Jammin'

THE HOME SHOWS: Last night an event we've been looking forward to for months finally happened. Seattle-based Pearl Jam played Safeco Field.

It has been five years since the hometown rockers have played a show in the Emerald City. I think it safe to say, it was worth the wait.

There was *so* much hype surrounding this show, I was wary about trying to get to and from the stadium, so we had an elaborate plan in place. At about 3:30 on Wednesday, I dropped CJ off at Christian's work, about a mile or so from the stadium. They walked over to the lightrail station and rode to the show. 

Meanwhile, I had to head north, to the Green Lake neighborhood, to pick Annabelle up from her drama class. We left our car there, and then Kennedy played our "Uber" driver and took us to the west edge of the University of Washington campus. 

We walked a mile across the campus to the light rail station (traffic was so bad, walking the mile was faster than trying to drive it). We then took lightrail right to the stadium. 

There, we met Christian and CJ on the street by the stadium, down where Christian had stashed our getaway car at about 6 a.m. 

In order to avoid paying big bucks for stadium food, I had brought sandwiches for the kids and salads for Christian and me. We were going to take them in and eat for dinner before the show. (Christian even called Safeco Field customer service to make sure the rules about bringing food in were the same for the concert as they were for Mariners' games. He was told that it would be fine. 

Well, that was wrong. When he arrived dinner in tow, he was turned away. Not only that, you could only take something about the size of a postcard into the stadium with you. That meant no purse for me or Annabelle, and no backpack for CJ. 

So, we had to stash our stuff in the car, and sat on the curb near the railroad tracks by the stadium, and ate our dinners there. An added bonus: I didn't have forks for our salads because I was going to get them in the stadium. So we ate the salad with our hands, no dressing.  Whatever. At least it only cost a couple of bucks for dinner. :) That, and we were sitting alongside several homeless people while we ate, and I couldn't help but think we were lucky to have food, period, and that we were going to a concert, which is an outing many can't afford to make.

Outside of Safeco Field, even Junior was dressed for the event.

And speaking of being dressed, CJ had on a shirt we custom-made. He could have sold several of them that night.

Fortunately, the concert was fantastic. Definitely worth all of the trouble.

Below, CJ shares a bit about the experience.

On 8 August 2018, we went to the first of Pearl Jam's Home Shows at Safeco Field, concerts held to raise awareness about the ongoing homelessness crisis in Seattle, as well as raise money to fight the problem. The Home Shows, while partially named such because of their natures as fundraisers, are also named such because Pearl Jam is from Seattle (or rather, Seattle is their home). The concert I attended was their first in Seattle in over five years.

During the concert, Pearl Jam played several obscure "b-sides" (a song included with a single that does not appear on a conventional studio album). For example, according to setlist.fm, Pearl Jam opened with the song "Long Road", which only appeared as a b-side on the single "Merkin Ball" (a collaboration with Neil Young). Pearl Jam also played a number of covers, including a snippet of "Help!" by the Beatles, "Friends" by The White Stripes, "Throw Your Hatred Down" by the aforementioned Neil Young, "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, and "Rockin' in the Free World", also by Neil Young.

Noticeably, Pearl Jam is significantly "heavier" live than in studio, often utilizing faster tempos and louder volumes. One can only wonder how the band will live up to 8 August's concert with the one scheduled for 10 August.

My takeaway from the show is that I have grossly underestimated Pearl Jam's contribution to American music - and mankind, for that matter. 

Pearl Jam often has a fund-raising component in association with their concerts, and for the Seattle shows, they chose to raise money to help with the problem of homelessness. So far, they have raised $11 million during the campaign. That's fantastic.

The Seattle Times' review of the show can be found here: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/photos-pearl-jams-home-shows-rock-for-a-cause-on-night-one-at-seattles-safeco-field/

And Crosscut's review of the show and info about the fund-raising aspect of the event: https://crosscut.com/2018/08/what-pearl-jam-did-last-night-and-seattle?utm_source=crosscut-facebook&utm_medium=social

MOON MUSING: An email from The Museum of Flight today gave us notice of a European Space Agency contest. The topic is investigating the ways that 3D printing could be used to create and run a habitat on the Moon. Specifically, they ask "if you were headed to the Moon, what would you want to 3D print, to turn a lunar base into a place that feels like home? Tell us your idea, to win a chance of actually getting it printed."

The contest closing date is 23 September 2018. It's open to all ages and nationalities, and there will be an adult winner and an under-age-18 winner, chosen by URBAN consortium members and ESA engineers.

Here's a short video about the contest.

Fun and Game

RINGING: Today, after dropping Annabelle off at drama camp, CJ and I were back to our new 'norm' of hiking the three miles or so around Green Lake. 

