Guided By Voices - Useless Inventions

The FLaming Lips -Hit Me Like You Did The First Time 02

Sunny Day Real Estate - 100 million...."Can we own everything?"

And Time Marches On

It's been awhile since I've posted anything of significance on here so I here's a little blah blah blah for you.

Things have been fairly uneventful unless you count the oh so classy car spitting incident. Magnificent sons played at the High Dive on Tuesday 02/15/11 and we had a lot of fun. Lazer Kitty was awesome. Our set went well with only a few drunken hiccups. I may have been a little too "dooky" lately and am about to dial that back. I'm stoked about flying my brother up next month since I have not seen him in SIX AND A HALF YEARS!!!!!!!! I have a lot of work to do at home before he comes though.

Anyway....that's the update for now. When I have anything to yap about I'll drop it here.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Sarah Jarosz "Song Up In Her Head" live in-store performance at Waterloo...

Sweet mandocello action....and that is awesome playing and writing from an 18 year old girl.

Chad VanGaalen - Wind Driving Dogs (Sled Island 2007)

For real

A non-believer who not only doesn't want children but prefers to never be around them.....what more could a man ask for in a woman? Lol

This is one of the best albums of ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ragin' Full On by fIREHOSE

Aural Fix - 02/03/11

Due to mild food poisoning(by my own hand) I did not feel like doing anything here yesterday. I'm back to 100% and would like to start with today's aural fix.

Underwater Moonlight by The Soft Boys.

Today's Aural Fix - 02/01/11

Farm by dinosaur Jr.

Cold Ass Morning

According to the news it was hovering around 30 degrees in Seattle this morning. I love riding my bike to work when it's that cold(as long as it's not windy...or snowing, of course). I never get al decked out in gear. All a person really needs is a short sleeved base layer, a t-shirt and another short sleeved shirt of choise. Pull on some arm warmers and your gloves and you're ready to go. I have to admit I do love getting "the look" from the Spandex crew.

Hot Snakes - I Hate the Kids...my Portland theme song.

Back to work

Well, I kept an open mind about Portland and I had a lot of fun....even if I did never make it back to the Barrel House for more sours and bottles. I did, however, learn that if I ever tire of Seattle all I have to do is spend 24 hours in Portland. I can have fun in Portland but that place is soooooooo not for me. It's dirty, a little trashy, too many punk ass hipster bitches looking down their douchbag noses at you and most of all....TOO SLEEPY.

I also found something I've been missing for awhile and am very happy to be exploring once again. Thanks, Aim.

Now, I'm back at work. I'm ready to move forward. I'm ready to take more plunges into outdoors goodness. I'm stronger, wiser and ,best of all, happier.

Portland - Saturday 01/29/11

I did not take as many pictures today as I was on my bike a lot. Amy and I rode up Hawthorn St. looking for breakfast. We stopped at the first place we saw that seemed nice, Hawthorn street Cafe. The food was awesome. Amy got a smoked salmon benedict and I was quite jealous. I got a potato and veggie dish. Here's Aim waiting for our food to arrive.

Nice socks turned into arm warmers. Lol.

After food we decided to walk around the neighborhood for a few. I needed to use the bathroom so we swung into the Fred Myer. I'll tell you something. I had a lot of fun yesterday but today I am seeing all the creepy shit that skeeves me out about Portland. Here's a classy example of typical Portland.

It's the old sneak to the bathroom with the stolen saki trick. We've all seen that one before.

After that we hopped back on our bikes and rode around for about an hour. We dropped off Amy's bike and decided to walk across the bridge into the downtown area. Here's Portland from the Burnside Bridge today.

Not too bad if you don't pay attention to all the creepy shit on the other side of the bridge.Also, Seattle is by far much more beautiful.

We walked around, made fun of the dumb asses standing in a long line for Voodoo Doughnuts and then had some vegan Chinese food at Vegetarian House. It was absolutely awesome.

Oh yeah, We saw this guy while walking around.

So freaking cute!

