Just finished the show. It was great! Here are some blurry iPhone photos. More (taken with a better camera) to come.

“My ballot’s here!” I wrote on my Facebook status. It’s been a long time since I was this thrilled about an upcoming election. Yesterday on the Thom Hartmann program Greg Palast said that mailing your ballot is a bad idea. In Washington’s King County, you can take it to a ballot drop box. At least this way you don’t have to pay for your vote with postage.

Here are some progressive endorsements:
Washington Conservation Voters

Fuse Washington: I’m on their mailing list (Is everyone on their mailing list an “email captain?” Not sure how I got that title.) and they asked for volunteer input. They actually did take some changes I mentioned. At least, I like to think it was *my* input and none of the other millions of people they sent this to. One important change is that they almost gave John Burbank in the 36th district a free endorsement from The Sierra Club. I let them know that this is not the case, and they actually did remove it.

The Stranger’s is definitely the most entertaining. They also do a good job of explaining their local endorsements.

Also, someone wrote in the comments: “Gregoire is rumored to be on the short list for a Cabinet position in the upcoming Obama administration. If she’s tapped, the Lt. Gov will step in as Gov, which makes that race almost as important as the Christine/Dino bloodbath above it.” It’s something to think about. But anyway, Go Gregoire!

On October 19, the husband and I trekked to Tacoma to see Joe Biden. The pictures from the rally are here. When I watched the democratic debates, I would tell my husband “I like that Joe Biden.” Lots of local politicians were there too. It’s funny, you would think we were at a rock concert. I never would have anticipated a crowd getting so excited over policies.

Here’s a walk down election year memory lane. Happy Voting!

Obama Rally at Seattle’s Key Arena

Gregoire endorsing Obama

Barack Obama

Signs at the 36th District Caucus

Snotty Bird is also a Latte Sipping Liberal for Obama

Democrats unable to contain excitement

Some goofy smiling Delegate

Voting at the Caucus

We The People
The picture set is here.
You can read about it here.

Reuven Carlyle and John Burbank at the 36th district debate

I like Carlyle because he is more tech saavy and has been endorsed by environmental organizations.  (He also has more charisma than a boat.) He mentioned the environment at least 3 times during the debate. Burbank did not mention it once, and while he mentioned a whole bunch of times that he is not taking money from corporations, he name-dropped Bill Gates Senior 3 times. Which is it then? If you don’t like corporations, then why associate with people connected to big corporations?

Anyway, the husband and I voted on Saturday. If you are performing your citizen duty tomorrow, have fun!

Thank you, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and et cetera!

Me: I know! Only 2 more days!!

Brother: No, I’m not talking about the election. It’s just that it’s November and I can’t believe it.

Me: Um, yeah. It’s November. But I can’t believe the election’s only in 2 days!!!

After reading this article about the steampunk convention,  I plugged in the keyword, “steampunk,” and sure enough, a few downloads turned up. You can also find the steampunk theme and gobs of others over at Parsimonious.org.

I read an article in Bust magazine about gothic lolitas, and a recent search for “lolita” turns up 172 downloads.

One niche mimmicking another niche. Mind boggling.

You can also learn about the history of fashion or the latest trends. At the Biden rally, I recognized the “squid” hairstyle.

Eric and I first visited Seattle in July 2003. He bought about 5 used CDs from a music store in Fremont. One of them was The Bends,* which we played quite a bit as we drove throughout the city that would later become our home. I listened to Radiohead before, but not straight through, over and over again, so that I could hear all the details. Eric told me that he really liked the song, Fake Plastic Trees. So I think of him whenever I hear it. (Such romantic lyrics: “He used to do surgery for girls in the eighties but gravity always wins.“) While I was falling in love my with future husband and Seattle, I was also falling in love with Radiohead.

*They had changed their sound since then, but I like all of their albums.

I can’t listen to too much Radiohead in one sitting because they can get slightly depressing (even during our 2003 road trip, we had to intersperse them with Cibo Matto, whose lyrics include “I’m searching the city for Sci-Fi Wasabi, Obi Wan Kenobi’s waiting for me.“) Listening to them in excess can also make me sleepy. What’s to prevent me from falling asleep? Listening to them…

Loud and Live

On Wednesday, August 20, 2008, we finally saw Radiohead in concert in Auburn, Washington. The weather was perfect for it: gray clouds and rain.

I can hear the band’s arsenal of influence from different musical genres.* This is an interesting quotation from Wikipedia :  “When [Colin] Greenwood was 15 years old he bought his first guitar,^[11] studying classical guitar with influential teacher Terence Gilmore-James. It was Gilmore-James who introduced him and the other future members of Radiohead to jazz, film scores, post World War II era avant-garde music, and twentieth century classical music.”

