A Week in Seattle Jam Packed With Fun!

After a week of steam cleaning carpets, trying new chicken recipes, and much laundry I find myself refreshed and ready to take on another week of wayfaring, starting off this morning here in Calgary with a cup of coffee. Everyone keeps telling me how beautiful Calgary is, but besides the nice gas stations and different shaped billboard signs, I don't see what's so great about it.

Ah, but the chicken! First I dipped the chicken breasts in olive oil, then flour, then a mixture of crushed up croutons and corn flakes. Then I seared both sides and popped them in the oven for about 1/2 hour baking at 325 degrees. They came out tender and juicy...that along with the steam cleaning and laundry has proved I will make a great homemaker some day! Adam and I worked out the kinks for another story he's working on about Ryan Henry Ward, an article of whom was found on the Seattle P-I and can be read here.

Adam Bale shooting some inspiring B-roll!

Well what else did I do with my week? I burst in on some couples playing Apples to Apples and dragged them to a President's Party on Valentines Day. I went to a "blind reading" of some local (Seattle) playwrights, one of whom is my friend Andrea Koval, a former Nickel-Plated Wayfarer herself! I also went to the dentist and am happy to report no cavities. So that was my week off work. I'm happy to end this work-week in Los Angeles because it's damned cold in Canada and I don't read Celcius.

Remembering the Alamo

The past week has been a sprint to the finish as I sit here at the Birmingham Int'l Airport awaiting my last day before a week-long break. Last Wednesday I hung out in San Antonio, which turns out to be quite a nice city. My favorite part was visiting the Alamo, where Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna lead an invasion against the U.S. way back in 1836. The Alamo also made a cameo in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.


Over the weekend I spent some good times hanging out at home with my brother Andy, whose hair has gotten long enough for me to put it in a pony-tail:

In other news, another Seattle Channel video Adam Bale and I produced over the summer is available for viewing here. We spent a night enjoying the crowd of performers singing songs from their favorite musicals as the scenes they picked played along in the background. It was one of my favorite projects with the Seattle Channel, so have a look! We're about 13:50 minutes into the show.

I'm beat and this upcoming break couldn't come any sooner. The next week I plan on doing nothing but using my kitchen and spending time with familiar faces. Now on to Dallas to get this shit done!

Shish Kabobs, Cattle Drives and Mexican Lasagna

Last week I was in the Northeast and had nothing to report but a couple mean teachers with Jersey accents.

On Saturday, me and the boys made shish kabobs on my little football shaped grill:



We had a great time drinking beer, grilling, and playing music on our old six-strings. Great to be back in Seattle, where I have my own kitchen. I miss cooking.

In Birmingham, Monday's seminar was canceled so I took an earlier flight to Dallas-Fort Worth to rent a car and find Townes Van Zandt's headstone. Townes is one of my favorite song writers, and I figured that he surely would be celebrated in Fort Worth, where he was born. I had no access to the internet so I found a place called "The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame." I figured someone there would surely know where his grave was. Maybe there was even a little museum or something dedicated to him. At the visitors center, I met two old fellas with cowboy gear and hearing aids. After spending a good amount of time explaining I wasn't looking for the town of Van Zandt but the headstone of Townes Van Zandt, we figured out it was at Dido Cemetary, which neither of them had ever heard of. The phone book didn't have any record of it. Nor did directory assistance. Finally we pulled out an old Fort Worth directory book and found my Dido Cemetary, about 1/2 hour northeast of town.

Before I left, my two new friends suggested I stick around the Fort Worth Stockyards for a bit and wait for the cattle drive. I grabbed a beer (to go) and walked around, meeting some nice cowboys before their daily run:

Meeting one of the last authentic cowboys of Fort Worth, TX

Enjoying a test run while I waited for the cattle drive

Trying to take a picture of myself in front of the
longhorns making their daily walk down the avenue

I had a great time watching the show, but it was past 4pm and I needed to get to Dido Cemetary before sunset. The drive out was beautiful, except for the police officer that pulled me over for speeding. He let me off with a warning, which I was greatful for. Then I inquired about where I might find Dido Cemetary. "It's right there," he said, and pointed across the street.

I pulled in and called a phone number from a sign that said "For questions about Dido Cemetary, please call..." A nice old lady answered the phone and directed me to the "Van Zandt Plot," where I finally found Townes's headstone:


My adventure had ended with this tombstone, and I sat with Townes for a little while, drinking a beer and thinking about his sad life and songs that have become part of the soundtrack to my life:

Days, up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
But don't turn none away.
Everything is not enough
And nothin' is to much to bear.
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the getting there.

I had my moment with Townes and said goodbye, heading back towards town to get a good meal in with my friend Aaron Bale, who had made Mexican Lasagna that was waiting for me in Arlington along with his girlfriend Sarah and her son Aiden. It was a great meal, but the only picture I have is one Aiden took of his cat: