Thanksgiving 2023, Depeche Mode (Patreon)

Author's Tier members, you have spoken, and Even More Content it is! Today's update is from the two biggest events of the last week of November: Thanksgiving, and a Depeche Mode concert. I don't need to tell you which had better food. 

Thanksgiving was very special to me this year because it was our first holiday as a new family: Lauren, my fiancé, and Hayden, with whom I have not had a proper holiday in several years. I was astounded that he elected to join us at a friend's home with a dozen adult strangers and a motley knot of four year-olds, but there he was, game to hang and DJ at the record player all evening. The apple does not fall far from the tree: assigning myself a job is how I manage the discomfort of going to parties as well. (I also attribute his willingness to participate in this event in no small part to the fact that Lauren is a genuine and lovely person.) 

Depeche Mode. Our good friend Uncle Tony works as a synth engineer with Martin Gore—one-half of the remaining duo—and through the grace of these bonds we were gifted floor seats for their Portland show. (We were, "see-the-pores close.") After their opening act Some Guys With Gross Beards finished up, the old coots treated us to two hours of sacred hits and ass-wiggles.  

This concert concluded a barn-burner of a year in which we also saw The Cure, The Zombies, The Church, Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), and Love and Rockets. Hayden actually traveled the west coast to see L&R six different times, but I can only handle so much atmospheric 12-string guitar. 

There is more information in the photo captions, for you completists out there. Thank you for reading my diary. 

C