Take Me Out To The Ballgame

I had a great time last night with with wife, and friends as we went to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners play the Baltimore Orioles.  Although the M's came up short, we watched an excellent pitching performance by Felix Hernandez.  We also stayed around for the fireworks display afterwards.  Before we went over, we met for a pre-game brew at Henry's

Summer Relief

Back in the early 60s sometime, my parents took my sister and me swimming at Graybill Pool.  It was on the outskirts of Walla Walla.  At the time, I believe it was one of 3 outdoor public pools in Walla Walla, 2 commercially run and one public.  Actually Pioneer Park also had a pool, but was very small.  I believe that all are gone now, giving residents little relief from temperatures that often get above 100 during July and August. 
This picture was found on the Bygone Walla Walla page by Joe Drazan.

The Chase--A Fun Summer Read

Much like Lt Gerard devotes his career to capturing Richard Kimball in The Fugitive, FBI special agent Kate O'Hare has dedicated her life to capturing international con man, Nicholas Fox. In the first installment of this series, O'Hare learns that after Fox escapes from her clutches yet again, she is part of a secret government scheme for her to work with the criminal mastermind.  However, she is on her own on this.  A bad move can lead to her arrest and conviction. 
In The Chase, the stakes get high, as the duo is charged  with recovering a stolen artifact that if not recovered could destroy relations between the US and China.  The twist is that the artifact is held by a  well known trusted government figure. Add to the fact, he has a ruthless security team protecting his house. 
A well rounded group of characters are either introduced or brought back by "The Heist" to make this a fun read.  The contrast in character between the straight laced, dedicated O'Hare and the charming Fox, continues to make great chemistry for this series.
The Chase is the latest release from mystery writer Janet Evanovich and TV writer Lee Goldberg.

Natural Fireworks In Maple Valley

Maple Valley woke to the rattle of a big lightning and thunderstorm.  It is the first time it has  rained  here in weeks.  It has to be welcome news if some of that falls on the wild fires in Central Washington.  At this writing, the thunder has tapered off.

Sunset On The Lake

We have just returned to our Maple Valley home after watching house and dog of  friends of ours for two weeks in Bellevue   As it happened, we had marvelous weather and were able to capture this sunset from their backyard off Lake Sammamish.

Tower Of Power, Steve Miller Band, Journey Rock White River

Three great bands, all with San Francisco Bay area roots, but distinctively different sounds, played the White River Amphitheatre yesterday, as I celebrated my birthday with my wife and friends.
The White River is located on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation near Auburn. It is now 11 years old.
The festivities opened with Tower Of Power, a funk rock, jazz fusion group from Oakland.  the group has many hits and was warmly greeted by a growing crowd setting up for the long afternoon/evening. 
Classic Rock staple Steve Miller Band (top picture) followed and the crowd roared to it's feet, as it played some of it's biggest hits.  Steve Miller, now Washington based, also sprinkled in some of his favorites from the band's blues based history, when the band was mostly heard on FM stations.  He also payed tribute to departed band member Norton Buffalo, who had been with the band for 31 years.
Power Rock  hit machine Journey (bottom picture) was the headliner, with hard hitting guitar riffs, a dazzling light show, touching piano solos as it played a long set into the night.  The band spoke of it's bay area ties, even earning a few quiet boos, when playing "Lights", a song paying tribute to San Francisco.  The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers are tangled in an intense rivalry for superiority in the NFL.

Enjoying A Concert

Watching Tower Of Power at White River Amphitheatre.

JFK Jr, 15 Years Have Passed

It was 15 years ago today that John F Kennedy, son of one of our more endeared presidents died along with his wife and sister-in-law when the plane he was piloting crashed on the way to a wedding in Massachusetts,  Considered by many presidential material by some, he was beginning to make a name for himself, starting a political based magazine known as George.

Light Blogging!

Have not put much up this week.  Mostly because of the great weather, plus a few other factors.

Theatre Begins To Take Shape

A look at what will be the Bellevue Youth Theatre in Crossroads Park.  The area has been under construction for well over a year.  Sources say the Theatre should be open in December.

Happy Together Tour 2014 Hits Jackpot At Snoqualmie Casino

No summer is complete, in my opinion, without watching an outdoor concert, and to lead this season off, we headed East to Snoqualmie to watch the Turtles and a group of guests on this year's version of the Happy Together Tour.  A young at heart crowd  was singing, clapping, and dancing to songs bringing back memories of a first date, prom, graduation, or lunchtime on the oldies station. 
The concert started off with Gary Lewis And the Playboys, a mega hit maker in the 60s until Lewis went in the Army, squashing his career.  Mitch Ryder was next doing classics like "Devil With The Blue Dress On".  Mark Farner (bottom picture in blue shirt), once the lead singer of Grand Funk, took the stage, he looked older in years, but young in spirit, moving across the platform like a teenager.  An artist I hadn't heard of, Chuck Negron, was better known as a member of 1970s  hit machine 3 Dog Night, (middle picture) sang a sample of  the Dog's great hits.
Rounding out the show was the headline group, The Turtles.  Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman have lead the band and have been it's mouthpiece since it's inceptions.  They combine memorable hits like "Eleanor" "She'd Rather Be With Me", and the rock classic, "Happy Together" with a Smothers Brothers type comedy shtick that made them a popular booking on mainstream variety shows of the 1960s.
Next week, we "journey" to the White River Amphitheatre to see Journey and Steve Miller in concert.

