Over the last three years, the living room of 154 Thorndike Street has hosted dozens of thankful bands and has forged lasting friendships. Sadly, we always knew the bittersweet day would come when we would have to leave that apartment, its drafty windows and hilariously painted walls for greener pastures.
It was our distinct honor to have Pearl and the Beard in for our final Sleepover Show at 154. Showing up an hour early, Jocelyn, Emily and Jeremy exited their PT Cruiser with smiles wider than we’d ever seen. Eager to explore the apartment building on our last day, they settled in an entirely empty room. For their first song, they chose Black Vessel, a reworked version of Vessel from their record: God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson, allowing their harmonies to rattle and echo against the empty rafters as though they were on the very ghost ship about which they sang.

True heartbreak came in the form of The Lament of Coronodo Brown, a song whose first lines perfectly summed up the way I felt about leaving the place that was home for 3 years. They sang in front of one of our blackboard walls, a trademark of Sleepover Shows and the apartment itself. After the song they grabbed towels, used their hands and washed off the portrait that once adorned the walls.

There was no choice but to lighten the somber mood, so P&TB lead us outside to give one of the silliest performances we’ve ever seen. Douglas Douglass is the song we left the house humming, the song that still infects our brains like that earworm from Star Trek II.

Callback.

Jeremy, Emily and Jocelyn stood atop the jungle gym made for toddlers and put the smiles back on our faces. After the show as they were packing to leave, Emily looked at us bashfully and asked “Can we hug you?” Several hugs later, we bid goodbye to our new friends Pearl and the Beard and headed back inside to ready ourselves for the move across town.