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The first weekend in August was the Twins Peaks festival in North Bend, Washington. I sent my friend John a link about it months ago and he said that we should go.So, we went. John was one of the reasons I first started watching Twin Peaks. The Twin Peaks podcast was another. I remember thinking it was a weird show and not being into it much at first, but I liked it more as I went along.

He flew up to Portland the night before the festival . We had some drinks at my apartment and caught up with each other. The next day, partially because we were hungover, partially because we wanted to do some things in Portland, and partially because we got stuck in some bad traffic in Washington, we didn’t make to North Bend until later that night. We got there just in time for movie night, missing the activities earlier in the day. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who arrived at that time. I got to meet Matt and Mel for the first time. I had known of them online for a while from the The Twin Peaks Podcast, Carny Cast, and appearances on other podcasts. Then I became their co-host on our own podcast.

The next day we got up early went on the filming location tour. Matt and Mel were on the same tour as us. It was great seeing many places that were used in the show. That night was the celebrity dinner and costume contest. Several actors from the show were there like Kimmy Robertson, Chris Mulkey, Wendy Robie, Sherilyn Fenn, etc. Jenn Lynch and James Marshall had to back out due to other commitments. I got autographs and pics with Kimmy Robertson and Chris Mulkey. They were both very cool.

On the last day, John and I had breakfast at Twede’s with Matt, Mel, and others. We had to skip the rest of the day’s activities so we could head back to Portland. We hit a few stops in Portland and John left for Mississippi the next day.

I had a great time at the Twin Peaks Festival. It was great to hang with John, meet Matt and Mel, and make some new friends. It’s not something I would do every year, but I could see myself going back some time in the future.

Time to catch up on blogging.

Back on July 18, I went to see Tori Amos perform and the Oregon Zoo. I was a fan of her hit songs back in the 90s when she first became famous. It wasn’t until I met my good friend John that I became a big fan of hers. I haven’t heard much of her more recent stuff, but I was still excited when I heard that she was coming to Portland.

I knew that the zoo has a summer concert series, but I had never been to see a show there before. It was cool. Not too far from the left of the stage you could see elephants roaming around. I wonder what they must have been thinking while the concert was going on. Tori had an opening act. It was a man and woman, each with a guitar. I’m not an expert on British accents, but they sounded like they were Scottish or Irish. After they left, Tori took the stage. She was wonderful. She didn’t have a band. It was just her and a piano and/or a keyboard. I recognized a lot of songs, even if I couldn’t remember the names or lyrics. Some of the songs I know by heart. I had a little bit of a moment during “Little Earthquakes”. I’m not ashamed to admit that. At one point she stopped playing to tell the security guys to allow some girls to keep dancing down front. Very cool.

All in a all, it was a great show. Not the kind of concert I’m used to going to. If I get a chance to see her again, I’m sure I will.

I know I’ve mentioned my good friend John on here before.  We’re both big music fans.  When we first started hanging out back in Starkville, MS, we spent a lot of time introducing each other to new music, mostly songs by Tori Amos and Pearl Jam.  He’s a big Tori Amos fan.  I had heard some of her big hits, but he introduced me to many more of her songs.  I’m a big Pearl Jam fan.  He had heard some of their big hits, but I introduced him to many more of their songs.  I made copies of many of my Pearl Jam albums for him and he did the same for me with his Tori Amos albums.

John has hundreds of CDs.  A lot of time he had to shuffle through his many CD cases to find a particular song that he was looking for.  If we were going somewhere together, sometimes it would take a long time to leave because he had to find the right song to listen to.  I suggested that he  get mp3 player.  He got the idea, but never got around to buying one.  At one point I was researching a Zune (yes, a Zune) for myself even though I didn’t have nearly as many CDs as him.

We became roommates after a while.  When he got a job out of town and had to move away, I got him an iPod as a going away present.  I didn’t get myself an iPod until later that year.  John had to leave pretty quickly, so he didn’t move all of his stuff out of our apartment immediately.  I spent the next few weeks ripping all of his music to his iPod.  I even put a lot of Pearl Jam songs on there.

