ubik.tour 2012a: Day 4
09.22.2012 at The Foggy Notion in Portland, OR with Nasalrod & Ix
We woke up on Saturday Morning to coffee,†‬eggs,†‬bacon and sausage,†‬biscuits,†‬and gravy...†‬Ash (of Ash-Hole studios) and his family treated us exceptionally well. I wasn't kidding about the generosity of our hosts.†  ‬I don't necessarily eat all that stuff,†‬but among the eight of us,†‬it was consumed.
Also: behold the ubik.Nasalrod dogpile:
We didn't wake up early on Saturday.† ‬We didn't have much of an agenda.† ‬Our scheduled show in Corvalis canceled early and our options in Redington,†‬Eugene,†‬and Olympia all fell through.† We were offered a radio show in Boise-- that actually sounded like a lot of fun, and something we were all interested in doing, but it was also five hours out of our way for a non-paying venture. Sadly, a gig that won't pay for its own gas could leave us stranded.
Everyone took their time heading to the Sun Cafe in downtown Boise,†‬getting smoothies,†‬mimosas,†‬and wraps.  The afternoon was wide-open, and we all just kind of chilled out for a bit. Checking Facebook,†‬we discovered that one of the phone calls Michelle made panned out... but ‬it was after†‬5:00,†‬and we were still in Boise. We did get to Portland just fine--†‬we left before Nasalrod in hopes of maybe making the show,†‬but we rolled in around†‬11:30,†‬and the everything had already wrapped,†‬so the day was basically:†‬sleep in,†‬restaurant,†‬seven hours of driving,†‬restaurant,†‬sleep. We were all a bit tired of our mp3†‬collections,†‬so we put my mp3†‬player on random until the batteries died†(‬right in the middle of a Floating Goat songâ€)‬,†‬and then switched to Michelle's.† ‬We even established rules:†‬random means random--†‬no skipping,†‬no selecting,†‬just let the player go.† ‬This was fine until we got two KISS songs in a row. â€â€śâ€¬I only have one KISS album on here,†‬too,â€â€ť ‬she says as one more corny,†‬reverb-drenched song off Dynasty starts up.† “‬And this one's going to hurt.† ‬This is an Ace song.â€â€ť  ‬Then her iPod revolted--†‬it just stopped,†‬never let Mr.†‬Freeley sing a single note,†‬and found the next song on its own. Not even the iPod would put up with that much KISS. We might not have been able to catch our last-minute show,†‬but we got to Portland with plenty of time to hang out.† ‬Nasalrod all live here,†‬so they found their homes and beds--†‬we found Dan from Ix,†‬who often puts us up at the Plural Mural house when we're in town. I had another friend to stay with,†‬so I split off from the group--†‬they went to Bily Ray's Dive Barâ€; ‬I ended up at C-Bar,†‬playing pinball and drinking a Burnside Brewery wheat ale spiced with Habernero.† ‬Hells yesâ€! That is one of the great things about Portland:†‬it's a devoted beer and food town.† ‬Bars have wild,†‬creative tap lists and restaurants are multidimensional and always have Secret Aardvark hot sauce.† ‬I love eating and drinking here. I got back to Plural Mural before ubik.†‬got out of bed†(‬figuratively speakingâ€) ‬and just hung out with Dan for a while.† ‬We were about four blocks from The Foggy Notion,†‬and were free until the†‬8:30PM load-in to chill,†‬restring instruments,†‬snuggle the cats,†‬listen to music,†‬read Batman:†‬Year One†(‬it was on the bookshelf in the living roomâ€)‬.† ‬Free time is nice ‬when you come by it. The Foggy Notion is a cool venue,†‬and we came up with a setlist while Ix was playing.† ‬Maybe it was the energy in the room,†‬but we ended up with a really high-energy,†‬fast set.†‬You'd think that with all our free time we would have written a setlist during the day,†‬but ubik.†‬doesn't often operate with a lot of forethought.† ‬We mean to...†‬it just never happens. We've all become really,†‬really fond of Nasalrod.† ‬It could have gone either way:†‬we liked the band,†‬but we never traveled with another group before,†‬and I like them even more now than when we started.† ‬Great band on stage,†‬great group of people off stage.†‬It was sort of bittersweet watching the last Nasalrod set,†‬knowing we wouldn't be seeing another one tomorrow. There was a big group around the fire pit at Dan's after the show,†‬which seems to be the norm when we're with Dan or Justin†(‬who has moved out of Plural Mural,†‬but it was still a big Ix/Nasalrod partyâ€)‬,†‬and we hung out well into the night. This was a bit of a mini-tour, a quick circle. We only played four nights,†‬the whole adventure seemed too brief,†‬but it was a good run.
