#caiden moss

[rainydawgradioblog]

From Fall Fling to THING, and the Seattle Showboxes in Between

Most attendees of the 2022 Fall Fling will remember The Moss’s enrapturing performance, complete with barefoot bassist Caiden Jackson, singer Tyke James’s charisma, and, for those at the barricade who had the chance to see it (and pose for a picture if you were me), a setlist on a paper plate. Loyal concert enthusiasts who stayed until the end will recall headliner Jean Dawson, donning a rain jacket despite the unrelenting Seattle heat—summer hadn’t given way to autumn weather just yet—and his fusion of hip hop and experimental indie rock. Perhaps the early birds at Fall Fling can reminisce over the two openers, both local groups: Kaede 01, a J-Pop/J-Rock cover band, and Aurora Ave., an ensemble whose sound is a blend of indie rock and pop with hints of jazz. The majority of audience members, however, didn’t start to trickle in until The Moss was on, about an hour and a half into the show. My group was the outlier, showing up half an hour before Kaede 01 went on and maintaining our spot in the front row until the end. As a concert enthusiast who has spent hundreds of dollars on tickets over the past few years, I was baffled that this show was “brought to students’ doorsteps free of charge,” as I now tell my audiences as a campus tour guide. As an incentive to attend the University of Washington, I’ll inform prospective students that in 2015, just two years before SZA released her debut album, Ctrl, she was an opener at the Spring Fling, playing alongside Rae Sremmurd and A-Trak. That’s right, opener! Through the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW)’s Fall and Spring Flings, countless venerable artists, from Nirvana to Kendrick Lamar, have entertained UW crowds.

Aurora Ave. may not be Nirvana (yet), but their performance certainly made a lasting impression on me. In 2021, the group released their first and only album thus far under the same name as the band. They played several of these songs at the Fall Fling, my favorites of which are “Skipping Stones” and “It’s Over/Who Said.” A saxophonist, trumpet player, drummer, and several bassists lined the stage, setting the musical backdrop for the vocalist: a young woman who swayed to the melodies her bandmates played while she sang. At the barricade, I cheered for Aurora Ave. They were the first group to catch my attention with their call-and-response between instruments and upbeat neo-jazz phrases blending seamlessly with smooth soprano vocals. At the end of their set, the ensemble covered Tyler, The Creator feat. Kali Uchis’s “See You Again,” engaging with the audience and even getting a few people to sing along and wave their hands. 

After a forty-minute intermission, The Moss arrived, decked in earthy tones and ready to bump the energy up a notch. An established crowd had gathered who immediately grew infatuated with the talented Tyke, Caiden, Willie, and Addison—including a girl named Cece who made her way up to the front row with me. Based on our mutual affinity for The Moss, I made a wild guess that Cece and I had similar music tastes. In the spirit of spontaneity and camaraderie, I asked if she’d come to another show with me the next night. We all remember how easy it was to let your guard down and make friends that first week of college.

“Hey, this is random, but do you listen to Arlo Parks?” I yelled between songs.

“Yeah, I love her. Why?”

“I’m actually seeing her at Showbox Sodo tomorrow and I have an extra ticket if you want to join me.”

“Yeah, I’m down!”

Well, turns out Arlo Parks was NOT performing at Showbox Sodo. Arlo and her opener Puma Blue were at the OTHER Seattle Showbox arena, The Showbox. Who let Seattle use “Showbox” to name two of its venues? Cece and I couldn’t be the only ones to mix the two up, and in fact, we weren’t. When we arrived, expecting a line of Arlo-obsessed fans impatiently waiting for the doors to open, Cece and I were surprised to find that we were alone. We didn’t start to panic yet—we’d arrived ambitiously early. Still, as we waited for guests to trickle in, only one did. I want to say his name was Wyatt, but I honestly can’t be sure. He Who Is Probably Wyatt approached us, and we soon confirmed the three of us were searching for a concert that had no signs of being found. There were no musical ties to this location: no tour buses, security guards, flashy outfits, or excited chatter in the vicinity. After waiting a few more minutes, someone Googled the concert and ascertained that we were at the wrong venue. We laughed it off and began the trek to the other Showbox.

The journey to The Showbox was a fever dream. I think we took some sort of public transportation because I can’t imagine us walking for thirty minutes, but I do remember there was a portion where we had to walk along the highway. As we strolled down the island of the highway, I could feel the rustle of cars rushing by me. Terrifying. Yet I remember feeling a buzz of exhilaration in my step, despite knowing that my company and safety net of people were two strangers: one I’d freshly met fifteen minutes before, and the other whom I’d known a whole night longer. Comforting, huh?

