Here’s a clip from a very early movie, still funny over 40 years later…

What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie or scene?

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Note: These photos came from my cell phone camera. There may be other pictures posted later.

Any questions, just ask. Besides Petra and me, you might even notice a couple pictures of our friends Mama O and Liz. Take a look! Leave a comment if you want, I’ll be waiting….

Seattle/Bumbershoot 2011 photos

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Looking forward to it, big time. What about you?

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Here’s what I wrote a couple years ago:

Woody is one of America’s greatest filmmakers and humorists. A short overview of his life and career is here on Wikipedia. But that does not do it justice. The man has been making very-good-to-outstanding films since the 60s and continues today. And that is not to even mention his books, plays, or even his clarinet playing. He is one of the truly great artists of our time and I honor him by wishing him a wonderful birthday.

And it still rings true. Back then, I listed my top 11 Woody Allen Films, in case you were wondering about that too

Why not leave me a comment below? It’s free and it just *might* make you rich and famous. Maybe not, but isn’t it worth a try?

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Woody explores the familiar theme of infidelity but also the ultimate question of whether happiness can last and is it even possible? And if it is, can we find it only if we leave reality behind? Heavy thoughts. It’s a very good film that should make you think but hopefully enjoy at the same time. Recommended, but remember it’s not a romantic comedy or a Bruce Willis action flick. Have you seen it? If so, what did you think?

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Friday September 3

And a happy birthday to the daughter too. We started the day, as with the past few, by having a light breakfast in the room. Then we were outta there, to walk a few blocks to the monorail station. We took the two-minute train to the Seattle Center, because it was the day before the Bumbershoot Music and Arts festival. The day before? So what, you say? Ha. Yeah. Well, they open up the visual art exhibits a day early (for one thing), so we got a great chance to check all the art a day early before all the crowds were there. And it was totally great, just like every year. After a while of this we finished and then picked up our Bumbershoot Gold Passes. Yep, we bought some VIP treatment but not the Platinum. That takes the big money!

Art, gold passes, monorail, wow doesn’t that make you hungry? Well it did us! A few blocks away was Pacliacci Pizza so we stopped by for a slice. We actually had a two-for-one coupon from last year and they honored it no problem. The pizza was pretty good too. Then it was across the street to Easy Street Records. We shopped quite a while and found some CDs that we absolutely positively needed wanted. Same old story for us! After, we took the monorail back to the hotel so we could drop off the CDs, passes, and other stuff.

Then back to the Seattle Center to check out the preparations for the next day’s start of the Festival. Almost here, after all this waiting! We hung out at the International Fountain for a bit, which is always great, and then it was time for the Film Festival preview. As part of the Bumbershoot Festival there is a Film Festival and if you RSVP early enough you get to go to the free preview on Friday night. We saw about six or so short films, maybe ninety minutes or so total. These are always interesting, sometimes strange and sometimes funny and sometimes touching. But always fun to see.

By then we were hungry again. Lucky for us, a couple blocks away was the Bamboo Garden, a totally vegetarian restaurant with hundreds of items on the menu. As a long-time vegetarian, it’s often frustrating to go to a restaurant and only have one or two choices. But not here. We can eat anything. And so we did. And then we were full. We caught the monorail back to the hotel and started studying the schedule for the next day’s opening of the Festival. There are some 15 or so stages and venues all going at the same time for about 12 hours each day, so you have to make some hard choices. But it’s all good. So we got a little sleep, with visions of Bumbershoots dancing in our heads.

Saturday September 4

Festival. Day one. No need for breakfast yet, we took the monorail to the Seattle Center and went in the through the Gold Pass entrance. First we grabbed a couple comedy passes for the day. You can get passes for one comedy show each day, and/or else you can stand in line hoping that there is room. We tend to like a sure thing. Got it. And there was this too: we had also RSVP’d quickly a while back for the KEXP “secret Bumbershoot lounge” and managed to get tickets to six shows there! This is another stage at the festival but not one that too many people get to go to. It’s small and intimate, maybe a hundred and fifty or so people, maybe even less. So we picked up our tickets to those shows, which we saw at various times on all three Festival days. More about these shows later. We ate some food in the Gold/Platinum hospitality area then went to the Starbucks lounge. Why? Well, Starbucks allowed people to RSVP early (sound like a familiar theme?) for a pass that would get you into their free lounge all three days and while there you get free Starbucks drinks. Anything they had was free. Hard to argue with that, huh?

