Music Videos

The following music videos are about as cool as music can get. Well worth hooking up your computer to your sound system or getting your headphones on.

Lee Ritenour doing "Papa Was A Rolling Stone'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUu0DNPlv5Y

Maceo Parker doing "There Was A Time"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR41cXuUfPg

James Brown & Luciano Pavarotti doing "Its A Man's World"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Febr_t_qa9U

Mt Rainier

On September 14th through the 16th, Joanna and I took a road trip to Mt. Rainier. The sheer size of the Mountain, the dense forests, the wildflower meadows, snow fields, glaciers and hiking trails of every level of difficulty make this a destination for any outdoor lover.

The Mountain at 14,411 ft is the tallest mountain in the lower 48 and is an active volcano putting steam and keeping one of its two craters warm enough to have a small lake. There is still plenty going on under it's glacier covered cap.

The following are photos taken on the drive up.

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Following are different views of the Mountain

Paradise Inn

The Paradise Inn is where we stayed. It offers various levels of accommodation and has the best location for easy trail access. As you can tell from the above photos, the drive up is quite scenic.

The Moon over the Cascades Foothills

Taken from the deck at the Paradise Inn

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The following are views from our hike up from Paradise Inn

Evidence of the tremendous erosion that occurred in November 2006 when the Park recieved over 18 inches of rain in just over one day. Many roads and improvements were simply washed away. Reconstruction of all roads and trails is still not complete. Current plans call for some of them to not be replaced, or to no longer be maintained.

The above photos are medium, long and close view of Myrtle Falls.

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Wildflowers along the trails above Paradise Inn

All flower photos taken by Joanna

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The Wild Berry Cafe

The Wild Berry Cafe is owned by a former Sherpa and serves American and Himalayan foods. It is a jumping off point for serious hikers of Mt Rainier. There is another famous Sherpa that lives near the cafe and guides climbs to the summit on a regular basis. This is about 19 miles down the road from Paradise Inn. Joanna and I had breakfast here on our way home. Great food and service and very clean.

For More Info:

Rainier National Park: http://www.nps.gov/mora/

For Lodging at Paradise Inn: http://www.mtrainierguestservices.com/

Additional Lodging Choices: http://www.visitrainier.com/

Mt St Helens

On August 20th through the 22nd Joanna and I visited Mt St Helens.

On May 18th, 1980 Mt St Helen's experienced the most massive volcanic eruption known to science, losing 1,300 feet of elevation. It poured molten lava, rock and debris 14 miles down the Toutle River, raising the river bed more than 300 along the way. Standing in the midst of the 150 square miles of devastation, it is impossible to imagine the speed and vastness of destruction that happened in mere moments. Visiting the site was a deeply moving experience.

View of Mt St Helens from a distance of 5.5 miles at the Ranger Station. The wind reached this spot approximately one minute after the explosion carrying rocks the size of beach balls traveling sideways at 500 miles an hour at a temperature of between 600 and 700 degrees fahrenheit. An unimaginable horizontal stone blizzard.

These stumps are near the Ranger Station. They were about 150 feet in height and around 200 years old at the time of the eruption and were sheared off near the ground immediately following the blast.

If you look closely, you can see tree trunks. From 10 miles to 17 miles away from the blast, everything was either incinerated or blown off the trees within brief minutes, leaving only the trunks. Within 10 miles of the blast, everything was blown away at ground level. Dave Johnson, a scientist was killed by the explosion on the site of the current ranger station. He was there to monitor the eruption the volcanologists knew was coming. The accepted knowledge was that he was safe because no previous volcanic eruption had ever extended anywhere near 5.5 miles.

Coldwater Lake

This lake was formed by volcanic debris blocking one of the streams coming down the mountain. In the initial years following the eruption it could support only one cell life as it was full of ash and particulates from the volcano. Mother nature has improved the water quality to where it is a pristinely clear mountain lake teeming with stocked trout. Fishing is allowed with a one fish limit. This view shows Mt St Helens from a distance.

The Inlet to Coldwater Lake

A long view of Mt St Helens. In the middle of the caldera, you will see a dome. This consists of molten lava with a cooled rock crust. It is growing daily and is currently 930 feet high. The steam coming out of a vent on top of the dome lets you know that the volcano is alive and kicking. Scientists now know that Mt St Helens has erupted on this scale at least 5 times over the millennia.

