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February 25, 2005

Radio Rebirth

So I don't really listen to radio all that much anymore. Radio in GR, minus the excellent WYCE 88.1 is generally subpar; I haven't had a lot desire to go back to radio since. But now things have changed: I have found a new station, and my radio listening days have come back. The station causing the commotion is The Current 89.3, out of Minneapolis. It's a Minnesota Public Radio station, just started in January. Their playlist is excellent, and they have an aacplus cd-quality internet feed. Plus, no annoying commercials, no annoying DJ's, no Howard Stern. Check their website, learn more. It's great. I have to give a holler to Bmouw for hooking me up with the goods.

Also, because they just played it, let me say that Stickshifts and Safetybelts by Cake is the greatest love song of all time.

Posted at 12:10 PM | Comments (2)

February 23, 2005

¡Vaya Con Dios! Bobby Fisher: The Photos, Day 2

So day 2 was much like day 1, with some travel and some nice vistas.

its...the...space needle!

a view from picturesque kerry park. no, not that kerry.

again, from kerry park, now looking out onto beautiful puget sound.

the traveler, posing with my favorite two-word freestanding ex-worlds-fair building in seattle. you can check the oddly-shaped experience music project off to the left there.

the hostess extraordinaire, with a little more of the foreground and surrounding neighborhood

overlooking beautiful lake washington and some of its residences, now on the east side of town.

lake washington, park, lightpole, my wonderful guide, etc.

looking south, on the right is beautiful mount rainier, fifth tallest mountain in the lower 48.

what's that contraption you have there? a camera, you say?

looking back on i-can't-remember-its-name park.

That about did it for pictures that day. The rest of the day was consumed by some coffee shop hopping, and driving to Vancouver.

Posted at 07:36 PM | Comments (2)

Holding Pattern

I haven't gotten around to posting the rest of the Seattle trip yet, and too lazy to do so immediately. So for you out there waiting, please circle around a few more times before landing. In the meantime, check out this short tribute to the recently deceased Hunter S. Thompson on pitchfork.

Posted at 10:20 AM | Comments (1)

February 21, 2005

¡Vaya Con Dios! Bobby Fisher:
Seattle, Day 2

Sunday started out with a delightful homemade breakfast; Mindy threw together some ridiculous omelettes. After that, a nice church service. The church was simply a small urban mission, but the people were very friendly and the young pastor delivered an excellent sermon. The weather was again impeccable: sunny, clear, and in the 50's. We drove to Kerry Park, north of the city. I was told it was "the postcard lookout of the city", and one could understand why: a really beautiful, elevated view of the entire downtown area. Looking down on the north side of town, the Space Needle and Experience Music Project are skewed to the size of the buildings downtown; they're actually quite a bit smaller. We then journeyed to the other side of the island/peninsula/whatever you want to describe Seattle's geography as and stopped at a quaint little part on Lake Washington. The whole area on the east side was very green and beautiful. The houses were also large, old, and luxurious.

Following the sightseeing we hit a Capitol Hill sandwich joint called The Honeyhole. A quality sandwich joint, I must admit. I decided to walk on the wild side with an all vegetable sandwich, and it was actually rather good. There were some Vegan-like tofu or soy things in there that had some different consistancy (well, different than say, turkey), but the taste was excellent. We then hit up Cafe Victrola. CV is a large, spacious coffee house with gratuitous wireless access, of course.

Next stop: Vancouver. M and I jumped in the car and started north. The BC border is only about one and a half hours drive from Seattle, with Vancouver another 30-45 minutes after that. The city of Vancouver is a lot bigger than I had anticipated: we drove through it for a good 20 minutes before reaching Vancouver Island, where the hotel was. The Ramada. Lovely. I was surprised to find that despite the city, almost nothing is open after 9 on Sundays. Some walking around found us at Malone's bar and grill, which had some good local brews on draft. The local standard, Kokanee, was of course there, with Russells and some other small time local stuff available as well. Got to love Candian beer. And there the night ended, a long day of seeing Vancouver ahead of us.

