I need sleep, but that probably won’t happen until Sunday at some point, maybe after yoga.
Here’s the breakdown of my weekend: get out of work at six on Friday, play a show at Gemstones (aka The Blue Shamrock’s upstairs, formerly known as Club Fuel) in Lowell, help a somewhat hapless roommate clean for his going away party, go for a long motorcycle ride with one of my oldest friends, help host said party, sleep a bit, go to yoga, and then hopefully sleep some more.
I’m at Gemstones right now catching the last of Red Quiet’s set. The show is a benefit concert for the Lowell Humane Society, where I actually adopted my cat! Just tonight, there was a rumor floating around that this place was closing along with The Blue Shamrock downstairs. The sound guy dissuaded that for me though. I mean, who are they kidding? The Folk Festival is next week.
Red Quiet is playing well but the sound is like everything in Lowell, alluring but ultimately flawed. I lived in Lowell, MA for about six years between 2001 and 2007 and being back here is a trip.
I went to the alley door that led to the basement where we used to make our zine. I caught a whiff of what it smelled like down there, and that sad nostalgia washed over me. I don’t regret leaving Lowell but the simple fact remains that that was then and this is now. I do notice that the big fish / small pond feeling returns whenever I come back here and.I get a bit bolder and outspoken because, well, it’s Lowell. Who cares?
Vent played well. I wore a Sugar Shack t-shirt on stage.