Pokemon Go - Um, I Mean, Wilsonville Fun In The Park & Ash Street Saloon Recap

Last Saturday was an epic story of friendship, books, music, and, yes, Pokemon. Sit back and relax while I tell you the tale...

It all started in a scenic little town known as Wilsonville, Oregon, where the annual Fun In The Park event was taking place. I got there bright and early to unload. The Northwest Independent Writers Association booth, graciously set up for us by my friend and fellow author/musician April Bullard, was in a great spot close to the parking lot and next to something known as "The Whizzer," which turned out to be a kid-powered ride and not the old Marvel Comics superhero.

Other fellow authors were there as well, including (pictured above from left to right): Marilyn Owen (who, I found out, was also born and raised in Hawaii), Leigh Goodison, Leah MacKenzie, Lillian Jolie, the aforementioned April, Roslyn McFarland, and Gwendalyn Belle. We all had a great time hanging out, reading from and selling our books, and enjoying the sunny weather.

I also enjoyed the fact that this particular park was absolutely loaded with PokeStops. Admit it, you know what I'm talking about. Every once in a while, I would take a break from our booth to go walk around and reload while catching the occasional Pidgey or Weedle along the way (I even found a Jigglypuff). Our booth itself was basically located right on top of a stop as well, so that was highly convenient.

After Fun In The Park, I had a little dinner break before I switched gears and headed over to the Ash Street Saloon in Portland to play a show with my band Second Player Score. As it turned out, this particular area of downtown Portland was also teeming with PokeStops and Pokemon. After I unloaded my gear, I stopped to catch 'em all and noticed some of the members from the other bands (The Shrike and The Adarna) doing so as well - a nice bonding moment that started the night off on the right foot.

We opened the show and played a set that consisted of a mix of songs from our first album Fortress Storm Attack (Anything At All, Falling Forever, Gloria) and our upcoming second album Nobody's Hero (Head Of Sin, Demon's Kiss, Origin Story, Comets). The sound was great - thanks, Heather! - and so was the audience, which included the boys from Anarchy Radio.

Equally as great were the two bands that followed - The Shrike, from Portland, and The Adarna, from Seattle. I had not realized this until I got to the venue, but the frontman for The Adarna used to be the guitar player for The Slants, another great regional Northwest band that I had met before. I was thinking, "man, that guy looks familiar!" Turned out, he was thinking the same thing about me. Small world, this is.

With the day's amazing journey thus concluded, we all loaded up our gear and headed off into the night. But not before catching a couple more Pokemon. Seriously, that place was loaded. I'm thinking that someone might have set up a lure or something...