Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Sil and I took a drive to Skagit Valley for the Tulip Festival. It was a grand day, with nice weather and small crowds (we went on a Friday and later chuckled to hear on Saturday how crowded the highway exits were up there). This was my first trip to see the tulips and I was mightily impressed. We walked around a few gorgeous fields of tulips in various colors, then stopped at the nicely laid-out Roozengaarde which has a charming windmill to complete the Dutch theme. Later we drove to La Conner to look in the antique shops, had a nice Thai dinner, and Sil bought me a 750 ml bottle of Duvel. What a perfect day!

Visit to Jimi Hendrix Memorial

Silvie and I finally made the short trip to the Jimi Hendrix gravesite and memorial in Renton highlands. We've been a few blocks away from Greenwood Memorial Park many times, but never visited before today. We were lucky that on a Saturday with better-than-awful weather we had the memorial all to ourselves for as long as we were there. The memorial is quite nice: a granite dome supported by three pilars with 60's-rock poster-like etchings on each pillar with images of Jimi as well as panels with lyrics from a few of his songs. Jimi's original headstone is at the center of the accessible monument, and small headstones for the Hendrix family ring the monument in a grass circle which includes flowers and a sundial.

Beer tasting - Belgium brews at Full Throttle

I stopped by Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown after work on Wednesday for a tasting of some fine Belgian beers. Jhon from Merchant du Vin importers was doing the pouring, offering great insights into the brews. And the line-up was quite impressive:

Westmalle Trappist Tripel (from Brouwerj Westmalle)

Trappist Rochefort 10 (Quadrupel from Brasserie Rochefort)

Orval (Belgian Ale from Brasserie D'Orval)

Lindeman's Cuvee Rene (Lambic-Geuze from Brouwerij Lindemans)

The Orval was my favorite of the three (I'd tasted that and the Rochefort 10 before). Although the dessert-like quality of the Cuvee Rene was intriguing, too. May pick up a bottle of that in the future.

Morrissey at the Paramount

Photo by Fabio Lovino

Silvie and I were back at the Paramount just a few weeks after the Pixies show, this time to see that charming man Moz hold court before an adoring crowd. Ticket prices were a might steep and so we were in the third mezzanine, but dead center and in the first row of our section. We arrived early and blew off the opening act to people-watch. Lots of youngsters and oldsters, and of course the fake Morrissey dude who fooled me the last time Moz was in town (you really do have to look twice, but what's his angle, I wonder?).

Morrissey took the stage with his uniformed band (Think 50's street-gang-movie denim and black Ts, and cropped hair) and tore through 20 tunes, mixing in a few Smiths tunes with many recent songs and B-sides. I have not listened to enough of those recent releases to be very familiar with them, but was pleased to hear two of my favorite Smiths tunes ("Cemetary Gates" and "Ask"). Another Smiths tune, "How Soon is Now?", was sensory overload, as the heavy vibrato of the guitar was aped by strobe lights and punctuated by the drummer bashing on a gong and a ridiculously large drum atop his kit. The band was muscular, and played mostly in a pounding rock fashion. Even when the stand-up bass and accordian were trotted out, the sound was still heavy. I think Morrissey's (and definitely Marr's) tunes lose a bit of their appeal when rendered in such a less-than-subtle manner. Still, the show was worth staying up on a work night. Morrissey changed shirts twice, showed off his gym-honed physique, and was in pretty good voice throughout.

Inevitably, the more crazed of the faithful began mounting the stage, rushing at their hero in attempts to embrace or kiss him, or at the least to touch the hem of his garment. Seriously, why do people still do this? Aren't we all grown-ups now, and has the novelty not worn off? Tiresome, really.

The setlist was:

This Charming Man
Black Cloud
When Last I Spoke to Carol
Is It Really So Strange?
Ganglord
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Ask
Irish Blood, English Heart
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Death at One's Elbow
Because of My Poor Education
Cemetary Gates
The World is Full of Crashing Bores
Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself
Teenage Dad on His Estate
How Soon is Now?
The Loop
Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice
I'm OK by Myself

Encore: Something is Squeezing My Skull

Pours for Purrs

On Saturday Silvie and I drove to Malt & Vine in Redmond to attend Pours for Purrs, a beer tasting and silent auction benefitting the Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project. Feral Cat is a not-for-profit group dedicated to providing free spay and neuter services for feral cats in the Puget Sound region. The folks at Malt & Vine lined up 8 tasty brews for attendees to sample. Silvie tried tiny sips of each beer, but I basically had two samples of each. Here are the 8 beers:

Snoqualmie Wildcat IPA – Snoqualmie Falls Brewing, Snoqualmie, WA

Trade Route Ginger Pale Ale – Trade Route Brewing, Pacific, WA

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – Wells & Young’s Brewing, UK

Midnight Sun Panty Peeler Tripel – Midnight Sun Brewing, Anchorage, AK

Moorhouse Black Cat Porter – Moorhouse’s Brewery, UK

Avery White Rascal Belgian White – Avery Brewing, Boulder, CO

Flying Dog Horndog Barleywine – Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD

Boulevard Nutcracker Winter Ale – Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City, MO

Pixies at the Paramount

Silvie and I caught the Pixies Friday night at the Paramount. This was the second of a two-night stand for the group in Seattle. They are touring in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their landmark Doolittle LP, and played the record in its entirety, bookended by a few B-sides, as well as a three-song encore of older faves. I wasn't entirely sold on the gimmick of the tour; I like Doolitle, of course, and many of the group's iconic tunes are there, but a setlist that drew from all of the band's releases would have been preferable [side note: I think that my favorite Pixies album is actually the last one, Trompe Le Monde, and that Frank Black's creative powers peaked during his first two solo releases; a full run through of Teenager of the Year would be fantastic!]. But, I was game to roll with the theme of the evening, and, aside from the more forgettable B-sides, the show was fab. The band kept the tunes to their recorded short lengths while varied off-the-wall footage played on a screen behind them (the night opened with a screening of Un Chien Andolou, which primed the crowd for Debaser, although the band chose to open with a few B-sides). The band played LOUD, and Frank was in fine screaming form as they ran through the album. After a few more B-sides, they encored with some (even) older material including Where is My Mind, maybe their best tune. Highlights included No. 13 Baby, with its wonderful trance-like ride out, and one of my faves, There Goes My Gun with Frank's hysterical (and kinda funny) shriek of "Look at ME!"

Setlist:

Dancing the Manta Ray

Weird at My School

Bailey’s Walk

Manta Ray

Debaser

Tame

Wave of Mutilation

I Bleed

Here Comes Your Man

Dead

Monkey Gone to Heaven

Mr. Grieves

Crackity Jones

La La Love You

No. 13 Baby

There Goes My Gun

Hey

Silver

Gouge Away

First encore:

Wave of Mutilation (U.K. Surf)

Into the White

Second encore:

Bone Machine

The Holiday Song

Where is My Mind?

Black Cat Ball

Silvie and I went to the Black Cat Ball dinner and auction at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, benefitting Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter in Arlington (from whence came Cookie, Toot Toot and Little G). We had a ton of fun bidding on the silent auction items (we actually walked away with a trunkload of goodies, having won 5 of the auctions!) and supping on the delicious vegan dinner and tasty wines. A great evening... can't wait for next year!