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Time flies, it’s already been a while since these shows happened but I wanted to say a few words about them.

First, on December 11 I went down to Portland to play at my friend Steve’s wife Kelli’s 30th birthday party. Steve rented the basement of a club called the Blue Monk, which is usually a jazz/blues club, and has a stage and PA and all that. And a buffet, naturally. The party was a mixed bunch, and for the most part strangers to me: friends and family of the birthday girl, old people, some kids, and then some musicians. It was a night of solo indie pop/folk performers, and (somewhat bizarrely) the headliner was Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening, K Records fame).

Us openers played short sets.. I played 5 songs, which were fun for  me as they came from 5 different projects: 1 song each from my first album, from give/sell, from mississippi painful, from an invitation to love, and then a new one. In all other ways my set was, let’s say, inconsistent with the idea of party/dinner music. But! It was short, and a few people were into it, and the other acts were in the same boat.

Except Calvin Johnson, who happens to be a consummate performer. He was able to get the buffet crowd interested and involved in his performance. And he was great, playing from his solo albums. Here’s a picture from my phone, you can kind of tell who it is:

Later on there was a  raffle and I won a Beat Happening LP. I had him sign it. I also drank all my drink tickets and napped through the drive home. A perfect trip! Here’s the album:

signed:

The week after, on December 16, I played at the Ball of Wax Volume 18 release party. That show was great for short attention spans.. lots of bands but they were constantly changing.. there’s a write-up for it here:

http://www.seattleshowgal.com/ball-of-wax-18-cd-release-w-oldman-winter-levi-fuller-the-pica-beats-more/

What was particularly fun about this show was our group’s configuration — Open Choir Fire, Seth Howard/Rosyvelt and myself were one of the composite bands — and it was the first time I’d played with that many people at the same time. It’s a big fad right now to have these big 7-or-more-member bands and I think I see why. Big sound and less pressure.

Check out the Ball of Wax 18 webpage here:

http://www.beeprepaired.com/oms.html

You can buy Give/Sell at various digital locations starting today.. such as iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, eMusic. Of course you can also still get it for free at thegraze.net.

The album release show is March 5 at Cafe Venus/Mars Bar, in Seattle… with Mississippi Painful and Seth Howard.