Topher Cyll

I went to see Menomena play at the Doug Fir last night. Jeremy and I bought our tickets, but decided to grab some beer first. We wandered down to check out Holocene, but turned around when we found out they had a cover.

This is about when we attacked by the dog. As we walked by the truck, I looked down and did the "Oh crap, there's something there!"-jump-and-startle. By the time I landed I was already doing the "Oh my god, he's lunging at me!"-throw-myself-backwards. You could see it was part pitbull, and it had definitely been raised mean.

Jeremy managed to get out of the thing's way. I was mostly in the bushes, directing wild kicks at its head, desperately wishing I'd worn my Docs. Thankfully, while it lunged a couple of times, it never got close to me, and neither of us connected.

When it backed off, I sprinted over to Jeremy. We're standing there a block away, looking back stunned, when a head pops out of the back of the truck.

"What the hell's going on out there?"

"Your dog just f---ing attacked us!"

"That's what you get for walking at night!"

Man, what an evening. I've had people new to Portland ask me what parts of town to avoid. I always mention Near East Portland along with the few other bad spots, but from now on, I'll be taking my own advice.

Anyways, Jeremey and wandered over to "My Father's Place," ordered some late evening breakfast food and a pitcher to steady our nerves.

In the all the excitement, we missed the opening bands. I'd like to hear Boy Eats Drum Machine someday, because I like the name, but they open a lot, so it should be no problem.

I liked the show Menomena played, and they had a pretty novel sound. The three band members took turns doing vocals. And as Jeremy said "No one really dominated, although you could tell the bass player would have liked to." Which is too bad, because I thought the stuff featuring the keyboard player/guitarist or the drummer was more compelling. Anyways, fun show.

posted on: 08/27/2006 | path: /life