Le` Bulletin

So…we’re almost through the first month of 2011…already!?!!?

I usually do this sort of thing right after the new year so let’s catch up shall we? Here they are in no particular order.

• These Hopeful Machines:  The newest album from BT.  Now nominated for a Grammy!  The album spans two CDs and plays just shy of two hours, and that’s just 12 songs!  It’s truly an epic.  You don’t even have to be a fan of electronica, but if you want a glimpse at the future of music as a whole here it is.
• Won’t Go Quietly:  The latest from British urban/pop artist Example.  I think it’s a solid album.  Hearing the British lingo is fun and his sense of humor is an asset.  There is lots of variety in his album.
• Hands:  The debut album from British electro-pop artist Little Boots. I’d never seen or known what a Tenori-on or a stylophone was until I discovered her music.  Great album with the use of less conventional tools; talented.
• Con Law:  The Generationals.  I have to say I actually have to thank Starbucks for introducing me to this band. I was pleasantly surprised to find this entire album amazing!  I had a space reserved for a new indie-rock album to finally move me past the last album from The Shins (Wincing the Night Away) and this was it!
• Tron: Legacy OST:  Daft Punk scores a movie, enough said.

I feel pretty lucky to have found five entire albums that I can say I’ll listen to repeatedly.  I have one silly music wish for 2011.  I think there is potential epic-ness if PINK would cover Sammy Hagar’s I Can’t Drive 55!  Right?!  C’mon, who’s with me on this one?

After work last Friday (04/16/10) I made a bee-line up I-5 North to Seattle to visit my very good friend Angela before she made the big move to Chicago. 

I arrived in town just in time to meet bunch of Angela’s friends and coworkers who had gathered for a farewell happy hour after work.  After a quick change of clothes it was back out to the Nite Lite to keep the party going.  The Nite Lite is home to the “best ranch in town”.  A claim proffered by Kelly, a friend of Angela’s, and subsequently backed by Angela.  I was able to score a free pitcher of PBR that night because the keg ran dry just short of topping off the pitcher.  The Nite Lite is a hoppin’ place and the ranch is pretty darn good, but be prepared though.  The Nite Lite is cash only.

There are a lot of instances where getting something direct from the source is always better, and when you have the opportunity to do so you must take advantage of it.  Milk is not one of those cases.  No, I’ll wait for mine to be pasteurized and to come in a nice carton, thank you.  Doughnuts on the other hand…always better direct from the source.  In Seattle, that’s Top Pot Doughnuts.  So Saturday morning, overcast and early-ish, we walked the handful of blocks from Angela’s apartment over to the Top Pot storefront.  I dunno about the rest of the Starbucks across the country but I do know that in Portland, and I’d assume Seattle too, Top Pot provides the donuts for all the Starbucks stores.  However where we only get three varieties at Starbucks, here at the Top Pot store they offer over forty.  Angela’s got a thing for filled doughnuts and I ordered a couple variations of old fashioned doughnuts with chocolate, two cups of coffee, and we sat outside to enjoy our caffeine and sugar rush.

Saturday, April 17th, happened to be National Record Store Day.  The “holiday” had been started to help raise awareness and support for local independent music stores across the country; a breed of music retailer that’s seen its number of stores shrink by over 60% nationwide in this most recent economic downturn.  To aid and celebrate this cause many artists put together special releases in limited quantities that would only be available at independent record stores.  A pretty cool idea if you’re just a little bit music geeky like Angela and I are.  Ang and I visited Easy Street Records in the Queen Anne neighborhood. I picked up the special Weezer release as well as limited edition 12” single Fences by Pheonix on pink vinyl.  Each were only about $5.

Side note:  Once I was close enough to the city on Friday I tuned in to C89.5fm and happened to catch Blake Lewis (a Seattle native) live in the studio promoting his show the following night.  During his visit on the air they played the latest remix of his hit song Heartbreak on Vinyl which addresses the recent fate of independent record shops in its lyrics, and specifically mentions Easy Street:

“…the Easy Street is empty.  The silence of the sound.” 

What a cool coincidence.

In the two years that Angela had spent living in Seattle she had yet to make it over to Gas Works Park, and I had never been in all the times I’d ever visited the city.  It’s an interesting place to visit, sort of like an “industrial green space” if that makes any sense.  Other than that, I’ll let the pictures and Wikipedia tell you about it.

Of course…Pike Place Market (no “s”, Pike.  And it’s Nordstrom…no “s”.  You’re welcome Angela).  As many times as I’ve visited the market I still haven’t hit all the vendors I’d like to try.  This time it was Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.  I’d seen it on several food shows, and Angela had raved about their macaroni ‘n’ cheese ever since she moved to Seattle and tried it.  “World’s Best!”  Again, another example of “best from the source”, cheese.  The mac-n-cheese was very delicious, and I picked up a half pound of Beecher’s Flagship cheese curds too.  Yum!

As the latter half of the afternoon rolled on so did the rain clouds.  It was the perfect time to slow down and fulfill my promise to Angela, an opportunity for her favorite drink at her favorite place to get it.  Which took us to Lola for a dry vodka martini, dirty, with stuffed olives (Angela), and a vodka gimlet (Me) while we watched the rain come and go, and commented on the fashion faux pas and triumphs of passersby.  We were briefly joined in our surreptitious scrutiny of the public by Angela’s good friend and coworker (cough-wink) Becca before she had to leave for dinner plans of her own.

Eventually, the time came for me to say see you later to my dear friend, and make the trek back down to Portland.  There was a Starbucks shift waiting for me at 7:30am the next morning.  I’m very glad I got to see Angela before she left for Chicago.  We got to do somethings together that neither of us had done in the Emerald City.  I know that Becca, Kelly, myself, and the other of Angela’s friends I met over the weekend are going to miss having her here in the Pacific Northwest.  However I’m also really excited to see Angela make the Windy City her city, just like she did in Seattle.  You know what this means now don’t you?  Now I’ll have a Chicago local when I go for that Chicago style hot dog and stuffed pizza I’ve been wanting to try :-)