A Muse with a View

Originally published on MySpace on April 26, 2009

Cheers: to Jeff M. of CitySpeek.com for giving me the VIP pass to the Widmer Brothers 25th Anniversary party.

Cheers: to Jeff E. for being my date to the Widmer party, and being a
good sport when it turned out to be like a giant frat party.

Cheers: to Jeff E. for taking me to a Blazers game!

Cheers: to Chris “Birdman” Anderson of the Denver Nuggets, who stopped to talk to me in downtown Portland.

Cheers: to Anne J. for helping me set up for the Wine and Chocolate party on Saturday.

Cheers: to Karen M. for staying late and helping me clean up after the Wine and Chocolate party.

Jeers: to the people who said they were coming to the Wine and Chocolate party but then didn’t show up.

Cheers: to Andrew B. for taking me to Coffee Time for hot chocolate
before the Comedy Sportz workshop last week. I will forever refer to that place
as Crazy Time, because of the strange people hanging out there.

Jeers: to the Swine Flu. Please don’t come to Oregon!

Jeers: to the cancer that recently took the life of KINK’s Les Sarnoff.

Cheers: to Michael for taking me to the KINK benefit concert at the
Aladdin last week. Paulo Nutini, Serena Ryder, and one other band.
Great evening of music.

Jeers: to the guy two rows in front of me at the Paulo Nutini concert
who was holding up his BlackBerry and checking email at eye level.
Might as well have had a flashlight shining in my eyes. The guy in
front of me finally said something.

Originally published on MySpace on April 21, 2009

This is a list of some of the places I’ve been that evoke strong memories. Some places are more exotic that others!

Originally published on MySpace on November 20, 2008.

My friend Peter called me yesterday to chat, and let slip that he and his girlfriend were going to see Kathleen Edwards at the Aladdin, blah blah blah. “Wait! Back up! Kathleen Edwards is in town?” I said with anticipation.

I immediately texted Mike (a.k.a. CB), “Kathleen Edwards is at the Aladdin tonight. Want to go?” to which he replied, “Sure as shit!” a direct reference to a Kathleen Edwards song.

We sat at the pub/bar/second-hand-smoke testing facility next door to the Aladdin and feasted on a meal of salad, soup, fried catfish and fries… and then another free salad. It was obvious that one of the requirements for working at that particular food establishment was to smoke a bowl before your shift. I ordered a vodka tonic and got a gin and tonic. I ordered a side salad, got that, and then got another giant salad when they brought the catfish. Just go with the flow.

We finished our meal just as Peter texted me to say Kathleen was coming on stage. He and his girlfriend Anna had saved us seats, but by the time we got into the theater it was too dark to find them. So, we just sat in back. Better for kissing and cuddling anyway.

Kathleen Edwards is one of those artists who loves to banter onstage. I like that about her. She just so happens to be on tour with an artist by the name of John Doe. Know that name? It didn’t ring a bell with me until he mentioned Exene Cervenka. I turned to Mike and said, “No way! Do you know who that guy is? That’s John Doe from the 80′s band ‘X’ and Exene was the lead singer. I saw them in college!”

I was now dying to meet this now middle-aged folk/rock artist who was once a punk rocker.

They bantered some more, and mentioned that the various tour names they had wanted to use. “We wanted to call it Hurtin’ and Flirtin’ but we’ve not been doing much flirting lately,” said Kathleen. Then John said, “And the other name was ‘We’re not fucking’,” to which Kathleen added, “Yet! And we were told it wouldn’t fit on the poster.”

Once the concert ended we went to the front lobby to buy some CDs and get them signed. While standing in the lobby I told Mike the story of seeing the band X in San Diego when I was in college, and how I even had a picture from that night. He encouraged me to tell the story to John Doe when I met him, and I did.

Luckily Peter had a camera with him, so we got the pictures below.

John Doe and Kathleen Edwards onstage

Kathleen Edwards and Me

For Mike…

Peter, Anna and Kathleen Edwards

John Doe, Mike and Me

The hideous outfit (All Goodwill) that I wore to the X concert when I was 18. Yes, that’s me on the far right.

I’m back in Tahoe this weekend, but instead of a houseful of kids and dogs it’s just me and my Cabana Boy. WTF? Cabana Boy? I’m calling him my Cabana Boy even though he is far from being a boy and actually has a few years on me. He wishes to remain nameless and faceless, so you’ll just have to wonder…

But now onto the story…

My CB and I dropped off Lili the Wonder Pug at a fabulous doggie B&B on Thursday morning and headed to the airport, trying to make an 11:25am flight to Reno.

We arrived at the Southwest gate after a slight delay having to do with the back of my heel and the wheel of my luggage crashing into each other as we raced from the parking bus to the terminal. I managed to procure a Bandaid from the Southwest desk agent before I bled all over the floor. Good to go.

We breezed through security even though I realized afterwards that I had forgotten to take my regulation plastic baggie of liquids out of my purse and send it through in a plastic bin. We checked the display board and noticed that our flight was boarding, so raced down to the gate. What’s the point of being in the A group on Southwest if you’re late for boarding?

As soon as we got to the gate I notice my friend Kevin at the gate with a couple of his friends, so I went over to say hi.

“Kev! What are you doing here?” I said as I gave him a big bear hug.

“We’re heading to L.A. to play some gigs,” he said, then introduced me to his friends. “This is Dane and this is Andrew. All drummers.”

Kevin and I used to work together, and he’s also my web designer, and he is also an awesome drummer who plays with the likes of Animotion and Missing Persons.

Our group started boarding, and I promised to try to save my drummer friends some seats once we got on the plane.

My CB and I settled into the emergency exit row, and Kevin and his friends were not far behind and ended up in the row directly behind us.

The rest of the story is best told in pictures…

That’s Kevin Rankin on the Right and Andrew Greene on the left. Andrew plays drums for a Guns & Roses tribute band called Appetite for Deception.

Left to right: Dane Haase (drummer for Abandonstage), Andrew Greene, Kevin Rankin, Me.

Me playing journalist and interviewing Kevin (taking notes on a barf bag).

“So, Kev what’s your schedule like this weekend?”

“Well, our flight lands in L.A. at 2:30. We have to be to a studio in Torrance by 4:00 to lay down some drum tracks. Then there’s a sound check in there somewhere and playing House of Blues at Disneyland at 7pm. Have a little meeting with Spawn drums on Friday, because they are sponsoring me and may be sponsoring Andrew. Then we’re playing the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard on Saturday night.”

There was also something in there about having dinner with Miley Cyrus’s drummer (Nate Morton), and meeting up with the keyboard player from Berlin and the Googoo Dolls. I couldn’t keep up. I was taking notes on a barf bag!

After the interview…

We were having so much fun that the flight attendants wanted to get in on the action. Well, okay, we kind of roped them into the action.

This is Candace, who was reluctant to have her picture taken because she had been up since 3am, but doesn’t she look great?

And this is Stacey, who was not so reluctant once we convinced her we wouldn’t use the photos for evil purposes.

That’s another drummer named Nick (in the background), whom we randomly met on the plane. He was on his way to Reno to see Kiss.

I think we should play “Caption this Picture” with this one. Is he getting scolded or what?

And one more for Stacey.