Sunday, July 6, 2008

Eighth Issue - 6 July 2008

The 4th of July. What did you do… I was prodded into going to the Balloon Park (here in Albuquerque) to spend the afternoon walking around in the heat, smelling all the different scents coming from the vendors, to eventually sitting in the third row for the evening’s main event, that being Blood, Sweat & Tears. Now, I know most of you remember these guys. We may not have appreciated their music as a rock n’ roll band since their forte is more blues/jazz with a twist of rock. Anyway, BST are actually better now than I remember 40 years ago. If you get the chance to see them, take the time to do so. They sound great. And the lead singer can still sing! The best part of the evening… parking was free and entrance was a buck. So, on that note, here’s some music events coming to the Portland area for the remainder of the summer, thought you all might have an interest in. Of course, I didn’t see any great deals like the one I just experienced, but hope you find something to make a lasting memory.

What’s Coming Up: Concerts (Portland Area)

July 14-15
Eddie Izzard, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 8pm, Tickets avg $160
July 15
Wolf Parade, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 9pm, Tickets $15 general admission
July 16
Jimmy Eat World, Roseland Theater & Grill, 8pm, Tickets avg $56 – must buy in pairs only
Catherine Russell, Oregon Zoo, 7pm, Tickets avg $10
July 18
Hot July Nights, Esther Short Park, Vancouver, gates open at 4pm, Opening Act is Norman Sylvester at 6pm, Headliner is Peter Frampton at 8pm, Tickets $35
Toby Keith, Amphitheater Clark County, Ridgefield, 7:30pm, Tickets $24.50 - $73.50
Ray Davies, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 8pm, Tickets avg $140+
July 19
Aimee Mann, Aladdin Theater, 8pm, Tickets $35
July 20
Ringo Starr, McMenamins Historic Edgefield Manor, Troutdale, 7pm, Tickets $42 & $75
July 23
The Zombies, Wonder Ballroom, 8pm, Tickets $25
July 24
James Taylor, Amphitheater Clark County, Ridgefield, WA, 8pm, Tickets $20-$60
July 27
Lyle Lovett, McMenamins Historic Edgefield Manor, Troutdale, 7pm, Tickets $37 - $69
The Hold Steady, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 9pm, Tickets $65
July 29
Chris Isaak, McMenamins Historic Edgefield Manor, Troutdale, 6:30pm, Tickets $35 - $65
August 3 (Not sure how this is going to work…)
The Faint/Jaguar Love/Shy Child, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 8pm, Tickets avg $65
The Faint, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 9pm, Tickets avg $18
August 7
Dolly Parton, Theatre of the Clouds – Rose Garden, 8pm, Tickets avg $160+
August 9
Crufest (Motley Crue), Rose Garden Arena, TBA, Tickets avg $173+
August 23
Melissa Etheridge, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 8pm, Tickets avg $202+
August 29
Sheryl Crow, Edgefield – Troutdale, 6:30pm, Tickets $175, $230, $406

Movie Review. Not over-powered by old clichés, Get Smart is a good, fun movie. B+ If you enjoy comedies, you won’t be disappointed. The older generation (that would be us) laughed on que while the children (that generation behind us) didn’t quite catch the schtick. Entertaining… Got my recommendation.
Hancock… Give it a B for effort. The unexpected twist carried the movie. Enjoyable.

FYI. Bonus/Purse for the following sports:
2007 Superbowl
Winners: $73,000 each
Losers: $38,000 each
2007 World Series avg $280,000 each
2008 U.S. Open (golf) Purse: $1.08M
2008 Wimbledon (tennis) Purse: $1.4M

Granted, football & baseball players receive paychecks where golf & tennis players are on their own. I choose golf as a professional sport in my next life…

Summer’s Get Together. Sunday, 20 July BBQ at Dave and Edna’s (Beguhl); Monday, 21 July dinner at Dave and Paula’s (Bearson). Need directions to either place, drop me a note (preferably before 15 July) and I’ll be happy to send those directions to you.

A Short Story… He Was a Good Man Grandpa Was by Chris Pack

Well… didn’t get any negative feedback on Chapter 1. So… here’s Chapter 2.

