Paving The Way

I grew up in Texas in various locations along Interstate 35. Turns out I- 35 is a prophetic highway of purity discussed in the Bible! Boy am I glad I get to go home for Christmas and visit this holy, righteous place.

nothing compares 2 u

It was a great relief to find a house of characters who like to yell at the TV while watching America's Next Top Model and Project Runway. No group of catty hilarious popcultchaholics can replace my cbus dear ones, but at least i won't cry for loneliness on wednesday nights now. Interestingly, this group adores Nigel, whereas in Ohio he drew indifference and mild disdain. Must be something about the tides.

apple songs

Charlie Parker - Scrapple from the Apple
Fiona Apple - Criminal
Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros - Jonny Appleseed
Great Lakes Myth Society - Days of Apple Pie
Apples in Stereo - Sunndal Song

old ways with the rabbit

We inherited a shit ton of apples from the thanksgiving feast. what to do but make apple butter? the photo above is a dramatic reproduction of what rebecca looks like right now but in a galley kitchen in one of her little hats.

Back from Olympia

I am go glad Rebecca kept pushing to get in the kayak. I was nervous about it because when I went down to the waters edge the prior morning, the tide was out (way out, like 8.5 feet) and i couldn't see how to get the boat out through all the mud and muck and oyster shells. There were two boats that came with the house: a one person sea kayak and a hobie type kayak for two that was more of a sit-on-top construction. two people, high center of gravity, frigid water = nervous. but we got the flotation devices out and the tide came back in making it a snap to launch and off we went, our oars in rhythm around the floating mussel traps out in the bay. We weren't out for too long when a seal popped his head out of the water a few yards away and peered over his nose at us. Now Rebecca was nervous. He swam along and followed us for a good while and we found one of his friends basking on top of the traps looking for free lunch.

As far as the regular thanksgiving stuff went, we roasted that turkey and no one got food poisoning and we played games and watched football at it was very relaxing (as relaxed as i get at least) and fun. The next day we drove up into Olympic National Park for an uphill pie-burner to the top of Mt. Ellinor. I stopped climbing about 5 miles up at the last turn-off and went back down. Rebecca and her brother pressed on and got as far as they could go without crampons and icepicks. Serious.

The other highlight was learning how to shuck oysters. yes I cut my hands and yes i let the liquor (oyster juice) spill out. Difficult stuff, I have a greater appreciation for those power shuckers you see on tv sometimes now. The vacation house we stayed at was perfectly located on Oyster Beach at Totten Inlet. I was looking forward to the oysters but i had no idea its oysters are so special that R.W. Apple wrote a feature about them before he died.
We packed up this morning and saw the family off. Totally scored on the groceries because we were the only ones who didn't fly in. Thanksgiving leftovers, yay! New apartment without a microwave, boo! Excellent side trip on the way back at the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center where we saw a little movie featuring Grant Goodeve (The Fire Below Us!) in the exhibition area about the May 18, 1980 volcanic eruption that blew the top of the mountain and killed Harry Truman.

hipster grocery

We went shopping for thanksgiving goods this evening over at New Seasons on Division in the Southeast. Hipster grocery store, though it didn't cost so much like whole foods or anything. it was just that everyone in there seemed to be real cool. the youngs, the olds, the staff. And they were so nice in that Portland way. We got a monster 23 lb turkey from the Diestel Family Farm which came with free potatoes and chicken broth! 20% case discount on wine! i love america!

But of course on the way there we had to stop for dinner and pinball (difficult, punishing machines). We went to Gil's Speakeasy which we decided is our favorite dive bar so far. Friendly scruffy barkeeps, kind of in a basement, great 60's pop playing not too loud. Shuffleboard. v

Oyster Beach for Thanksgiving

Hoardes of Rebecca's relatives are descending upon the pacific nw this thanksgiving. Her dad found a house to rent on the Olympic Penninsula at a place called oyster beach. Its not just a name, apparently you can harvest oysters. I love oysters. I love west coast oysters especially. So I am going to try my hand at it. and we're in charge of cooking the turkey, the stuffing, green beans, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, yams, and pies. WORK IT OUT.

