Toronto, Part 2: The Rest of It

I went to the Blue Jays/Yankees games in Toronto last Monday and Wednesday, while skipping Tuesday’s game (Ichiro didn’t play in that one anyhow), bringing the number of current stadiums I’ve attended a game at to 27. That leaves only Miami, Tampa Bay, and Wrigley, where in 2009 I sat in the stands during a long rain delay before the game was officially postponed, so that one doesn’t count.

These were the first MLB games I've seen on fake grass since the Mariners ended their run at the Kingdome in 1999. Rogers Centre (née SkyDome) is one of last of those circular, symmetrical, artificially turfed stadiums, though its retractable roof pointed to future stadium design. Besides the ballpark, I never liked the Jays either, mostly 'cause they began play the same season as the M's, 1977. In that time, Toronto has won two World Series titles, while the M’s have never even made it to the World Series. Also, the blue-blooded, all-American, flag-waving yahoo in me thinks it’s lame to have a major-league team outside the US... Here's Ichiro in centerfield, or what would roughly be the 20-yard-line if the field was situated for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts...

Still, Toronto loves the Jays, and there's apparently little interest in replacing their dumb stadium with something less bland and more up-to-date. For the record, the Jays beat the Yankees in both games I attended, 5-2 and 7-2, and Ichiro was 1-for-8 in the series.

Apart from baseball, I hit Toronto's hockey highlights, beginning with the Hockey Hall of Fame. The amount of jerseys, sticks, pucks, trophies and other memorabilia was overwhelming, but in a good way. Above is a closeup of the original Stanley Cup, with the etching "Seattle World's Champions Defeated Canadians 1917." Below is an old Seattle Metropolitans sweater...

Elsewhere, I walked around the newish Air Canada Centre and the old Maple Leaf Gardens, respectively the current and former homes of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The latter has since been converted into a smaller college hockey arena on an upper level (there was practice going on when I wandered inside), and a big grocery store on the main floor. On aisle 25, next to the cans of tuna, is a spot marking centre ice in its former days. Here it is, with my feet...

At the city's Reference Library I looked up some Evel Knievel-playing-hockey articles, and at various shops I picked up some hockey-related trinkets for friends (my own souvenir is a T-shirt with this sweet Penguins logo). The only bad hockey-related experience I had was at Wayne Gretzky’s sports bar -- the “Great One” burger (with a “99” seared onto the bun) tasted like a hockey puck, and the service sucked ass.

Far better was Shopsy’s and their killer corned beef sandwich, rivaled only by Dunn’s pastrami sandwich -- I call it a draw. Smoke’s Poutinerie had a food truck at Sunday's Riot Fest (see previous post), and I enjoyed their pulled pork poutine so much there that I had another one a few days later at one of their storefront locations. My pie at Pizza Pizza was so-so, and I never did make it to Don Cherry's Sports Grill. All along, I pretty much ate my own weight at various Tim Hortons -- I love that they have a Blue Jays donut...

Like I've experienced in other cities in recent years, Toronto also has a sensible public bike-rental kiosk system, here called Bixi. It got me around to lots of other places, like the CBC museum, The Beguiling (a comics shop where I picked up Adrian Tomine’s latest Optic Nerve), Honest Ed’s (a crazy discount emporium where I got some baby bibs) and Ella+Elliot (a high-end baby store where I got some little utensils). Here’s El Mocambo, where the Stones recorded side three of Love You Live in 1977.

As a lover of observation decks, I was stoked to go up the CN Tower, which until 2008 boasted the world's highest observation deck. At 1,467 feet, it's nearly two-and-a-half Space Needles tall! Aesthetically, the CN Tower has got nothing on the Needle, but even with some distant haze, the view was phenomenal (see the photo at the top of this post). Here’s a shot looking straight down at the Rogers Centre (with its roof closed, obviously)...

And here are my feet again, standing on a glass floor at the 1,122-foot level...

I hit one other observation deck on my trip, the Space Needle-esque Skylon Tower, 80 miles away in Niagara Falls (I rented a car that day). The falls themselves are impressive, despite the unchecked tackiness surrounding them -- myriad casinos, tourist traps, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville... Here's my token Niagara Falls shot...

While in town I visited an unofficial Evel Knievel Museum, where they have one of Evel's test Sky-Cycles, as well as lots of other motorcycle displays, Nazi stuff (!?!), and for some reason, a bunch of Dan Aykroyd memorabilia. There wasn’t much in the way of Evel’s personal possessions, just a bunch of mass-produced toys and photos and such, all fading under fluorescent lights. They didn't have my book, but they did have a shooting script of the movie based on my book, with my name on the cover...

