Jim Messina @ Humphrey’s Backstage

I will never get tired of seeing Jim.  Everyone knows the songs and Jim is so personable on stage.

Front row seats have their advantage.

Vancouver August 21-27 2019

Vancouver from Stanley Park.

Bill and I met at Vancouver airport then took the light rail to downtown.  We walked to our Airbnb. at 1865 Alberni Street right off of Denman.  $1470 for 6 nights.  All prices are in Canadian.  The Airbnb was a one-bedroom so Bill got the bedroom and I got the couch since I always awaken earlier.  It was a great location on the third floor and a balcony.  It was lacking a coffee maker – good thing I brought a Moka pot.

The Airbnb courtyard.  This was a GREAT location.

Day 1:  we rented bikes at Jo-e’s ($32 per day) then headed into Stanley Park, biking slowly, and spent most of the day there.  We stopped at a scenic overlook at a tea house on the north side for a drink.  However, the tea house was situated so far back from the water that it had no view.  So we exited and continued biking.  The bikes were returned due to sore butts.  After cleanup at Airbnb, we walked up Denman St for dinner at Kintaro Ramen.  We were the token Caucasians.  Bill ordered a cheese ramen that was advertised “The ladies love it.”  It was too much cheese even for Bill!  Our restaurant still had a long waiting line at 9:30p as we headed home.

 

Ladies just lo-o-o-ve it!

Day 2: today’s goal was to bike to Granville Island and Olympic Village.  Started the day by making a good decision of renting comfortable Townie bikes with big seats and comfortable sitting position from Spokes.  $10 more per day, but my butt said thank you.  We were shocked when the bike guy said he pumps up the tires to 110.  It wasn’t until much later that it dawned on us it might not be in PSI units but something metric.  Granville was much closer than expected.  It was a great ride on the seashore on a dedicated bike path.  We went over the cool looking Burrard Bridge.  At the top of the bridge was a helpline telephone for those considering jumping plus nets under the bridge.  Across the bridge in Kitsilano was a Lululemon headquarters building distinguished by the Lululemon icon.  Granville is an artistic enclave with brewpubs, wineries and farmers market.  We enjoyed an outdoor lunch with food selected from the Market and watched a wood boat construction demo.  There was a wood boat festival going on including many old boats docked to admire.  After touring the wood boats we wandered over to the Granville Island Brewery only to find a line waiting to get in.  Not worth the wait so off we went to another spot with outdoor tables on a patio overlooking the harbor.  Much better.  Saw these funny-looking round orange Joes BBQ boats going by.  They had actual grills on board.

Thank you for Spandex!

Grandville Island has a working cement plant, with funky silos.

I could watch this all day.  Grandville Island.

After lunch and early happy hour, we mounted our bikes and continued down the path to the Olympic Village.  Cruised by this weird shaped high rise on the way to the Olympic Village.  The Olympic Village is an open public square with 2 giant bird sculptures, including one with a kid trying to climb up its tail.  We had another happy hour beer on another outdoor patio overlooking the water.  We ordered what we thought was the smaller pints, but got the larger Imperial pints.  Forgot where we were.  A 16-ounce beer is called a “sleeve”.  A light drizzle plus riding into the wind made it chilly.  (However, not chilly enough to stop and put on my raincoat).  We again returned the bikes, cleaned up, and wandered Denman St again and stopped for dinner at the same Kintaro Ramen place.  Still great.  Bill managed to eat only half this time.  After dinner entertainment was walking to English Beach and watching the crowd and sunset.

Funky high rise on the way to the Olympic Village.

 

Somehow we ordered the LARGE beer size...

