Blog Mentioned In Walla Walla Paper

I was surprised a few days ago to find that my post about the old South Eastern Washington TV show Uncle Jimmy's Clubhouse was picked up by the Annie Charnley Eveland's column in the  Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.  Sharing childhood memories, some like this one, long gone, and rekindling other's memories, is one of the fun things about writing the blog. I was able to get the information to write about the Clubhouse from the "My Town Walla Walla" page on facebook.
I barely recall having my name read from the birthday book when I was little.  I believe they butchered my last name.

Happy Birthday, Brother

 

It's Steve's birthday today.

Veteran Seattle Radio Host Bob Rivers Retiring.

Bob Rivers moved to Seattle three months after I did, Rivers became a Seattle institution and I've become a admirer of Seattle institutions.  Rivers started his Seattle broadcasting career at KISW, he then moved to KZOK where he manned the mike for almost 10 years, when he couldn't get KZOK owner CBS to blink the big eye, he moved to oldies station KJR-FM. 
Rivers is known for his satirical songs, known as "Twisted Tunes" and for having his seaplane stolen by "the barefoot bandit" Colton Harris-Moore.  He is joined on his show by fellow radio personalities Spike O'Neil and Downtown Joe. 
Rivers has twice been voted Radio And Records Major Market Rock Personality Of The Year.
His last show is schedule for August 8th, exactly 25 years to the day after his first Seattle show,

Former Seattle Mayor Paul Schell Dies

Seattle was on a high note when Paul Schell became the city's mayor.  Local companies, Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks were becoming household names across the nation.  Pearl Jam and Nirvana were on top of the music scene. 
Unfortunately, the week long meeting of the World Trade Center   brought violent police confrontation that played out worldwide and the city lost it's footing.  A man was killed during the city's Mardi Gras celebration, and Boeing moved it's headquarters to Chicago. Paul Schell did not even get past the primary in his bid to be reelected.
Before being elected mayor, Schell was behind several civic projects including getting a new library built downtown.
The former mayor died yesterday he was 76.

The Portland Mavericks Remembered

Larry Stone writes an excellent piece on  "..the nuttiest baseball team the Northwest has ever seen" in today's Seattle Times.  Stone talks about the Portland Mavericks, so named because they had no Major League affiliation.  They were in the Northwest League with the Walla Walla Padres and became the team everyone loved to hate.  I had been wanting to do a post on the team, but really did not know where to begin.  You can read Larry's story by clicking here.

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.