Adventure #92: Norman, OK

“So where are you playing tomorrow night?” Laine asks after a somewhat lackluster show at the Gray Owl Coffee shop. For the record, I don't blame anyone for it being a lackluster show. It's the first day of school. It's a Monday. These things usually don't make for great shows. “Kansas City,” I tell him. “Why?” Laine tells me that there's a big house show planned for the next day that he could put me on if I wanted. To imagine this conversation best, you should also probably be aware that Laine looks almost exactly like Beck. I say almost, because it's likely that Beck has a scar or a birthmark that Laine doesn't have and maybe vice versa. I didn't check. This is Laine and Beck side by side.

The show I had booked in Kansas City is what I call a “filler show.” Where the owner of the bar says “yeah, sure you can play here. It's our slow night, so there probably wont be anyone there, but we'll give you a few beers and a place to stay.” And you say yes because booking tours is hard and sometimes an offer of a crappy show is better than no show at all, because maybe there'll be like this one dude who really likes your music and buys a ton of CDs or something. It almost never happens, but it did that one time so you keep hoping. I don't like burning bridges, and I know if I pull out of even a filler show I probably will. But it's also 11pm at this point and I haven't done anything impulsive and potentially ruinous in a solid 20 hours. Plus, the offer of a day without travel, even if it means a longer day of travel on Wednesday is too tempting to pass up. When I call the venue to ask if it's OK, they respond with new heights of apathy. Everything's fine. This is Pen Pen burning bridges.

It's the little things on tour. A day where you don't have to drive anywhere is sort of a big thing. I head downtown to a vegetarian restaurant because I can't remember the last time I ate a vegetable that wasn't grown in a lab somewhere. I take my sandwich of glory down to Lake Thunderbird and pretend for an hour to be the sort of person who has free time and knows how to relax. Also I try to write a song in 7/4 because I'd been listening to Light and Ladder all day on Monday and damn them and their catchy folk melodies in compound time signatures! This is Pen Pen writing a breakdown in 19/8 because he can (he can't).

The show that night is a thing of sheer awesomeness. I've been lucky these last few days to play so many shows where the sense of community and creative mutual respect is so thick you could cut with a knife if you wanted to. But why would you want to? That shit's amazing. A house full of people. Great performances. Laine gets up and plays a whole bunch of ridiculous indie rock covers. And I back him up on Beck's “Loser” because Laine needs to keep up appearances that he's not Beck by claiming not to know how to play the guitar part. I don't get it, but then, the witness protection system is complicated. I end up staying around until 2 talking music and Star Trek and race and class and gender politics. bell hooks is cited more than once in the evening. As is Fannon. As I get in my car, one of the guys who had been at the show wanders by. “Guess you struck out too,” he says. “What do you mean?” I ask. “I guess neither of us fell in love with that special someone tonight...” I shrug, not knowing how to tell him that I totally did fall in love tonight. Just not with an individual person. I fell in love with a community. This is Pen Pen in love.

This is a song I wrote one time. You should download it and share with your friends.