Snoqualmie Falls

We decided to venture outside of the city one morning to visit Snoqualmie Falls, about 35 minutes outside of Seattle. The waterfall drops 270 feet. From up top it's a beautiful view, but what makes it even better is that you can hike down the bottom.

Heading down is easy, it's a nice stroll through beautifully green trees. The way back up, however, is not so easy. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty. I'll spare you the "after" photo.

Dancing Queen

Seattle, home of music and fashion. Right around the corner from the Seattle Center, two aspiring artistes dance their way into our hearts. I went directly to the closest store to by the shorts this boy was wearing. [click on the photos for a closer look]

Rappin' with Missy Misdemeanor

One of the highlights of the trip was the Experience Music Project. It has elements of a rock musuem, combined with interactive exhibits. The tour begins, of course, with a room dedicated to music from the Northwest. To illustrate how overblown grunge had become by '94, they had Pearl Jam and Nirvana comic books on display. (Kurt Cobain's character even had big muscles)

Traci's favorite was the TRL room - highlighting more recent pop acts like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. There was a station in that room where you could put on headphones and get rapping lessons. The voice of what sounded like a 3rd grade teacher would say, "Now you'll notice here that Missy Misdemeanor Elliott is using several different rhyming techniques..." After you had the rap lesson you were able to rap, karaoke-style in a mic on the console.

There was also a room upstairs where you could learn to play different instruments - guitars, drums, keyboards, guitar pedals, etc. For a mere $10 you can have 10 minutes of practice time, followed by 8 minutes of recording time in a sound booth to record whatever you'd like. The only drawback is that it's a completely live recording, meaning just one track. If I'd a had my band with me, I figure we could've knocked out an entire EP for about $30 bucks! Next time we're all in Seattle, I guess.

The museum also had a very cool Jimi Hendrix exhibit (Jimi was a Seattle native), a interesting-as-it-could-be exhibit about the not-that-intersting Bob Dylan and a room dedicated to early rap pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. Well worth the $20 entrance fee.

The Smell of Seattle

Seattle has a very interesting smell. I think it's caused by the natural dankness of a wet climate, mixed with lots of fish. To cover up these two smells, every shop at Pike's Place Market burns a different flavor of incense. What a combination.

Despite the abundance of local restaurants all along the market and waterfront, Traci chose to eat lunch at Red Robin. We walked in the door and I thought, "Ugh, this place stinks like incense, too!" Upon further inspection, I realized it was me.

Grunge's Not Dead

Nearly 15 years after the beginning of the Seattle rock explosion, I am finally making my grunge pilgrimage. In my little dream world, my experience would be just like the movie Singles - I would sit at a coffee shop with Pearl Jam and we'd go to a club where Soundgarden would just happen to be playing.

Well, thanks to Seattle radio, grunge lives on. Seattle obviously its hometown boys. We heard lots of the following:

Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Temple of the Dog
Mad Season
Alice in Chains
Chris Cornell
Soundgarden

and even some non-grunge locals:

MxPx
Vendetta Red
Harvey Danger (a band that Seattle should disown)

Death Defying

Jealous of Traci's meteorology skills, I also decided to look into new career options. I am now planning on joining the circus as the guy that rides a bike around a ring 30 feet above the ground.

Traci the Weather Lady?

Traci enjoyed the Seattle weather so much that she has decided to quit the library go into the fascinating field of meteorology. [Click on the pic for a full size image.]

Virtual Superstar

My brother-in-law John grew up in Washington and went to college in Seattle. Thus he (probably against his will) became our trip advisor for our journey to the Pacific Northwest. When we told him we were going to the Seattle Center (home of the Space Needle and the 1962 World’s Fair) he recommended that we visit the Pacific Science Center. We made it the first stop.

After paying our admission, we quickly realized that we were the only adults there not accompanying a child. Did that stop us from having a good time? Oh, hell no!

This is a shot of me playing “Virtual Goalkeeper.” The 12-year-old workers may have thought that it was lame that I kept coming back to play again, but I had to beat the high score of the 11-year-old that was there with his grandpa. Don’t worry, I stomped him!

Look at the great form and the mad skillz.

June Consumption

It hasn't really been a very inspiring month for new music. I spent a little type catching up on some old crap.

