not super outgoing at first. Despite that, she got us drinks, got us delicious food--the most delicious and healthiest band food of the whole tour. She told me “more eating, less talking”. translation: when you’re done eating it’s time to get your lazy indie rock slacker self on stage and start entertaining. It was funny. It made us all laugh. There was a band coming on after us who all seemed really nice too. One of the patrons offered to help us medicate before showtime--we opted to save that offer for a later time. We played our hearts out, tried to really engage the crowd, got people on their feet, dancing at the foot of the stage. We gave it our all. How could we not with food that good? We thanked the chef from the stage. I reminded the audience to buy lots of top shelf booze to ensure that this quality venue remains afloat. I begged the audience to buy our CD (I’m sure you could smell the desperation of indie rockers teetering on the edge of credit card debt). It was a roomful of total strangers and we won them over. We rocked it hard and they obliged us, merely the opening band, with an encore. We asked the audience if we’d earned the right to play something quiet and pretty. Would they walk out on us if we didn’t play another one of our “least common denominator rockers”? Bless their hearts, they hung in there and we left them with something pretty in their eardrums. We played a new song “Gimme Shelter For The Devil”. Kind of a play on words that name checks two Rolling Stones tunes. It’s about life and death. growing old. fearing what’s to come. loving your neighbors. you know, my usual stuff. They loved it. Wow what a great gig. People bought CDs. Whew...we might not go into debt on this tour after all.
After we played, the booker was really nice to me. She thanked me several times while busily filling drinks, serving food etc..The headliner was setting up their gear. It was time for me to redeem my drink tickets. And redeem I did. I didn’t know what to think of the next band. You see, my head is royally messed up. Allowing yourself to enjoy another band allows for the possibility that there are other great bands out there, and that you got room to learn and there’s always room to up your game. I was defensive... ...until about halfway through their 1st song. And then that all just crumbled away. They’re called Terrible Buttons and I’m their newest, biggest fan. They’re...well... ahh...a lot younger than us. They’re from Spokane.
Sadly, the room was kinda thinning out. I feel bad now having played that encore. The later you have to go on, the less audience you’re gonna be left with. For those of us who stayed, we’re the lucky ones. I was mesmerized. Each of the 6 musicians on stage was really good and they played together as a cohesive ensemble. The songs were interesting, daring, creative and totally original. The soundman at the club is a total pro (he’s the touring soundman with the Walkmen--nice gig.) and he had them dialed. It was magic-- in this little venue in a little town in Oregon. Go figure. After every song, I clapped and screamed like a 14 year old girl at a Beatles Concert. I was checking in visually with my band mates. “Are you guys hearing this?”. “Is this for real?” “Is this really happening?”. Yes... Yes it was.
I got up from my seat and wandered around the room a bit, trying to gauge people’s reactions to this band. “these guys are amazing. what do you think?” I asked people and everyone agreed. Finally about 45 mins into their set, I went to the bar and the booker was there serving drinks, clearing out people’s bar tabs etc...and I looked at her, pointed at the band and said, “amazing”. Smiling, she nodded her head. That wasn’t enough for me. This was like church or something spiritual. I needed more confirmation from the powers that be. I took her hand from across the bar, looked her dead in the eye and said “you realize how incredible these guys are” and she looked back at me, I think she had a tear in her eye. She got it. I knew right then that she was a “True Believer”. Someone who truly believes there still is the possibility to do something transformative and beautiful with the art form of rock and roll. It’s a shitty, fucked up business--she knows it better than most. Hunter Thompson said: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Being a booker is a really hard, thankless job. There’s a lot of pressure to bring in paying customers and maybe book the shittiest, lamest garbage in order to put butts in seats. I’m sure she’s had to do that. Witnessing something real and beautiful that you curated has got to feel good, like a small, private victory. Madame booker, we salute you. (Kudos to you for taking a risk on two, small bands.)
ps. I’m a believer too.
pss. info and discount tix for our big San Fran gig on Friday March 15.
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