beef

The spring has been slow for shows. Look here for proof. Mostly, there wasn’t anything that i wanted to see, mostly. But things changed as of last night, a guaranteed good time, every monday, has started up again. Das Rut has been resurrected at the High Dive. Not that they went anywhere but I don’t recall seeing many bookings over the last year. They all perform incredibly and the “band” is not really a band but a gathering of good times. They were a staple in the last neighborhood I lived in, the Ravenna/Roosevelt area. Every Thursday they would lay down the funk at the Scarlet Tree. A nice place to have breakfast would transform to party central as they threw down increasingly funky licks with horns dancing, keyboards singing, and sweet, sweet Reggie Watts.

Mmmmmm, how i love the funk. Give me an organ and some horns and good times will be had by all. I checked the show out last night, hoping to get some good visits in before the monday night blows up. It is not a matter of if, but when, monday night will be the highlight of everyone’s week. I told myself, “well, I’ll just go and then leave at setbreak.” But the sweet, sweet rhythms wouldn’t let me go. PK’s bass, the light tap of the organ, reggie voice resonating through walls, the synchnopated thunder of the kit, thaddeus running me through the streets of funkytown, and the horn calling me to the promised land. Work would still be there if I went home at 11.30 or 2. Wise choice grasshopper. I’ll return, at least for the next few weeks on a regular basis and then maybe space it out to once or twice a month.

As an added bonus, everyone should try to go see Bobby Previte’s The Coalition of the Willing on Friday at the Tractor. Also, if you live in Oregon or California, look at the tour dates for the rest of the month.