Starting a new chapter

The Book of Matthew, chapter two can be found

here - Exit 104

(pretty much the exact same as here except it will theoretically be more about Olympia)

Fremont Solstice Parade, 2009

We had our annual parade in Fremont today to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Generally after the winter ends here people get into much better moods...in some cases bordering on euphoria. This winter was worse than some. Winters in Seattle are not bitterly cold like the Midwest and east coast, they are just long and lightless. Many days in a row of never seeing the sun, plodding through our daily routines under the grey, dun colored sky. When the sun finally shows, as it has here since Memorial Day, it is cause for celebration...which is what the Fremont Solstice Parade is all about. Here are a few pictures I put into a slide show. As always, if you see yourself in any of them let me know and I will e-mail you the still.

Street Fair in the U-District, 2009

Saturday, May 16th from 10-7 & Sunday, 17th from 10-6, 2009!
"The U District Street Fair is the kick-off event for the festival season in the Seattle region. It is also the longest running street festival in the nation! Self-described as "country fair meets urban retail corridor", the Street Fair attracts more than 50,000 people and over 300 craft and food booths to the District on the third weekend of May each year. The Street Fair is an energetic and exciting celebration of arts and crafts, community information, music, and food."

It was a beautiful, sunny weekend for this years fair. Not as blazing hot as Street Fair, 2008 . It was every bit as crowded though. Shoulder to shoulder up many parts of the Ave. A lot of great street musicians and a couple of freak shows. What bugged me were the morons who brought their dogs. Note to dog owners: a densely packed street fair is NO PLACE for dogs on leashes. Leave the dog at home.
Here is a 3 minute 39 second slide show with a few of the highlights...

The University of Washington Botany Greenhouse.

Today was the perfect day for a field trip to the Botany Greenhouse on the campus of The University of Washington. It was overcast, cool, and a little drizzly. The curator pointed out that yesterday, a sunny hot day, a student passed out in the greenhouse from dehydration.
Led by entomologist temporarily-turned-botanist Elizabeth Goulet, we visited three separate ecosystems: Swamps, Temperate Rainforests, and Desert. The lighting in the greenhouse was iffy, so I only got a few good pictures which I have compiled into a slide show below.


Click the "HQ" button on the lower right of the panel after the slide show starts for a sharper picture. It takes longer to load but it's worth it for the better quality.

Note on the slide at :52...

"Considered the world's largest seed, weighing up to 30 kgs, it's commonly called "Coco de Mer" which is French for coconut of the sea, but better known in the herbarium by it's scientific name, Lodoicea maldivica (J.F.Gmelin) Persoon - or - Lodoicea callipyge Comm. and as a member of the Arecaceae or Palmae (palm family). These palms grow to a height of 25-34 meters and are native to the Seychelle Islands off the coast of Africa. The species name callipyge is from the Greek, meaning "beautiful rump" because sailors who first saw the double coconut floating in the sea imagined that it resembled a woman's buttocks."

Seriously.

Saint Leonard in Seattle! Was I there? Oh HELL yes!

Leonard Cohen has been my number one musical and lyrical hero from the moment Martha first introduced me to him in her warm, blue attic room in the winter of '92. That makes me a latecomer to the majesty of Cohen but believe me I made up for lost time. I have in my collection many of Leonard Cohen's earliest songs....the songs that, unfortunately have never been re-recorded, even though they are worthy. The Traitor, for instance. One of the greatest of LC's early works. Did you think for one second that I would miss a once in a lifetime chance to see him live in Seattle? Not a chance.
His delivery was flawless (well...it was flawed which only made it more flawless), as summed up in the following review, but what they don't mention is the absolute classiness that Leonard Cohen embodies. He introduced his excellent band and back-up singers twice during the concert and doffed his hat and bowed to each of them in respect. Also, in a show he could have completely dominated, he gracefully stepped aside several times to give the brilliant talent of his back-up a chance to shine through with solos by Sharon Robinson (pictured at left) with her stellar delivery of
Boogie Street and by the excellent (and flexible) Webb Sisters, Hattie and Charley Webb (pictured at right) and others.

Javier Mas of Barcelona played the bandurria and several other exotic stringed instruments. Bassist Roscoe Beck and guitarist Bob Metzger are long-time Cohen accompanists.

I had to skip out on classes in order to make it to downtown Seattle in time for the show but as the inimitable Anna Rourke advised me: "Without a doubt, go to the Leonard Cohen!!! On your deathbed, are you going to look back and think about how you loved Biology or you loved the Leonard Cohen show?" Wise advice.
It was well worth it. The show was great. As a note of warning to music lovers: The Wamu theater bites the big one. I will never see another show there...unless it is one of my musical heroes like Leonard Cohen and that is the only place he is playing...to a sold out crowd I might add.




