Author: stevenology

The 2015 Seattle And Bumbershoot Trip – Part One

September 15, 2015
ArtBumbershootComedyMusicMy LifeSeattleTravel

spaceneedleIt was time for our annual trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We go every year, since 2001, making this our 15th year in a row. And we love it more than ever.

I’ll post some pictures soon, but first, here’s what we did on our trip.

Wednesday September 2

Nine of us were headed to Seattle this year, eight from Sacramento and one from Portland. We had various flights and ways to get there. Karl and Betty were taking the same flight, in the late morning. They came to our house and we took the Blue Van (Super Shuttle) to the airport. We took Southwest to Seattle, a quick and smooth flight. Once at the Seattle airport (SEA/TAC), we caught the convenient Light Rail and a bit later we were checking in to our condos at The Camlin.

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The Book I Read: Gone Girl

July 31, 2015
BooksMy Life

gonegirl

This book, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, has been a best seller for a few years now and I finally found a copy of it used. So yes, I am behind the times, but yes also, I did read it!

It was a great read and I could hardly put it down. She has a writing style and a story that pulls you in. There were plot twists in the best way. If there was a flaw in the book it was the ending, which was ok but not great. But the rest of the book WAS great and I recommend it.

From the description on Amazon:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

I’ve already gone out and bought another book by Ms. Flynn, and I even bought this one new!

What do you think? Leave me a comment!

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The Book I Read: The Storyteller

June 30, 2015
BooksMy Life

Jodi Picoult The Storyteller

I’ve read a couple other books by this same author, Jodi Picoult, (Nineteen Seconds and My Sister’s Keeper) and I enjoyed them both. She has a sharp knack for rich and engaging characters and for what moral choices they might make in difficult situations. Well, this book is that and more.

“Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shame­ful secret and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor.”

The story is set in the current day and the protagonist (Sage) is a modern young woman, but much of the story centers around an elderly man (Josef) she meets and the difficult request he makes of her. It turns out he was once a nazi working in concentration camp and a large chunk of the book takes place there in war-time Germany.

Life under the nazis and in the camps was awful beyond imagination and the harrowing narrative doesn’t shy away from that at all. I said “Whoa” and “Holy crap” out loud a few times and was moved by the characters and their gripping situations. At times it was a bit of a difficult go, with the terrible things that happened, but at the same time(s), it was so absorbing that I couldn’t put it down. This is a really good book and I do recommend it.

Have you read this book?

What do you think? Leave me a comment!

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Our Latest 63 Music Items

June 28, 2015
MusicMy Life

Record_PlayerHere is the latest update. Some of these were new, some were used, some were gifts, a few we burned. Do you love any of these? Hate any of them? Or are you just confused?

CDs are listed first, then vinyl! Read all the way to the end and then leave me a comment!

ARTIST – TITLE – FORMAT – SIZE – COUNTRY – COMMENTS
Hozier – Hozier CD 5 US
Hart, Beth – Better Than Home CD 5 US Deluxe Edition
Carlile, Brandi – The Firewatcher’s Daughter CD 5 US
Hicks, Dan – The Most Of Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks CD 5 US
Morrissey – Your Arsenal CD 5 US
Lennox, Annie – Nostalgia CD 5 US
Eurythmics – 1984 CD 5 US
Queen – Forever CD 5 US
Merchant, Natalie – Natalie Merchant CD 5 US
Sheeran, Ed – X CD 5 US Five bonus tracks
Sheeran, Ed – + CD 5 US
Jethro Tull – Minstrel In The Gallery CD 5 US
Jethro Tull – Under Wraps CD 5 US
Armatrading, Joan – Classics Volume 21 CD 5 US
Etheridge, Melissa – A Little Bit Of Me: Live In L.A. CD 5 US Bonus DVD
Etheridge, Melissa – Live CD 5 US Promo
Prince – NPG-TV: Channel Two 1989-1993 CD 5 Unk Bootleg
Bowie, David – Fame In Werchter CD 5 Unk Bootleg
Bowie, David – Boy Could He Play Guitar CD 5 Unk Bootleg
Bowie, David – The Lost Beeb Tapes CD 5 Unk Bootleg
Harrison, George – Beware Of Adkco! CD 5 Unk Bootleg