So, Toronto. My lifetime experiences in Canada have mostly been limited to several trips to Vancouver and Victoria, so in my mind that's what Canada is supposed to "be like." Strangely, Toronto felt less like Canada to me and more like Chicago, in terms of size, scenery, and climate... Incidentally, on my way to T.O. (that’s what the locals call it!), I changed planes in Calgary, bringing my provinces-I’ve-visited count to three: I’ve been to British Columbia countless times, I made a quick spin through Windsor, Ontario in 2008, and now Alberta. Cool.
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Toronto, Part 1: Rock 'n' Roll

Just returned from six days in Toronto, a city I'd never been to before, as part of my ongoing quest to see all 30 MLB teams play in their current homes. I chose an August Blue Jays/Yankees series, mainly so I could see Ichiro. Shortly after booking the trip -- holy shit! -- the Replacements announced they'd play their first show in 22 years, in Toronto, the very day I'd be traveling there! So, for $200, I moved my flight up a day and got myself a concert ticket. Altogether a bit costly, but the Riot Fest would also include supporting acts Iggy and the Stooges, Dinosaur Jr., Rocket from the Crypt and Best Coast. I don't like big, daylong, outdoor festivals, what with the crowds, the elements, lots of waiting around, the abbreviated sets, and so forth. But still!

Here are some shitty iPhone pics along with my take on the various sets...

Best Coast (above) was okay -- I really dig their albums, but after seeing them in Seattle last year, I didn't feel the need to ever see 'em again.

I also saw Dinosaur once before, in 1993, without Lou Barlow. It was great to finally catch their original lineup in action. They played a solid career-spanning set, though I wish it included “Little Furry Things.” I wore earplugs.

Also in ’93 was the only previous time I’d seen Rocket from the Crypt, in their hometown of San Diego where I was living at the time. They’re the kind of band I tried getting into but never really could, and their Toronto set didn’t change that. Though I did appreciate that they played “Born in ’69,” because I was.

The earplugs went back in for Iggy and company. I’d seen Iggy solo a couple times in the ‘90s, and then in the reformed Stooges in 2005, with brothers Ron and Scott Asheton, plus Mike Watt on bass. Ron has since died, and due to a stroke, Scott was replaced by some guy named Toby Dammit on drums. Watt still played with them, along Funhouse-era saxman Steve Mackay. Best of all, Raw Power-era guitarist James Williamson was in the lineup, killing it on the title track, “Search and Destroy,” “Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell,” plus some tunes from the Iggy/ Williamson album Kill City. My favorite song of the set, which I never expected to hear, was “Cock in My Pocket.” On the other hand, they wasted precious time with three relative stinkers from their mediocre new album.

Honestly though, while all those other bands played, I was looking ahead in anticipation of the Replacements.

Finally, the 'Mats took the stage right on time for a kickass 23-song, 75-minute set. Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were the only original members -- Josh Freese (who I’d last seen as Devo’s drummer in 2011) replaced Chris Mars, and some other guy filled in for guitarist Slim Dunlap (who, like Scott Asheton, also suffered a debilitating stroke). For those keeping score, Dunlap replaced original member Bob Stinson, Tommy's older brother, who was kicked out of the band in 1986 and died nine years later.

Well what about the tunes? They opened with "Takin' a Ride," covered Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline” and Sham 69’s “Borstal Breakout," and played three songs from my favorite-ever album Pleased to Meet Me, including album opener/show closer “I.O.U.” (Before the song, Paul said that he once asked Iggy Pop for an autograph, and Iggy wrote down what became the song’s chorus: “I.O.U. nothing.”) Plus lots of other faves: "Color Me Impressed," "I Will Dare," "Bastards of Young," etc. For the encore, Paul came out wearing a Montreal Canadiens sweater, getting some good-natured boos from the Toronto crowd. Two songs later and they were gone, leaving me thrilled by what I just witnessed.

But that wasn't the end of it. By coincidence, the next morning I took a shortcut through the lobby of the Royal York Hotel on my way to the Hockey Hall of Fame, only to discover Tommy Stinson waiting around with his bags, looking like he just checked out. I went up to him and said, “Hey, Tommy, great show last night!” He thanked me, we shook hands, and he agreed to a photo...

