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It's Monday morning and I thought I'd write a little about this past weekend's adventure. Below is a video of said good times.
Thursday night: ACLU's Uncensored Celebration at the Holocene)
We played our first in town show after a small absence and debuted many new songs (first time playing "How the Wicked Live" and "Astoria" live) at the Holocene, a club that we've all been wanting to play for quite some time. While we were finishing setting up, some members of the ACLU (who were sponsoring the event to commemorate baned books week) asked me to speak a little bit about my experiences with racism here in Oregon. I told the story of being "banned" by the state for having a name that "offended Asian people" even though that community is one of our greatest supporters. The response was well...and then everyone was ready to party!
Then, we took the stage and had a great time. A lot of fun...we'd defnitely do it all over again. The people we worked with were all amazing. I'll be posting video footage of it within the week, along with other stuff we shot during our trip. After we finished, I packed up my gear and headed home, then began preparing for our flight out to Corpus Christi, TX.
Friday: Realmscon (Corpus Christi, TX) Day 1.
I felt like I had only just closed my eyes when the alarm started going off. It was 3am and I needed to start getting ready to head to the airport. After the band assembled, we parked and walked into the terminal. However, Tyler and I got stuck in the rotating door with half of our equipment. Apparently, they were cleaning the airport and one of the large tubes got stuck and doubled over in the door. After a few minutes, someone notice and eventually helped us get out. Then, we began the journey across the U.S.
I couldn't sleep at all so I just worked on writing set lists, making to-do lists, and drafting emails. We eventually arrived at the hotel, 12pm Texas time. I went to set up the merch booth while the rest of the band took naps. I saw a lot of people from other cons we did in Texas, Florida, and Alabama. After a few hours, I closed up to do a panel on breaking into the music industry, then went upstairs to change for the show, set up gear, sound check, and rock.
We've never experience so many technical difficulties after a totally perfect soundcheck before. When we first started, Tyler's mic wasn't on at all and half of our amps were turned down or off. Our laptop was almost silent...so after about 5 minutes of re-wiring things on stage, we began and played a decent, fun set. We always have fun. When it was all done at 1am, we went to Whatabruger to get some food and then slept.
Saturday: Realmscon Day 2
Saturday was much more crowded. Kids dressed up as their favorite anime, video game, and movie characters filled the hallways. We set up and spent the day, from 10am-6pm hanging out with fans, giving autographs, and taking pictures. Then we ran to get some of the best bbq we've ever had...the restuarant (which also had a dozen gas pumps outside) sold beef brisket by the pound. It was called Rudy's and it made us all wish we could have one here in Portland.
We rushed from dinner to get back in time for me to do a panel caled "How Being Asian Got Me in Trouble," which was a lot of fun. The room was packed with kids and I was able to share about strange experience when Eastern cultures have clashed with the West in my life, elaborate on the extreme racism I've experiences, and talk about the importance of exploring different cultures. Everyone was very responsive and asked a ton of questions. At the end, I saw Ken Wallen walk in (he works with many, many Texas cons) and we talked for a bit before needing to get changed again for yet another concert.
Saturday's concert was amazing (footage also coming in our video blog)...the place was packed with kids who kept demanding an encore and we ended up playing every song we had (including the 6 new songs yet to be released). We had a lot of fun.
Sunday....well, we spent the day flying. Not too much exciting there. Fun times...but glad to be home in Oregon again!
posted Simon Young
3:37 AM
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