Day 3: today’s goal is walking to Chinatown.  No bikes today.  We started the walk by going to Gastown.  On the way next to the Convention Centre, we passed the sculpture of a Digital Orca and the “Olympic Cauldron”.  The Digital Orca was in cube pixels: combining past form with future form, a past society with future society, the past economy with future economy... Artists read a lot into things.  We arrived at Gastown and the Steam Clock just minutes before noon.  The clock, formerly powered by steam, now puts out a musical show using its 4 steam whistles.  One on each quarter of the hour and all 4 on the hour.  A couple of blocks further were a sculpture of “Gassy” Jack plus a beggar woman smoking hash at the foot of the sculpture.  Gassy Jack was an early neighborhood bartender that talked a lot.  From Gastown, we headed to Chinatown.  On the way, we, unfortunately, wandered through a homeless “Missiontown”.  The usual shopping carts of possessions, sleeping anywhere on the sidewalk, doing and selling drugs.  I was wondering where they all went.  It was hard to believe Vancouver had none.  2 more blocks and we were in Chinatown.  I had to walk under the China Gate.  We walked down the Historic Shanghai Alley (aka Chinatown Heritage Alley).  That was the original settlement area.  Other than an alley, all the old buildings were gone.  The first few blocks of Chinatown were surprisingly sketchy.  Very dirty, trashy, bum filled, uncomfortable environment.  We were looking for a place for lunch and didn’t feel good about the area.  Finally found a good feeling neighborhood with an all-day dim sum.  Fat, dumb and happy, we toured the Chinese Cultural Centre and the Sun Yat-Sen Gardens.  We decided to not return home via the path taken earlier (due to the sketchy area) so we headed to walk up the shopping district of Robson St.  At the foot of the street was the BC stadium and a statue tribute to Terry Fox.  It was 4 statues of him growing up running next to a highway with his artificial leg.  Cool.  Halfway up Robson, we required a beer break at the Irish pub Lennox.  More wandering and a detour later we were back at the waterfront having today’s dirty martini at the Lift Bar Grill.  We had a quick detour through the home to drop off backpacks and headed down the usual Denman St. Dinner at Misaki Sushi and wandered more of English Beach. 

Digital Orca.

The "Steam" clock.

Entrance to Chinatown.

 

Day 4:  today’s goal is lunch in Stanley Park and maybe a harbor dinner cruise.

Yesterday Bill got money changed to local currency so Randy could do our laundry early this morning.  Bill only brought 4 days’ worth of socks and underwear.  We walked to Stanley Park.  We had our picnic lunch and split a bottle of Pinot noir while watching a cricket game.  We need to learn the rules!  Happy hour of a dirty martini at the usual Lift Bar Grill.  We watched the 2 cruise ships depart at 4:30p.  Skipped the Harbour cruise. 

 

Required wine while watching the cricket match.

Where is Vancouver???

I still want the blue boathouse.

Day 5: We headed to Capilano Suspension Bridge: fun woodsy park!  We took a scheduled bus from the Convention Centre to get there.  The main bridge sways a lot!  The Treetop trail was fun.  Same with cliff walk trail.  For the afternoon we picked up a sandwich and a bottle of wine which we enjoyed overlooking Coal Harbour Marina.  When Randy tried to discretely open the wine bottle in public, it made an extremely loud pop.  People turned to look.  After much walking, we stopped for our final dirty martini at the usual Lift.  Dinner for the third time at Misaki Sushi on Denman St.  The waitress knew our order.  Randy’s order was “Fat and Rich”.  Seems appropriate. 

 

Numerous bridges.

And another bridge.

A Craftsman-style office building.

English Bay.  We spent most sunsets here.

Happy hour!

Day 6: time to go home.  2p flight.  We went back to Safeway to buy a travel lunch and dinner.  We enjoyed a 40-minute walk to the train stop plus a 40-minute train ride to the airport.  Interesting was the fact that airport parking is 2 train stops away from the airport.  We cleared US customs in Vancouver.  Bill finally got to use his Global Entry fast pass.  On the far side of customs was the Duty-Free store.  Since we already cleared customs, there was no limit on the amount of booze one can buy.  Tanqueray liters were 2 for $45 and get the third one free.  Bill now has a lifetime supply of gin.

