The Punk Group: Let’s See You Do That, Decemberists (Cedar Hills, OR)-- Local Cut

The Punk Group: Let’s See You Do That, Decemberists (Cedar Hills, OR)

March 3rd, 2009 [2:56PM] Posted by: Punk Group | 7 COMMENTS

Alas, the final two installments of the Punk Group’s epic road trip to the Beaverton Best Buy.

SATURDAY

So we got all our gear packed up, travel bags loaded with everything we could imagine we may need (several pairs of clean undies, socks, Mormon thermals) and emergency items in case we get lost. Tom Tom GPS system is charged and we’re on our way! Beaverton, here we come! It’s about 4:30 pm and there isn’t much daylight left so we really have to put the pedal down and put some miles behind us. As we turn right onto Sandy and head toward downtown we notice a lot of Asian restaurants and the intoxicating aromas (Portland City Search taught me those words) that permeate from them. Figuring we should eat something before we get into the dark of night and unfamiliar surroundings, we decided to check out Thien Hong, a delightful, quaint Vietnamese restaurant settled along the corner of NE 68th &Sandy Blvd, cheerfully adorned with posters of upcoming Asian theater legends, dance troupes and the like. Actually, the more I looked at those posters I think it was for the areas largest gathering of trannies gallivanting around to some sped up techno shit.

We eat our meal and try to relax after a few more cups of tea and two “unfortunate” cookies that said, “You will be forgotten” and “You ugly when you smile.” Now its 6 pm and we head back down Sandy Boulevard. Realizing we don’t have a clue as to what possible lodging accommodations are in the areas along the way and how far we can go before getting really tired, we decided not to take any chances and book a room at the first place we see. Here’s one: the Thrift Lodge on 9th and Burnside. Although it looks a tad sketchy with all these indie rockers roaming around across the street (or homeless bums-sometimes I cant tell ‘em apart), we take our chances and get two rooms for the price of one. After finding heroin needles on my pillow I now know why. What happened to mints? Then around 11:30 pm some scruffy looking bum knocks on my door and is handing out fliers for a show at the place across the street called the Log Ride, or Fir Jammer or something that has to do with trees. I told him I’m not interested at which point he starts yelling at me and screaming that I have to see his band called (are you ready for this?) “Origami Ghosts” and it will “blow my fucking mind in half.” I tell him to “Fuck Off.”

Now I’m back in my room watching TV, trying to get some sleep before we have to get up at 4 am and hit it all over again. The weather is terrible, so I hope nothing goes wrong when we leave in the morning. We’ll see…

Punk Group-customized Origami Ghosts artwork:

SUNDAY

So after we check out from the Thrift Lodge we pick up Jay (a.k.a. King Fader) which lucky for us was on the way. We punch in the coordinates to the GPS system but before we head off we make a stop at the Plaid Pantry for smokes, beef jerky, a Hustler for Jay and some energy drinks. Somehow in the mayhem of ingesting all that crap and being jilted out of our heads we wound up in Scappoose and loaded all our shit into a Fred Meyer. It took us a few minutes after walking through the produce section then down to the deli case that there wasn’t a stage anywhere. Thinking it might be near the electronics, we asked one of the dip shits wearing a red vest where we’re supposed to set up. Security was called and we were detained for a good half hour before it hit us we were in the wrong fucking place. As we tried to explain the mix up they were determined to bust us for something. Once the police arrived we were able to convince them it was a mix up and we weren’t terrorists (Jay on the other hand….). It was 12:30 pm and we had to get to Cedar Hills in 30 minutes.

We throw the shit back in the car/bus and haul ass. Good thing I have a Honda that some Asian kids tricked out for me. I pull some Portland drift shit and cut back through Highway 30 and onto HWY26 all the while weaving in and out of cars like Pole Position when a cop by the zoo spots me. Jay and Tony start yelling that there’s a cop behind us with his lights on so I lower down the nitrous panel and hit the switch all the while screaming some catch phrases just like in the movies. Before I could turn off onto HWY 217, I could see a line of cop cars setting up a roadblock. SHIT!! I cut hard to the right and hit the back of some car which launch us 30 feet into the air, up and over the cars; we land on the freeway below. We could see the cops in the rear view mirror shaking their heads and fists at us. We lost them! We pull into the parking lot of the Best Buy where we see KUFO banners, park the car, unload our shit and set up without missing a beat.

Fuck Yeah. we made it! Now the good part. We load in right through the front doors and go back to the area with the music gear. It’s set up like a mini Guitar Center complete with a stage. We set up our stuff, soundcheck to families walking by and puzzled teenagers expecting some Incubus shit or something. We play our 30-minute set and, to our surprise, people stuck around and actually laughed a few times. Seems we won over Cedar Hills. Next stop, Forest Grove then Hebo.

All in all, I gotta say it was pretty fun playing at a Best Buy. Take that Dandy Warhols! Lets see you do that, Decemberists!

King Fader shops for snacks: