After a gambler saw his losing streak continue, he then used multiple, modified assault weapons to kill 58 people and wound 546 in Las Vegas on October 1st. The Orange President of the United States of America (OPOTUS) president reacted by saying the issue should not be framed in political terms. I do not recall …
My friend in Lagos, Nigeria Mtrill Teria is going to be doing a TED talk November 11th. On the bright side of social media I have been able to have a consistent glimpse into the lives of many Nigerian innovators in music, business, and technology. I have also got a 3rd row seat into the …
Tadej Tadiman Tratnik is one of the more intriguing reggae artists I met in Kingston, Jamaica. He definitely stood out Inna di Yard at Chinna’s place. Though this world had signs of diversity, from a Japanese Rasta that smoked but never spoke to an esteemed professor from Berkeley, Tadej found a way to blend in …
On Halloween night I ventured to the Funhouse to see a new ska band I’d recently discovered called Joystick. This seven-piece hails from New Orleans and not only was this my first time seeing them, it was their first time in Seattle. Though they self-identify as a ska band, they seemed half ska and half …
HELP, IS THIS ALREADY A SCI-FI STORY? In the year 20xx, a super computer at Cambridge finally becomes self aware. Our worst fears that such a computer will destroy our civilization comes to pass, but in a twist humanity itself is spared. The computer gains consciousness and becomes immediately aware of the evil, manipulation, and …
When I go back to Jamaica, one of my goals I am sending the mysterious German manager Lennart Tacke, is filming myself playing my Bond song at Goldeneye. Of course I haven’t written my Bond song yet. But I told Scott Rowe I would pen such a tune for our Brighton band Sherlock Soul. It’s …
On the balmy Sunday night of October 22 I ventured to the Funhouse to see the Creepshow. This punk quartet hails from Montreal and combines sweat, grit and charm into one tight package. Singer and guitarist, Kenda oozes so much charm, I left feeling like I’d had a major sugar overdose, but I overdosed on …
I came across this passage last night while reading Tim Weiner’s book, One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon. The next paragraph is verbatim (page 68). “We tried every operational approach in the book, and committed our most experienced field operatives to the effort to get inside the government in Hanoi,” CIA …
October has been a prolific month for concerts but the one I’ve looked forward to t most happened Thursday October 19 at the Showbox where the Aquabats headlined. Promoting their brand new album High Five Soup, the Aquabats, led by Mc Bat Commander were pure entertainment. This show was also a family affair. Spearheaded by …
On Wednesday night October 18, I braved stormy weather and headed to the Sunset Tavern in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Playing was a band called Elettrodomestico with Jane Wiedlin (formerly of the Go-Go’s) playing guitar and singing lead vocals. Playing with her were Joe Gore (P.J. Harvey & Tom Waits) on bass, Dawn Richardson (3 Non …
On Saturday night October 14 I once again ventured out to El Corazon, this time to see a series of bands in what was dubbed The Splatterhous. My main reason for attending was to see The Silver Shine, a great psychobilly trio from Budapest. The event started at 5:00, but I arrived around 7:00 in …
YOU SEE I KNOW THIS SQUIRREL that is quite obsessed with Van Morrison: As I trade texts with the great Rock & Roll music critic Dennis Cook about the virtual Morrison mix tape he is making for me, for you, and for Mother Earth, I recalled this amazing little story I forgot to tell you. …
This last week, I happened to remember that Peanuts creator Charles Schulz lived in Santa Rosa, CA, so I did a quick search to check on the fate of his home and museum. The museum, with the bulk of Schulz’s original artwork and memorabilia, is intact, but his home was totally destroyed with his widow …
World-renowned cultural historian, author and longtime friend of East Portland Blog, Pat Thomas, will soon be coming to Portland and Seattle to celebrate the release of his new book, Did It! From Yippie To Yuppie: Jerry Rubin, An American Revolutionary. Did It has received many excellent reviews and write-ups, including this article in one of …
I am thinking about writing an absolutely chilling Halloween story called THE CHOSEN. It is an only barely dramatized version of what happened to my friends, but thankfully not my immediate family, as RIGHT WING & RUSSIAN BOTS began to scour the internet for victims. Throughout 2016 I watched as these BOTS zeroed in on …
