Friday at the Phoenix
I went to see the Rum Diary at the Phoenix Theatre on Friday night. The Polar Bears were opening, but I’d heard a rumor that they had to cancel due to a finger injury. Turns out they did, in fact, play the first slot, and if I’d known that I would’ve shown up for them. Oh well…next time.
The Phoenix has this weird little substage now, a little platform in front of the main stage, about half as tall. It’s sort of a compromise between the big main stage and the tiny floor shows they’ve been doing lately. It’s kind of an interesting setup, and the Rum Diary split themselves between the two stages, with the two drum kits on the main stage and the guitar/bass frontline on the smaller platform. Jon was taking advantage of the echoing “stomp” sound he was getting out of the platform during one song…it made this nice, reverberating “boom” like an extra huge bass drum.
I missed out on the other two bands who played between the Rum Diary and Polar Bears, namely Settlefish (from Italy) and the Desert City Soundtrack (Santa Rosa natives transplanted to Portland). I’ve seen plenty of Desert City in my day, but it would’ve been nice to see what Settlefish was all about.
Scored a copy of Translation Music Vol.3, the latest installment of the compilation that my old band, Superficial Hero was featured on. There’s some excellent stuff, notably the Bjork cover by the Roots of Orchis, but I miss the hand-made packaging on this one. Somehow, a jewel case just isn’t the same.
More later….
