I just realized I was conflating Nickel Creek with Nickelback.

Nickle is what I called my son when he was a little kid, or Nickie Pickles.  He turned 24 last Sunday, completing his second 12 year phase.  On his birthday I was at Pickathon, part of my week of excellent music.  There were at least two people who were also celebrating their birthdays there at Pendarvis Farm.

I like to think of his birthday as my birthday--the day I first gave birth.

The week of excellent music started with the J T Wise Band's downtown lunchtime concert.



Then I went with two of the Grgich sisters (one of them is in that video) to see Lucinda Williams sing to the elephants at the zoo.

(In line with a Noah theme, the zoo was the location of my aforementioned son's bar mitzvah party 13 years after he was born.  We had a DJ who quite possibly could have been named Rockin Robin.  I recall the highlights of that event being Weird Al karaoke, the Chicken dance and this song which is one of my ATFs:



)

Lucinda didn't sing my favorite songs of hers from the time we both first got to LA that she describes in this article.




I got married that year Lucinda's breakthrough album came out.

Today would have been my 26th wedding anniversary.   At Pickathon I saw Jonathan Richman who provided the dance music for that event in St. Helena California.   Back then, he played La Bamba and this:




Sunday at the Starlight Stage under a half moon he talked about Israel and Gaza, sang a song with the word hazon in it.

At two different points during festival the both Jonathan and John Doe were seated within feet of me but all I did was dance.  Tommy Larkins was at the other side of an empty bar, but I didn't approach.  I was there for the music not the men.  In addition to Jonathan, Tommy and John Doe, I saw the rest of X, a guy covering Elvis (Costello) and Colin Hay at KBOO's late night open mic, and the Sadies-best rock band in Canada.




In further nostalgia, last night I went to see Purple Rain, and recalled how I listened to my cassette of Controversy when I first came to Portland around the same time I was listening to Wild Gift, My Aim is True, and The Modern Lovers Live.  I'd forgotten the themes of misogyny/violence against women and the Kid's turmoil over playing the song written by the women in The Revolution. 




Just now, looking for a Sadies video I came across this--something new about the moon dedicated to mothers:



My week of amazing music will hopefully end tonight with the singer songwriter who brought me to the Laurelthirst Pub--Little Sue a mother herself.