Swimming upstream to spawn & die.

Okay, whoa, people!

First off, I will be at the Arlington Draft House this Thursday and Friday, Dec. 2nd and 3rd. If you are in the neighborhood, come down.

Now, thank you Seattle! Friday night at the Neptune Theater was awesome. I don’t know if any of you really knew this but it was my first legitimate theater gig. In my mind it was. I have played theaters before but this was the first one-night-only over 500 seat theater show for me. We sold it out. 800 people showed up and it was a blast. I want to thank Mike Drucker for doing the opening business. He was hilarious and did a great job.

I have been to Seattle many times but this was by far the rainiest. I went up for the week with my girlfriend thinking November was a great time to vacation in Seattle. I know it rains there, a lot. I adjusted to it. I thought I adjusted to it but come day 3 of nonstop cold, dark rain my head was getting a little fucked. I now understand why many people in Seattle don’t dress for the rain or use umbrellas. Two reasons. One, what’s the point. Two, denial. With the amount of rain that pours down why not just transcend the chronic dampness of street and spirit by not acknowledging it at all. Stubborn acceptance. It’s not sad to be wet. Then, on top of that denial, let's pour cups and cups of the strongest coffee in the world into that spirit until it hums and sings the rain away. The vibrations buzzing off the bodies of people in Seattle actually repel water. Genius. When the humming and singing is done, how about some fancy artisanal regional beer or ale or cider—maybe something thick and pulpy—something to take the edge off the caffeinated rain repression.

I think everyone in Seattle is swimming upstream to spawn and die on some level. You definitely need coffee for that. I love it up there. I would live there. Maybe someday I will and when I do I will have a very long beard.

Thanksgiving was nice. We did a vegetarian thing at the Café Flora and it was nice. I have a hard time not screaming at veggie restaurants but I managed. We also went to a place called Sutra and did another veg thing and it was even harder not to scream in there. The food was good but they actually ring a small gong-like bell before eating and thank the farmers and the land. It was nice and genuine but I wanted to scream a little. The food at both places was great.

Great shows this week. I talked to Penn Jillette when I was in Vegas and he was a much sweeter guy that I ever imagined. Great talk, great stories. We covered a lot of ground. On Thursday the wonderfully dark, songwriting comic Henry Phillips shares some tales and some tunes. We jam a bit. It was groovy.

Wish I was still away.


Love,
Maron