Seahawks Pick Cross

 The Seattle Seahawks picked left tackle Charles Cross from Mississippi State as their first draft choice.  The Hawks got the number nine pick when they traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. 

Brandi Carlile To Miss Stagecoach Appearance Due To Covid

Maple Valley's Brandi Carlile announced on her Instagram feed that she will miss the Country Music Festival Stagecoach.  She said that it "finally happened" meaning that like most of us, she has been able to avoid it, she said that she has "the Covid".  She said that she is devastated about missing her appearance. 

Stagecoach, as I understand it, is the Country version of Coachella. Like Coachella, it convenes at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio. 

Paul McCartney Returns to Seattle for TWO Epic Shows on the GOT BACK Tour!

I'll be there this Tuesday!

Former Raider QB Daryle Lamonica Dies

 One thing that can make you feel old is when the heroes from your childhood pass away.  

Daryle Lamonica was the quarterback of the Oakland Raiders, my favorite AFL team.  At the time, I first  became interested in Pro Sports, the AFL was emerging as a major professional league.  It's games of the week were featured on NBC, where as the NFL games were on CBS.  

The LA Rams were my favorite NFL team.  They had a quarterback named Roman Gabriel. That was fitting since they played in the LA Coliseum. 

There were no Seattle teams at the time, well, except for the Super Sonics which was a first year NBA expansion team.  

I was a Raider fan because Oakland was in California, which to me stood for everything cool and because my cousins, the Goldbergs lived in Oakland.  

I learned today that Lamonica died on April 20th of natural causes.  He was 80 years old. Known as "The Mad Bomber", he was an alumni of Notre Dame.  He also took Oakland to its first Super Bowl, a loss to the Green Bay Packers. 

Elon Musk Buys Twitter

Various sources report that the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, had come to an agreement to buy the social media platform Twitter.  The plan includes Musk turning it into a private company.

Moose Moran Featured On Puget Sound Media Blog

The Puget Sound Media blog does a wonderful feature on area radio personality Moose Moran.  I worked with Moose at KYYX.  To read it, click here
 

Salk Riles Fans With Barbed Comments About Former Mariner

 

ESPN 710 morning man Mike Salk  has been known to be outspoken on various topics.  Recently, however, while praising the Seattle Mariners for bringing in 3rd baseman, Geno Suarez, However, Salk (pictured above) didn't stop, he said, in a curious comment that he wants M's former 3rd baseman Kyle Seager "to burn".  

Seager for years has been a fan favorite, staying with the Mariners through some of the team's worst years. 

Salk's rabid distaste for Seager, who left the team last year when informed his contract would not be renewed, was vaguely explained to comments that the former Mariner's wife made on Twitter. 

Moon River

At Stan's Celebration Of Life last week, his grandson sang this song.  While I'm not able to post my Cousin Ethan singing this beautiful song, I will post this video.

Stan was a real fan of Frank Sinatra.  

Watch: BRANDI CARLILE Performs "Right On Time" | 2022 GRAMMYs

Maple Valley's Brandi Carlile performing once again at the Grammys

Taylor Announces She Will Leave KIRO 7

 The Puget Sound Media reports that KIRO 7 traffic reporter Tracy Taylor will be leaving the station at the end of this month. 

Taylor, originally became known in the area when worked on the morning show with host Mitch Levy on Sports Radio KJR 950.  After starting there, she would leave the area, returning in 2006, once again, working with Levy and the KJR crew.

Taylor left KJR for good in 2010, appearing on KING 5 TV.  Her departure from the station at the end of 2016, resulted in a post on this blog getting well over 30 thousand hits.

Taylor had been working since 2017 on a split shift between KIRO 7 TV and its former broadcasting partner KIRO 97.3 radio. 

Taylor announced earlier this year that she would leave the evening radio gig.  Her latest announcement is that will soon be leaving the Seattle airwaves completely.  

We will let you know if  Taylor announces further career plans.

Classic Baseball Card

I could not resist this offer that I found online.  A card featuring all time greats Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.  Two of the reasons that I fell in love with Baseball as a kid.

