2026-08-15 Planets in the Ocean at the Tractor Tavern

Made this on Canva

We were offered this show a few months ago and were pretty excited about it. I know nothing about the Divorce but both Cass and Robb had played with them a bunch when they were in Dear John Letters. Evidently they had a great draw in the early 2010s and played a bunch of great local shows back then.

I showed up at the Tractor around 6pm and double-parked behind a car that was already there. The Tractor has a loading dock in the back that they lock once the show starts. It makes things really handy to not have to find parking elsewhere, but it can be a bit challenging to get all the cars in there.

Cass and Robb were already there, as was Robb's awkward friend, Chris. Some of the Chimestone dudes were there as well. Good to chop it up with Cass for a bit. We talked about our plan for our set, less talking (for me at least; he's not on mic), and how we were going to play our new song, "Tourniquet."

I didn't know what to expect as far as crowds go, but as the doors opened, it seemed like Chimestone was having a good draw. I think all 5 of those guys are NHS grads, and their crew travels well. It seems like every time we play with them, they have a good crew showing out.

Teddy shared his bass rig, I was happy to use it. One less thing for me to be bringing around on a long day to begin with. He also had a beautiful Stingray that he was going to play, which ended up sounding just as good as it looked.

Teddy's rig and bass

Chimestone took the stage and played a competent set of REM-ish rock and roll. Frontman Jake came out on fire, working the stage with and without guitar, singing expertly. Ted on bass was solid throughout, tasty notes and playing all set long. Jonathan Plum, of course, was so solid as well, also adding killer harmonies during the songs. Paul was stellar behind the kit, driving with power and energy. I don't know the other guitarist's name, but he was great as well, tasty leads and playing. Enjoyed watching and hearing them for sure.

Chimestone at work

During Chimestone's set, we hooked up with a local photographer named Ian who had been sent by our bud Will. I asked if he'd be willing to take some non-performance pix of us and he agreed. We went to the loading area and stood/posed by some dangerous looking stacks of pallets while he snapped away. He ended up taking a bunch there as well as during the show. Hope those turn out to be cool!

We took the stage after Chimestone loaded out. Had to switch drum sets, but other than that, no big deal. I gave Dave the sound guy my IEM transmitter and he got bass and vocals into my ears. Had the bass rig on stage turned up as well and with hardly a word, Robb started into "Unraveled." Everything sounded great to me in my ears. Robb's vocals and guitar were loud enough that I didn't need any of his signal to the IEMs.

Unlike last show, I put the wireless pack on my strap and it was not going anywhere. My IEM receiver was opposite on my left hip, which would reduce any interference. I have new silicone ear tips from some old Skullcandy earbuds that create an awesome seal and didn't leak like my foam ones would if I smiled or laughed, so all my gear was working as it should. Until my left earbud popped out during "Unraveled." No worries, after the tune, I put it back in and we were golden.

We continued the set with "The Loud Silence," and then our nemesis from last show, "Nomenclature," and those all went off without a hitch. Robb or I didn't say much until after that song, so it was sort of refreshing.

We worked our way down the list and we were doing great. We sounded good, mistakes were low, crowd liked it and our energy was high. All the songs were fine until we hit "Holiday Daydream," where Robb forgot to do the chorus and went straight into the second verse. He's done that before, so we'll have to mention it again. Aside from that, though, everything else went well.

The last song was our new song, "Tourniquet." Robb brought it in a few months ago and it pretty much wrote itself. Over the past two rehearsals at the Rock Rooms in Ballard, we've really worked on it. It's pretty much a 3-part song: riff, verse, chorus. I'd like to come up with a bridge at some point, but it came together quickly and plays well. We may do have Tim jump on it when we play the SE show next month, but we'll see.

Got off stage and the Divorce jumped on after us. A very tight and pro 4-piece. A bit emo, a bunch rock and they looked great doing it. All 4 dudes were great musicians and the songs were well-received. They drew a nice crowd and had people singing to all their songs. At some point during the set, Robb made his way right up front and was pumping his fist and jumping along to the tunes!

The Divorce

During either of the other bands' sets, I chopped it up with Steve and Salena a bit, as well as Cass. We all got a laugh out of Chris and his tendencies. He means well, but I don't really want him to be running merch for us; one of us can handle that. He can help Robb schlep gear back and forth, I don't need his help with anything.

Got some props after the gig. Kim and her cousin gave me the best compliment, digging the white denim jeans I picked up the day before at Goodwill! Jimmy, the bassist in the Divorce, complimented my playing as faster than he can do; he has a Geddy Lee Jazz with a skinny neck to be able to play faster. We felt great about our performance, likely one of our best ones in a minute.

Had to beg Steve and Salena for pix. I think plenty of people took pix and video, but gotta be patient. Chris Elko was there and should have a video for us soon. And Ian's pix will be sent out soon I'm assuming. Other than that, felt great about it all. Sold a couple of limited pink LPs as well, so that's a bonus. We got a check for $566 (surprise!) so overall, a great night.

Next up, Cupcake on 9/11 at the Blue Moon?? Stay tuned.

2026-08-15 Sunset Grooves at Snohomish Block Party

Gig 1 of 2 on this day. We were booked a few months ago after I had already had a gig booked with Planets. Luckily, it was early enough that I could do both.

