Red Door Tech Services

 

Over the past few days, I've been toying with the idea of posting something on our local Nextdoor website, promoting a tech service for the neighborhood. At this point, what do I have to lose? I have applied for 15 or so jobs, gotten a few turndowns, but to this point, zero interviews. Two positions I applied for are in "SME review," but appear to be stuck otherwise.

This past weekend, I put together a basic business plan, using a template from the Small Business Administration website. In it, I outlined ideas and details around a plan servicing local seniors for their tech needs. Sort of like what I do for Mom, only without the familial ties.

I've been on a Better Call Saul kick and though I'm no Jimmy McGill, I think old people do like me and generally, I like them. I'm thinking of a service model where it's less transactional (though money will change hands) and more interaction-based. Very similar to the work I did at the MS stores at the Answer Desk.

Only for me, I'd go to the customer's house with an idea of the issue, and then address and try to fix. They are welcome to hang and ask questions, and I want to build rapport, empower them, and hopefully teach them, so the issues are less likely to happen again. But, with the relationship started, the repeat business would hopefully follow.

And I wouldn't limit it to computer help only. What if someone needs phone assistance? Or general tech support (smart devices not working properly; need AV/TV setup; etc)? Maybe there's a market for that in my neighborhood.

So I hit up Nextdoor yesterday and started filling out a page for, at the time, Newport Hills Computer Services. I created an alias email and was going back and forth on things. I thought I didn't want it only to be NH related (what about surrounding areas), so I removed the alias and changed the name to Red Door Computer Services. Why "red door?" Only because I saw a photo of our front door in my pictures folder and said, "why not?" Lame but true.

But when I tried to log in again, Nextdoor sent the verification code to the recently deleted Newport Hills CS alias. No matter! I'd go back in and recreate the alias... only to find out that MS sees that I created two aliases recently and would not let me create another one in such a short time frame.

Which means I'm sort of stuck now.

Red Door Computer Services page does exist on Nextdoor right now. You can see it if you want (meaning me, since literally no one else reads this blog; it is simply my journal now), just do a search on ND.

I also spent some time talking to my boys, Danny and Michael, as they have and are currently are doing something similar. In Danny's case, he did it during his paternity leave a year or so ago, just to make a few extra bucks while he was at home. For Michael, he's been supporting a guy for a year now, making house and office calls to fix PCs.

Both of them gave me good feedback and ways to think about this process. Most important, at this stage in the game, is to just put something out there. For whatever reason, I've been shy to post this on ND, but this afternoon, I wrote up a quick post and did it. I didn't link Red Door to it as that page needs a little editing; my email and home address are on it and I want to move those off for the time being, before linking the page.

Trouble is, I need to wait for ND to either switch the login email for the RD account to the RD email alias, or MS to allow me to recreated the NH alias.

Either way, I posted it to ND a few hours ago and, well, it's gone the same way as my job applications has gone: like crap, no responses. One like from Marci, and Danny commented on the RD page, but those don't count. Maybe once I get the business page lit up.

But for now, there it is. What else do I have to lose? Best case scenario, it actually turns into something I can hang my hat on and live off of. Worst case? No emails, no calls. I'll give it some more time, but hoping I can turn this into something for real.

Gig report: 1/29/2023 Sunset Grooves at the Spanish Ballroom

Got to visit the City of Destiny for my latest gig. Been excited about this one as it was at the Spanish Ballroom, a place I'd heard was awesome to visit and play at, but I'd never done before. I didn't get any photos of the exterior or anything, or even tour the rooms much, but suffice it to say, it was like being at a theme restaurant or bar, like the Rainforest Cafe or something.

I loaded my stuff and made the 30 mile or so trek under gorgeous blue, but quite cold, skies. Bass cab, pedals, bass head, 2 basses, a wardrobe bag, some blazers, a tripod and a guitar stand. I had put the mp3s of our last Sunset Grooves practice onto an SD card and put them in the car, singing along on the way down.

I showed up and the rest of the band was already there. I rolled my cab into the place, only to find stairs and no elevator that got us to the ballroom. But that's what drummers are for, right? Dusty helped me get my stuff in the room and I started to get set up. Here's the stage just before getting setup.