Mystery

Had a great time this weekend because the dashing Billy came down from Seattle and we walked our shoes off our feet on saturday night, met up with some old Yellow Springer friends for brunch, and were essentially up to no good (whereas the sweet and diligent rebecca has been sewing all weekend). Finally crawled down into a basement called the Ringler's Annex which they say looks like a hideout for the French Resistance if the French Resistance was really into tile mosaics. The other good thing was getting a new CD, i really haven't bought one in forever, but I got a box set of a band called The Wipers which were a big deal in Portland back in the day, and who i had never heard of until recently when they were playing the vinyl in a shop and I said, "wow, who is this?"

Mystery - The Wipers

Son of a Gun - The Vaselines

Quasi!

I go to a lot of shows. And they aren't all kisses on christmas, believe you me. So when you are treated to a really great, let's-go-to-fourth-base, awesome kind of show, well, it's a magic moment. And i was sitting in a great spot at the bar, and my whole body was vibrating with major and minor organ chords, and Janet Weiss, perhaps the best rock drummer in the trade, was smacking those drums so hard and so purposefully. i am a happy woman tonight. it is of no moment that i was there by myself or that i missed the last train home and had to cab it. it was all so worth it. Thank you Quasi.

Quasi - It's Raining
Quasi - You Turn Me On
Quasi - The Happy Prole

the drambuie den

ok i saw this thing on line for a free cocktails and snacks thing, something involving drambuie, and rebecca loves drambuie, so i rsvp'd and we went and it totally kicked ass. it was this big dark club and all these fancy model looking people giving out really good free cocktails, and then other model people handing out cups of ceviche and little hamburgers and all sorts of foodie things like duck confit and scallops and it was GRATIS. they kept bringing us cocktails on trays, drambuie a million ways and then all the sudden it was like hotel california but we could leave. and we did, away from the free liquor and high end appetizers, out into the night (grabbing a gift bag of free schwag on the way out). I looked on line and they did this in Columbus at Mynt (?!) in july. columbus gets all the cool stuff first. don't forget it.

burn burn burn

Coming off a lovely federal employee three day weekend. Sunday night we and tore up the town, most notably visiting Billy Ray's Dive, a fabulous monument to guys in dirty ironic t-shirts and so much sweet pinball. Portland is such a sweet pinball town. We are starting to hang the art on the walls at home and we got the fireplace going. an excellent way to get rid of boxes.

another portland band

i heard this on the local music radio show a couple of days ago.

Pseudosix - Under the Waves

Ecola State Park

We just got home from spending a day on the Oregon coast. Wow. We drove out to Hwy 101 from Portland and went to Ecola State Park. We got in free with the parks pass generously gifted by the Columbus gang. It was a sunny clear day and the waves were crashing 10 or 12 layers deep off into the horizon. There were brave surfers in their wet suits catching the short waves in the cove. Huge piles of volcanic rock strewn across the beach, intermixed with big cables of sea kelp and driftwood. Among the rocks and bolders, hikers looked out at the ocean and the setting sun. It looked a lot like the Houses of the Holy album art.
i had the oddest impulse to disrobe on the beach, an idea rebecca quickly talked me out of. i am writing it off as natural beauty/led zeppelin related.

You unlock the door with the key to imagination...

We recently started watching the old episodes off of netflix. I had forgotted how much i loved Twilight Zone and how my mother adapted episodes that she watched as a kid as my bedtime stories and how I would stay up late and watch them on the black and white tv that i had in jr. high... good stuff.

where we are headed...

Market Day

Ok I admit i have been a little negelctful this week in keeping you apprised of my doings. Rebecca just got back so, you know, there's been a lot going on and I can't very well bury my head in the laptop when there's so much unpacking to be done.

Last night I was supposed to go to another rock show for Eux Autres and I am still rather sad that I missed them. But I was having a lot of fun so c'est la vie. First we went to meet Amy Karol at a cool fabric store called Bolt, who just wrote a book about sewing which rebecca is getting into these days.

Then we went to the Alberta Neighboorhood co-op grocery and made several exciting purchases. Most notably, we bought revolutionary hot sauce sold and marketed by the Black Panther Party called Burn Baby Burn . Continuing in our power-to-the-people grocery excursion, we bought bread from an ex-con. More specifically we bought Dave's Killer Bread, which is made by a former meth-dealing gun-toting outlaw. We haven't tried the sauce yet but the bread is outstanding. I don't know who this is next to Dave the ex-con bread guy but i liked the picture.

picking up a lawyer

Rebecca's coming home, gotta get to the airport.