Music
Decemberists - Picaresque
The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex - Life Begins Again
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This to Memory
Moby - Hotel
Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic
MxPx - Panic
No Use For a Name - Keep Them Confused

Books

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol

Blogging with Billy

Okay, there's a lot of things to hate about Billy Corgan: his tyrranical rule over the Smashing Pumpkins, his public dissing of his short-lived group Zwan, his complaint that he's not as respected as Radiohead-- not to mention all of those bloated, overdramatic songs (think a big chunk of "Mellon Collie," most of "Adore" and all of "Machina").  His new record, The Future Embrace, has received lackluster reviews and earns my vote for creepiest artwork of the year (Put a shirt on, Billy).  But I want to give him props for his blog.

The fact that he is basically posting the story of his life, chapter by non-chronological chapter, on his MySpace page has led to a lot of cheap shots by rock critics and bloggers alike.  Somehow there is a double standard for blogging.  It's all good to be an everyday Joe, writing about your very uneventful daily life (hmmm, that sounds like the Manifesto), but if you are a celebrity blogger writing about extraordinary events that a lot of people are actually interested in, you come off seeming desperate for attention (a la Fred Durst). 

If you are familiar with the Smashing Pumpkins, you won't be surprised that Corgan is a very talented writer.  I find it tremendously interesting to read Corgan's memories - ranging from his troubled home life to his teenage decision to never have a job.  I find myself getting absolutely sucked in, reading entry after entry.  Here's a short excerpt from the blog titled In the Court of James:

"My step-mother not so secretly smokes, but she has promised my father who she is deathly afraid of that she has quit...when he is not around, or sleeping, she sends me covertly to buy her cigarettes...she gives me a hand-written note that says "to whom it may concern, please sell my son a pack of whatever brand cigarettes...thank you", and then she signs her name to make it all official...she has sworn me to secrecy, and tells me in no uncertain terms that my father is not to find out she is smoking...the implication is as always that if she gets into trouble, there is much greater trouble waiting for me...when I go to the liquor store, I most often times run into the owner, who works in the back...he is not very nice, and as he makes the sale, I stare at a faded black and white picture of him as a baby, naked on a bearskin rug...I wonder how this mean old man came from this smiling, happy baby..."

The blogs have changed my perspective on Corgan a bit.  Yeah, he's whiny, but reading through the what-he-went-through-to-get-where-he-is-now story of his life makes me feel that his intentions are certainly sincere, if not misunderstood, or just misspoken. 

You go, Billy.  Get your blog on!

By the Way

Whether or not the rest of the band knows it, Billy Corgan says he's reuniting Smashing Pumpkins.  Read his letter to Chicago here. 

Avril Breaks My Heart

Rumor has it that Avril Lavigne is engaged to that troll Deryck Whibley from Sum 41. While all of Canada rejoices, I cry a thousand tears. Oh Avril, why'd ya have to go and make things so complicated?

Oh, Those Mormon Hipsters

Rolling Stone had this as an inset to their article about the Brandon Flowers, the born-and-raised-Mormon-in-Payson lead singer of the Killers. I was sad not to see our buddy Chris Wilson of Good Charlotte fame. Oh, and I guess Gladys Knight isn't as hip as Bert McCracken. Click on the picture to see a readable, full-size image.

Where's a Camera When You Need One

Now, I must say that I am disappointed. Yahoo reported a story about Snapple trying to erect a 17 1/2 ton popsicle in New York. The popsicle melted before it was supposed to and it "flood[ed]Union Square in downtown Manhattan with pink fluid that sent pedestrians scurrying for higher ground." You can't tell a story like that and not put any pictures with it! I want to see people covered in popsicle!

Errors in Communication...

For those of you who have ever gotten a haircut that you didn't ask for...

Errors in Communication Between My Hairdresser and Me,in the Form of What I Said and What He Heard.
BY JEZ BURROWS [from McSweeny's]
- - - -
"Just a little off the length, and a little thinned out?"
"Could you make me look like a clown's apprentice?"
- - - -
"A little shorter, thanks."
"I want the style that would emerge if you combined all three of Charlie's Angels."
- - - -
"Just the usual—little shorter and thinner."
"You know when you have a bubble bath and you shape it all around your head? I want it like that."
- - - -
"If you could take some of the width off, that'd be great."
"If you could make it hard for me to appear in public, that'd be great."
- - - -
"Of course it isn't OK—you've disfigured me beyond repair. I look like a mushroom."
"That's perfect. Take my money."