I was to be stage right, with Eric and his keys behind me. Patrick was way over on stage left, which suited us fine as he was just getting over COVID and had finally tested negative in the morning. Jen was between us and Dusty, of course, would be in the back.

I took a few minutes getting set up and once I was done, here's how my corner looked.

I decided to bring the rig as I haven't gigged with the Orange yet, and after the poor sound at the Central a few weeks ago, I wanted to have better control of how I sounded on stage.

The sound guy, Aaron, was great and we had a nice soundcheck getting the vocals sounding good in the monitors. I had him add some of Patrick's guitar and kept the bass to just my amp and cab. He took a DI from the bass amp and from what I could hear from the stage of the house sound, everything sounded really nice.

quick pic as we set up

After getting dialed in, we had an hour or so to grab a bite. Patrick and I grabbed gyros at the adjacent bar. A little bummed to find they don't comp food, or even drink tickets. They do, however, offer bottled water and a really cool green room to hang and get dressed, etc. This was the downstairs part of the green room. Just off to the side was the bathroom, with a shower, if one was so inclined.

We took the stage right at 5pm and started forging our way through our first 90-minute set. I could hear everything great on our first song, Listen to the Music by the Doobies. After that, we did Player's Baby Come Back, which features pretty much bass and drums at the beginning. I thought the bass was SUPER LOUD, but really, it was because I was standing right in front of the cab. As I moved over to Dusty's drums, the bass was not nearly as loud.

As we made our way through the set, we had a couple hiccups. On LTTM, we started a bit too early and Jen wasn't ready with her in-ears and stuff yet, so we cycled through one extra verse, no big deal. Baby Come Back had some technical issues with a keyboard being unplugged. We went through the next few songs with no issues, until we got to I Feel the Earth Move, where we got a little discombobulated during the outro and ended a little early.

For You're No Good, we do play it down a whole step, but even so, singing the backing harmonies are tough on that. Very high for me, and either I need to get better or we ditch them as most people won't notice (I'm talking about the high harms going into the second chorus).

We got to the break in the set and took 10 minutes to catch our breath. As I was putting my bass down, the middle finger on my left hand went rogue. The finger pad was locked to my palm, like Spider-man shooting his web shooters. I couldn't open my hand! That had never happened before. I could feel a small twinge in my left forearm as well. No pain, just no control. I used my right hand to unbend my middle finger and massage my arm and it started to get better. After about 3-4 minutes, it was back to normal. Unclear what that was all about, but I'm glad it was short lived.

After our break, we hit the second set and the crowd of 50 or so finally loosened up a bit. They started hitting the dance floor and pretty much stayed there the rest of the night. As far as performances go, the second set was a lot better than the first. One song in the first set was a bit of a train wreck, which is a shame, as we usually play it quite well.

After the show, though I didn't get any comments, we did have several people approach Dusty and Jen, telling them how much they loved us. Two of them had just seen Yacht Rock Revue a few nights prior in Seattle and they thought we were better than them and had better song choices.

Overall, I had a great time, but pay wise, we will be lucky to have $100 per person. We'll have to add in tips to reach that amount most likely. Hoping some of the people who really dug it follow through on their requests to be our biggest fans.

Next up: 2/25/23 with PITO at the Substation

Unemployed week 2 complete

Friday update, week 2 of unemployment complete.

• jobs applied for, no replies yet, though 2 are in "SME review"
• Met with 3 people this week to discuss resume and interview strategies
• 2 weeks of jobs logged with ESD, both weeks still marked as pending

I was gonna post that on LI, but decided, nah, will post longer here. I don't think anyone but me reads these here, so I can be a little more free with what I write.

So for two weeks now, I haven't been paid. That's approximately $3600 that we're down. And the state hasn't kicked in yet with unemployment, which would be about $1800, so 50% of what I had. But at this point, 50% is better than 0%. I just did our budget and we are not at mission critical yet, but it would be nice to get ESD or a new job sooner than later, that's for sure.

I've applied to a couple government jobs, two of which are the ones in "SME Review." At least they are being reviewed, rather than outright rejected or passed upon. I tried to cater my resumes to fit the job applied for, but admittedly, my resume needs some improvement.

