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Hi Brian!
In response to the Jupiter Hotel inquiry--strange and fun all at once.
I had never been to a hotel that ENCOURAGED parties. The doors of each
room were actually chalk boards! I won't tell you what ended up on TFJ's
door. People went from room to room, there was heavy drinking and
partying. I slept through most of it because I was tired. In the
morning, our roller derby friends woke us up to let us know they were
eating breakfast at the Doug Fir. That was an interesting breakfast as
well--more drinking in the morning!!!
I really liked the joint. It's definitely not family oriented, but it
was a nice stay.
-Kristena
On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 20:11:31 -0500 Brian Neal <> writes:
> 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.
> 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.
>
>
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