For the first actual event of the festival, Petra wanted to see a dance performance called Ricochet so she went there. I went to a different stage and saw an LA band, The Submarines. They had a catchy “indie” sound and I watched most of their set. Walking around after, I caught a couple songs by Idiot Pilot, who I didn’t like at all (screamo and not interesting) and Star Anna (Americana, with a nice voice, but the songs didn’t hold my interest). So I met back up with Petra and we went to our day’s comedy show, It was called “Never Not Funny” and it was amusing. Not gut-busting laughter but still good. Then we headed to our first show in the “secret stage”. It was The Ravonettes, a band from Denmark. I had liked a Christmas song by them and now this show did not disappoint at all. They were really good in a short set. They were playing a longer set at a non-secret stage later in the day, but this short set was a really nice taste of their music. Their mixture of psych guitar and smooth male/female vocals was great and we both liked them a lot.

Next we went to the Main Stage to see the second half of the set by The Decemberists. I like this band a lot and they sounded really good live too. Then we walked to a different stage and saw most of a set by Bob Schneider. Neither of us had heard much about him but he was good, Petra liked him quite a bit and I enjoyed the set too. We tried to see current buzz band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes but got there after they started and the crowd was just too big. Of course, we were eating here and there during the day too, in case you were wondering about that. After all it is a festival with great food and the hospitality lounge had snacks and food all day too. Next it was back to the main stage for a few songs by Neko Case, who we had seen there a few years ago too. She has a nice voice but we were actually getting a good spot for the day’s headliner Bob Dylan. You might have heard of him, hahaha. He’s a legend and I really like his 60s and 70s stuff but had never seen him live. Well, now I have. And I don’t need to do that again. I heard people say he was great that night but IMHO he was certainly not. His band was good but he spat out the songs and growled the lyrics so that almost no words were understandable and the songs were reworked to be almost unrecognizable. It was a major disappointment and we left halfway through. That was plenty. Seriously, his lyrics and songs are his claim to fame, but those things weren’t around that night so we headed out to see someone different. Petra and our friend Mama O went to see Ozamatli and I went to see the rest of the evening set by The Raveonettes. Sure, Dylan was a disappointment to all of us, but the rest of the day was great! Day one was a big success for us! And so we headed back to the hotel to look at the schedule for tomorrow’s day two and to get some sleep.

More about days two and three soon…

Pictures coming soon too…

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Tuesday August 31

We took the Super Shuttle to the airport, and you know, once you are on the shuttle then you are on vacation. It was a quick flight to the Seattle Airport (SEA-TAC). The city of Seattle recently built a light rail line from downtown to the airport (they are way ahead of us) so we tried it. It was much better than a bus and only $2.50. We checked into our hotel, The Camlin, and even thought we were a little early our room was ready. Nice. First stop for us hungry travelers was nearby Cyber-Dogs. This is a great place, all vegetarian, with awesome and filling dogs with lots of toppings and combinations. Suitably stuffed, we went to the grocery store and bought a few supplies to keep with us back at the hotel for quick breakfasts and snacks. Then we took a walk up to the nearby Capital Hill neighborhood. We had been told about a great bookstore (Elliot Bay Bookstore), which we visited, and just by chance there was a record store next door (Everyday Music). So what could we do but go there too! We helped out both stores financially. On the way back we picked up a little Black Butte Porter for the hotel refrigerator and realized we were hungry again. We grabbed some to-go food at a PF Chang’s near the hotel and took it back there to eat. This was a very good first day.

