Play Quarter Notes, get US dollars, dinner, beer, and free puppet show

So, as a musician, it's pretty rare to play your instrument and get paid in US Dollars. It's even rarer to get paid in US Dollars and also get compensated for your efforts with a bottomless beer pitcher. It's exponentially rarer to get paid in US Dollars, rewarded with a bottomless beer pitcher, and, for all of those awesome quarter notes you played, get comped a dinner from a restaurant that doesn't suck. However it's really a once-in-a-career moment--even spanning several careers--when you play your instrument and are compensated in US dollars, rewarded with a bottomless beer pitcher, given a nourishing dinner for your wonderful use of quarter notes, and are given a FREE PUPPET SHOW for the duration of your performance in a public setting.


We are rich, we are lucky, we are residents of Eugene, who see stuff like this all the time--so much so, that it doesn't strike us as odd when it happens.

Note: I couldn't bring myself to ruin the beauty of this moment or to jeopardize the feeling of enchanted gratitude emanating from the musicians to the puppet operator by obnoxiously snapping a picture of high quality. For this reason, the details in the photo are blurry, so I have labeled them so you can see them clearly. I hope you enjoy this as much as the musicians most certainly did. It goes without saying that if we all had a little furry Kermit-esque muse to inspire us in our daily lives, the world would be a better place, for certain.

Dub-ya's Cameo at the Symphony

(the Eugene Symphony, loved by Eugene audience members)

I am going to do my best to avoid conveying any personal political views in the blog, and instead just tell this story as it occurred. Just to level the political playing field, here's a picture of John and me:

John and Me, jus' chillin'

Ok, back to the story. Since the orchestra's founding 44 years ago, there is a tradition that the opening concert of each season of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra commences with a performance of our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. This is never published in programs or the web site and the scene usually unfolds something like this:

1. The crowd is wildly clapping for the conductor.
2. The conductor appears and, rather than acknowledging the orchestra for a few moments of bows (as is typical), instead races toward podium and throws a cue to the percussion section while applause is still loud.
3. A snare drum roll is heard, louder than the crowd's applause.
4. The crowd silences.

5. The national anthem is heard. Some audience members stand. Some place their hand over their heart.

So, the year is 2004, and it's the first concert of the 2004-2005 ESO season, which would have put the date at mid-September. This was a year after the invasion of Iraq and about two months before the 2004 presidential election, in which John Kerry and John Edwards lost to George Bush and Dick Cheney. The national political dialogue was bouncing off the bottom of the tank to such an extent that any questioning of the Iraq war was viewed not only as unpatriotic, but as an egregious act of treason. It was also the political climate that brought us the Patriot Act, the outing of Valerie Plame, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, freedom fries, and, well, I think we all remember the rest.

Which brings us back to the concert. So, as was customary, the concert starts as described above, with a performance of the national anthem, and people are standing, some have their hands over their hearts, etc., but something made this performance unique in a way only a concert in Eugene could be unique.

In the very fresh silence after the applause is over, on the blank canvas of quietness upon which the concert itself would soon be rendered, a voice is heard in the audience. A woman, screaming at the top of her lungs, proclaims, "I LOVE my country, but I HATE George Bush!"

(George W. Bush, not loved by Eugene audience members)

Right Next to the Pork Rinds and Combos

7-11 is the equivalent of the umbilical cord for a huge portion of our society, myself included. It is one of today's great social levelers, a place where people of all walks of life mingle in order to get stuff they need, whether out of convenience, or because it's the only establishment open when they need said stuff.

I have been to a lot of cities and have been to a lot of 7-11's, but I've never seen an organic food section in a 7-11. Does your typical 7-11 customer demand organic vegetables? Apparently, in Eugene, they do. Buy two organic bananas and get a free order of nachos*?

*-Which come with free chili and nacho cheese that come in plastic bags and are heated in a plastic-clad machine with lots of gleaming pictures of foodstuffs that bear absolutely no resemblance to the substances which the machine actually produces.

P.S.--I titled this post carefully, as the organic bananas were actually rubbing shoulders with Pork Rinds and Combos. But... seriously? Right next to the pork rinds and combos??? Pork Rinds, are, well, deep fried pig skin and fat, and Combos are the cardiovascular equivalent of cyanide. For all of my misty-eyed nostalgia for the 80's, the fact is that Combos are a hollow barrel of ultra-processed simple carbohydrates and salt filled with some kind of cheesestuff in the color of juke-box lights. And have you read the nutritional information on these? It's amazing they don't just send a bag with each shuttle mission and call the whole food situation taken care of. Well, in all fairness, the pork rinds are lighter.

Welcome to the Blog

So, I never thought I would do this, but I am starting a blog. The idea for this came about a week ago when a friend of mine, Jason, and his ultra-hip wife, Andrea, encountered an experience during a musical performance in which they said to themselves "Only in Eugene would this happen..."

In fact, I think this thought to myself at least once a month. Being a transplant from other parts of the country, I very frequently marvel for what passes as commonplace in this city. But, the thing is, Jason is from Eugene, born and bred. So, this idea of "Only in Eugene" is not unique, but universal to its residents and beyond, somewhat like the use of speech in children across all cultures. We all know it. Thus, if we have stories to tell, they will resonate with us all.

I have to say that a lot of the posts will be related to music, as that is what a lot of the people that I know do for a living. It is my hope, however, that this will appeal to a broad audience.