Cool! Then he walked outside. I sat for a minute, and it occurred to me that Paul must be nearby, so I went outside too. Sure enough, there he was with Tommy and some roadies, looking like they were all waiting for a lift to the airport. I repeated the scene with Paul: great show, handshake, photo...

I added that I got choked up the when they played “Alex Chilton” the previous night, seeing as how Paul's idol died in 2010. During the song, I noticed Paul glimpse skyward as he sang the line “If he died in Memphis, wouldn’t that be cool?”, though Chilton actually died in New Orleans. (Paul's touching New York Times memorial to Alex appeared shortly afterward.) Then, as a sort of tossed-off "see ya," I wished Paul good luck, and continued on to the Hall of Fame. It quickly occurred to me that it was kinda like the line in "Alex Chilton" where Paul describes his first meeting with Alex in New York: "Feeling like a million bucks, exchanging good lucks, face to face." Maybe it was a subconscious thing on my part.

Anyway, my Toronto trip peaked early, but the rest of it was good too. I'll post the other highlights soon.
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2012: The Year of the Chickens!

In this, the last of this blog's measly 26 posts in 2012, I'll recap the stuff I've covered over the previous year, along with some things I didn't address. For starters, in February, Eliza and I installed a chicken coop in our backyard, and then brought home four two-month-old pullets: Rocky, Dolly, Rhodey, and Li'l Sweetie (above, shot by Eliza). Sadly, Rocky and Dolly succumbed to Marek's Disease, but Sweetie and Rhodey have thrived - since May, those gals have pumped out a whopping 334 eggs!

In other bird news, a day after Rocky was put to sleep, three robins were hatched in a nest by our back porch. Here are two of the eggs...

Within a day, all three robin chicks were eaten by some goddamn crows.

In non-bird deaths, in 2012 we said goodbye to the Beastie Boys and Ween, Ralph McQuarrie, and John Belushi (albeit 30 years after the fact). Also passing this year, but unacknowledged by this blog, were Matt Groening's Life in Hell, and the Seattle TV clown who inspired Krusty the Clown on Groening's The Simpsons, JP Patches... In July was I driving through the U-District when I happened upon the demolition of the UW's Lander Hall, a dormitory where I lived for a couple years in my late teens and did many grown-up, um, things, that I never done before...

Celebrating birthdays in 2012 were Paul Stanley and Muhammad Ali, as well as the 50th anniversaries of Mad, the Rolling Stones, the Seattle Monorail, the Seattle World's Fair and Spider-Man, along with the 25th anniversaries of Pleased to Meet Me and the 1987 NBA All-Star Game.

On top of this being the sixth full calendar year of the SteveMandich.com blog, I continued to maintain two other blogs -- Super Ichiro Crazy! (where the big news was his trade from Seattle to the Yankees) and Bigfoot is Real (which I just put on "temporary hiatus"). Upon the (galaxy) golden anniversary of the Seattle World's Fair, I started a commemorative blog. It was soon aborted, due to lack of both interest and inspiration. Still, I came away with this cool photo of some Space Needle models, taken at an art gallery near the Needle itself...

I visited Minnesota and New Mexico in 2012, though I didn't blog about my April SoCal trip -- in San Diego I met up with another Steve Mandich, a swell guy who's a credit to our name...

In Anaheim, my pal JP and I saw the Edmonton Oilers beat the Ducks, and the next night, we saw the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Kings beat the Oilers in L.A. I stupidly lost all my photos from those games, so here's a picture I took of the Watts Towers...

Earlier, and closer to home, I rode the Amtrak Cascades up to Vancouver, where I witnessed the Canucks beat the Coyotes in an overtime shootout. While in town, I attended the Vancouver International Boat Show, if only to see the insides of the revamped BC Place Stadium...

Here's another Vancouver photo, taken in Stanley Park...

In medical news, my Morton's toe that I viciously stubbed in 2004 finally got fixed in October -- the good foot doctor shaved away some arthritic bone and inserted a temporary three-inch pin. Here's a gnarly pic of how it looked a week after surgery...

Though 2012 was the Year of the Chickens, Eliza and I figure 2013 will be the Year of the Babies -- we're expecting fraternal twin girls on January 9! Here we are in our backyard on Thanksgiving...

Going into the new year, if I'm not blogging about it here, I'll be posting it on facebook.

As always, thanks for reading!
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My Favorite Music, Movies, DVDs & Books of '11!

Movies
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Moneyball
Win Win
Notes: Of the 29 movies I watched this year, 12 of which were 2011 releases, but just these three I deemed list-worthy.

