Chris (Lolly) came down to see our new place and to see Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet play on Saturday. Even though he’d just seen them in Bellingham 2 nights before (at the Nitelite, which he raved about), he was up for another show. But before we could see the show we had to find something to do.
we walked Alberta to show him the neighborhood then sat puzzled, unable to think of what to do, or what was happening. It was the first time we had any leisure time. Luckily Chris was able to find a snipped about the Multnomah County Bike Fair, so we had to see that. It was awesome. Bikes galore. And we may have been the preppiest folks there, but it was fun. Almost as fun as Tour de Fat back in 2003.
Finally, after some food, we hit up the Goodfoot for the show. We arrived a little late for a change which worked out well. We got corner booth seats and were able to watch from comfort for most of the show. Towards the end, as the crowd finally started gravitating towards the band, we had to climb up onto the seat backs, but it worked fairly well.
Chris has probably seen Skerik in one incarnation or another around Seattle some 50 times. This was only my second in as many groups. The septet was a little more mellow than I expected and almost traditional (music-wise) in a good way. A cover of Mingus’ Moanin’ was excellent, and finished with a great insistent hardness that I expected from more of the songs. The show was great, but at one point I looked over and both Michelle and Chris had their eye’s closed – so I offered to leave a bit early.
Yeah the Nightlight is amazing. What’s most amazing about it is that a place THAT physically cool, with THAT good of a beer list, and cheap pool tables, is invariably empty on any night that there is not a show. I’ve hypothesized on my blog that it’s because it’s a smoke-free place, but I don’t know. The new State St. Depot is smoke free and I never walk by that place without seeing a crowd inside. It would be interesting to know why people choose what bar they do.