A Great Weekend of Music

Twenty or thirty years ago it was no problem to attend back to back concerts on Friday and Saturday night. And even get by on a couple of hours sleep in between events. That was then and this is now as I’m a year into my sixth decade on this planet. But since the opportunity recently presented itself, I gave two nights in a row of live music a “thumbs up.”

BowlingWidow wanted no part of either show, opting for a full night’s sleep or two instead. So I met friends at both venues, in Seattle and Bellingham respectively. Night one was dinner and the early show at Jazz Alley. This is hands down the best place to see a concert in the Puget Sound. Not a bad seat in the house, and even the docile smooth jazz music of Peter White was pleasing in that setting.

Peter White: In Concert

You see, I was a fan of Peter White when he used to play intriguing Spanish guitar licks and other catchy solos for Al Stewart back in the 70s and 80s. Then he moved on to find a niche in the market by playing Kenny G’s music. Oh, well, I guess a guy has to make a living.

Our Jazz Alley dinner seats were literally front and center. So close in fact that I was able to easily swipe Peter White’s set list at the end of the show. Unfortunately, while I was meeting Peter and having him sign a few CD covers for me later, I made the mistake of showing him the set list and asking him to sign that, too. Peter simply looked at it, looked up at me and said, “I think I need that for the next set.” What could I do except to sheepishly hand it back to him?

BowlingJoe with Peter White: Did he REALLY have to take back the set list that I swiped?

The next night, after our monthly book group meeting in Bellingham, fellow Plummeting Tortoise Steven and I headed to the Bellingham YWCA. I didn’t even know there were still YWCAs around but here we were in residential Bellingham getting ready to watch a concert at their intimate ballroom on Forest Street.

Saturday night’s show was by a legend of Traditional Irish music named Andy Irvine. He’s an incredibly talented guitarist and singer, although not nearly as popular as Lady Gaga. Irvine has been around a long time, playing music around the world both as a solo act and with such traditional groups as Patrick Street. I first heard him a couple of years back, on the radio while driving through Ireland. His latest CD, “Abocurragh”, was just released at that time (which is excellent, by the way)

Andy Irvine: up close and personal

As a bonus to seeing Irvine at a tiny venue, Steven was able to snag us seats in the front row where it was easy to enjoy watching his masterful guitar work. Yes, it was a nice weekend for live music. Forget about overpriced arena rock/pop shows. Those years are behind me. THIS is the real way to see, hear, and appreciate live music. Here is a video clip of Andy Irvine from that night:

Mother, Mexican Food and Mecca

I never would have thought I'd say this fifteen years ago, but I love to visit Southern California. I wouldn't want to live there, but despite its sheer amount of humanity and the irritability that I often feel traveling in a post-9/11 world, it's darned nice to be able to get away from a foot of snow in January. Even if it means high winds and unseasonably low temperatures in the Coachella Valley where I visited. Oh yeah, and the Mexican food here is better, cheaper and more authentic than we have in the Pacific Northwest.

BowlingJoe and his Mother in Indio, CA

My mother lives in a small mobile home community in the town of Indio, east of Palm Springs, and I took a solo trip for a few days last week to see her. As luck would have it, Palm Springs was having one of its worst wind storms of the year...oh...just about the time the plane was on its final approach. I fly a few times a year and am used to the bumps, but this turbulence was like a bad dream involving a wicked witch, a frightened girl, and a flying house. Somehow we managed to land. I'm guessing the pilots were doing tequila shots when they were on the ground to calm their nerves.

Speaking of which, shortly after getting out of the airport my mother and I dropped in at a watering hole called The Beer Hunter in nearby La Quinta. La Quinta is Spanish for "golf courses with exorbitantly priced greens fees". Being a beer snob from Washington State, I was hoping to find a good IPA to quench my thirst. This is challenging in Southern California so I felt lucky to get some draft Sierra Nevada Pale Ale while the winds continued to whip outside. The wind even blew in some caddies from the nearby PGA golf tournament that was postponed after promotional tents started rolling around like tumbleweeds on the course. I learned that some caddies like to drink. A lot.

Some Scenic Drives North of the Coachella Valley

Naturally, I wound up spending the next morning of the trip with my mother, cleaning up blown in sand dunes around her home with a shop-vac. This is actually the perfect way to work up a guilt-free appetite for an In-N-Out burger. I'm tellin' ya' we really need some of these burger places here in the Northwest.

