I can swim, I can't swim

Receiving the Jesus Lizard treatment in Portugal

He’s clawing at curly-haired heads, shoving down on halter tops and t-shirts with his own band name on them, traveling meters with breaststroke, butterfly, sidestroke, freestyle, crawling toward some invisible light. The people, the water, they’re so happy. They’re touching his face, they’re clutching the bottoms of his brown cowboy boots. They’re sending him far far away from where he came, and they’re going with him.

He’s David Yow of The Jesus Lizard singing “Seasick” at Primavera Sound Porto.

I got what I wished for: to see a Charli xcx show and also to see complete unself-conscious abandon that elevates everyone around it. I thought I’d get both of them from Charli herself but it turns out that I had to walk over a hill at the same festival to get the latter from David, no matter how much I appreciate and am awed by Charli’s skill, genuine coolness, and everclear music.

When I told Mac McNeilly that their show woke me right up (spiritually), he said “I keep telling people we are giving them the ‘treatment.’”

Today Waxahatchee heads to a zoo—the Beekse Bergen “safari park” in Hilvarenbeek, The Netherlands—to play Best Kept Secret Festival. It’s Father’s Day and we’re playing in the same place as Wilco, the first time that’s ever happened in my life. Winding up at the same show as the Wilcos, without being a kid tugging at their shirts. Even though we just toured with them last month, I can’t wait to see ’em.

Tomorrow I’ll take a grossly early train to London to meet up with Casey, and we’ll play an acoustic in-store at Rough Trade West. Come around and see us if you’re a Londoner. (By the way, today’s the last day—the seventeenth day—to get a copy of Last Missouri Exit with Merge Records’ 17% discount. Use the code “CASEOATS17” here.)

Gotta get on the bus to the zoo. Thanks for being here and please STAY SAFE out there.

Spencer