LeBron Going Back To Cleveland

NBA all star Lebron James has announced that he is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  You can check details here.

Cool Things To Ship At The UPS Store In Crossroads

We were able to pick up this pinball machine at it's location in Bellevue which we had crated  and shipped by freight to San Francisco.  For information on Pick Ups for packing and shipping around around the Bellevue-Redmond area, call 425-746-6880

More Great Pictures From The Needle

A couple more pictures from last night.

Dining At The Needle

Deb and I celebrated our 19th anniversary last night with dinner at Sky City, the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle.  Although the Needle is well over 50 years old, it retains it shows little signs of age. 
The seating area of the restaurant rotates a making a full 360 degree rotation every 47 minutes. 
The original name of the restaurant was "The Eye Of The Needle" It was known for having prices as high as it's 500 foot altitude.  Today, the prices are about equal to any fine restaurant in the area.
The views from the restaurant were stunning.    When we finished, we walked up to the observation deck.  It was crowded with tourists from all over the world.   There was a mini-museum there with historical pictures and artifacts.  There is a gift shop at the base. 
We had our rehearsal dinner at the skyline dining area (the new addition to the needle at 100 feet, built in 1982) in 1995 and we had been to the observation deck many times.  It was however Deb's first time to the Restaurant and my first time since going there with a couple buddies in 1978.  We thank Deb's Grandma for giving us a gift card for Sky City.

Seager Makes All Star Squad

It has been announced that Mariner 3rd baseman Kyle Seager will play in his first All Star Game.  Seager is hitting .274 and has been a defensive stalwart for the M's.  He joins teammates Robinson Cano and Felix Hernandez on this year's squad..

Walla Walla TV Memories--Uncle Jimmy's Clubhouse

Walla Walla did not have a TV station, but we did have stations from Tri Cities and Spokane.  Eventually with the advent of Cable, we were able to get Seattle and Vancouver, BC.  One of the more memorable children shows was Uncle Jimmy's Clubhouse.  We saw it on KEPR, out of Pasco. It actually originated from KIMA in Yakima.  Children would appear on the show on or near their birthday.   If a child was not able to be on the show their name would be read from the birthday book.  Sponsored by Darigold, a regional milk distributor, one lucky child got to drive a miniature milk truck.  Uncle Jimmy was Jimmy Nolan, a WSU grad who had worked at KUJ in Walla Walla in 1940.  He would host the show, as well as do news at the station from mid 1950s to the late 70s.

Mariner Fans Seeing Improvements

The Mariners are at 48 wins and 39 losses, third in the American League West.  After the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, it was widely thought that the M's, which had been off the Seattle sports radar for almost a decade, would stumble through another long hopeless season.  This year however, it is clear that the years of futilitty may soon be over. The M's have been hanging in, even after a couple of losing streaks and have even shown some power at the plate. 
So, my conclusion is that we should enjoy the season improvements and not worry about the chance for a late season fade.  The M's face the White Sox today to conclude a three game series in the Windy City.

Happy 4th Of July

4th Of July With Seattle Radio Icon Pat O'Day

Celebrating the 4th Of July. Seattle Style

Beautiful Summer Night In Maple Valley

We love eating dinner out on the deck in the summer.  This was taken just as the sun was setting, my favorite time.

Area Temperature Shoots Up

Puget Sound area temperatures are expected to cool to the upper 70s today.  The thermometer hit 94 yesterday breaking records for that date.  It  was a busy day at our store, so there was not much chance to get a break from the heat.  Luckily, air conditioning was working properly.

THE CHASE by Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg (Commercial)

What I'm reading now.  This summer beach read is actually better than The Heist, the first Evanovich Goldberg best seller.

The Turtles Bring Act To Area

They were on every teen show in the 60s.  Los Angeles based band, The Turtles, are coming to the Snoqualmie Casino on July 11th.  For information on the show, go to www.snocasino.com .  The two leaders of the group, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, were also part of the Mothers Of Invention group, led by Frank Zappa. 

The group was mentioned in passing by The Boss, Bruce Springsteen during the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction of the E Street Band.