Posted at 10:25 AM | Comments (4)

February 20, 2005

¡Vaya Con Dios! Bobby Fisher: The Photos, Day 1

Some pictures, both his and hers, from the day. I have a couple of movies to post as well, as Mindy's camera rolls like dat, but those'll have to go up after I can trim them a bit.

out on the corner, freezing, waiting for the bus

o'hare airport, beautifully flagged in the morning light

overlooking north downtown from a small terrace on pike st.

inside the public library lobby, facing southwest

inside the public library lobby, facing northeast

inside the public library lobby, facing northwest

overlooking the main lobby, one floor up (it was actually the 5th floor, I believe. the library has one street entrance on 5th Ave, the east side, on the fourth floor. the west side, 4th has an entrance on the third floor. this is all due to the lovely steepness of downtown)

fifth floor cublicles/tables (cubibles?)

the two long escalators that roll through the spiral floors. these 2-3 floors are staggered, so even with a floor on your right, you'll see the top half and the bottom half of two separate floors on your right.

further up in the library. could have been the eighth floor, i got disoriented after the spiral floors.

mindy, same floor, overlooking the spiral floors below

some random piece of art across 4th ave from the library. looks like a broken pelvis.

half of a failed attempt to patch together a panoramic shot of the library's southwest corner

it's the dynamic duo, reflected by some shiny marble-sided building

you can get an idea of the grade of downtown from this shot. i thought the sign was mildly funny, given it's position.

a real downhill slide, complete with cool brick sidewalks

some manhole covers in the city display cool regional artwork, this is such a manhole

down at the waterfront, looking out on elliot bay. boats, seagulls, and the like

out on a pier, looking back on Qwest Field (Seahawks, white) and Safeco Field (Mariners, black), nestled just south of downtown

looking out to the bay, off the wide open space of the pier

still mindy, still the pier

hey, that's me

the famous public market, just up the hill from the waterfront

that's right, it's the very first starbucks

6th and James, at dusk

my new bag. beautiful, no?

Whew. Quite a day, indeed.

Posted at 05:07 PM | Comments (2)

February 19, 2005

¡Vaya Con Dios! Bobby Fisher:
Seattle, Day 1

So began my long weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest.
5:50 AM Woke Up
6:20 AM Arrived; Bus Stop - Belmont and Greenview
6:30 AM Almost froze waiting for the damn bus
6:34 AM Boarded bus; Belmont 77
6:47 AM Arrived; Blue Line Station - Belmont
6:48 AM Boarded Blue Line train destined for O'Hare
7:08 AM Arrived; O'Hare Int'l Airport
7:17 AM Found my way to Terminal 3
7:20 AM Checked in at an e-ticket machine
7:30 AM Made my way through security
7:40 AM Enjoyed McDonald's breakfast
8:00 AM Arrived at gate H12 an hour before boarding started.
9:06 AM Boarded the plane.
11:54 AM (Pac!) Touched down at Seatac airport, Seattle/Tacoma, WA

Save the long, cold wait for the bus, the trip was as headache-free as possible. The process of check-in, usually a nightmare took about 3 minutes, as there were a plethora of e-ticket kiosks, and no lines. Gorgeous. Security was very painless. More than enough time after that for a quick biter. By the way, the McDonald's Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit still has no equal in the fast food breakfast world. I saw a man sitting across the way with an attractive accomplise and some very nice looking baggage that really looked like Lavar Arrington. Hard to say for sure, because it's impolite to stare. Anyways I arrived at the gate and realized my ipod was flat out of charge. I was able to secure a seat by the only outlet in the gate (I remember walking around wondering "Where the hell do the cleaning people plug thier vacuums in?) and got my recharge on so I could do some music during the flight. I mean, let's face it, flying over the Cascade Mountains isn't nearly as cool as flying over the Cascades listening to Boards of Canada. I was pleased to find that someone at American Airlines got the memo about coach seating being inadequate in the legroom department: I was greeted by a non-exit-row seat with borderline luxurious space accomodations. And if that doesn't make a flight better, I don't know what does (okay, except for Jack Daniels). So we departed on time, got two, count 'em two, rounds of free beverages, and arrived on time at Seatac.

It was really a beautiful day in Seattle, with 50 degree weather and sunny conditions. Mindy got me at the airport and we drove into the city; there we got some quality chowder at a joint called Duke's. The rest of the day was walking around sight-seeing, including the ridiculously cool Seattle Public Library. I was astounded by it's beauty and elegance in design. The architecture was designed in part by Wired magazine guest editor and all around neo-architect monster Rem Koolhaus (and he's Dutch too, booyah). Beyond the books, Seattle has a gorgeous downtown, although it may aptly be named "The City on the Slant". Most of the roads have some crazy 18 degree grade or something like that. Walking becomes hiking becomes downhill skiing depending on where you are. Great landscapes though.

The waterfront market is really a site to see. People yelling and throwing fresh fish around, street performers, the first Starbucks are all there. One guy with an outlandish hat performed a ring trick while reciting a parody of the Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. The view of Puget Sound is nice, although it's ultimately not much different than other city-on-the-water type views (see: San Francisco, NYC, etc. etc.).