Ricki Lee Jones @ San Diego Fair

Ricki Lee came onstage at 1pm and played for an hour.  Good material but I had expected some from her Pirates album.  She had a new CR out, of covers.

Encore with the band

Syracuse June visit

Tina, a college friend had recently remarried and I was invited to a delayed Saturday post-wedding reception.

I arrived late on Wednesday at about midnight.  I was prepared to use Uber (new to No York!) to get to Bill’s place but he was at the airport.  Thanks Bill!  The roads were wet – unusual for me but Bill said it was the rainiest May ever.  The sun came out for the remainder of the trip except where noted.

Thursday:  we did the indulgent brunch at Stella’s diner.  I over-ordered for the small fretta, which could have fed a small army.  This was followed by the obligatory Onondaga Park walk.  The constant NY rain had ended (you are welcome, NY!). 

Bill and I sailed in the Fleet 204 Thursday night weekly regatta.  Studs that we were, we posted a 1, 4, and 3.  Bill yelled over to Billy Jeffers “it must be the boat!”  Hey, what about the crew????  Of course, we ended the evening at Borio’s and were lucky enough to share a booth with Wendy and Ben.

Wendy and Bill at Borio's

FYI:  Wendy and I have had a 20+ year sailing competition.  It didn’t matter if I won the race as long as I beat Wendy.  And later I found out from Wendy that it didn’t matter if she won as long as she beat me.  So now Wendy’s son, Ben, is driving the boat and I am crewing for Bill.  The competition continues.

Friday:  Bill and I traveled for a day trip to Ithaca and Cornell University.  We tried to book a hotel room but found everything was booked.  Why?  Once on Cornell campus, it became obvious – it was Reunion Weekend.  We found close to campus parking and had a late brunch pretending to be alumni.  Then we walked up to The Little Red Barn, thinking “it’s Reunion Weekend – of course, it will be open”.  It wasn’t.  A campus cafeteria had a price fix option for as much as you can put on your tray.  Bill and I typically have split meals to cut back on quantity but well, I loaded up the tray.  Then we hiked beautiful Circadella Falls. 

Under one of many overpasses

We finished up at the usual bagel/beer spot just off campus to have a pint and watch the Ithaca world walk by.  Regrettably, the Nines pizza place had closed so we drove off to find dinner possibly in Syracuse.  On a whim, dinner plans changed to Doug’s Fish Fry in Skaneateles.  We split a bad lobster roll then followed up with the usual ice cream and walked the small village.  While walking by a parked Aston Martin Vantage, we were speculating how many AM Vantages were in town when Howie (the owner) and Diane walked up.  In our sidewalk discussion, we discovered the only time Bill and Howie (ex-roommates, prior to my Syracuse arrival) get together is when I come to town, and the only time I have ice cream is in Skaneateles.  So we made a pact to talk and have ice cream again in a year, on a Skaneateles sidewalk.  Good times.

Saturday:  Tina’s and Mark’s post-wedding reception was held at Dick and Debbie Stevenson’s house.  Also present was Bill’s neighbor Kathy, Kim and Ethan, Bob and Cheri, and a few HP co-workers.  Interesting note:  I introduced Debbie to Tina when they, Bill , and I went to a Jimmy Buffet concert at SPAC in the late 1990s.  I recall remembering that Debbie and Tina hit it off that evening. 

Sunday:  Bill and I drove to Boston to meet Stan.  Stan was taking a shuttle from Maine to Boston.  Bill and I dropped off luggage and car at our Airbnb then we walked to the Black Rose for lunch and a pint with Stan.  We three then wandered around Faneuil Hall, Quincey Market, and the seashore while enjoying the conversation.

At the statue commemorating the Irish Potatoe Famine

All the talking/listening made us thirsty so it was time for a pint at the Ginger Man.  For dinner, we walked to crowded Little Italy and enjoyed a large antipasto.  Afterward, we walked back to our Airbnb.  It was nice to discover we didn’t need to use the mass transit with everything being a short walk.  Unfortunately, Stan had knee issues and it was too long of a walk for him.

