Happy Halloween from Nicole Richie's Dad

I've never been a Lionel Richie fan per se. But when searching for Halloween pumpkin stencil designs for this weekend, I came across one of his mug that looked cool and not too difficult. And then I got to thinkin', I've never owned one of his albums, but the dude put out a lot of good songs. Among them:

Say You, Say Me
Hello
All Night Long
Easy Like Sunday Morning
Dancing on the Ceiling
Still
Three Times a Lady (remember when Eddie Murphy sang this as Buckwheat on SNL? "unce, tice, fee tines a mady")

From '81 to '87, he had a run of 13 consecutive Top Ten hits, five of them Number Ones. "Endless Love" was the most successful single in Motown history, but I personally can't stand the song. Richie wrote and produced Kenny Rogers' huge hit, "Lady." His nine-year streak of writing at least one Number One single a year is a feat matched only by Irving Berlin. Anyway, it's not like I'm about to run out and buy his records. But as my pumpkin search led to him, I considered his body of work. It reminds me of when I saw Joe Cocker play in Milwaukee 11-12 years ago. I've never owned one of his albums, but he played for two and a half hours and I knew every song on the set list.

Back to the pumpkin. It was a stencil design, but my printer wasn't working so I had to draw and carve freehand. Happy Halloween!

Seattle, Your Watershed Moment Awaits

To my Seattle friends,
With a critical Mayoral election coming up, one which (in my opinion) could be incredibly influential on the matter of this cool and livable town becoming a great city, don't forget to vote. Click here for the 411 on registration, polling places, absentee ballots, etc.. Here are my notes on what each candidate had to say in tonight's debate. I was undecided prior to this debate, having read on the election more than the average slob but not having seen the candidates speak. Ironically, the better public speaker is not the one I'll be voting for. These are impartial real-time notes, cleaned up for spelling/grammar/punctuation, with my .02 at the bottom.

Viaduct/Tunnel:
McGinn - move forward if/when there's a plan and budget to handle cost overruns. $4.2B project, the state is only on for $2.4B of it, taxpayers shouldn't handle overruns (est. $15g/household). Cites Oxford University study: 97% of infrastructure projects come in late and over budget.
Mallahan - the city is growing impatient, we've been dealing with this since 2001, so let's move move forward and deal with cost overruns if they occur. Cites University of Washington study: 90% of politicians who platform on infrastructure projects don't complete them.

Light Rail:
McGinn - wants to build lines to Ballard, W. Seattle, Greenview, U District, Eastside corridor along 520 and I-90. Cites Portland's success, 5 maxi-rail systems, most recently 8 miles of maxi-rail in 3 years for $575g, accessible & cost effective benefit. "Portland doesn't build Cadillac transit systems. They build systems that work to get people places and it makes their city a better place. We should exploit the benefit and savings of learning from what Portland has done."
Mallahan - no substantive remarks or ideas, other than to lightly mock his opponent's commitment to it and cite it as something McGinn wants to spend money on while posturing as the cost-sensitive candidate - "We should move with all due haste, make sure it gets across the Lake and up to Lynnwood"

Existing Public Transit:
McGinn - enhance Metro service by exerting the city's existing influence as it owns and controls Rights of Way (more bus lanes)
Mallahan - likes Sound Transit 3, wants to "figure out funding to enhance Metro service and make sure that expense falls on those who use it"

520/I-90:
McGinn - part of his light rail plan is to run lines along these freeways between Seattle and the Eastside. Both junctions with I-5 are the two most clogged traffic points in the state. Light rail would reduce the number of cars without having to build new bridges, expand lanes, or interrupt existing throughput.
Mallahan - wants to expand lanes on 520, claims McGinn's light rail option there will cause more traffic (my only opinion remark in this section: I swear to god, he did say this, that running light rail along a freeway increases traffic on the freeway. Oh boy.)

Public Gun Ban:
McGinn - favors a gun ban in in parks, community centers, and public recreation areas, pools, etc.
Mallahan - supports the Second Amendment, does not favor a gun ban

Law Enforcement & Safety:
McGinn - citing the gun ban and enhancing police benefits like education pay incentives, stresses making Seattle a place where more people will want to join the PD
Mallahan - acknowledges that as we have 500 officers on a 625-officer operational plan, we need more patrol officers

Public Broadband:
McGinn - wants to lay fiber optic network utility for broadband access throughout the city, not tax-funded but paid for by subscriptions and usage fees
Mallahan - cites this as another cost item supported by his opponent who claims to be cost-sensitive (apparently, he missed the part about the project being covered by subscriptions and usage fees)

Overall Gist:
McGinn - stresses his proven commitment to community, quit his lawyer job 3 years ago to start a non-profit, headed Sierra Club; on every issue, was sensitive to cost, who pays for things, analyzing cost-benefit.
Mallahan - stresses private sector experience, managing projects and people, leading successful organizations.