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The Book I Read: The Beatles – A Hard Days Write

May 12, 2015
BooksMy Life

Beatles Hard Days WriteAre you a major Beatles fan? Not just liking their music, but wanting to know a lot more about it. If so, then this thorough but easily-readable book is just the thing. The author, Steve Turner, takes a look at every single song that they wrote and the story behind each song. Some song explanations take less than a page, others a few pages. Most of the song stories are quite interesting and informative If you wanted to know about any (or all) of their songs, then start with this book. It reads so easy but it is packed full of Beatle knowledge. I really enjoyed it.

Every song they wrote is represented here, up to and including the ones on the Anthology albums. It’s all chronological so you also get a sense of the increasing complexity and maturity of their music as time went on.

OK, yes, I know the picture here is the german version but believe me I read the English version. The German cover was a better graphic so I used that one. I got this book in the bargain books section of Barnes and Noble. So run down there and get one!

Buy it now/more info

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Record Store Day 2015

April 18, 2015
MusicMy Life

IMG_4270.JPG

Today was Record Store Day, one of my favorite holidays. I was busy part of the day, but I still managed to go to a couple Dimple Records stores. You can see in the pictures that I did a little damage, not too bad. Three David Bowie picture discs, a Brandi Carlile/Lone Bellow split 7″, a Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding) LP, a Ting Tings 7″ (on colored vinyl), a Jimi Hendrix 7″, a Pickwick 7″ (on colored vinyl), the new Annie Lennox CD, two Live promo single CDs, and a Morrissey CD that I didn’t already have for some reason. Nice haul, eh?

What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment!

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The Book I Read: Bowie – Loving The Alien

March 6, 2015
BooksMusicMy Life

Bowie Loving The AlienAs you might have noticed, I read another David Bowie bio recently. I enjoyed that one, but this one is better.

Christopher Sanford, the author, is very thorough. And I do mean very. I learned so much about Bowie by reading this book. I will say that the author is not just a Bowie fan-boy, he offers an extensive portrait of the star, warts and all, through all of Bowie’s personalities and personas. Bowie is no saint and that is made clear here. On the other hand, he is a musical superstar, deserved so, and that is made clear too.

From the Amazon web site:

Based on interviews with family members, colleagues, lovers, and the previously silent William Burroughs, this unsparing yet evenhanded biography guides the reader through the many personas, crises, and musical metamorphoses of David Bowie—also known as Davy Jones, the Laughing Gnome, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, a drug-addled grandfather of punk, actor, art aficionado, political activist, one of rock’s most resonant icons, and a totem of modern pop culture. Nowhere else is the man and musician so convincingly deconstructed and so compellingly humanized.

My biggest regret about this book is that chronologically it ends at 1997, with the “Earthling” album. I enjoyed the book and would have liked to know more about the later years and the subsequent albums.

That said, this is a really well-written and comprehensive book about David Bowie and does a great job of chronicling his life and music. Recommended.

More info/buy now

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Our Latest 102 Music Items

January 25, 2015
MusicMy Life

Record_PlayerHere is the latest update. Some of these were new, some were used, some were gifts, a few we burned. Do you love any of these? Hate any of them? Or are you just confused?

CDs are listed first, then vinyl! Read all the way to the end and then leave me a comment!

