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June 4th, 2005
First of all, a big thank you to list member Kristena who organized a
little get together at this tiki bar in Portland called The Alibi. I
had never been to a tiki bar before, it was far out! It was a night of
a lot of firsts. Not only did I meet a roller derby girl, but I met
two of them. Kristena met these two nice young ladies on myspace.com
(I'm definitely not cool enough to belong to that...!). Also in
attendance were Dick Messick, Kristena's husband Rudy (who is very
cool and funny) and the 3 Nebulas guys. I can't even begin to tell you
how much fun I had there. I learned the rules of roller derby from
Terry and Molly, and got a brief history of the Nebulas from Eric. I
also learned that it is indeed true that Eric knows the words to every
single song ever written, and that he does great impressions of the
wait staff. I also learned about the inner workings of the Nebulas
band dynamics. In short, you need thick skin to be a member of the
Nebulas. Thank you Kristena for setting that up!
On to the venue, the Doug Fir, which is on the Jupiter Hotel property,
which is kind of a neo-hipster party hotel located in a semi-scary
neighborhood. I'd love to hear from those that stayed there at the
Jupiter. The Doug Fir, despite outward appearances, was the classiest
venue I have ever seen a surf band play in. The bands play in the
basement, which has been totally remodeled and designed for live
music. They have a real stage, real lights, lots of room, and an
excellent sound system. It was clean, and decorated with a weird retro
feel with lots of pine wood logs thrown in to match the name. Satan's
Pilgrims posters lined the walls. And, it was no smoking! Dick and I
were amazed at the DJ who was spinning lots of cool tunes before the
show, including songs from that ultra rare "Digging Out" compilation.
Way cool!
While waiting for the show to start I got to meet list member Rick
Selby. That was really cool. It is always fun to see the faces behind
the Yahoo ID's. Rick, I hope we can meet at some future shows; it was
great meeting you!
Girl Trouble played again, and this time I was a bit more tolerant.
The whole "doughy middle aged guy taking of his shirt and thrusting
his paunch and groin at the audience thing" was done tongue in cheek,
and they had a few good songs. Definitely a weird but fun band.
At this point I also have to throw in another observation. Chicks dig
Satan's Pilgrims. I have never seen so many females at a surf show in
my life. Both in Seattle and Portland. In fact, one drunk young lady
ran on stage in Seattle and exhorted all females in the audience to
take off their tops. She then proceeded to do so (but was wearing a
bra underneath). Wow...I never thought I would see that at a surf gig.
The Nebulas were also mightily impressed at the female turnout. But
again, as TFJ already said, I think these two events transcended the
surf genre and were something else entirely.
Okay, back to the Portland show. Satan's Pilgrims soon took the stage,
much earlier than the previous night. Their wardrobe was altered just
slightly. This time they had red belts on instead of black. These guys
are pros, man. Dig it. Then they began their set.
I'm going to have to echo TFJ's sentiments here...there isn't much to
say, I don't have the words. If you weren't there you would not
understand. Taken with the previous night, these two shows were the
best I had ever seen. It truly was a life altering experience. I'll
never be the same again. This was their big homecoming show, and the
Doug Fir was sold out! I'm bad with crowd estimates, but I'll go along
with Rick and TFJ, there must have been 300 people there. And again
TFJ is also on the money, these guys didn't come to hear surf, they
came to hear their old favorite live band from back in the day. The
locals were just going freaking nuts. I can't tell you how many times
I heard someone yell "Shit Sandwich" from the crowd.
Once again the band romped through all of their great originals with a
few covers thrown in. This night they played Malaguena, but the set
list was basically the same as the previous nights with some
alterations. I can't begin to explain how well their songs work live,
and how they get people in the crowd up and moving, and yes, dancing.
I think that is the Pacific NW edge they add to their music. People
were going nuts, and I had to shield Shari from dancers while she was
working the camera and taking movie clips to avoid all the jostling.
That night we stood in front of Bobby and Dave to get a different
angle on things. I was even more impressed with the 3 guitar thing
after seeing Bobby up close. He had a few funny flubs that night, but
still, it was amazing to see how his parts add to the songs. Dave
Pilgrim is also a giant in real life (tall), and he's playing a short
scale Jaguar, it almost looks like a toy on him. But he doesn't seem
to have any problem getting around on that thing. The whole band was
on fire, just eating up the crowd's reaction. It really was awesome.