If that doesn't do it for you, the concert will also feature such living legends as Mitch Ryder, Gary Lewis And The Playboys, Mark Farner and much more.

Howard Kaylan makes his home in the Seattle area.

Sheryl Crow - Summer Day

Another Great Summer Song

Hope For World Class Local Area Athlete

We should be proud to have Hope Solo living in the area, she is a two time Olympic gold medal winner.  She is a lifelong Washington state resident, growing up in Richland, attending the University of Washington and playing for the hometown Seattle Reign Women's Soccer team.  She is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the game.  She was also a contestant on Dancing With The Stars, one of the few if any contestants to clearly identify with the Seattle area.
With a very easy to remember name and being a top female athlete comes challenges, incidents that would maybe be unnoticed by news media become big stories when a well known figure is involved.  We are saddened to hear of Hope's current troubles and hope (no pun intended) that she can get proper support to give this story a happy ending.

End Of An Era At Temple B'Nai Torah

Rabbi James Mirel lead his last Shabbat service this weekend.  Mirel is retiring after holding the positiion of senior rabbi at Temple B'Nai Torah for 29 years.
We met Rabbi Mirel after our engagement in 1994, I was not affiliated with any temple  and approached him to see about officiating at our  ucoming wedding.  We attended a Friday night service at the temple, then located on Mercer Island and was inspired by the welcomeness and the spirituality.  As things turned out, we had a different rabbi, along with a minister offiate at our wedding, but I knew that we would join TBT,  which would soon move to the Crossroads area of Bellevue.
Rabbi Mirel would fly to Walla Walla in 2009 to officiate at my brother's wedding.

Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit(1972)

It's Summer!

More Spokane

We were only in Spokane for a couple of days, but had so much fun, it generated at least 4 blog posts. My cousin took this picture of me going down the slide at the Red Lion Hotel swimming pool.  This was Saturday afternoon, right after getting out of the convention.  Refreshments are served poolside.

The Vietnam War Memorial--Spokane

While walking through Riverfront Park in Spokane, I came across a beautiful statue.  It was the Vietnam War Memorial dedicated to the soldiers from the area who lost their lives in the conflict.

Dasher Carrying His Leash

The sight of Dasher carrying his leash through Riverfront Park and also through the Red Lion Hotel, caused jaws to drop,  all sorts of strangers came up to pet and compliment him. Many also took his picture.

Barers Go To State Democratic Convention In Spokane

We drove to Spokane last weekend to attend the Washington State Democratic Convention.  My cousin and her husband were also visiting Spokane and under the original plan, we would have dinner with them and then attend some hospitality suites.
What we did not plan for, was a massive road construction project on I-90 (top picture). It took us an unbelievable hour and a half to go a mere 30 miles into the city.  Even as Seattle area residents, we are not accustomed to such long traffic delays.
We stayed at the Red Lion At The Park, our room over looked the beautiful Riverfront Park where Expo 74 was held (middle picture). 
The next morning, a breakfast was held with speakers like Attorney General Bob Ferguson and State Senator Andy Billig spoke.
The Convention feature Governor Jay Inslee (bottom picture) as well as a number of local community leaders.  After a lunch with some of my former 5th District Democratic leaders at Clinkerdaggers at the Flour Mill.  We returned to the convention to begin working on the platform.

KJR Kosher For Cougs Again

Not so very long ago, listening to Sports Radio 950 was a passion you could share with all of your sports buddies.  Water cooler discussion were based on what outrageous thing Mitch or Softy may have said during a particular broadcast day. 
In 2002, KJR won the rights to broadcast Washington HuskyFootball and Basketball, as a consequence, the station became something of an unabashed booster of the Husky programs.  While I continued to listen, many WSU Cougs abandoned the station.
Yesterday, it was announced the U-W sports were returning to KOMO1000.  Does that mean Cougs will come back?  Time will tell.

Keith Remembers Tony Gwynn

ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann tells a touching story of San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn. Gwynn was an 8 time National League batting champion and retired with a career batting average of .338

Mike And Dave

We took my Dad to Safeco Field on Father's Day to watch the Mariners play the Texas Rangers.  Here I am at the statue honoring the great Mariner announcer Dave Niehaus.  Perhaps, rubbing the stature's shoulder gave the team good luck.  The Mariners broke a 5 game losing streak, beating the Rangers 5-1.

So Long Tony Gwynn

The San Diego Padre Hall Of Famer died today of cancer.   He played early in his career for San Diego's single A team the Walla Walla Padres.  A Sports Illustrated article on him mentioned his start in Walla Walla, one of the few times up to then that the town got national sports recognition.
Known as Mr. Padre, Gwynn had 3141 hits in his Major League career.

