surrounded by water in seattle

before i picked up the rental dune buggy and headed toward portland via jimi's gravesite, i spent a few days in seattle. my journey began with a few days stay at the illustrious green tortoise hostel, within a few blocks of the pike place market.



lots of gifties and daily treats for the locals.



and naturally, plenty of amazing seafood, fresh from the mesmerizing waters outside.



those crab legs were as long as my arm. seriously.

seattle really is a beautiful city, no doubt about it. arts and free thought abound. i could be happy in a place like that.

i'd taken a bus tour to get a lay of the land and we covered quite a bit of ground throughout seattle and the city's surrounding areas. early in the ride, i caught the skyline from this vantage point:



at the end of the tour, i jumped off at a major touristy junction, an odd wonderland of seattle's heavy-hitting "must sees".

here's a fierce museum designed by frank gehry, the experience music project. major exhibits on seattle's son, james marshall hendrix, and bob dylan nestled in between serious interactive studios that allowed you to create and mix live music.

mystical exterior:



but a sampling of the interior (this guitar tree was about 30 feet tall):



i cannot wait to get lost in the folds of that bohemoth music castle again.

the emp sits in the shadows of seattle's friendliest skyscraper, the space needle.



i love that this thing remains as an homage to the space age visions of the 60s. from this vantage point, it really is magnificent to look upward.

here's the view that $13 bought me. it took about 7 seconds to zip up to the top, but worth it to see the full circle vision of this city.

now, if a 6 turned out to be 9, i don't mind

photos from my october adventure to seattle, portland and pacific northwest points in between. these are all from jimi hendrix's grave in renton, washington.

jimi's headstone:



the memorial itself:





i chatted with an angst-ridden kid who was carving this pumpkin:



then he left it for jimi:

for here i am sitting in a tin can, far above the world. planet earth is blue and there's nothing i can do.

after our first major snow dump of the season last week (and let me go on the record as saying that 10 inches is useful for a few select thangs, and building a village of ice banks on our streets ain't it), there's been all this talk about more and more fluffy rain coming our way. we're to get some slush infraction again today, but thus far, it's been much better than anticipated. i even reduced my layers! i'm in a sheer long t, cord blazer, jeans and boots sans the scarf i often wear in our crispy office to combat the chill, a short t or cami under the initial layer of sleeves and a down filled vest inside my furry-necked vinyl trench. it was so warm leaving for work today that i was able to do without a hot comfortably. didn't wear no mitts neither.

it surely won't last, but as any chicagoan can attest, you gots to take your victories where you can in the winter cage match. she a fierce opponant.

a magazine our agency advertises in sent us some toffee. the stretchy-pully kind in lots of flavors that they sell in every cheezy beach community in america. except this batch is from pidgeon forge, tn. homemade! so it say.

i'll be picking this mess out my snaggs all day.

not if the carmel corn i'm mowing down doesn't dislodge a molar first. my officemates were just marvelling that i've gone without white cheddar popcorn (my snack of choice, and only the cape cod brand will do -- or smart corn in a pinch) all week. i'd been getting really bad about that little temptation lately. we're having a bit of a holidaypalloozza at the office, so there may be a few bags of cheddar cheer on the feasting table. wish they would.

photos of present slaughter to follow.

"what i didn't accomplish this year" by Agent99

a few days short of my first anniversary of the covert ops blog, and apparantly, i have not seen all that i'd planned to in chicago. an early post gave us this list of places the Mole and i are hoping to enjoy together in our fair city. let's see how little my progress can be measured by.