In the early evening I was able to accomplish one of the objectives of my trip: hook a cool custom messenger bag from the Re-Load Bags shop in the city. I got a sweet bag with a rising sun pattern on the flap. I'll post a picture later. Re-Load makes high quality, custom bags in many shapes and sizes with an unparalleled array of colors, and will do basically any pattern the buyer asks for.

Which brings me to the present, sitting in Cafe Vita on Pike. The rumor about Wi-Fi being "so everywhere" is true. They have it freaking everywhere here. Cool beans, if you ask me. So I'll recap whatever goes on later this evening, well, later. I'll also post some pictures when I get a chance. I got a bunch of cool shots with Mindy's digi camera; they should satiate even the hungriest of n.o.k. readers.

Later update:
Mindy and I punched out to dinner at a small Thai place called Jam Jamba or something like that. Ate some really tasty curry, as well as some really tasty lime chicken, both with brown rice. The thai do it up right. That's about all I remember, because at some point during the meal I hit the wall and entered into a world of delirium. I passed out like 5 minutes after we got back. A long day.

Posted at 09:07 PM | Comments (2)

February 18, 2005

Destination: Seattle

So I'm off to Seattle in the morning to visit "Mindy!". I plan to post daily while I'm out there, because apparently Wi-Fi is "so everywhere" in the city. We shall see. Also, I plan to update some of the various sections you see on the left side there, so give n.o.k. a holler back sometime.

Posted at 04:53 PM | Comments (2)

Return of the Songstress

Several weeks back I, with Liz as my accomplise, ventured down Southport street to Schuba's for a show featuring neo-songstress Jolie Holland. A kind of eclectic Norah Jones-meets-Tom Waits-in-a-pint-size-package, Holland's music is a real mild delight. Moreover, Schuba's is a great venue, with a small, wooden music hall that has a warm and intimate sound. The songstress sang with her two-piece band and played some acoustic guitar, but for one song pulled out a cigarette box guitar which was hand-crafted for her and she had electrified for concert use. Quite a treat.

Posted at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2005

Ah yes, good old February 15th

Here's a tracklisting for a mix cd. For all you out there who agree me that St. Valentine brings as much frustration every year as it does joy.

1. Franz Ferdinand - Love And Destroy
2. Death From Above 1979 - Little Girl
3. Queens of the Stone Age - Sky Is Falling
4. The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers
5. The New Pornographers - Centre For Holy Wars
6. Spoon - Jonathan Fisk
7. Hot Hot Heat - Bandages
8. The Strokes - The End Has No End
9. The Futureheads - Alms
10. Tom Waits - Hoist That Rag
11. Two Lone Swordsmen - Punches And Knives
12. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Modern Romance

Enjoy.

Posted at 06:26 PM | Comments (2)

February 12, 2005

Oh How Great, the Lakes, Oh How Grand, the Rapids

A nice little weekend trip to old GR is on the books for the weekend. I'm in fair Michigan as I write this, and it's nice to be back in the old stomping grounds of East Grand Rapids. I wish you all a very pleasant weekend before we run ourselves into that abomination of a day on Monday. You know the one. The other V-day.

The weekend's already been fairly eventful, what with people getting engaged and whatnot. We'll see where it goes from here.

Posted at 10:39 AM | Comments (1)

February 01, 2005

Broken English, Lovely Hebrew

Several years ago I read about a young man named Jonathan Safran Foer in Rolling Stone. He appeared in the "People of the Year" issue as one of the hot authors of the year. The recommendation about his novel, Everything Is Illuminated, was enough to get me into a Barnes & Noble and buy a copy of the book. And so it sat on my bookshelf, for some time.

Lately, a recurrence of desire to read has struck me, and so I've started pulling unread or partially read books off my shelf and diving into them. Let me just say that the recommendation was a good one. Everything Is Illuminated is hands-down one of the funniest yet most serious, oddly yet beautifully written books I've ever read.

The novel centers around our hero, the author, and his odyssey to the Ukrainian Republic to find the place of his ancestors. Throw in a translator who speaks broken English, a driver who is blind, and a dog (the driver's "seeing-eye bitch") named Sammy Davis Junior, Junior, and you have quite a tale unfolding in the Ukranian countryside. Interwoven in to this fantastic voyage in modern times are the unusual tales surrounding the small schetl (read: hebrew word for town) are odd, touching, appauling, and ridiculous. The result: a mixed narrative as serious as it is hilarious. A great read.

Update:
I just finished it, and let me reiterate how excellent and moving this novel is. I recommend you read it. Yes, you.

Posted at 02:02 PM | Comments (2)