In April we paid a visit to Brick in San Diego. We planned the trip to coincide with one of Spiritualized’s final acoustic mainline shows. It was a great show, and we knew that this summer they would do a band tour in support of A&E. Our hope was that there would be a stop in Portland so that we could see both sides of the band in a year.

Spaceman wears a different pair of silver shoes when he plays acoustic

In fact the two shows were almost exactly six months apart.

One of the great things about Portland is there a lot of venues for shows, most of them small enough that you can always be up close. Monday was a beautiful day and Craig and I rode down to the show arriving during the opening band, Grand Ole Party. The timing was such that we were able to claim spots up front.

The show was fantastic. The band was tight, the song performances were all top notch. These days I only average a show every couple of months, but this was by far the best show I’ve been to in ages. I enjoyed myself start to finish and never found myself thinking about anything beside the show I was watching…with the one exception of wondering if that guy to my left was the guy I’d met a few months before at Fire on the Mountain, eating fried oreos.

Their show was at times a wall of noise, which was eve more pronounced since the last time we saw them was for an acoustic set.  I was glad Craig had remembered to find earplugs before we left, because without them I’m sure it would have been too much.

After the show ended we watched as someone tried to make off with one of Doggen’s slides, only to have their roadie come out and call her on it. I’d notice before the show that he still had the sticker with the size of his shorts on the back, so after that incident I went over and asked if I could take the sticker off his shorts.

Craig went to pay the bar tab and as I stood there waiting the guy I thought I recognized from FOTM asked if I’d enjoyed the show. I told him I thought it was great, asked if he enjoyed it, and then asked why I recognized him. He told me it was probably because he worked at Trader Joe’s.

Then I said, “Would I have seen you eating oreos at Fire on the Mountain?”

He said, “Was I with my cousin?”

“I guess so.”

“You were sitting at the corner of the bar?”

“Yea, that was us.”

And so Patrick and I continued making small talk, when his friend Betty noticed him and introduced him to her friend Martin, noting that Martin used to play with Spiritualized. His friend came back, who was the bigger fan of the band, and he explained to him that Martin had played with Spiritualized. This was further punctuated when the drummer, Kevin, came out and noticed Martin.

I had brought the album cover for my impulsive purchase of A&E on green vinyl in hopes I could get Spaceman to sign it. Eventually we went outside to wait for the band and found Patrick and Richard waiting by the bus. There was a car blocking access to the equipment trailer behind the bus and so everything seemed kind of stalled.

Patrick is makng faces behind Craig

As 1:30am was rolling around I told Craig maybe we should just head home. He looked at me and said, “WWKD?” and I knew, Karen would remain committed to the cause. So I went and asked the roadie if he was touring with the band, and if they were (a) already in the bus (no), and (b) likely to sign something for me (yes). And so we stuck around making small talk with Tim, the roadie, for a bit.

Eventually the tour manager came out and started talking to him, and so Craig went around the corner to Voodoo and bought a donut. Another fan showed up who had a set list he’d managed to get signed by all but Spaceman.

Then the bus driver showed up and the energy shifted. The next thing we knew Betty and Martin were outside talking to Patrick and he was waving us to follow him.

We all headed back into the club and into the “green room.” There was a collection of indie rock boys fawning over Spaceman, and yet I knew I’d have to cut in if I wanted to get my album signed. It took me a few minutes and half a Heineken, but I made my way over, excused myself and asked if he’d sign my record cover.

He noted that he spends lots of time designing the cover and then someone signs right across the front of the cover, he opened the gatefold and showed me a line at the bottom that he’d included in the design, just for signatures:

Craig asked Spaceman if he had a chance to visit Mississippi Records while he was in Portland. He looked at Craig and said something along the lines of, “No, but I met Eric and he gave me a white sleeve copy of his new record. He signed it for me. I was as happy as a school boy on Christmas morning after Santa visits.” His entire demeanor changed with the question, he went from being a doted on musician to a giddy fan in just seconds.

And my asking for an autograph changed the demeanor of the too cool folks hanging around, as I’d suddenly given them an excuse to ask for photos with him, etc.

By now it was at least 2am, so the staff at Berbatis began kicking us all, band included, out. On the way out of the club Craig got a few clock pictures with some of the other band members. This is my favorite, of Betty and Doggen:

You can get a sense of it all through the video Craig put together.

In summary, we went to Spiritualizd, saw a great show and got my record signed thanks to the fact that I recognized a guy who I’d talked to while he ate fried oreos because he knew a girl who knew a guy who used to play in the band that we wanted to meet.

And aside from the street cleaner behind us pushing me to ride faster than I wanted to along SW 3rd Ave, the weather was perfect for a night ride home. Once we got to the Hawthorne bridge there was no better way to wind down from a great night.

What I had forgotten was that Craig’s uncle Dan taught and coached at Wasilla High School. Craig read an article today about Sarah Palin where they mention her parents by name and he came to realize his uncle is good friends with her father. Which should be no surprise since it is a small Alaskan town-now-suburb.

Anyway, Friday night we went to see Tom play a show at the Nine Muses Acoustic Cafe. Craig brought his video camera and recorded two songs before his battery died.

Saturday was a near perfect day of hanging out and just catching up. Craig worked with a singular focus on the stairway to the basement. I spent my time grocery shopping, working on computer projects and cleaning up my office. Plus, Craig’s stimulus check-purchased Bikes at Work trailer (made in Iowa) was delivered.

Saturday night we used the bogo personal pizza coupon Laura gave me for Hammy’s Pizza that was set to expire the next day. As Craig said after we first had Hammy’s the night we got back from Hawaii, “we’re dating a new pizza place.” They don’t deliver to our place until after midnight, but they aren’t so far away that it isn’t worth going to them.

While we ate our pizza we used Hulu to watch Friday night’s episodes of The Daily Show with John Stewart and the Colbert Report. Truly, the best recap of both the Palin nomination and the end of the Democratic National Convention that I could have hoped to see.

On Sunday we got up early and drove 200 miles south on I-5 to attend a reunion of Craig’s extended family. It was a crisp day that reminded us that our summer like days will now be fewer and further between.

His parents, aunt and uncle and cousins were all there. Unfortunately circumstances beyond her control caused Teresa to have to cancel her trip up.

While we were there Craig lured Bonzi down the slide. Craig and I had just finished the fantastic BBQ and when Bonzi got to the bottom of the slide he realized that he was no longer being held back by his leash and bounded across the field at top speed, not stopping until he reached the table where all the food was laid out.

On Monday Craig assembled his bike trailer:

And that evening we had a small group of friends over for a Labor Day BBQ, followed by an outdoor showing of Over the Edge. In the end, there were only seven of us left for the movie and we were all wearing sweaters, jackets and down blankets.

Tomorrow Craig and I are headed north to Marysville and then Lopez Island. At least I’m a bit more prepared for it being cool out.