The White Strips

Posted by admin in Party on 05 29th, 2006 | no responses

Portland, Oregon | May 27th | Hank Stram

As I browsed for things to do on Saturday night, I came across Apotheke and their 1 year anniversay party. A number of MJ’s (Macintosh Jockeys), and the part that sold the whole deal was it was free. After getting my shit together and head downtown I stop at my Friends Swan Lewis’s and have to wait for him to put the finishing touches on his outfit. The order for the night was as follows; The Grand to drop-off cannibus and get free drinks. 2. See what this whole “apotheke” thing was. 3. Find out what life in the tube is like on Saturday night.

Cool. We get to the Grand, I had never been there before and I guess it’s a big karoake spot. So I had to start taking this guys picture because he was really giving it his all like an opener for Korn or Slipknot, you know, sweat, goofy faces, veins popping out, all the qualities that define “Rock’n”. After this it got just as boring as before, so I came up with the great idea for JOKE-aroke. Where people have to tell jokes or entire bits so I’d be more entertained.

But as Swan and I talked to our other friends there, I realized all four of us had black collared shirts on. Damn! Well it was just Swan and I for the rest of night and I decided to not take my coat off while we were out. I just have this thing about looking exactly like my friends. Just weird and fascist.

So Swan and I head up to Apotheke, climb the stairs and walk into a white shiney bar filled with pretension or just my insecurity, whichever. I felt like we walked into a private party being held in a germ free labratory. Like we had to pass an examination to get clearance to sit on the white shiney chairs. Well my beer cost $9 (with tip)! Well Fuck that shit. We hung out for a beer then headed down to the hole and tube.

Okay so I felt so much more at ease at the tube. Dirty floor, shoeless dancers and cheap beer. Bring it. I hadn’t been to tube in over a year and they had changed the set-up. It still has the white shiney walls, but was much more roomy and felt more social. It could of been the DJ and so much smoke, but it felt like I could hang out against the wall and not feel selfconcious. But there was alot going on. Compared to Apotheke, it was like a smoke and music filled laboratory. Full of energy and activity. For instance, we were standing against the wall and started smelling burning plastic, the bar back looks in the trash, we look around. Nothing. Oh well. Then about 10 minutes later I smell it again, but stronger. I’m looking around and all of sudden the table in front of us is jumping up. This girls whole purse strap had smoldered apart with embers all over the place. Damn. Well we left when we had to. That’s just how we roll.