The Yama Uba show at Eli’s Mile High Club (Oakland, CA) was supposed to start at 7pm. I got there 15 min late, but Akiko was just coming out of the venue to get some more stuff from their car, and they assured me nothing had started yet. After entering the venue, I went to the back outdoor area and surveyed the scene, but didn’t recognize anyone. I’ve gone to Eli’s many times for music shows, but I think the bar has bonafide “regulars” who come here all the time. At Oakland DIY venue shows, I expect to recognize most of the people there, but at bar shows it’s different and the cultural vibe is less certain for me.

I made my way back into the inside bar/venue room, and got a Coke. Akiko (L) and Winter (R) were seated next to me, and engaged me in conversation.

We went outside to one of the covered tables, where Akiko’s friends Jenna and Mike joined us.

Me with Jenna and Mike. Jenna used to live in Seattle, and Mike is a mechanical engineer.

Yama Uba performing. The band is Akiko on vox/bass, and Winter on vox/guitar, and the rest of the sounds were coming out of their laptop. It was a big and exciting wall of sound.

This is Akiko’s domestic partner Mike. Mike runs Ratskin Records, which is a very prolific and high profile experimental electronic music record label which notably has mostly QTPOC artists on its roster. I am extremely impressed with how functional that label is.

While I was hanging out with Mike and Akiko, Brontez called out to me, and I ran up to him and hugged him.

Brontez came to the show with his cousin Stephanie, who is visiting from NYC and is a house music producer.

Akiko runs Psychic Eye Records, which is a label devoted to “dark” music (such as darkwave and deathrock). They recently came out with two new projects, the first being the new Yama Uba ‘Laura’ 7″ record, and the second being a new large compilation of tracks from deathrock bands, called ‘Altar of Shadows’.

At the show I celebrated Akiko and Mike’s relationship, as monogamous romance seems to be unusual these days. I truly understand how hard it is to find a compatible monogamous partner (and I’m searching for one myself), but a woman I am friends with who is also actively trying to find a monogamous partner told me recently “the (straight) men who say they’re ‘ethically non-monogamous’ actually aren’t, they’re just ‘non-committal'”.

Mike and Akiko are both modest people, but with both of their constant creativity and hard work in the scene, I kind of see them as superheroes.