The Salton Sea: Population 1,000,000........Birds

Something else we did was visit the north end of the Salton Sea. This is a huge and somewhat hideous body of water that's actually a couple of hundred feet below sea level (to its credit though, it does attract an enormous number of bird species). It's fed by rivers and streams as well agricultural runoff drainage systems. And it's nearly as salty as the Great Salt Lake. For more information check out the Googles, Wikipedias, and Internets.

Bombay Beach: Actually one of the Better Neighborhoods

For me, the most fascinating sight at the shores of the Salton Sea is a little town called Bombay Beach. Back in the 1920s, someone had a brilliant idea to create a resort getaway town for tourists to spend weekends. But when dead fish started washing up on shore and storms raised water levels beyond belief, it all began to unravel. What you have now is a sparsely populated train wreck of a town that exists because of a few railroad workers and the fact that it's the only place around for miles that has a store. Feral cats roam the streets and properties laden with structures in various states of crumble are in abundance. The word "ruins" comes to mind. I think the original Bombay in India was cleaner. Someone made an award winning documentary film about Bombay Beach and I really need to see it.

We spent the last full day driving through the various towns in the Coachella Valley. Indio, Cathedral City, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and so on. I was pleased to find the town of Mecca. Some of us have been looking for Mecca our whole lives. And here it was: just off Highway 111 in Riverside County, California. Who knew?

Beer Heaven in Lake Stevens, WA

There are times when I suddenly realize that some of the coolest places around are within a short drive of our house. As a purveyor of fine ales, I had one of those golden moments a couple of months ago when I discovered Norm's Market. I know that we're lucky to live in a region that's rich in microbreweries filled with stellar establishments to sample them.

Norm's: a seemingly mild mannered mini-mart bursting with malt and hops

But I was completely unprepared for what I learned was in nearby Lake Stevens, WA. On the outside it looks like your garden variety Shell Mini-Mart and gas station. But it's beer-o-mania on the inside. Not only do they have walls and walls loaded with refrigerators filled with bottled beer from everywhere you can imagine. Their walk-in cooler boasts an inventory of 52 quality micros on draft, all of which are vying for a spot in your 64 ounce growler that they're happy to fill for you. That's right: fifty two. One for each week of the year. But you'll need to drink at a faster pace than that since different products are being rotated in every couple of weeks or so.

For the beer connoisseur Norm's Market is Mecca. It rivals any place in the city of Seattle, 45 minutes away. Check it out. It's well worth a visit. Or several.

BowlingJoe next to the menu: 52 beers on tap waiting to fill your growler

Norm's Market is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/normsmarket

Everett Herald article about Norm's: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110628/LIVING/706299980

Here is a recent sample of growler fill offerings... all $9.99 (unless otherwise marked) That's only $2.50 a pint if you do the math!!!

