Ballard Seafoodfest and live music galore
This was a really, really full weekend. I feel like I was constantly doing something or other, and I had so much fun. I had salmon for every meal except Sunday dinner. Friday I left work a bit early because I got wind The Dresden Dolls were appearing at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard at 5:30 to do an in-store performance and signing. So I got off the bus at my apartment, got my copy of Yes, Virginia… and realized there were nasty stickers all over it (I’d bought it used) so I brought it with me in case there were no copies left. I walked over to Sonic Boom, browsed around a bit, bought the CD again, then went over to Zak’s and had a salmon burger. I could only finish about half of it, and I’m glad I stopped because by the time I got back to Sonic Boom (half a block away) the line to get in was already curved around the corner of the block. o.o So I stood in line, waited around for a half hour, and finally we got to go in. I couldn’t see them at all, except for the occasional glance as the store is small and there were already a ton of people in there. Resultantly, I didn’t get any photos of their performance, but I did get some when they came outside to sign autographs. I was very amused that many of the fans were wearing formal dress but both Amanda and Brian were dressed in ratty t-shirts and looked like they just came from a college dorm. They didn’t have a piano there so they offered up an acoustic set with a single guitar, which Brian played energetically as Amanda belted out a slew of covers of not-so-famous tunes. They only played two of their own songs, and even restarted one as Amanda was convinced it “sounded like shit” because Brian wasn’t playing fast enough. It was really awesome to be there with them, and I was pretty surprised by how young they both seemed (Brian is 2 years my senior, Amanda 5, so it’s not that odd I suppose), and how like “regular” people they were. Both of them looked like they could have been employees of the store. Quite impressive showing.
I’ve learned my lesson now though, that when someone *that* big comes by, the fans are tenacious and will wait for a *long* time to see them, particularly when they’re free. Soooo, next time I will defer my dinner until later. :D
After I got my autographs, I walked down the block to the Sunset Tavern where I paid my $5 cover and got a seat at the bar right in front of the stage. I was still pretty excited about just having seen The Dresden Dolls so I was reviewing the photos I’d just taken when a guy came up to me. He said he was working with the bands and had forgotten his camera back in the hotel room, so he wondered if I would share my photos for their website. I happily agreed, and he gave me his card. I felt a little shame in the fact that my camera is (let’s face it) total crap. It takes crappy pictures, and does pitifully in low-light situations. I feel really, really awful taking flash pictures during a show, not only because it breaks the experience for the other people there, but I imagine it’s terribly distracting for the performers. Nonetheless, I took some photos. Laura Gibson was the first act, and her light, gentle, folky sound was really pleasant and nice to listen to. Norfolk and Western performed after her, and they were incredibly energetic and full-sounding. The singer was slightly soft-spoken while singing, which was an interesting contrast to the sound. It was a nice blend. I left feeling incredibly uplifted and content. When I got back I uploaded the photos, talked to Jules a bit, then slept.
The following day, Saturday, was the first day of the Ballard Seafoodfest, which is a once-yearly event that takes over the main drag of downtown Ballard (Market St and Ballard Ave from 20th Ave to 24th Ave) It was incredible…so much to see, hear, do, and eat. There was tons of fish, salmon in particular (and cats to be teased!) So here I had salmon dinner #2 in a row. Yums. I walked around for a few hours, then checked out the beer garden where they were serving local brews. Got a bit tipsy, then went over to wait for the bus. I rode over to Northgate where I visited Target and Best Buy, then went over to the mall where I ended up buying a pair of khaki-colored pants. (cacky) I rode back, then stopped at Sam’s Sushi, which happened to be right across from the main salmon BBQ. There were like 3 people inside, unsurprisingly, so the service was very fast. I barely had time to turn on my DS when the food showed up. Salmon maki and fried California roll. Yummmmm. I walked home, then talked to Jules until bed time again. I was really, really tired from all the walking and shopping of the day so I fell asleep almost immediately.
Sunday morning I talked to Jules for awhile again. At some point we watched the latest Top Gear episode (that was probably Saturday come to think of it.) I showered then went out to the Seafood festival again. I got a Cajun salmon burger, then took it over to the beer gardens where I found a shaded spot under a tent and devoured it happily. It started to rain, and being that there were only 2 tents in the beer garden, people started filing in pretty quickly and suddenly I’d made a lot of new friends. Two pretty shady-looking older (scarily-tanned) guys started talking to me and hitting on me, and after 4 beers the rain stopped and I headed off for the bus stop. When the bus finally came I had to take a pee really badly, and I only made it about halfway before I had to get off and find a gas station. It was just my luck that this particular gas station had no public bathroom, but the Indian attendant saw that it was a matter of urgency so he let me use the employee bathroom. There was no soap, no towels, and one square of toilet paper left. It was really cluttered and tiles were falling off the walls. Strangely, it didn’t smell…or I was too drunk to notice. I thanked the guy with relief as I left, and then I had to wait another 50 minutes for the next bus to come by (stupid things only come once an hour on weekends. ;_;) So I played Sudoku on my DS until it arrived, and I rode over to Omni. They had just barely started when I arrived (about an hour late, bah) so I hadn’t missed much. I grabbed a coffee from Tully’s on the way in, so I sipped on that and tried to sober up. It was a pretty fun session and we all munched on cupcakes Rachael had made which were decorated with 4th of July sprinkles and Halloween wrappers. They were silly and delicious. And entertaining, when Joel ate one and ended up with frosting all over his beard.
After that we headed over to the International District for some curry. Will and I chatted for awhile, ordered drinks, then Max showed up with a new Bungie recruit, Cam. We all had a really nice, animated conversation, laughed a lot, and enjoyed good food and drink together. Will was kind enough to drop me off at home and I ended up going to bed not too long after I got inside.
I fell asleep easily but I awoke several times, until I could no longer stay asleep. I felt really, really sick and uncomfortable, and luckily Jules was there so he called me and we talked until his bed time. I decided to take the day off from work because I felt so wiped out and I didn’t think I would function well today. Besides, I hadn’t taken a voluntary day off since Jules was here in March. o.o (I did have Independence Day off, but that wasn’t really by choice.) It turned out to be a good decision, as I took the morning to do a few errands before taking it easy for the rest of the day. I got my car’s air conditioning serviced so it’s functional now (it blows *cold* air rather than warm, stale air) then went grocery shopping. I made myself lunch, watched an ep of Mythbusters then took a nap until the afternoon sun made it too warm to be comfortable. I got up groggily, watched an indie movie Jules recommended called Me, You, and Everyone We Know. An interesting study of human interaction in the modern world. The rest of the evening consisted of me paying my rent, getting my mail (my roleplaying dice finally arrived!), cooking dinner (salmon and rice), watching another ep of Mythbusters and two of The Thin Blue Line and sewing a few more support panels for my D20. I pinned the finished panels together to get a better idea of the final size, and dear god it’s huge! :D It’ll be hilarously large, which is awesome.
I hope the nap this afternoon doesn’t make tonight a repeat of last night. At least my digestive system is settled down now, which helps. Off to bed soon, then back to work again tomorrow.
