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'Cause All I Want Is A Taste For Free

Who: Shafty
When: June 10, 2015
Where: Doc's Lab/ San Francisco, CA
With: Rachel, Kellie, Matt, Phil, etc.
Of Note: I'm pretty sure I'm a patron of the arts now!

Okay, so, my first December in SF, I went to a run of moe. shows and made a friend, Rob who lives in Portland because I am was not allowed to have friends in San Francisco at that point in time. Rob and I became internet friends and then even realer friends when I headed to Portland for a work event and stayed the week-end. I'm pretty sure you become bff5eva when there's fondue involved. (And a hilarious bit by Natasha Leggaro where she calls and Applebees and tries to make a reservation. That is perhaps a different story though.)

Anyway, Rob plays in a Phish tribute band called Shafty. I saw them when I was in Portland; they're fantastic. He said that they were putting together a northern California tour and would be stopping in San Francisco. I was excited to see them again! Being me, I said, "Well, if you guys need any SF hospitality while you're in town, I'm happy to have you over for dinner or whatever."

Rob said, "Oh, well what we need is crash space for six and a parking spot."

I said, "Oh, I can totally do that."

And that's how I ended up with six dudes. In my one bedroom apartment. For two nights. There were, essentially, dudes on every available surface. They arrived the day before their show and after an awesome dinner at Burma Superstar and a couple of pints at the Plough & Stars, everyone got settled in. When I woke up the next morning, my plan was to quietly get ready for work, make them breakfast, and leave it all in the kitchen when I headed to work. This plan was foiled by the fact that there was someone sleeping in the kitchen. Like I said, every available surface.

As a side note, can I just note that I make a pretty baller brunch for visitors? If I invite you for Outsidelands boozy brunch, take me up on it. Egg casserole, multiple pancake varieties, fruit salad. The guys were suitably impressed.

Anyway, I rustled up as many SF peeps as I could and headed out to the show that night at Doc's Lab, which, super cool venue. Shafty tore it up, as per usual. People danced and drank and, "felt the groove, man". I tried to explain to some of the SF folk that, though I've never wavered in my dedication to cardigans, I have also spent a significant amount of time dancing in a field like a crazy person to music much like this. I particularly enjoyed Free --> Taste (reprise), as a devotee of 'Billy Breathes'.

When the show was over, the guys thought they'd go to a bar and have a drink. Being that it was 1 am, I laughed at them a whole bunch because San Francisco late night (especially on a Wednesday) is pretty terrible. Then everyone came back to my apartment and Rob, Phil, and I sat on my kitchen floor and drank leftover Dyngus Day beer until waaaaaay too early in the morning. And I thought to myself, "If this is what it means to be a patron of the arts, I'm into it."

And then the guys moved on to their next location and I spent a long time cleaning my apartment. Because, seriously, so many dudes.

These guys also made possibly the best commercial for a gig ever recorded, courtesy of the lazy susan on the big table at Burma Superstar.

And when it was all said and done, I thought a lot about how lucky I am to have such talented people in my life - and not just these guys.  I know people who play music, direct shows, make art, design graphics, write words that can make you cry, do quantitative analysis that is just as beautiful.  I know people who are building bridges and medical devices.  People who save lives, people who change lives through education, people who rehabilitate the wounded.  So, if I don't say it enough: I am astounded by all the amazing people I'm lucky enough to call friends...  all the people making the world a better place, in this case one jam at a time.





Did I mention I had a super awesome VIP All Access pass?  Because I totally did. 

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