Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Boiler Room

The name led us to imagine a basement dive bar, perhaps full of gruff sea dogs quietly mulling over their beers. Instead we found a nonprofit, volunteer run, drug, alcohol, and jerk free youth-oriented coffeeshop. The all-ages crowd was a great audience, and pretty jazzed on espresso.

Over the door in the Boiler Room was the following quote: "Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise." We and the band had not figured out where we would stay that night, and as the day's drizzling rain continued into the night, camping did not seem like a great option. After the show, they asked the manager, Jason, if it might be alright if we crashed on the floor so they wouldn't have to bike and camp in the rain. Not only did he welcome all of us with open arms, but he made tea, handed out cookies and generally increased our love of the Boiler Room and Port Townsend to a glowing level. Kati, Luke and Israel worked on harmonies in one corner while Ryan and I worked on our respective blogs. It was warm and dry and wonderfully hospitable.

Since coming out west, we have been working on shaking off some of the East coast cynicism and general mistrust of strangers. Our night in Port Townsend was a great step in the right direction.