Happy Halloween

James Donaldson May Run For City Council

The Columbia Tower and the Space Needle may not be the only tall things on the Seattle skyline. Former Super Sonic Center James Donaldson is talking about running for Seattle City Council in 2009. The former Coug appeared at the annual Magnuson Awards Dinner at the Westin tonight where Democratic Chair Dwight Pelz introduced him as a candidate. There is no doubt that should he make it, his council colleagues will look up to him, Donaldson is over 7 feet tall.

Little Rock News Anchor Killed In Brutal Attack

Even in Seattle, where most of us have not met her, or seen her on TV, at least until now, we feel the heartache of the tragic loss of Anne Pressly.

Seahawks Pound San Francisco

When two teams having miserable seasons meet, someone has to win and the Seattle Seahawks were able to take advantage of the San Francisco 49ers' woes for a 34-13 victory. Josh Wilson ran his first career interception back 75 yards for a Seahawk touchdown late in the second quarter and Leonard Weaver had two touchdown receptions of 43 and 62 yards in the second half. The Seahawks take on the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday at Qwest Field.

Darcy Burner--John Ladenburg Appearing In Maple Valley

Washington State Democratic Candidates Darcy Burner and John Ladenburg will be in Maple Valley for a "meet and greet" this Thursday October 30th at 6:30 at the home of Reuben and Arlene Powell. Burner is running against Republican Congressman Dave Reichert for the 8th district congressional seat, and John Ladenburg is running against incumbent Rob McKenna for State Attorney General. To RSVP for this event and to get directions to the home of Reuben And Arlene, call Darcy Burner's office at 425-443-2564 or email at campaign@darcyburner.com

Politics Can Be Thankless

It seems like going through the last month of a campaign is somewhat akin to walking into torture chamber with the same amount of angry negative commercials playing ad nausea, e-mails from groups you didn't know existed and of course, the ever present robo-dialer on your answering machine.

This story is a little on the lighter side, but it shows how being a political volunteer can be a thankless job where no good deed ever goes unpunished.

Let's back up to my hometown of Walla Walla, back in the 60s as it is today, a very conservative Republican town. It did have a visible Democratic party, seemingly a small coalition of Italian, Southern,Irish, in our case Jewish businessmen, union people and farmers. Not exactly people who were sympathetic to the activists that would come to define the decade. Their hero, who in fact had an appeal that crossed party lines, was the late Washington Junior Senator Scoop Jackson. Jackson was a "straight arrow" representing everything American. He was an established cold warrior and die hard supporter of the Viet Nam War.

In 1970, the Viet Nam protests were growing louder and an African American Spokane attorney named Carl Maxey threw his hat in the ring to challenge Senator Jackson. In the spring, Maxey spoke at Walla Walla's Whitman College campus and was well received. Anti War activism was brewing amongst the students and faculty. Later in the summer, Carl Maxey was scheduled to appear at the Walla Walla County Democratic Picnic.

So the county democratic party has their picnic, it looks like a good year for the area Democrats as sitting Republican Congresswoman Catherine May was facing a very strong opponent in Mike McCormack. There was one problem, Carl Maxey was scheduled to speak. The man picked to Emcee the get-together had no desire to introduce an anti-war activist who was attempting to replace Scoop Jackson, a man whom the Republican party would only send token opposition against. My Dad was the good soldier and volunteered. He has always been loyal to the party and willing to step up in any situation.

So the picnic is taking place in Rooks Park, a very popular place at the time on the East outskirts of town. My Dad is toastmaster and introducing various local candidates who get up to make their speeches. Finally, it is Mr. Maxey's turn. My Dad says something like..."you got to hand it to this man for running against a state Icon." Mr Maxey (an outstanding boxer in school) did not take that well. He gave my Dad a glare that was unmistakable. Then he went on with his speech.

Darcy Burner Appears At Overlake Rotary

I am not a member of Rotary, but my Father-In-Law, Bob is president of the Overlake Chapter and was kind enough to allow me to be his guest as 8th district Darcy Burner was the featured speaker. Darcy grew up in the area in a military family, fascinated by computers. She attended Harvard on Technology and Economic scholarships. She say she wants to be in congress because she wants to fix things. Her speciality, and what she said she did at Microsoft, was analyzing problems. She talked of bringing bi-partisan groups together to solve the economic crisis and figure out an honorable way out of the Iraqi War.

Palin Apears On SNL

No surprise, polititians of every stripe feel the need to show that they have a funny bone. Both Obama and Clinton apeared in the past year and McCain muddled through a poorly written skit..
I wonder if they used a laughtrack or if they just threatened to remove anyone booing Governor Palin. Did any of you boycott the show because of her apearance?

Seahawks Lose Again

The nightmare that is the 2008 season for the Seattle Seahawks continues in a 20-10 defeat. A touchdown in the last 2 minutes of the game on a pass from Seneca Wallace to John Carlson made the final score score at least look respective, but there was nothing to indicate the 'Hawks fortunes would change in the next few weeks.

General Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

One of our nations most respected leaders, Colin Powell, who served as President Bush's Secretary Of State has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama to be our next president. General Powell says that although he feels that they are both qualified to be commander in chief, Senator Obama is more qualified to handle the economic crisis facing our country. In an interview on NBC's Meet The Press, General Powell also expressed disappointment with Senator McCain's campaign tactics.

