Willfully Misdirected With A Chance of Broken Strings

An eventful weekend? Perhaps. After arranging dog sitting, I made my way northward to Seattle for Friday night/Saturday shenanigans in the city whose parking system hates me.

Friday was to be an afternoon of relaxing which led through the fiery pits of Wing Dome towards game night at Jared and Tessa's. I opted to try one of the level 7 wings at Wing Dome, which led to an extended period of watering eyes and complete lack of flavor on everything else I tasted for the next couple hours (not so bad for the tall boys of Rainier, more of a shame for the rest of the non-devil wings). Probably not going to do that again, as everything before that point seemed to taste great. Games went swimmingly, with Sommarstrom emerging victorious from a brutal game of Munchkin Cthulhu (I do believe I need to invest in the Munchkin games at some point. Always fun...).

The next morning started with a hangover, and my stomach protesting violently against the wing, which apparently had taken its sweet ass time to get there. I slept til 12pm with various false starts at getting up (consisting of me heading downstairs, grabbing water, sitting at my computer, and then deciding that another hour or so of sleep would do me good). Finally around noon I rolled out of bed for good, and watched the Sounders game with Sommarstrom and his mom.

The bands started playing at 2pm, but I stuck around through the end of the game and headed over to Capitol Hill at around 2:30. I missed the first round of music (including both Hey Marseilles and Awesome Color - whom I had wanted to see), but proceeded to have a grand time.

At the time I arrived, I wasn't sure if Hey Marseilles would still be on. So I wandered over to the Main Stage. It seemed like the next act had come on early (actually I think the sets were a lot shorter then I thought they would be), so I caught Moondoggies in the middle of the following:




I stuck through the one song (which I did in fact like), and headed towards The Pica Beats on the Vera stage. A pretty solid set with "Hope, Was Not a Family Tradition" and "Poor Old Raa" being the best of the lot. And here's a bit from the show. Courtesy of some enterprising camera wielding audience member.




The bass player amused me to no end. He kept rocking out too hard and knocking over the female singer's stuff. Too much glee in that one.

Next I strolled back to the Main Stage to catch The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. A solid set from them as well. I kept thinking that they were basically like The Cure. But happy. Also, the bass player reminded me of John Stamos. Also, one of my least pleasant memories. One of the songs, "High" to me sounded like the audio equivalent of a shattered stained glass window. Pretty at times, but flaying.




Again I cut out a bit early, to grab a drink at one of the bars in Neumo's and set up shop to see the stage for Akimbo. A gin and tonic took the edge off the heat, and I settled into the balcony above and to the left of the stage. Two songs in, and two words resonated through my head - "Fuck yeah." They rocked the hell out through the entirety of the 45 minute set. I found a few clips of them at the Block Party, but the sound quality really doesn't do them justice. So instead, head over here, and catch something of slightly better quality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpZ7VPyMRQ0

I headed out into the street, ears ringing and headed back to the Mainstage. This time, I caught a few songs from Pela. And for the life of me I can't remember much of them. I don't think I hung around for a whole bunch from them, as hunger started pushing its way to the forefront. I grabbed a pizza (nom nom nom!) and read at a cafe (an iced americano once again acting against the temperature) before heading back to the Mainstage for The Thermals.

Another good set. I had hoped for great, but time of day worked against them a bit. I was psyched for the two covers I heard ("Happy" from Nirvana, and "Basket Case" from Green Day). I think I'd definitely like to see them in a smaller venue. Or even not. Just not after a mid-afternoon energy crash.

I headed out of the crowd once more as the rain started to fall. Back to the cafe, where I grabbed another iced americano and, failing to find a seat inside, headed over to the Vera Stage to wait for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I found a spot against the fence, and sat down with my book and coffee. And in a strange bit, someone with a camera came over and asked if I was really reading. Looking back down at the book and then back at her, I could only reply in the affirmative. She asked if she could take my picture reading, and I agreed, and got back to the book. She thanked me and headed off. No clue who she was with, but my bookishness appears to have put me in some random photo. Either for her book reading fetish website or some local paper. In either case, oddity.

Hur hum... Edward Sharpe then. Definitely another high point. Caffeinated and bemused, I tucked into a set that had accordions, backup singers, clapping, and a ridiculous energy. So weird, but so good. Posted this to Facebook already, but worth sharing again.





At the end of this set, I had one more stop. Sonic Youth. And I wish I had a bunch to say here, but I don't. The crowd was thick, people constantly trying to push through closer. I was packed in tight. Couldn't actually see the stage (thank you 6 foot plussers!). I spent most of my time joking with a girl that was shorter then me about visibility. That or on tip toes thinking that maybe, just maybe, I had seen the drummers hair through a crack between two heads. The music was good. Don't get me wrong about that. But the environment was a detriment. Again a different venue would have made a hell of a difference.



I headed out early. Hoping to beat the rush. I found my car, unticketed (surprise!) and found my way back to I-5. One more hiccup in the day. An accident, which apparently happened less then a quarter mile in front of me. The highway came to a stop. Emergency vehicles. People got out of their cars and walked towards the scene. We sat for an hour or so before they cleared a lane for people to go through (in the middle... there were cars on both the left and right side of the highway involved it seemed). I popped through eventually. Tacoma on the horizon. A bed to fall into. And sleep.