My daughter sings and other things.

Stayed in Seaside for a week enjoying the cool weather but my daughters plans had changed as her and her band had been invited to play at a blues bar up in Portland, Duff’s Garage. So, traveled back to PDX and parked at my regular RV park on Sandy Blvd (see last post). Called up Margie and talked her into coming along and driving me there since I don’t have a car. Some of Shelly’s high school friends were there as well. It’s a fairly nice bar in an old industrial area on the East side of Portland and from the looks of the area if we hadn’t arrived early parking would have been a little difficult…as it was, we parked just a few feet from the front door. Nice.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the evening.

The way it works is Mush (aka Michelle) sits on the sidelines as the band, The Coyote Kings, play several cover songs and a couple of their originals, then they call her up on stage.

My friend Margie had never heard her sing and we’re sitting there listening to the band and when Mush came up and started singing, she was blown away. Mush often gets that kind of reaction. Didn’t take long for a few people to start wandering up to the dance floor to dance. Then you might notice lots of people text-ing and soon after that the place is packed. Not an empty seat or table. Then the dance floor gets packed and the end of each song is heralded with raucous applause. That is the power of Mush’s voice. Have seen it happen many, many times.

Anyway, we listen to the set, and when it was over, wandered out to the patio to cool off since it’d gotten pretty crowded in the bar. The next band started up a while later and didn’t sound very good so we stayed out on the patio. They’re named the Katie Rose Trio and I’d read some about them before this gig and expected great things from them, especially from Katie, who seemed to get raves in all the reviews I’d read. We couldn’t see the stage from the patio and thought we’d talk until the band wow’ed us into coming back into the bar. BUT, Katie didn’t sound very good. Tentative, hesitant, weak vocals. So, we stayed out on the patio. Both Margie and I commented on how poor the ‘Headliner’ band was. She sang 3 songs, it was quiet for a few minutes, then all of the sudden, on the fourth song, the vocals suddenly got much better. Guess she was just having some stage fright or something. So, we go back into the bar to enjoy the music. I look around for Mush but can’t find her anywhere. I spot one of the members of her band in the back and go ask him if he’s seen her. He points at the stage, I look over at the band and discover that Mush has taken over for the Trio. Hah! Turned out that Katie Rose’s vocal cords were all seized up. Mush told me later what it was but I am not a performer so I don’t recall. But it’s something singers can get if they haven’t rested their voice appropriately or stressed it recently. Weakens the voice and all. Mush tells Katie that it can take weeks to recover. They’re taking esoterically, and I just listen, not understanding much about it. Anyway, after that surprise, we very much enjoyed Mush during the second set. Margie must have told me 5 times how surprised she was that my daughter was that accomplished as a performer and such a great singer. Although she knew Mush was in a band, she’d never seen her perform. I always get a kick out of reactions of my friends the first time they hear her sing.

After her second set, we talked awhile and visited some with Mush’s school friends.

They seemed to really be enjoying the reunion so we excused ourselves and headed home. Great night.

The next day: My friends Jackie and Jeff invited me over for dinner and I discovered they were planning and pretty much all set to remodel their kitchen. Naturally I immediately volunteer to help. I love remodeling.

They’d already done quite a bit of work on plans for the kitchen so they had drawings, budget, arranged for time off work, etc.

J&J had been in the house for a couple years and were pretty sick of the poor arrangement of the old kitchen so they were definitely looking forward to the remodel. They had a pretty good handle on what they wanted to do…but you know how these things go, there’s always something you’re not prepared for.

They’d planned on taking time off their jobs so they could spend the whole week on the remodeling and their friend Bob was going to be helping too. With all those hands, it wouldn’t take to long to get fired up and rolling on the project.

While we were talking, I let them know that Home Depot will give me a 10% Veterans discount so they should give me a call before they buy the stuff they need so we can use it. (Sadly, a few weeks later when Jackie called to ask when I would be back, I’d forgotten about that so was kind of iffy about my return schedule. She was too polite and didn’t mention it, so when they bought their kitchen cabinets, I wasn’t there to get them the discount. Sorry, Jackie! When I did show up and we’d go shopping we were able to get it, so, it helped a little. Just not for the major purchase.)

A week later, I headed to Ilwaco, Washington and the Ilwaco Blues Festival Mush and the Coyote Kings were playing at. I’ve never been to Ilwaco before but it was a short hop from Troutdale and didn’t take long. Just a day trip. One thing you get to do on the route I took is cross three bridges. The first is from Oregon to Washington on the I-205, the 2nd is from Longview, WA back over to Oregon, and then the bridge from Astoria to Washington on the 101. Pretty neat. My favorite is the Astoria bridge. The thing is really high starting on the Oregon side and also pretty long.

