When I walked in I was the only one in the place but I noticed they had my
favourite German beer on tap, Paulaner. I had drank many of a liter of these during my stay
in Germany at the time of the 2006 World Cup and therefore became very accustomed to the
yeasty Hefe-Veizen. Keith was the bartender at the time and we talked about John who
would soon be arriving to start his set. I had one Paulaner but it was just not enough
so a second and third arrived just in time as the place soon filled up. John walked in
and he seemed to know everyone either by name or face. As he made his way around the room
slowly taking his time toward the little platformed stage, he hugged and had small talk
with nearly everyone. As he tuned up more and more people flocked in. He started into his
set with an Irish sounding song . Before the second verse someone in
the crowd had bought John a shot of tequila. Then the second song started with another
shot from a different audience member. Then more and more as the night wore on. He begged for the audience to throw song after song at him and played nearly every request. Lilly
and her roomates eventually showed up but wanted to go to another show, I obliged but was
quickly left behind with everything in hand. I'm not too sure why they were in such a rush.
When we got to The Craggy Range, a place I have had the fortune to play before. I was
innodated with the loud obnoxious one lick riff raff of sad eyed hispter rock, I just had
to laugh and grab a beer. Lilly and I talked for a bit. It turns out she is an aspiring
snowboarder headed to Utah for a competition soon. She works the whole summer at a resort
and saves her money so she can take every winter off to snowboard. Not a bad gig at all.
The opener finished up as I took that last sip of guinness. It took them nearly half an hour
to tune and get set up. They kept mentioning how this was there first show in a long time
together, and well it showed. It sounded as if the opener had just taken a set break
during which time they drank a whole bottle of whiskey then turned up their amps to
compensate for their inequities. The bass player was phenomenally on point but drowned
out the drum which happened to be a good thing. Except for the bass player the rest of
them should've just stayed in their garage tonight. Song after song was littered with
the same themes same rhythms just re-affirming to me the conformities of the evening.
To their credit they sure knew how to pack a room with enegetic hipster drunks emptying their
wallets two and three fold. Most everyone was talking louder and louder they soon drowned
out the noise stuttering out from the corner boys. I had to get out of there. It was defeaning.
I grabbed my stuff and looked for Lilly. She was up front and center bobbin' her headed
right along with the rest. This was not the place to be, for me. I let one of her roomates know
I was headed back to Cooper's and to hit me up when they were headed out. Earlier in the evening she offered up her couch and since she was the only one I knew in town that was around tonight she was my only option. When I got back to Cooper's, Keith recognized me and bought me a Paulaner to ease my woes. John by now was being accopanied by a friend for the rest of the night. I did not catch his name but he was a good songwriter playing most of his own stuff with John backing up on banjo and electric guitar from time to time. They finished up their set and
John approached me thanking me for coming back. "You must be that guy with the guitar case."
"How'd you know?" "We smell our own." I asked him politely if I could play a song for him.
He obliged and we jammed out on some songs until Keith gave us the look. John and I traded
information. "Whenever you come back up to Whitefish, let me know." "For sure." I responded
and sat waiting for Lilly to get back in touch. After some time I recieved a message from her
saying they were headed home. I had been given no address and assumed I must inquire about
the couch put up for offer. I heard nothing back. I finished my beer and went wandering the
streets of Whitefish to find a place to settle for the evening. I passed by several bars with
mocking patrons. I must have been quite the sight. I kept warm from all the beer and figured
the best spot for me to post up would be the Train Depot since that was where the bus would
be picking me up in the morning. As the snow fell more and more I pondered my fate. Well
what else was there for me to do.
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