Mortie, Mortie: He's no shorty, Mortie.
I was reminded of this site as I ripped my copy of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band into iTunes.
Virginia decides to spend its political capital by imposing fines on those wearing droopy drawers, while Wal-Mart closes a store about to form a union in Quebec. Sanity comes forth in Washington governor Christine Gregoire’s support for a smoking ban.
I know almost nothing about jazz. In Seattle, jazz is everywhere (including Kenny G sightings in Greenlake, but I don’t remember that really being *jazz*) and so are black turtleneck sweaters and close-cropped George Clooney hair and withdrawn smiles, but I try not to pay too much attention to that, so when I’m invited to go to Jazz Alley (sidenote: The last time I was at Jazz Alley, I saw Tito Puente. He issued a memorable quote before introducing a song: “And this is from album number 114.”) to see The Regina Carter Ensemble, I had no idea what to expect.
Regina had had a family emergency, so her cousin, James Carter, an accomplished saxophonist, filled in. Carter had a talent for making a saxophone sound like several different instruments, and at one point it seemed like he was having an argument with his sax, and the sax would answer back, and after a bit of musical banter with the band, all the instruments made up and set off into a wacky tirade. That was followed up with a soft, dreamy number that reminded me of the outdoor snowy scenes from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, right before the placed ornament brought the tree down. Delicious.
My friend Todd is really good friends with the whole ensemble, so after the show we got to hang out with the band, so much so that I ended up driving the drummer and the bassist to their accommodations in Eastlake (I’ve never driven a band home before, unless it was family). The Regina Carter Ensemble, featuring James Carter, is playing through tomorrow night, February 5th.
It’s coming! It’s coming! The League of Gentlemen movie!
Great article in Seattle Weekly on investing for change.
I’m feeling a bit luddite: why on earth would people watch TV on a cellphone?
Fidgeters seem to burn an extra 350 calories a day, or 10-20 pounds a year.
And the FCC and White House drop their effort to relax media ownership rules. Thank you, Media Alliance!
While there’s a silent and noble thing about watching Regis Philbin ring in the New Year, there’s an even more silent and noble thing: carrying a clawfoot bathtub filled with champagne and marshmallows from one New Year’s Eve party to another… if only the second party had been appreciative of such a gesture. Anyway, possibly the most memorable New Year’s Eve I’ve had in a few years, and a promising beginning to 2005. I’ve made the usual round of resolutions (maintaining vegequarianism not one of them, as I failed miserably at that in December about five times), including: learning guitar, becoming a volunteer DJ on KBCS, and pledging to visit New York City, Chicago, Charlotte, Vancouver, San Francisco, and London. There’s also this tribute CD I want to finish before what would have been my Dad’s 60th birthday on May 24th, and at the very least, that IS going to happen. And eating better — a delivery service that goes beyond Pioneer Organics, and actually takes the time to make the meals with all-organic and sustainably-sourced ingredients: Delicious Planet.
It’s curious that Amazon donates 60% of their political donation fund to Republican causes, especially being headquartered in a very successful blue state. I don’t mind 50/50, but then I don’t believe companies should be donating to any political causes. But that’s me.
Today I began a new era of employment with IMDb.com, billed as “Earth’s Biggest Movie Database”.
My job is to redesign it — it’s millions of pages, with no real style guide, and I’m excited to be working there. It’s a small, 120-person company wrapped up in a large, 10,000 person company (Amazon). Friends and strangers alike who are passionate about the site say the same thing, “We love it and use it all the time — don’t fuck it up too much.” So there.
The first day began at 8am with a conference call to the office here in Seattle, with a bridge set up to connect offices in Bristol, UK and Berlin, Germany. My introductory email was all about top ten lists (films, TV), and that seems to change monthly. The top three films don’t, though: 1) Being There, 2) Love and Death, and 3) Dr. Strangelove.
The Stranger’s cover this week was so popular it’s now a downloadable PDF suitable for framing.
The worst Halloween costumes of all time. And the Stranger’s 2004 Scariest Halloween Costumes.
The Feds seize Indymedia’s servers in the UK. Meanwhile, some organizations are asking if Bush was wired in the first debate — with bulge photographs to make their case.
Another beautiful Jib-Jab animation. And a beautiful book to add if you’re a Chicagophile.
I’ve been back in Seattle for six weeks, yesterday (don’t ever use Uhaul, ever — please contact your congressperson to revoke their corporate charter), after a year in Berkeley attempting to go to graduate school in Santa Rosa. The strange (and beautiful) thing about Seattle is that I’ve gotten back into the groove here so quickly, perhaps because there’s something about the Emerald City that’s more in line with the natural flow of things. Well, it’s still a work in progress, anyway.
At least in my perspective and circle of friends, the emphasis here seems to be on friends, family and community, rather than busy work schedules and limited time. I’m relishing every moment of new life here, fresh with the perspective of my year in California. I arrived in Berkeley right before the recall election (my former governor was on cable last night, in Eraser) and was immediately struck by the fast pace of the Bay Area. I used to be able to handle all the noise in Chicago in the early 90s, but discovered most of the energy in both cities seemed to be busy work — people were so busy there didn’t seem time to develop solid friendships outside of scheduled activities. On the other hand, my time in graduate school allowed me to make several friends and enjoy some festive nights in Sonoma County, and enjoy the Bay Area’s amazing array of food and drink, as long as global warming keeps at bay.
And then there was the Mint. Good times, good times.
So much has happened in the space of six weeks, starting with the best speech of any convention by Illinois Congressional candidate Barack Obama. And plenty of political commentary about Bush and Cheney, including insights from Paul Krugman (The Arabian Candidate), Ron Reagan (The Case Against George W. Bush), Graydon Carter (Bush by Numbers: Four Years of Double Standards) and Iraqi footballers. Will Ferrell’s White House West video is among the best I’ve seen, and Bush’s Brain, a movie about Karl Rove, met limited nationwide release. Lynne Cheney’s out of print Sisters was among the strangest items to emerge from obscurity, but 1.3 million more people in poverty remains prominent. John Kerry was traced back to royalty.
While there was much talk about the Swift Boat veterans, not much was said about the Rowboat Veterans for Truth, but then not much was said about Andrew Card saying that Bush believes America to be a 10-year-old child that needs protection.
But not all the news seemed hopeless. Al Franken got a new TV-show this week, a one-hour edit of his weekday shows on Air America Radio. Others asked, Is Zell Miller the evil emperor from Star Wars? Michael Moore is attempting to get Fahrenheit 9/11 on DVD before the election, as new movies attempt to subtly comment on the current administration. New economic models and new sources of power are becoming more acceptable.
The roller coaster of events around gay marriage continued, as California annulled its gay marriages, as New Jersey’s governor outed himself in a formal press conference as did a representative from Virginia.
While the assault weapons ban is likely to be lifted on Monday, the gun firms connected to the sale to the Washington Sniper agreed to pay $2 million to settle.
And from the strange-but-true category comes people passing around $200 bills in Kentucky, a 480-pound woman died after rescuers attempted to free her from the couch she had grown into, Costco discount caskets, retro mobile phones, a programmer outsources his own job to India, sleep pods for busy executives in New York, and how Microsoft lost millions over eight pixels.
I decided to get more involved in the community, and have become a pollworker for the primary and general elections in King County. I’ve never done this before, but will see what happens on the 14th. If this website and this one are an indication, I’m a little concerned, but the saving grace of the King County Primary voters guide is that they run candidate statements unedited. Note to contenders: hire a proofreader and do a spell check.