DVDs
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas '78
Louie: Season 1
Breaking Bad: Season 3
In Treatment: Season 3
The People vs. George Lucas
Eastbound & Down: Season 2
Lemmy
Don Cherry's Rock'em Sock'em Hockey 23
Notes: This doesn't include stuff from the "Movies" list above; it's mostly either TV shows or films from previous years first released on DVD this year.

Songs
Apex Manor - "Teenage Blood"
The Baseball Project - "Ichiro Goes to the Moon"
Beastie Boys - "Make Some Noise"
Black Keys - "Lonely Boy"
Black Lips - "Noc-a-Homa"
The Dirtbombs - "Cosmic Cars"
HeadCat - "Let it Rock"
JEFF the Brotherhood - "Ripper"
R.E.M. - "We All Go Back to Where We Belong"
Wild Flag - "Something Came Over Me"
Yuck - "Get Away"
Notes: Like last year, I listed songs instead of albums, since really the only new 2011 album that I've found start-to-finish killer is Only in Dreams by Dum Dum Girls (also good: their He Gets Me High EP). Otherwise, my favorite '11 albums are either new reissues of old faves (Some Girls by the Stones), or sorta new-to-me favorites from years past (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!), neither of which apply... I became obsessed with Devo this year, and saw them in concert in September. Other bands I saw this year were the Black Lips, the Butthole Surfers, and the Baseball Project, where I shot this video.

Books
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training by Josh Wilker
Evel by Leigh Montville
I Want My MTV by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum
Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper by Geoffrey Gray
Notes: The other 21 books I read this year were either published in previous years, or comics...

Comics
Batman #1
Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case
Huntington, West Virginia “On the Fly” by Harvey Pekar
Old-Timey Hockey Tales by Robert Ullman and Jeffrey Brown
Paying for It by Chester Brown
21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago
Notes: None.

For those keeping score, here are my favorites from 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006 (movies and music).
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Rainy Night in Georgia

Feels like it's raining all over the world.

I'm in Hotlanta, or Shitlanta, or the ALT or whatever it's called. Home of Spud Webb, Wolf Blitzer, Billy Beer, Outkast, David Cross, the Black Lips, Ty Cobb, Gladys Knight, the Pips, and Chief Noc-A-Homa. Sadly, tonight's Braves/Mets game was rained out. I've been to a few games with rain delays, but this was only my third all-out rainout (the others being in Texas and at Wrigley Field). Instead, I updated Super Ichiro Crazy while watching the Canucks/Blackhawks game in my room at the Marriott (sure enough, inside the nightstand is The Book of the Mormons).

In case you were wondering, I have been here before, but it was just an overnight layover when I was a kid in the late '70s, on a family vacation to New York. I think we stayed at a Motel 6 near the airport.

Anyway, tonight's game will be made up during tomorrow's doubleheader. After all, tomorrow is another day.

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Your Attention Please: Super Ichiro Crazy!

Ladies and germs, I'm pleased to present my new blog, Super Ichiro Crazy!

It'll track Ichiro's performance during his 2011 season (which begins tonight), and act as a sort of complement to my Ichiro fan page, also called Super Ichiro Crazy!

This is my second subject-specifc blog, following last year's Quatchi Watch. But, unlike during the first three months of Quatchi Watch, I plan to keep current with this here general-interest blog (even if it's just of general interest to me).
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I Gotta Bunch of Updates, You Guys

I felt like I've been neglecting SteveMandich.com for most of the year, so now I'm in the process of updating a bunch of stuff on there... Among the new additions are 24 Bigfoot on Film titles, 30 Knievel Rock songs, two 2010 Robbie Knievel Timeline dates, a couple items on Bigfoot Is Real, and one new addition to Knievel Injuries... Plus, Super Ichiro Crazy is again up to speed, now that his 2010 season is in the books.

Elsewhere, there's still a trickle of posts over at Quatchi Watch, and I made a new Flickr set of Seattle Mariners media guides (pictured above).

Now get reading.
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Ichiro vs. Kenny Powers

In 2006, Ichiro played for the Seattle Mariners, and Kenny played for "Seattle." How do they compare?

