The Bike Church: Hipster Hangout of SC

Sometime in the past week (Monday, perhaps?), I went to a show. Yes, I actually went to a show; I drove downtown, walked there, went inside, and listened and danced. I did not not do any of these things.

My reason for saying all of this loopy bullshit is that, upon my arrival at The Bike Church to see The Pharmacy, I quickly realized how long it had been since I'd actually been to a show. I'd aspired to go to shows for months (it seems like), but I was always either ill or bogged down with homework. I'd like to give a shout out to my Econ professor, who, the Monday before the Of Montreal concert (Thursday), let us know that we had a quiz on Friday. Snivelly little cock head.

Anyway, yes. After debating for a couple of hours whether I really felt like going or not (my other choice was to stay home and do nothing; the fact that this was such a hard choice to make and that I spent a good part of my evening on the question makes me a bit of a snivelly little cock head myself), I finally called Thor and we made a plan. We met downtown soon thereafter, got some bubble tea, and walked up and down Pacific Mall until we found the place. As soon as we walked up to it, I knew that it was the right place; the grounds were as dirty as the people. We'd found the Hipster mecca of Santa Cruz! We walked up to the large wooden doors and let ourselves in.

It was kind of a weird time to come in. A member of Raggedy Anns, the opening band, was under a spotlight off to the left playing a trumpet while the rest of the band was playing off to the right. The song soon ended and the dude went back over to his bandmates and they kept playing. They were pretty fun, though. Thor and I found somewhere to sit and just watched for a while. It was quite a small room. The ceiling was lined with bike parts, as were most of the walls. There were some typical bike lover stickers adorning a pole in the middle of the room. The clock on the wall was the same as the one in my 4th-6th grade classroom, which was endearing and made me instantly nostalgic. There was a small collection of hipsters standing in front of the band, hardly swaying to the music. Only one guy was dancing the whole time, almost taking out bystanders with his aggressive flailing on numerous occasions. It was odd seeing this collection of people in Santa Cruz; what with all the bikes, boots, leggings, plaid, neon, and general grunge, I felt I was back in Portland again. Through text messages, Alex and I wondered why more of them weren't sporting ironic Hawaiian shirts or toting ironic surfboards around.

Thor and I danced as well. Once The Pharmacy came on, more people started dancing and it was great fun. They played a short but exciting set and the show was over by ten.

2008 Top Ten Albums (Ultra Delayed)

Yes, our last blog post was two months ago, November 8, and most of the top albums lists have come out and folks have ravenously debated over them weeks ago, but I'm here to lay down the real best albums of 2008. And I'd like to announce that Naughty Ezra will continue to shine into 2009, possibly even with a new time slot, possibly airing every week; who knows?!

1. Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane
2. Stereolab - Chemical Chords
3. High Places - High Places
4. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
5. of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
6. Santogold - Santogold
7. Why? - Alopecia
8. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue
9. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
10. The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion

_Katia