The Beautiful Blue Mountains

A  mostly gravel road east of Walla Walla known as Scenic Loop in aptly named, providing spectacular views.  Deb and I and another couple are here to see family and  enjoy a little wine tasting.

Valerie Harper Dies

Valerie Harper, Emmy-winning 'Rhoda' star, dead at 80 https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/30/entertainment/valerie-harper-obituary/index.html

The Doors Light My Fire at 'Malibu U' 1967 New HD Footage

I remember this appearance by the Doors because it was the first time that I watched the group perform.  Jim Morrison was very noticeable because his hair probably longer than any rock artist at the time.

Ricky Nelson～Malibu U

As the Summer  ends, I remember this ABC Summer replacement show.  It was 1967, so I probably didn't get how corny it was.

The Lennons Come Together

As a Beatles fan, this is a great story that I had to share.

Argosy Cruise Through Ballard Locks II

Experience the locks with us.

Argosy Cruise Through Ballard Locks

A trip through the Ballard Locks on an Argosy Cruise.

Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered Part 33--K-HIT's Arch LeRoux In Studio

The face may not be familiar to everyone who grew up in Walla Walla, but his voice probably was.  Arch LeRoux (La Roo) was the founder and owner of K-HIT, a radio station that broadcast from the Denney Building from sunrise to sunset.  It played what was known as easy listening music, and as long as I can remember, was automated.   

Leroux with a distinct voice would do a newscast at the top of the hour and headlines at the half hour. LeRoux was also known for his tennis playing prowess.   The station was sold to an out of town ownership group in the mid-70s.

This picture appeared on the Joe Drazen's Bygone Walla Walla page, courtesy of Jean Savage, whose father Bill Lilley was the long time photographer for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. 

Colts Out Of Luck As Star QB Retires.

The Colts symbolic horseshoe is traditionally the symbol of luck, but it did seem to help the fortunes of their star quarterback who carries that name.  Andrew Luck,  whom the Colts drafted number one out of Stanford, retired suddenly after 7 mostly injury prone seasons.
Although he lead the Colts to the playoffs each year, in his first three seasons, he never attained the superstar status of his predecessor with the team, Peyton Manning.
The Colts in fact, cut Manning after his absence due to injuries, allowed the team a high enough pick to draft Luck, seen as the top quarterback in that year's class.
Maybe, keeping Manning around and letting Luck observe and learn from a future Hall Of Fame QB would have been the better choice.

Art Of Racing In The Rain Review

This is a "must see" for anyone with a Golden Retriever as Enzo the dog is a scene stealer in this Seattle based story.

 The title is interesting in that it doesn't suggest a dog even being in the movie.  It does relate to Enzo's keeper, an auto racing teacher (if there is such a position) who seems destined for stardom.  This happens while starting a family, his wife's illness, and enduring conflicts with serious minded dog hating in laws. The viewer is able to read Enzo's mind with the voice of Kevin Costner, who delivers a flawless performance.  

I had read Garth Stein's book to which the movie is based and I believe this adaption is well done and in some ways, even better.

Seattle Dragons Are Anounced

Perhaps, you are on pins and needles waiting for the XFL to come back.  Not me, but the league will begin play in February of 2020.  Apparently, this will cure the thirst for football.
This time around, Seattle will have a team.  It was just announced that they will be known as the Dragons.  Remember, there is no rule saying that the name has to have something to do with the city. How many people have encountered Lions or Tigers in Detroit?

Inslee To Run For 3rd Term

Hot off his unsuccessful run for President, Jay Inslee has announced that he will seek a third term as Washington governor.
The last Governor of this state to serve 3 terms was Dan Evens. Evans was elected to his 3rd term in 1972.
Inslee's predecessors, Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire, both retired from the position after two terms.

WOW! 14-Year-Old Singer Benicio Bryant Takes Risk With Original Song - A...

Maple Valley's Benicio Bryant, performing on America's Got Talent.

Inslee Ends Presidential Campaign

KIRO radio reports the Washington governor Jay Inslee is dropping out of the 2020 race to be President of the United States.

Inslee is expected to announce whether he will seek a 3rd term as governor.

Michael Douglas Doesn't Get Why Fans See Gordon Gekko as a Hero | The Da...

Hollywood has a way of making heroes out of villains.  Michael Douglas says in this piece, he doesn't know why his signature character, Gordon Gekko is so admired.

Like A Rolling Stone by The Rolling Stones Denver 2019

He's not your average 76 year old.   Rolling Stone front man Mick Jagger performs the Bob Dylan classic on their current tour.