We walked back over the bridge and walked around for about another hour. We just got back tot he room and are trying to figure out what we want to do. I want to hop in the car and head back to Seattle to be honest. I see it this way.....If I tire of Seattle I can always come spend 24 hours down here. Seattle is by far much more superior and the hipsters here make Seattle hipsters look like the wait staff at Rom Mai Thai.

Portland - Friday 01/28/11 Continued

I thought I would blog a few times during the day but plans do tend to change, right? We thought it was going to be easy to find a vegan breakfast but we were wrong. Every place that was open was only serving pastries and I'm not one for settling for a pastry when I want a meal. So, we headed back to Doug Fir Lounge for food. This place is actually pretty cool and had plenty of vegetarian options. don't mind the picture quality.

Being on the same property as the hotel made it an easy choice as well.

After breakfast we decided to walk over to Cascade Brewing's Barrel House.....where we spent several hours getting crocked on sours.

We sat at the bar in front of the best display ever.

They had a wonderful tap menu for the day.

They also had two full barrels pouring.

Needless to say, we had several beers.

We left after that to find food. We wound up a few blocks from the room at an awesome place called Sizzle Pie Pizza. They had awesome vegan pies as well as regular pies. They will be receiving more income on this trip.

We then slid next door to B-Side and had several very strong whiskey gingers before heading back to the room where I had forgotten my morning art.

Classy, huh? I think housekeeping came in. I hope they loved it.

With music blasting from the venue and a fucked up television we hit the sack. I found this stupid crap on the night stand.

I just don't get self-help books.

Anyway, it's now Saturday morning and time to hop on the bikes and hit the city. Enjoy your day, humans.

Portland - Friday Morning 01/28/11

The ride down was uneventful and very quick. We made it from Capitol Hill to The Jupiter Hotel in under 3 hours. We stopped to ask about parking knowing that check in wasn't until 4 PM. however, the girl at the desk had a room available. So we are checked in.

There's wine service:

This wall mural is not nearly as fun as the waterfall in our last room.

IKEA swank.

I like the room lighting too.

The inside of the main door is a chalkboard. I'll post pictures of drunken fun on that later but for now it's time to wander off and find breakfast.

In Lue of Random Friday Notes - Misc. Bullshit Thursday 01/27/11 (Updates Throughout the Day)

Since we are leaving for Portland early tomorrow morning I'll be posting random bullshit here today.

Speaking of leaving for Portland, we thought taking the train would be a great idea. Seriously, not having to drive and being able to bring both of our bikes would be perfect....albeit very un-American. Turns out it would be around $200 for both of us round trip. Were we in Europe it would have been 1/4 the cost. I blame it on Amtrak making the Coastal Starlight more "family friendly". Damned families are always ruining it for fun-loving adults. So it will be a driving trip after all.

Another driving thought....commuters. Man, they make me nearly piss my pants with laughter. They get upset about tolls going on the 520 bridge and parking rates going up in Seattle. I say get a fucking job near where you live, jackasses, or shut the fuck up. Better yet, drop the "better than you" ego and get on public transportation. There's a reason this city proper is trying to add bike lanes and make it less car friendly......because that's what the residents want. It's non-Seattlite commuters that are throwing a fit about it. Actually, don't shut the fuck up. You'll take away some of my free entertainment.

Weather..........feels great outside today and the fog is awesome. It's making me think about hiking and camping more and more. Since I'm in Portland this weekend, I'm planning a nice trip for hiking on Saturday the 5th. Not sure where but it will be good. I'll be trying to do something similar every Saturday this spring, summer and fall. I do plan on going up Mt. Pugh this summer. I'll need to find someone to go with me on that on who will be able to do it.

Here's a damned funny story.

This person is my favorite human on the planet.

I could never ask for a better friend in this universe.

You should be listening to Choreographed Man of War by Robert Pollard of GBV fame.

Eastman makes a gorgeous mandocello(F hole)

I keep changing my mind, but seriously, I really want this.

Today's Addiction

'Dirt Don't Hurt' by Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs. I cannot stop listening to this today.

Life is too short to......

