Earlier in the day we got some exercise by meeting up with a bunch of guys for a pickup game of ultimate frisbee. A few injuries were had. Dylan got an excellent elbow or something into my side when I jumped up to block him and I tuck and rolled out. Gotta say, it was the most passive game I've ever played. Not the game itself, just the guys. Anytime there was a dispute over in or out or anything of the sort everything would stop and everyone would kind of go "well...i dunno...you want it?...nah you can take it...well alright then." Funny but great guys. Honestly I will never know how pot smoking hippies invented a game with so much running...
Monday was Dylan's first day of work as a construction worker. He got up bright an early and I mean REALLY early, all on his own, after only two alarms, and went to work. I enjoyed my first monday and slept in a lil bit then got to work applying for new jobs. Made and ate lunch over skype with my friend May in Canada who I haven't seen in ages and made a run to the post office. Met up with Dylan at Twilight Exit for happy hour and then rolled home for some damn Adventuretime.
Tuesday was the best day in Seattle yet. Dylan got up and left and I stayed in bed til 1 sending off resumes and emails and doing research on local eateries. At around 2 I wrassled myself outta bed, had a shower, made a salad stir fry and set off towards downtown. My goal was to find an art supply store and I managed to do that after taking a few liberties with the directions I memorized.
I found a place that is now at the top of my list of food places. I had actually looked it up earlier but didn't realize I was going to pass it and almost missed it entirely. The place is called HoneyHole and they make amazing sandwiches. You walk in and it feels very cosy, lots of wood, a bull skull with red lightbulbs in the eye sockets over the door, italian clint eastwood posters, etc. There's a set menu of specialty sandwiches both meat and veggie that average about 8 bucks a piece (Considered a cheap eat in seattle apparently...$5 is a cheap eat to me but I'm a huge fan of nyc corner stand food so what do I know?) that are about 8 inches long. Every sandwich is on a semi hard baguette toasted but not pressed and loaded with deliciousness. Also they start serving beer at 11 am. so for $11 I got sandwich called the WAVERIDER (in house roasted turkey breast, homemade pesto, melted smoked gouda, red onion, sweet hot peppers, and aioli on a demi baguette) and a pint of Olympia (which as I understand it is the Pabst Blue Ribbon of Washington State.) and was totally sated. It was delicious and I was astounded at the fact that I was FULL! two thumbs waaaaay up.
Found an awesome art gallery that was having a show on art based on video games. Wanted to buy so much of it but had to refrain. Might go get a print or two cause there was a lot of good talent. Asked about working for them and found out the guy I was talking to owned the place. He was the only one who worked there and said he couldn't afford any help. Shucks.
Bought a sketch book and some pens and glue to make postcards and something to submit to the zine fest and had a nice long walk home. Dylan was home and we went down the street and talked to some folks named Stephen, Steven, and Jenn who had a bunch of furniture in their yard and a great dog. I bought a dresser and we balanced it on the roof for the drive home. Got it upstairs and started setting up stuffs before I realized WE WERE GONNA BE LATE FOR THE SHOW!!!
Micachu and the Shapes is hands down my favorite band. I had to listen to each of their albums a good half dozen times before they clicked and I could hear past the noise and the weirdness but it was damn well worth the effort. Mica is classically trained and makes most of her own instruments to get very odd sounds. She even uses a vacuum cleaner in a few songs! I saw them open for Tune-Yards in NYC and was annoyed that no one was dancing to their music.
Same thing happened here. The levels tonight were pretty off and the room was HUGE and cavernous so I could understand why a lot of people weren't getting it tonight. But the crowd cheered and everyone I talked to between the sets said they loved them. They played a bunch of their new album and a few fantastic songs of their old that had me dancin like a monkey in the middle of the floor and shouting along. Everyone cheered when the songs ended but you could tell who actually came for Micachu because they knew when to clap or when the breaks were coming.
Me in the bar. I punched Dylan a bit too enthusiastically and he used this opportunity to get me to hold still so he could sucker punch my gut. Slapped his hand and it glanced off of me and I STILL got a nice looking picture out of it. AND WHAT!
Chillin with the two coolest folks in the room, Diane and Andy! 52 and 54 respectively and they were both in love with both bands. They spent a good 50 bucks on merch and I had to run over to take a picture with them. So much respect and they were super sweet!
Animal Collective came on and rocked shit. Like they doooo... I've seen them play twice. Well once and a half really... The first time was in Rome. Animal collective opened for Tv on the Radio opened for Nine Inch Nails. Yeah, I lost my mind when I heard that line up too. That show was incredible and as the opener they had no stage set up or anything. Just them and their gear on a stage in the middle of an outdoor horse race track. The second time was at the guggenheim exhibit they did with Danny Perez. Everyone expected that to be an animal collective show but it was actually a danny perez show with animal collective providing a surreal soundscape for 3 hours. a lot of people were let down but I had a great time walking around the guggenheim listening to the jungle like noises that were coming out.