Casey Kasem Signs Off

Casey Kasem, who brought America the Top 40 countdown has died.  The iconic Kasem was popular for not only playing the most popular songs from number 40 to number one, but also for humanizing the music business.  Kasem would tell anecdotes about various Rock acts. 
Things have changed but until Kasem's show played in Walla Walla on K-HIT in the 1970, you could only hear Rock music at night from Monday until Saturday.  The only other way was to listen to the scratchy (from distance) Tri City stations.  K-HIT, at the time, was under new ownership and in the process of modernizing. Now on Sundays, teenagers like myself had music on the radio that we could enjoy listening to. 
By strange turn of events, Kasem died in Gig Harbor, about 35 miles from Maple Valley.  It was after a very ugly battle amongst family members. Maybe now we  will remember Casey from the right way.  As the man who gave us "....the hits from coast to coast."

Rockin' The Park On Maple Valley Days

We caught the Peter Benjamin Band at Maple Valley Days until the rain came pouring down.  Even though it looks sparse, there actually was a decent crowd on hand enjoying the music, which ranged from standards from artists like Bruce Springsteen and Buddy Holly, to the band's own material.  Maple Valley days is an annual festival, taking place in Lake Wilderness Park.

Happy Father's Day!

Coaching Legend Noll Dies

Chuck Noll, who guided the Pittsburgh Steelers to 4 Super Bowl titles has died.  More details later.

Maple Valley Days This Weekend

Maple Valley's one weekend festival has started.  Information here

Jean Enersen Retiring

I have known that Jean Enersen has that Jean Enersen as had a long career as co-anchor of the KING 5 News, I did not know that she was the first local female news anchor in the country.   Enersen began co-anchoring at the Seattle station 42 years ago.  Today, it is hard to imagine a local news report anywhere that does not have a female co-anchor.  What is even more amazing, is that Enersen has continued to co-anchor at that same station until this week, as she has just announced that she will retire from her anchoring duties.  
Enersen, who has been at KING 5 TV since 1968 originally as a reporter, will continue to do specials and Healthlink reports. 

Seahawk Star Sherman Moving To Maple Valley

Maple Valley is in the news as the new home of Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman. Reports are that the standout cornerback has purchased the home of NBA star Jamal Crawford for 2.31 million.  Although the area, is rustic, with spectacular views of Mt. Rainier, it has seldom been in the news for celebrity home purchases.  The house features such amenities as a deck for every bedroom and an indoor swimming pool.

A Day At Emerald Downs

The Miss Budweiser of 1968 looms large as Deb and I met my cousin and her husband to watch racing at Emerald Downs.  The Boat was so big, I could only get part of it.  We watched 7 horse races.
 In rhe 7th race StopShoppingDebbie continued her unbeaten streak her 7th in a row, The longest in the nation.
 The Miss Budweiser did not race, of course, but was there with race cars, motor cycles and other displays for guys weekend at the track.

A Beautiful Evening

A sailboat looms as the Seattle skyline is seen in the distance.  This was taken from Marsh Park on the shore of Lake Washington in Kirkland about 7pm last night.

Rock Hall-Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band-The E Street Shuffle

The induction of the E Street Band  was the highlight of the induction ceremony, even though acts that I enjoyed more were also part of it.  Bruce Springsteen used his tremendous stage presence, talent and charisma to tell the story of why his band should join him in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Campus Shooting In The Area

A gunman is in custody after he opened fire at the Seattle Pacific University campus One person is dead.

Joan Jett and Nirvana Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2014

For the second year in a row, a Seattle area (last year, it was Heart) rock act was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.  I watched the presentation on HBO, with performances from artists as divergent as Cat Stevens, Hall And Oates, the E Street Band, and KISS. Seattle's Nirvana used Joan Jett, (who had a pretty amazing career herself) and another lady to front it's band instead of the late Kurt Cobain.  Cool to see Kris Novaselic, who I actually met several years ago,performing on TV.  Kris was a Democratic State Committeeman at the same time as me and we met at a meeting.  Pretty establishment type stuff for a member of a cutting edge band, but at least he's a Democrat.  I also saw Kris perform with other Nirvana members at the Paul McCartney concert last summer.

The Rock Hall Of Fame was a good watch on HBO, I may show some more acts later.

Seattle Makes History With 15 Dollar An Hour Minimum Wage

The lead story on the 6:00 CBS radio news report was the Seattle City Council's 9-0 passing of the 15 dollar an hour minimum wage.  KIRO reporter Brandi Kruse had her report played nationally.  How this will play out is a big mystery.  I'd like to think that a high minimum wage will give workers more disposable income, increasing buying power to create more jobs.  
Businesses, however are talking about lay-offs, higher prices, or relocation.  Right now, there seems to be so much contention between pro and con, I think that perhaps the two sides should maybe find a meeting point to make this work. 

Majestic Mt. Si

This was taken from the backyard of our friends, Marjie and Rick, who had of over for a barbecue last night.