Seattle! Or "Into the Great Wide Open Part Deux"
Let's face it; Seattle is a crazy place. They have a monorail system there for public transit. How cool is that? I dare say that is way cooler than my sweet and dear Anaheim. Sure, Walt is responsible for bringing a monorail system to Disneyland, but Seattle gets extra coolness points for at least having the foresight to successfully venture into something futuristic and environmentally clean for their city rather than just investing into the ideology of the "transportation of the future" as a certain theme park did… not to mention any names. I read a quick wikipedia on the monorail and found out much to my chagrin that Los Angeles had actually proposed a monorail system around the same time as Seattle, yet overturned the order in the favor of (drum roll please), NOTHING… and the citizens of L.A. are still pleased and thankful to this day for all the traffic! But I digress…
This is part two of my tour installment entitled, "Seattle! Or, Into the Great Wide Open Part Deux."
As you may recall from my previous tour blog, I went on a West Coast tour earlier this year through California, Oregon, and Washington, playing a number of colleges and universities throughout these beautiful states:
Mar 13, 2008 Cal State Fullerton, Fullerton, CA
Mar 12, 2008 University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
Mar 10, 2008 Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, CA
Mar 5, 2008 Seattle University, Seattle, WA
Mar 3, 2008, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
Mar 2, 2008, Unity Edgewood Church, Edgewood, WA
Feb 28, 2008, Mt Hood Community College, Gresham, OR
Feb 27, 2008, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Feb 26, 2008, Clatsop College, Astoria, OR
Feb 25, 2008, Clatsop College, Astoria, OR
Feb 16, 2008, Yosemite Bug Café, Midpines, CA
Feb 14, 2008 Stubrik's, Fullerton, CA
This particular blog will deal with all the wonders that make Seattle.
So, let's start with the reason I was there, Seattle University!
It's a rather strange and wondrous phenomena in Seattle (and truly, many people don't know this unless you've been there), but water doesn't move in Seattle. It sits perfectly still as if time stopped: truly miraculous. I took a few pictures to illustrate for you folks at home:
That was at Seattle University as I was getting a tour of the campus from Winnie Chow. Hi Winnie, if you're reading this.
And this one was taken while I was on my way to the Pike Place Fish Market:
Isn't it incredible?!
Speaking of the Pike's Place Market… for those of you unfamiliar with this storefront, it is a HUGE outdoor market place located along the Puget Sound in Seattle on Pike Place. This is where you might see dudes throwing fish at each other… you know, the really cliché stuff that you might see on television in order to notify the viewer that you are in fact watching a show that takes place in Seattle. For whatever reason, I didn't see any fish throwing that day… and I didn't really take many pictures while I was at the market… I felt silly taking pictures of fish at a store… maybe it's just me. However, I did take a few shots on the way to the market:
One of my favorite stops during my downtime in Seattle was the Experience Music Project and The Science Fiction Museum. I wasn't allowed to take pictures while I was in the museum, but let me tell you, pretty cool stuff. There's lots of music history in the Northwest. For example, Jimi Hendrix grew up in Seattle; they had a great exhibit dedicated to him. Lot's of the obvious stuff: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, etc. The female rockers Heart are based out of the Northwest. Ray Charles and Quincy Jones made their start in Seattle. I could go on for hours. Cool place to check out. The Science Fiction Museum was a dork fest… I loved every second of it! They had all sorts of great original memorabilia from old television shows, movies, and authors (including original manuscripts for books). I spent a lot of time in there. Here's a picture of the outside of the museum:
Now, these museums were located right next to the most quintessential landmark in Seattle. I'll allow your imagination to wander for a moment:
Granted, the Space Needle is pretty cool, but was a little boring for my tastes, however, I did get some cool pictures from the top:
Oooooh, houses!
One thing that will always stick out in my mind about Seattle was one of the first interactions that I had with some of the nightlife. I went walking around the downtown area near my hotel room. I was immediately offered a copious amount of illicit drugs including cocaine, heroine, etc…. I can't help but laugh about that now, but, man, that still strikes me as funny every time I think about. They guy who offered me "the goods" was this dude who upon first look, appeared homeless, however, my later encounters with the same gentleman on the way back from the downtown area, made me think otherwise. At any rate, he struck me as a funny guy and I quickly turned his drug salesman routine towards the more harmless topic of local music in Seattle, which he was more than willing to accommodate for. I wonder what his name was…
I also was hit up for cash from a dude whose car apparently broke down a few blocks away from my hotel room. Whether or not this was true is beyond me. Whatever the case may be he haggled money from me like a professional. He initiated the conversation with a sob story about his car breaking down and then proceeded to ask for a few dollars to help with gas. I don't recall how he did this, but he essentially kept raising the amount of money that I was willing to give him without consulting me first on the subject. He ended on his own mutual agreement that I should give him $20… he ended up settling for $6.00… I thought the effort warranted a raise.
You find yourself talking to funny folk when you're on the road alone.
Ok, I need to get back to booking this current tour. As with the last time, shoot me some comments. Let me know if you are interested in hearing some more stories from the road and seeing some pictures!
I hope this finds you well!
~ Mike