This is around the time of the year that he started that job 6 years ago.  He  tells me that he still uses his iPod every day at work. Every once in a while I’ll get a text or email with a lyric from a Pearl Jam song that he’s discovered or gotten into lately.  Today he sent me lyrics from a song called “Wishlist” and I immediately starting getting nostalgic.

Man, why are most of my close friends so far away?

Earlier in the month, we had about 4 days of snow. It was the most snow I’ve seen since I moved to Portland. This coincided with my assignment ended at work. I ended up getting a week off from work unexpectedly and started a new assignment the following week. The new assignment is going well so far. I really like the team.

Podcasting has been going well. It’s taking up a lot of my time, but it’s a lot of fun

I didn’t get a chance to take the swimming class I was supposed to start in January that I had signed up for because I was working late. I signed up for another class that started in Feb. I’m enjoying it. I might not be good at all the kicks and whatnot, but at least I’m comfortable in the water. I need to work on floating on and swimming on my back.

I’m glad work isn’t as crazy as it was in January. Things almost feel normal again around here.

I have been listening to podcasts for years, but now I have become a podcaster myself.  I’ve been a guests on podcasts before.  I’ve thought about doing my own for years.  I even had a podcast about The Legend of the Seeker set up in iTunes a few years ago, but never did it because I couldn’t find a cohost.  Now I’ve finally motivated myself enough to do it.  Beginning this month, I’ll be on two introcasts (introductory podcasts).

One is called Intro to  Brisco.  It’s a podcast about The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.  My cohost Caitlin and I are new to the series.  I’ve been meaning to watch this show for a while.  I bought the DVDs about 3 or 4 years ago, but never got around to them.  Now I have a chance.  I’ve heard good things about it. Matt and Mel are veterans of the show.  We just spend 3 hours recording our first episode.  The pilot episode of Brisco was 2 hours and we had lots of feedback.

The other one is called Downbelow: A Babylon 5 IntroCast.  As you can probably tell, it’s a podcast about Babylon 5, which is one of my favorite TV shows ever.  Cohost Ian is also a veteran and Elisabeth and Heidi are newbies.  I’m so excited to introduce people to this show.  We’ve released 2 episodes already.  The pilot movie was 2 hours and it took a long time to cover it.

I’m having fun so far doing these podcasts.  It’s a lot of work.  I hope people understand that I’m new and it will take a little while for everyone to become comfortable.  I’m learning a lot.  I got some new equipment this past week and learning how to properly use it has been a slightly frustrating experience.  I’m also learning audio editing using Audacity.  Give these shows a try if they sound interested.  Constructive criticism is appreciated.

I had a good Christmas this year.  I decided to remain in Portland this year. It’s nice to spend a holiday resting instead of traveling.  I missed seeing my family, but I didn’t mind missing out on the airports. I worked on Christmas Eve for the first time ever, but I did take a vacation from work beginning on Christmas Day and ending on New Year’s Day. On Christmas Day I saw two movies, two of many movies I plan to see during my break. I’m going to a game night on New Year’s Eve, but that’s the only social activity.  I have planned.

What did I get for my birthday and Christmas? My friends and family took very good care of me this year.

• Grimm lore book
• Batman figure
• The Shining by Stephen King
• Princess Mononoke on DVD
• 2(x)ist underwear
• Pizza pan
• Beanie
• Enterprise-D model
• C.O.P.S. Vol. 1 and 2 on DVD
• Batman snuggie

I sent my niece a toy Dora the Explorer guitar. I hear that she really liked it and was doing air guitar not long before she got her gift.

I’ve been playing the Xbox One and the PS4 a lot lately. I pre-ordered then both so I would have them at launch. The PS4 actually came a few days late because of a screw up by Amazon, but I have had a good amount of time with both of them.

In spite of a few bugs, I am pleased with both consoles. I don’t buy the mentality that you should never buy anything when it’s first released because it’ll have issues. I’m hearing a lot of people say, “I’m glad I waited.” Well, unless it’s hardware failure, I can deal with the issues. Most issues I have can be fixed by a simple reboot. Hopefully, Sony and Microsoft will have patches out soon. I think I read somewhere that less than 1% of people are getting the light of death, whatever color it is now. Every launch is going to have some problems. It just seems like a lot of people are being affected because so many people are buying them right now. The only real issue I had was with audio and that was because my sound system’s receiver is old. I found a new receiver for a good price and that fixed that.

