Summer Solstice 2007

Well, not the solstice proper, but the evening of the Fremont Solstice Parade to be sure.



Rain on and off... No word from MC Foss... People calling my phone asking what's going on, and me not answer... Closing on midnight...

Finally Foss checks in. Yes, on his walk from Ballard to Fremont he did encounter some drizzling rain, and no he has not yet been able to raise certain principle characters on the telephone, but we can play under this overhang provided we bring a million feet of extension cable and...

Alright, I'm there. Call Ian. Call Muscles. Call Danny (but she doesn't answer). Draft erstwhile Tom to help lug erstwhile bass rig to erstwhile pickup truck. Swing by frame store for PA head and a million feet of extension cable. Make Fremont.

The now-requisite Snoose Prelude of Cadet N8 playing as loud as possible on a drum kit somewhere, well, that's in full swing as I'm pulling up and the security people are looking nervous but Foss and Peter Beavis are talking them down and I can't tell if it helps or hurts to have another freak park and start hauling gear, especially since without electricity I can't join in. Chef Joe and some friends appear and one of them spells N8 - he sounds good and I want to play, but no outlet. Eventually Snoose Admiral Faulhaber makes the drum kit (which is his) ring not out for a time til I get plugged in and Snoose Commander John Leighton Beezer arrives with guitar and rig and Lo! There is music!

We are on the opposite side of the street from usual, in the past we have been tucked into a crevice between two awnings (subtle) and directed our amps more-or-less into the side of the building in front of which we are now playing - broadcasting the sounds rather up the hillside and into Fremont proper. Whee!

The jams are good, the sky is clear, I have a fish I like to hold... Wait... That's the library talking!

It's been slow on the Snoose scene since we quit the House of Chai, and although I've played with Evan a fair bit I hadn't seen JLB or Michael F in weeks. It sounded really good... And then Snoose Captain Gerry Amandes checked in with a guitar rig and something to put Foss through and we had vocals! Foss and Cadet Ian traded off, and then I took over drums until some random rude punk brit chased me off, but he sucked and left pretty quick (after all that) to be replaced eventually by a Columbia City veteran whose name I missed - he was terrific! I was on guitar by then, but I switched to bass when Beezer (showing more sense than anyone in sight) decided he didn't want to play an electric instrument in the rain.

N8 took the drums again, we lay down some slick and amorphous grooves and the cops came by (2 cars worth) to tell us to chill it out. Foss talked them down and they left, but they were back in fifteen minutes (3 cars this time, 4 by the time I left) around 3:30am. "It's our 31st noise complaint," Foss explained. "I told them to give us one more and they did and this is it. OK?"

And with a boom, N8 and I managed (miraculously) to stop at once on the beat.

That was Saturday/Sunday. Today is Monday. I slept 12 hours last night... Message from Foss this morning that came in while I was out: "Best... Snoose... EVER!"