A show at the Rainbo is a special secret. One of those things you know about if you know the bartender or one of the people who will be on the little Polka combo stage behind the rows of Collins glasses.

Skyler says they’re playing at 7 or 8 so I get there at 5. There are two or three drinkers and Skyler who says he’s tired. It’s been a long week. He’s psyched for the show but wishes it would be happening already rather than hours away. The waiting in-between-time of music in bars always kills me too. The band never goes on when it says they will on the poster. And then, so often, you have to wait through two or three other bands before the one you want gets up there. Tonight it’s just the one so there’s that.

Emmett and Jim haul in their gear between 7 and 8. Soundcheck consists of switching on two amps, a couple strums over a fretboard, a few fills. Then they leave out to smoke.

The room fills up. A lot of familiar faces. Azita, Sam, Gillian, Janet, Alicia, Sally, Matt, Finn, Tim, Jenny, many other music and art types. Emmett comes over and says it feels like a hometown show and it does.

The Double plays more or less the same riff for almost an hour. But there’s overtones, undertones, and other phantom sounds all the way through. I wonder whether Emmett will get carpal tunnel or rotator cuff or tennis elbow alternating between those two notes. It’s mesmerizing. 

One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.