Day 3: Portland pt. 2
Welcome
Yesterday we did some recreation and played our second Portland show.
It was another stunner of a morning in Portland. Our Le Mirage XL II was sparkling in the late winter sunlight as we emerged into a very crisp outside temperature. We had a breakfast date with a friend so we headed to Cafe Olli, just a few blocks from where the bus was parked. It was a very Portland menu and I ordered the most Portland thing on it, savoury porridge with pickled kale, pickled carrots, pickled beetroot, and a poached egg.
It was the perfect weather for jogging so I took the opportunity to run to a bouldering gym which was on the other side of the Willamette River. My route took me across Steel Bridge, one of my favourite steel bridges and then along a gorgeous riverside route. On arrival I met up with Liz and Tristan and we had a fine afternoon of climbing interspersed with the many phone interviews Liz had to conduct.
I did a lot of the climbs where you have to grab the hand hold with a pincer grip. I think this is called a pinch. By the end of the session I had used up a good amount of my grip strength and later on I found out that it makes pressing down the strings on a bass very difficult.
We caught an uber back and this was the first uber I have been in that had back-seat trivia.
It was a great second night at Wonder Ballroom. Many more names were suggested for our new inflatable fish and the current front-runner is Bird. Bird rises from the stage as we begin our first song and Jon timed this action to perfection last night as you will enjoy in the below video.
The first pack-out was a little slow but it was of a very high quality. Gabe had his first shot at creating a perfect flat pack in the trailer - where everything is packed as close to the floor as possible and you end up with a level surface so nothing rolls around. Care is also taken to concentrate the weight above the axle so as not to upset the trailer’s balance. For services to packing Gabe is awarded 900 boints.
Mia is a real asset. Alongside her role as merch manager she is our tour photographer and the last couple of nights she took some splendid shots of the band. I’m going to try out squarespace’s gallery feature to display some of these photos. I’m not sure if it’s a good feature and I’d love to hear your feedback.
