I took in both the Studio and Mainstage show in one evening.  I know…greedy, right?

STUDIO

Erin Pike is out of a box in a race to erase, as the minutes methodically click on.  Pikes determination to complete absence through cleaning moves me from calm to anxious in only 13 minutes.  There's panic in those lines, and then blue barf. 

Expecting Bad News from the Government is the driving force behind a life of listless thrust. The black core that rots any sprout of optimism, the obvious outcome: a world of crap...so live as if your gonna die tomorrow. There's a weird Buddhist overlay here as nihilism and living in the present moment interchange under the smashing drums and nerve gnashing guitar. Richard Lefebvre and Erika Mayfield exchanging taunts and jabs of encouragement, wallowing in the gloom of glamorous punk shit while looking all the dark superstars of the underground.

I know that look. The intense focus fueled by a nuclear rod burning white hot. Laser-like precision resting behind a glacial facade. Quiet calm concealing fire and once unleashed the withering heat sanitizes any surface and will pass through titanium like butter. 

Last night I dashed from the Marriage Equality Gala at the Convention Cetner to OTB to take in the Mainstage show, effectively missing my opportunity to see Ron Reagan Jr (a ballet dancer!) speak on behalf of the fight to defend marriage equality in Washington State in order to take in the new works of Hand2Mouth, Mike Pham, Sara Edwards, and Kate Wallich.