*Yorke’s work experience at a psychiatric hospital might have had some influence too.

For me it was the classical music influences that stuck out at first. My dad was a classical musician for 41 years, so I grew up listening to it. The other day the husband laughed at me for not recognizing Duran Duran’s Girls on Film. Yeah, I was probably listening to Shostakovich that day. Anyway, my parents call modern classical music “beep-squawk” music. Well, it sounds like Radiohead heard that stuff too. They incorporate the beep-squawking really well and have taken it to a new level.

I think their introductions are the most distinct I ever heard in rock/alternative music. I tend to notice them more. As much quality and effort is put into the intro as in the rest of the song, and it isn’t really separate in the traditional way.

Oh, Did You Want to Read About the Actual Concert and See More Pictures??

The lighting was amazing. Songs were accompanied by red, blue, green, orange, purple, gold. I guess you could say they were playing In Rainbows.

Sometimes the lights would flicker, move around like fireflies, or just stay still.

We were very close to one of the big video screens.

I love that they played Talk Show Host. I have the Baz Luhrmann Romeo & Juliet soundtrack and have loved that song before I realized that they were Radiohead.

There was a frenzy of movement in between songs. They would switch out their instruments and gear for other instruments and gear.

Oh, let’s just call it what it is: Poetic Despair

Taking all of this in: feeling the bass from your feet, watching the lights, the band, the other audience members. Thom Yorke’s ethereal melancholy voice adds more meaning and heaviness to lyrics that are pretty heavy to begin with.  I wonder what the story is, who the character is. But it’s not just him. All of the musicians weave together this complicated and haunting sound.

I’m listening to a recording of The Gloaming from the Auburn concert, and my cat is absolutely mesmerized by the heavy bass sound coming out of the speaker.

I love the percussion in Video Tape.

Ha Ha Radiohead

During Faust Arp, Thom screwed up the lyrics. It caused people to laugh and cheer. At a Radiohead concert. Then they started playing Tell Me Why by Neil Young. He forgot those lyrics too. So they went back to their song. He finally just said “Aww f*ck it” and continued. Huge applause and cheers. We loved it. The song continued beautifully.

You can hear a lot of their influences and experimentation in Climbing up the Walls. Did you ever go to one of those shows where some guy sits alone on stage in front of a Mac and you have to pretend to enjoy it? Well they do such a good job with that Mac Stuff, and still manage to be entertainers.

Speaking of entertaining, that’s what Thom’s dancing was–especially while wearing the red pants.

During Idioteque, Jonny Greenwood plugged in and unplugged wires under one of his keyboards, which caused a very interesting and strange sound.

Thom Yorke didn’t talk much in between songs, but when he said “Cheers” at the beginning, the crowd went wild. He also doesn’t do much introducing of song titles. But he did so for You and Whose Army:

“Seattle is lots of things, and one of my favorite things about Seattle is what happened in the WTO…a corrupt and malignant organization it is, and still is. This song is dedicated to everyone who was in Seattle during those days.” A video camera was set up at his piano and directly filmed his face. The set was black, white, and red.

It started out with a quiet, beautiful intensity. The crowd went giddy when he looked right at us. There is a great close-up here.

Just before No Surprises, Yorke asked to see all the rain-soaked lawn people (who were real troopers). “Yay!” He said. (See? He’s not that depressed.) At that point, I could see how huge the crowd was. I’m trying really hard not to be cliche, but it was a sea of people, a really huge orange sea of people.

They ended on Everything in its Right Place. And it was.

Here is the set list:

01. 15 Step
02. Reckoner
03. Optimistic
04. There There
05. All I Need
06. Pyramid Song
07. Talk Show Host
08. The National Anthem
09. The Gloaming
10. Videotape
11. Lucky
12. Faust Arp
13. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
14. Climbing Up The Walls
15. Dollars and Cents
16. Nude
17. Bodysnatchers

Encore 1
18. How to Disappear Completely
19. Arpeggi/Weird Fishes
20. Idioteque
21. In Limbo [Tambourine accompaniment by Nigel Godrich.]
22. Street Spirit

Encore 2
23. You And Whose Army?
24. No Surprises
25. Everything In Its Right Place

The audience left in a chipper mood. It was still raining. Misty rain beneath the lights.

This was a great final concert to a summer of great concerts.

OTHER

Radiohead recorded their drive to Muckleshoot. I wish ours was that fast.

That was my first Radiohead concert. Now that you’ve read my post and seen all of Eric’s pictures, go read the great review from a hardcore Radiohead concert goer.  Sean’s incredible pictures are here.

