Sneakin' Out into Obscurity

Last night I went to see Sneakin' Out at the Dirty Duck in downtown Portland. As always, they were brilliant. They leave tomorrow on a short tour opening for Pink Martini, so I told my friends back East to try and see them if possible. I have a feeling that none of them will, but at least I tried.

Before I get back to S.O., I have something to get off my chest. When I say "my friends back east," what I mean is an online posting board that we all belong to. Weird thing is, every time I post something - whether it's D&D related or not - I see that very few people respond and/or even look at what I write. When someone else posts, I swear that there are always more 'views' and replies. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I get the feeling that some people see my name attached to a post and then don't bother to read it. I feel - upset is too strong a word - put off by my friends' lack of attention. Poor me.

ANYWAY, Sneakin' Out is a three-piece instrumental group from Portland, and they are absolutely amazing at what they do. With just a mandolin, acoustic bass guitar, and various percussion instruments (no drum kit per se, but the percussionist plays bongos, xylophones, cymbals and even a typewriter), the band can recreate or interpret songs from any genre. They have two cd's of original material, but every time I see them (usually at the Duck) they play covers from groups like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Ozbourne, Deep Purple, Joe Jackson, (a disco group whose name escapes me) and many, many classical pieces - often all woven together. I often think listening to them play would make a great music trivia game: try to name all the different songs and groups that they cover. Only the best could win.

Before the show started, the mandolin player, Dave, got on the mic and asked everyone there to give a round of applause for someone sitting to his left. Everyone clapped. Then, Dave pointed to another person and asked for more clapping. We did. Pretty soon it became clear that he was going around the room and asking for applause by/for everyone. Since there weren't that many people (35?), and since he knew a lot of people there, Dave often named the person he was pointing to ("Give it up for Bob and Mark!"). When he got to me, he got stuck - didn't know my name at all. Typical. I wouldn't have been so surprised except that he and I had just had a conversation outside before the show started, and...oh yeah, we had sex!

A word about the Dirty Duck. This is a dive bar in the truest sense of the word; believe me, it lives up to its name. When I first moved to Portland almost 5 years ago, it was the home bar for the Oregon Bears. We had a couple events there each month, and the last event of the BearTown weekend was held there (which was, incidently, the first time I'd heard/seen Sneakin' Out). At one event, I looked up at the paneled column I was standing next to and saw a couple of cockroaches descending the wall towards me. Yecch. Also, the men's bathroom is notorious for its smell of urine. No matter what they tried to do (if anything), about halfway through any event the acrid smell of urine would waft up out of the urinal and into the bar. Last night when I got there, I could swear that I smelled vomit. Since no one else seemed to mind too much, I wasn't sure if it was me. Sure enough, later in the evening I smelled piss - and I was at the opposite side of the bar near an open door!

At one point, the new manager James came over to talk with another guy sitting next to me. Without a glance in my direction, James put his back to me and started chatting. I wouldn't have minded so much except that: a) I really wanted to (over)hear what he was saying but couldn't because he was facing away, and b) just the night before James personally gave an award to Partner for being such a great supporter of the community. After that, you'd think I'd earn at least a nod in my direction! I keep trying to tell Partner: without him there, I am persona non grata in this town.