Plain rocked out

First of all, i had the loveliest supper. happy hour is a big old deal in Portland and if you can get there by 6pm, its discount time for foodies. So i have checked out a couple of these things and there are two categories: the places that have a special menu at $3 and $5 dollars a plate for fried stuff you didn't want in the first place and you feel ripped off. you pay full price for a third of a portion of yuck. and then there are places like Cassidy's and Carafe where they kick your tastebuds in for a pittance. Tonight was Carafe, and indeed i had a 1/4 carafe of cotes du rhone and a GREAT salad and a big thick slice of prosciutto on one crostini and a top shelf blue cheese and hazelnuts on another one. mmmmmmmmm. 9 bucks with tip in a gorgeous restaurant. thank you portland happy hour. vive la france. rebecca is in ohio for a few days getting sworn in for the bar, so what can i do but occupy myself at a french restaurant and feel very existential? I ask you.

And after that, i was confronted with a dilemma: what if there is too much rock in portland? what if the shows are so good and so plentiful that my filings rattle out of my head and my ears go? Because The Hold Steady and Art Brut are playing just across the way from my place. and Dax Riggs is at the Doug Fir. But I'm in bed in my jammies typing. Because i've been going out to see music almost everynight, and friends, I might be rocked out. its a monday for goddsakes. when do they stop around here? and i have to go see Erin McKeown on wednesday and Eux Autres on thursday... I'm starting to feel like the I can't stop dancing person but I'm not dancing and I'm not on drugs, I just have to go to too many shows.

So since i am in typing jammies mode, the least i can do is share music for you:


Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945

The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations

The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control

Art Brut - Formed a Band

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
The gunpowder, treason, and plot.
I see no reason, why the gun-powder treason
Should ever be forgot."

A very happy Guy Fawkes day to you.

I'm Not There

So a couple of days ago, as reported, i won a pass to see I'm Not There, the new Todd Haynes movie about Bob Dylan. What I didn't know was that it was a gala event with semi formal attire. So I get there in my i've-been-unpacking-and-am-going-to-a-movie-by-myself outfit and walked down the red carpet anyways, past the photo-graphers and searchlights (seriously). It was fundraiser for Outside/In, a homeless youth organization in town and a lot of the other folks there were $1000+ donors who didn't have to write a 100 word essay about their favorite Bob Dylan song.
Todd Haynes was there in the flesh to introduce his movie. Gus Van Sant walked right past me. (in jeans which made me feel better). And the movie was amazing, though I am biased because I am a Todd Haynes fanatic.

team dresch 4-ever

Got to see Team Dresch last night at the
Wonderland ballroom. My favorite moment of the show is when Jody was bantering about something that happened to them in Europe when they were touring with Bikini Kill "back in the day" and then she just stopped and said that this show beat the pants off of all those "back in the day" and that it was kicking ass right that very second. Seemed that way to me. They played all the stuff off Personal Best, one of the great rock and roll records of the 90s, and some new stuff too. Rebecca made me dance on stage with her when they made an invitation to do so. That was a little nervous making because I was the half of the couple that night that did not have the tequila.

the reason being for the tequila-free evening was because this morning i had to take the godforsaken MPRE, which is the multi-state ethics portion of the godforsaken bar exam. haven't had to do that in 10 years and boy did it suck. I have no idea if i passed. I know they tried to trick me. I hate that, when they try to trick you: is it beige, tan, taupe or all of the above? My only comfort is that rebecca had no idea if she passed and she did of course so maybe i will too.

Maximum Overdrive

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART
An adventure on your desktop.

Spooky

Its halloween. I didn't eat too much candy, i didn't dress up (though several of the support staff people at my office had those freaky marilyn manson contact lenses in all day and just about gave me a heart attack), but i did go see Jesse Sykes and the Sweethereafter play at the Hawthorne Theater tonight. She is so good. Her guitar player is exactly what i like, and it was an ideal day to hear her spooky one-of-a-kind voice scratch out country noir tunes about thin air, waiting, and silence. There were a lot of feedback problems on stage and she sort of lost her shit at one point (if you listen to her you surmise she might be sort of intense). I met her at merch after the show and bought a t-shirt and she was very happy about that. There are easier ways to make a living, for sure, but I got the sense that she doesn't have any choice because her talent is so dark and demanding that it drives her onward like a mean halloween coachman with a scary jack-o-lantern for a head.