Pacific Northwest, Ho!

Well, dear readers, luck would find me on the Oregon Trail, so to speak. Consider it bonus on-the-scene correspondence. There is lots to tell, but I will keep it brief for sanity's sake.

Tonight found me at the District Lounge, cached beneath the Best Western University Tower hotel in Seattle.

Had I posted at 11 pm, a more detailed description might have followed. Suffice it to say that entertainment in said locale consisted of an Indian (Gandhi, not Squaw) pianist, a hippy-ish lead guitar, and an Argentinean pan-piper. The fourth member of this posse (also on guitar) was a local brute . . . more to follow on that.

Three Jack Daniels and two Alaskan Ales were my drinks; one would have thought that the music would have provided ample sustenance beyond that. But no such luck -- the fourth troubadour had trouble when the pianist began playing (and singing, poorly) the opening track from Buena Vista Social Club. Ordinarily, this sort of Snafu would have been little more than a minor problem. For this quartet, however, it proved a major stumbling block.

All would have been lost, if not for the tiny gentleman who arrived, mid-set, with his 15-year-old son. For all appearances, this man seemed to be the manager of the troupe, dressed as he was in a linen suit, hawaiian shirt, and straw hat. A well-trained ear, however, belied his true profession: he was the owner, it turned out, of a chain of auto body repair shops.

(Editor’s note, 10.16.04: Another likely candidate for band manager -- a balding European man who was similarly vying for the band’s attention between songs and brusquely working the crowd was clad head to toe in a black velvet suit. I cannot remember what I heard him say he did professionally, but it was something I found equally bizarre for a person of his appearance to do.)

Before any more could be gleaned, however, the group disbanded in a dissonant haze. I ended up at the only bar I knew in the vicinity, struggling to avert the baser notions of how to comport myself, having witnessed such a puzzling spectacle.

Please forgive the occaissional typo or out-and-out misspelling; it has truly been a memorable night, and one that will shortly find me in bed.

More news of Oregon and Washington (state) to follow...