....spend time on people and/or things that consistantly make you miserable. It's also too short to allow other people to drain you with their childish behavior.

Regrets? Life is to short for those as well. You can have yours but don't try to hand them to me All you'll see is me getting smaller off in the distance.

Sarah Jarosz "My Muse"

Focus Shift

I'm so happy to be back on my bike. It really makes me think that this summer will be the first summer here about which I'm actually excited. Between the camping, travelling, biking, hiking kayaking(after my boat purchace), it will be tough to get much more outdoorsy. This is causing me to really shift my focus from music to these activities.

Hell yes, it's going to be a good year.

"Holy crap on a pita!!!!!!"

Thanks to a friend who pointed this out......which is soon to be at PCC. Me want!

Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso

Breweries, Bikes and Vegan Valhalla

As previously mentioned, Portland has been chosen as the destination for this weekend. A couple of other spots were on the list, Bellingham(with hikes in the Chuckanuts) and the ONP(with cold, damp camping and hikes). Portland won for several reasons. First, it's just easier and no gear needs to be purchased. Second, Portland is home to Cascade Brewing and their Barrel house(which I will get to in a few). Third, VEGAN FOOD!!!!! and tons of it. Lastly, should we choose to get some exercise we can rent bikes for the weekend or step out of town for a few to enjoy one of the many hikes within close range.

Let's talk about Cascade Brewing. They make all sorts of beer but specialize in sour, cask aged, blended ales. Today is "Tap It Tuesday" at their Barrel House. They'll be tapping Cherry Bain de Brugge. This little brother of Bourbonic Plague, 2009 Bain de Brugge is a spiced porter with hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, orange peel and star anise, additionally aged on cherries.  There are hints of cherry sweetness throughout the deep maltiness of this cellared beer. The cherries appear again in the finish and leave a lingering sour coating on the palate. This is a single barrel project. I really hope there is still some of that left Friday when we arrive.

Good thing about the Barrel House is that it's only blocks away from Jupiter Hotel where we will be staying. We have stayed here in the past. It's a bit of a hipstery place but it's nice and it's CHEAP. Also, it's on the same property as, and owned by the same people as, Doug Fir. Doug Fir is an amazing venue. We saw Black Mountain and Howlin' Rain last time we were here(Howlin' Rain decimated Black Mountain). This time we'll be going to a local shoegaze/psych show with The Prids, The Upsidedown and Ten Million Lights happening on Saturday.

Now on to food. There are a few places that I'm dead set on eating. I really want brunch at Blossoming Lotus. I'm a sucker for some BBQ so a trip to Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ Cart may be in order. I refuse to leave town without making it to Portobello. That's the type of vegan food this town is missing.

Something tells me this trip is going to be the trip that changes my mind about how I feel about Portland. Then again, this will also be my first visit there that has been researched as well as my first trip with an actual purpose other than just being out of town.

I'll be dropping a few updates from Portland along with some photos so expect to see lots of food and beer.

ADDENDUM:

Talk about convenient.....looks like we can rent biks directly from Jupiter Hotel. Sweet.

Week of January 23rd.

Blogs may be scarce this week but who knows? I may get around to it.

On another note, a trip to Portland is in the works for the weekend. We'll be visiting Cascade Brewing's Barrel House as well as a few other breweries. Maybe there will be a hike and a show. It's mostly up in the air at this moment. Expect pictures and stories.

Check out these links to see the kind of weekend that will be going down.

http://stumptownvegans.com/
http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/pdxguide
http://www.portlandbeer.org/brewerymap/
http://jupiterhotel.com/
http://www.dougfirlounge.com/

Random Friday Notes-01/21/11(Updated throughout the day)

I forgot to mention....we must have really rocked hard on Wednesday at The Comet Tavern. By the time the night was over the entire bottom of my right shoe had fallen off.

Food for thought-The past is for lessons learned. Never spend too much time seeking more than said lessons for all we have is the current moment and the future.

Magnificent Sons is hashing ideas on some visual effects for shows. Who knows what the end result will be but it should be entertaining and fun.

