Big Business show commentary

Note: I apologize for the delay between writing this and posting it. I wrote it late Saturday night after the show, and am posting this Monday evening. Enjoy the present... tense.

Regardless of the fact that I'm half-drunk and half-stoned, tonight's Big Business show was awesome. I've never been to Dante's, the very Portland venue before, but I've been a fan of Big Business for a while. Despite my fandom, I didn't have very high hopes for the show tonight. Their low-end attack is so strong that I wasn't sure it would hold up in a small venue, but the sound folks at Dante's did us well tonight. I thought the vocals were lost in the mix a bit, but I didn't come for the vocals. I came for the drums, and drums I got. Tonight's show was all about drum performances; the strings and vocals were the accompaniment.

Tweak Bird is a 2-piece in the tradition of the Spinanes and Big Business themselves. They grinned, rocked, sang falsetto, and obviously had a great time tonight. They had the crowd hooked from the minute they walked onstage and teased us with the opening kickdrum. Though most of the crowd was not familiar with the band, we quickly warmed to them. They're totally my new favorite band. As a bonus, Toshi from Big Business joined the band onstage for one song, and took a blistering solo. It was kind of amazing to see him kind of wander onstage and stretch his fingers all over the fretboard. Really, this band was fantastic. They clearly practice together all the time, and their communication onstage was clear and quite entertaining!

Big Business really should be playing giant venues, so I'm really happy I got to see them in such an intimate setting. Coady ruled the drums, and brought a fantastic, energetic, heavy performance tonight. After opening with the brilliant "Just as the Day was Dawning," the band rocked through songs from all three of their albums, including my two favorites from the new release, "Gold and Final" and "The Drift." These guys affectionately referred to the crowd as "babies," and took a break in the middle of one song to have the guys from Tweak Bird come on stage and start a sing-along. Jared was pure charisma this evening, playing his heart out and trying to get the crowd to buy him a drink. I'm honestly not sure if anyone ever did. Having fallen in love with Big Business as a bass and drums combo, I was wary of Toshi's performance on guitar tonight. However, he won me over with his appearance with Tweak Bird. Most of the night he reminded me of Larry LaLonde at a Primus performance - he was happy to be supporting Coady and Jared, and seemed to be as lost in the music as we the listeners were.

Local favorites Black Elk started the show tonight, which may point to why tonight was such a great time. Portland rock crowds are really cool, and everyone there was clearly into enjoying the music. Security was super chill and friendly until some tools started taking the mosh pit to the next level, at which point they took care of business efficiently, letting the rest of us enjoy our evening. Much love to the staff of Dante's, who were on time, friendly, and bobbing their heads to the rock tonight. I walked away with 2 t-shirts and a CD tonight. and I couldn't be happier.

Peanut Butter Dreams

The last time I went out socially with my high school sweetheart was a strange occasion. We went to HORDE Festival, an all day show with bands like Blues Traveler and Black Crowes. The show was fun: God Street Wine, G. Love and Special Sauce, and Joan Osborne stood out as excellent performers that day, and we both enjoyed watching everyone dance in a lovely mudpit.

Jennifer had already met the man who was to become her husband, and she was clearly emotionally well beyond the story of me and her. This is quite appropriate in hindsight, but was quite painful that night, leaving me more lonely than I really should have been on a lovely summer's night the year I was 18. After a mildly awkward good-bye, Jennifer dropped me off at my friend Megan's house where I was to spend the night before returning to camp the next day. I walked inside ready to be done with the day, and headed right to bed.

Megan is now a professor at MIT, but that summer she was one of the few women who didn't find me dangerous. She also had a giant bed, big enough for her, me, and another friend to sleep in. This bed, in addition to being quite long and wide, was piled high with enough soft blankets and comforters to warm human extremities on even the coldest of nights. Being summer, this was not a cold night, but Megan kept the air conditioning in her room on the highest setting, so as to enjoy the sense of being swaddled in bedclothes in all seasons.

I laid there, physically very comfortable in the magical bed, but emotionally quite lost in the cool, quiet dark. Suddenly the door opened and Megan lept into bed, a spoon in her hand.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Peanut butter. It'll make you have weird dreams," she replied.

Being an adventurous young man, and not one to ever turn down a spoonful offered by a lady, I ate the peanut butter, settled into the bed-nest, and drifted into sleep.

As a child, I'd had a recurring nightmare. In this nightmare I am chased down an alley lined with tall brick buildings. In the dream I'm running as fast as I can, but moving as if I was stuck in syrup. Usually I was chased by a giant cockroach, and once by the Count from Sesame Street. Luckily, the Count is the only one who ever caught me, and all he did when he caught me was sit on my chest and tell me, "ONE, ONE Han Solo in Star Wars. Ha! Ha! Ha!" This dream was totally a childhood thing, and I'd not had that dream for many years.

The night I had the peanut butter I had almost that exact same dream. There was me trying to run away, but being unable. There was the endless alleyway with no exits. There was someone chasing me. However, this time instead of being a cockroach or the Count, the pursuer was my mother. My mother dressed as a nun, running after me with a ruler.

I'm since never doubted the power or mystery of peanut butter.