Tulips on an organ.

I asked Brendan what he would call a cocktail you don't feel until you've stopped expecting to feel it. Stealth cocktails are your drinks in a coffee mug or a Big Gulp, right? So what do you call the sneaky bastards? I think Ty made me one of those tonight. Ty Bailie: masterful organist/sneaky bastard drink maker. It tasted like a margarita, though. Yum.

Anyway, this was upstairs of the show I went to after practice, a benefit for Haiti with the Fixers, Thee Sgt. Major III and Dinosaurs. Someone kindly provided nourishment for the bands and their friends in the form of whatever Ty put in my drink along with these really, really big pizzas. I mean, here's one with his shoe where four slices once lived. I don't know what size shoe he wears, but I do know I could have sat comfortably in this box and still had room to spare if not for that pizza.

It's his birthday right now (Ty's, not the pizza)! And it was Mike Musburger's birthday until midnight! Both played in at least two of the bands, but neither seemed remotely sweaty or gross when I hugged them to say goodbye for the night. I don't know how they managed that. Must be a birthday thing. I'm going to try it in Missoula next month. Kurt Bloch - not his birthday actually, but I think that every day is your birthday when you're KB -  also played in at least two of the bands. Where these folks store their knowledge completely baffles me. They've got deep brain pockets or something.

Thee Sgt. Major III, stylish as fuuhhhh. Also, check out the sweet white Thunderbird Mr. Sangster is letting me borrow for the weekend!

4/5 of Dinosaurs (not Dinosaur Jr.)! Ty's the other 1/5. You can imagine him on the other side of the stage. (I'll help you! Picture a big B3 - that he let me play while everyone went to see if their car window got smashed in - and giant Leslie speaker and a smiling dude whose shoe is almost the size of four slices of gigantic pizza.)

Oh, about those windows. What I heard is that someone stole a weapon and went up the street bashing in car windows?! I don't know. I (luckily) parked on the side of the street the weapon thief couldn't be bothered to vandalize. And seriously, thank goodness, 'cause I had my bass in my car. Never leave gear in your car, kids. Not ever. Also luckily, everyone has security cameras nowadays. Don't do dumb things like steal weapons and destroy a bunch of (probably) nice folks' windows!

Anyway, one last picture that has nothing to do with any of the above. I was sitting waiting for Sean to calm my hair nerves at Red X earlier when I noticed this on their product shelves:

I'm still pretty sure I have no idea what it is. However, I didn't ask. At any rate, I hope my vag is energizing, too.

It's 5 AM and we stayed out all night

My neck hurts and it's possible that I ought to consider a meal. In a minute, though. This first:

We played at Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham last night with So Adult. I like every single thing about that sentence. Boundary Bay is full of sweet people who feed you well and make good beer. Bellingham is still one of my favorite places to run away to for a few hours at a time. So Adult are such an incredibly good band and top notch guys to be friends with. The vibe was so joyful all night, but standing at the merch table when So Adult are playing is challenging. (It's not that I don't want to talk to you, it's just that I want to sing along! Aren't you listening to this band?!) Anyway, the show went well, and it was great to see so many old friends and meet brand new ones. 

As I mentioned, Boundary Bay makes good beer. Even if you warn people about the potency of the stuff, sometimes afterwards you still have to escort your loved ones for whom drinking is an event a couple blocks down to the Horseshoe to eat things and drink lots and lots of water for a few hours before you feel remotely comfortable allowing them near their cars. This is how I found myself 2/3 amused and 1/3 mortified at 3:47 AM while friends screamed, shouted, feigned decapitation with a butter knife, threw stuff and inexplicably kept burying my potatoes in potatoes:

Horseshoe staff, thank you. You folks have saintlike patience and probably don't get paid nearly enough for it. Thank you for not kicking us out!

All the while, of course, my band mates were at the hotel, sleeping or watching Lost Boys or both... eventually just sleeping. Sorry for waking you up and making you think there was an intruder (I mean, besides me being intrusive)!

Anyway, now that I'm back, I'm listening to "Thurston <3s the Who" on vinyl and drinking ginger ale because my friend Joe from So Adult gave me this last night:

Bikini Kill and homemade ginger ale! Yum! Thanks, Joe! So thoughtful!

Go for broke!

[Since this is the first post here, maybe I should explain the (current) title: It might be my mantra for the year. Or for life. It's possible I've finally embraced it after all that time being told not to put all my eggs in one basket. What if I only want one basket? Go for broke! Broken eggs! Broken heart! Broke and empty wallet! If it's worth doing, it's worth doing all the way, so why wouldn't you?]

Anyway, today Visqueen played at an elementary school in Olympia, Washington. I hadn't been anywhere in Olympia before besides that gas station where you can hear all the frogs. The event was for Encore Arts, an organization that was founded as a memorial for a young girl who passed away while still a young girl. She was a huge participant in the arts community and a big Visqueen fan. We were honored to be invited to play a few songs quietly. But first, a jazz band:

They all wore great outfits, complete with hats and mustaches. They let us wear mustaches, too!

While we were packing up, an adorable little boy named Zephyr and his mom came up to tell us that he wants to be a drummer, too. Ben invited him to play his snare. My heart was stolen. Sorry, potential soulmates - I just carved out my heart and handed it to this kid:

That's him in the stripes. I think he's hitting his mother with a stick. It's Olympia, though, so it probably won't be long before someone teaches him that violence against women is unacceptable.

We went to Old School Pizza afterwards. It was super tasty, and the posters on the walls were absolute classics!

They even had a German "Return of the Jedi" poster:

...which was probably only exciting for me because I recently started learning German. Or trying to learn German. I'm very confused by the grammar and rather self-conscious regarding the r sounds. I think a friend might start tutoring me soon. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also working on Tagalog, French and Portuguese. Maybe Italian after that.