Pondering the Velvet Underground lyric, "What do you think I'd see if I could walk away from me?"

Today's funny and true quote about The Susan G. Komen Foundation - "They make corporations money and make people feel good about themselves! Isn't that the highest possible goal that can be acheived?"

'Left Home' by Sarah Jarosz is an awesome song if you like bluegrass.

Comet Tavern - 01/19/11

So yeah....we played a show at The Comet Tavern last night. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with playing there but we'll stay off the hate side of that to keep things positive. Despite my worries we had a great show and it was an awesome night of rock.

Let me rewind to the beginning of my day. I woke up in quite a fog. See, the night before I had ventured out with a friend who was having a rough time. Unfortunately, I decided to not eat any dinner. After some cider, two red iced teas(kombucha, cran and vodka), a tulip of Ichtegem's and a split 750ml of Cascade Kreik I was spent. I went home and had a pb&j before hitting the pillows.....which brings me back to the fog. I was wiped all day.

After work I decided to hit Brouwer's for a couple of Belgian ales to smooth things out. Selena was tending bar. Her and I always shoot the shit about misc nonsense when it's dead in there and it's sort of what I needed after having my mind numbed with mail. We had a "who's more tired" contest and I was out to get ready for the show. I hope she got some sleep and that her week of dog sitting doesn't drive her insane.

I drove home and relaxed for about an hour then headed down to the practice space. Usually, everyone in the band loads out and loads in. Daniel, our new bassist, could not be there due to his showing of a mockumentary he has made with a friend. That left Jon, Jer and me to do the grunt work. We loaded up and headed to the world's greatest dive bar.

Load in was uneventful. I found premium parking in front of The Comet. Daniel popped in before heading to Chop Suey for the mockumentary. I was tired. I was nervous due to my penchant for being antisocial. Nonetheless, I relaxed and took it all in stride.

The first band up was Ten Suns. They're a local three piece post rock/metal/psych band with plenty of fog and enough lighting to scar your retinas for life. They fucking KILLED!!!!!!! If I could change two things about their set it would be me not having to worry about playing and I would have been stoned out of my gourd. They were tight. Their drummer was awesome. Nice rolling bass lines with perpetual motion. Tons or reverb, gain, delay and loops on the guitar.

After a short moment of drama wondering whether Daniel was going to make it to The Comet to play, we set up. The Comet used to have a riser in the corner for the drums and the rest of the band was on the floor. Recently, they put in a stage that goes across the back wall. After seeing Kinski there I can say that it sounds 1,000,000 times better. I figuered there would be more room on a full stage but was soon to find out otherwise. Daniel and I were crammed together on one side of the stage. Actually, I feel for Daniel. he's playing through two pedals and I have seven plus my amp switch. Those pedals take up some real estate on the stage. We dealt and got passed it. Funny side story....Daniel plugged his pedals in backwards and the sound guy had to point it out when he wasn't getting a signal. I told the sound guy it was Daniel's first day....and really, it was!

Despite some misses, pedal drama, bad notes, ass to cymbal trauma and bassist capery(actually, the cape was a nice change of pace from the BS we got from our original bassist) things went well. We all had fun. We got to crank up out volume. Response was really nice. I have no complaints to be honest.

The next band up was Hail the Sun from Chico, CA. They were 4 young kids playing proggy punk a la At the Drive In. Awesome band. The drummer was their lead vocalist. I was very impressed with his ability to play complex beats and front with the charisma he had. Both guitarists were high energy. There was some table jumping involved. Their bassist was feeling under the weather but he powered through. I hope their evening in Salem, OR tonight treats them well.

So, yeah...........it was an awesome night of awesome rock. It was good to see some of the people that were there. Dan Brown, Dan Holt, Dani Banani(although I didn't really get a chance to talk to her) made it a "Dan heavy" evening. It's always good to see Lori even though it's no surprise when she shows up. Meeting some of Daniel's friends was nice. There was a very jovial feel to the evening on a whole and that I like.