The graphics on both consoles are gorgeous. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting a big improvement in graphics. Now I realize that it shouldn’t have been a surprise. My favorite one is the Xbox One. The PS4 probably has the better graphics, but the Xbox One experience is better. I have enough games on each system to last a while. I hope this generation of consoles lasts at least as long as the last one.

I had such a great time at the Pearl Jam concert I went to last night. Pearl Jam is my favorite band ever, for those that don’t know. Instead of Black Friday, I celebrated Pearl Jam Friday! I saw them 4 weeks after I last saw them at Voodoo Fest.

I woke up around 7am and I saw online that there were about 14 people in line for general admission seating as of 6am. I didn’t have time for that. I had a few things to do early in the day. I went to go pick up my tickets at 2:30 when the fan club’s will call windows opened. Each show (not counting Voodoo Fest) had a general admission “pit” area on the floor right in front of the stage for fan club members. Behind the pit was a seated section for fan club members. I requested tickets in the pit. I’ve been a member of the Pearl Jam fan club since 1998. That gives me a great priority because my membership number is fairly low. If people let their membership expire, they start over and get a new, higher number. Back when I saw them in 2000 and 2003, I got 4th and 2nd row seats. I’m sure that my priority and the fact that a lot of people probably chose to get Seattle (Pearl Jam’s home base) tickets instead of Portland helped me get the GA floor seats that I wanted. You have to buy fan club tickets in pairs. I found someone in a Facebook group I’m in to buy my other ticket. She and a friend were coming from Italy to attend a few shows on the tour. I can’t remember if she said it was her first time in the U.S. or just her first time in Portland.

The will call line was really short. After that I tackled the LONG merchandise line. Merchandise is very popular on Pearl Jam tours. They have unique stickers, t-shirts, and posters for each stop on the tour. Fans trade with each other or sell it online. It took my about an hour to get through the line. I picked up a poster, a t-shirt, and 2 stickers. I’m usually not into this type of stuff, but for Pearl Jam I’ll make an exception. After that I went to put my merchandise in my car and warm up using the heater a little bit. I parked in the garage next to the arena.

After about 45 minutes in my car, I went to wait in the GA line. The sooner you got there, the better. I didn’t’t have a bad spot, but I definitely wasn’t going to be right up against the rail. I met some pretty cool people in line. There was a father who was there with his teenage son. After about 2 hours there, we finally got to go inside. Everyone rushed so they could get a good spot. My spot was 4 people deep, slightly to the right of the center of the stage. Nice!

About an hour and a half later the opening act, Mudhoney, came on stage at 7:30. I don’t know much about them, but apparently they were a precursor to grunge and they greatly influenced Pearl Jam. They played for only 30 minutes. Thank goodness! I was tired of waiting. Then at 8:30, Pearl Jam took the stage.

Oh my goodness! This was an amazing show! It’s not just my opinion. The crowd was really into it. I later saw posts online from people show saw the setlist (it changes every night) and thought it was exceptional. There was a 60ish pot-smoking lady who was there with her daughters. I danced with her and one of her daughters some. Pearl Jam played a few songs from the new ablum, which I’m not as familiar with as I am the older stuff. Most of the show was older stuff that I could sing along to pretty much word for word. They played “You Are”, which they haven’t played in years. I was also surprised to hear “Sometimes”, “Rats”, “Deep”, and “Mother”. They didn’t play one of my favorites “Do the Evolution” like they did in New Orleans, but they more than made up for it with one of my favorites from the same album, “Low Light”. And they played many of the hits like “Alive”, “Even Flow”, “Black”, “Porch”, and “Rearviewmirror”. They were really into it and had lots of energy. At one point they mentioned that this was the best crowd they’ve had in Portland since ‘92 or ’93. The building was packed. There were a few times when I’m pretty sure Eddie was looking right at me while he was singing. I tried not to look away out of nervousness. I don’t usually get nervous around celebrities. Also, there was once were he spoke from the stage to a couple immediately to my left and a guy immediately behind me and to my right. They made a couple of mistakes during the show, but they laughed it off instead of getting upset about it. During the last song, “Rockin in the Free World”, a bunch of people came on stage to play with them, including Sleater-Kinney and Peter Buck from R.E.M.

