December 29 2006: Crosstide, Tea for Julie, Scissors for Lefty - Doug Fir, Portland OR

This was just kind of a lot of fun. Didn't see much music, but I did catch about half of Crosstide's set and spent most of my time being amazed at how many people were there and at how excited they all were. I've seen Sleater-Kinney and the Mountain Goats play at the Doug Fir and I don't think those groups' crowds were any more in number than the crowd tonight. People were jumping up and down, yelling at the stage, drinking beers, everything. Crazy. Especially when they went into "Talk Radio."

But the real good times were being had upstairs, where I ran into all sorts of people I was happy to see (Sean, Adam, Sairi, Katie, Harmony, Stave, Sage, Erin, Joel, Bryan, Jared, Graeme, and Old Friend Carrie whom I hadn't seen in at least three years) and pretty much nobody I wasn't excited about. Quality beverages were consumed and everyone was crowded around a little fire they had going and I was really glad to be there.