Much Music

BAY WATCH: We've had a couple of warm (for Seattle days), and clouds are starting to roll in, which made it rather humid today. We decided to beat the post-dinner heat by heading down to the water. Plus, it gave Annabelle a chance to try out the brand new Keen water shoes we got at a great price (1/4 retail!) at Goodwill today.

"I can walk on water!" she happily announced. Clearly, the shoes work. 

IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME: We started watching lectures from Week 1 of our History of Rock 'n Roll class today. These first lectures are primarily about mainstream pop music before the birth of rock 'n roll. Bing Crosby was one of the biggest names in the business. I made sure to tell the kids he's from Washington. I think the only Bing they've heard to date is "White Christmas," so I had them listen to "It's Been a Long, Long Time," a lovely performance with the Les Paul Trio. 

Sinatra also got his start before rock took off. We listened to "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)"   (interestingly, Phil Silvers was one of the song's co-writers).

Big Band music was also pre-rock. The kids learned a bit about Benny Goodman, Harry James, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey and, of course, Glenn Miller. I had them listen to a Miller recording of "A String of Pearls" from November 8, 1941, 

When it came to women, The Andrews' Sisters were as big as anyone. I played "Rum and Coca Cola"on YouTube for the kids.  

A couple lectures covered the early years of country and western music - and yes, the 'and' belongs between those two words. We learned about the differences between country music (mostly SE U.S., with white gospel influences) and western music ('cowboy' songs and Western swing, with roots in Texas, Oklahoma and California). Early country artists were the Carter Family, Roy Acuff and Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers (you know we just HAD to listen to a track from them today!). Early western music stars were Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. 

We also learned about the rise of Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry, and the birth of bluegrass, which isn't as long ago as most people think it is. It pretty much spawned when Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys burst on the scene in 1945. We listened to Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" as an example. 

We also watched a video featuring a 1952 television performance by singer-songwriter Hank Williams where he performed "Hey, Good Lookin' " Afterward, I found myself reading a wiki about him, and learned he had spina bifida. Speculation is the pain from that condition is one of the factors that 'helped' him get hooked on narcotics. 

A FRICKIN' LASER BEAM!: Our favorite, laser-shootin', Mars explorin' rover continues to be a workhorse on the Red Planet. The rover recently drilled into some sandstone, zapped it with ChemCam, and then took this photo of it. 

Now, some of the powdered rock collected is inside MSL, to be analyzed by its on board lab instruments. 

AND A REAL, LIVE FLYING SAUCER:  NASA's gearing up for a Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) experiment over the Pacific Ocean featuring a saucer shaped craft. The flight will simulate the entry, descent and landing speeds a spacecraft would be exposed to when flying through the Martian atmosphere. During the test, a disk carrying an inflatable inner-tube-shaped decelerator and parachute system will be lofted to an altitude of 120,000 feet (37 kilometers) via a giant balloon. After release, rockets will lift the disk another 60,000 feet  while reaching supersonic speeds. As it descends, LDSD will be traveling at 3.5 times the speed of sound, the saucer's decelerator will inflate, and a parachute will deploy to carry it to the ocean's surface.

On June 2, at 11 a.m. PDT, NASA will hold a media briefing about LDSD (coverage on NASA TV - http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv). NASA has six potential dates for launch of the high-altitude balloon carrying the LDSD experiment: June 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13. 

Here's a short video with more info about LDSD

I also found a neat classroom activity about LDSD - http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/best_ldsd_workbook.pdf

LAUNCH ALERT: We were all prepped to watch a Delta IV launch this evening around 5 when we got news it was scrubbed due to weather in Cape Canaveral.network. The launch has been rescheduled for Friday evening, 5:03 p.m. Pacific time. You can follow the mission on Spaceflight Now: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d366/status.html

There's a new Global Positioning System satellite on board. 

Yesterdays

MEMORY ROAD: I don't often lead with ancient news, but it is also not often that it's the anniversary of us watching a space shuttle leave Planet Earth.

It was on this day four years ago that we sat on the Causeway at Kennedy Space Center and watched Atlantis thunder into the clear blue skies.

We learned that today also marks the anniversary of Skylab's launch back in 1973. How 'bout that?  (Cool photo via NASA, of course.)

Speaking of space stations (and scientific saber rattling), there is word today that Russia plans to abandon ship (well, station) in 2020. We'll see how this plays out. Lots of tough talk back and forth re: the space programs lately.

SUNDAY-MONDAY: Busy weekend here. We spent a sunny Mother's Day at Safeco Field, watching the Mariners make 5 errors along the way to losing. Sounds like fun, no? Actually, it was. As the saying goes, the worst day at the ballpark is better than the best day not at the ballpark.

It was nice the Mariners' Moose brought his mom along for the day.

We were sitting out in left field. Say 'hi' to Ms' left fielder Dustin Ackley.

On the way out we explored a fairly new plaza kitty-corner from Safeco Field's Home Plate entrance. 

Monday, we drove down to P-Town. We arrived early enough to have a light lunch at the art-rich Kennedy School, a McMenamins property. Here are the kids in front of a painting honoring the location's namesake. Love how he's riding a book out into the cosmos!

Christian went to the Blazers' game that evening, and the kids (mostly) enjoyed some swim time in a small, cold hotel pool. 

THE MEN WHO FELL TO EARTH: Yesterday evening, NASA astronaut Rick Mastraccio, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astro Koichi Wakata and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)  fell out of the sky and plunked down in a dirt patch southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 6:58 Pacific time, having completed a 188-day mission on the ISS.

MEANWHILE, IN SHORELINE: We headed up north for the kids' classes in Shoreline today. Annabelle's art class included a little (harmless) graffiti time in front of the school. Thanks to Annabelle, the sidewalk has been ponified.

ROCK 'N' ROLL 4 EVER:  We've just started another Coursera class, cause you know how we love us some Coursera classes. This one is The History of Rock 'n' Roll Part 1 (not to be confused with Gary Glitter's Rock 'n Roll Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xd44PWZGzg

The class is taught by Dr. John Covach of the University of Rochester, our prof from the fabulous class all about The Beatles we completed a few weeks back. 

Care to join us? Check out the overview here: https://www.coursera.org/course/historyofrock1

Whirlwind Weekend

 Hello MPA blogees, it is I, your (thankfully infrequent) guest-blogger, Christian. Your normal, talented blogger, Kristine. is unable to blog at the moment, so please enjoy a few pictures from the weekend.

 Saturday night I drove to Portland for the Blazers - Spurs second round NBA conference semis playoff game. The Blazers lost, unfortunately going down 3-0 in the series.

Sunday, it was back to Seattle for a beautiful Mother's day at Safeco Field. Again, unfortunately, the NW did not prevail, with the Mariners losing to the Kansas City Royals.

But all was not lost, it was back to Portland on Monday for the Blazers game 4 with the Spurs.

I don't have any pictures of the Blazer's win over the Spurs, because I was so excited, I forgot to take any.

By Tuesday afternoon, the kids and I were back for yoga class in West Seattle while Kristine stayed to be with her parents (Hi Eric & Judy!).

I