Seattle Protesters LOOT A Cheesecake Factory And STEAL Cheesecake In Geo...

Just when you thought you had seen it all.  During the mayhem in downtown Seattle, a thief carries a cheesecake in rather orderly fashion across a street with no slips or damage to the cake. 

Perhaps she was a food server in a past life.

Paying Tribute To Lloyd Thaxton

The Rock Relic pays tribute to Lloyd Thaxton who would have turned 93 today in this post on the blog that pays tribute to the legendary TV Dance Show host.  You can find the post, which includes a clip from Thaxton's early 1960s TV show here. 

Protests In Seattle Turn Violent

Protests starting over the death of George Floyd, have been overshadowed by groups possibly with little regard over the Floyd death, but using this as a reason to cause destruction,  injuries, and sadly maybe worse. 

 In this picture, Mayor Jenny Durkan addresses the city in the midst of the melee.

Governor Jay Inslee has called out the National Guard. 

Burl Interviews Sergio Barer

Burl Barer interviewed Composer Sergio Barer in this fascinating segment  of True Crime Uncensored.  We may or may not be related.  He pronounces his name Bar-er with emphasis on the second syllable.  He is obviously a student of history and heritage.  He is also the father of  Libe and Ariela Barer, who are both TV actresses.   You can hear Burl interview Sergio here.

Barers Of Maple Valley Celebrate 15 Years Of Blogging

My first blog post was on May 29th, 2005.  Click here. 

Are You Missing Baseball?

Season delayed because of Corona.  Hopefully, a healthy way to resume will come soon.

Old Walla Walla Radio Remembered Part 35--Walla Walla Bears Picture Feature Roth And Russell

You can see two Walla Walla radio legends in this picture that was from the Bygone Walla Walla blog in a story about the 1969 Bears team. Seated second from the left is Bevin Roth, who I worked with at KTEL and seated on the right is Verne Russell , the owner of KUJ, who did play by play for the team and would eventually buy it. 

Also, standing second from the left is UB sports editor Jim Redding, who would go on to the Seattle Times.

Happy Birthday, Stevie Nicks

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite pop singers, Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks.  She turned 72 today (May 26th 2020).  Her duet with Tom Petty, "Stopped Draggin My Heart Around", forged a new identity for her apart from her group, Fleetwood Mac. 

Weekend Barbeque In North Bend

No hugs, but great food and excellent scenery as we had a Memorial Day social distanced Weekend babeque with Margie and Rick.

Top picture, Rick and I pose under Mount Si.  Bottom picture is looking down the river from their backyard.

Coug Fans Express Anger And Sadness As Another Chapter To Ryan Leaf Story Unfolds

Ryan Leaf had appeared on various social media sites recently, excited about his new life with family and his job as an analyst with ESPN.  It really appeared like he had turned his life around and, perhaps maybe he has.  There are few details available, as the troubled ex-WSU Cougar quarterback made news again this weekend as he was arrested on a domestic battery charge in the Palm Springs area.

On the Cougar Facebook page, reaction was varied from sadness that he had slipped again, to feelings of anger and betrayal, to those wanting to get more facts. Of course, Leaf had to serve hard time several years ago after breaking into a house to steal prescription drugs.  Even that was after there was word of him turning his life around.  

Leaf was an extremely talented quarterback who led the Washington State Cougars in 1997  to their greatest season and first Rose Bowl in decades.  Sadly, his life after that has been a sad story for him and those who have stuck with him through thick and thin.  

Happy Memorial Day!

Bud Barer Involved In Historic Legal Decision

Uncle Arny told an interesting story on facebook about Jacob "Bud" Barer.   Bud was the son of my Great Grandfather B's brother.  All told, a relatively distant relative.  But as the first cousin of my Grandfather, he and his wife Mary would visit my grandparents in our home town of Walla Walla.  They were real nice people who loved children, so we enjoyed their visits. 

Uncle Arny told me about Bud serving on jury in a murder trial.  The defendant tried to appeal his conviction on the premise that Bud, the juror was not a US citizen.  In an argument before the Montana Supreme Court, Bud proved his citizenship and the verdict was withheld.  You can Google the information and find it here.    The case was known as State vs Vuckovich  from 1921.  This faded picture was the only one that I can find online.

Walla Walla Bears Featured In Bygone Walla Walla Blog

In 1969,  Walla Walla got it's own Northwest League franchise.  It would be a Single A affiliate of  the Philadelphia Phillies.  For the first season only, it was known as the Walla Walla Bears.  For the second season, I believe, it would be known as the Walla Walla Phillies.   

