Day 9: Spokane, WA
Welcome
Yesterday we returned to Spokane for our second show of the year at the Knitting Factory.
When I emerged from my bunk and opened the sliding door to the front lounge I found that Tristan already had things underway. There was a plunger full of coffee brewing and there was a piece of toast covered with a chunky light brown substance that had to be Pics peanut butter, a breakfast lovingly prepared for me by this fine travelling companion.
We left the bus and headed west, beginning our morning run with a jog along quiet streets as we paralleled the river. Our last visit to Spokane had been on the back end of winter and it was good to see the town wearing a different season, overcast skies and berms of snow replaced by sun, sprinklers, and thirsty lawns. A winding road took us to the fringes of the town and that was where we found the Haunted Staircase, a concrete ruin nestled on a hillside and almost completely overgrown by trees and shrubs. I didn’t know anything about the haunted history of this location but thankfully some local knowledge helped out here in the form of a Google Maps Level 7 Local Guide by the name of Amber Morelli. I’ll let Amber’s words paint you a picture:
Back in the 90s I remember touring it and a few other notoriously "haunted" places in Spokane. As a teenager we all used to go out there at midnight to walk up the stairs and maybe get a glimpse of the ghost bride who was said to be seen walking down the stairs in search of her husband who was said to have slept on her grave every night before he supposed to have killed
himself over the death of his bride who died on their wedding day by falling down the "1000" steps to the horror of her waiting groom who was waiting at the bottom.
Anyway we used to go out there a lot and scare each other and do other things teenagers do 😉.
It really is a beautiful place and especially if you're a photographer you'll find some great pictures to be taken. Make sure to walk up the steps to the top. There really are not 1000 steps. I don't remember exactly how many but it's probably around 50 or so.
Happy Hunting...
We didn’t get a glimpse of the ghost bride, but we found a beautiful cemetery that was surely full of ghosts if you knew where to look. The Spokane River was looking more than presentable and we ran the riverbank trail on the way back to town, eventually passing the falls which were far more subdued at this time of the year but still spectacular.
Jonathan had received a late birthday present from Gabe in the form of a mystery guitar pedal and for a period of the afternoon our dressing room was the location for some extensive experimentation with this new device. For all the beauty of its pink paint job the manufacturer forgot to label all the knobs and Jonathan was left to figure out how to operate everything using only skill and wits.
It was a typical show day, and our workday began at 6pm when we were given the stage for soundcheck. The amps were lined up, drums were placed, and we managed to find a spot to inflate Bird, our giant Kingfish. It was a noisy old stage, we soon found out. Huge subwoofers vibrated underfoot every time someone decided to produce a low frequency sound. There are some other fun quirks at the Knitting Factory in Spokane, Washington. To get from the green room to the stage you need to ride the elevator, a vehicle so slow that it makes you reconsider the need to change your location. The elevator car has doors on both sides and sometimes a fun thing happens during the show where it turns out that concertgoers can enter the elevator from the lobby as you are attempting to ride upstairs after your set.
Eventually we learned to love the elevator, relishing the gentle ride and the extended periods we spent trapped inside, the temptations of the world gone and just our imaginations to keep us entertained. We headed downstairs for our set early to make sure there wasn’t any traffic backed up and ended up with time to take a new band photograph. Then we played our second ever show at the Knitting Factory, and this one was a far cry from the college show we had done a few months back. The room was packed, and the crowd were in as fine form as a crowd could hope to attain.
We packed down straight after coming off stage and loaded the trailer so we could head in and watch the rest of the show. Alvvays showed Spokane how a rock show should look and sound – a brilliant performance that I enjoyed from several different spots around the room.
This is what it could have looked like with more smoke and confetti.