Marci and I left around 12:30 and, on the way up north, drove by her new school for a minute. Then it was another 20 minutes or so to the Snohomish air field, where the Block party was held.

For the show, I brought the gold L1K and the yellow P. No rig, as they had a Fender amp and cab available for my use. We parked and walked to the "backstage" area, which was a tent behind the stage. We were the first ones there and got a chance hang for a few. We met up with the backstage manager, a guy named Tex, who hooked us up with backstage bracelets and cash for food at the food trucks.

Marci and I walked around and checked things out. As we did, the clouds started to thin out a little; it was cloudy and cool when we showed up, but it started warming up for sure. Before long, Marci was overheating a little, so we got some food (meh popcorn chicken) and headed to the backstage area to eat.

By this time, the rest of the band had showed up, so we all hung out for a bit.

Walking in with my roadie

Backstage with the bandmates

The Fender amp was failing and the Aguilar was the backup

I didn't use the Fender and chose to go direct instead. We all had IEMs, except for Eric, as usual. We gave our devices to the sound crew and sat back to wait for them to get set up. It seemed to take a minute longer than usual. The previous band went a little long, and then by the time we were ready, it was 10 minutes past our start time and the sound guys were still messing around.

They had some people announce something and then they announced us, but we weren't ready. So we stood around trying to get things going. Eventually, the guy got audio going, so we started, but our levels were all weird.

I had Marci sit by the audio tent as there was shade there and she was roasting out in the open air. She said the sound guy, Ted (ironically), was muttering that we had too many IEMs and he was "doing all he could" to get them working. Overall, it worked fine for me.

My view from the stage. Marci ended up to the right of the tent.

Before starting the show

Once we were dialed in, I felt pretty good about things. The front of the stage was in the sun, so I kept going back towards Dusty and Eric to stay cool. Luckily, there was a nice cool breeze coming from the north (stage right), so that felt pretty good.

My wireless rig worked great. I'm starting to fall in love with the freedom, and since I adjusted the input, it's been working perfectly. It's a little fussy to get the transmitter on my strap, but once it's dialed, we're good. I do wish the cord was a little shorter, there's a lot of it that just hangs when I wear it.

Had a good time playing through the songs. There were a few people dancing, plenty of people watching, and if the first band was any indicator, we should have sounded pretty good out front.

Despite the monitor issues, I think we played decent. As always, there were some vocal issues throughout, but we made it through.

Forgot to get a picture with Dusty!

The Snohomish people gave us all 2 guest passes, so I got Marci in and also Daniel from work. I got to give 5 more away as no one else had people come, so I gave them to Cy from Cupcake. She said she had a bunch of people going anyway, so I got them to her. They did come, but long after we played; they wanted to see Queen Mother. Sort of annoying, but whatever, free tix are cool. Glad to save them some cash.

I packed up, talked to Daniel for a few, said hi to Kathy, Richard and Patrick from Wild Rumours, then headed home to drop Marci off, where she made me a PBJ for dinner. After that, it was time to go to Ballard.

2026-08-08 Sunset Grooves at Aurora Borealis

When I left for this gig, I forgot the freeway heading north was closed, so all northbound traffic was routing other ways, including down 119th. Added 20 minutes to my drive, so that was great. Luckily it was still early enough that I got there in plenty of time.

Tim was running sound at Aurora Borealis. He was a guitar player for Sunset Grooves before I joined years ago. I hadn't really talked to him, but he was super nice and accommodating to all of us. We got set up and did a quick soundcheck and it was fine.

We were offered another gig in September that I couldn't do, so I reached out to Dave, who played in another YR band in town. He came out last night to check out what he's gotten himself into. He was nice to chat with, so we chopped it up for a few.

Got some food and chowed down, free from the club, then got dressed for showtime. I rolled with the new wireless pack, the pedalboard, Goldielocks and the HOG. I figured I'd play Goldie for the first set, with a couple slapping tunes (Somebody's Baby and Peg) and the HOG for the second set.

Exciting pictures. I need to switch back to the square format, these tall 16:9 style pix are lame.

We started the set and the crowd was pretty chill, as usual. After a few songs, they started dancing. I thought the first set went pretty well. I could hear what I needed to hear for the most part. I kept an eye on the wireless input. With my 2 hottest basses, I didn't want to drop signal due to a fat input, so I dialed it back a little on the pedal. Happy to report there were no issues with signal drop.

First set went pretty much without a hitch. Felt good, get distracted with the screen in the back, projecting us on it like a live heat check. We took a break and then got back on for the second set.

We started with Caribbean Queen, which went pretty good. Then we started Maneater and though I was playing the right rhythm, for some reason I started in the wrong key. Once Eric came in, I figured it out and adjusted. We had a goof up in Don't Get Me Wrong; Jen forgot to come in on the quiet bridge part, we continued on and she came in doing the bridge, so we had to adjust on the fly. She also came in early on Tide is High. Most everything else was OK. I recorded on video and watched a little back. I think the vocals were a little tough, as usual, though hard to say who it is.

Nice comments from folks afterward. I didn't stay to chat much, was tired and wanted to get back home. Only took me 25 minutes to get back, so that was fantastic, I guess.

Next up, Snohomish Block Party on Saturday, with Planets at the Tractor that same night. Gonna be a fun and busy Saturday!