It was real exciting to have a pro baseball team in little Walla Walla.  There were "lucky number" contests throughout the game. I never got the lucky number, but that's a different story. There were many promotional nights, including fireworks on the 4th Of July. 

Incidentally,  I remember the GM of the team was Gene Langley, whose daughter had recently been crowned Miss Oregon and had been a runner up in the Miss America Pageant. 

The team would eventually be known as the Walla Walla Islanders for one season and then it would begin a long running affiliation with the San Diego Padres and be known as the Walla Walla Padres.

Joe Drazan has a feature in his Bygone Walla Walla blog.  Click here

Tahoma High School Football Player Has Well Known Dad

Kiefer Furness, the son of KJR Sports Radio Host Ian Furness has been a  standout on the Tahoma Bears football team,here in Maple Valley.   Furness also played on the Bears basketball team.  He is also fighting another adversary in Type 1 Diabetes.  

Furness is anxious to get back to the football field when things get back to normal.  He is also looking ahead to playing college ball.  His first choice is WSU, where both parents and his sister have both graduated. 

Another Food Truck Visits

We ran into this barbeque food truck after walking Dasher through the park at the Patrick's Faire subdivision.

Mitch Unfiltered Does Live Audience Podcast

Former KJR Sports Radio host Mitch Levy continues his interesting and inciteful Mitch Unfiltered  podcasts, Monday for free and Thursdays if you are a patron of the show.

With all sports at a halt, Levy has been experimenting with various topics and plans.  Today's podcast, which was recorded yesterday, was done in front of a live Zoom audience that I  briefly watched.

Toward the end of the podcast, he engaged the viewers,along with co-host Hot Shot Scott in discussion. 

Today, Levy, who does not like being on TV, said on Twitter, that it was fun. 

40 Years Ago Today--Right Here In Washington

Phyllis George Became First Female Football Host

Phyllis George, who was the first woman to co-anchor The NFL Today, has died. 

 George was a former Miss America who broke into sports broadcasting when there were little or no other women.  Today, woman sportscasters and reporter are much more common.  

George also was married to  John Y Brown, who helped build KFC. Brown would go on to be elected governor of Kentucky.  

George would later host the CBS Morning News.  Her career  took a beating when she asked a woman who accused a man of rape and later recanted her story and the man who that woman accused to hug after an interview with the two had concluded. 

George's daughter, Pamela Brown, is a CNN Senior White House correspondent.  

Phyllis George was 70. 

Levine Blog Features Cheers Reading

Ken Levine's blog, a standard of the genre, features a comedic reading of an episode of the classic TV show Cheers, featuring the actual actor that played "Norm", along with play by play announcers reading the other parts.  You can check that out by clicking here.

Character Actor Fred Willard Dies

Hollywood is mourning the death of Fred Willard at 86.   Willard in recent years played the father-in-law of Raymond's brother in Everybody Loves Raymond and the madcap dad of Phil Dunphy in Modern Family.  Lee Goldberg wrote a very nice article on Willard in his blog. 

Family Business On Walla Walla Page

I remember these houses by the B. Barer And Sons Steel warehouse pictured on left.   They were torn down and the part of the property became a yard for the store.  The other part became a car lot for Jackson Motors.  Thanks go to Joe Drazan and his Bygone Walla Walla page.

Blog Says Senator Harris Could Join Biden Ticket

The Cascadia Advocate says that California Senator Kamala Harris seems to be the leading candidate to become presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden's choice for Vice President.

Harris, who staged her own bid for the top office, withdrew from the presidential race in December of 2019.

By putting a woman on the ticket, Biden is hoping to bridge a gender gap that seem to have widened by reports of inappropriate behavior during his career.  

Harris seems to be very popular with mainstream Democrats.

The Cascadia Advocate is the blog of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a progressive thinktank. 

New Addition To House

We just had a brand new garage door installed at our house.  The windows brighten the inside of the garage.

Jerry Stiller-Comedic Actor

Jerry Stiller, who played Frank Costanza on Seinfeld and made many TV variety show appearances in the 1960s as part of the husband and wife comedy duo Stiller and Meara, is dead at 92,

Son Ben Stiller followed into the family business, with starring role in many comedy movies.

