Al and the Blue Tones - Blue Diamond, Portland OR - October 20, 2017

[Portland, OR] I liked the venue right off, sort of dive-y but they were RUNNER-UP FOR PORTLAND BAR OF THE YEAR IN 2013. Strip mall on Sandy, sparkling beer signs to draw people in, gaming machines along a wall, and the entire crowd properly focused on the music (really old guys, couples, female teacher sorts). The bartenders were all boobs and black eyes (only one of them had a black eye… and maybe it was a birthmark but that’s boring). Really good sound for the small space. A couple in their late 50s tearing up the dance floor. Fried pickles. The band was three guys: electric guitar, electric bass, drum. Al told us we were lucky to be seeing him backed by the Blue Tones. They did a creative cover of “The Thrill is Gone.” The only blight on the place was the creepy guy at the bar next to me. He spent 45 seconds wiping the bar in front of where I was going to sit, I thanked him like twice trying to guage how drunk he was, and then he pointedly ignored me. And didn’t seem drunk. This was preferable but odd. And so, taking in his neo-nazi haircut, neo-nazi-style cross tattooed on his wrist, I determined he’d just been released from prison and forgot for 45 seconds he has to avoid women to stay out of trouble. Fortunately I was on a quick drive-by to fulfill A-Z-Portland-venues. And I Had Just read a Willammette Weekly article the same day about former Portlander, Jim Goad, who writes pro-rape and racist books, wore a similar cross on a chain around his neck, and broke his girlfriend’s eye socket.