I was too hot to want to eat anything much, so we went to Thaiku in Ballard. It's a great Thai restaurant, famous for its herbal restorative cocktails that include known, legal hallucinogens. I gnoshed on some shaved papaya salad and considered a stronger drink, but stuck to black tea infused vodka martinis.
We talked a bit about their recent burglary, plans for the future, favorite movies. and how hard it is to lose an animal. Heather decided she would be the sober driver, so as Alex and I plowed through more drinks, she took a back seat and observed us foolishly mix our drink selections.
We made it to The Tractor in time to catch the opener, a local kid named Vince Mira who has started making a name for himself in the country/rockabilly scene. I say kid because I think he's all of 18-years-old now. Rumor has it he got his start mimicking Johnny Cash down at the Pike Place Market. He came on stage, looking much like a young, awkward Richie Valenz with a slicked back pompadour. Then he started singing.
Yes, clearly he has the Johnny Cash sound down. It was like listening to his ghost coming from this energetic kid. The crowd went wild, especially when he sang "Ring of Fire" in both English and Spanish.
More than half the songs were his own material and while Alex and Heather both thought he was talented, they didn't feel like he had his own voice yet. I don't disagree with that, however, I think that his style and sound are already geared to be ultimately successful for him. I don't think it's bad to sound like someone or to look to stalwart examples for inspiration. Raymond Carver, one of the finest writers of the 20th century, absolutely worshipped Hemmingway. The similarities are there, but each brought their own flavor to the literary canon. I say give Vince time to build a fan base with his Cash-sounding tunes and keep working on his own songwriting skills.
After his rocking set and encore, we were all slightly disappointed with the pared-down performance by The Dusty 45s. About the sixth song in, we hit the streets to bar hop a little longer. Alex's amazing Southie accent started coming out. I snapped this picture of Heather and Alex in some dirty little local watering hole in near darkness toward the end of the night. Alex kept buying and handing me drinks that I would barely sip and then discard as we headed to the next place. I was drunker that I had been in a very long time. When the full crew opted to head over to The Elysian for a night cap, I called it a night and got dropped off at my house to fall into bed exhausted. Thankfully I did remember to stop by the merch table and buy Vince's CD before we left The Tractor. I've been listening to it all day.
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