The reception Cohen received when he bounded (yes, bounded) onstage almost immediately brought me to tears. The entire audience was instantly on its feet, welcoming the 74-year-old legend with a degree of affection few artists could even imagine experiencing. Looking impressively fit and fiercely dapper in a precisely tailored black suit, charcoal shirt, and sharp fedora, he launched immediately into "Dance Me to the End of Love." With ample assistance from what appeared to be the most gracefully accomplished collection of backing musicians on the planet, Cohen delivered a masterful, three-and-a-half hour set (with one brief intermission) that encompassed all the highlights of his mammoth catalog, including "Bird on the Wire," "Everybody Knows," "Who by Fire," "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," "Suzanne," "Hallelujah," and "I'm Your Man." Unsurprisingly, he was a consummate and gracious showman, poetically introducing his band (describing one guitarist, Bob Metzger, as "the architect of the arpeggio") like a proud father and offering up song banter so artful, I was certain I could just listen to an entire set of his spiritual musings. "I once turned to a rigorous study of philosophy and religion, but cheerfulness kept breaking through," he said during the break after "Waiting for a Miracle." It would be impossible to single out a highlight, but watching him wind his way through an epic encore set that included "So Long, Marianne," "First We Take Manhattan," and "Famous Blue Raincoat" while retaining enough chutzpah to dance off the stage in exactly the same manner he'd arrived was unforgettably heartwarming.

Finally, it's worth noting that I've never been a huge fan (or much of a detractor) of WaMu Theater, but my indifference made an abrupt 180 that night. The sound was mixed meticulously, with every wisp of clarinet and flutter of harp placed precisely, while Cohen's vocals were right where they were supposed to be—magically enveloping the entire room and yet sounding like he was whispering into your ear. Granted, the regal aesthetic of the Paramount might have seemed like a more fitting choice for such an iconic treasure, but my hat's off to the team behind Cohen for such a flawlessly engineered production.

Concert review |
Troubadour Leonard Cohen delivers masterful WaMu show

Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen performed a masterful sold-out show in Seattle April 23 at WaMu Theater, demonstrating that the 74-year-old troubadour is the best interpreter of his own canon; review by Misha Berson.

By Misha Berson

He has not performed in Seattle in about 15 years, Leonard Cohen told his sold-out WaMu Theater crowd on Thursday. The last time was back when he was only 60, he cracked, and "just a crazy kid with a dream."

Cohen fans could not have dreamed of a more fulfilling, transporting return by the esteemed Canadian troubadour. With a luxuriant band and three backup singers, all of whom have accompanied him on his current world "comeback" tour, Cohen graciously welcomed the crowd into his "tower of song." And like a poet-shaman of old, he put us under a seamless, timeless musical trance that lasted more than three hours.

Now a spry 74, Cohen literally skipped onto the WaMu stage, to the strains of his rapturous love song, "Dance Me to the End of Love." Looking gangster-of-love sharp in his trademark black suit and rakish fedora (his band sported the same look), Cohen swirled us through the riches of his songbook — from the witty doomsday scenarios ("The Future"), to the love ballads of heartbroken jubilations ("Ain't No Cure for Love"), to the incisive anthems ("Democracy") and haunting incantations ("Hallelujah").

Cushioning his "thousand kisses deep" voice (still a surprisingly sturdy basso rasp) were the musicians saluted repeatedly by the Buddhist-Jewish singer with warm praise, and reverential bows from the waist.

The band earned his love, with lush instrumental arrangements that brought out the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern flavor of Cohen's minor-key melodies. The work of Javier Mas, a Spanish virtuoso of such string instruments as the bandurria, and the snake-charming horn solos of Dino Soldo on a variety of horns, were especially savory. And the celestial harmonies of British sisters Charley and Hattie Webb, and vocal interplay of Sharon Robinson (co-composer of "Everybody Knows" and other Cohen odes), were integral to the mix.

But the songs of human failing and transcendence Cohen has wrought over a lifetime could soar even without such fine embellishment. Marbled with biblical allusions and existential ironies, prayers and omens, apocalypse and celebration, sexual politics and political metaphysics, they are novellas and elegies and sermons on the mount.

And they're saved from pretentiousness by wit, and self-mockery, and sheer genius.

The complexity and erudition of Cohen's songs make most pop-music lyrics seem like nursery rhymes. "The dealer wants you thinkin' it's either black or white," he intoned. "Thank God it's not that simple, in my secret life."

