Downtown Anacortes

Poster for Krist Novoselic reading

1st show I attended

This guy sort of reminded me of Heather Freinkel. He was an Anacortes high school student and really funny.

This band was called 'Squid vs. Shark'. They were local high school students except for the drummer/ keyboardist who was 11 years old.

This woman worked at The Business and was very sympathetic of my need to use the bathroom.

The Business' record collection with Calvin Johnson sifting through stuff in the back.

This was the second show I attended, at the American Croatian Hall. At the merch table are Woelv, Khaela, and Phil, among others.

The girl at the microphone was from Walla Walla and said how she felt bad since she had all these goats back home she had to take care of and was sad to leave them.

I met these guys the second night. They were Mormons from a suburb of SLC, Utah, fresh out of high school. I've personally found the history behind the LDS religion a little kooky but these guys were amazing. Seated are Mike, Eric, and Parker. Mike was sort of the leader of the group. He was super stoic and really believed in the redemptive power of the Mormon faith. I think he will be an amazing leader when he grows up. He was really lucid in his speech, and was just really intense. I can't believe they aren't even allowed to drink coffee. Eric was really shy and barely said a word. Parker on the right was sort of drifting from the religion. He had drank coffee, etc., and was obviously creative, hoping to attend Evergreen College after his mission.

This guy and his crew were from Eugene, OR, and had just graduated high school. His parents were both half English and he was an Anglophile.

Woelv, with Phil on drums for some songs.

More musicians joined at the end.

Phil sure is comfortable behind a drum set.

Genvieve sang in French. For her last song she had subtitles.

Al Larsen was amazing! The highlight of the whole festival in my opinion. He gave this one speech about 20-something guys 'young pups' coming up to him asking him about romance advice. He talked about presenting yourself as the person you would be in an ideal relationship and not the depressed sap that you are now.

A girl was selling cool 'socktopus'' she had made. I don't know what Rick Swan would've sold if he was there.

Mount Eerie.

Karl with his daughter. Karl could've been in the cast for 'Braveheart' except that he's funnier.

Those Mormons and that funny guy.

Al.

Your Heart Breaks.

One of the things that really surprised me about this festival, besides how kind everyone was, was how many young children were present. That's surprised me about the scene in Olympia too. I guess people have children at a certain age. Crazy!

Krist Novoselic's fashion choices stood out in this crowd. It was weird cause he said he wasn't trying to get elected for anything.

Khaela blew me away by asking me to join her and her friends for lunch. I thought I had long since weirded her out beyond repair.

These guys presented the completely unfolded poster contained within Phil's new record, of which I bought three copies.

This kid was the ringleader of his group. They had a club called the 'Billy Bob' club and were writing 'Billy Bob' on the arm of anyone who enlisted. I decided to pass.

Karl Blau, playing with Dave Matthies and Nate Ashley.

Merch table.

The Blow. I'm kind of not into this new 'Postal Service' style of electro-indie as I find it "cute", but Khaela is one of the strongest performers I know.

Dance party at end of set.

There was a car show on the last day.

© Nicholas Taplin 2005