I met with Brett R. 3 times in the past week, once with Aaron C. and once with former EBC colleague, Sean G. All 3 of these dudes give me a lot more credit than I give to myself for things I've done. Specifically with Sean and Brett, as I've actually worked with them, they see how I've been able to bring teams together, execute projects from high level vision to completion (ESS program), and communicate clearly between disparate orgs.

I'm not exactly sure where the disconnect from me applying for jobs is and the lack of responses. My goal today is to revamp my resume a bit to hopefully make it more appealing for the recruiters and their software that gets my resume past the first screening process.

Otherwise, it may be time to reach out via LI to the hiring managers via any connections I might see.

Getting frustrated, but not panicking yet. Give it time. :D

Bass Cover: AD 1928/Rockin' The Paradise

 

Here it is, the aforementioned bass cover. What a great tune and bass part!

Paradise Theatre - Styx

It must have been 1980 or so? I couldn't have been more than 10, I really don't know. But the first record I ever "bought" (if buying as part of a Columbia House 12 for .01 counts as buying) was Cornerstone by Styx. And the reason was because I liked the cover of the album. Whatever.

But, I do remember getting the next record, Paradise Theatre, mainly because it had gatefold packaging, opening like a large, flat book. That, and side 2 of the album was laser etched with a Styx - Paradise Theatre logo. It was super cool!

Yes, it's the CD insert, but imagine this as a front and back of an album!

cool ass laser etching!

At the time, I enjoyed the idea of records, etc, but hadn't developed any taste for rock or anything yet. I think this was my first concept album, as well, since Paradise Theatre tells the story of the rise and fall of said theatre.

There were definitely some songs I really loved, like the opening track, A.D. 1928/Rockin' The Paradise, and of course, the hugely popular Too Much Time On My Hands. After that, I seem to remember that, as a kid, some of the other songs didn't appeal as much to me. I thought Lonely People was weird, with its crazy horns and stuff; She Cares was too "pretty" sounding; Snowblind was just too out there, with the weird vocals and sound effects.

Anyway, over the years, you hear the hits and that's it. So, today, I'm looking over the Sunset Grooves potential song list and there's a few Styx songs on there. I started listening to A.D. 1928/Rockin' The Paradise and immediately hit the band group chat to say that even if this doesn't qualify as yacht rock, we need to do it. It's an incredible song and now that I'm actually a musician, I'm hearing these songs differently now and my goodness, they are great!

With regards to being a bassist, I'm listening to the tones that Chuck Panazzo got on this record and I am obsessed. His picked notes ring, have character, and when needed, are gnarly, too. I just used that song Lonely People as a reference for how I want my bass to sound on some of the songs we recorded the other day.

And I know what my next bass cover video is gonna be!

Studio Report: 1/15/23 Planets in the Ocean at Robert Lang Studio

Last Friday at the Central, our friend Kevin was in the crowd. He was the engineer who recorded us at Lang in June. He also mixed our tunes and as a result, we got a tiny bit of airplay on some local radio stations.

After the gig, he asked if we'd want to come up to Lang for a free studio day the following Sunday (yesterday). Listen, when a band gets offered a free day at a world class studio, that band better say yes or they should break up. Of course we said yes, and then we waited.

Thursday at practice, we planned to record a couple songs, Perspective and Darla's Song, and then we messed around and came up with parts for a new song. Really fast, power pop style, with some cool twists in it. We played it enough to come up with a rough structure and thought we might be able to pull it off in studio.

Sunday arrived and it was dreary as hell. However, any day spent at the studio is a good one, so I didn't care if it was dumping buckets or not. I brought my P and the L1k, my Orange Terror Bass and my 212 Avatar, thinking I could go direct and mic'ed.

Of course I was late, but no matter. Studio time is always, "show up at (insert time here)," but recording never starts until about 2 hours later. We spent time getting set up, tones dialed, etc. I also invited a friend to take some pictures. Andrew is a local music nerd who goes to tons of shows and takes incredible photos. He was stoked to come to Lang and he took approximately 500 pictures, he said. Those will be cool to see.