The tour production manager wrote about the LED lighting.

Radiohead song lyrics and information are here.

I think it’s funny when they attempt to girlify her with eyeshadow on MSNBC. Two of the participants were the lefty-liberal wayward children of famous conservative political figures (hint: they are on the very left, laughing at you). The Background Noise At one point, one of the audience members walked right up to the edge of the stage and interrupted the panelists to tell them that they could not be heard in the back. The audience rightfully cheered. Thom Hartman detached the clip-on mic from his shirt and held it while he boomed “Can you hear me?” Of course you couldn’t hear him for a moment above the cheers from the audience. About 45 minutes into it, one of the sound guys decided to set up speakers in the back. Eric thought it would be a good idea to fire that guy. I thought it was a right-wing conspiracy. One of the highlights occurred in the ladies room. Stephanie Miller rushed in during the 15-minute break. Someone asked “You mean you don’t get your own bathroom backstage?” And it’s funny, because I had a subconscious conversation with myself: ‘I wonder if any of the radio hosts will be in the bathroom. Nah, they would have their own backstage.’ Hark back to what I said earlier in this post about the venue. She got to jump to the front of the line. She’s taller and prettier in person than on the radio. It was really interesting to hear the discussion as they sat in their big comfy chairs. It’s one thing to listen to 6 different radio hosts, but it’s another to see them interact with each other for a couple hours. The Script You can see and hear them via the AM1090 website. Click your preferred method under this heading: AM1090s “We The People” the 2008 Town Hall Forum. They polled the audience for VP selection. Biden: Yay Bayh: Nay Bayh got boos. So did Hillary Clinton, but she got yays as well. Someone shouted Wesley Clark. For McCain: Mitt Romney, Joseph Liberman, Bobbie Jindhal, and Alan Keyes. The hosts agreed that it would be awesome if it were Alan Keyes. And then they also agreed that Bobby Jindhal would be perfect too so that Stephanie Miller could do her Linda Blair impression. A classic moment came when Maddow covered her face and shook her head at Stephanie Miller’s Linda Blair impression. Then the panel ended on Maddow asking Miller to do the impression one more time.

The Epilogue

More of our pictures are here. Stephanie Miller’s website also has pictures, including a picture of the panelists greeting each other with the fist bump. Yay Rachel Maddow! She finally, finally gets her own much-deserved show! Glad I was present at this memorable event. Who will I listen to on the way home from work now? Washington Primary Election results are here.

Hey Seattleites,

Don’t forget to vote. It’s always a nice thing to do—early and often. That might entail digging for your ballot through the piles of mail that you, yourself, gradually built on the dining room table, and blaming your organized significant other or house mate for not being able to find it. But he or she will find your ballot for you eventually, and you will be very grateful.

If you need a little help with who to choose (and tend to lean toward the latte and hybrid car to your left), then I recommend these recommendations:

Sierra Club

The Stranger

The Stranger’s article is actually quite entertaining if you keep on reading. You’ll be rewarded with blurbs like who to vote for as “Commissioner of Public Urination.” What really cracks me up is Christine Gregoire’s picture—not because she’s smiling like a chipmunk, but because she’s wearing a jacket very similar to the one my mom wore to my wedding. My mom decided to become a republican in her late 50s. Still, she clearly has impeccable fashion taste and we agree on important things like comic books and coffee.

Happy Voting!

Feeling lost? Did you search for blue frodo astronaut and land here? Or did someone (me) tell you to read this just for the hell of it? Well fret no more. Since you’re here, have a look at some important linkage:

Neil Gaiman is posting Coraline promo videos at his journal all week. I am thrilled that John Hodgeman is in it and thrilled to find out that he is also a “huge supergeek Neil Gaiman fan!”

FIGWIT Fanbase

On Friday we went to Neptune Coffee for Flight of the Conchords Trivia Night. The husband and I formed Team Mutha Uckers.

My greatest contribution, and perhaps my only correct answer, was the answer to what nickname Lord of the Rings fans gave Bret McKenzie.

FIGWIT: Frodo is Great Who Is That. People were impressed for some reason. I was surprised to be the only one who knew that. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.

I also managed to convince the owner to set up a BookCrossing space. If you want to exchange books for free, take a look at BookCrossing.com.

Random Pretty Picture

Paper Politicians

McCain and Obama can duke it out paper style.

Obama has responded to McCain’s celebrity ad with his own. (Note: View in IE instead of Firefox.)

Rachel Maddow says that if Obama keeps playing these ads, then he can stay on vacation until November, return, and win the presidential nomination. I am very much looking forward to seeing her and friends this Saturday.