Monday:  Bill and I planned on seeing more of Boston with Stan and then leave town around 5 pm at rush hour.  So planning ahead, the three of us checked out of the Airbnb and drove in Bill’s car to the farthest T-stop (Riverside) and trained back into Boston.  We intentionally had less walking today.  Light lunch was at Joe’s on the waterfront.

Nope, couldn't get their attention.

Bill stopped in The Black Rose to buy a long sleeve shirt.  Then we continued our short walk to escort Stan to the bus station.  Bill and I took the T back to Bill’s car.  The T was full of commuters but this was much better than trying to drive out of downtown Boston.  Rain began coming down after driving an hour into the 3-hour drive to Tracy’s place in Albany.

Tuesday:  Tracy, Bill, and I had a lousy breakfast at an Albany diner and then off to Syracuse.  There was more rain but only when we were in a car.  Dinner was at the Stevens.  We got caught up with the kids: Ben just finished his first year of college and is a sailing instructor for the summer, Christopher is now taller than me, and Mesi is going to El Salvador for a week this summer.

Wendy showing off her chicken coop.

Wednesday:  Bill and I reacquainted ourselves with our golf clubs with Bill sucking less than I did.  We had a late lunch at the Dinosaur BBQ then I was dropped off at the airport.  Rain commenced hours after wheels up.

Dallas Visit

I planned to visit my sister Tracy and her son Corey and his family in Tampa, so I also planned a Dallas stopover.  I had worked in Dallas twice in my career; first after graduating from college (1984-1986) and later (1994) when consulting.

Dallas has changed in 25 years.  I did manage to find both work sites, with the first in Addison and the second in downtown.  The downtown location is now known as Oncor, and I found the Dallas Museum of Art (great lunches) and the YMCA.

Another find was The Gingerman, a local pub.  Just like I remembered it.

Named after a Novel

Just as I remembered it

And I walked over to the infamous Dealey Plaza.

The Grassy Knoll and 6th floor, in Dealey Plaza

Marshall Crenshaw at McCabe’s

I made the 2+ hour drive to McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica with most of the bad traffic within 20 miles of my home. 

I arrived in time to find on-street parking.  McCabe’s was closed; I checked my email to confirm today was the concert date.  So then I wandered up the street for a beer and a bite.  After placing my order, I walked to the men’s room to wash my hands and noticed someone familiar at the bar with others.  And it occurred to me who that person was – Jesse Valenzuela, guitarist for Gin Blossoms.

I finished my nosh and beer and walked back to McCabe’s where a line had started to form.  While making small talk with others in line, Jesse walked by.  We talked a bit, with me saying I enjoyed his work and recent tour.

McCabe’s doors opened and we shuffled to the store backroom which had an elevated stage and folding chairs.  I guessed there were seats for 400 people?  Marshall came onstage and performed solo for about 1.5 hours, and took an awkward stage departure before returning for an encore.  Good show.

Pic provided by Marshall

This was my first McCabe’s visit.  It has a homey feel with high-end and unusual stringed instruments (not just guitars) in the front room.  I am guessing the backroom is also a showroom but had been cleared out for the performance.  I’ll have to stop in again when a concert isn’t scheduled.

The Main Squeeze @ Belly Up

During the December 2018 CR surf trip, Daniel said I needed to check out a group called "The Main Squeeze" and that they were playing at the Casbah in January.  I responded that I had heard of the group and already had a ticket.

Excellent! see you there.

Unfortunately, I was so beat up from the surf trip that I skipped the concert.  Heard it was great.

Unbelievable Concert for $15!!!!

I didn’t miss the next opportunity.  The Main Squeeze played the Belly Up.  What a group!  Funk, soul, trip-hop, and totally engaging.  This was one of the few concerts I stayed to the end.

See them if you have the opportunity.