We ended up not using my amp or cab at all, instead, choosing to get the direct bass signal before the effects, and then the post effects signal out of my Tone Hammer. Overall results were quite pleasing to the ear.

pedal setup and my corner

My POV

The studio room is large and tall, with lots of hard, reflective surfaces. We had drums in there, of course, with Robb's amps in a room adjacent, and my bass going direct, so no rumble from there. The room gives great reverb and makes for an enormous drum sound. Cass hits so hard that the drums sound so huge and full and it is just inspiring to hear.

We started off with Perspective, which for me, is pretty basic, but is fast and needs pretty accurate picking. Structurally it's pretty easy as well, A-B-A-B-C, no solo or anything. The speed doesn't allow for much in the way of noodling, so my parts are pretty baked in. We did it about three times and listened back and were happy with how the drums sounded. I had a couple of punches to do, but left it for later.

Next up we tried the new song, which has no name. This song was pretty straightforward. Drums start quickly. I ramp in with a syncopated octave bassline, then Robb comes in with droning guitar texture. We ride that and he starts singing over those parts. One verse, instrumental interlude, then another verse, followed by a chorus. In practice when we did this, I came up with a high "oooh" background vocal, which was pretty cool. Didn't do it yesterday, but will do in the future.

After the chorus, we do a part that is reminiscent of "Flavor of the Month" by the Posies. A little more riffing, then one more chorus and we are out. We played through it a few times and we just couldn't get it right, so ultimately, we shelved it for the studio. We'll have to revisit it this week at practice. Maybe we can play it at our next show.

We tried Darla's Song next. It's keyboard based, with a descending left-hand bassline on it. Cass does duty on his high hats and I get to fill in the rest. Due to what Robb does on keys, I don't have a lot of room to do anything, so I keep it simple, with a root-5th-octave repeating line. This tune hasn't been my favorite as it's pretty boring to me, but Robb seems to love what I do in it, as does Kevin, so I guess it's OK. It's really a "serve the song" type of part for me.

Dustcloud was next, which is a pretty fast tune, likely our fastest. It has a galloping bassline and is really tricky to play with a pick. I have to do the E-A string jump and live and in practice, I can pull it off. It comes and goes quickly. In studio? Trickier, especially when you're constantly listening back. I wasn't striving for perfection and for the most part, it wasn't. Definitely close enough and under Cass' huge drums, it worked fine.

That was to be it, but Kevin was like, "Do whatever you guys want," so we decided to give Fought a Bear another try. We had already done a "studio" recording in Robb's basement a few months before and though passable, it is admittedly a basement studio recording. This is one of our most aggressive songs, quirky too, so I dialed up some grit on the Spark Booster and we went for it. Cass starts again on drums, then I come in with a back and forth root note bassline that's pretty easy. However, Robb starts doing some odd timed arpeggio and singing over a weird drum part that is just gnarly. I have to keep doing what I do, and somehow, miraculously, we end up at the same place.

That "place" is quick and loud and again, I'm striving for close enough. There's a passthrough on this part where I pick octaves. Root-root-octave-octave, then move to the next. I do that for 4 notes and though I can do it, on the recording, it was a little rough at times. Made a note to myself to simplify on my punches later.

With the drums signed off on (nice work Cass!), I did my bass punches. There were only a few and I was able to get them done fairly quickly. The main one was the Fought a Bear, getting those parts simplified and less crazy. I'll have to practice those more.

Robb started doing his vocals and watching him work was really cool. He just banged stuff out, boom, boom boom! He does it so much at home already, that when it's time to be on mic in the studio, no problem. Kevin hit record, Robb would do something once or twice, and it was done. Understanding that we were planning on an afternoon anyway, and we didn't have much time to indulge or put anything under a microscope, but still, he was pretty incredible. On one of the songs, he did some Queen/Boston type harmonies and though we'll never pull them off live, it sure sounded cool in the control room.

At that point of the day, it was around 5pm and I had to bounce to Sunset Grooves practice. Long day, but such a joy to spend all of it playing music with people I love. I'd rather do nothing else, to be honest. I only wish I was getting paid for it!!

