Friday, May 15, 2009

open mic at cafe deux soleils

cafe deux soleils is another Vancouver establishment, also a vegetarian cafe, but for hippies instead of yuppies. their open mic nights have also become a rather famous affair, one of the longest running open mics in vancouver, gaining so much popularity that musicians have to get their names drawn out of a hat to perform. i've been lucky because i've been picked every time i've shown up.

the acts tonight are a pretty interesting and eclectic bunch. there's the accordian player who does a happy kid-friendly cover of Nine Inch Nails ("i wanna hug you like a teddy bear / i wanna make you eat a mud pie..."). one girl reads poetry about rude guys. a purebred hippie plays blues harmonica and then tells us that he loves us all very much. another guy plays the jinbay while rapping about being high, one of the many hybrid hiphop hippies that Commercial Drive features. i play a short set. some girl tells me she loves me. i can't see who; the lights are too bright in my eyes.

i sit at a table with a couple of kids i've just met. they are just the right combination of polyamourous/queer that allows them to oggle and comment on every single performer on stage, no matter what shape, size, or gender. since most of my songs are really weird (ranging from topics like flashing your rooommate to biting your friend's boyfriend's neck), i think i've won their approval. they kind of remind me of my friends from my past lives, just because they seem like such an eclectic bunch. the girl who moved from texas to new york to vancouver, carefully erasing all traces of her accents each time. the boy with the lion's mane, telling me to come sit at his table because his girlfriend has a crush on me. the girl who tells me, "you're from ottawa? but you're so...cool..." only to have me find out that she's actually from Toronto. the boy with jeremy's glasses who says nothing all night, except, at the very end of the night, quite seriously, "don't try to be a smoker in kitsilano."

they invite me to chill out at their place after the show ends, but i tell them i've got to get back to my own pad. i pretend that i live on the Drive, but really, i'm staying with my grandparents. it's not the first time that i wish i was living here.

*****


tomorrow i leave for portland. i'm theoretically supposed to meet Ryan Patey there, but our "plan" consisted of him calling me the ONE minute i was away from my phone, and leaving me the message: "why aren't you answering your phone? okay, let's meet in portland sunday night. i don't know the address yet. and i might not end up going to portland. oh, by the way, i'm going into the wilderness so you won't be able to talk to me for a few days." so it looks like i'm going to be exploring Portland on my own.

Saturday: 27 degrees and sunny
Sunday: 30 degrees and sunny
Monday: 28 degrees and sunny

yessssss.