Peter Fonda Dies

In a sad a coincidence,  in the weekend when the 50th anniversary of Woodstock was being observed, Peter Fonda, who co-wrote and starred in the movie Easy Rider, also emblematic of the counter culture and also released 50 years from last month, has died of  lung cancer, he was 79.  

Fonda was from an acting family, his father was beloved actor Henry Fonda.  Sister, Jane Fonda was known as much for her protesting of the Viet Nam as for her many screen roles and daughter Bridget had a strong film career in the 1990s.

Who Did I Meet This Weekend?

I was handed this button after shaking hands with the new Rabbi at Temple B'Nai Torah, last Friday.  Rabbi Sydney Danziger, started her work at TBT this summer. She strikes me as an out of the box thinker.  She brought percussion instruments for attendees to play during the service.  Instead of being on the bema (podium), she conducted service from a stool on the floor beside her vocalist, Michaela, who strummed a guitar.

Woodstock 50th Anniversary

No doubt the most famous single event of the counterculture, Woodstock, took place 

August 15-19th, 1969.  It featured artist like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the Who, along with many more classic rock acts.
An attempt have Woodstock 50 to commemorate the festival, couldn't get off the ground.

Wilson, Cierra, Macklemore Invest In Seattle Sounders

An active Seattle Seahawk is now an owner of another major Seattle professional sports team.  It was announced this week that Wilson, his wife Ciara, Rapper Macklemore, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were joining the ownership group of the Seattle Sounders.   The Sounders, who also play at Century Link Field, began play in 2009, and have one MLS Cup, won in 2016.

Wenatchee Had A TV Station

Someone saw my post on KNBS and pointed out that during the 1980s, Wenatchee, a city about the same size as Walla Walla had it's own TV station.  KCWT (Central Washington TV) operated from 1984 until 1993.

Yesterday--The Movie

We saw Yesterday last weekend at the Bella Bottega Theatre in Redmond.  I am a Beatles fan as I grew up in the heyday of Beatlemania.  While many subsequent generations have embraced the band, living during the evolution of the group was an experience in itself.  The band was always doing new thing and rewriting the industry.  It really was a phenomenon beyond words.

In this movie, a struggling street musician, Jack Malik, finds that the world has forgotten everything about the Beatles.  That is everyone but him,  he finds out that he can kindle the flames of Beatlemania by singing songs of the group, since no one knows of there existence.  This makes for a great career for Jack. 

Hamesh Patel is marvelous as Jack and Lily James is wonderful in her role as his manager/love interest Ellie.  Kate McKinnon is a scene stealer in the role of Jack's manager Debra Hammer. I think all three performances are Oscar Worthy. 

Puget Sound Media Profiles Short Lived Walla Walla TV Station

It had been talked about in my childhood,  Walla Walla, at one time, had a broadcast TV station based in the town.  Now, many of my contemporaries will remember cable channel 13, this was a local access channel available to subscribers of what was then Teleprompter TV Cable.  I believe it was required at that time by the FCC.  That is not what we are talking about.  

Walla Walla had an FCC licensed TV station with the call letter KNBS.  It was on channel 22, I'm sure if it was on cable, it had an additional lower channel.   Popular western actor and former baseball player, Chuck Connors was involved in the management. 

Puget Sound Media a radio/tv blog did a post on TV station license applications, which stoked the memory for me of this mostly forgotten Walla Walla entity.  

Sources say that KNBS was on the air January 3 of 1960 to December 14th of the same year.  I was only 3 at the time it went off the air.

You can see Mike Cherry's great article on KNBS here.

The Beatles Play Seattle

Seattle historian Felix Banel has this great recount of the Beatles first concert in Seattle in 1964.  Click hereI don't know if the band itself played any subsequent dates here, but I was fortunate enough to see Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney in separate area concerts.

Black Diamond Is Expanding It's Council

The City of Black Diamond, just 10 miles from here, is expanding it's city council to 7 members, according to the Maple Valley Reporter.  Cities of 5000 or more are required to have 7 members, but cities  of 2500 or more can expand it's council at any time, according to the paper.  Black Diamond is expected is experience rapid growth due to the building of the Ten Trails housing development that has created much controversy in the last few years.