No Escape from Camping

Oh, karma. Somehow during the three months that I served as Scoutmaster I never had to go on a campout. Well, after a year and half in the Elders Quorum, I just got put back into the Young Men's Presidency. You can't escape camping forever - of course one week into this new calling I was asked to go on a campout.

So this past Friday night I took the Varsity and Explorer scouts to our stake property for an overnighter. It was all good because Ghetto Superstar Richard Seiger was in charge. That boy likes to keep camping simple:

Dinner = stop at the Wendy's in Park City
Breakfast = donuts and bagels

This was the first time that I've slept in a tent since '97. When I woke up in the morning I was surprised not to see Jason Young, Bert Smith or Andy Klc.

We spent 3 hours building a horseshoe pit as a service project. When we got done we asked the boys if they wanted to play some horseshoes. "No, not really," they all mumbled. Hooray for teenage apathy.

Walmart hearts Nazi Advertising

I love this. Walmart's PR director over AZ and So Cal recently resigned after backlash against the company's "Nazi" ad. According to a CNN article:

"An ad last month in the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff showed a picture of a Nazi book-burning and compared such censorship to a local proposition that would limit expansion of Wal-Mart's supercenters. "

"Should the goverment tell us what we should read?" What a headline! Walmart doesn't want the man telling us what we can read, because they want to tell us. Walmart refuses to carry all sort of books and won't sell CDs that have explicit lyric stickers.

Weren't the Nazis bad because they wanted to run everything and stomp out any competition? Maybe this ad was a good fit for Walmart.

Looks Like I Won the War

My battle with Real Salt Lake has ended. I received a package in the mail the other day. To my surprise, it was two Real Salt hats.

Though they were absolute jerks in person, and they lied to me via email, at least the front office folks finally got around to making it right. And hey, they don't quit on trying to push season tickets.

After I got the hats I sent them an email thanking them for following up. Here's what they sent back:

"Thank you for letting us know where we had made a mistake. Consider buying a flex plan from JC so we can count you in the RSL family, officially."

Wow, I can't wait to become a member of that dysfunctional family.

Another Reason to Avoid Mowing the Lawn

This is the grossest thing I've read today.

Headphones at The Velvet Room

Headphones
The Velvet Room

“This is the night where the bar doesn’t make any money,”  Opening act Crystal Skulls welcomed the very small crowd – small meaning about a dozen people - to The Velvet Room on June 9. 

I was excited to see the headliner, Headphones, a Pedro the Lion side project composed of David Bazan and TW Walsh.  Only mildly impressed by their only full-length release, I was attracted by the novelty of seeing Headphones on what I figured may be their one and only tour. 

The show was short; the two bands combined didn’t play more than an hour.  Normally I would feel slighted by shelling out $12 to her a band play eight songs, but I left the Velvet Room feeling very content.   

They seemed to have a sense of humor about the small crowd, “We’re going to go on another tour in the Fall if we can open for a band that might draw more of a crowd,” said David Bazan with a smile.     

Despite the simplicity of the setup - David sitting behind the keyboard, singing and TW manning the drums – the songs sounded much better live than on the album.  Unlike the album, Bazan’s vocals weren’t lost in the mix and when the low-end of the organ kicked in it really filled up the sparsely populated room. 

The band played 8 of its 10 album tracks. The highlight was “Gas and Matches,” which shook both my chair and my chest.  “Slow Car Crash” was eerie and beautiful and the non-album track “5 Chord” was so good that I gave in and paid 99 cents to buy it from iTunes.   

My first exposure to the opening act, The Crystal Skulls, was also positive.  They had an interesting Maroon 5-covers-Frank Sinatra vibe.  One of the best opening bands I’ve heard in a while.   

The Best Thing about Holland

What's the best thing about Holland? The tulips? The windmills? The legalized marijuana, prostitution, euthanasia, and gay marriage? Nope. The best thing about Holland is that the sports broadcasters on NOS (Holland's national TV station) look like this: