Maine: Still Killer

Just got back from our biannual trip to the Pine Tree State, where we did pretty much the same fun stuff as in 2006 and 2008. A few different things this time...

We stopped in Portland to see the Cryptozoology Museum at the back of the Green Hand bookstore. Alas, the museum was closed that day, but I did get the above picture just inside the store's front entrance. The window display to our left had some relatively smaller figures, like the Bigfoot Garden Yeti Sculpture I had just seen in the SkyMall catalog on our flight east. SkyMall also has an incredibly stupid Bigfoot Tree Yeti Sculpture and XXX-large Evel Knievel leather chaps -- yikes!

Besides passing through "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire (now the 40th state I've visited in my life), we also swung through Boston, but I didn't have time to check out the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute nor the site of the old Braves Field. However, I did get to walk through Harvard Square and Harvard Yard, and for the second time, had dinner with with local writer/producer/director/blogger/ all-around-swell guy Darren Garnick.

We flew through Newark both ways, but neither layover was long enough to ride the monorail (above). Also, no sign of Snooki.

As for souvenirs, I picked up a pair of coastal Maine nautical chart placemats to compliment our two San Juan Islands 'mats. Got a Lucky Lobster lottery ticket too.

Can't wait 'til we go back in 2012!
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Seattle's Time Capsules, Part 1

Location: Alki Beach
Occasion: Centennial of Seattle's first non-native settlement
Sealed: 1951
To Be Opened: 2051
This capsule was buried under an obelisk marking the "birthplace of Seattle," where the pioneering Denny party first came ashore. It weighs 720 pounds, though its only artifact I know of is a Boeing bomber model. The following year, another capsule was buried beside it, containing Hawaiian shirts, playing cards, and a document predicting what Seattle life would be like in 2052. Here is a photo before it was buried; read more here and here.

Location: Alki Beach
Occasion: unknown
Sealed: 2009
To Be Opened: 2059
Two blocks northeast of the above capsule is this one, buried under the sidewalk near the 1/8th-scale Statue of Liberty. Contents listed here; read more here and here.

Location: University of Washington Communications Building
Occasion: Opening of the building
Sealed: 1956
Opened: 2007
Much to the surprise of the faculty who opened it in '07, among the 1950s newspapers, photos and textbooks were 1980s copies of Playboy, Hustler, and "two pairs of stained men's briefs." The capsule, stuck in the wall next to The Daily student paper's office, was apparently sabotaged by some smartass journalism students in the early '80s. They also threw in an issue of The Rocket (with cover star Ted Nugent), I'm Okay, You're Okay, Twinkies, a condom, and, for whatever reason, an unopened letter to Linda Ronstadt. Daily staffers at the time included local luminaries John Keister, Clark Humphrey and Charles R. Cross. In the September '07 issue of Columns, the UW alumni rag, Cross commented, "When I was at The Daily, there was no one person who was generally responsible for anything. No, this is not the work of one person, and not everyone who was involved in it wants to be identified." When asked if he'd forgot about it, he replied, "Oh no, it was on my calendar." Read more here.

Location: University of Washington Communications Building
Occasion: Centennial of the first UW journalism classes
Sealed: 2007
To Be Opened: 2057
This capsule replaced the one above, in the same spot, during the same year. Contents unknown, though considering the Nintendo logo, it's probably filled with Donkey Kong cartridges. Hopefully some future smartass journalism students will stealthily supplement it with futuristic pornography, and two pairs of stained men's briefs.

Location: Nordstrom
Occasion: Presumably Nordstrom's taking over of the Frederick & Nelson building as its downtown flagship store
Sealed: 1998
To Be Opened: 2023
I just happened to notice this one day while waiting for Eliza to try on shoes, or something. Contents unknown.

Location: Colman Dock
Occasion: 50th anniversary of Washington State Ferries
Sealed: 2001
To Be Opened: 2051
First set inside the case of the big old clock inside the ferry terminal, but when the clock was moved outside, this capsule was stuck under the information desk. Contents listed here; read more here.