Tonight they kicked much ass. Playing a bunch of new tracks off the new album and throwing in a bunch of older ones. The stage was brilliantly designed but I"m having trouble tracking down the artist who designed the layout. On top and the sides were giant rows of teeth that strangely resembled some graffiti I saw in New Brunswick. In the middle giant arches curled towards the center with brightly painted patterns all over them in segments reminiscent of a centipede. The arches were constantly projected on and the teeth lit up in various colors and there was a cloth backing that had different patterns going on. One of the best light shows I've seen in a long while.
I will say this about Seattle. Their crowds are so much different from NYC. For starters, there were people buying tickets for this show AT THE DOOR! NYC woulda sold out a month ago which is why I panicked and bought my ticket immediately but I bought a ticket for dylan this morning and found out you can buy them day of at the box office without the extra ten dollars in surcharges and "convenience fees". How awesome is that?!
Second, there is space. Every new york show i've been too that didn't involve a mosh pit was packed. Over crowded even. and the closer you got to the front the more packed it would get and the more aggressive people would be about their spots. This show, I start moving the slightest bit to the music and people give me room. No one complains, no one pushes me back, they actually move out of the way so I can dance. I remember going to a Bloc Party show in NYC and having a woman in high heels physically stop me from dancing on the grounds that I was going to hurt someone. Let's be honest, the only damage I've caused anyone dancing was splitting this guy's eyebrow open in a Primus mosh pit. Aside from that I might step on a few toes while jumping or jostle people around in an effort to get them to join in but I am not really capable of hurting people by dancing. I'm not sure if everyone just thought I was on drugs and that it was better to leave me be than to cause me trouble (there were a fair amount of people on ecstasy and psychedelics there to be certain) but either way I always found I had enough room to jump around and not hit anyone. ASTOUNDING!
There were people pushing to the front the whole time and provided they said "excuse me" most people let them on through. I've been to shows where I'm crusing up towards the stage and suddenly this guy twice my size, who would have a clear view no matter where he stood, blocks my path. I tap him on the shoulder and hint "hey man, i'm short, mind if I stand in front of you or get by?" and he'd tell me to fuck off and that he wasn't moving for anyone. At one point in the show I asked three guys if they would mind switching places with me so I could be closer to some dancing folk and instead convinced them to get their hands out of their pockets and start jumping around with me. Great people here, gotta say...
A crazy dancing couple I met in front of me. A ton of people came painted up and they were all the ones dancing the hardest.
When the lights came up at the end of the show I noticed the ceiling looked kinda like a giant gorilla. I want to go back and get more pictures. This will do for now.
So after the encore the crowd emptied out into the street in typical traffic stopping fashion. I climbed up a street lamp trying to find dylan and he finally picked up his phone. "I'm on 9th and Pike. Walk up the block. Come. Here." he said. After figuring out which direction that was I walk up and see him posted up next to a tour bus. I stop to give a high five to a girl in a matching Micachu shirt then turn slightly and notice standing two feet away from me is...HER! Mica! is standing RIGHT THERE! SIGNING SOMETHING! and two feet beyond her MARC PELL! THE DRUMMER! I run up to Marc who was laughing bout something and stick my hands out to shake his. I shower him with admiration and tell him I saw them play in NYC and that it bugs me that no one dances to his amazing drum beats. He was all smiles and thanks and I asked if we could get a picture. We were missing one of the shapes (keyboardist Raisa) but they agreed. Mica signed an autograph for Dylan on one of the yellow paint swatches and was pretty awkward and left. But Marc was the friendliest guy. I feel like most people couldn't understand what he was saying but he shook my hand and thanked me for buying a shirt. Then wished us the best of luck in Seattle and said "you're off to a great start if this is only two weeks here" Best concert ever.
I love that i'm taller than a rockstar...
I'm still freaking out about meeting them (literally yelled "I CAN GET HIT BY A BUS NOW!!!!" and ran into the street screaming with glee after they left) it was so huge.
In other news I finally uploaded a song I recorded a week ago and it seems appropriate to post it now. It's pretty quiet so I recommend listening with headphones. I"m pretty proud of how it sounds aside from the low volume and white noise. Need a little practice and tutorial searching to get that down right.
I'm feeling inspired. I'm going to record more songs tomorrow.
ALSO! I have a job interview for a Doggy Day Care! I applied this morning and a lovely woman named Melissa said she read my resume and wants to interview me over the phone in the morning! I'm praying to Jebeneezer that I get this job so I can be paid ten bucks an hour to play with dogs for 8 hours at a time. That would just make my life so awesome I wouldn't care about the constant rain!
I'll keep y'all in the loop!
Wish you all were here!
Stil Glowing!
D&Z
People are always looking for writers Z. I think you should take a job writing concert reviews, restaurant reviews, whatever to supplement your $10 dog job which I really hope you get.
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