West Coast Road Trip - Part 2

The Charleston
Bremerton, WA
Home of the Punk Association

After my experience with Karaoke kings at The BLVD in Spokane, I traveled to Bremerton, Washington for a show the following night. The drive was fantastic and I rode a ferry for the first time! When I got to the old movie theater where the club is located, it looked great from the outside. I was excited for a great night. Set up was at 7:00, so I went to dinner and returned about 6:45 to load in. This is what I found: The doorman was dressed in black. His ears, nose, tongue and eyebrows were all pierced. The rings protruding from them ranged in size from small hoops to what I swear were garbage can lids in his ears. He was fairly startled when I, cowboy hat and all, introduced myself as the artist of the night. He showed me in, and I could hear that kids' jingle playing in my head, "One of these things is not like the other."

There was nothing to do about it, so I set up, did sound check and waited to see who would show up to hear me sing. To my surprise, the placed was packed. I met two couples who had driven for hours to see me perform. The rest of the crowd were part of the Punk Music Association. At one point in the show, I always ask how many people in the audience have kids. This was the first time ever that not a single person raised their hand. And yet, with every one of them wearing punk t-shirts, they listened, they applauded, they bought CD's. They said thank you. They even invited me back. I had a blast.

I guess the moral of the story is: Don't judge a book by the cover.