Anybody know of any others?
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Weekly World News Archives!

My Boston blogger pal Darren Garnick just alerted his Facebook friends about the new Google Weekly World News archives!

Too bad the text isn't searchable, and too bad it's not complete, but it's still a rich vein of fun for us fans of Bigfoot, Elvis, Bat Boy and other such stuff.

For awhile I had a subscription, which resulted in my Year in the Life of Bigfoot page. It has since ceased print operations, but like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WWN continues online. From yesterday, Obama Releases Second Chupacabra Into Texas. Classic.

Above is the earliest Bigfoot cover story on there, from 1981.
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Ten-Time All-Star Ichiro

Here's our man tonight, snaring a Pujols blast in the first inning. His evening continued with a popout to short and a strikeout, as updated in the comments of my 30 Years of Mariner All-Stars post. Despite his so-so performance, he's now played in ten All-Star Games in his ten seasons (the Majors' longest current streak), starting in nine of 'em, and leading off a record nine times.

Here he is at yesterday's BP.

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It Was 25 Years Ago Today

I watched pretty much all of Live Aid at my mom's Friday Harbor condo. I had just turned 16. I best remember Mick Jagger and Tina Turner performing together, as well as Mick Jagger and David Bowie performing together...


It seemed slower then.
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It Was Forty Years (And One Month) Ago Today

June 12, 1970: Dock Ellis throws a no-hitter on acid. In his own words:



Note: I can't squeeze the video down to fit in this here column, so you'll have to enjoy it in special SteveMandich.comBlogVision™. Or watch it here.
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We Hardly Knew Ye: Harvey Pekar

Cleveland comics legend Harvey Pekar dead at 70.

From 1993, here's the last of his classic Letterman appearances...


Read more here.
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So Long, Cliff

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Happy 40th, Beck!

Beck hits the big four-oh today.

Above, that's him with Evel Knievel in 1994. Below, the "Beercan" video, with a cameo by Melvin King Buzzo.


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Melvins Rule, Okay?

Here's my best shot from tonight's Showbox gig. My favorite song was Revolve. I wish they played A History of Bad Men.
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Hard Rock Bigfoot

After tonight's M's game, I had a beer at the new Seattle Hard Rock Cafe before biking home. Hard to believe that it's taken this long for the ubiquitous chain to open a franchise here, though it's not like anybody in town was clamoring for one. The only other time I've been to a Hard Rock was in in 1991 in Las Vegas, and the thing I remember most about it was the Slaughter star on its walk of fame.

Anyway, I was drawn in by their Bigfoot billboard I spotted a month ago. Of course, the image appears on a T-shirt, as displayed in the restaurant's gift shop (above). While it's an original design by Seattle's Ames Bros, it quickly brings to mind the work of San Francisco's Bigfoot.
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Farm Report: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Portland Beavers

Tonight we drove down to the City of Destiny for some Rainer/Beaver Triple-A action ("AAAction"?). After grabbing some burgers at the Frisko Freeze and hitting an area Goodwill (I scored a VHS copy of Meatballs Part II, set at the fictional Camp Sasquatch), we headed over to Cheney Stadium.

This cool ballpark mural depicts Tacoma's teams through the years. Moving chronologically from left to right, we have the 1904-05 Tigers, followed by all the Pacific Coast League clubs that have called Cheney home since its 1960 opening: the Tacoma Giants, the Tacoma Cubs...

The Cubs (again, due to overlap), the Tacoma Twins, the Tacoma Yankees...

The Tacoma Tugs, the newer Tacoma Tigers, and the current Tacoma Rainers, the M's farm club since 1995...

There's also a time capsule...

And in the stands, a statue of Ben Cheney, who first brought the PCL to Tacoma, and for whom the park is named. This logo on the statue's jacket is for the Cheney Studs, explained at UniWatch...

Oh yeah, the game. The Rainers beat the Beavs 11-6 before 6,125, with a 53-minute rain delay in the third inning, and a fireworks show afterwards. Good times.

Rhubarb is stupid.
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