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

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

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?

All my rooting for the Sonics to tank it down the stretch this season payed off this evening when the locals lucked into the second pick in the draft. This means Seattle will probably wind up with Texas forward Kevin Durant, who looks like he’s going to be a 30 ppg. scorer in the NBA for the next decade-and-a-half. It’s sort of bittersweet for Sonics fans, who suffered through the team’s worst season in two decades amid rampant speculation that the team is out the door. So this was welcome news for the long suffering locals.

Of course, it was even better news for our I-5 rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, who wound up with the first pick. They already have Brandon Roy, and Zach Randolph is a pretty good player when he’s not being a locker room cancer. If I’m Portland, I get what I can for Randolph, install Lamarcus Aldridge in the starting lineup and watch the team develop with their big three. I imagine Kables has to be pretty happy about this, given that the Blazers are the team he grew up with and all. The Portland-Seattle rivalry just got a whole lot more interesting.

Actually, it was almost as much fun watching the good folks over ESPN go apeshit over two teams from the Pacific Northwest getting the NBA’s next two superstars. (Funny how no one said anything like this when Melo went to Denver…) Stephen A. Smith seems to be under the impression that no one watches basketball outside of the Boston-New York-Philadelphia corridor. (And, btw, condolences to Aaron on the Celtics missing out. This must suck for Celtic fans ten years after the whole Tim Duncan debacle. Still…the Pats are Super Bowl favorites, and the Sawx are 10 1/2 games out in front in the AL East, so I think they’ll be able to cope.) It’s a miracle the Lakers haven’t gone bankrupt, what with being out here on the west coast and all. Maybe Smith thinks we’re two time zones to the west of Los Angeles. Go figure.

Dina and I finally went this weekend to the Olympic Sculpture Park. Here are some photos.

A tree made out of silver!

Art. I gotta say, I wasn’t into the sculptures that much, but I did love the landscaping and the organization of the park. The ampersand was from the “Love & Loss’ sculpture — my favorite.

Dina and I had to stop and model.

I also love this crazy/freaky boy-love fountain.

All in all, it was a beautiful day.

More on Flickr.

Howdy, Gangstas!

I’ll be out in Seattle without Amy and Jack the weekend of November 10th. I’m coming out for the Seahawks/Rams game on the 12th, and I’d love to get some kind of get together going for the afternoon or evening of Saturday Nov. 11.

We also just made our reservations to fly out to Seattle right after the New Year. Here’s what we have lined up:

Jan. 2-4 Seattle

Jan. 5-12 Tri-Cities

Jan 13-15 Seattle

Hopefully we can see y’all at some point. Who’s in? Don’t be shy about dropping me an e-mail about all this.

Went to see Kaki King on Monday and was mesmerized by her innovative guitar playing. I yearn to make music and vow to start practicing my guitar playing again. I want to put that goal out into the cyber-universe and ask you to hold me to it. If you help me stick to that goal, in six months, I promise to premiere the sound clip of me playing “Dirty Wife Beater” (an original bckhough composition) right here on this blog.
I am flying to Seattle on Friday and would love to meet up with any of the Seattle-ites in the bunch of us. A beer at the Elysian? A band at the Tractor? I’m also looking forward to meeting up with Libraryman and other friends at the Internet Librarian conference in California next week. Anyone else planning to be there? I am so used to looking at your a.bunchof.us avatars that I worry about whether or not I will recognize the “real yous” anymore!!

Flogging Molly is playing a free outdoor show on the UW Hub Lawn on Monday, September 25th. Hell yes, I’ll be there…I hope. So what’s the scoop, Kables? Can anyone attend, or do you need a student ID?

I cross-posted my account of the Seahawks-Lions game on the seahawks.net message board.. Now I have a reputation to uphold amongst the other obsessive Seahawks fans out there..

Ch-Ch-Check it out…

Also, if anyone is interested, you can still bid on the Seahawks-49ers and Seahawks-Chargers tickets I put up on eBay..