Seattle, WA: Conor Byrne Pub (Bushwick Book Club - The Outsiders)

Reading the book (I watched half the movie in 7th-grade), there was one passage that gave me an acute sense of déjà vu. I was elated to finally trace it to one of the first YouTube videos I ever saw.

In the hours before the show, I played a baseball game in my head between the Greasers and the Socs. The home-team Greasers win, 5-3, with Sodapop pitching a complete game victory. Soc Bob leaves early due to injury; Greaser Johnny does, too, later after laying down a sacrifice. Dally Winston goes 3-for-5 with an RBI, but is caught stealing late.

I didn't write my song about either of these things. Instead, I serenaded the noisy Bushwick crowd in this room with a fabricated history of Windrixville (where Ponyboy and Johnny escape via train-hopping after Johnny stabs Bob) and the doomed hilltop church: "All That's Left Behind."

Seattle, WA: Town Hall / KUOW 94.9-FM NPR

It's a lovely coup for Geoff to score The Bushwick Book Club a spot on KUOW's widely-heard Weekday program (on which I also appeared ~8 years ago for "Songs of the Northwest")--now doing periodic live broadcasts from stunning Town Hall--and alongside Nancy Pearl (alternately here) no less! I'll even survive a 7am call for it. (Someday I'll play here in the PM...)

Fun challenge to try to fit the context of the 'Bagpipe' song into a compressed radio timeline...and also find 2-4 relevant-and-clever lines of something to 'riff' on the News of the Week during the second hour. Fine work, too, from Geoff (of course), Tai Shan, MoZo, Vince Martinez, and Bucket of Honey (on whose Batman-inspired piece I play guitar for the recording used in the new Bushwick compilation CD, which also features said "Bagpipe" from yours truly).

Vashon, WA: Vashon Farmers Market

Some folk do these kinds of gigs all summer...I tend to show up more as a customer. (Look at the size of those carrots...!) Favorite exchange:

Me, to a group of young kids who've been impatient for me to start all through set-up:
"You guys wanna sing one with me?"

The kids--plainly but definitively, on their own respective initiatives without coercion from those among the group:
"Nope."


Feels strange to leave beautiful Vashon mid-afternoon on a gorgeous day like this, but evening work with R&M beckons.