Seattle, WA – “Last West Coast Gig” – The Ballard Firehouse – June 25, 2000

It was a beautiful Seattle day. The wind ran warm and the sun shone brightly against the water, etching vibrant, silver, stencils into the waves down at Pike’s Place. That’s where we ate. That’s where the men in orange plastic aprons shouted and threw fish over unsuspecting and frightened tourists’ heads, That’s where Delucchi got in his accident. Nothing devastating really, just a little fender bender going 5 miles per hour. But Moby, with her girth and torque, can do quite a bit of damage to a smaller car even at 5 miles per hour and Delucchi felt pretty bad about the whole thing.

The ride to Ballard was filled with wrong turns, lost directions, and short tempers. When we arrived, the firehouse was empty, save for the barflies and a soundman who helped us load in. After sound check, he suggested we hop a bite to eat down a couple of blocks at an “All you can eat Chinese buffet.” A bad idea to begin with and an even worse idea right before a show.

Ballard’s streets were empty and so was our show for the most part. We managed to have a good time anyway and a bunch of our friends came down.

The band that opened for us was told by the conveniently absent promoter, that we were supposed to pay them out of our take. Man, what’s up with that? That just ain’t right.

After the show, while the boys were hanging out in the parking lot, and I was chillin with the bartender complaining about our draw, or rather our lack thereof, the night outside was ushering blind winds off Puget Sound and the day was being folded like clean, cooling, linen sheets to be put away neatly beneath the shelf of the horizon.

One more show and then a new tour begins!