Wow – it has been really busy since the return from the mini-tour with BC Campbell. I have stories to tell, coming soon! Here is a little bit I wrote on the road, but never had a chance to post.
Friday 6/26/2010
Well it is Friday morning here in Beaverton at the Campbell household. It’s just after 8am and all is quiet except for the dog next door. I’m assuming that he is filling in for a rooster, or that indeed “things are not as they should be!” He is doing a fine job in either case.
It cooled off a bit from the glorious heat of yesterday, especially here in amongst the trees. It feels like the temperature is on the rise already though and it’s still above 70 in the house. I hope it gets hot again as today we will hit the road and head down I5 toward Shasta – California or bust! I’ve been told (thanks Hilary!) that jumping into Lake Shasta is a really good idea, especially when it’s hot.
Yesterday was hot. It was Last Thursday, so the festival was going on along Alberta Street. Artists, musicians, and the quickly multiplying Portland street food carts mingled with hippies and whatever you call those people who look like hippies but really are peddlers of cheap trinkets from Taiwan. There was a pair of kids with video cameras trying to shoot scenes for (I’m assuming) their upcoming feature. They decided we would be cool to have in the shot, or at least that is what I’m assuming since they kept on sneaking up on us like they were hunting wabbits. “Frick’n paparazzi!” I growled at them just to let them know they had no sneak. A kid oughta have some sneak.
BC and I played at the Alberta St Pub. It’s a cool little room with a decent sound system and plenty of places to sit. They have a layout where the bar is in the center of the building with its counter facing out to one side. The stage is on the other side of the dividing “wall” that is behind the bartender. So if you walk in the front door, to your left leads to the bar, to the right is the music room. There is a lot of sonic spill from one side to the other, mainly in the form of the jukebox being audible during the show, which opened with a quiet acoustic set from: -
Lizzie Lehman - She has a really good singing voice, and some cool original sounding chords thanks to some tricks with two capos. She said she has been writing songs for 6 years and playing music since she was little, but has really only just made the move from open mics to booking her own shows. The songs were young perhaps, but thoroughly enjoyable. Her accompanist (on Gibson Hummingbird no less) was technically proficient, and musically far too fussy and busy. Less noodle please. (I’m trying to take my own advice as I play with more songwriters, so I know it is hard.) It’s so much fun to pull out all your tricks and play all the time. But please. Less noodle.
We played second and managed to clear out the young ‘uns that had come to see Lizzie. I didn’t really believe they were of age, but I did just turn 39 on Wednesday, thus I am allowed for a couple of days to talk about how everyone under 30 looks … twelve. Remaining in the room to cheer us on were the Buoy LaRue folks and the family Campbell. By the end of the set it was filling up again and once Buoy was on, the room was solid. People actually cheered and clapped, and it was a lot of fun. Seattle audiences take note – clapping and cheering is fun!
Buoy LaRue closed it out. The band is Michael Herrman on guitar and vocals, in this case accompanied by Adam Hoornstra on viola and Will Amend on bass. We (yours truly and the quick-witted Campbells) pretty quickly identified the viola as “not a fiddle” since it was clearly being used more classically than folkyly. Yes folkyly. Well I’m not going to say “folksyly” am I? These guys can really play, and Michael is a pretty good storyteller, definitely check them out if you get a chance.
I’m off for coffee and breakfast, then we’ll pile in the car for the longish haul down to Mount Shasta. More to come…
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