1. Southern Tier Pumpkin (New York) 8.6% $13.99
2. Dogfish Head Chicory Stout 14.99
3. Samuel Adams Double Pumpkin Ale 8.5% ( Boston,Ma) Sale $9.99
4. Mac N Jacks Blackcat Porter 5.3% (Redmond)
5. Mac' N Jacks Serengeti Wheat 4.7%
6. Mac & Jack Two Tun Ipa 7% (Redmond, Wa)
7. Mac 'n Jack's African Amber Ale 5.2% (Redmond)
8. Mac 'n Jack's Cascadian Dark Ale 6.9 (Redmond)
9. Hibernation Ale 8.8% $11.99
10. Humbolt Brewing Co. Nectar IPA (Ca) 6.8%
11. Big E's Rootbeer Non-Alcoholic (Lynwood)
12. Dogfish Head 90 Min IPA $15.99
13. Sleigh'R Double Alt Ale (Ninkasi) 9.99
14. Ninkasi Tricerahops 8.8% (OR) $11.99
15. Manny's Pale Ale (Georgetown) $9.99
16. Men's Room Original Red (Seattle) Eylsian Brewing 5.6%
17. Organic Abominable Winter Ale Hub Brew 7.3% (OR) $12.99
18. Stella Artois German Lager
19. Steelhead Dbl IPA -Mad River Brewery 11.99
20. Imperial Coconut Porter Maui Brewing Co. (Hi) $14.99
21. Spire Dark and Dry Cider $12.99
22. Diamond Knot HO HO $11.99
23. Super Cru Lips of Faith 10% (CO) $12.99
24. Georgetown Porter, Georgetown Seattle $9.99
25. New Belgium Down Under w/Passion Fruit (Seattle) 12.99
26. Stone Arrogant Bastard (CA) 7.2%
27. North Sound Goosetown Brown 6.8% (Mt. Vernon) $9.99
28. Scuttlebutt 10' Below 7.4% (Everett)
29. Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter (Co) 7.5% $12.99
30. Autumn IPAnox- Cascade Brewery 6.7% (OR) $12.99
31. Firestone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout $10.99
32. Lenny's R.I.P.A. He'Brew 10% (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) $14.99
33. Widmer Brrrr 7.2% $18.99
34. Big E Cinnamon Sour (Lynnwood, Wa) $11.99
35. Diamond Knot Industrial Pale Ale (Mukilteo) 7.9% $10.99
36. Mt. Shasta Jalapeno (Ca) $14.99
37. Pyramid Imperial Hefeweizen 7.5%
38. Cascade Brewing Imperial Amber 7.2% (OR) $12.99
39. Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale (Co) 6.1% $12.99
40. Irish Death Iron Horse Brewery (Ellensburg)
41. Wingman Porter 9.99
42. Big E Winter Blackberry Ale 7.2% (Lynwood)
43. Southern Tier Creme Brulee 19.99
44. Hooegarden Belgina beer $10.99
45. Stone Levitation Ale 4.4% (CA)
46. Fearless Mjoldir Double IPA 8% $10.99
47. The Vaporizer Pale Ale- Double Mountain Brewery 6% (OR)
48. Effen Heffen Skookum (Arlington, Wa)
49. Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu 10% (DE) 19.99
50. Judith Yeast, Beer Valley (Or) $12.99
51. Hop Dog Double Wheat IPA, Midnight Sun Brew. (AK) $18.99
52. North Sound Imperial Red $14.99

Norm's has an incredible selection of bottled beers from everywhere

The Name of the Dish is Turducken

We were in the mood to try something new for Thanksgiving this year. Not that we have anything against putting a turkey in a smoker for several hours as we have the last few years. We figured we'd do that also. But 2011, for better or for worse, goes down as The Year of the Turducken.

In the package, thawed and ready to cook

This is shorthand for Turkey, Duck and Chicken. In case you're wondering there isn't a Turducken farm where you can go get one of these birds. At least not on this planet. Most of these Frankenbirds are constructed in the south. We happened to have acquired ours frozen and ready to cook, shipped from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

I'm sure there are various ways to construct them, but ours started with a de-boned turkey (except for wings and drumsticks) that was laid out in sort of a butterfly fashion. A layer of stuffing that consists of cornbread and pork rice is added, followed by the duck, similarly de-boned and presented. Another layer of stuffing is applied, followed by the smallest bird, the chicken. The whole thing is somehow turned into a giant pouch of poultry, sewn up, seasoned with some Cajun spices, and cooked in the oven as per normal.

The Turducken: Ready to serve, just before we busted it open like a pinata

The results? I'd have to say mixed at best. While the flavor of the meat was certainly passable, it lacked the moistness that we had become accustomed to with plain old turkey over the years. And then there was the mess. After the first slice we were dealing with an Avian Pinata of stuffing. None of it really stayed too well in tact as we cut into it.

Overall I think our crowd of twelve appreciated the effort but were glad that we also had that backup bird heating up in the smoker. Next time I think we won't mess with a good thing.

On Fire at Wing Dome!

It’s no secret that BowlingJoe is an aficionado of all things spicy. With that in mind, BowlingWidow and I paid a visit to a food joint that has been on what might be called my bucket list for a couple of years now. The place is called Wing Dome (I imagine the name was inspired by the Kingdome before it was blown to smithereens) and there are a few of them distributed around the Puget Sound. Unfortunately none particularly near casa de BowlingJoe.

So after our Pilates session on Saturday morning we trekked to North Seattle in an effort to assess just how hot their wing sauce really is. The different sauces heat “alarm” scale runs from one to seven. Seven-alarm sauce is reserved for those crazies who want a truly painful challenge. Seven minutes to eat seven wings with nothing to wash them down with or otherwise provide relief. I’ve seen the Wing Dome contestants’ pain up close on a Food Network TV show and opted not to give that a try. At least not now.

The Original Wing Dome in North Seattle

One-alarm is dubbed “mild and flavorful” while the six-alarm sauce has the tagline “I can’t feel my face”. That was the one for me. We ordered beers which, in retrospect, may not have been the brightest move since all it really does is move the heat around the tongue, not cooling things down a bit as a glass of milk might.

