Weekend in Seattle

Recommended outings in Seattle for the weekend of October 12, 2007. Listed in order of what shows are closing first.

RoqLaRue opening on Friday. Depending on who shows up there could be sushi afterwards.

Mike Daisey will be performing at Hugo House tonight (Friday) only. I've been to a few of Daisey's monologues. He's self-deprecating, informative and interesting. I can't speak to the other people who are also presenting, but Mike Daisey alone should be enough to bring you in.

Theatre Off Jackson is putting on a Halloween show featuring Dracula. Puppets mixed (if I'm reading it right) with live actors.

5/10K Dawg Dash. 9:30 at the Husky Stadium. Sunday.

Kung Fu Grindhouse at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard. Go there. Watch Drunken Master. Drink Greyhounds.

The Latest H.P. Lovecraft stories open at Open Circle Theatre. I've gone the last two or three years and it never fails to entertain. Great for mythos fans anywhere. I'll likely be going closer to Halloween itself instead of this weekend, but its highly recommended. Open Circle is also near 13 coins, which is great for a post-show meal.

If you've never seen Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the Taproot Theatre is putting it on. It's fucking hilarious and while I don't have any specific information on this production, I can't imagine a way to completely ruin the script.

HUG at the Frye Art Museum. I went to see this a couple weekends ago. It's got some neat stuff, and the other shows on display at the Frye are interesting, too. The pseudo-cubist stuff was neat, and since I'd never been there before I fell in love with a girl in a painting in the permanent collection.

Weekending

The Cody Rivers Show is playing tonight at the Theatre Off Jackson at 8:00 (doors at 7:30). Tickets are $12.

I saw this duo at SketchFest last month and they were most excellent. I’m excited to see them again, so I’ll probably go even if it has to be alone, but Comedy, like drinking, is less embarrassing when you do it with friends so I invite everyone to attend.

On another note, this is the second to last weekend for Crime and Punishment at the Capitol Hill Arts Center. This isn’t so much comedy, but there will be drinking available for those who don’t feel they’ll be able to make it through an hour and a half dramatization of a Russian existentialist novel (everyone).

Bumbershoot

Bumbershoot was this weekend. I went on Saturday. Here is a list of bands I saw.

The Avett Brothers - Bluegrass Punk. These guys started out calm for a few songs, twanging on their banjo and upright bass. Then they started screaming and all the old people left.
Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punk. These guys had tons of fans in attendance. I watched them while eating Chicken Tikka Masala behind their stage. The music was okay but the chicken was delicious.
Devotchka - Gypsy Pop. I have most of their albums. I didn't hear anything I hadn't heard before.
Saturday Knights - Not everyone can be the Beastie Boys. These guys look like they have fun trying, though.
Aqueduct - These guys were having a ton of fun on stage. The crowd was really into them. In terms of music I'd never heard before these guys win first prize.

I wanted to go saturday to see The Damnwells and Wu Tang Clan, but I stayed home and painted baseboard and window trim instead.

Wednesday Commute: Bike to work. Bus home
Wednesday Exercise: 19 miles biking

Thursday Commute: Bus to work. Bus and Bike home
Thursday Exercise: 5 miles

Friday Commute: Bike to work. Bus and Bike home
Friday Exercise: 25 miles biking

Saturday Exercise: 9 miles running

Sunday Exercise: None

Monday Commute: Holiday
Monday Exercise: None

GenCon is over

And it was a blast. My body is in recovery mode, and it needs to get a move on if its going to be ready for PAX this weekend.

There's a lot of great stuff to report on. Expect to see it coming here over the next few days.

Rebirth

Went to the Ren-Faire this weekend.

High Points:
Thomas Wood the Pyro-Juggler
Jousting
Pickle Wench
Mead

Low Points:
Dust and Dirt
Fairies and Furries
Mead

Saturday Exercise: None

Sunday Exercise: None

It's A Nice Day

A friend is getting married today. I'll be driving my rented Yaris to the ceremony and reception. The Yaris looks almost exactly like a Prius, but without all the fancy hybrid insides. Still claim about thirty-five to forty miles per gallon, though. This is pretty good since the Prius I had never really got better than forty-five, and the 2007 Yaris is five grand less than I paid in 2005 for a 2002 Prius.

I remember a year ago they were marketing the Yaris pretty heavily to the hipster crowd. They had a craft fair sort of thing you could go to and some lady would show you how to embroider your T-Shirt.

Also, the Blue Angels were booming along overhead today. Thanks, Seafair!

P.S. I do not like Seafair. It is mainly a celebration of why the rest of the world does not like the United States.

Thursday Commute: Bus to work, ride home from friend
Thursday Exercise: None

Friday Commute: Bike to work. Rental car home.
Friday Exercise: 19 miles bike, 4 miles running.

Goings On

The forecast calls for an event-heavy weekend with predictions of more events for the next weekend. And of course there's the everpresent work to do on the house and painting of miniatures.

Thursday:
West-side Industry night - Video games industry night at the garage

Friday:
14/48 - Real theater, real fast

Saturday:
14/48 - More real theater, real fast
Board games with friends

Sunday:
Innertubing on the snohomish? Should be cold!

Next Week:
Rat City Rollergirls - second to last bout of the season

Tuesday Commute: Bus to and from work.
Tuesday Exercise: 5 miles running

Wednesday Commute: Bus to work. Bike home.
Wednesday Exercise: 19 miles biking

Weekend Events

There's quite a lot going on this weekend. Here's the short list:

14/48 is starting again. I've been to a few of these and they're pretty great. They are located at the CHAC now. Basically a bunch of theater types get together and create, rehearse and perform a half dozen or more short plays in 24 hours. http://1448fest.com/

RoqlaRue and BLVD are having their July openings. I'm not usually a super huge fan of BLVD but this month is a Tikki show so that should at least be interesting. http://www.roqlarue.com http://www.blvdart.com/

Additionally, I'm attending a wedding reception and hopefully going out canoing on lake washington.

Dinner With Other People's Parents

The odyssee continues. Today brought me to Magnolia. You'll never find a more wretched hive of dull suburbia. As a neighboorhood it simply has nothing to offer. Unless, I suppose, you are in the business of accepting acres upon acres of residential zoning.
Not being married or having divorced parents, I am inexperienced at the finer aspects of having in-laws. Tonight's dinner was hosted by a friend's father. Father's fiancee was also in attendance. I think I can appreciate everyone's position. Fiancee wants to be liked by her soon to be sons-in-law (but doesn't quite know how to relate to them). Soon to be sons-in-law want father to be happy(but don't have any interest in relating to fiancee). Father would just like everyone to get along (and maybe make it through dinner without bloodshed).
This is how I imagine everyone at the table is feeling. But after starting dinner on an empty stomach and going through a few bottles of wine I suppose what you get is more like what I had a front row seat for. Not that it was bad. Indeed our hosts were most gracious and I am grateful to them for having me over. The wine was good, I wasn't driving, and the young people at the table were able to have their own conversations above and around any unrest that might have been taking place.

Seattle weather continues to astound. The morning was clear and sunny and the perfect temperature for a run through the arboretum. The weather held long enough to get in a brisk walk down to the local pho restauranteur without getting soaked. It did not hold long enough to get home.