Games and Mike
Smash Bros. Melee, Simpsons Road Rage, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle—Friday was gaming and beer. I was good at Melee that night, better than usual against Ali. The Simpsons game annoyed me though. Eniz was supposed to show and didn’t, which tracks.
Saturday moved slower. Ali and André bailed to Melly and Lisa’s, leaving me and John and Kalli watching them play WoW while I either watched TV or played GameCube. We drank what beer was left and ordered Chinese food.
That evening I had three tickets to see Mike Park at the Hirsch. André and Ana, fresh back from a school trip, came along. I hadn’t been to the Hirsch in about three years. That was when we spent every weekend at Anja’s place, drinking, messing around with Nane, camping in the woods with Robert and Sophie. Those feel like a different era now.
Rank opened the show, then Mike Park came out with Hiro, his tech guy, and they went for it. The crowd got louder than Mike probably wanted—he mentioned it later—but he played everything. By the time he closed with From Korea
he’d won people over. Merch, autographs, photos afterward. It was a good night. Mike Park can come back whenever.
Asian Man Records, Mike’s label, is where I find new stuff now. Free downloads constantly. Rock, ballads, reggae—whatever the roster is putting out. That’s how you stumble onto something good.