hello olympia
i lived in olympia for 21 years. i did a lot of stuff and knew a lot of people. i never did answer peter david connelly's question about the weirdest thing i ever saw in olympia, but maybe it was the party where the caddy shack was leveled to the ground while fitz of depression played in the kitchen until it was too dangerous to continue.
(i moved to new york and work at a record label called nonesuch now. we work with people like steve reich, john adams, stephen sondheim, laurie anderson, randy newman, joni mitchell, wilco and scritti politti)
other things i remember and cherish off the top of my head:
being registered to vote by ann sunrise
pouring a whole big gulp of mountain dew in aaron "spook and the zombies" stauffer's lap after he accused me of only being penpals with tobi because i "wanted to get in her pants"
getting a whole pitcher of water poured over my head in the middle of the smithfield after laughing at crazy arthur's crazy outfit.
making up this joke: "why did the chicken cross the road?" "i don't know, why?" "it didn't, stan lied."
drinking a 12 pack of mountain dew DURING my band's 40 minute set at k dorm on my 21st birthday, opening for nirvana
the two different bent over little old men who always seemed to be crossing a street somewhere downtown every time you went out
the loud tai chi guy outside the back door of the red house
the headcoats' outrageous behavior in the downtown bars of downtown olympia during IPU
buzz melvin knocking out the lightbulbs and locking everybody downstairs with the keg in the dark at various parties
melvins live shows from when i started seeing them in 1984 til they moved to san francisco in 1988 or so were without question the greatest body of work in any art medium i have ever encountered in my life. seeing those shows alone has made this life of mine worth living.
ditto for mecca normal.
dangermouse sychronized jumping in the air, etc
heliotroupe in the meadow at tesc graduation parties
dylan carlson pushing everything he owned out his second story window after "having a battle with time"
the go team and oklahoma scramble
piles of people at dance parties and rock shows rolling on the floor with jim may in the middle of it yelling "i broke my leg, i broke my leg"
the legendary last giant henry show
"girl night" at the IPU
supertanker duck duck goose
50 girls for 50 states
cake walks in sylvester park
roger miller (mission of burma) playing king of the road on prepared piano at the smithfield
harvey danger and fuck playing arrowspace to an audience of 3 people, just months before "flagpole sitta"
seeing and knowing: beat happening, unwound, bikini kill, mecca normal, melvins, nirvana, bratmobile.
damon houk falling drunkenly out of a car, immediately interjecting himself between two guys about to fight over kathleen hanna by sticking out his hand and saying
"pleased to meet you - i'm damon houk of the illustrious boston houks"
tinuviel and tinuviels basement scene
"moon ra"
"jim morrison"
the shows at the uncola that included discussions about race class and gender between bands
krs first record release party at the phoenix house
helmet painting party at the phoenix house
flyer making party for the first show i ever put on, in lois's apartment in the martin.
lady fest
homo a go go
jigsaw zine
taking acid in class at evergreen while watching the three penny opera on film - freaking out and leaving class, walking out into the newfalling snow, and passing out facefirst in the snow.
donut nation
the lineup of witchypoo that had 3 drummers and played the song "blood on the snare - theme to violent revolution"
mike kunka drunk at KRS parties
snowball fight with cops outside capital theater after the faux-roots show
the first time i ever visited olympia - missed last bus to seattle, spent all night on capital campus with my date, which led to my first kiss
2nd time i ever visited olympia - got pulled into women's bathroom at the beat happening show by "bony toni" and drank alcohol for the first time - woke up in tacoma with no idea how i got there
3rd time i visited olympia - showed up at donna's house to move in, nobody there knows me or has ever heard of me, donna has moved out but they say "sure you can move in, why not"
mary lou lord busking at IPU and lakefair
sleater kinney all stars playing dance song 97 live
c-average playing live to nosferatu
cannanes in my backyard
blasting "come on feel the noise" at punker-than-thou phlegm house parties
walking into king solomon's reef to find about 10 people i know engaged in drunken make-out orgy with blase bartender witness.
driving way too fast on french loop road.
doris
the pet parade
the procession of the species
all-freaking-night
fringe festival in general
"industrial nirvana"
ian mckinnon
tam and tracy
bob whitaker whitticisms such as "watch out for the battlecows"
brandtmobile
crazy dentist landlord who paints his houses black?
the young pioneers
the frumpies
mark hosler solo show at capital theater with "i want some meat" mantra and pictures of steaks - unintentionally hilarious
thanksgivings at barbs soul cuisine
live band street karaoke
artswalk
my band lush playing on the steps of the capital
lucky 7 coffee house
capital theater mezzanine coffee house
eights and aces playing at capital lake park with screaming trees and girltrouble
fyp playing at a 24 hour laundrymat after their show got cancelled or shut down
the witchypoo show at the capital theater backstage that was a talk show format
the witchypoo show at the surf club where we sang 100 bottles of beer on the wall and the bear went over the mountain for an hour
the retirement band finally playing after all those years of it being threatened, it really happened
replikants playing for what was it - 24 hours? - in a storefront window
my 33 and a third birthday party
the impromptu andy warhol memorial party the day he died
there's lots more i'm not listing or am forgetting
apologies to anybody who remembers anything differently than me.
did you know that actress from hal hartley movies who came to the film festival one year got killed by an immigrant worker was working downstairs from her - he was afraid she was going to expose him as illegal when she complained about the noise
anyways, i loved what oly gave me, and i loved what i was able to give it, but by the time i left i felt pretty irrelevent and out of things to contribute. the beginning of the end for me was when i put on shows every week for a while and tons of drunk kids would come to the door trying to get in claiming that $5 was just too much (how'd you pay for the alcohol asshole?) i lost my patience for the kind of shifty, drifting, slacker town that olympia is, even though that is part of what makes it great, and even though it made me what i am today
time to move on. i really don't want to live there forever like calvin or whatever. 21 years was enough. but unlike a lot of people who leave oly, i didn't leave just to start dissing it. it really is still the best rock and roll place on earth. i just need to change it up in my lifetime and not do the same thing the same way from the same town forever, in order to stay engaged and passionate about life and music.
i still believe that rock and roll can change the world. i still believe that art especially music, is magic, the only real magic we have.
anyways, i'm glad oly is still rad, and i just wanted to say goodbye. i am enjoying my new job immensely (i met david byrne the other day in my office, he was wearing yellow from top to bottom, it reminded me of mcloud). the noodles are really good in this city.
give me a shout if you happen to visit new york
your fan,
slim
p.s. to chime in on a couple recent topics - the food in olympia is terrible. and jeff kingsbury used to be the landlord for kill rock stars. he is a cheapskate and a liar.
