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I was home for a short, sweet 5 days and then it was up to Seattle for a single show. Back to living out of a bag, wandering the streets for a decent cup of coffee, and writing essential information on myself with a marker, you know, the usual.

The band was closing the Bumbershoot festival. An annual affair at the base of the space needle in Seattle that has been going on for thirty years or so. It was the big hometown blow out for those dudes, and, while it was a bit of a wedge in the middle of my month off, it was a good time. I spent most of my first night in town tapping away at a lighting desk. When I made it back to the hotel I collapsed in a pile, fully dressed and woke up late the next morning having no idea where I was.















Apparently I had awoken in 1993 as the festival was good and going with the likes of The Offspring, following Stone Temple Pilots, following Beck, following Nada Surf, etc. It was a veritable cornucopia of early 90's auditory abuse.

Nothing makes 15,000 people shit themselves faster than a bunch of fireworks. Towards the end of the set we lit off a spark curtain and, apparently someone fainted from excitement in the front row. Maybe they just thought it was a sure sign of the apocalypse. Either that or the last thing you expect at the climax of an indie pop show is something bursting into flames. 

I was back home the next day and began a 24 hour rash of home improvements that culminated in the purchase of an antler candle holder. And now I'm spent.

Friday was Nine Inch Nails in Oakland.















The show looked incredible.















Like really, really incredible. It was at the local Oakland enormo-dome, and if I'm going to a show that I'm not being paid for these days then I prefer to drive there, wander in 10 mins before the band goes onstage, and leave before the encore to beat the traffic home. It was a perfectly ideal concert-going experience (since that's exactly what it was, no social calls, no work). I am basically an old man who complains about loud noises and the rising cost of camomile tea at the grocery store. That said, go see Nine Inch Nails.















I am now fulling embracing my time off by rediscovering my inner sloth-like, lethargic self. I'm thinking of taking mushrooms and going hunting. Something to spice up the afternoon.