My .02
Honest to goodness, prior to tonight's debate I was undecided. I've read on it more than the average citizen, but as a debate enthusiast, tonight was instrumental in my decision. Boy, I love me a debate. Lincoln-Douglas format, bring that shit to me right now, baby. Anyway, all my notes above were taken during the debate. Below, my opinions.
McGinn:
What I Like - I agree with all of his stances on transit, infrastructure, and the gun ban. He comes across as a man who is thoughtful, community and neighborhood-oriented, values public benefits that may not fully arrive until after his mayoral term (read: courageous), decisive with fire in his belly but pragmatic and sensitive to taxpayer burden.
What I Don't Like - his lack of elected-official experience, and that he doesn't come across as a traditional Type A leader. Quite possibly, though, these items may be irrelevant or even desirable.
Mallahan:
What I Like - his extensive private sector pedigree suggests he would be more effective navigating the tricky political landscape not only at City Hall, but where City interests are often reliant on County and State participation.
What I Don't Like - Whether his business savvy translates to the public sector is a toss-up. He could prove to be remarkably swift and result-oriented, or he could alienate everyone and accomplish nothing. It's not a gamble I wish to take. More importantly, he issues few tangible ideas and objectives, which at worst means he's indecisive or hasn't done the pre-requisite research (hard to swallow, given how much money, staff, and consultants he's invested in the campaign, a sum that trumps his opponent's several times over) - or at best, it could mean that he's unwilling to write campaign promise checks he may not be able to cash once in office. I appreciate that on one level but not on another. When I prompt myself to decide on this, I prefer to know where a candidate's values reside. I don't hold a candidate absolutely responsible for accomplishing the platform points in office, because budgetary constraints, City Council filibusters, and conflicting agendas with the State and County can easily handcuff a mayor, especially in the State of Washington. But for now, when you're appealing to my vote, don't tell me you've got the mojo and will do whatever the right thing is whenever the time comes - tell me where you stand, tell me what's important to you, do everything you can to get 'er done in office, and limit my good faith vote to the matter of your contingency management and halftime game-planning skills.

As the Times wrote last week, either candidate will be drinking from a fire hose. Given that,

My candidate is Mike McGinn.

Through Being Cool

UR
LOL
ROFLMAO
CUL8R

That's what our language has become. When you ask people why text messaging is their preferred mode of communication, the most common answer is, "You don't have to talk to people." Great. Christ on a stick, do I wish I was born about 40 years earlier - but with the Interwebs at my disposal. This thing rocks! Just tonight, I learned that David Hasselhoff was kicked out of his Atlanta high school before eventually graduating from LaGrange, Illinois. I couldn't find why he was ousted from the ATL, but let's assume together that it was not for being cool. F***in' Hasselhoff... Now I go.

Say Hello to Phillip Spooner

As we approach the first Tuesday in November and Ref. 71 is on the ballot, you can estimate I'll make a mention or six about it between now and then. For now, please enjoy the thoughts of 86 year-old WWII veteran, self-described lifetime Republican and VFW Chaplain Phillip Spooner at a public meeting in Maine this past April. Invest 3:51 in the clip below, but let the operative quote be:

The woman at my polling place asked me do I believe in equality for gay and lesbian people. I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?

Funny Dream: Leo vs. TFB

Last Wednesday night I had a pretty weird but humorous dream. On the drive into work Thursday morning, I told Jessica about it. She told me in earnest, "Eric, please, promise me you won't tell anyone about this dream. Okay? People will think you're weird. Wait, you haven't told anyone, have you?" It's been a few days and I think people might find it funny - and you already know I'm kind of weird - so here goes, my strange dream from last Wednesday, which I'll tell in the present tense, to bring you into the scene.

I'm enjoying the first night of a week-long vacation rental house in Wrentham, Mass. There I am, cold chillin' in this mansion-for-rent, when Leonardo DiCaprio comes driving up on the lawn in a white Ford F-series pick-up with extended cab, tears up part of the lawn and crashes into a tree. He gets out and starts yelling,

"Brady! You in there? Come on out, Tom! Let's settle this like a man right now! You stole my girl, now you buy my house out from under me? What the f***k, Tom?!"