Fireweed

Seacoast Lupine

If looking for a great place to stay, consider the Blue Heron Lodge. It is located on the main road up to Mt St Helens. The owner/operator, Eric Hanich is a great host and provides a very good breakfast.

Contact info: host@blueheroninn.com - 360-274-9595

For more information on Mt St Helens: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/

John PNW Visit

August 27th through the 31st, Joanna and I enjoyed a visit by the String Bending Madman himself, John Londay. A great time was enjoyed by all including seeing Lee Ritenour at Dimitriou's, Crabbing and a Mariner's game.

John with his first crab, a peewee Red Rock that promptly got thrown back in.

The bottom of a Sunflower Star. The legs look like they would be soft but are actually feel hard like scales.

John and the Old Man

A Keeper, it was obviously a gorgeous day

One very cool cloud formation

Open Face Crab Salad Sandwich

John's recipe. Very, very tasty

Blackberries, soon to be part of a pie

Hundreds of blackberries died to make this pie.

However, it did provide 8 servings of fruit

One cow died to make this steak.

Open Face Refried Bean Sandwich

Recipe from Mexican Made Easy with improvements

and spuds by John

Additional time was spent playing music, listening to music, watching music videos and a bass lesson for Pops from John. This was a great way to spend three plus days.

Thanks John!

Mount Baker R & B Festival

The Mount Baker Festival has a unique PNW flavor. It is held at the Deming Log Event Fairground, a dedicated venue for Lumberjack Competitions. It is on the west slope of Mount Baker about 10 miles from any real civilization.

Rustic is a good description of the site and many of the attendees. Frequent sights included bald head pony tails, outrageous gray hair mullets, 65 year old Earth Mommas wearing beaded mini-skirts over well worn jeans, and guy and gal coots showing off their tats.

Saying it was laid back and loosely, but well run sums it up nicely. It was really enjoyable with everyone as friendly as could be. The people watching was enormous fun.

Joanna and I volunteered doing three shifts each at the beer tent. The Midnight to 2:00 pm Saturday shift was interesting. It was a jam with local blues musicians. It reinforced the deep appreciation and respect I have for 1% of the guitar players in the world. That would be those that really know how to play. The other 99% should be segregated from the rest of humankind.

The entire happening was fun and wacky. It was an experience. It was a movement.

The Drive Up

We took the west route from Bainbridge riding the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry to get to the East side of the sound. We drove I-5 part of the way and then detoured to Edison along State Route 11. This is a destination for foodies with good reason. Joanna enjoyed a great berry pie while I loved a gooey pecan roll. We also bought some bread from an Artisan Baker and visited a small but terrific deli.

We continued North on Route 11 as it followed the coast.

San Juan Islands

The San Juans from a Route 11 pulloff.

Same location facing Northwest

The Music

A Simple Machine

A three piece blues rock band with a heavy SRV/Hendrix influence. Good players tending toward long jams.

The Fat Tones

Three piece band playing updated blues. They and the crowd had a great time. All three of these guys sing at the same time, in tune. It was very impressive and made it special for me.

The Randy Oxford Band

http://randyoxford.com/new_band/index.html

Played Smoking hot blues. Easily the most exciting band we saw. They did some original material that was stunningly good. The only band I've seen this year that topped them in wowing the crowd was Trombone Shorty.

There is no substitute for everyone in the band being really talented and playing their asses off.

They just toured the midwest including Chicago and Omaha. Worth making an effort to see if they are in your area.

Farko Dosumov, their bass player has an intensity that will knock you back ten steps. He channels Jaco Pastorius. He hails from Uzbekistan.

Rafael Tranquilino

Musical director of the band and seriously good. At the end of their set, he had nothing left to say, and that is saying a lot. We got everything he had, which was a bunch.

Janiva Magness

Using what she's got to get what she wants.

Solid professional backup band. Solid professional show. They played better than when we saw them at the Waterfront Blues Festival. Had the misfortune of following The Randy Oxford Band. Could not keep up with them in the intensity department.

Leon Russell

As you would expect, a great show. He has not lost a bit in the piano chops department. Terrific material with a lot of variety. The voice is different but still sounds distinctive and very good. All great players. The guitarist did a solo song playing acoustic and singing Walking Blues in the traditional Robert Johnson style. Impressive. Reminded me of how John plays that material.

Leon was one of the few guys left on my Bucket List. I am very glad I was able to see him.

Leon's Full Band

The Back of Leon's Piano Rig

Mount Baker Blues Fest Website: http://www.boomkak.com/bakerblues/info.html