* garfield conservatory
* lincoln park zoo (winter visit for polar bears and spring visit) IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT I HAVE, IN FACT, VISITED THIS ZOO. IT'S JUST SOMETHING THE MOLE AND I HAVE BEEN WANTING TO DO TOGETHER.
* water taxi to shedd aquarium
* adler planetarium
* field museum
* museum of science & industry
* dusable museum
* geja's
* sears tower CREPT UP IN THIS BOHEMIATH DURING A HIGH SCHOOL FIELD TRIP AND COULD SEE NOTHING DUE TO IMMENSE FOG. PROBABLY TIME FOR ANOTHER VIEWING.
* "the windy" boat in lake michigan DIDN'T DO THE WINDY, BUT OUR DOGGIE CRUISE AND SAILBOAT EXCURSIONS W/ YANGBOSS SHOULD COUNT
* the goodman
* steppenwolf
* blue man group
* second city I'M RACKING MY BRAIN, BUT I DON'T THINK I'VE BEEN HERE FOR A SHOW SINCE A CHICAGO WEEKEND W/ LA MILLAH BACK IN THE DAYS OF MY THEATRICS IN DA LOU. WAIT, I DID SEE A STUDENT FROM THE "FAME" SCHOOL I WORKED AT UPON MOVING HERE DO A SHOW FOR A CLASS HE WAS TAMING. YOU KNOW, IF I HAVE TO SPEND THIS MUCH TIME DEBATING WHETHER I'VE BEEN TO SECOND CITY IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS, IT'S PROBABLY TIME TO GET REACQUAINTED.
* improv olympic DOES BLOWING OFF MY CLASS THERE COUNT? :) I ACTUALLY DID ATTEND A COUPLE OF SHOWS THIS YEAR, MOST NOTEABLY THAT PISSY SKETCH TEAM THAT GAVE ME ALL THE STATIC BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO SIGN THEM TO OUR ROSTER.
* more green mill jazz (Mole needs to experience kurt elling live) THIS WAS ONCE "MY PLACE" WHERE I SPENT MANY A LATE NIGHT OF MY YOUNG CHICAGO DAYS, PROWLING ON JAZZMEN AND THE LIKE. HAVEN'T BEEN IN AGES. AND I MISS KURT. WE SHOULD GO IN JANUARY.
* venetian night (ONLY if we can find incognito space to observe) COULDA CHECKED THIS ONE OFF IF WOONSOCKET HADN'T NAPPED THROUGH HER METRA DEPARTURE TO COME DOWNTOWN. WE *WILL* EXPERIENCE THAT YACHT CLUB PARTY NEXT YEAR.
* dog day at sox game DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HOW THE MOLE WAITED TOO LONG TO CONFIRM HIS REGISTRATION FOR THE GAME! WEEBEASTIE SHALL HAVE HER MOMENT AT COMISKEY NEXT YEAR.
* chicago fire game
* milwaukee brewers game
* arlington park YEP! WE WATCHED THE PONIES TROT!
* cleveland/marquette/minneapolis SAW SMALL PIECES OF MINNEAPOLIS' DOWNTOWN DURING A BIZ JUNKET THERE LAST WINTER, BUT HAVEN'T MADE IT BACK TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF SUMMER.
* chicago historical society
* neo soul explosion
* chicago symphony orchestra BATTED MY EYES AT WAYNE SHORTER FROM A FRONT ROW PERCH HERE DURING MY FIRST CHICAGO WINTER. THE MOLE WANTS TO HEAR THE STRINGS.
* museum of contemporary art FIRST FRIDAYS ARE THE BEST!
* haunted chicago tours
* cemetary tours
* shemekia copeland
* buddy guy BEEN TO HIS CLUB, BUT HAVEN'T HEARD ONE OF HIS ILLUSTRIOUS SETS. I HEAR ANOTHER RUN IS CURRENTLY ON SALE.
* von freeman
* signature room NOT SURE WHY THIS ONE MADE THE LIST. I'VE HAD DRINKS IN THE LOUNGE A FEW TIMES AND THE VIEW REALLY IS ALL THAT. PERHAPS I WAS THINKING OF THE DINING EXPERIENCE?
* music venues: apartment lounge
gunther murphy's SAW YANGBOSS' BAND HERE
martyr's
the note SAW A HILARIOUS REUNION SHOW OF YINGBOSS' PUNK BAND FROM THE 80'S HERE
bottom lounge
uncommon ground DECIDED TO PUSH FOR SAM SHABER TO BE SIGNED TO OUR ROSTER AFTER SEEING HER PERFORM HERE. CUTE LISTENING ROOM AND GREAT SNACKS.
bar vertigo
b.l.u.e.s.'s
rosa's lounge
blue chicago
jazz showcase
hothouse
sonotheque THIS IS UP THE STREET FROM OUR CRIB. SHAMEFUL THAT IT'S STILL ON THE LIST!
big horse lounge
california clipper
club foot
darkroom ANOTHER ONE CLOSE IN SHAMEFUL PROXIMITY
funky buddha lounge MIGHT FINALLY GET MY ASS IN THERE ON FRIDAY! (ADDENDUM: I DID NOT GET IN THERE LAST FRIDAY FOR THAT PARTY. IT'S DESTINED TO HAPPEN SOMETIME THIS WINTER. I'M GOING. IT'S TOO CLOSE NOT TO.)
gallery caberet
green dolphin street
morseland HAD A GREAT TIME HERE W/ MOLE'S PALS
the mutiny
nite cap
phyllis' musical inn WHERE WE SAW THE MANNERS' DEBUT AND HAD ACCESS TO THE PEEPS BUFFET!
red line tap
katerina's
rhythm SUN AND HER NEW MAN WILL BE IN TOWN NEXT WEEK. MAY SUGGEST THIS FOR AN OUTING POSSIBILITY. WHO DON'T WANNA DRUM?
schizoclub gallery
silvie's lounge
old town school of folk
long room
nick's

well, we certainly gots some things to keep us occupied this vintah. i cling to anything i can to make these next three months somewhat tolerable. the cold is biting, but if the snow stays to a minimum, the temps are surprisingly tolerable. spending the vast majority of my day in car to office to car to random errands in store to car to home doesn't afford me that much time to really suffer the winter's beatings, but when snow gets up in the mix, it latches on for weeks and weeks, causing parking commotion, wrecking havoc on your ride and forcing you to be up in the elements scraping, shovelling and cursing much more than is necessary or desired.

thinking positively about winter,
Agent99

me talk pretty one day

my "can i talk smack for your client?" endeavors are jumping along. the current scorecard reads as follows:

agents in chicago: 1 locked in, 1 in the wings
agents in milwaukee: 1 locked in
agents in portland: 1 in the wings, already playing cameo roles

i worked my way past the christmas tree lots covered in the first major drop of snow for the season through the downtown throngs to an audition w/ my local agency today. i'd been told i would be reading for a series of country music television spots, then my agent surprised me w/ a couple of others to do as well for tilex ("there's a better way to control your mold problem!")and one-a-day for women. meeting w/ the agent in the wings next week.

one more biz trip for 2005. off to atlanta tomorrow to help the greeks of the south understand more about date rape. happy to do so as it ensures a relaxing weekend w/ my childhood pal, Clancy. and a reprieve from the cold chill sure to envelope chicago this weekend.