goes on and on, on and on...

Somebody got up to early. The bottle fairy Tim for one, I heard him and Josh tittering like little girls as they left the yard at some ungodly hour. Eventually even I rallied and we all devoured some awesome breakfast that Dusty made us, after some confusion about people not eating breakfast was quickly squelched by Tim. We headed for downtown and the free cup of coffee with the Avett Brothers at the Starbucks headquarters, where we waited for a couple hours in sling swings and tried to look unstalkerish as the bus was unloaded. Tim managed to connive a cup of coffee with half of the band, cornering Joe and Bob in Starbucks for the better part of an hour. The rest of us were content to bask in the glory of the four songs that the boys played us, up close and personal, and feel the connection of rubbing elbows with a small sea of Avett people in Seattle.

After the show, and too much caffeine, we went back to Dusty's and loafed around under the pretense of napping, which was only done successfully by a small handful of us. The pre-show meet up for Avett Nation was at the Capitol Club, a few blocks from the venue, and we all rallied to happy hour appetizers and a few drinks. I shared a bottle of wine with myself and even gave a glass to my hippie compadre Jacob who showed up with just enough time to scarf some food and stagger to the Paramount. The show was a unique experience for me, because it was a seated venue, and while I didn't stay in my seat for long, it was odd to be so far away from the stage and watch the brothers from such a distance. The show was amazing. Opened by the heartless bastards, who apparently gave the first few rows even a more intense show, courtesy of a short skirt and lack of undergarments. It may have been the wine, but I cried a couple of times throughout the show, and hated for it to end. But it did, and we trouped back to Oly in the wee hours, where we slept way too little and hit the road for Oregon and the Jacksonville Britt Fest. I drove solo down to southern oregon, "swinging through" Klamath Falls on my way to Jacksonville with some pathetic excuse to visit the one and only Elo. It was good to see the boy, after more than a year. He is still our Leeroy. I only had a couple of hours with him before I had to scurry back over to Medford and find the venue, and sneak my way into the front row of the outdoor amphitheater to my designated spot on the blanket of my beloved Timdog and his delightful daughter Payten. Since the Heartless Bastards had already started, I couldn't hear that her name was Payten until sometime the next day, but I nodded and pretended like I knew what they were saying, as she did for me, and we reveled in a spellbinding show of the Avett's once more, up close and personal. That was truly one of my most favorite shows ever, maybe it was just the tie-dyed colorshow shirts that everyone had (except me, but I stole Josh's for the show) and the commonality of an intense passion for the music that everyone standing in the audience seemed to share. It was a great night. And it ended too soon as well. I drove back to Klamath, foolishly, to see the boy for a little while longer and it was good. In spite of the driving. In the morning, I headed north. I meandered my way up through Bend and Detroit and eventually wound up in Portland, where by some freak chance I decided to stay for two nights and rewind southward for the concert in Arcata, CA. This decision of course got me in to trouble, but more about that later... my chili is burning.