The wings arrived with plenty of six-alarm sauce coating them. The first three wings gave me little or no problem. As someone who puts Tabasco sauce on everything from nachos to macaroni and cheese I was thinking that this would be easy. But as I found out, the presence of habanero peppers in this dangerous stew had quite a cumulative heat effect on my veteran taste buds. By the time I got to the fifth of the six wings that were on my plate I was starting to sweat noticeably. Clearly the final wing would require concentration and focus if I wanted to hit the finish line without realizing a “reversal of fortune”.

Looks Like Another Victim of the Seven-Alarm Challenge to Me

Was I successful? Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle? Indeed I was. BowlingWidow even thought that I could have passed the seven-alarm challenge and earned a place on the Wing Dome Wall of Flame. I’ll have to think about that one, though. Perhaps I’ll buy one of those wings next time. If the flame is too hot, I’m only out $1.99. But if not, the challenge of conquering some of the hottest peppers know to man might just be added to that bucket list.

Out of the Darkness

BowlingWidow and I enjoy participating in events that combine exercise and a good cause. That’s why we immediately said “yes” to an opportunity that was presented to us a few months ago by one of her co-workers at Sno-Isle Libraries. The event, which took place a few days ago, was one of many that happen at various times and locations around the country and are known as the Out of the Darkness Community Walk.

The walk and resulting donations are a benefit for the non-profit American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. A few of the many purposes of the AFSP include the support of scientific studies to improve the understanding of suicides and their prevention, educating the public, and providing programs and resources for survivors of suicide loss and people at risk.

Here’s a statistic I just read the other day: in 2010, there were more American soldiers (468, including enlisted soldiers and veterans) that took their own lives than those killed in combat (462). The same with 2009 according to Congressional Quarterly.

The co-worker I referenced above lost her son to suicide while he was serving in Iraq in 2007. I’ll likely never understand how she feels, what her and her family have been through, and what they continue to go through. I can only imagine that there is nothing worse. As parents, our kids are supposed to outlive us by a generation, not the other way around.

Some of Team CRANE getting ready for the Out of the Darkness Walk

During the walk around Lake Padden in Bellingham, I wondered how we can have a national dialogue about cancer, heart disease, and so on…..but suicide and mental illness seem to get relatively little visibility. This is despite the fact that suicides claim 34,000 lives per year in this country. And like cancer and heart disease it doesn’t discriminate between rich or poor, black or white, male or female, young or old.

It seems like a tall order in the face of budget reductions and cutbacks but we should be as aggressive about identifying symptoms of depression and mental illness as we are about screening for cancer. Admittedly, it’s far more challenging to understand such symptoms but the human cost of not doing so is devastating.

I won’t pretend that this blog has a big audience but if someone who reads this volunteers their time or makes a donation in some way to the AFSP, then this post has been well worth my time.

Finally, and speaking of blogs, I’d like to give a shout out to a site created by an acquaintance I’ve known since 1974. She does a remarkable job of telling her own story of battling mental illness as well as commentary on current events related to the topic. It can be found at:

http://crazymer1.wordpress.com/

Michael T. Dogg, Remembered

Five years ago this month, we said goodbye to our friend and companion, Mike The Dog. To pay tribute to his life here is an obituary I wrote shortly after his death.

MICHAEL T. DOGG (1991 – 2006)

Our longtime resident and companion, Michael T. Dogg, was “put to rest” on September 22, 2006 after a short illness and has moved on to meet Dog. Mike was always quick to point out that, although his last name was spelled the same, he was not related to Snoop in any way.

Mike was an idiot, even by canine standards, and his medical records confirm that he had a brain approximately the size of a (small) pistachio nut. But he was a kind soul who loved his family and appropriately barked at the UPS truck as well as other dangers that threatened the family. Always lean, in his younger days he had greyhound speed and loved to sprint around 10 acre fields for no apparent reason.

In addition to running, his hobbies included coprophagy and the dominant mounting of any male dog that dared to set legs onto his territory (not that there's anything wrong with it).

Mike will be missed by his family: Tami, Joe and Ian Clark, as well as his cat and understudy Harvey D. Birdkill. In lieu of flowers, cards or donations, Mike asked prior to his death that well-wishers bark uncontrollably at the vacuum cleaner once or twice in his memory.