At 10PM last night I was sitting in a friend’s hot tub somewhere east of the 15. The fact that I got myself home, cleaned up, then headed out to the House Party should speak volumes about how good these bands, and the party itself, were.

At first I wasn’t even planning on bringing the camera along. The commencement of drinking at 7PM, with the inaugural drink being a rather potent margarita, doesn’t really lend itself to carrying around expensive equipment 4 hours later. Especially not at a packed party with many other likewise liquored up folks.

But a text message from Andrea reading “will I have the pleasure of you taking another beautiful picture of me tonight?” convinced me to bring it along. Sadly, I only took about 11 photos (all of the Swedish Models), and none of Andrea. It was one of those nights where I was happier bringing my Nalgene bottle of Barcardi and Coke up to my face, rather than the camera. Oh well. It’s just been that kind of week.

We got there as the Swedish Models were finishing up their set, and managed to catch about two songs. It was interesting to see two rather large bands jammed into the basement space, but they made it work. The Models sounded great again, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them on Wednesday at the Casbah with the Mooney Suzuki (thanks for the invite, Dusty!). The basement seemed to be pretty empty for their set, maybe because people were still arriving, or because the sound was really loud?

After the Swedish Models played, we hung out for a bit with various folks, and I made even better friends with that Nalgene bottle. The basement gradually filled up with people as Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects set up their massive amounts of instruments. I quickly figured out that there was no way I trusted myself to stand at the front of that crowd with my camera in the state that I was in. So instead we found a spot near the back of the crowd and settled in to be thoroughly rocked by Mr. Tube. The whole time they were playing, I was struggling to classify them into a genre, but I just couldn’t do it. They had a sax and a trumpet, but they weren’t a ska band. They made people dance like Lady Dottie and the Diamonds, but they weren’t a blues band. After awhile I just stopped trying and enjoyed it for whatever it was. Most people in the basement were dancing along, getting all hot and sweaty, and it was a great vibe to be sharing with people. It was nice not to worry about taking photos for once…although that doesn’t mean I won’t continue to take photos at most of the shows I go to. It’s just fun to have a night off every once in awhile.

All in all, I proclaim the night another great success for Heather and Amanda. It seemed that this House Party was even better attended than the last one, and by some different sorts of people. It’s good that the word’s getting out around town – I just hope that these events don’t get too big for the venue…