West Indian Girl

outside the inferno 6.29

dante’s was a breath of fresh air in my portland experience. previously we had only played at one other club in town so this was a welcome change. dante’s has a bit of everything…it had table seating, tvs (you can watch yourself play), food, pool, wi fi, 2 bars, nice big stage and even a brothel upstairs. the thing i liked best about our show was the stage position swap that rob and i made. i dont remember exactly why we switched but we did and it was liberating to be back on patrol of the far left side of the stage…home sweet home at last. portland remains an enigma to me. i still havent gotten a handle on it. i need more a good day to peel apart this city. unfortunately there was no extra sight seeing time for us. i did get to hang with my pal stephen (on right)…good times. i didnt do too much celebrating after the show because we had a long drive to the high sierra festival that we were embarking on THAT night. nuts huh?

dressing room and rider wrap up: i dont remember ever giving out this high of a score but i’m giving dante’s an 8 and here’s why. this score has more to do with the people and promoter than some of the other more tangible items i usually grade clubs out on. first off, mike thrasher is rad for hooking up this show on such short notice. trevor was a cool guy to work the show with and bill the soundman was fucking great…THE most friendly, nicest and easy going house soundman i have come across in quite a long time. after working with so many people at different clubs you really notice when you have nice people to work with. plenty of times i dont think these people expect you to call them out on being such raging tools if they indeed are but this is why this specific section in my blog exists, to call out the bad and to (on rare occassions) give credit where credit is due. as for the nitty gritty, backstage was actually in the basement – it wasnt special but it was away from the action and had a bathroom and shower which was a plus. as far as the food situation went they gave us so-so dinners and plenty of beer. plus they had wifi and plenty of tvs (i dont have cable at home im always a sucker for tv in a bar). once again, good job dante’s you get an 8 bitch.

clean, green and friendly metropolis thanx to: stephen weber for being an all around great guy, lars (pictured with q), stephanie, k and k from olympia and all the fans who came to see us…i appreciate it.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: portland boasts having the most strip clubs per capita—hey. that’s great. we played on the other side of the bridge. three words – not so much. downtown portland reminds me too much of downtown la for me to even hint at liking it. when it comes to portland just point me towards east burnside… please and thank you.

The Venue: dante’s was ideal. i loved playing there. great stage, wireless internet, you could smoke inside, free stiff drinks and awesome staff [yet another totally awesome sound man—everyone really, not just bill, you guys were a pleasure to be around]. we got lucky when we decided to play this venue. one of the little factoids i was constantly reminded of, before we got to portland, was, and i quote “dante’s – it’s got a strip club right above it [giggle giggle]”. woo. so a few of them were lame enough to go up there and check it out. anyway, they go upstairs to aja’s and discover that, what was supposed to be, a titty bar, is a full on brothel.

The Show: i had fun. at one point in the set bubbles were blown from a machine behind me onto the stage. there was a smoke machine, i talked, drank beer on stage and had fun. the best part of the set was watching a girl named stephanie, who danced so incredibly perfect to our songs. she mesmerized me and mark. solid dancers are hard to come by so when we see them we get really happy and they help boost our performance.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: i, honestly, cant remember.

Interesting Things After The Show: met stephen and his awesome girlfriend angela, who reminded me a lot of my best friend, cara. we got drunk and hung out til the bar closed. then a homeless hustler recited poetry to me and then expected fran to pay him a dollar after. hilarious. i think fran just gave him the money to go away but not without taking the most awesome picture of me and mark with him. then we piled into the van of love and i ate some of mark’s 3 lb veggie burrito and passed out.

Nathan’s Nonsense

Dante’s Bar & Grill had a very swanky feel to it. Just the layout of the room made this instantly one of the most posh stages we’ve had the privilege of performing on. For one thing, we could actually watch ourselves being videotaped on one of the many large-screen TV’s as we played. That was pretty cool. The backstage area though consisted of this basement with a very low ceiling in which I had to practically walk on my knees in order to avoid slamming my noggin into one of the rafters. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened to me over the years, particularly in backstage areas of venues where I’ve played. It just isn’t easy being 6’4” I tell ya. For this show we decided to switch up the stage setup a bit. Rob switched places with Fran in order to be closer to me, the idea being that maybe it would be beneficial to have the two melodic instruments more locked in together. I’m not sure how well that worked, but it certainly didn’t hurt. Our performance to me seemed to go along fairly smoothly that night. No major problems that I was aware of. If anything, it was perhaps a tad lackluster in spots, partly because the crowd was mostly sitting comfortably at tables spread throughout the room instead of on their feet feeding energy into the performance. But that’s ok. I’m glad it was such a cozy experience all around.

After-show antics: Ok, so there was this, uh, establishment directly upstairs from the venue, right? According to the sound man at Dante’s, one could procure there, if one was so inclined, a relatively inexpensive form of sexual satisfaction. After having loaded up with still an hour or so to spare before having to hit the road, Josh, Mark, and I decided to venture on up to do some investigating. We climbed up three flights of stairs to a red door on which a sign read “Knock Loudly.” So, Josh knocked… we then giggled like schoolgirls in daft anticipation of what would happen. No answer. Josh knocks again, then a third time. Finally, the door creaks open, and out pops a negligee’d girl, tawny complexion and full of shifty smiles. I imagined she had needed time enough time to change out of her comfy sweats and Scooby Doo slippers before answering the door. She invites the three of us in to the living room area of what looks like any nondescript apartment dwelling. Out comes a second girl, taciturn and glazed in a cropped blonde wig. The first girl explains methodically that all services start at $40, but that the girls work on tips. Basically, the more you were willing to pay, the more you would receive. No holds barred. Sensing our befuddled air of indecision, the girls left us alone to decide which, if any, of us would take the plunge. After a moment, we decided unanimously to make a run for it. After that, Rob and Ian joined us for an ultimately unsuccessful attempt at finding an open strip club. Everything was closed up. There was nothing to do but trudge back to the van and begin our 500 mile journey to the High Sierras. No complaints from me though. It was all in all quite a fun night.

can i get more fog and bubbles please? ian and nathan share a tender momentlars and Qdo they look 10 lbs heavier?stephanie and f10 the brakessound with a smile = bill