Portland recap, in which we celebrate Victory
Portland pretty much ruled. We figure its all downhill from here. After a seemingly endless drive from Chico, we puttered into Portland and headed right for the Doug Fir’s parking garage (Yes!) and started hauling gear onto the stage. The staff at Doug Fir are all helpful, friendly and un-jaded folks, which is rare in this business. Our High Scores & Records crew was in full effect, with Devin Gallagher (Ghosties, Typhoon, head of High Scores & Records) & Sean Archer (Sweeping Exits). We got a sneak peek of their new project, La Playa.
As we were heading upstairs to sample some of Doug Fir’s excellent food (chipotle pork skewers, mmmmm), Adam was surprised by his wife, who had driven up 10 hours from Berkeley! That’s love, folks. La Playa kicked things off, as people started to file in. Lots of old friends, new friends we have made on the road, and even a few famous faces. Our set was damn good… Someone set 4 shots of whiskey to the stage (up from the 3 shots we earned in Chico). Carver’s old pal Megan Dutra (Night Jerks, Dedications, Cuspidor) joined us for a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams, and she was certainly a much better Stevie Nicks than Skip. There was a celebratory feeling throughout the night. The Tumblers got people drinkin’ and dancing, which I imagine happens everywhere they go. We discussed pitting our two pedal steel players against each other in some sort of steel-off for West Coast bragging rights.
We crashed with Skip’s old pal Ross Beach, chatting about lovely Portland and playing with his two cats, Chipper & Jack (Jack was not into it). In the morning, we checked out a lightweight yurt that Ross was building in his backyard for Burning Man. Pretty damn impressive for a city slicker. After wandering downtown a bit with Megan, and selling a few cds at Everyday Music, we said farewell to the City of Roses.
Current van soundtrack: Sharon Jones, Junior Kimborough, Girl Talk