Height
Ichiro: 5'9"
Kenny: 5'8"

Weight
Ichiro: 160
Kenny: 210

Home
Ichiro: Kasugai, Japan
Kenny: Shelby County, North Carolina

Strengths
Ichiro: An excellent contact hitter, a speedy baserunner, and a nine-time Gold Glove winner
Kenny: An arm like a damn rocket, a cock like a Burmese python, and the mind of a fucking scientist

Favorite Bar
Ichiro: Saito’s Japanese Café & Bar
Kenny: Shh-Boom Shh-Booms

Hobbies
Ichiro: Collecting paintings, shopping for antique furniture, driving his Porsche, coin collecting, playing Go, playing golf, growing bonsai trees
Kenny: Getting drunk on the reg, fuckin' good times on the reg, yachts on the reg, sex on the reg, riding the Panty-Dropper (his Jet-Ski), cocaine

Memorable Quote
Ichiro: "August in Kansas City is hotter than two rats in a fucking wool sock."
Kenny: "I’m the man with the ball. I’m the man who can throw it faster than fuck. So that is why I’m better than everyone else in the world. Kiss my ass and suck my dick, everyone."

On Fashion
Ichiro: "The fashion sense Americans have is a crime."
Kenny (to girlfriend): "I know one of us has had their own personal stylist, and the other shoplifts their shit from Fashion Bug... You got clothes like a fuckin' dickhead."

On Seattle
Ichiro: "You can see water everywhere you go, which is very unique for an urban area in the States."
Kenny: "You should see my fuckin' cookouts, man. When I was back in Seattle, I had the goddamn Spoonman from the Soundgarden videos comin' to my shit. Oh yeah, I’m talkin' six grills burnin' at all times, tiki torches, three whole pigs, fuckin' shitloads of macaroni and cheeses, baked potatoes, collard greens, a horse, fuckin' Puerto Rican chicks showin' their pussies and tits off everywhere. They were amazing!"

UPDATE

Kenny: "Seattle can tongue-kiss my shithole."
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Way To Go, Ichiro!

Ichiro just reached 200 hits for the tenth consecutive season!

That's now the American League record for 200-hit seasons, and it ties Pete Rose for the Major League record. Most incredibly, it took Rose 17 seasons to reach the mark (he was 37 at the time); 36-year-old Ichiro's done it in ten.

Amazeballs!
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From Today's Ballgame...

Saw the M's edge the Rangers, 2-1.

Doppler was there too, fully clad in a basketball uniform.
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Ichiro a Go-Go, etc.

It's been too long since I've had anything in print, so I was stoked that today's mail brought the new issue of Zisk, containing my Ichiro a Go-Go article (it's mostly a bunch of factoids culled from my Super Ichiro Crazy! page). I was even more stoked that this picture I snapped at a game in May wound up on the cover!

Besides my stuff, there are an additional 14 pages of Ichiro goodness in the issue, including words by Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey and a comic by Slink Moss, plus stuff about Stephen Strasburg's awesome Nationals debut and Adrian Beltre's bum testicle... Send $3 to Zisk, 147 Route 164, Patterson, NY 12563.

Speaking of Ichiro, here was my view of him Tuesday night:

And speaking of baseball, it's cool that Junior is the cover star of the upcoming DVD Baseball: The Tenth Inning, Ken Burns's follow-up to his epic 1994 Baseball documentary:

That is all.
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Flip Flop Fly Ball!

"A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly Ball."

Lotsa good-ass stuff here -- I especially like these Flopps baseball cards.

Of course, this post is mainly an excuse to highlight this sweet Ichiro card.








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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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Weekend Wrap

Saturday I attended Turn-Back-the-Clock day at Safeco Field, with the M's clad in their turquoise jerseys from 1995. Ichiro looked sharp, giving a curtain call after scoring his 1,000th career run. Otherwise, the less said about the embarrassing 11-2 drubbing by the Angels, the better.

Today, after breakfast today at Johnny's at Fife, we hit Tacoma's Washington State History Museum for Giants in the Mountains: The Search for Sasquatch.

It was pretty cool, but it was also pretty much the same exhibit, with the same name and promotional materials, as the one we saw in 2008 at the State Capital Museum in Olympia. This time, however, I bought a souvenir Bigfoot snow globe.

While in T-Town we hit a bunch of thrift stores, drove through Point Defiance Park and had lunch at the fabulous Frisko Freeze:

We also stopped for a quick photo op at the Goofy Goose:

On our way home, heading north on the First Avenue South Bridge, we spotted this:

Despite Bigfoot's endorsement, we instead dined at Smith.

UPDATE

Also on Saturday, 48-year-old Robbie Knievel jumped a bunch of stuff in Texas, his first performance in nine months.
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