A little bit less than once a week I find myself at AudioElement, (http://audio-element.com) a high-end audio store not far from my office in Pasadena, California. I come to AudioElement with a satchel of vinyl records, a quart of record cleaner, and a stack of premium record sleeves. I then spend an hour or so …
Month: September 2017
On a warm evening on Sept 28 I had the utmost privilege of seeing Ken Stringfellow (originally from the Posies) with friends, (Jesse Chandler of Midlake on keys/vox, Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev on guitar/vox, Grasshopper of Mercury Rev on guitar/harmonica/vox) perform in a church in Seattle’s Phinney neighborhood across the street from the zoo. …
I’m sure that an editor or two – and possibly a few peeps – might be curious as to my thoughts on Hugh Hefner’s passing. And so, on a borrowed laptop while on vacation, here goes: One has to be of a certain age, startlingly enough, to realize the influence of Hefner’s Playboy magazine in …
Eating from your yard tip~ If you haven’t already done so this is a good time to fill your herb cabinet with your favorite kitchen herbs for cooking this winter. As a general rule it is best to harvest herbs mid~morning after the dew has dried and before the heat of the day. This is …
You can call it White-splainin’ or Man-splainin’ or man-spreading or cheese breadin,’ but Bob Costas just freestyled from his dome some of the greatest commentary on the intersectionality of Sports, Racism, and Patriotism OF ALL TIME. PLEASE WATCH, especially my dear friends from other nations. This is a fellow Civilian I salute: Donald Trump is …
Cheap Trick will rock in the Yuletide season with the release of their first holiday themed album CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS, out October 20 on Big Machine Records. Arriving mere months after their critically-acclaimed 18th studio album WE’RE ALL ALRIGHT!, Cheap Trick co-produced the holiday collection alongside their longtime collaborator, GRAMMY® Award winner Julian Raymond (Glen Campbell, …
Ken Stringfellow is coming to Portland with his new supergroup, Tears of Silver, on Wednesday night, Sept. 27 and to Seattle the following day, Sept. 28. There’s more info at the Facebook event page below. It will be a pop-up all ages show at a location which will only be revealed to ticket holders on …
Saturday Sept 16th kicked off the Punk In Drublic tour, the brain child of Fat Mike, front man of NOFX. This west coast tour was designed not only to showcase some great punk bands, but also multiple types of beer. This concert, held on the grounds of Tacoma’s Le May Car Museum, was the kick-off. …
Last Saturday the Punk In Drublic tour kicked off in Tacoma, WA and I had the esteemed privilege of sitting down for a chat with front man and founding member of Goldfinger, John Feldmann. I found him to be very congenial, intelligent and passionate (but he wouldn’t be the artist he is without passion). Having …
“Buckle up, hold on to your Cubs caps, and watch as the two most exciting weeks of the 2017 season are about to unfold.” As I noted in my last piece for this hallowed blog, at this year’s All-Star break, the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs were just about as average an MLB team …
It’s Tuesday night in Seattle and two great punk bands are playing at two different locations. Should I hang with the Irish and go see Stiff Little Fingers for their 40th anniversary tour or should I go to the Crocodile to see Australia’s The Living End. Decisions, decisions. Of all the 365 nights in a …
Eating from your yard tip ~ the fennel seeds are turning brown and ready to harvest! Fennel is in my top five favorite herbs. I carry a container of fennel seeds in my purse to ease coughs, upset tummies and freshen up breath. All parts of fennel are edible. Some people get upset because their …
Filmed in Portland, with city leaders and local residents appearing as themselves, this is a 1957 CBS movie presentation narrated by actor Glenn Ford which shows the supposedly orderly manner with which Portlanders would react when they found out Russian planes are on their way to drop a hydrogen bomb downtown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Day_Called_X Here Is Portland’s …
Forty years ago the #4 ranked Oklahoma Sooners traveled to Ohio to play the #3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. I was home alone when I sat in my living room in Minnesota to watch the football game. This represented the first time I ever saw the exciting wishbone offense, which Oklahoma ran with QB Thomas …
On September 16th a major punk event is coming to Tacoma, WA. At the Le May Car Museum from noon to 10 p.m. major punk bands like NOFX, Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, Bad Cop Bad Cop all on one bill for one glorious afternoon/evening. This is part of a west coast tour, but …
Yesterday, the NPR show Fresh Air featured the legendary spy novelist, John Le Carre. Over the course of the interview, Le Carre offered some interesting perspectives on the current investigations of the Trump campaign. If nothing else, the interview is worth a listen solely for the opportunity to hear a cultured and authoritative English voice …
The versatile eggplant is sliced, cubed, mushed, breaded, stir fried, baked and fried all around the world except up in the far northern tundra. Maria Baher-Olomi bakes sliced eggplant then serves it with a yogurt and spearmint sauce. My Joy of Cooking cookbook is marked to open on page 74 baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant dip). …
My recent NFL post included the following: Speaking of which, NFL owners made a very short-sighted decision with their blacklist, informal or otherwise. Somehow, they appear to have forgotten that 75% of NFL players are black, with many of them having likely experienced firsthand the issues with law enforcement that Kap had protested. Two weeks …
Photos posted today in The Atlantic of wildfires in the West. Portland residents may be particularly interested in those of the Eagle Creek fire along the Columbia River. The first two, taken from the Washington side of the river across from Cascade Locks, are quite dramatic. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/09/wildfires-rage-across-the-american-west/538977/ – Chuck Strom
The title is not a misprint. When I arrived in San Francisco to see the Giants on Friday, the temperature was 102 degrees. The high had been 106, smashing all previous records and reversing the normal weather pattern of cooling temperatures on the Bay inversely proportional to the summer heat of the Central Valley, as …