November 1 2006: Adrian Orange and the Child Slave Rebellion, Lake – 37 Fair Street (Basement of), Northampton MA

What with both much beer having been consumed and little sleep having been experienced the night prior, I found myself tired and getting ready for bed at 1030pm. Oral hygiene was attended to, pants were taken off, a Damien Jurado CD was set in motion and emitting nighttime-type songs at a low decibel level, and then at the last minute before switching off the light I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check the calendar just to make sure I didn’t need to be up early for anything. So I checked the calendar and saw the word “Thanksgiving” written in really big letters inside the “Nov. 1” box and suddenly became acutely aware that I had totally forgotten about the Thanksgiving show. Son of a bitch! So I called the number on the flier I had laying on my desk and the guy who answered said that Adrian hadn’t gone on yet but that I’d better get my ass into proverbial gear should I be really truly interested in seeing him play. So I put my pants back on and got into the car and went to the show.

Caught the last few tunes from Lake, who are from Olympia, and who look like people from Olympia. You know the type. And they were great! I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to hear their entire set, but what can you do. As things stood, I was actively counting my blessings at not having missed the gig entirely.

And soon Adrian, backed by the members of Lake, playing collectively under the title Adrian Orange and the Child Slave Rebellion, got on stage (by which I refer to the corner of the basement of this house) and played some fantastic dancy pop tunes. The rhythm section (usually including at least somebody on shaker or that thing that looks like a hamburger on a stick with metal beads around the circumference of the hamburger part that you slide around to make noise, the name of which is eluding me at present, in addition to the more traditional rhythm instruments of drums and bass) was spot on, ample use was made of trombone and coronet, and the tunes were almost describable as having a reggae/dub kind of feel. Very dancy. But at the same time clearly of the Portland pop-being-played-in-people’s-basements school. But very dancy. I danced, anyway. So did this one other guy. It was a good fuckin time.