In a moment of serendipity, we made it to The Showbox just as opener Puma Blue began his set, and managed to weave through the crowd to the barricade. This scene of my life felt scripted; it was as if the writers arranged this elaborate concert venue mix-up just to introduce a new side character into the story: HWIP Wyatt or what’s his name. Unlike most of the attendees that night, Wyatt had come to this concert exclusively for Puma Blue and had never even heard of Arlo Parks.

“Wow, that’s dedication,” I exclaimed. “But you’ve gotta stay for her set after.”

“We’ll see,” he responded. “What are your favorite songs of hers?”

“I really like ‘Caroline’.”

“Okay. I’ll stay for ‘Caroline’.”

When “Caroline” came on, I nudged Wyatt, then disassociated completely and lent myself to Arlo for the next four minutes. I let her inflate me with her tenderness and poetry. Wyatt was in awe of her, too, and ended up staying for her whole set. In the chaos of the crowd’s dissipating congestion after the encore, “Softly,” Cece and I lost Wyatt just as we found Puma Blue at the merchandise booth, taking photos and talking to his fans.

“We met a guy tonight who bought tickets to this show just to see you, and I wanted to let you know,” I told Puma, after complimenting him on his set.

“Wow, really?! That’s amazing! I’m honored. I’d love to meet him. Is he here?” Puma said something along these lines.

“Sorry, we separated from him as everyone was leaving.”

“Well, thank you for telling me. That made my night.”

After saying goodbye to Puma, the writers were at it again. Cece and I stepped out of the venue and came face-to-face with Wyatt one final time. I couldn’t believe it.

“WE JUST MET PUMA AND WE TOLD HIM ABOUT YOU. GO BACK INSIDE AND FIND HIM. QUICK!!!” I screamed, my voice dead from singing along to Arlo’s songs.

“WHAT?!”

“PUMA WANTS TO MEET YOU. HE KNOWS YOU CAME JUST TO SEE HIM. GO!!!”

“OKAY, I’M GOING. THANK YOU!!!” He was electric. I hope he caught Puma in time. 

Funny enough, I never hung out with Cece after that. I see her every once in a while around campus and think of the eventful concert experience we shared—that type of adventure bonds you for life.

…

Many concerts later, the highlights of which were Dora Jar, SZA, and Omar Apollo, and The Moss Pt. II, another concert was brought to my backyard. I often compare my hometown of Port Townsend, Washington, to Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow, Connecticut because of the quirky, tight-knit nature of its residents and the multitude of festivals we have. From a Wearable Arts Show to a Rhododendron Festival and an entire week of festivities in honor of Washington’s state flower, Port Townsend’s community events are a vessel for artistry. THING Festival, established in 2019 by Seattle Theater Group (STG), was my dream come true: an independent three-day music festival nestled in Fort Worden State Park, just down the hill from my house. Before relocating to Carnation, Washington, THING’s last run in its initial location was in August of 2023; since I volunteered, this was my first time properly going and not just sneaking in or listening from my house.

As one can imagine, August 25-27 was one of the best weekends of my life. Laufey, Cigarettes After Sex, and “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners were the TikTok draw-ins, and they didn’t disappoint. Mild High Club positioned their music equipment back to back, and each player sat facing their boards—my friend joked that it looked like they were playing chess. I volunteered during the majority of The Beths’ set, but my friends brought me a guitar chip that I’ve plastered on my dorm wall next to my Samia (who also performed that weekend) and Arlo Parks chips (from seeing her again a year and a half later). Thee Sacred Souls was my favorite live show that weekend. I like to boast that Josh Lane hopped off the stage and stood directly over me while singing “Will I See You Again?” In honor of “Can I Call You Rose?,” my friends and I bought Josh (humor me into thinking we’re on a first-name basis… he did sign a post-it note after the show with “all love, Josh”) a bouquet of roses and decorated the exterior paper with roses and kind messages. The security guard handed it to him, but since we were at the barricade for that show, he knew it came from us, and extended his gratitude after the show. I’ve never felt like more of a die-hard fangirl before.

Cherry Ferrari was not on my radar until my dad, upon looking at the THING lineup, recommended I check them out. This duo was the first act on the smaller stage that Saturday afternoon, and I showed up over halfway through the set with easy access to the barricade. The female vocalist was transitioning from an original to a cover of “No Scrubs” by TLC. Something about her essence felt familiar. Was it her voice? Her appearance? Her charisma and dynamism?

