WOOHOO! Purpose of Stars! So I showed up at about 9:00, and there was like, no one else there. In fact, I almost missed the place because I was told it's called "Studio E, basement", and the place was decidedly UP a flight of stairs. It's a quiet, inconspicuous little spot with no sign out front. I only knew it was the right address from the mailbox in the lobby. I love incognito spots like that. It's on the far east side of Jasper. To give you an idea: I kept passing store fronts on the way to it that had signs like "XXX Peep Shows". Dorothy was definitely not in Kansas anymore. Ha ha! It was great. So anyway, I mucked around for a while and then people started showing up. I met a guy named Murray (I think) who had also showed up alone, so we sat together for a while and chatted about blues. I drank unsweetened iced-tea: real tea on ice. mmmmm. Then people started filtering in. I talked to Chris and Jay for a while before the show: a discussion about success and fame and how one shouldn't let it change you. Then the music started. I knew then I was in for a night of minimal talking because I couldn't get my head out of the music. It fills you up from the ear drums. Despite a few technical dificulties, Purpose of Stars did a good set. Then it was Gary (whose stage name escapes me). He's going to do a festival in Montreal next week, so this was kind of like his practice run. Words started flooding my brain, and I had to scribble it down on an old receipt I found in my purse, because I hadn't thought far enough ahead to bring a note book. With all the sounds anesthetising my soul, I came up with the poem you see above: High Noose. By the third act (whose name also escapes me), the beats were rilling up some of the girls in the crowd and they started dancing on the risers to the left of the stage. So, we had our very own go-go girls. I looked at my companions at the table, Sodo, Sean and Mike, and I found myself hoping that the dancing wasn't a "thing" that all the girls were expected to do. Ha ha! Let's just say that by that point in the evening, I had grown - um - paranoid, for reasons that shall remain nameless. We spent some time chilling on the roof out back of the building, which was populated like a row of black crows on a telephone wire. By the time we got back in, the tables had been moved aside and the dance floor was in full swing. On the whole, a good night. I shoulda brought some liquor though. One of these days I'm going to invest in a flask.