We made it! Portland was our furthest east destination and despite van repairs and almost a solid week of rain, we made it.
In Portland, Maine, we stopped in at the Shipyard Brewing Company where just three years ago, I purchased some festive pint glasses for my wedding. Having never been to the physical store before, I had no idea how large their merchandising operation was. Shipyard has an entire store of merchandise with their logos printed on everything. An entire line of mens and womens apparel, beer glasses of different varieties, coasters, stickers, buttons, bicycle jerseys, etc. Even New Holland Brewing who I consider to be a leader in micro-brewery merchandising doesn't go this far. Sadly, there is no brew pub attached to the brewery. Their beer however is on draft in nearly every restaurant in town.
Portland is similar to Philadelphia and Manhattan in that finding good street parking is nearly impossible. You can drive around for an hour at a time, circling the same block and never find a spot. We remedy this early on by parking in a vacant lot...fenced in by a construction company. The gate was open and we figured no one would mind us being there for a little bit. When we return to move the van several hours later, the chain link gate is locked! Our options quickly race through our heads such as buying bolt cutters or asking the construction guys to unlock the gate before Eric discovered that one side of the gate was held to the adjacent gate with a loose rope. Eric's quick thinking spares us humiliation and a parking ticket.
Not wanting to miss a dining opportunity in Maine, we shell out for lobster (sorry) at J's Oyster. Eric nearly has a panic attack anticipating that he has to break a live lobster in half with his bare hands and eat it. The menu in front of him describing almost as much is no help.
Nic and I reassure Eric that he will not have to kill a lobster himself and after drinking some of a Shipyard ale, we all calm down.
Eric and I order a lobster roll which essentially is lobster meat on a hot dog bun with some lettuce. I also order a cup of clam chowder (because it's Maine) and Nic gets a salad with lobster. Even next to the ocean, lobster is not cheap. Kind of gave us some shell shock (sorry). But the meat is succulent and we are satisfied and ready to play.
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| The Clam Chawda |
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| The Lobster Roll |
Port City Blue has to be one of the smallest venues we have ever played. Not only are we jammed on stage again, the actual room fits maybe 50 people if everyone is standing. A local group called Tricky Britches opens for us with some old-timey folk/country songs. Guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and stand-up bass make for a pretty standard setup but their vocal harmonies provides that necessary extra layer to bring their hoedown sound to life.
Tricky Britches brings in a crowd that fills the entire venue and fortunately most of them stay for our set. We thank them for their time by playing a killer show, the kind that pops eyeballs, 'You guys are from Michigan?' This is only our second show since the van repair bill, but the audience provides the energy we need to pull out all the stops with tight hooks and fills, blistering solos from Eric and Nic, and throat frying vocals from Eric.
The Tricky Britches graciously offer us boarding for the night and we are extremely grateful.
