{"id":5624,"date":"2023-10-08T18:08:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T00:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/?p=5624"},"modified":"2024-02-06T17:42:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T23:42:40","slug":"an-honest-night-with-ezra-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/2023\/10\/08\/an-honest-night-with-ezra-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"an honest night with ezra bell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Linnea Anderson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photos taken by Linnea Anderson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

it was something good. screams and drunkenness and giggles all around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

we got there early. scored a free ticket from some lady at the bar. and slid into the back venue. quite bare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

whole lotta denver folk out that evening. maybe ezra bell attracts a type. i felt like i was back home in portland. coincidentally their home too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i saw them there. back in 2019. a cold and rainy day in august. an old friend swindled me into a nearly vacant gated parking lot. $5 through the entrance. about an hour to kill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

she brought cards. delt hands of crazy 8s under a picnic umbrella. barely out of the storm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

cold. we saw ben. the main singer. she asked for a picture. he asked why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

big fans i guess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

back in denver. my brother and i wait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

run through two warm-up bands. itching and scratching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the first warm-up played a 90s rap melody in a somber singer-songwriter tone. it gets a couple giggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and later an acoustic rendition of thrift shop by macklemore? too good to be true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

he is barefoot. we find it funny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

people filter through. frequenting the bar. the patio. backstage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i swear i see my 6th grade science teacher. it\u2019s not him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

it\u2019s heating up. physically i mean. everyone\u2019s waiting impatiently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

some man in his 40s is perched crisscross applesauce in the center of the dance floor. he stayed that way through both warm-ups. but as the time approaches the witching hour, he rises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ben treads out on stage. acting natural. it takes the crowd a while to notice him. he is barefoot in a paisley shirt and tweed golf hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

people scream and he gives them a taste of his timid charming smile. it reappears throughout the show as he makes eye contact with the attendees who know the lyrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

he might\u2019ve had a black eye. maybe from a heated interaction on the streets of colorado springs. where he played the night before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

that\u2019s a daring guess though. he doesn\u2019t seem like the type to get into a fight. not with that smile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the gig starts quickly. the whole band is tuned into some strange frequency. the bassist jumps up and down manhandling his massive acoustic instrument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

small interludes between the soprano sax and fiddle(?) crank up the crowd. it\u2019s a friendly competition but the fiddle always gets the last say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the audience screams GOATS MILK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

it\u2019s one of their songs but they don\u2019t play it yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

instead, they mention their merch table. CDS and records and t-shirts. the usual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

except one thing. flash drives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

every song they\u2019ve ever made. released, unreleased, previously released but taken off the streaming. the whole nine yards. all on the flash drives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i turn to my brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

my favorite album by them, before that all happened, appeared on spotify some day in 2021. and months later, after it filled my evenings and playlists, it was gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

at a certain point, i thought i might\u2019ve made it up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

towards the end of the show, i separate from the crowd. cruise back to the merch table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a flash drive? i ask. they say there\u2019s one more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

so how much? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*a lot* <\/p>\n\n\n\n

hm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

my brother says he will if i don\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

does it all go to the band? i ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

of course. he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

so now they have my money and i have it all. a fair trade i\u2019d say. quite honest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Linnea Anderson it was something good. screams and drunkenness and giggles all around.  we got there early. scored a free ticket from some lady at the bar. and slid into the back venue. quite bare.  whole lotta denver folk out that evening. maybe ezra bell attracts a type. i felt like i was back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1098,"featured_media":5625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[151,233,232,234],"class_list":["post-5624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shows","tag-concert","tag-denver","tag-ezra-bell","tag-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/files\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-08-at-6.05.43-PM.png?fit=1224%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa7fJU-1sI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5919,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624\/revisions\/5919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}