It's good to be playing out again. It's good to be in a band with everyone on a similar page.

Spring weekend in January.

Look, I love cold weather. I love snow. I would prefer it to be cold enough to snow if it's going to be below 40 degrees for daytime highs. This season, however, has been a little brutal. It hasn't only been a lot of cold rain...it's been A LOT of cold rain. Rain heavy enough to keep me off my bike and curb me from walking to work as well. That is why this weekend was so awesome.

It's been rainy, yes, but it has been the kind of rain I'm used to here....drizzly rain. It's the temperatures that have been nice. Low 50s for the highs. It's been breezy. All in all it's felt really nice out.

On Friday night I took a stroll with A.R. We cruised down to Pike Place market and had some seafood lasagna at The Athenian. I was somewhat impressed. I miss seafood when I'm doing the vegan thing and this was just what I needed. After a failed attempt to find synthetic fiber underwear sans dick hole in the downtown area we swung into Whole Foods to stock up for our hike the next morning.

We went to out respective homes from Whole Foods. I was feeling like my failing to go to bed at a decent hour over the passed few years has been somewhat detrimental to my physical and mental health. See, a few years ago when I was getting in shape and feeling very positive I was hitting the bed at 9:00 almost every night. I usually woke refreshed and clear headed. That has not been the case over the last few years. So, I have made the decision to go to bed by 9:00 every night I can.....this means I'll have to leave practice around 8:00 on Thursdays. No big deal.

Saturday morning arrived to me waking ten minutes before my alarm time of 5:50. I felt awesome and quickly got ready after checking the weather. I picked up A.R. and we headed out to Gold Bar.

The hike was awesome. I've been to Wallace Falls many times in the past but after such a long, wet and cold fall Saturday was perfect for it. I quickly shed my shell. It was nice to be able to hike in short sleeves and be completely comfortable. Aside from some annoying Eagle Scout troupes it was fairly quiet out there. that was, until we got to the Middle Falls view point. Due to the rains and snow melt the falls were raging. Actually, you could feel them from about a 1/4 mile away through the ground. Here's how they looked:

We continued on to the Upper Falls and then back to the car for our return trip.

We had more seafood for lunch when we got back to town. Blackened salmon and some fried scallops really hit the spot and gave us some padding for our trips to Brouwer's and Duck Island. On a side note....hiking and biking days are going to be my drinking days. Nothing says "Reward for hard work" like an Abt 12 or bottle of Cascade Cuvee du Jongleur.

Sunday went well too. Other Coast Cafe makes their own seitan that you can get on any sammich they serve. I got the reuben. Practice went well. We came down a little in volume and played with more dynamics than we have in quite awhile. I passed on drinks and opted for a nice evening walk around Capitol Hill after hitting up PCC in Fremont for dinner.

Yeah....seems like I'm starting to take the proper steps to getting back to where I was. I'm feeling very positive and that alone makes me pretty damned happy.

The Crazy

I told a friend, "I feel a little crazy."

Her response was, "Sorry things are crazy for ya - but honestly, this is probably good productive crazy as opposed to destructive crazy."

I said, "I hope so.", and she said, "Me too. It seems like you are asking yourself some good questions."

She's absolutely correct.

One Big Ass Reset Button

That's what I need....a big ass reset button. Oh wait, I have one. It's me. I am my own reset button. I can put the brakes on any aspect of my own life. It's really what I need if I'm going to bring myself to a place of balance.

I need to give myself the time and the space to mend from all the negative energy I've created and absorbed from others over the last few years. Then I can focus on my personal goals. Goals that have nothing to do with anyone but myself. Goals from which I should never be distracted by other people. I do let other people get in the way of my own growth all too often. Now that is a first step....acknowledging it.

Here's the me I miss:

That's the me I'll find again over the next year.

Make it stop!!!!!!!!!!

Classic rock coming from the print shop down the hall is like a cloudy veil on my thoughts. Up yours Aerosmith.

Seriously, I cannot even begin to write on a topic or be creative with that vile swill swarming my aural sense like the death screams of a million kittens.