Back on the Oregon side, it’s about an hour or so to Astoria, and most of the trip is in view of the mighty Columbia. The day started out bright and sunny, in fact it was getting hot in Portland, but as I approached the coast, it became overcast and coolish. Just what I was looking for, sort of.

This is not really downtown Astoria, it’s more of the dockside. Downtown is off to the left and up the hill. Lot’s of houses just hanging on the hills here. Steep roads. I shudder to think what will happen here when that inevitable massive earthquake happens someday.

This is the bridge used in that movie Short Circuit with Ally Sheedy. You can see from the shrouds that they are trying to paint. What with the weird weather you get here, I feel for the people trying to get it done before the really bad weather starts up in the fall. On this day the wind was pretty stiff and constant. Coming in from the Pacific. Lots of moisture in the air. This shot was taken mid-August and you can see that the weather is socked in and looks more like October. It wasn’t too cold but it was cool. And with occasional showers the next few days.

Off in the distance is the portion of the bridge that’s just over sea level. This is where storms can make it difficult for large vehicles like mine. Lucky it was just ‘mild’ weather today.

Cross the bridge and you’re in Washington. I’ll be taking a left towards Ilwaco.

What with the drops of rain on the window and the wind, I was feeling a little uneasy about staying in Ilwaco for several days, but, I did want to enjoy a Blues Festival featuring my daughter. So, on I pressed and settled into a RV spot at Beacon Charters RV Park. I don’t make reservations but I had called ahead to make sure they had some spots open. The great thing about the park is that it’s within walking distance of the venue. The bad part is that it’s a really old park with ancient amenities. But, everything worked, like the electric, water, and cable, but I don’t recall there being any WiFi. Nor does their web site list it. I was only going to be here for the weekend so I could live without it for a few days. A couple hours after I settled in, Mush called and came over to visit. It was Friday afternoon and the Festival was opening that night, so I followed her over and said hello to the band. On the way, I got this shot of the harbor. Ilwaco is famous for the salmon fishing you can do from here. By hiring a boat. They head out into one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.

It was still early afternoon, so the band, Mush and I hung out and enjoyed the flavor of the Blues Festival setup. They wouldn’t be playing for several hours.

I don’t remember this guy’s name, but he’s often played with the band. Plays brass or drums or something.

This festival has been going on for a few years and Mush and the Coyote Kings played here before. She tells me that it’s getting bigger every year. Hope it keeps going because I’d like to come back. Hopefully, when the weather is better. Went from short sleeves and short pants to a jacket and long pants in one day by coming here.

They started playing around dusk and did their normal schtick of the band doing 2-3 songs without Mush while she and I enjoyed a drinky waiting. She tells me that the band leader just gives her a high sign when he’s about to introduce her so she can wander up to the stage. Here they are performing just before they called her up. Oh, there’s that guy. Guess he plays guitar.

It’s also a seafood festival but I wasn’t in the mood for seafood so I’d eaten at home already. Plus, at the time, I was trying to conserve money after that disaster that cost me over $6,000 a few months before so I can’t tell you how good or if the food was any good. It sure smelled good though. And there were long lines at several of the stalls.

You can see why the Coyote Kings hire Mush because the applause was courteous before she took the stage and over time became loud and riotous as she sang. Pretty soon there were many people dancing and having a great time.

Meanwhile, I was standing at a table in the back of the tent and mentioned to the swirling crowd that that was my daughter. Soon, I got free drinks. Not bad being the father of the Queen of Blues.

After she started singing, the crowd drifted back into the tent and filled up all these seats. When her set was finished, she, and the band, got a standing ovation. The next act played a few songs but something had happened after Mush left…it wasn’t as energized as when she was singing. So, they invited her to come up on stage again and rip a few tunes. Some of the Coyote Kings joined in too. Not bad.

I was still working the crowd and got another free beer or two so I was enjoying the whole thing. Late into the evening, I got this shot just before she got another standing ovation.

Quite the performer. After she finally left the stage, she and I wander around talking with the inevitable interruptions from fans. This is what celebrity is like I guess. Much later, we bumped into a group of people who wanted to talk to her and one of the guys asked me about myself. I mentioned I was a full time RV’er with a diesel RV. Conversation drifted into my propane injection system and the guy was really interested. Gave him some intelligent answers and all and he invited me to his yacht to discuss it further after which Mush excused herself as she was pretty worn out after all that singing. I was thinking of a 40′ footer or something similar as the guy was in his 30’s. Turned out it was a 75′ yacht. That he’d put over $1,000,000 into restoring. Two diesel engines. Took a tour of the boat and visited the bridge and engine rooms. Did my best to convince him I knew what I was talking about (I do, I’ve installed my own designed system in my RV and it works great) and got an invite to send him a quote for his yacht. Took me three days to come up with what I thought was a great quote and emailed it off. Never heard back. Damn.

Anyway, that’s enough for now. Talk to y’all later.