The Record Center

I mentioned "The Record Center" in the article about Dave Cochran. The Record Center was a dark seedy store on Main Street in Walla Walla that specialized in, of course, records. It used to have booth where you could listen to the records before you bought them. This was a "must stop" for teens in Walla Walla. Eventually the Record Center moved to a bigger store down the road, it eventually lost it's mystique. It later changed it's name to "Brumback's House Of Music" and was soon forgotten even by me. Right up to the point that I wrote the Cochran article.

Burner To Speak To Rotary

Democratic Congressional Candidate Darcy Burner will speak to the Overlake Rotary Of Bellevue this Wednesday in one of her last aprearance before the general election. The club has already heard from Burner's Republican rival Dave Reichert and both candidates for governor.

Final Tribute--Lloyd Thaxton

Lloyd included me in this post from his blog.

Dave "Rockin" Cochran And The Voice Of Thunder

If you were a teenager or a young adult in the late 60s or early 70s and a fan of hit music
growing up in Walla Walla Washington, you would be perfectly happy turning your radio to a scratchy fading in and out station in the Tri Cities,(KALE or KORD depending on the era). If you had a good summer or night job, you could go down to the "Record Center" or later "Hot Poop"(Walla Walla's Hippest Record Store) or "StereoBird"to buy enough records to satisfy your hunger for the hits, as night fell and the Tri Cities stations followed FCC guidelines and broadcast in low power, you could turn on KTEL. KTEL,at 1490 khtz, was one of three local AM radio stations and one of only two that were allowed to operate at night. It was also the only one to play rock and only at night. Dave "Rockin" Cochran was prime time night Disc Jockey. He was actually working in the daytime as well playing country music and what not. Dave Cochran had a voice that would boom into the radio and as such you would think that he could shout from one end of town to the other without benefit of a microphone. The station consisted of a fly and spider infested ramshackle hut under the big radio tower on the outskirts of town, but to listen to Rockin Cochran, you would have thought it was a palace on a hill as you could hear some of the greatest music ever played. His lifestyle was a topic of frequent discussion at schools. Cochran would play teen music from 8:00 until 10:00 and hard core FM style rock from 10:00 until 11:00, I would hear groups like "10 Years After" and "Quicksilver Messenger Service", it is no wonder that I was bitten by the radio bug. Dave was assisted in the hour off that he got for dinner by first Steve Lloid and then Mike Turner. At 11:00, it was time for the Star Spangled Banner and sign off. This was, afterall, Walla Walla.

Seahawks Thrashed At Qwest

The Seattle Seahawks showed they can be just as ineffective at their home field as they can be on the road, losing to the Green Bay Packers 27-17. The game was really not as close as the score would indicate as they were listless on both offense and defense. Matt Hasselbeck sat out the game with a hyper extended knee and his replacement Charlie Frye could not move the ball against a patchwork Green Bay defense.

picture above--Coach Holmgren greets Gary Payton, who raised the 12th man flag.

Air Supply Concert

Last night, Deb and I, along with her sister and brother-in-law went to the Emerald Queen Casino to watch the Australian Band Air Supply

OSU Basketball Coach Will Apear At Maggie Awards

Craig Robinson will be the featured speaker at Seattle's Warren G. Magnuson Awards Dinner on October 27th. He is the head basketball coach at Oregon State, but more significantly, he is Michelle Obama's brother.

Obama And Israel

American Jews have been slow in jumping on the Obama Train. A group of Israelis have made this video to perhaps ease some concerns about his stance in the Middle East.

This video should close my tribute to the man who brought so many rock and roll memories, Lloyd Thaxton!

A Sad Irony From LT Blog

Last May, Lloyd Thaxton asked readers write his obituary. He must have known something that we didn't.

Teen Show Host Lloyd Thaxton Dies At 81

Lloyd Thaxton, whose televised LA dance show went into national syndication during the 1960s, has died at 81.
Unlike the "cool" Dick Clark host of American Bandstand, Thaxton was animated and unpredictable with endless gags and skits. In recent years, he wrote a blog where he connected with many of his old fans including myself.

5th District Democrats Out At Salmon Days

The 5th District Democrats were at Issaquah Salmon Days last weekend and the response was incredible. Festival goers cleaned out every Obama button, bumper sticker and souvenir. Gregoire signs were in high demand also. The Republican (oh I'm sorry--GOP) was right across the way and they looked on jealously.

SNL Biden-Palin Satire

SNL keeps it's sketches under wraps for the most part, but this was what I found on the "Net".

NFL Commercial--Feelin' Kind Of Sunday

The way the Seahawks have played lately, I almost think the song should be "Feelin' Kind Of Sick."

Man--It Was Ugly

With Bobby Engram and Deion Branch back in uniform, the Seattle Seahawks came off of a bye and ran into a buzz saw, losing to the New York Giants (called the New York Football Giants by those remembering a bygone era) 44-6
The Seahawks are 1-6 on their last 7 trips to the East Coast and at 1-3, are have their worst start since 2002. The game was the coup d'gras after both the Cougars and the Huskies suffered humiliating defeats this weekend. The only bright spot for the Hawks was that Matt Hasselbeck was able to remain in the game after hyper extending his knee on one of the first plays.

Barers Of Maple Valley Get 20 Thousandth Hit

It may not sound like much, but it's a milestone. Thank you to everyone who reads this blog!

Mr. Barer Goes To Walla Walla

My cousin Burl, traveled to our former hometown of Walla Walla and writes about it humorously in his blog.

Let's Find Out What Sarah Palin Reads

I'd like her to be a little more specific.