They left the stage for the last time right at 11:30. They played for 3 hours!!! 3 HOURS!!! After all the standing, jumping up and down, and dancing, it was hard for me to move my legs to leave the building. I could barely move for the last few songs. I ripped part of my thumbnail off during the show somehow. I have no idea how it happened.

My only complaints I had about the night were because of the pit. The couple that Eddie spoke to was rude to people and didn’t’t care that they were being rude because it was the husband’s birthday. And you had the people who would try to push their way up closer. There were times when it was so cramped that I couldn’t really move. I didn’t mind that we were bumping into each other a lot, but it wouldn’t have been nice I could’ve moved my arms more. I had to be a dick and shove some people back who tried to get in front of me. They should’ve gotten there earlier if they wanted better seats. The couple who was being rude earlier actually stopped some people from sneaking in front of me, so in my head I forgave them a little. Every time I would start getting upset, Pearl Jam would play a song I really liked or Eddie would say something cool and I would start to feel good again.

So, yeah, I had a great time at the show. Right now I believe it’s my #1 concert ever. I’m excited to buy the official bootleg in a few months! I’ll make every effort to be there the next time Pearl Jam is in Portland. My favorite part of the night was one of the many times Eddie came down front to interact with the crowd. This time he came into the crowd a little right next to where I was. There were only about 3 people between me and him. If I hadn’t hesitated and moved forward when others did, I could have been one of the people that got a fist bump. I waved at him and he either waved back at me or to the guy standing near me. Look at the pic below and see how close I was to one of my idols.

SETLIST
1. PENDULUM
2. LOW LIGHT
3. SOMETIMES
4. INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE
5. CORDUROY
6. LIGHTNING BOLT
7. MIND YOUR MANNERS
8. ANIMAL
9. DEEP
10. SIRENS
11. EVEN FLOW
12. YOU ARE
13. GIVEN TO FLY
14. INFALLIBLE
15. AFTER HOURS (Lou Reed)
16. SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE
17. RATS
18. LUKIN
19. LAST EXIT
20. REARVIEWMIRROR

ENCORE 1
21. THE END
22. YELLOW MOON
23. ALL THOSE YESTERDAYS
24. JUST BREATHE
25. MOTHER
26. STATE OF LOVE AND TRUST
27. WHY GO
28. PORCH

ENCORE 2
29. BETTER MAN / SAVE IT FOR LATER (TAG)
30. WASTED REPRISE
31. LIFE WASTED
32. BLACK
33. ALIVE
34. ROCKIN IN THE FREE WORLD (with Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and all of Sleater-Kinney)

This past weekend I went to New Orleans for Voodoo Fest. I met my friend John down there. We’d been looking forward to this since we last met up in Reno back in June. This was the first time I had been to New Orleans and Voodoo Fest since Voodoo Fest 2007.

On Friday, I flew to New Orleans. It is a LONG way from Portland to New Orleans. My first stop on the way there was at L.A.X. My plane landed around the time of the L.A.X. shooting that was in the news. We did sit on the runway for a while before we parked. Maybe the shooting was why. Everything was calm in the area I was in. I didn’t even know about the shooting until I got on wifi and checked Twitter. Once we made it to New Orleans the local news interviewed some of the people on our flight about it. John picked me up at the airport. He was worried because one of the flights from L.A. to New Orleans was delayed because of the shooting. After taking my stuff to the hotel and catching up a little bit, we headed to Voodoo Fest. We missed Macklemore & Lewis, but soon it was time for Pearl Jam. They put on a great show! They are an excellent live band! They played a few songs from the new album, but it was mostly older favorites. They played the songs I would’ve been disappointed if I didn’t hear: “Given to Fly” and “Do the Evolution”. I was surprised to hear “In My Tree”. John’s not as big of a Pearl Jam fan as me. He really likes “Do the Evolution”, so I’m glad they played it. After the show, I think we drank before calling it a night. We slept for 11 hours. I blame it on the jet lag and staying up late.