Charlie Brown Listened To Burl Barer During The Pea Harvest

I knew that I had read about this. During the mid 1960s,  Charlie Brown worked the pea harvest in Milton-Freewater, which is located just a hop, skip, and jump from Walla Walla. Brown, the future beloved Seattle DJ, who has just passed away, would listen at night to KTEL and hometown DJ Burl Barer, who would also have a very successful career in Seattle radio. 

Seattle Radio Legend Charlie Brown Passes

Word has been received that Charlie Brown, who became one of Seattle's favorite radio personalities, has died.  Brown is known for working at KJR, KUBE, and KJR FM in a career

that spanned decades.  Brown had been in hospice for the last few weeks.

It Happened at the World's Fair Official Trailer 1963

We watched this a couple of weekends ago.  Even though the movie is really beyond silly, to put it mildly, it has some great footage of Seattle in the early 1960s.

Happy Mother's Day

Rock Pioneer Little Richard Dead At 87

Little Richard, who influenced many rock music acts, including The Beatles, has died.  Sources reports that he had been suffering from bone cancer.  His song, Long Tall Sally was covered by Beatles. 

Richard Penniman was 87.

 

Roy Horn Of Siegfried And Roy

Sources say that Roy Horn of the Las Vegas act Siegfried and Roy has died of complications due to the coronavirus.  The show at the Mirage was one of the hottest tickets on the strip until it closed down after Horn was mauled by one of his tigers in 2003.  After that incident, the show closed down. 

Deb and I saw Siegfried and Roy perform in 1998.

It was announced on late April that Horn had the virus, but that he was responding well to treatment.  Horn was 75. 

Remembering Alta And Aaron Barer

It was exactly one year ago when Alta Barer passed away,  her son Aaron, who would be celebrating his birthday today, passed away last March.  Both are very missed very much. 

Murder Hornets For Seattle NHL Team?

As Seattle's NHL entry waits out the pandemic to come up with a name along with colors and logo. fans on social media is coming up with some ideas of their own. Murder Hornets was blurted out on the team's Facebook 

page and before you could blink, there was already a logo.  

 Of course, with an actual crisis perhaps looming, it the idea may be a little too close to home, however, if a crisis or a swarm would wreak havoc in the area, after all, we are rather beleaguered by the COVID 19 pandemic.  My guess is that the team will come up with a safe choice. 

It is, however, good to see fans staying engaged and showing a little creativity. 

A Heartwarming Message

Thank you, Heroes! Sunrise Senior Living thanks it's workers who have braved the Covid outbreak.

GARY PORTNOY sings The CHEERS THEME in Quarantine

Gary Portnoy, the cowriter along with Judy Hart Angelo, of the theme from the TV show, Cheers, performs his song in quarantine.

Cheers was winner of a poll of all time favorite TV theme songs ran in conjunction with the podcast, Mitch Unfiltered.

I was quite surprised because I thought it was rather mellow and dated for that crowd. 

You can hear host Mitch Levy interview Portnoy at about one hour and 16 minutes into the podcast.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Shula Dies

ESPN reports the death of Don Shula, who retired as the NFL's leader in wins as a coach. He was 90.
Shula coached the Miami Dolphins for 26 seasons, including 1972, when they became the only NFL team to go an entire season without a loss. 
Shula also coached the Baltimore Colts.  He was the first NFL coach to lose a Super Bowl.  His team was upset by the New York Jets in 1969.

It's Star Wars Day

May The 4th be with you.

2020 05 01 Kabbalat Shabbat Services

Temple B'Nai Torah and it's new Rabbi has used streaming services and You Tube to bring Shabbat Services to it's members.  It's true that when one door closes, another one opens.

Ken Levine Is Used As A Jeopardy Answer

Ken Levine posted this on his blog, while I saw this live.  Ken and his partner,  David Isaacs were part of a question (answer) on Jeopardy.  The question, by the way, was "what is Cheers?"
As a reader of his blog and a Facebook friend, we have interacted on many occasions.  Ken has been, of course, a writer, producer, and director on some of TV's all time greatest comedies, as well as a former Seattle Mariner radio play by play announcer. 
He still blogs daily.

Seattle NHL Team Name Announcement Could Be Soon

Lost in the craziness of the pandemic is the possible name and colors for Seattle's upcoming new NHL team. I checked out to see if this was even still happening as we will face a much different world during and after dealing with this historical happening (The Corona Virus, Not the team).
ESPN and KIRO 7 TV report that the team is jumping through the hoops and legal procedures to get a team name and colors.  They also want to be sensitive to the wants and needs of the community as a whole during the crisis. 
For more details, click here.