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Mid day in Ballard, Seattle:

Late this morning, I went to brunch with my son and my parents at Biscuit and Bean. There is always a line heading into this joint on the weekends, so I'd never been. Turns out they make large, rich, fluffy biscuits and overly salty gravy.

We sat inside to eat. The decor was minimal, its space being mostly filled with people. The tables and chairs belonged outside. Everything felt like it was meant to rush bodies back outside, including the music. Decades old 'adult contemporary' and late '90s boy bands played through a monaural speaker, which sounded like it was made of tin, but was probably just somebody's poorly amplified iPhone. I could not wait to get back outside.

--If I go back, it will be for takeout, sans gravy.--

We left, after far too long for my liking, and walked upon garden lined streets strewn with petals, into downtown Ballard. The sun was just obscured enough for me to be happy to wear a hat. We wandered into Digs, a pleasant and overpriced home decorating store with a few books and toys, for an accent. They were playing the Clash's 'Straight to Hell' on a respectable sound-system, and followed it up with Bootsy Collins' brilliant 'I'd Rather Be with You'. This is a two song playlist straight out of my mind--never before played by anyone else in my experience. If I had stuck around long enough to hear the Talking Heads or Velvet Underground follow up, I might have bought the $5 wooden slide whistle my boy wanted. If they'd hit me with some Whodini, I might have even bought one of their art books.

Anyway, they stand where my childhood dojang used to be, and I haven't quite forgiven them for taking up that space. Maybe next time they'll get to me.

Comments

  1. Anonymous5/03/2017 11:16 PM

    Did you ever see Harvey Danger? Just wondering b/c they were a Seattle band...also they have a song named Lester Ballard, I don't know if it's related to this Ballard place or not, but it made me think of it..Anyways I like reading non-fiction stories and this was good. It ended kind of abruptly though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown5/05/2017 6:07 PM

      Thanks. I saw Harvey Danger once, when I was working at a musical festival. They were definitely a studio band. At the same event, Modest Mouse was playing the small stage, and I missed them.

      Delete

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