Seattle Will Get Lenny Wilkens Way

Lenny Wilkens, one of the NBA's all time greats will get a street by what is currently Key Arena, named after him.
Wilkens coached the 1978-79 Seattle Super Sonics to it's only NBA world championship. He also played for the team from 1968-72, serving in the pretty much now extinct role as player-coach from 1969-72.  He was also player coach for the Portland Trail Blazers for one season, before retiring and spending another year as full time coach. 
Wilkens has continued to live in the area, doing philanthropic work and working to possibly get the NBA to return to Seattle.

DixieChicks James Taylor Carolina in my Mind

It's too bad that we don't hear anything from the Dixie Chicks anymore.

Seahawks Kick Off 2019 With Win

In a game that didn't count but still got our spirits up, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 22-14 in Seattle.

Abbey Road Album Cover Picture Taken 50 Years Ago

Even though it's said to be the last album that the Beatles recorded, I believe it was the first one  that I bought.  The famous picture on the cover of  "Abbey Road" was taken on August 8th, 1969.

The first hit that I can remember from the album was "Come Together", but maybe the most enduring song was George Harrison's "Something". 

Both Abbey Road and the later released Beatle album, "Let It Be", contained song titles that in retrospect, suggested that the days of the Beatles as a music recording entity were coming to an end.  

Some facts about the shooting of this picture can be found by clicking here.

Jackie Christie's Most Outrageous Moments | Basketball Wives Legends

Since I began working in Bellevue retail, I have met some famous people.  Jackie Christie is the wife of Seattle native Doug Christie, who played in the NBA.  She was a frequent customer at our Overlake store  several years ago.
 I didn't get to meet Doug, but Jackie became well known in her own right by being featured on the VH-1 reality show Basketball Wives LA.  I also got to meet two of their children and Doug Christie's mom, who introduced herself to me on one of their visits.

Fortunato Running For Governor

Outspoken State Senator Phil Fortunato has announced his candidacy for State Governor.  Fortunato, was elected to the state senate from the 31st Legislative District in 2017.  Although his district is within 50 miles of Seattle, his views are light years apart. 

Fortunato is a frequent speaker at pro gun rallies.  My guess is that as part of his law and order stance, he would work to recriminalize recreational pot use.  I've nicknamed that position "guns not grass". 

Fortunato has said that he would make homelessness his main issue, something that may resonate against the very Liberal to moderately Liberal voting block in Seattle and King County. 

Loren Culp, a police chief in the Eastern Washington town of Republic, has also announced his candidacy for governor on the Republican side. 

Current two term governor Jay Inslee is now running for president of the United States, but has not ruled out a run for a third term.  Other contenders for governor in 2020 include Attorney General Bob Ferguson, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Land Commissioner Hilary Franz, all Democrats.

2019 Blue Angels At Seafair

We watched the Blue Angels show at Seafair from our friend's house in Newcastle.  Just south of Bellevue.

Seafair Sunday

The Blue Angels are usually the most memorable part of Seafair.

Howard Lapides--True Crime Sidekick Passes

Howard Lapides  was an agent representing A-list stars, but he had a passion for true crime investigation. Lapides was heard with Burl Barer on the Internet radio program True Crime Uncensored.  Howard was heard asking very pointed questions to various guests who were writers, investigators, victims and in rare instances, criminals themselves.   

Lapides died Thursday after battling cancer. 

I met Lapides a little over two years ago, when Deb and I visited the Outlaw Radio studios in the Los Angeles area to sit in on Burl's show.

Ironically, only weeks ago, Howard filled in as main host while Burl was undergoing heart surgery.

Burl said on his facebook page that True Crime Uncensored would continue today (Saturday) at it's scheduled time (2 pm Pacific), 

Dolly Parton and Brandi Carlile, “I Will Always Love You”

Maple Valley's star in residence Brandi Carlile performing with Country legend Dolly Parton at the Newport Folk Festival.

Nick Buoniconti--Football Great

Nick Buoniconti--who played middle linebacker for the Miami Dolphins during the teams best years, which included being to this day, Pro Football's only undefeated team, has died at 78.  Buoniconti was the most and maybe only memorable name for what was known as the "No Name Defense", a unit of players, that were not really famous at the time, but as a unit, got the job done. The Dolphins appeared in 3 straight Super Bowls from 71-73, winning the last 2.

Buoniconti was also known for working to find a cure to paralysis.  His son was paralyzed in a college football game. 

I remember rooting for the Dolphins, partly because they were an expansion team that had many lean years before becoming a Super Bowl caliber team and also because Miami seemed like a cool town to visit.  I had always enjoyed watching college football's Orange Bowl.
Buoniconti was inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in 2001.