It was 90 plus this afternoon, so the trail wasn't very busy. And unlike last week, when we saw 38 dogs during a lap, this go-round we only saw 17. 

We managed to beat the heat, and CJ grabbed a few blackberries along the way.

This evening, when it was time to pick Annabelle up, CJ and Christian had their trunks on and enjoyed cooling off in the lake. Annabelle and a friend did, likewise. Splashing around in the water was FAR superior to sitting in rush hour traffic!

In the photo below, in the far, far distance, you can see CJ making his way down the high dive steps. For the first time, he bravely did the low and medium dive boards, but the big one was a bit more than he wanted to take on today. No big deal, especially since it's basically the first time he's been swimming this summer. I'll bet he'd go off it next visit. :)

WE'RE JAMMIN': This week is a big one for the Seattle music scene. Grunge gods Pearl Jam are playing two shows at Safeco Field, Wednesday and Friday this week. We're going to the Aug. 8 show. 

The buzz for these shows has been ENORMOUS. They are being staged as a huge fund raiser to help alleviate the "homeless" crisis.  I personally have so much I could say about that topic (it's really not just a homelessness issue, it's a mental health and drug addiction funding issue, for starters), but I'll skip that for now.

Anyway, CJ and I decided to drop by the 'merch' tent for the shows today, in the shadow of Safeco.

Um, BIG mistake. There was a half-block width serpentine line that waved back and forth six times outside of the actual merch tent, and then another four times inside.

CJ and I spent 45 minutes to get through two of the 10 layers of wait and tapped out. (Did I mention it was 90 plus, we were standing on asphalt with no shade and no water and no bathrooms?)

Um, yeah, I don't need any $40 t-shirt that badly.

GAMING: This weekend, we hit a handful of garage sales and picked up a number of new-to-us games. One is a card game called Guillotine. 

Just as an aside, this card game is from Wizards of the Coast, which has its headquarters not far from our house!

Anyway, this game is super fun. Easy to learn, engaging to play, attractive artwork, and I won tonight, which means it's an excellent game. ;)

Familiar Favorites

TRUE BLUE: This weekend was Seafair in Seattle. That means parades, pirates, hydroplane races, and the Blue Angels!

We live right between Boeing Field, where they land and take off, and Lake Washington, where they perform their air show. So we get to see and hear them four or so days each summer.  

Saturday afternoon, we drove up over our hill to the lake side to get a good spot to view parts of their aerobatics. 

It's always a thrill to see them!

WARS OUTDOORS: Saturday evening, we had a birthday party in the park. We met G&G, R&J, K&A and had a picnic dinner of sushi and tons of other snacks. Then the big show was Hello Earth Productions staging the first/original Star Wars move in its entirety.

The characterizations, the cast, the props the sets ... it was all SO good!

Above and below is our friend Shaina, playing Darth Vader. How many kids can say that Darth Vader is their former babysitter? CJ and Annabelle can. :)

These are the droids you're looking for!

The R2 on rollerskates was such a good idea. And a slide whistle was her voice. So clever!

This same theater troupe has staged Star Trek in the park for the past few summers. They always do such a great job with nontraditional casting.  For instance, the (female) actor playing Luke this year was Captain Kirk in previous summers. Also, the scene below is Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, but the traditional genders are swapped.

It all works, wonderfully.

Following is CJ's (super abbreviated) summary of the show.

Since 2010, Hello Earth Productions has annually held free-attendance plays in Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park, located in southeast Seattle. For every production except the most recent one, the plays were adaptions of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes (for example: Space Seed, The Devil in the Dark, etc.)

This year's production was a full-length adaption of the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars (later titled A New Hope), which sprouted an international media franchise and became a staple of Western pop-culture.  I attended the 4 August 2018 performance of Wars Outdoors (Hello Earth's name for their production of A New Hope), which packed the seats of the auditorium full. Wars Outdoors featured the entirety of A New Hope's plot, complete with the climactic destruction of the Death Star.

Considering that Wars Outdoors is a relatively low-budget production funded by donations, as well as being held outdoors, Hello Earth had to get creative with some of the props. Prior to the start of the play, attendees were encouraged to go down to the stage, grab a piece of paper, crumple it up, and then throw the scrunched paper at the stage at a certain point in the play. A large gray balloon was used to represent the Death Star, and was popped to represent the destruction of the space station.

Loved their 'chess' pieces! Sometimes you need to let the Wookiee win!

Luke and his light saber.

Using the Force!

The Death Star plans (on what looks suspiciously like a Dollar Tree shower curtain).

I just loved their interpretation of the X Wing fighter!

Red Squadron, ready to take on the Death Star!