jenga

The Wandering Goat in Eugene

The day we played Eugene was a good day. It started with a beautiful hike in the Mt. Shasta area up to some crater lakes. Since we ended up missing the lake we initially intended to find it was certainly more about the journey than the destination. Touring is certainly more about the journey than the destination.

We played at a coffee shop / venue called the Wandering Goat, which was very welcoming. They introduced me to a mocha drink with homemade chocolate which was incredible. We discovered that there was a big festival going on downtown called “Celebrate Eugene” featuring live music and food and all sorts of fun things so our crowd wasn’t huge, but it was very receptive to our music. We also played with a good local band called “On The Tundra,” which was in the style of Explosions in the Sky and Do Make Say Think. They were loud, creative, and one guy designs pedals so they had a lot of specific and unique tones. He’s going to mod and fix my wah wah pedal, which broke a few shows ago (I’ve been substituting a light phaser ever since) so you’ll get to hear his work eventually.

We also played a few rounds of Jenga. I’m normally an ace at that game, but I must admit I knocked over the stack at least three times. I think it was all the vibrations from On the Tundra.

The night ended with Achachay! checking out our couchsurfer’s band at the Celebrate Eugene fest. They were great and it was cool to connect and stay with some other musicians, even though we didn’t play on the same bill. Our host Phil, was incredibly nice and welcoming. Couchsurfing remains the bomb. I hope we play with them next time we’re in Eugene, and get to hang out some more.

His other band, __, is also worth checking out.

In the morning, I got to cap it off by consuming some wild blackberries and visiting an old friend from Spain. All in all, good times.