Now that we have these four songs recorded, Kevin is gonna mix 'em and hopefully with these, plus Splinter and Decisions, maybe we do 2-3 more and we have a record. These one day sessions are cool, but it would really cool to be able to do a few days a little more methodically and with more attention to detail. As it is now, we are discussing maybe doing drums and bass next time and letting Robb do his vocals and guitar at his home studio.

Health stuff

Like a good middle-aged man, I spent the last few weeks doing some self-care. End of December, I visited the eye doctor for the first time all year. I've been seeing her since I was 18 or so, when she practiced at the Pearle Vision in Factoria. For who knows how long now, she's had her own practice and though it's a very DIY/home brewed version of an eye clinic, the dr. is really cool and we love her.

After that, I had a doctor's appointment after the first of the new year, this time for a physical. When I worked at MS, we were incentivized to get yearly physicals, but I didn't in 2022, so I figured I was overdue for one. Plus, my BP has been high again, even though I was on meds. Turns out, I may have been taking my BP too close to having coffee in the AM, which elevates it. Doh! Or, maybe my ancient BP device needs calibration? I couldn't find a way to do it. But I took my BP a few times and it was way low. And then I did it again yesterday and it was high. So not sure what's going on there. I will take it now, just to check. BRB.

Huh, still high, 134/98 or so. Stupid. It is 8:26pm, btw.

Anyway, while I was there, I got a flu shot as well, which, whatever; I never get sick, but with this emphasis on RSV/Covid and flu, I figured it couldn't hurt.

Overall, the physical was fine. My blood numbers all came in fine, etc, no worries there.

And then two days later, it was my first dental visit in approximately 6 years. I haven't been not because I despise the dentist or anything; I just think my teeth are fine. I brush and floss regularly and last time I saw him, he said my teeth were fine.

I went in and had x-rays taken and after that, the analysis was that my teeth were fine. We talked about whether or not the Dr. spoke Chinese (he didn't) and that he's 5th generation! Sounds like all the previous generations were super successful, Chinese royalty almost, and all I could bring to the table was that I was unemployed as of Monday.

It was nice chatting with the doctor, but it turned out that that was just the "new patient" consult, since it had been so long. Now I have a cleaning appointment next week. Great.

Then, last night at band practice, I started feeling like I had heartburn. I got home and pretty much immediately had the chills and a slight fever. It kind of came out of nowhere, but we had a thought that maybe it was the flu shot? But 3 days later? Who knows? I took a covid test to be sure (negative) and then tried to go to bed.

I must've woken up 3-4 times last night. Each time, I felt like dinner (Thai curry noodles with tofu) was a giant blob just sitting at the top of my tummy. I kept burping every time I stood up to go pee. I had a little bit of a fever still, but eventually made it through the night.

Today, it's been less fever, a little achiness, but mainly the blob still sitting at the top of my tummy, even now, at 9pm. Marci got me some Gas-x but it hasn't helped much, a few burps here and there. I pretty much did nothing today except watch 3-4 episodes of Better Call Saul. I'm hoping whatever is sitting on my bloated stomach goes away soon. It's not awful, but is sure is annoying.

Typing too much for LinkedIn to post

Trying to post at LinkedIn and I guess I'm too wordy. Here's what I had:

Vulnerability is tough. LinkedIn is a "business" website and the old-fashioned side of me is thinking I need to keep it professional here. Nothing too revealing, simply a factual listing of my career accomplishments and moves.

And then I see posts from others and I get inspired. These people are articulate, well thought out and drop really great words of encouragement, enthusiasm, excitement and congratulations.

So I think, what can I post and will it impact anyone? Will it even impact me? No clue. But what know is that when I am around others, I am impactful and I feel like I am one of those that inspire, encourage, have enthusiasm, excitement and offer congratulations.

I write this now because I am wallowing in self-doubt. I have worked since the mid-90s in the tech industry, first at our long-departed family business, Computers & Applications. I closed that business in 2009, after 28 years of existence, started by my dad in 1981.

