Ahoy, mates!

So, do tell:

Where’s the best place to live in Seattle? Which are the best schools (public or private (for the children under 18))? Is it really so very rainy or is that just an urban legend?

I have reason to believe this may be in my (relatively) distant future:

http://depts.washington.edu/bioe/programs/phd/phd.html

Um.

So.

Did someone here send me a package full of toys from Massachusetts? I’m a little stymied.

SOFT ROCK EXPLOSION

Mark Siano and The Freedom Dancers

Come and see Joey and Mara Saturday night! This is going to be the best show yet! We have a horn section!!

Saturday, May 3rd, 8 PM
Chop Suey
1325 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98122
21+, $10 at the door, or Brown Paper Tickets:
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/31655
or 1-800-838-3006

We’re back with “The Softest Show on Earth!” Mark Siano and The Freedom Dancers present SOFT ROCK EXPLOSION, a brand new cabaret-style spectacular. This event will feature flashy dance numbers, original music and soft rock sing-a-longs led by a 7-piece band, music videos, stand-up and sketch comedy, and of course, a lot of ridiculously sexy people in ridiculously sexy outfits.

Seattle Neutrino Society will open the show with their signature videos and music, including a Patrick Swayze movie montage. Featured vocalist include: Miss Mamie Lavona, Joanna Hardie, Erin Stewart, and Celene “Leeni” Ramadan. And to complete the night, Seattle DJ BARBARELLA will turn Chop Suey into a giant soft rock dance party.

The Freedom Dancers www.myspace.com/thefreedomdancers :
Joey Chapman
Laura DiMarco
Andrea Ford
Abigail Guay
Joanna Hardie
Lieta Siano
Mara Siciliano
Additional cast includes Rachel Hynes, Paul Levy, and Conor McNassar.

Band:
John Kranz, band leader and keyboards
Dr. David Bowe, guitar
‘Skinny’ Lynn Cook, trombone and trumpet
Darryl Estes, alto and tenor sax
Ted Jones, drums
Dan Leary, bass
Aaron Malver, trumpet

Today is my friend (and Kerry’s) Judy’s birthday!  I know she reads this blog periodically so I wanted to drop her a birthday wish.

Last night my friend Katie and I ventured to Seattle to meet some friends for a Mariners Doubleheader. The Cleveland Indians (love me some Grady Sizemore) were in town for a four game stretch, making up a game from April when Cleveland was covered in snow.

 The games were fun as baseball is always better live and in person. Cleveland killed them in the first game. The Mariners came back to win game 2 but we left before that as we had been at the stadium since 3:30pm and we were both worn out, seeing as how we had pretty much ate as much as we possibly could).

The best part of the game was when Katie and I went for a walk around the lower level of the stadium (I was hoping to get some pictures of Grady up close and personal but I didn’t). As we were walking around the stadium we realized that the Mojo Photos that they had been advertising all game was there. Since the line wasn’t too long we decided to pose. I mean why not it is free. Our picture was really funny as Katie wanted to put her arm around Raul Ibanez and I made a silly face.

The outcome:

If you are ever at Safeco for a game I suggest stopping and posing. I mean it is free after all.

Happy Thursday!

First of all, I’m going to be out in Seattle the weekend of September 21st; I’m flying out for KB’s B-day festivities and to watch the Seahawks make some Bengal jerky :] Hopefully I’ll get to see a bunch of you guys…

Secondly, I hope all of you will vote for Springfield, IL to host the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie on July 26th. I know some of you may be tempted to vote for Springfield, OR for obvious reasons, but I hope my promise of a full report from the premiere will sway your ballots in my direction. Voting closes at 11:59 PM west coast time on July 9.

Speaking of The Simpsons Movie, has anyone been to the Seattle Kwik-E-Mart yet? We’re planning to visit the one in Chicago next week (as part of an Ikea-inspired day-trip of course)…

Finally, what do you think of the idea of a nationwide Presidential recall vote? Many states have such a mechanism (most famously, California)… At the federal level, super-majorities would have to be involved of course (perhaps 2/3rds of state legislatures AND majority votes from both houses of Congress AND a 70% popular vote majority)… As an idea… so good or no good?

