West Indian Girl

can i have the fir burger please?

we played at the doug fir lounge in portland on tuesday. this place rocks for a few reasons. 1. the restaurant upstairs is killer 2. the hotel that is attached to the bar is like the standard in l.a. 3. the sound system and club is brand new. this place is a stylish relaxing rock n roll compound that makes for a great tour pit stop. the hotel doors are one big chalk board and there are fire pits outside. kreider took some pics that i posted below. as far as the show went, well we rocked…carlos, our soundman, finally hit his stride on this, his third show with us and krieder also took the projections to new levels. the only bad thing about the night was doug fir’s crappy merch booth. it literally was stuck inside of a coat check room….lame. we played with a local band nordic, (whose cover of the cure’s “fascination street” was way cool) and mercir again. all in all the show and the night was one big party. i posted some video for the first time and i hope it works. i also posted a pic of carter wheeling lewscious around on a dolly in the loading dock. it was hilarious at the time cos we were all pretty drunk. i also posted some pics that xilia faye sent me. she was at the show and took some really rad shots. thanks xilia! anyway, on to mariqueen.

Mariqueen’s Mind
The Venue: this is by far the best venue I’ve ever played. It doesn’t get better than Doug Fir. The place is aesthetically pleasing and classy and the food is fucking amayyyzing. Hi Brent, you’re outstanding… for real.
The City: Portland is definitely on my top ten best cities in the United States list, I wish I could spend more time there.
The Show: for a Tuesday night the turn out was great and even though there were a lot of technical difficulties I think we had a great show. the response from the crowd was great and there were some people dancing like they were tripping on psychedelics right infront of me, that’s always inspiring.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: hmmm, I wonder if you can guess? Yeh, I was trippin about how I could NOT hear myself at all. It was bumming me out more so than any other show. I think it was because I didn’t expect this to happen… at all. I stress out way too much on my monitors. maybe I should get over it. Hmmm, highly unlikely, when it comes to my vocals I’m a perfectionist on the verge of having a disorder, but that could be a whole other entry in itself. Or not. I was very amused by the dancers in the dark and a little cold because there was a slight breeze coming up my dress that made me tickle in my special place. Rad.
Interesting Things After The Show: I met some really groovy ladies and after awhile Fran, Carter, Mark and I went to Galaxy to karaoke it up. The highlight of that night had to have been when they met that stripper, Kitty and she was making googly eyes at Fran and he just totally blew her off because we were in deep discussion. Band drama over groupies rule… It wasn’t really band drama… I think just drunken bickering on our part. When you’re in a band you become a family so arguing is a given. Mix in some alcohol and you might find some of us on the verge of a fist fight. Making up is always nice though… oh god, I love our West Indian Girl family I might just tear up. Over it… moving on… ohhh but the super duper highlight was when Carter and I went onstage and did “Flashdance” and I got to see Mark’s alter ego, Lewscious, dancing and jumping and practically body slamming innocent bystanders. This inspired Chris to writhe on the floor a la Madonna at the very first MTV video music awards. Fantastic.

mariqueen and carter karaoke video 1
mariqeen and carter karaoke video 2

Carter’s Conscience Tuesday– Douglas Fir– Great hotel rooms, cherry blossoms blooming, Portland was beautiful. Did a little karaoke, MariQ and I did “what a feeling” by Irene Cara. A stripper gave a rendition of Black Velvet that brought a tear to my eye. Karaoke is just good clean fun. [as usual, carter really letting us get to know him]

carter dialing it in

q during sound check – i like this picture

cara is the best waitress around

carlos and troy is the best crew bar none

carlos finally getting brazilian on us

view from the hotel room

view of the restaurant

view of the downstairs bar where we played

rob and q rehearsing before the show

zadok and i at doug fir’s shitty merch booth

xilia faye’s photography




kried picture credits: the 3 hotel shots, carlos smiling, rob and Q, zadok at merch

—F.TEN