Old Friend

When climate allows, we (Portlanders) are voracious backyard hanger outers. For the backyard is the province of summer.

This weekend, of a Saturday night, I wandered over to Pinski's house where our pal Seth Neefus of Red Clouds Collective fame was playing an electric guitar on a newly built deck—the smell of fresh-cut wood still everywhere. Seth and his guitar often come together as Old Friend (totally look ’em up HERE on Bandcamp). Old Friend balances a kind of whispery softness with moments of heavy reverb—it's all very much in the fashion of Jim James, I think. Just the stuff to play to a backyard full of friends sitting quietly on blankets pulling beers now and again from the 12 packs they all brought.

It was, in its way, a magical sort of night. The string of white lights twinkled. The darkness was soft and warm. The music washed out in big waves. And then ... then it started raining, and everyone ran inside.