After that, I looked for work for a year or so. I made it to the top 5 candidates for a traffic control specialist with the City of Seattle, but other than that, pickings were slim. With my brother smashing it at BMW Seattle in sales, he hooked me up with a gig in the service department answering phones and doing front desk work. Three months into that job, I got an interview with Microsoft at the Bellevue Square store and went there shortly after.

The next 10 years or so were spent at Microsoft, with approximately 6 years at the Stores (RIP), and then the last 4 or so as a contractor with the Executive Briefing Center in Redmond. I ended up leaving the EBC last February as I took a chance on a contract gig at Amazon, where they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

At Amazon, I gained valuable experience as a Project Manager, as well as supporting events around the country. Having never traveled a ton in any facet of my life, I was able to visit San Francisco, Washington, DC, Boston, and Las Vegas (first time!).

As I mentioned, the gig at Amazon was a contract and that contract ended last Friday. Starting yesterday, I am no longer employed. And that's where the vulnerability and self-doubt comes in.

One thing I appreciate in others is vulnerability. I try to be that way with others, both professionally and personally. My dad used to tell me not to be so truthful all the time. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't condoning lying, he was more about keeping the feels in and working through them on his own.

Me? Not so much. I got some feedback at the last gig, which was that I had the tendency to talk. Guilty! I do think I tend to go on sometimes, but that's how I have to communicate. But that's how I've been able to connect with so many of you both here on LI and in real life.

As far as the self-doubt goes, it's all about the job search. With my experiences that I mentioned, I can't pinpoint anything and say, "That's me, a (insert job title here)." Like, if someone asks me what I do, I can't say, "I'm a software engineer/jet mechanic/public speaker/biologist/etc." Everything I did for the past 10 years was all self-discovery and somewhat self-taught and/or learned on the job. Unfortunately, I have not pursued more education outside of work.

Everything I'm seeing for the past several months of job searching is obviously very targeted. They seek the unicorn that ticks all the boxes. And maybe they get that person. But more likely is that they get someone that ticks some of the boxes, which is where I would come in. Business being what it is, the hiring company will get someone that sort of fits. I feel like those candidates will be able to speak to specifics and contributions and such. Me? I have generalities and feel limited in what I have to offer.

I know much of this is in my head. I am my own worst critic, after all. The one thing I have total confidence in in my life is playing bass. I know it, I'm great at it and I'm an asset to any band that I play in. I need that sort of confidence in the business aspect of my life.

Anyway, I write this in order to share my situation, but also to offer encouragement to others out there that may need it. My perspective is good: my family is healthy, I have a home to live in and I have a support system to lean on. That said, I desperately want to work and provide and contribute. Any thoughts, leads, ideas or hellos are appreciated.

Gig Report: 1/6/2023 Planets in the Ocean at the Central

Show poster, hooray

Had our first show of the year last night. There's a band called Purusa out of Portland that Stereo Embers played with a few times. They have a friend named Will that sort of manages them and he keeps in touch with me via text every once in a while. He's seen Sunset Grooves and goes to a lot of shows. He asked to have PITO play with Purusa and Left Hand Smoke (legendary in the 90s in these parts, but I'd never seen them). Not only that, but the gig was at the Central Saloon, which was also legendary in the 90s, but these days, I think it's more of a stomping ground for up-and-coming bands.

Which says a bit about PITO now, as what are we but an up-and-coming band?

For whatever reason, it was an early show, with us hitting the stage at 8pm. I think it may be due to the fact that Pioneer Square, where the Central is, has fallen on some tough times. It could be sketchy there in the 90s and 2000s, and now in the 20s, I think is still sketchy.

Sound check was at 7pm and though we went first, we got to check as the headliners were nowhere to be found. We got up and slagged through a song and got to take a tight 10 to chill for a minute. I was a little concerned as the stage sound was not fantastic. I decided to travel light and use the in-house backline, which was a GK 1000 amp and NEO 410.

what a crappy picture of a weird sounding rig

On stage, the sound was not great. I don't know if it was my pedals, or my bass (T-bird), or what. The cabinet was about a foot off the ground behind me. I had the sound guy dial in some bass in the floor monitor as well. I kept messing with the mids dials on the amp and I just could not hear my bass.