I come out with my hands up and say,

"Hey, Leo, I loved you in the Departed and the Basketball Diaries, but what the hell is going on here? I'm on vacation, this is a rental, I booked it through a travel agent in Boston, I grew up around here, live in Seattle now and I just wanted to spend a week relaxing by myself."

Leo calms down and tells me he dated Gisele before Tom Brady got with her, he used to own this house as his Boston area home, and then TFB bought it. He's still mad, though not at me, and says,

"Hey, I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I believe you. I'm leavin' the truck here as a reminder for Tom. I want him to know I was here, and this s**t is real. Take it easy, man. Hope you enjoy the rental. Do you cook? Use the kitchen, it's awesome. Seriously."

Leo and I shake hands and he walks off into the darkness.

Back inside, I notice a Post-It note on the DVD player that says, "Play me if Leo stops by." I settle into the La-Z-Boy (tan, leather), hit Play, and watch Tom Terrific, filmed in a dark studio resembling the set of the Charlie Rose show, slightly embarrassed and humbly explaining:

"Hey, if Leonardo DiCaprio paid you a visit, I apologize and I hope things didn't get out of hand. I guess you know by now, I own the house you rented. I bought it last year in a public auction. It had bad taxes. The deal is, you get a killer price but you don't know who defaulted on the tax bill. Apparently, Leonardo owned it from when he made The Departed - really good movie, too, if you haven't seen it, the DVD is in the bookshelf with the rest of the movies - then he went on an extended movie set oversees, and I guess he lost track of some bills and the property was seized by the IRS, and then the public auction happened. So, you may know that he was Gisele's last boyfriend before me, and I guess he thinks this whole situation is no coincidence. He thinks I'm trying to mess with him, and I really am not. I love his movies. Have you seen Catch Me If You Can? Come on, that's a great film. That's in the bookshelf, too - help yourself. This whole situation is unfortunate. I'd like to talk it out with Leonardo someday but these days he's just angry. Anyway, I'm sorry you didn't get the back story when you booked the rental. I try to keep a low profile with this thing. I use the house as a place
for my buddies to stay when they travel here for the home games, and I block off certain times in the off-season to chill there with my friends, and otherwise it's a rental. I don't like to advertise myself as the owner because it would draw attention and I keep the rates low, just as long as the revenue covers my cost of having it, I'm happy. Well, I guess that's it. Sorry again. Hey, if you like to cook, the kitchen is stocked for you and it totally rocks, my favorite room in the house. See you later."

And with that, I hit the kitchen, slap down some hash browns and start making myself a nice omelet with diced ham and cheddar.

Then I wake up to the sounds of Champ breathing heavily through his nose, his way of saying, "Take me for a walk, fat boy." One minute, I'm all by myself, chilling on an "I care about me" vacation" and making a nice breakfast in Tom F. Brady's rental mansion (dream). The next, it's 6am and I'm walking my 13 year-old dog on a cold, dark, wet Seattle morn (reality). The moral? I love my dog.

Seachicken Fears Extinction

Ah, another crisp Fall afternoon enjoying a contest of the oblong pig-skinned spheroid complemented by cold beer, a warm pretzel, and roughly 67,000 neighbors...

At my job, when I want to show someone appreciation for good work, take care of someone for going the extra mile, I can extend such lavish appreciation as a $5 foot long from Subway or a $10 gift card to Starbucks. At Jessica's job, vendors take her (and by association, me) to, in today's example, a Seahawks game with seats in the club level, on the 50 yard line. Seats in this section are sold at the box office and through Ticketbastard for $394 apiece. Good god man, that's about what the average American clears in a week. Because of Jessica's work for an ad agency, from time to time we get these things on the house. The same vendor who took us to today's game is hosting us in a luxury suite at next month's KISS concert. Our gracious host is a nice guy to boot, a youth football coach who enjoys a friendly wager and allowed me to buy a beer for his not-quite-yet 21-year-old son.