And finally, you’ve been Barack Rolled:

It was pouring rain, so we sat in our parked car waiting to see if it would let up. The nice thing about Seattle rain is that it will eventually stop. The question is whether it would be sooner or later. We listened to John Richards on KEXP talk about how he was going to be over there in a few minutes and that he heard it was a gorgeous day.

The rain slammed against our windshield.

When we entered, a sunburnt, blue-eyed rapper was on stage. The teenagers adorned in black garbage bags adored him. After his show, they were posing for a picture while he was in the background, then he snuck up and joined their picture yelping “Oh my god!!” They squealed. It was cute. We staked our spot right in front of the stage. Here’s a picture of the view behind us.

It was weird to see John Richards on stage after listening to him on the radio a few minutes earlier. He gave out free CDs to the wettest people in the audience. He then introduced The Helio Sequence.

While they played, the sun decided to come out for a listen. Is it something to do with the name?

The Helio Sequence was awesome. My ears were still getting used to the loudness, so I couldn’t hear Brandon Summer’s voice as clearly as if I were to stand further from the speakers, but it had an interesting, mellifluous effect.

I loved that he drank tea.

Ben Weikel cracked me up. The act of turning his drum key must have switched him to On. He was very animated. Each expression looks pretty normal in these pictures. But his expression changes almost with every drumbeat.

You can see it on video, He played on Modest Mouse’s album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which the husband says is their best. According to him, at approximately the 40-second mark on “The Ocean Breathes Salty,” you can recognize Weikel’s drumming style.

Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts

Ah yes, I do believe this is why we battled the raindrops.

I like seeing rock musicians setting up their gear or orchestra musicians tuning their instruments before a concert. It’s the behind-the-scenes part that builds up anticipation.

Joseph Arthur kindly pointed out the double rainbow to the audience. Yes, 2 rainbows came out to listen to Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts.

We were close enough to see details like the bassist’s beautiful and funky necklace and the art on Joseph’s guitar and strap.

The band was fun and brought lots of energy. They interacted with each other as if sharing inside jokes.

Joseph announced that it was the drummer’s birthday, so this time the sing-a-long entailed the outdoor crowd serenading him with happy birthday.

Whenever the husband thinks a chick is cute, he tells me that he didn’t notice her. So he was not noticing the bassist,

while I was not noticing the guitarist.

I was amused by the fact that the musicians were not above the drink fray. The bassist had a big black X on her hand and the guitarist’s wrist was decorated with the lovely neon pink wristband. Shouldn’t you get a free beer just for being talented?

The bassist removed items at each song. Here are beginning- and end-of-show shots.

The last song was the appropriate Spacemen. It was too short but a good show.

The Dandy Warhols

Then the Dandy Warhols took the stage. It became dark, cold, muddy, and we are geezers. Really: 6-year-olds were there (they brought their parents). We stayed for 2.5 songs.

When we tried to leave, there was a ruckus with the rent-a-cops blocking the only exit. Someone tried to re-enter but one of the security guys picked her up and carried her out. (They actually told us that we could re-enter when we arrived.) The ruckus finally cleared, and I gladly didn’t have to jump the fence.

On our way to the car, we heard their famous song that they play on the radio all the time: Bohemian Like You. Eric and I danced to it under a streetlamp half a block away.

We got in the car, rolled down the windows and listened as we drove off into the moonlight.

More of our pics are here.

There were some serious photographers with fancy cameras and giant telefoto lenses. Perhaps some of them posted their photos here.

For the setlist, musically technical viewpoints, and some great pictures, visit the Lonely Astronauts forum.

This guy. I had never heard of him before, but this statement by Gaiman influenced me to click on the video: “Yes, he really talks like that, his voice and accent musical and strange.”

And lilting.

“The place was just overgroowwwwnn…Scorpianns!…I love making mud piiiiiezz.”

And do make sure that you scroll back to the beginning paragraphs where Gaiman describes his sadness about the lack of elves these days, but how raspberries make everything all better. Edited to add: You know who else has a cool voice? Neil Gaiman.

Kiera’s voice conjures up the image of a 22-ish-yr old with tattoos, glasses, and Betty Paige bangs. Sometimes there are only commercials on the other station, so I listen to Kiera the Traffic Chic describe the traffic or list upcoming concerts (Radio Head is coming soon!!). Sure, it’s not a song or poem or anything. But she has the coolest voice. Is her image a result of her voice?

Poor Alan Rickman. I only seem to see his movies where he plays characters who are evil, villainous, rejected, or just plain dodgy. Ah, but what a beautiful voice.

Patrick Stewart, the English actor who played the French Captain, Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek NG. He’s also hilarious in this:

Can you think of more distinct speaking voices? Feel free to comment.