The Central has upped its game with a full lighting rig as well and though it did look cool from the floor, on stage, whenever the main lights would go dark, I couldn't see the markers on my bass's neck. That's been an ongoing issue for me; either I need to get some Wite-Out or play a different bass.

As we took the stage finally, Robb didn't have set lists printed, but luckily we only have so many songs, so he sort of just called them out. We started with The Loud Silence and off we went. As mentioned above about the sound on stage, I just couldn't get comfortable. I'm starting to realize as well that though I'm better at playing a with a pick these days, doing so in practice vs on stage are two different things. Stamina-wise, I was fine, but maybe it was a combo of new band nerves, can't hear anxiety and can't see annoyance that made me feel off. I just couldn't get a good feel for anything up there.

During the set, not only did we have the light show, they dialed up the fog machine as well. I think it was mainly to show off the cool light beams and such, but it made for a mess up on stage.

check the cool beams of light in the fog

We made our way through the set and for the most part, if I'm being objective, I think it went pretty well. As horrible as I may think a set went for any band I've been in, the reality is, it always ends up being pretty good. The "you are your own worst critic" really rings true here. But that's not to say there weren't any train wrecks. We have our "theme" song, Planets in the Ocean, where there's an instrumental bridge and let's just say that the three of us were not on the same page. Luckily, we made it through, but it was a bit messy.

awkward band photos

I think we'll have to revisit our set list as well. Part of this band's focus is to not limit stuff. So Robb has a keyboard he busts out for a song and though the transition isn't terrible, to stop everything so he can take a few minutes to set up can be awkward. We've discussed opening with the song, so maybe we can try that in the future. Or maybe we pivot that song to a "studio only" type tune.

Moving on, our friends Kris and Zach in Purusa took the stage. It was supposed to be a full band show for them (they are a four piece), but their drummer was suffering from some health issues and was unable to participate. Talking to Kris was cool; his band is based in Portland and they come up to Seattle a few times a year to play. He says the PDX rock scene is sad as there's only one or two clubs that offer stages for rock bands to play. Otherwise it's all singer/songwriter stuff or heavy metal. Kris and Zach did a really outstanding acoustic set. He has an incredible voice (like Chris Daughtry) and great charisma on stage. Zach has cool-guy swagger and is really fantastic as well.

During their set, the aforementioned Left Hand Smoke finally started showing up. Cass commented that it had been a minute since he'd seen any headliner show up during the second band's set. Talk about a power move! We thought they may have ghosted the gig. And with the ultimate power move, one of their guitarists showed up as the rest of the band was setting up. They were a 5 piece, with 2 guitars, bass, drums and keys/vocals. They were super tight and pro, but to me, ultimately pretty bland. It was like if Maroon 5 and the Blues Brothers had a baby that had no soul and no stage presence. I felt like they were the type of band that would be in the background of a bar scene in a movie. Adequate, but forgettable. Actually, I told Cass they reminded me of the Chuck E Cheese band. Standing in place, moving like robots. But, in their defense, with 5 people on stage, it was pretty limiting in what they could do.

All in all, a nice night at the Central. I feel like there was a decent crowd for us. We had some "VIPs" in the room, with Eva from the Black Tones and KEXP there. She's played us a few times on the radio, hopefully that continues and grows. Made a couple bucks and got some nice feedback from the people that were there.

Up next: Sunset Grooves on 1/29 at the Spanish Ballroom.

2023-01-04 recap

Do I want to do this every day?

Breakfast, deck guys, ran out of planks, job hunt. Elle Macho, FH5, talked with Haley at lunch about first day at school, stayed at home, took Kodo for a quick walk, windy outside, dinner, TV, finished Glass Onion.

2023-01-03 recap

Deck replacement started, finishing out at work, applying for jobs, 4m run, chat with Hay, practice PITO songs for gig, started Glass Onion.

2023-01-02 recap

Bellingham, lunch at Brandywine Kitchen, Ridgeway Alpha, WWU campus, Walmart/Target, dinner at Italian restaurant, leave Haley, drive back home.

2023-01-01 recap

Waffles, 5m run, Seahawks beat Jets, drama with Haley and going to WWU, Sunset Grooves practice.