I almost typed 2009. It’s Oh-10 y’all. (Yep, we’re calling it “Oh-10.” Anyone who claims otherwise is just being silly. What are you going to call it, “10″? No.
This past weekend, I played a homecoming show in Portland. It was really, really fun. My friend from the East Coast, PJ Bond, was touring through and we threw him a proper party. Local awesome dude Cory from Garden City Refugee joined us as well. I felt so satisfied that I could put together a show that introduced a couple good musicians to the 30 or so people in attendance. This may seem like a low bar for success for those of you who know me from back East, but for the first two years on the West Coast, Portland has felt more like a tour show. But I think we’re building something here, and I enjoyed this show like the homecoming that it was.
The last time I played with PJ was at a hotel show in Gainesville. Rich and Nariman from Sound Scene Revolution invited us to the show they were throwing in their hotel room at 2 AM. Despite everyone’s delirium and exhaustion (or maybe because of those factors), everyone had a pretty sweet time. PJ and I each played a few songs, then Tom from The Menzingers hopped up to serenade everyone through the collective nightcap. This wasn’t the best show on this tour for documenting the audio, but this is the one we’ve got. Nariman stood dutifully beside the performers with microphones as we slagged our way through the songs, and this podcast is the result. It’s worth listening to, at least for the stories. Watch this 30-second video to see what it looks like to cram 25 people into one hotel room.
On an unrelated note, my friend Iris and I spoke at length after Saturday’s show about how we both had friends in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. Her friend did an interview upon returning, and his observations are thoughtful and surprising. In particular, I was appalled to learn that the U.S. blocked all aid flights into the airport for three hours so Secretary of State Clinton could deliver a speech about how much aid the U.S. was delivering. It’s worth your time; you can check out the article here.
- Aaron