2004-06-04 - 11:21 p.m.
My parents are hipper than me. It's true. Last night I noticed some of my old friends were playing at a place called "Bubbas Sulky Loungue" which I had heard is the new cool place for the hip kids to go in town. Or one of the only places, really. However, when I am home in Maine I really do not feel like going out at night, I just want a rest from any pretending like I am cool, I just want to wear my old band t-shirts that I find in my closet and worn out sneakers and stay on the farm with my parents. However, my parents convinced me I should go, because they had seen a show there and loved it, and I did. I almost ran over some one trying to park my Mom's pickup truck. Awesome. But going into Bubba's was frankly amazing. Hip or not, I will take any visitor to Portland, ME there anytime, I am so serious. Like, okay... the decor is totaly old bikes hanging from the ceilings, over stuffed chairs on wheels, tin lunchboxes strung around the ceiling, and (get this) a lighted disco dance floor. Best ever.
It was also really cool to see kids I've known for years now, catch up on what they are up to and see their bands play. Some amazing suprises too, including one fellow who went on at the very end of the evening, around 1 am. His name (yes, his real name) is Barry Burst and he had longish dark hair and was wearing a "western" style shirt. He sat down with just a guitar and I thought "oh no, I want to go home." But as soon as he started playing it was amazing. A hush fell accross the crowd and everyone stared, open mouthed, while he played beautiful, sad, alt.country type songs.
Lauren, my roommate in NYC, talked me into having "Barncore," a show in my barn in mid-August, this year because she wanted to come up and witness it. I was hesitant because it was something I did in high school and something that I didn't really think anyone would bother to schlep out to Pownal for anymore. So earlier in the evening I brought the idea up to my friend Jason asking him if people would be into it or if they'd just think I'm the big loser that I am. Jason seemed uber enthusiastic and as Barry Burst played he wispered to me, "Ask that guy to play at Barncore!" Of course, after he got an encore and played such mezmerising music, I was a little shy to talk to him. However, Jason had a few beers in him and marched right up to him with me in tow and introduced us, told him how much we liked his set and told him about barncore. He said yes. I can't wait. Mid-August. Watch out.
Today I stopped into my friend Dugan's new bike shop, the Bike Cycle. There he was, fixing wheels, his hands covered in grease and wearing a sharp apron. I was this close to buying a pink roadbike from him, but fortunately the frame was too big for me ("You're moving to Oregon!" my mom says, "You already have a bike here!" which is true). I am so proud of Dugan for making this dream a reality and also being such a friendly neighbourhood bike shop.
I also hung out with my friend Jon today who I used to play in bands with and probably knows my personality in and out more than a lot of people. Jon gave me a CD of his totaly kickass project the Strawberry Allstars, and again, I was filled with pride at what my friends here are doing (you can check out his diary at http://playtape.diaryland.com). And if that's not enough, my friend Noella had an art opening today, in a group show for the press she is a part of. Her prints looked so amazing framed up on a wall, I felt so proud to be there, as I have seen some of the work she has produced throughout the years and love it and her so much, I am so happy more people get to see it too! (It's at the Acocisco gallery in the eastland hotel until June 13th if you want to have a look).
So my point with all this "I'm so proud of my friends!" rambling is that I feel so lucky I can come back to my hometown and find things going right. It's kind of hard, because I was thinking about how the crowd at Bubba's would never hang out with the more "punks" or "activists" that my bands used to play shows with and who I still keep in touch with. I also think that nightlife in Portland, ME still revolves a lot around drinking as a focal point and that's something that I think needs to change to have a truly engaged, creative culture (so maybe that's also just my "straightedge" bias showing, but whatever...), and so all the great things people are doing seem a little more broken up into specific scenes, but maybe that's also growing up. What is important to me is that this town can excite me and people here can inspire who I am now, not just my memories of being 17 and discovering punk rock.