CHAPTER 2 – Snipe Hunting

Lot of times on those summer weekends, my aunts and uncles, along with all my cousins, gathered at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Most of them lived somewhere close by while we, Mom and Dad and my two sisters, lived the furthest away. Those summer weekends were about the only time we came visiting on a regular basis. During the school year, we might visit once a month. Anyway, one summer get together, we had all stayed pretty late, way past dark. Us kids were, as always, somewhere out in the berry patch back near the tree-line to the forest, just far enough we could barely hear the music being played in the back yard. Although it was pitch black with a bit of a breeze, this night we heard rustling just beyond the tree-line and we all got a bit spooked. Being the oldest, I made the decision that maybe it was time to head back to the house. About that moment I thought to myself, “I don’t hear no music.” We all started back to the house in a manner faster than we came in, and out of the trees comes a hoot’n and holler’n from Grandpa, my Dad and all my Uncles, just a scaring the daylights out of us. We started running and screaming like a bunch of fools, but then the holler’n stopped and I could hear the laughter after running about twenty yards. I figured then, the joke was on us. They’d all come down to scare us first, then wanted us to help with some bird hunting, snipe birds they called ‘em. My cousins looked at me for an answer, like I knew what a snipe was. Of course, I’d never heard of no snipe bird, but who was I to question Grandpa. Grandpa described them as nocturnal creatures, meaning they only come out at night. He said they’s about the size of a pigeon, have a long beak and a short wing span, which makes them prefer to run on their long legs rather than fly. Not that they can’t fly Grandpa says, but when they do fly it’s only short distances in a zigzag pattern low to the ground. At night it’s too hard for them to see, so they run instead of fly. Grandpa also says we need to be careful not to catch the black-tailed hootie owl instead of the snipe bird. The hootie owl is nocturnal as well and chases the field mice for its dinner. But the hootie owl is mostly black with a small flat face, about the same size as the snipe bird. However, the snipe bird has the long thin beak with long legs, light brown feathers with white spots on its back and wings, and a white chest of feathers. Grandpa says to catch the snipe we must stand in an open field real still like, holding a gunny-sack open between our legs and a flashlight next to the bag. Then a bunch of folks go out and pound the ground with sticks, scaring up the birds, which then run towards the light and into the sack. Once we got one or two in a sack, you had to tie it with string and put it aside, then open up another sack, and wait for another to come running. Sometimes you’d get more than one or two at a time in a sack. We just had to be ready to close the sack so they don’t get away. Grandpa had brought down a bunch of gunny-sacks and string, handing them out to us kids. We were all given a flashlight and Grandpa told us all to spread out whilst he, my Dad and my Uncles would go up yonder a ways then start beating the ground and chase them snipe birds towards us. Oh, and Dad did mention we needed to be careful of snakes because the light might attract them as well, unlikely he said but keep in mind just in case. So, we spread out across the berry patch like Grandpa said, while they all headed back in the direction of the house. Of course, you couldn’t see the house because we were out in the back forty somewhere and the house was over the ridge, only a dim glow of light gave away its location. I got in position like Grandpa said, turned on my flashlight only to see a dim glow. I saw my cousins spread out as well and their flashlights didn’t look much brighter than mine. Soon we heard the men folk a hollering as we all got ready for a herd of snipe birds to come stampeding over us while trying to keep an eye out for snakes. After about what seemed to be a good twenty minutes at most, we couldn’t hear anymore hollering, then my flashlight went out. So too, did everyone else’s flashlight. And now, here we stood in the berry patch, in the dead of night with no light, anticipating any moment to be trampled by a herd of snipe birds and hootie owls, or bit by a snake. But no bird stampede came, nor did we see any snakes. In fact, the only thing we heard was some of those hootie owls off in the distance. Then a thought came to mind what Grandpa once told me about the coyotes coming out at night, looking for something to eat. Of course, stupid me had to mention coyotes to my cousins, which then caused the girls to start crying. Well, I was starting to feel a bit scared myself and realized then Grandpa was playing a trick on us, leaving us out there in the dark like that, probably back at the house laughing so hard he was probably crying himself. We picked up the sacks and headed back on a dirt path to the house. The whole time the girls were crying and would scream at any little sound they heard. The rest of us jumped each time they screamed. Finally, we got back to the house, where Grandpa sat in his Lazy-Boy, asked what took so long for us to get back, and then the laughter broke out. Yep, our family is just full of comedians.

Next Month: Chapter 3 – Pheasant Hunting

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