Sunday Morning Flight

 I took this picture without looking hoping that I could get a shot of this low flying plane that was circling the pipeline trail in Maple Valley. I was walking the dog at the time.

 Sunday was nice and sunny after days of rainy and cold Spring weather. 

I was told by someone in the Maple Valley Facebook group that this was a working plane. My understanding is that it was doing LIDAR scans of the Cedar River Basin.

Easter 2022

 Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Happy Passover

 

Celebrating 2

All Barers born and raised in Walla Walla. With my brothers and Cousin Burl.

I'm with cousins, Linda, Tod, and Karen.  All three, nieces and nephew of Stan, live in California.  Their brother, Lee, took the picture.

Celebrating The Life Of Stan Barer

We celebrated the life of cousin Stan Barer, yesterday.  Stan passed away last December.  The speakers included Senator Maria Cantwell

Former Massachusetts senator and Former secretary of state John Kerry sent a video message

Two Living Legends

s

 I'm happy these two icons of baseball in the 1960s (and 1950s) are still with us.  Both Willie Mays from the Giants and Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers.

Both started on New York teams that moved to California in the late 50s.  Koufax had just retired when I started following baseball, but was a commentator on the NBC game of the week.  I learned of Mays through an article in the Scout magazine Boys Life.  Since Seattle did not have a team at the time, I adopted the San Francisco Giants as my favorite baseball club.

This picture was posted in the Sandy Koufax fan group on Facebook. 

The Wilsons Selling Bellevue House

 The Seattle Times reports that Russell Wilson's Bellevue house is now on the market.  In today's hot real estate market it listed at 28 million dollars, with a separate parcel of land next to the house going for 8 million.  

Wilson, arguably the greatest player and most definitely the greatest quarterback in Seahawk history, was traded last month to the Denver Broncos. 

Gov. Hochul: This Is an Active-Shooter Situation in Brooklyn

This is how NOT to speak at an active tragedy.  Governor Kathy Hochul gives an odd polished cliche ridden speech that seemed more like something from a political rally. 

Julian Lennon Performs 'IMAGINE' for Global Citizen's Stand Up For Ukrai...

Julian Lennon released a few songs in the years following his father John Lennon's death, but I really hadn't heard him perform in decades.  Lennon had vowed to not ever perform his dad's beloved "Imagine" but changed his mind in support of Ukraine refugees.

April Fool's Joke On Local TV Goes Awry

 

Back before Amazon and Microsoft's huge growth, Seattle had an image as a fun quirky town, kind of a break from the normalness of the regular world.  There was a show that came on which was locally called Almost Live!.  It was a not unlike SNL which celebrated the area's quirkiness, it would come after the local news on KING 5 TV and it would delay the showing of SNL.  It featured a group of local players.  

In 1989, the show decided to do an April Fool's prank about the collapse of the Space Needle, which like the legendary broadcast of War Of The Worlds caused a panic from viewers thinking that it was real. 

Thank you to Facebook friend Felix Banel, here is Almost Live! host John Keister's recollection of that event.

Today, locally produced TV is rare and Seattle has lost much of it's quirky image.

Sign Of Spring 4

Dasher looks over the mess in our yard from the fallen buds. As much I look forward to the tree blooming, cleaning up what's fallen is nearly impossible.

Smith Gets 10 Year Ban From Academy Events

 It's not a lifetime ban, but it's not a slap on the wrist either, Will Smith, who earlier this month, resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has been banned from attending any events put on by that body including the Oscars for 10 years.  

That means that Smith, winner of the Best Actor Award for his role in King Richard, would have been the presenter for Best Actress at the 2023 ceremony.  That will now be impossible unless there is an appeal.

Of course, Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscar Ceremony, after the comedian made a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. 

Mike Gastinau Interviews Former Sonic James Donaldson

 One of Seattle's great broadcasters, Mike Gastineau (informally known as the Gasman) has been doing a series of interviews with memorable members of the Seattle Super Sonics.   The Sonics, of course was Seattle's first major sports team in the modern era and the first of the then existing major pro sports teams in area to win a championship.