As she continued performing, I realized it was all three. This girl HAD to be the lead singer of Aurora Ave. But where was the trumpet and the saxophone? And how come all the songs she’d played were in a completely different style? 

I dismissed the idea; it couldn’t be. 

Regardless of who she was, the singer’s stage presence struck me and I happily reciprocated her energy, as did the girls to my left. When she sang another original song, they knew all the words. I was impressed. Maybe they were her friends? Like before, I started a conversation with the girls between songs.

“Are you guys friends with the singer? How do you know the lyrics of her songs?” I asked.

“We don’t know her well or anything, but she opened for our friend’s band,” one of the girls said.

“Really? What are they called? I love finding new music.”

“Aurora Ave.”

No. Way. I waited until after Cherry Ferrari had finished their set and explained what I knew.

“This is gonna sound crazy, but I thought she was connected to Aurora Ave. I swear she came and performed at UW for our fall concert but as the lead singer for Aurora Ave. Do you know anything about that?”

“Oh, yeah. The lead singer couldn’t make that show, so she was just subbing in. This is her project, Cherry Ferrari.”

“Wow. She was a substitute for that show?! She sounded amazing. So are you guys from Seattle, then?”

“Yeah, we’re from West Seattle. We’re students at Western, though.”

“No way. I have a lot of friends at Western.”

“What about you?”

“I’m from Port Townsend—I live just up the hill—but I go to UW.”

“You LIVE here? I’m jealous,” one of the girls said. She had gorgeous auburn curls.

“Yeah, it’s pretty great. We have a lot of festivals like this. I’m Julia, by the way.”

“I’m Quincy, and this is Moira,” the girl with the auburn hair revealed.

“Nice to meet you.”

As Quincy, Moira, and I continued to familiarize ourselves with one another, a voice from the crowd joined in.

“Sorry to eavesdrop, but I know the singer, Emma! We met when she performed at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) Sound Off. I’m Sylvia.”

“Wow, everyone seems to know Miss Emma!” This was me.

“Here, I’ll introduce you if you want,” Sylvia said casually. She went up to Emma—THE Emma Wang, the overlap in the Venn diagrams between Aurora Ave, Cherry Ferrari, Fall Fling and THING Festival—and they embraced. I lied before: I think this was my biggest fangirl moment. As creative women of color, Emma and I had a lot in common; I could feel our interconnectedness. Perhaps she was the manifestation of my lofty musical aspirations. This made meeting her even more intimidating. 

“Hi!” I chirped. “You were fantastic.” I explained how I’d seen her at UW, and it was so cool to see her again with her own musical group in my hometown, blah, blah, blah, classic fangirl stuff. We took a few pictures with Sylvia and some with just the two of us. She asked me about what it was like to live in Port Townsend and I gave her some recommendations of things to do here if she had the time. We exchanged social media platforms before saying goodbye.

As I walked away with my new friends Quincy, Moira, and Sylvia, I continued to marvel at Emma’s talent. 

“Wow, I can’t believe it’s really her. I knew it! How old is she, anyway? Twenty?”

“Oh, she’s still in high school,” Sylvia said.

“You’re kidding. She’s so talented, and she looks a lot older.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’s even applied to college yet.” 

…

Fast forward a year and a half and Emma Wang is attending New York University to pursue her music career. How full circle is it that she reached out to me when she found out I was going to the Spring Fling to see Between Friends and wanted to meet up? A celebrity wanting to hang out with ME? We spent an hour texting back and forth catching up, and she told me she had a concert at Neumos on June 21st. I bought two tickets for my best friend Elio and me within minutes and told her I couldn’t wait to support her. Two shows ago, Emma had no idea who I was, but this time, she had someone to smile at and sing “Night Before” to in the front row.

-Julia Neville

[teltoadstool]

And... we’re back to these dorks. Caiden and Wolf were fighting over what, I don’t know, but if I had to guess, one of them insulted the other. That got interrupted though by Wolf getting a phone call. I’m not sure where he was stalking off to, but he left Caiden with Lewis.. which didn’t go well. Apparently whatever Lewis said was boring, but considering that Caiden is a snob, that could have been anything.