With my $150 entry-level digital camera, here's the game view from these seats:

I'd complain, but who'd listen? The game itself wasn't anything to write home about, as the Seahawks played like a junior varsity team incapable of doing anything effective. On the game's opening drive, the Arizona Cardinals chewed up 10:47 of clock while performing surgery on the Seattle defense and scoring a touchdown. They proceeded to recover the kick-off to get the ball back and then methodically scored again. 14 minutes into the game, Arizona led 14-0 and Seattle had not yet a single play on offense. The final score of 27-3 understated the mild-mannered beating bestowed onto the hometown team. Looking at the box score, Arizona had the ball for 42:50 of the 60-minute game, Seahawk QB Matt Hasselbeck was sacked five times, the Cardinals were 8-for-16 on 3rd down while the Seahawks were a dismal 0-for-11, and the icing on the cake: Seattle's rushing attack comprised four backs combining for a staggering 14 total yards (not a misprint: fourteen total yards on the ground for the Seachickens today).

Seattle's "12th Man" - the crowd, widely known as the loudest in all of football - roared loud enough to cause three Arizona false start penalties. This is arguably the most decisive home-field advantage in the NFL, as the visiting teams accumulate a league-leading number of these penalties in Seattle year after year. Many teams accuse the Seahawks of piping extra noise in through the public address system, when in fact it's a simple combination of acoustic stadium design and a fan base that really enjoys yelling. Today, though, it just wasn't enough. When the 11 guys on the field aren't doing much, the 12th Man is fighting an unwinnable battle.

Per the red underlining in my spell check, unwinnable is apparently not a word. I'm using it anyway. I'm a loner. A rebel.

By the early part of the 4th quarter, the stadium's mood soured and folks started heading for the exits.

Uncle Bobby

I love Bob Dylan. I love his new album, and that he's gone in a decidedly blues-oriented direction during the last 15 years or so. Ed and I attended and loved his show at the Moore Theatre last week, a general admission show in a 1400-seat Vaudeville-era room with tickets only made available to Dylan's fan club. When the Seattle Times ran its concert review a couple days later, we were pleasantly surprised to see Ed's club in print. Here's the mention:

"Backed by a crack quintet, including Texas-born ace guitarist Charlie Sexton, he spent the next half-hour doling out rote boogie blues jams - tight, sure, but the Highway 99 Blues Club is equally so on any given Tuesday."
Is this a compliment for us and the Tuesday night Scarlet Tree All Stars series? Is it a mild slight toward Dylan? A little bit of both? Who knows. Overall, the review was positive. All we can say is, it's quite an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan. Click here for the full Seattle Times review

My comments on the show:
I've been a huge Dylan fan all my life and have seen dozens of his shows. Boston, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Atlanta, Seattle... At the Moore, while the show was at times simply awesome and at times kind of mundane, overall we were happy for its favorable balance of strong points. Rarely played chestnuts like "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" and "Shooting Star" plus inspired takes on "Ballad of a Thin Man", "Don't Think Twice" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" outweighed my opinion that he ignored the true gems of the new album (I wanted to hear "My Wife's Home Town" and "It's All Good").

As Ed and I talked about the show over slices at Belltown Pizza that night, we discussed the idea of "What would be your ideal Dylan show?" Tough question, even when you limit the answer to current realities and avails (he can't reunite with the Hawks, for example). Some nights, Dylan is "on." Other nights, not so much. One thing that's always the same is that the set list is always different. You never know what you're gonna get. It's not as simple as an artist favoring the new album - I've seen him play a lot of brand new stuff and then very little brand new stuff, within the same tour. At the Moore, he played two songs from the new album, four from Modern Times (2006), three from Love & Theft (2001), one each from the late 70s gospel period and the late 80s, five from the 60s, and nothing from the albums many argue as his career best, Blood on the Tracks and Blonde On Blonde. Looking at the set lists online... the following night, a mile down the road at WaMu Theatre, Dylan's show comprised not even half of the songs we saw and heard at the Moore. The following night in Portland, exactly half the songs had been played at either of the two Seattle shows. The night after that in Eugene, same deal, half the set list had anything in common with the prior two shows. Over the years, as I watch Dylan's set lists from town the town, there's no apparent structure or architecture, as in, "he always opens with a song from Album X, the first song of the encore is always something from Album Y, there's a 3-song piece in the middle that's always the same" and so on. Dylan plays a song one night as the opener, he may not play it again for 20 years, or he may play it again a few days later but it's done mid-show, or in the encore; one night, he may favor his newest material; another night, he may favor something from the previous album (as he did at the Moore); yet another night, he may favor any particularly identifying slice of his career, be it a period, an album, a subject matter, a style or genre, or none at all. It seems random. As Jonathan Zwickel so thoughtfully wrote in his Seattle Times review, It's Dylan being Dylan. You don't get the Dylan you want. You get the Dylan you get.

