Not exactly like being there

But nice to be able to view/hear in real time!

R.E.M. at the Voodoo Festival, New Orleans, LA!  Streamed on teh internets...

Setlist

Living Well is the Best Revenge

Kenneth

Drive

Fall on Me

Man Sized Wreath

Ignoreland

Houston

Electrolite

Walk Unafraid

Don't Go Back to Rockville - with Peter and Scott sharing a mic on the chorus :)

West of the Fields

One I Love - Michael out in the crowd

She Just Wants to Be

Let Me In

Horse to Water

Bad Day

Orange Crush

It's the End of the World...

Encore

Supernatural

Losing My Religion

Driver 8

Seven Chinese Brothers

Man on the Moon

Kinda missed that they didn't do the big end of show bow with Scott and Bill included - what's up with (not doing) that?

The Power of the Set List

From Friday's Minus 5 show at the Mission Theater in Portland, Oregon.  Hee!  I've never gotten one with chord changes on it before...wonder whose this was?   I didn't actually grab it off the stage myself.  Had it handed to me.  

Was a fun show!  I missed Weinland's opener - thought the deal was doors at 8 but it really was show at 8.  I made it just about 9 just before the Minus 5 went on.   Minus 5 lineup was:  Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck on bass (the lovely Blue Rickenbacker this time out), John Ramberg on guitar and Ezra Holbrook on drums.  Additional vocal support by Little Sue, The Shee Bee Gees and Jane McDonald (on sleighbells as well...)  

Hee!  Scott wrote the setlist on the back of the flyer for the Backyard Bird Shop!  

The Power of the Ballot

I've just cast my vote for Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. 

 

   Oregon is a vote by mail state - the first in the nation to be exclusively by mail - and my ballot arrived Saturday afternoon.  I should have it back in the mail to Multnomah County Elections by Monday. Tuesday latest.  Once I wade through all of the ballot measures and local candidates and measures...

Done!  Mailed it out Monday!

Now That's a Hairball

Damn cold.  It's been a full week and a day now.  Missed two days of work - not consecutive days - had a relapse after trying to be well.  

Spencer's giving me the funniest sympathetic looks as I hack and choke and come up with only nasty green mucus.  I think he's expecting the Biggest.  Hairball.  Evah.

Chinese Garden in the Rain

Today was a 'free' day at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden 

It's a complete world in a square city block.  Only if you look up does the rest of the city exist.

The Steel Bridge over an office building (whose? ... I never go down third on that block.  The gas company is on the next block over) across the street.

The US Bancorp Tower (a.k.a. "Big Pink") strangely small in proportion to the Moon-Locking Pavilion (so called because it is situated to catch the reflection of the full moon in the pond).   I worked on the 19th floor of that tower for 8 years...

But the magic of the place is found in the details and private spaces the walls enclose.

Decorative tiles on the eaves of the roofs with vines entangled in them.

The geometry of the roof tiles.

A potted pomegranate tree in a pebble tiled courtyard.

A long needled pine tree glistening with raindrop jewels.

At least half of the space is water.  Waterlily leaves and pods.

Pink waterlilies...

and white

trailing through the water in a graceful "S" curve

up to the sculptural rocks and the teahouse steps.

It's been a whole week now

...without Paul Newman in the world.  Damn.  Another of the Really Good Guys gone.  Even a week after his passing it seems everyone has a special Paul Newman moment or story to share - for the good of all of us.    Frank Deford on Morning Edition the other day had me in tears with his tribute.   Gwen Ifill replayed a spot he'd done in support of Washington Week at the end of Friday's show.  There's no separate vid of that, but there's a podcast of the entire show at their site.  

A good friend of mine went to school with one of his daughters - Stephanie, I think, given my friend's age - and knew the family a little.  She had a funny story about nearly running him down on a cross country ski run. By accident, of course.   She said Joanne Woodward was amazing and really nice.  I think I'd just take that for granted.

I never met the man myself, despite the fact of his having spent quite a lot of time in Portland out at PIR (Portland International Raceway) over the years.  You'd hear stories around town about him popping up in random Portland locations when he was here with the races.  And what a nice guy he was.   

I suppose the first film I noticed him in must have been The Sting.  I was 13 when that came out.  I remember asking my mom to buy us some Coors beer (Newman's drink at that time) which she did.  I didn't like it.  I think I rinsed my hair with it - one of those '70's beauty myths. (& it's not that my mom encouraged underage drinking.  We grew up with a healthy attitude towards alcohol because it wasn't a mystery and wasn't banned completely.)  

The best thing?  That was when I found out that I shared a birthday with Paul Newman.  Yeah, he was already 35 when I was born, but every year since 13 I've wished him a Happy Birthday on our special day.  Not in writing.  Just a wish sent out.  

Next January 26th is going to be a bit lonely.