Another Wednesday, another crowded show at McMenamin's Old St. Francis School. This week's crowd, however, separated itself from previous ones by its intense desire to dance its collective ass off as the tribal sounds of the mostly local Ruins of Ooah bounced off the walls of the Father Luke's Room.
As far as McMenamins shows, this was the most dancey I've ever seen it. There's something about Tyler Spencer's didjeridu and Justus Williams' harmonica that gets people moving. At the end of the day the band is essentially house or trance music made with rootsy instruments, so the dancing does make sense.
Watching the show, and of course, swaying in unison with the other 200 or so folks in the room, I figured that this adventurous, largely hippy sound is probably what everyone in Texas expects us weirdos in Oregon to be listening to. Right?
Here's some video from the show -- in this first one, check out the toddler on the dance floor about halfway through. Funny!