At Belltown Pizza, Ed and I decided that we like it the way it is. If Dylan felt compelled to get on the nostalgia circuit and play a bunch of his major hits every night, he may as well take it to the casinos. He stopped having anything to prove a long time ago, yet from his late 50s to late 60s he's been putting out material that stands aside his classic stuff of three and four decades ago. The only artist who comes close to Dylan in terms of issuing artistically and musically endearing stuff in his 60s is Tom Waits. Springsteen just turned 60 and to qualify for the discussion, he'll have to do better than he did in his 40s and his 50s. I love Bruce and his output of the last 20 years, but in terms of rivaling the output of his 20s and 30s in his 60s, all signs point to No.

The moral to this story is that we are all very lucky to have Bob Dylan as an active, productive artist who tours as he does in our lifetime, particularly as he plays small clubs and theaters while he can (and does, when he feels like it) play large arenas and outdoor sheds. He is not just a great journeyman troubadour. We have plenty of those. My favorites are Alejandro Escovedo and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Back to Dylan. He is the most prolific and profound recording artist I can think of, and he continues to create new music, albums, and plays about a hundred shows a year. Not bad for a 68 year-old guy. His legacy as a recording artist is far greater than any other. If anyone has massive laurels on which to rest, it his him. But while far lesser artists do that, he doesn't. Artistically, Dylan has balls of steel and an ambitious output of work in each of the last five decades to back it up.

the You Are Not George Bush Prize

I am a huge Obama fan, but even I am scratching my head over the Nobel Peace Prize he is being awarded. Too soon. He hasn't done enough. Despite my displeasure with Obama's lack of visible progress, I am happy he is in office. As party-polarized as the Hill is, the Right will oppose anything and everything he tries to do with great zeal and vigor. The GOP has become more shameless than ever before, resorting to violent protests at town hall meetings, labeling the president a Socialist, comparing him to Hitler, and letting their inner racist bleed right through the thinly-veiled cloth behind which they hide.

Sen. Alan Grayson (D-Florida) put it brilliantly yesterday when he said, "If the President has a BLT tomorrow, the Republicans will try to ban bacon."

In order to forge progress, Obama may need to dial down the diplomatic objective of selling his ideas and initiatives in favor of approaching his job more like George and Dick did: by relentless jamming his agenda down America's throat. Bush and Cheney had eight years to do their damage. Obama needs at least a term to create visible progress.

Anyway, back to the Nobel Peace Prize... Nominations have to be turned in by early February. Obama took office on January 20th, meaning he was basically nominated for his Presidential campaign. While I do think it's too soon, because I'd like to see Obama accomplish some of the things I know he will, this is not even close to the least appropriate Prize. War-mongering scumbag Henry Kissinger got one in 1973. Yasser Arafat got one, which was like the Jethro Tull-wins-Heavy-Metal-Grammy moment at which point the award ceased to have much relevance or respectability. Maybe they can re-name it this year to the You Are Not George Bush Prize, which would allow Obama to open his acceptance with, "I'd like to first thank my predecessor, without whom none this would not be possible."

here are some other people who may have been given the award instead:
Bill Clinton for turning into Jimmy Carter and heading over to North Korea to free the two arrested journalists.
MC Hammer for getting Michael Crabtree to sign with the Forty Niners.
Michael Jackson for bringing the whole world together by dying.

Paging all single ladies. nsfw

3 Things I Think

(title stolen from the great Peter King)

1. Rush Limbaugh, who is exerting an effort to buy an NFL team, is mostly doing so to realize his ultimate dream of owning black people. I don't think he will be successful, as the NFL already has more than enough drug problems to contend with.

2. People who use these words are either rural, religious, painfully limited, or surrounded by any combination of the above and don't want to rock the boat:
heck, dang, darn, dagnabit, dadgum

3. Athletes and sports broadcasters who keep using the present tense to discuss the past are annoying. Today's example: in last week's Sports Illustrated, when asked about the value brought to the team by relief pitcher Mariano Rivera and the championships the team has won, New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said: "Without [Rivera], we don't win four championships. I know we don't win in 2000." I'll ignore the fact that in the first of Rivera's four title years, 1996, while Rivera was a member of the Yankees, Posada was a minor-league all-star with the Columbus Clippers who did spend 8 games that year in the Show (he went 1-for-14), not enough to be on the major league roster. Instead, I'll focus on his magnificent ability to be an idiot. I expect so much more from Mr. Posada, a distinguished alumnus of Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama.

Now I go to bed.