Thursday night I went to The Sunset Tavern to see Tara Jane O'Neil, with Nick Castro and the Young Elders and Jen Wood. Yes, despite my recent complaints of being hopelessly broke, I still went to a show. When I can't afford $10 (at most) once a month to see a show, then things are truly dire. (And this show was advertised as $7, but actually cost $5 at the door.)

Unfortunately, I wasn't in time to catch opening act Jen Wood. I'm sure I've heard her on KEXP and liked what I'd heard, so I would've liked to see her in person. Instead, I arrived just before Nick Castro took the stage. Nick plays British-style folk music in the vein of Dead Can Dance, playing guitar and singing, and playing a recorder for a couple songs. For this show his backing band The Young Elders consisted of just one person, Wendy Watson, on harmonium, bells, recorder, and backing vocals. They seemed like they would've been more at home in a coffeehouse, or even a goth club; while they weren't out of place at the Sunset, the majority of the patrons paid no attention and continued their loud conversations. I enjoyed their music and would've bought a CD to see what it was like, but I didn't have enough cash to spare, just enough for TJO's new EP.

Given that most of the patrons ignored Nick Castro, I was surprised that the entire bar became quiet when Tara Jane O'Neil began playing. While some of the noisy people may simply have left, it also seemed that a small crowd really had come out to see TJO; certainly she had more of an audience than the last time she played the Sunset two years ago. Accompanied by Kristina Davies on drums and occasional backing vocals, TJO played several of her recent songs, including "The Poisoned Mine" and "Howl", and a couple new ones. The set felt shorter than I would've liked, and she didn't do much with guitar loops or sonic-experimental instrumentals this time, but it was still good to hear her as always. TJO's next full-length album, In Circles, is due out in mid-September on Quarterstick Records, and she's doing extensive touring after that. I'm looking forward to the new record and to seeing her again later in the year.

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The Drano worked beautifully on the slow drain in the bathtub, the water's no longer backing up at all while I shower. I'm very pleased about that. The tub actually has another issue, which is that water is somehow splashing or dripping out over the side while I shower, so that the corner of the bathmat is often quite soaked when I get out. The thing is, it's not at all consistent; some days I take a quick shower and it's still soaked, other days I can take a while but not find it very wet at all, so I have no idea what factors are causing it. When I moved in, the tub had two plastic triangles attached with some kind of thick double-sided tape, one at each end, and I think maybe those were meant to help keep water from spilling over the sides. However, the tape was already pretty worn out and the triangles weren't staying attached, so I removed them. I haven't found replacement tape yet, though I haven't really made a dedicated search, just glanced over department-store bath plumbing shelves occasionally.

Meanwhile, in other water leak news, I figured out that the water leaking from the sink is coming from the u-bend drain pipe, but I don't know what to do next. I'm not sure whether that means I have to replace it, or tighten something, or what. Also, it seems the sink is attached to the wall, and the porcelain base is there for show, not support, but I'm still nervous about trying to pull the base out so I can get to the pipes. It's something I'd rather do with a friend here to help.