ARTIST – TITLE – FORMAT – SIZE – COUNTRY – COMMENTS

Hynde, Chrissie – Stockholm CD 5 US

Lorde – Pure Heroine CD 5 US

Prince – Art Official Age CD 5 US

Prince – Plectrumelectrum CD 5 US

Neon Trees – Pop Psychology CD 5 US

Bowie, David – Nothing Has Changed CD 5 US

McMahon, Andrew – In The Wilderness CD 5 US

Ward, ZZ – Til The Casket Drops CD 5 US

Both, The – The Both CD 5 US

Hutchinson, Eric – Pure Fiction CD 5 US

Browne, Jackson – Standing In The Breach CD 5 US

White, Jack – Lazaretto CD 5 US

Beatles, The – Alternate Hey Jude CD 5 Unk Bootleg

Beatles, The – Soul Sessions CD 5 Unk Bootleg

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Pictures From The 2014 Seattle And Bumbershoot Trip

January 5, 2015
ArtBumbershootComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravel

Space Needle at nightHello again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2014 trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and much more!)  are now online! We had a great time and so did our friends. Take a look at the pictures!

For most of the musical acts, I took a LOT of pictures, but I only posted 2-4 pictures of each act on here. If you really want to see more photos of any musical act, let me know. Also, I wish I had more pictures of the people we went with, Mama O, Sam, Cal, Laura, Margaret. Everyone was doing their own thing but I should have taken more pictures. Maybe next time.

If you are thinking of going in 2015, let me know that too.

If you have any questions, just ask. And leave a comment if you want….

2014 Seattle and Bumbershoot photos

What we did on the 2014 trip – part 1

What we did on the 2014 trip – part 2

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The Book I Read: David Bowie And The 1970s

December 14, 2014
BooksMusicMy Life

David Bowie 70sThe seventies were a weird time for music. On the one hand there was the great new wave and punk movement, on the other there was the horribleness of disco. Yeah, but throughout the decade there was also the amazing and varied music of David Bowie.

The book I just finished, “The Man Who Sold The World: David Bowie And The 1970s” by Peter Doggett is a lengthy but interesting account of Bowie in arguably his most productive and interesting decade. Nothing against his other work, I am a huge fan of his, but from Space Oddity through Scary Monsters in the seventies (roughly) there was also Ziggy Stardust, Young Americans, Hunky Dory, Diamond Dogs and a number of other ground-breaking albums and ever-shifting personnas and identities.

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Happy Birthday To Woody Allen!

December 1, 2014
ComedyMoviesMy Life

Happy Birthday to Woody Allen, one of the best filmmakers in the world and my personal favorite. At 79 he is still going strong and making quality films. Here’s the trailer from his “Midnight In Paris” from about three years ago.

 

 

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Proper Bathroom Protocol

November 30, 2014
My LifeSigns

bathroom

I recently saw this sign posted in a restroom. I think it may provide some useful advice.

What do you think?

 

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 63

October 28, 2014
MusicTerrific Tunes

It’s around Halloween time, so my thoughts turned to Oingo Boingo. Of course. Yours too, I presume. So here’s their classic song “Dead Man’s Party” with a bit of a different video. It’s made up of scenes from two Tim Burton movies that Boingo frontman Danny Elfman did the music for, The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.

Enjoy!

 

 

Let me know what you think, leave me a comment.

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 62

September 16, 2014
MusicTerrific Tunes

I’m not a fan of most hip-hop or rap. Once in a while a track stands out, but a lot of it strikes me as very simple and repetitive music with lyrics that are often some guy bragging and boasting or else some guy demeaning and objectifying women. Lame music over a worse message.

But of course, there ARE always exceptions. One of which is the “virtual” group Gorillaz. They are not really hip-hop, only a handful of their songs come close, but when they are in that mode they mix it with a brit-pop and experimental sensibility. This is not surprising since they are the creation of Blur frontman Damon Albarn.  There’s rap in it, as well as a Blur/Kinks kind of British vocal and it’s just so darned catchy! Watch their first “hit” from around the year 2000, “Clint Eastwood”. They don’t sound like anyone else, and this is only one of the musical types that they do.

Anyway, check this out!

 

 

What do YOU think?

Maybe you should leave me a comment…

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