Arguably, save Bob Dylan, no other pop bard has stockpiled three hours of material as profound, eloquent and enigmatic as what Cohen and company performed. But while he rose to fame in the 1960s alongside Dylan and others, the Montreal native was not shaped so much by folk Americana as by Beat poetics and the chansons of such French balladeer as Jacques Brel.

It was folkie diva Judy Collins who first popularized Cohen's songs ("Suzanne," "Famous Blue Raincoat") in the U.S. And when Cohen's debut album appeared in 1967, many listeners preferred Collins' prettier treatments of his tunes to his own craggy-voiced, string-drenched renditions.

But at WaMu, there was no doubt that the songwriter is now recognized as the definitive interpreter of his own canon. For eloquence and intimacy, his expressive voice-of-God delivery of such standards as "Bird on the Wire" could hardly be bested.

"Ring the bells, that still can ring / Forget your perfect offering," he sang. But on this concert tour, perhaps but hopefully not his last, Cohen's offering was as close to perfection as one dares to imagine.



...Like a bird on a wire... like a drunk in an old midnight choir... I have tried, in my way, to be free.

Gasworks Park, April 18th, 2009

The often wrong and much reviled Seattle weather team promise us that our long and miserable winter is really over this time. Personally I would rather trust my weather beetle but at least we had one nice day. Here is the view of Seattle from Gasworks Park on the north shore of Lake Union...

Update, Mid-April, 2009:

This winter I took an honest assessment of my progress with the guitar. After what should have been a terrific but turned into a toxic experience at The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop last summer and after making my winter assessment, I have to realistically admit that I am never going to be a guitar player. Did somebody say "BANJO!" ? Yes. I did. Even though PSGW was a toxic experience for me I still met a lot of great people there and among the greatest were the banjo players. When I got home from that ill-fated camp I immediately went to Stu Herrick's music store, The Folkstore, and bought a banjo. I am going to give the banjo as many years and as much effort as I gave the guitar and see whare it takes me.

Lucy from Ethiopia at The Pacific Science Center

Today I went down to The Pacific Science Center located on the south side of The Seattle Center. The line was long (and, no offense to the staff, it is the slowest queue in Seattle) and everyone was hoping to get in before it sold out. I went down yesterday but the exhibit was sold out for 2 hour in advance so today was try two. I managed to get in without any problem (after solving the usual dilemna of finding a safe place to lock up my bike).
The exhibit was packed. Literally shoulder to shoulder. The first thing they hand you is an audio wand. Many of the displays and wall hangings are numbered and when you enter the number in your audio wand it gives you details about the display you are looking at.
The first full half of the exhibit was dedicated to the history of Ethiopia. I found that section every bit as interesting as the actual fossils. I had no idea Ethiopia had such a diverse history. They covered everything from the religious tribes of Jews, Christians and Muslims who variously settled or conquered Ethiopia to the genocide by gas committed by Bento Mussolini.
There was a section dedicated to methods used to date fossils using radioactive decay rates. I hope a lot of Flat Earthers go to see the exhibit. They will be blinded by science. Further on there was information about bipedalism, skull capacity, and skeletal structure as well as a good collection of skulls...all tied together by an evolutionary family tree. Finally you enter the room where Lucy sleeps. Ok, I admit it was, to me, somewhat anticlimactic. There is not much left of poor Lucy I'm afraid. But there was enough so they could construct an accurate replica of our great, great²ºººº grandmother. I was glad to see so many kids there. They might have been a little bored, but I think the information there, much of it kid friendly, will make an impression on them.
The cost was, to my mind, a little steep. $21.00. (It was supposed to be $20.75 but the ticket booth lady pocketed my two bits...oh well.)

Here is a brief slide show. Pictures were strictly forbidden, so my slides are limited...

The Northwest Flower and Garden Show

The glassed in atrium at The Convention Center

I headed down to The Convention Center to check out the Garden Show. It was packed to the rafters. I was most interested in the booth of miniture gardens put together by Janit Calvo of Two Green Thumbs. She is local so these plants are easily available.





I went to the Bike Swap first, so riding to The Convention Center meant taking Eastlake. I don't know what was going on today but Eastlake was backed up all day, both going to and coming back from the show. Here is a small clip of what it was like to cycle that mess...

Olympia, Washington's Capital

The Capital Building in Olympia. Early February on a foggy night around 9 pm.

Update: In September, 2009 I moved from Seattle to Olympia and started attending classes at tHe Evergreen State College.

The Evergreen State College!

In the dead of winter, standing in Red Square and turning counter clockwise this is the campus.
The first thing you notice when you step on campus is the air. It is forest fresh. Every breath is like a meal.