Day 7: Portland, Oregon
Waking in the Window on Division
I awoke to the sounds of the rousing drone of the early-risers. Cars hummed by and audibly it was a different place than the one, in which, I nodded off to just a few short hours ago. This was Saturday, cafe crashers were buzzing through town on their way for their morning fix of caffeine and I quickly figured I had better join them.
Carpe Delirium.
I took my aching head to Kate’s shower and took my second shower in less than 10 hours, wasteful, but necessary due to the sweat box show I played at Eugenio’s last night. It was all positive, I am not complaining, but all of that positivity soaked my body to the bone and it took another quick scrub down to once again gain some semblance of a respectable human being. I bedded down a dirty Hobo and exited the shower a fully-functioning olfactory pleasant guy from Arizona.
The Portland Morning Cafe Crowd
Matchbox Brunch
Post mechanical rain shower, I stumbled down the steps bleary eyed and on to 32ND Avenue. I slept above the Matchbox Lounge where Kate keeps an apartment, and now I needed breakfast and a Bloody Mary. Good thing The Matchbox Lounge began serving brunch. I bellied-up to the bar and settled in to where I ended up. I ordered a standard Bloody Mary and the bartender hooked it up with a veritable smorgasbord of a garnish, a breakfast in itself, but, the Bittersweet Farms Arugula and Roasted Potatoes with Gruyere Cream Sauce and a Poached Egg and Balsamic Syrup caught my Eye and I murmured, “Gimme!”
Hangover Meds
Unbeknownst to me, when you order breakfast, you get a Bloody Mary free. Fortuitous is becoming the theme for this little trip. It seems as though every decision I make is followed with good news and/or free goods and services. Gotta love Portland.
Mike the Owner
Before my entrance to this little Rock Club slash cafe, I paused for a smoke on the patio. A nice ‘everyman’ was feeding the demon as well. We shared a smoke and I asked, “Do you know when this place opens for Brunch?”
He said, “Yeah, we’re open right now.”
“Fortuitous.” I replied silently.
Turns out he’s Mike, the owner of The Matchbox Lounge and we chatted a bit.
Booked!
Over my breakfast and bloody, Mike and I realized who we both were, in a sense. He and I finally put together that I was the guy who dropped off some contact information a few days previous to garner a booking. And I realized that he was the guy that passed by the window when I was rocking Eugenio’s last night. We had an immediate mutual respect for one another as professionals. Me, impressed with his restaurateur acumen, and he, impressed with my professional musicianship.
He said, “Yeah, I’d love to have you play here. When did you want to play?”
I said, “How about tonight?”
Mike was concerned, he said, “Well I usually like to give people more time so that they can promote and get some people in here and make you more money.”
Music has never been about money for me, at least not yet. So, I defined Supernormal Records and myself to him briefly. Music is communication and I just want to communicate to the revelers at the Matchbox. It was settled with an “I’ll see ya around nine tonight.” and that was that. Saturday night in Portland, Oregon was booked.
Rock and Roll Domesticity
I spent the day doing laundry at the Hawthorne Travellers Hostel and getting a little R&R in the midst of a whirl-wind. Between loads I would hit the Internet to jot down some lyrics. I wanted to learn the song ‘Watching the Wheels’ by John Lennon. Along with ‘Fortuitous’ that was becoming another theme for the tour. I was trying to reconcile going home and the purpose for leaving such a magical place. I told you before that I fall in love with everywhere I travel, and the old adage of coming home and seeing your home with new eyes works paradoxically.
‘If you leave the place you fall in love with on your travels you see it with different eyes as well.’ I always buy my entrance and exit ticket at the same time to thwart any vortex entrapping action. Portland will welcome you with open arms that seize you in an embrace and, like any good lover, never will let you go. I’m going home but ‘Anywhere I lay my head, boy, becomes my home’
John Vecchiarelli Live at The white Eagle Saloon
I was heading home to get the full benefit of ‘watching the wheels go round and round.’ Home to sit and let the dream distill itself, and to get the business end of SuperNormal Records out of the junk-drawer.
PA Fiasco and a Camera on Lock-down
But, enough introspection. Tonight I rock The Matchbox. I arrived on Division Street around 9pm and dropped by the Matchbox to set-up. They only had an old rickety PA and no mic stand. I had everything else, but a PA. I foolishly assumed that every club in Portland would have all of the accoutrement’s of a finely formed rock show. Ass-U-Me. Such is the luck of this Hobo Traveller, Supernormal Tyler.
The true tests in art and life are what one does when they meet a brick wall. Do you admit defeat, chalk it up as a loss or do you blow the wall apart. In true SuperNormal fashion, I maintained and eased into the night, interior-busker style.
Eugenio’s was closed for some reason and my camera and a potential loaner PA was secured inside, so I relied on what I learned busking in the streets of Prague, Czech Republic. I had a few, got into my groove, and told the room who I was and filled them in on the reasons for the stripped-down delivery of tonight’s show.
The Matchbox Lounge on Division Street in Portland, OR.
Supernormal Tyler: the Acoustic Busker Show
Throughout my set, I moved around the room for acoustic effect and sat at tables with customers and made it a much more personal and intimate performance than it could have ever been with gadgetry. The mic stand is a shackle at times.
Speaking of mic stands, instead of my mic stand gimmick, where I use the stand as a guitar slide on the song ‘Arizona Born and Glory Bound’. There was an empty table so I put a chair on top of it and used the leg of the chair in lieu of the stand. Without a hitch, I put in an hour and fifteen minutes of pure SuperNormal Tyler and said my thank yous and returned to Hawthorne Boulevard a wiser man and musician.
I hit the Meridian for a night-cap and hit the sack. There was a party that I was invited to on 13th and Division, but, This whole trip has been a party so I wandered off to dreamland. Tomorrow was my last full day in Portland. I wanted to be fresh for whatever ‘Stumptown’ had in store for me
Related posts
Tags: oregon, portland, Public Transit Tour, records, supernormal, tyler
Google docs -> save as PDF. That is the great thing about online office, no format lockin.
Eugino sounds like such a cool dude, I really dig surf guitar (stuff from pulp fictiony). Sounds like a great show looking for the video soon.
Eugenio I meant…
Love the content–interesting and took me right there. Good wisdom in the statement that you can’t successfully force anything that you love. Success (as you define it) will find you. Find something you love and do it well–vs chasing the money or the fame that it may or may not bring. There is no long-lasting gratification in reaching a goal if it’s only for money. Relate it to a compulsive gambler–there’s always that “chance” that a gambler can win more (greed)–and most frequently ends up with nothing.
We’re glad to have you back Supernormal Tyler. We’re willing to share, but you must always return to us.
We can’t wait for your next tour. You should do this more often. Made us feel like we were right there with you. What are we going to look at every day together now? It was our mid-morning ritual to check out the website for new updates!