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The aptly named "Emerald City" of Seattle, WA during our first morning after staying at Rob's house (pictured). This is Alex's Ford Econoline 450 van. For all of its potential problems (uninsured, cracked windshield, no rearview mirror, bad rotor), it performed surprisingly well for the duration of the journey. You will see some other sides of it below. |
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The Puget Sound near Carkeek Park several blocks from Rob's house. This is from our 3-hour morning walk from 6 AM to 9 AM from 130th street to 117th. | ||||||||
 Stolen and vandalized car, which appeared to be rather fresh. |
After we returned from our hike, we went to the store and came back to prepare breakfast (omelettes, goat cheese, fruit). After breakfast I debated "good-guys" and "bad-guys" with Winslow, Rob's six-year-old son. The discussion started out with him explaining that the T-Rex in his dinosaur video was a bad guy, and that the Stegosaurus was a good guy. I wanted to know how he knew this just by the picture. This caused Winslow to short circuit. |
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We went to Ballard, where the first gig was located, and after a very good dinner at Indian Bistro (I had the Mulg Tikka), we hung out at the club. One of the best groups we played with on the tour was Black Cat Orchestra. Pictured in this rather dark picture are Jeff (bass), Lori (cello), Kyle (accordion player #2 of the tour). Jeff let me borrow his bass the first night we played. This was taken at Sunset Tavern in Ballard, outside of Seattle. It was a decent night, and we met some Hungarians who later helped us on the return journey. |
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We stayed with Black Cat Orchestra the night of the gig. This is where I slept - an attic music room. (Compare this with some of the other places I stayed later.) | ||||||||
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From Seattle, it was down to Portland, OR. We picked up Alex's friend Richard who had seen us in Seattle the night before. Richard had traveled to Eastern Europe, so he talked with us about his experiences there. This is La Fonda, a monster burrito place in Portland. It would be the first of several Mexican meals we would have. |
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The Red & Black Cafe, Portland, OR. | ||||||||
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This is Alex (aka Duck Duck Gray Duck) performing at the Red & Black before we went on. The house was packed since it was a long time since Alex had performed there. His act involves a backpack drum, megaphone and accordion (better picts below). | ||||||||
 Photo by Richard |
The Red & Black was one of our best shows, providing an early kick to our adrenaline for the tour. The crowd was mostly lesbians, anarchists and punks (I use those terms descriptively, not pejoratively). | ||||||||
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We stayed with one of Alex's friends in separate rooms. I got the rather dark and dank basement crib complete with a bed in a loft. Looks like the kind of room my friends and I used to have when we played D&D when we were younger. | ||||||||
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Beaterville...where we had breakfast. | ||||||||
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From Portland it was down to Eugene for two engagements... this is Alex from inside the van. | ||||||||
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We performed for KWVA FM at the University of Oregon. Very small studio. | ||||||||
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Our evening performance in Eugene was at Tiny Tavern, a bar. This was the noisiest gig of all, and the place where we were probably least appreciated. Other acts included Jeannie (r) & Alex (l) a blues duo. They were one of my favorite acts of the tour. | ||||||||
 Click on the image to hear a taste of the evening's crowd noise. |
Pictured here on the far left is the drunk guy from this show. "I love this music man!" he repeated while trying to sing along with Jeannie & Alex. He can be heard on some tapes I'm previewing from the tour. Maybe I should post some samples... The woman in the middle of the picture is Valerie, one of our fans who would end up meeting us again later in the tour. |
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At Tiny Tavern I was able to get a good shot of Alex's rig: Tambourine on left leg with black sock. Foot trigger for bass drum on right leg with white sock. |
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Bass drum backpack with megaphone attachment. The mike for the megaphone was placed in a harmonica holder. And of course, accordion. Alex also performed on guitar and sometimes used a beat box.
Used with permission. |
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This might make a good Pabst endorsement. | ||||||||
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In Eugene we stayed at another place owned by some friends of Alex. This is where I slept. Many (if not all) of the people in this house were anarchists. | ||||||||
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From Eugene, it was a 10-hour drive to San Francisco, which Alex and I split. This was the view from inside the van on the passenger side in the cargo area. | ||||||||