[teltoadstool]

Last screens of these guys for quite some time. Bats made the mistake of eating a candy bar he got. I’m pretty sure the poor baby had to throw up before he left. At least Wolf noticed while he was getting swarmed. Corey’s water need was so low he tried raising it by brushing his teeth, which didn’t help much. I left them like that, with the thought that everyone was going back to the dorm when I played them again. The next household is my avatar Aster’s family. It’s going to take a while to write their introductions, so I won’t be posting gameplay screens. I will be on tumblr everyday though.

[teltoadstool]

A little bit random here. The first one Bats was looking dramatic and Caiden was just being himself. The rest probably see that expression on Caiden a lot. 

The second one I wish I could remember what happened, but it was at least a couple months ago, so that’s not happening. Just from looking at it, I think that someone scared Bats from far away. Normally when that happens I take a overhead pic showing the distance, but I didn’t this time and I don’t know why. Also the university mascot came by. This time I actually didn’t mind as much, since I was sending these sims to university.

The third one was the first time anyone fixed any food. I think they were drinking to stave off any hunger. At least Caiden decided on something cold, since I don’t think I upped their cooking skills. 

The fourth one is Bats reading Oscar’s mind. The vampire mod I have lets them do that on their own. I don’t think he learned anything from it.

[teltoadstool]

I don’t know what Wolf did to get on Oscar’s bad side, but it must have been pretty bad, in Oscar’s opinion anyway. This was the first time I’ve had this freeze someone solid, so I really wasn’t expecting it. Poor thing was frozen solid for a couple hours. I just love how nobody seems to care. Bats was even smiling for pete’s sake. 

[teltoadstool]

I’m back to posting for now, mostly because I’m too hungry to have the patience to do anything else. My fault entirely. I skipped a meal. Anyway, back to the sims.

 I think the sequence of interactions was, accuse of being a vampire (Caiden to Bats), confess to being a vampire (Bats to Caiden), and ???. I mean, it looks like the confess went well, so I don’t know what Caiden was rejecting. At least one good thing came out of this, which is that Bats got to look adorable.

[teltoadstool]

Sorry for not posting for so long. There was no real reason, other than the fact that I just didn’t feel like it. This household is made up of four supernatural friends and their government handler, (who happens to know how to use magic, but that’s got nothing to do with not being human, right?). They live in Isla Paradiso in one of the EA houseboats. I’m actually looking for a better house, but I haven’t had any luck. Mostly because it has to be on the water somehow. They’re going to university. Well, not their handler. He already has an degree. This is incredibly long, so don’t say I didn’t warn ya! :P I think before I place a ‘read more’, I’m going to state their species. Going clockwise from the top right corner we have a plantsim, a merman, a werewolf, and a vampire. 

The order this time is for their descriptions to make the most sense, so we’re starting with the werewolf in the lower left corner. His name is Elliot Lane. He hates the name, so he usually only answers to Wolf. Although he has always been werewolf, the rich family he ran away from weren’t. Their handler, Oscar, who had to investigate his charges’ origins, will only say that his origins were scandalous. Wolf doesn’t really care. He is only thankful for his wolf form, after all it was incredibly helpful when he ran away at fifteen. Wolf is very possessive of everything he has, which weirdly includes his friends. They aren’t allowed to have friends that he hasn’t chosen to be his friend.They put up with this, because Wolf protects them. Despite this, everyone wants to be his friend or girlfriend. He tends to take advantage of his new ‘friends’, but he really doesn’t want to have anything to do with romance. He knows how to make people do what he wants, and is very good at knowing just how to talk to someone. He is studying physical education at university, but that’s mostly because his friends were going and he didn’t want to be left with Oscar. His traits are: Mean-Spirited, Charismatic, Athletic, Rebellious, Brave, Irresistible, and Hot Headed.

Next is the vampire in the lower right corner. His name is Thaddeus Bradley, although he usually goes by Bat. He was born an odd kind of mutant human. Oscar investigated and found that Bat’s mother was a scientist that was working with vampire bat dna. Needless to say, an accident happened while she was pregnant. His mother died when he was ten, leaving him alone since his father had abandoned his mother and him when Bat was born, because he blamed Bat’s mother for Bat’s mutation. The government had no idea Bat existed, since his mother kept him a secret, so Bat was left to fend for himself. Unfortunately distant relatives inherited the house he was living in, so he ended up on the streets. Bat lived on the streets for awhile, but didn’t have the strength to feed off of random passersby. He would have starved, but Wolf found him and decided that Bat was going to be his friend, so assisted in getting blood for him. Bat met Wolf when Wolf was sixteen, and is Wolf’s first and closest friend. He loves messing around with machines, so he is studying for a Technology degree. He’s very good at guessing what kind of person a person is, so the others always ask him what his opinion of people is. Random fact: Despite the fact that his mutation is comes from bats, most people think he’s some kind of wolf-man at first sight.  His traits are: Over-Emotional, Handy, Perceptive, Eccentric, and Friendly. 