Another benefit of the 3 guitar thing...at one point Scott broke a
string during Haunted House of Rock. Bobby looked over, saw what was
happening, and switched to playing Scott's part while Scott grabbed a
fresh Jaguar. They are a self healing machine!
They closed again with their furious trademark version of High
Tide/Tranquilizer...but this crowd would not let them off that easy.
They called them back for a stunning 3 encores. It was just
overwhelming. Finally, perhaps in an effort to show the crowd they
really wear done, Ted did a Keith Moon and knocked his drums over. I
looked over at Scott and he had only 2 or 3 strings left on his
guitar. It was a loud and rousing crescendo to an amazing night. Ted
also must have busted open a finger or something, because he had blood
all over his white Levis. Sorry, but I don't think that will come out.
Yikes!
It was such a let down the next night because I was getting very
spoiled. I was expecting to see Satan's Pilgrims every night. In any
event, I hope the reaction they got will convince them not to wait
another 5 years before playing out again. I know it will be hard with
the families and the distances involved, but wow, I would be feeling
pretty good right now if I were a Pilgrim. A sold out gig at a great
venue and what a crowd reaction. Whew!
Dano from The Nebulas told me he thought we had witnessed a tutorial
on how it is done. I definitely agree. Those guys set the bar very
high. Truly an amazing band. I know I'm going back and picking up my
guitar and learning every damn Pilgrim's song I can.
Long live Satan's Pilgrims.
A big thank you to everyone we met on the trip, it really made the
whole thing extra special: Kristena & Rudy, Ran & Elisha, Eric H,
Rick, Dick Messick, Dano, Eric, TFJ, Ted, the roller girls, and anyone
else I forgot.
I deeply regret not being able to chat more with the band, but they
were literally swamped with admirers, old friends, and family members.
Rightly so.
BN
PS. We had camera malfunctions, and a lot of the pictures we took are
a bit grainy and/or have weird red dots all over them. I don't know
what's going on...I think we must have had some settings on the camera
horked up. Hopefully we will salvage some and get them posted soon.
I'll announce that in a day or two. Our digital still photo camera
also takes quicktime clips, most are in black and white to save space,
and they turned out pretty good. The lighting at the Doug Fir was much
better, so these are fairly decent. But I think it's time to get a
good digital movie camera for the next surf show...
PPS Did the guys from Germany make it to Seattle? Sadly I didn't get
to meet them.
That happened at the Surf Coasters gig in Vancouver. Not much to brag
about. A couple of girls got on stage and started dancing.
--- In , Brian Neal <bgneal@g...> wrote:
In fact, one drunk young lady
ran on stage in Seattle and exhorted all females in the audience to
take off their tops. She then proceeded to do so (but was wearing a
bra underneath). Wow...I never thought I would see that at a surf gig.
We, The 'Verb, once played after a wet t-shirt contest. (i know you
know jake).
eric
--- In , "Jacob Dobner"
<jacobdobner@y...> wrote:
> That happened at the Surf Coasters gig in Vancouver. Not much to brag
> about. A couple of girls got on stage and started dancing.
>
> --- In , Brian Neal <bgneal@g...> wrote:
> In fact, one drunk young lady
> ran on stage in Seattle and exhorted all females in the audience to
> take off their tops. She then proceeded to do so (but was wearing a
> bra underneath). Wow...I never thought I would see that at a surf gig.
I remember that after I posted about the Surf Coasters show. My mind
was abound in the nostalgia of the Surf Coasters show.
--- In , "Eric" <cirecc@y...> wrote:
> We, The 'Verb, once played after a wet t-shirt contest. (i know you
> know jake).
> eric
> --- In , "Jacob Dobner"
> <jacobdobner@y...> wrote:
> > That happened at the Surf Coasters gig in Vancouver. Not much to brag
> > about. A couple of girls got on stage and started dancing.
> >
> > --- In , Brian Neal <bgneal@g...> wrote:
> > In fact, one drunk young lady
> > ran on stage in Seattle and exhorted all females in the audience to
> > take off their tops. She then proceeded to do so (but was wearing a
> > bra underneath). Wow...I never thought I would see that at a surf gig.