Friday October 6 brought a return of psychobilly heroes the Nekromantix with a night of macabre themes. Lead singer and upright bassman Kim Nekroman came on stage wearing all black with his signature bass shaped like a child’s coffin with the head stock shaped like a cross. But he didn’t just beat the bass strings, …
I think I may have figured out how Americans of Indigenous Eurasian ancestry, such as myself, have confused the Jewish God Jesus with all our lost but only half forgotten Gods of War. This has something I have wanted to say for quite a while, but this has reached a boiling point. And traveling to …
“Damn The Torpedos” was one thing… but the album after that, and the one after that… we got into the 80s and there was nobody – metalheads, punks, New Wavers, “old folks” – who didn’t like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. You and your buddies got into your car one night, you put in “Long …
I tread very carefully here, but I have been getting…how can I say this? I have been getting interesting feedback from my conservative friends and acquaintances about what happened in Vegas. I am not throwing anyone under the bus here (Charlottesville & Nice has loaded that saying with unnecessary imagery). What I am driving at …
Eating from your yard tip ~ There is a pepper for everyone from sweet bell peppers and sweet banana peppers on the mild end and habaneros and ghost peppers on the hot end of the spectrum. Where to start? My grandson demands jalapeño peppers on his pizza and loves a who can eat the hottest …
On Sunday October first I was nce again faced with two great acts playing Seattle on the same night. I sacrificed Billy Bragg to see the Voodoo Glowskulls and four other bands ranging from hard core punk to danceable ska. There are 365 days in a year. You’d think the punk rock gods wouldn’t schedule …
I couldn’t call myself a punk rocker if I didn’t go to see Agent Orange, so of course I made the trek to El Corazon on Sept 30 to do just that. I have never seen AO before, but as Bullwinkle J. Moose once said, there’s a first time for everything. This So. Cal punk …
OK I will say this, to put Las Vegas and the firepower we all heard echo in a historical perspective: As the automatic crack of a machine gun fire rang into my ears at a handful of rounds per second, I asked myself with little practical knowledge of American arms, if that was the sound …
I am not going to comment right now on the insane machine gun slaughter at a country music concert in Vegas, or tell you yet what Tom Petty means to me. But I will head into work to trim that sweet legal erb and keep getting a little smarter and laughing out loud a little …
Do you think our military might be dangerously overextended if we can’t ‘invade’ Puerto Rico and help what is inevitably going to be our 51st State? The National Guard should not be in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is a sign of Imperial stupidity. Folly in every sense. Sun Tzu would have some interesting things today …
A little bit less than once a week I find myself at AudioElement, (http://audio-element.com) a high-end audio store not far from my office in Pasadena, California. I come to AudioElement with a satchel of vinyl records, a quart of record cleaner, and a stack of premium record sleeves. I then spend an hour or so …
On a warm evening on Sept 28 I had the utmost privilege of seeing Ken Stringfellow (originally from the Posies) with friends, (Jesse Chandler of Midlake on keys/vox, Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev on guitar/vox, Grasshopper of Mercury Rev on guitar/harmonica/vox) perform in a church in Seattle’s Phinney neighborhood across the street from the zoo. …
I’m sure that an editor or two – and possibly a few peeps – might be curious as to my thoughts on Hugh Hefner’s passing. And so, on a borrowed laptop while on vacation, here goes: One has to be of a certain age, startlingly enough, to realize the influence of Hefner’s Playboy magazine in …
Eating from your yard tip~ If you haven’t already done so this is a good time to fill your herb cabinet with your favorite kitchen herbs for cooking this winter. As a general rule it is best to harvest herbs mid~morning after the dew has dried and before the heat of the day. This is …
Cheap Trick will rock in the Yuletide season with the release of their first holiday themed album CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS, out October 20 on Big Machine Records. Arriving mere months after their critically-acclaimed 18th studio album WE’RE ALL ALRIGHT!, Cheap Trick co-produced the holiday collection alongside their longtime collaborator, GRAMMY® Award winner Julian Raymond (Glen Campbell, …