Wednesday September 1

We had a light breakfast in the room and then were ready to head out into the great city of Seattle. First, though, we watched a WorldMark presentation about becoming an owner. We are not going to become an owner, but they did give us a $75 gift card for watching. Nice. Actually receiving some money on a vacation, what a nice change! Then we went out, walking down Pine Street toward the waterfront. Right near Pike Place Market we stopped at Piroshky Piroshky and had a piroshky (makes sense, right?). They are delicious. We walked through the huge marketplace and to the ferry pier where we took a ferry ride to Bremerton. It’s about an hour ride and really nice and peaceful. And pretty too. We had ridden a ferry in Seattle before but not to Bremeberton. It turns out that they are developing the area near the ferry terminal there into a collection of galleries, shops, cafes, etc. How cool to stumble onto that! We looked around for a while and then took the ferry back to Seattle. Of course we were hungry again! And we were drawn to a familiar place from previous trips, Mamas Mexican Food. After a huge and delicious plate of food and a couple margaritas, I was ready to get on with the vacation. We walked from there to the Seattle Center. We sat for a while by the International Fountain, which is always soothing and cool. Next stop was the nearby Silver Platters music store, where we managed to find a few more CDs (what a surprise!). Then we took the monorail back to the hotel. Another fun day…

Thursday September 2

Once again we had a little light breakfast in the room and went out to greet the day. We walked the few blocks to the monorail station and it took us to our destination, the Experience Music Project. Seriously, if you like music you HAVE to visit this museum and allow plenty of time. We like it so much we are actually charter members and renew every year! We had some lunch at the nearby Kidd Valley (gardenburger, onion rings) and then caught a free bus downtown. Seattle has excellent public transportation, including a free ride zone downtown and the surrounding area. We need some of their public transportation know-how around here. But anyway, our next stop was Seattle’s City Hall. On display there was an art exhibit of 40 Years of Bumbershoot Posters. Yep, the artwork for the Festival, always nice art and it was fun to look at some of the artist lineups for previous years. Then we walked down (up?) the street to the Seattle Art Museum. After about ten years of coming to Seattle, we finally made it to the SAM. Good timing too, since there was an interesting exhibit about Kurt Cobain and also an Andy Warhol media exhibit. And the best news? Oh yeah, the first Thursday of each month is FREE. Yes, today! Free! I love it. I would have paid but I’d rather not. Of course, those two exhibits I mentioned were the special exhibits. They also had all the permanent collection of the museum. We spent quite a bit of time there and both enjoyed it. But wait! There’s more. We walked over to the First Thurday Art Walk. We checked out the vendors and a few shops. By that time we were getting hungry and we started walking back to the hotel, looking for a restaurant on the way. We found one, Pabla Indian. Plenty of vegetarian choices (as usual for Indian food). We finished the walk, much fuller, and found ourselves back at the hotel. Another great day in Seattle!

Coming soon – The rest of the vacation! Check back…

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Any thoughts about it so far? Who are you going to see? Who do you think we should see? Almost every act has been announced by now, so I won’t list them all. It’s all on the web site. Here are some helpful links:

Main web site:
http://www.bumbershoot.org

Printable PDF artist lineup, schedules, and map, which includes the new venue that is replacing “the pit” (aka the Exhibition Hall)
http://bumbershoot.org/info/pdf/

Online lineup and scheduling tool:
http://sched.bumbershoot.org/

Miscellaneous info:
http://bumbershoot.org/info/about-bumbershoot/

Info about the free 40-years-of-Bumbershoot poster show (thru Sept. 7):
http://bumbershoot.org/40/umbrella-for-the-arts-40-years-of-bumbershoot-artwork/

Downloadable icons, wallpaper, and cellphone stuff:
http://bumbershoot.org/bumberfan/downloads.htm

Platinum/Gold Pass info:
http://bumbershoot.org/tickets/platinum-gold/

Buy tickets and ticket info:
http://bumbershoot.org/tickets/

That’s all for now…

Get stevenology by email

Follow stevenology on twitter

Well, to start off, I’m full and happy after a lunch at Curry Corner. It’s a great Indian Food lunch buffet here in the Natomas area. All you can eat and all gooooood.

Last night we saw an advance screening of a new movie, City Island (web site, more info, even more info). It’s a very funny comedy with heart. We were laughing out loud and so was everyone else in the theater. Great writing, brisk pace, and funny! Go see it!

And let’s be sure to add some April birthday wishes for my sister Steph, my ex-sister-in-law Connie, and our friend Jared (the big 30).

And talking about Jared, he just started up a food-related blog over at JaredEatsWorld. Go visit and tell him stevenology sent you!

Last Friday night we went to see the Sacramento Rivercats baseball game. It was fun, always is, but they lost. They choked at the end. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

OK, faithful readers, what do you think of all THAT?