Bag of fruit and new couches

Are you in the area? I bought a couch today and it’s tied to the roof of my car. That’s what the text message I received one Sunday afternoon read. I tell you this because when she told me how cheap she had purchased this brand new couch, I asked where she got it because I too was in the market for a new couch. There was a miscommunication and I found myself at the Goodwill near downtown L.A. I walked in and immediately saw that there were no new couches, in fact, most of the furniture was pretty beat up. There was however the distinct smell of hot sauce in the air. I found the smell strange seeing how Goodwill is not like IKEA, they don’t have a restaurant inside. I turned to leave and then I saw it, the source of the hot sauce aroma. A mother and daughter standing at one of the used tables for sale, their lunch sitting on said table with a bottle of hot sauce for extra flavor. I thought immediately, “who the fuck eats their lunch in a Goodwill?”

Another conversation revealed that the place she had purchased the couch was actually just down the street from the Goodwill/lunch destination. A few weeks later she agreed to accompany me on my return trip to downtown to insure that I made it to the right place. I found a couch, but before I could purchase it I really needed to think about it, a couch is a big commitment, you sit on it every day. I sat on it, sat across from it, looked at it, asked what she thought, asked if it was comfortable to her, then I sat on it again, is this the couch I will sit on everyday for the near future? At the moment I finally decided to purchase the couch their internet connection went down, meaning they were unable to charge my credit card. I was given two options, wait for someone to probably reset a cheap Linksys router, which we all know can sometimes be a long process, they really do suck, or we could go to the bank about a mile away and get cash. We agreed that we would go to the bank, giving me more time to over-analyze my purchase. When we returned we realized that we were going to miss lunch and wouldn’t eat until dinner. The taco truck wasn’t serving food anymore but the fruit cart was and for just four dollars we purchased a quit large bag of mixed fruit. Now that I was paying for the couch with cash, I really had to look at it again, now the money was real, swiping your card is easy, handing over cash is something completely different. We sat on the chair across from the couch, looking at it one more time, both of us with a fork in hand, eating our bag of fruit, in a place just a block away and quite similar to Goodwill. I realized then, you don’t plan to have lunch at Goodwill, it just happens. “Who the fuck eats their lunch in a Goodwill?” Apparently I do.

Seattle

Two hundred photos and here are the thirty-four I liked. Enjoy.

Life is a mix tape

I can’t say I am surprised that music played a part in my trip to Seattle but I would have never guessed how significant it would be. Days before the trip I was browsing a friend’s bookshelf, as I will do if you have a shelf full of books, and I removed one and said I was borrowing it, she removed another and told me to take it as well. The book was Rob Sheffield’s Love is a Mix Tape, I was unaware that I had just met my travel companion for my trip. This book went everywhere with me, safely riding along in my jacket pocket. I read it at meals, at night before bed, while sitting in the park, reading Sheffield tell the stories of his life through the mix tapes that accompanied them. Walking another strange city solo, lost in thought, there was a low volume hum in the back of my head, songs playing, I hummed along to TV on the Radio, Helio Sequence, Temper Trap, Postal Service, and so on, my mind producing a natural mix tape soundtrack to my travels.

Brett Denner was performing at the Moore Theater, right next door to my hotel, the night I arrived. Unfamiliar with his music, other than something I read briefly about his new album, I decided I was going. I bought my ticket just minutes before the start of the show and found myself in the seventh row. The show quickly became one of the best shows I’ve been to in awhile, not because the music was exceptional but because of the experience. I had no expectations, no preconceived notions, I wasn’t waiting for my favorite song, and I wasn’t looking around wondering how these people could be into MY favorite band. The atmosphere was fun, Brett, a goofy redhead with moves like a hula girl, looked to be having a truly great time on stage and the crowd was as well. The energy was infectious and I was there until the final encore song came to an end and the band left the stage.

It felt like a sign when outside the Experience Music Project it read, Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses now open, just weeks before I had read a great article celebrating 20 years of Nirvana. The exhibit, covered in huge prints of show photos, fans at the stage singing along with Kurt, took me right back to my teenage years at similar shows. Hendrix occupied the room next to Nirvana, and while looking at both their original handwritten lyrics right there in front of me, all of Hendrix’s on hotel stationary, I couldn’t help but feel a connection. I sit here in my hotel room writing these words, picturing him sitting there in his, writing the words that would change a generation.

They say Seattle is the home of grunge, a city that birthed a new genre, changing the face of music forever, it now seems clear that this trip would be so influenced by music. Sheffield said love is a mix tape, that may be true, but after this trip I think life is a mix tape, so find your soundtrack.