I'm still more comfortable being the sit-back-and-watch type at parties, especially when I don't know many people at them.
I'm glad people had no problem with that at the "Bottom Forty" bar show I spent a couple of hours at this afternoon, at the Holocene bar here in Southeast Portland. It was DJ'd by a local radio host, Greg Glover, who does both 94.7 KNRK's morning show and a more offbeat weekly show called The Bottom Forty. I met Glover in person (we've e-mailed back and forth a few times); I also sat back and appreciated the music he DJ'd, the club's interesting main room, the lovely women present, and some food and beverage (Mac and cheese plus my first-ever Pabst Blue Ribbon; please don't cringe,
aoniedesade). But I didn't mingle. That still can be a tough thing for me to do, or I should say to start -- it's usually the introducing yourself that's the toughest part -- and I didn't get past that hang-up today. Oh, well.But I "had speaks" with Glover before I left, thanking him for running the event and passing along my appreciation of his station. 94.7 KNRK has had an uneven history, with management a few years ago making some huge mistakes and miscalculations that blew up in their collective face and hurt the station, and Glover and the other people there have done a great job of improving it and, frankly, finding NRK's soul again. (I'll tell you that saga sometime.) I also got some CDs plus a Music Millennium gift certificate, and then headed home, catching a conveniently-timed bus.
My goal: be more social at the listener party for The Rick Emerson Show, another radio show I hear a lot. That party's coming up on Thursday, April 19th. Emerson is another DJ I've communicated with (he's read a few of my e-mails on-air), and his is a geek-friendly show, as well as a show that makes me glad I can laugh quietly, even silently, so that I won't disturb co-workers...