Seattle sports fans like me have been eagerly waiting for two things, the Mariners to end the longest streak of not going to the playoffs of any team in any professional sport and the return of the Seattle Super Sonics.  

In the latest of a series of podcasts known as "Iconic Sonics", Gastineau conducts a particularly interesting and moving interview with former Sonic 7-footer James Donaldson.  Donaldson, who was the center of the Washington State Cougars when I attended in the mid to late 70s, has been an outspoken mental health advocate. 

In this podcast, maybe one of Gastineau's best, Donaldson takes listeners along on his basketball journey. You can hear it by clicking here.  

Jackson Confirmed To US Supreme Court

 Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed by the Senate to become one of 9 justices on the US Supreme Court.  The vote was 53-47, with three Republicans joining Democrats to vote in favor of her confirmation.  She will be sworn in sometime this summer.

Jackson becomes the first African-American female justice to sit on the court.  

She replaces retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. 

Julio Rodríguez SHOWS OUT at Spring Training to make Mariners!

Baseball is back and Julio Rodriguez, could not only be a star for the Mariners, but a breakout MLB star.  There is reason to for us as Mariner fans to be excited.   Thank you to MLB for the video

Dick's Makes Burgers And Shakes

Dick's is up and running in the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue. This location of the iconic Seattle based hamburger chain features order windows just like the the burger joints in the 50s and 60s.

Mariners Ending Drought?

 Seattle Times sports columnist Larry Stone is going out on the limb and predicting the Seattle Mariners, who own the longest playoff drought in professional sports, may finally see post season action.  Click here.

It All Comes Down To This

 It's North Carolina vs Kansas tonight (Monday April 4th) for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, the games is scheduled to begin at 6:20pm PDT. 

Summer Of Soul--Review

 The Summer of Soul is beautiful presentation of restored film of the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969.  The film featured such iconic performers as The 5th Dimension, Mahalia Jackson, The Staple Singers, and Sly And The Family Stone as well as many other well known African American artists.  The festival covered R&B, Soul, Jazz, Rock, and Gospel.

This event took place in the same summer of Woodstock (1969) and yet, while Woodstock became emblematic of the era, this gathering is relatively unknown.  The event was filmed, but no one, it seems, wanted to release it to the public at the time.  Perhaps it may have been because there seemed, at least  from the film, no sign of violence, drug ODs or naked people running around.  

We watched the film on Disney Plus, after a strong recommendation by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr and found it incredible with all the great acts. Many who are still performing today. 

The film won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and a Grammy for Best Music Film. 

We Love It In Seattle

Cousin Burl appears in this at about 1 minute and 39 seconds into the video, however, I would have posted this anyway.  

In a radio promotion, this parody of a Billy Joel song lists all the great things about Seattle. 

Song is a little outdated, I didn't see any mention of Starbucks or Amazon and the city's image, sadly, has gotten a little tarnished, but this song should help make you feel good. 

More Talk About NBA Return

Once again, there is talk of the Seattle Super Sonics returning as an NBA franchise.   The Seattle Times reported this past week of OVG, the company that built Climate Pledge arena and are credited to bringing NHL Kraken to town, has announced plans to build an NBA style arena in Las Vegas.  

What does that have to do with us?  Well, Seattle and Las Vegas are considered front runners to be awarded with expansion franchises.  Since the plan would be to add two teams at once (as most major sports  leagues usually do), it shows that plans for Seattle to obtain a team are not too far off. 

The Sonics, at the time, the only major professional sports team in Seattle to have won a championship, left town in 2008 after a group lead by local owner Howard Schultz sold the franchise to Oklahoma City based Clay Bennett. 

Area basketball fans were teased cruelly when San Francisco based hedge fund manager Chris Hansen tried to buy and move the Sacramento Kings, however, the NBA, which helped facilitate the Sonics move  out of Seattle, staged a major effort to keep the Kings from relocating.

It's April Fool's Day

 If something you hear sounds a little fishy, it could be an April Fool's.