·1· Blonde Redhead (23 and Misery is a Butterfly are in transit. I heart Amazon.com)

·2· Guitar Hero (Five Stars of Fun! - Just played this for the first time. tag=essential)

·3· Heatmiser / Mic City Sons (recently rediscovered - I was iffy on this when it came out in 1996 but played it on repeat most of the 2 weeks before Memorial Day)

·4· Wilco / Sky Blue Sky (New sounds from one of my all-time faves. I’ve started to fall for it.)

·5· DM (My goodest friend visited this last weekend, I’m very grateful to know him.)

·6· The National / Boxer (Whoa! I didn’t get into their Alligator LP  much, I need to listen to it again.) [Playing Portland 6/28 & Seattle 6/29; I might be there.]

Dina and I got back from NYC on Friday night. We managed to extend our departure date, so our time there was the same as it would have been, and despite missing a weekend, it was still an awesome trip.

Rather than bore you with excruciating detail, how about pictures!

Because of the massive delay, we had to fly through Boston. Here’s what we thought of that.

Once in NYC, onto the train toward Manhattan. This guy smelled so bad even the native New Yorkers were disturbed and disgusted. At least two people walked on the train, smelled him, and walked right back off. One young woman commented loudly about his smell, and made it her business to check out and comment on other peoples’ reactions. “Oh yeah, he smell bad! Yeah, I see you smell him. Oh that nasty!”

We met Dina’s friend Ayako at Grand Central Station for lunch. She was the reason we were coming to New York in the first place. But given our flight problems, we ended up only having two hours with her before she had to fly back to Japan. So sad.

Later, we met up with Carl (Carlo, as his sweet old Italian landlady calls him), Ryan, and Molly for New York action. Carlo was our host for the week, letting us stay in his Park Slope apartment. We spent a ton of time at Molly and Ryan’s — their East Village apt was conveniently close to everything. (They’re NYU law students, btw, hence the Manhattan living.)

We enjoyed a night of Sparks +. Danger. Carlo made a Sparks+ float (Sparks and Ben and Jerry’s). Not good.

People draw on Molly’s table.

While in NYC we did lots of stuff. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with Doug, Dina’s high school friend.

We had ice cream and visited the Brooklyn Heights Esplanade.

We visited Wall Street with Carlo, and I got friendly with the bull.

We discussed the face-finding feature of my new camera, and tried to figure out if it would recognize a fake face. Apparently, it won’t.

We got into an invite-only party hosted by The Onion and sponsored by Dewars. This meant free whiskey, free stand-up comedy by some well-known comedians, and hob-nobbing with some of the funniest writers on the planet. Seattle’s own Reggie Watts headlined, and absolutely KILLED.

Here’s Reggie doing his stuff at the Triple Door a year or so back.

Dina and went to Brighton Beach by way of Coney Island.

Brighton Beach has turned into the place for Russian immigrants to hang, so Dina had a grand time pointing things out to me. Things such as the Soviet film company Mosfilm (now a regular old production company) store.

Coney Island was pretty, but cold as hell (Dante’s hell).

One of the highlights of the trip was our MoMA visit. Best. Museum. EVER.

Dina has too many friends. We also met up with Dmitri and Satomi for a midtown lunch of Korean food.

All in all, the best NYC trip ever. It really helps to have people you know in the city . . . people who can invite you to cool things (such as exclusive bars) and help you ferret out cheap eats (such as Sea in Williamsburg).

More pictures on Flickr.

Wondering how best to celebrate the upcoming holiday of blessed St. Patrick? Well wonder no longer:

The 5th Annual Hard Liver Barleywine Fest

Be sure to wear your drinkin’ shoes!

You’re welcome.

TD, happy birthday. I hope today is totally awesome and you buy happiness on the internets and there are no needles in your parking lot.