Corey North is the plantsim in the upper left corner. Wolf saved Corey after the forest where he was living was sprayed with some kind of poison, which left Corey unconscious. The next day immediately after Corey came to, he ran to find a dirt mound and buried himself in it. He didn’t emerge for a couple weeks, which left Wolf and Bat worried about his well being, so Bat went over to him and just started rambling. Eventually Corey emerged to tell him to shut up. Having nowhere to go, Corey stayed with the strange duo, and started his long search for art supplies. He hates being around people, and tends to get angry if anyone talks to him. Most of the time he’s outside painting or drawing, which he hates to be interrupted when doing either. Corey’s going to get a fine arts degree.  His traits are: Brave, Loner, Loves the Outdoors, Artistic, and Hot-Headed. 

Caiden Moss, the merman in the upper right corner, was part of a very rich and influential family under the ocean. He’s now on land against his will. Oscar has questioned Caiden many times about this, but can never get a straight answer. In Oscar’s opinion, Caiden was either exiled or cursed, but most likely exiled, since Caiden still has his merman tail. Caiden washed ashore unconscious and hurt. The others rescued him from the beach and nursed him back to health, because Wolf, who was the one that found Caiden, had taken a shine to Caiden. Caiden at first really doesn’t like living with these ‘street urchins’, but they saved him, and to tell the truth he couldn’t live on his own. Caiden was the last to join the, besides Oscar, so he isn’t as close to the others as the others are to each other. Caiden hates being alone and is constantly looking for someone to talk to. Unfortunately that usually backfires tremendously, due to Caiden’s uppity attitude. It doesn’t help that Caiden’s a genus, and uses his knowledge against them. They get back at him by making fun of his clumsiness. Technically he’s only clumsy on land, but he can’t seem to get this argument to stop the teasing. He’s going to university for a science and medicine degree. His traits are: Social Butterfly, Clumsy, Genus, Proper, and Snob. 

Oscar Briggs is the one in the bottom picture. He works for a government organisation trying to understand the recently revealed supernatural population. He was assigned to this group of supernatural creatures as their caretaker. Oscar has the same level of authority over them that a parent has over their children. He doesn’t like kids much, which as everyone knows includes young adults, and he’s usually in a bad mood, but he warms up to his charges... eventually. Oscar isn’t scared of any supernatural being. He’s usually just annoyed at any show of power. At first the kids didn’t know about his magical abilities, but they found out after he used them to protect Caiden from Monster Hunters. His charges knowing allows him to use his powers to discipline them, but it also means they have some dirt on him, which they can tell the Organisation, which really wouldn’t be a good thing for Oscar. Oscar definitely isn’t stupid in any way. He’s very good at reading his charges and figuring out their secret terms. He also had no trouble collecting the information about their pasts, which he did without the parties involved knowing.  His traits are: Dislikes Children, Grumpy, Perceptive, Brave, and Genus. 

[teltoadstool]

They spent almost the whole first day just talking to each other, which is impressive. Normally I let the sims loose and they just find some object to play with for the entire day. 

So, Oscar apparently upset poor Caiden. Most of the time if Oscar says something that upsets them, he’s pointing out some flaw of their character for them ‘to work on’, or sometimes he’s trying to discipline them. Something like ‘you left your dirty plate on the table’ type of thing. Weirdly this is the second time a mean interaction was followed by gossiping, which in some cases probably could be considered a mean interaction as well. 

I imagine it would a bit hard to sneak up on someone when your phone is ringing... 

[teltoadstool]

As per custom, I set them loose for their first day. Caiden and Wolf were just having a pleasant enough conversation, when Oscar swooped in to insult Wolf somehow. Immediately followed by gossip, which you would think the whispering wouldn’t work from that distance, but whatever. They were probably talking about how Corey made a beeline to the hot tub.

[teltoadstool]

Caiden and Corey went bed as soon as they got back. There’s two pics of Caiden, because the lighting is pretty in his room for some reason. 

Bats stayed up to have a conversation with Jeffery Dean, which was where I left them evidently. Thankfully by time I got back to them, I learned how to turn off the full moon lighting. Unfortunately a lot of the next pics are super dark. I might try to lighten them up.