On Saturday I think we got something to eat and then headed back to the park. While walking around the park, we heard the end of Paramore’s set, but after that it was time for Nine Inch Nails. They started a lot earlier than the schedule said, so I’m glad we got there early. They also put on a great show. I’m not as big of a NIN fan as John. They played the song he really wanted to hear: “Reptile”. I think they played a lot of new songs, or maybe just songs that I’m not as familiar with. I got more pumped up during “Wish” than I did the entire night. They played one of the songs I really wanted to hear: “The Hand that Feeds”. I wish they would have played “Closer”, but it was still a great show.

On Sunday, we skipped Voodoo Fest entirely. We had talked about going to see Kid Rock and The Cure that night, but decided against it. It was too much of a hassle going to the park and back. We did some shopping and then hung out with one of John’s old friends, Elizabeth. She lives in New Orleans. I’ve hung out with her a few times over the years. She’s very cool. We did a little bar hopping and lost some money at the casino. Then we went to a club where Elizabeth’s boyfriend was DJing later in the night. We ended up leaving before his 2:30am performance because we were all tired.

On Monday, I flew back to Portland. It’s always sad coming back after having a great time with friends. I’m grateful that I got to go. Both Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails play in Portland later this month, so I’ll get to see them again. I got sick on this trip like I did at P.A.X. John is suffering the same symptoms I am. I think my next trip will be February at the earliest. It’ll be nice to spend time at home on weekends.

This past weekend I attended the 2nd annual Rose City Comic Con here in Portland. Year 2 was much, much bigger and better than Year 1. They partnered up with Emerald City Comic Con out of Seattle to make the event better. They moved from the Doubletree Hotel to the Oregon Convention Center. They had a lot more panels and a lot more celebrities. Even the cosplay was greatly improved.

On Saturday I got there about half an hour before it opened up at 10 AM. They had a special line for people who had picked up their badges early (I did at a kick-off party the night before). The con workers told a lot of us to get into the wrong line. When the exhibition hall opened, I could see people walking around, but we weren’t being allowed in even though they realized their mistake. I was annoyed already. Once I got in I saw the place where you could pay for photo ops. I paid to get photos with Jewel Staite, Avery Brooks, and David Giuntoli. I saw the area where celebrities were signing autographs. Even though I said I wouldn’t get autographs, I decided to get Jewel Staite’s autograph for my friend John. He’s a big Firefly fan and one of the main reasons why I became a fan. Jewel was fashionably late to her table. I checked her Twitter account and she had tweeted earlier that she was in Portland, but she had a sore throat. Everyone cheered when she got there. She was very nice and gorgeous. After that I caught the end of the Christopher Judge panel while I waited for the Avery Brooks panel. Christopher Judge was funny and entertaining, but Avery Brooks was just weird. I had heard that he was crazy, but it was still a site to see. The moderator was afraid to ask questions after the first couple. I think most of the audience was uncomfortable at times. Jewel Staite had her panel next. She was adorable. She’s very good at taking bad audience questions and giving good answers. She’s obviously been doing this for a while. After that I went to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s panel, which was great. My last panel of the day was David Giuntoli’s. It was fun, but I had to leave early to get in line to get my photo made with Jewel Staite. I got there 15 minutes early like they told me to and the line was already huge. This line moved quickly though once they started taking photos. I might have been a little curt with her. I was tired, I hadn’t eaten in almost 12 hours, and I was trying not to take up a lot of time especially since I had already spoken to her earlier in the day. She’s probably seen it all, so it probably didn’t register with her.

I didn’t have to be there as early on Sunday as I did on Saturday. I think I got there around noon. The first thing I did was go to the exhibition hall to get Kelly Sue DeConnick’s autograph. She’s so cool! Then I went to Matt Fraction’s panel. Also, very cool! He’s a really funny guy. At some point during the day I got his autograph for the 2nd year in a row, but I can’t remember when. I also saw a bunch of people from work. After Fraction, I went to the Stargate panel. Seeing Stargate people all weekend made me decide that it’s finally time to watch this show. I ordered it from Amazon last night. I left this panel a little early to go to my photo op with Avery Brooks. His line was much shorter. While I was in line, I could see him sitting at his table. I felt bad because no one was coming to get his autograph. Did he scare people off the day before or are people just not interested in Deep Space Nine anymore? I bet there would have been a long line for him 15 years ago. I was in and out of the picture area quickly. I was a little afraid to say much. He was cool though. Then I went to the Greg Rucka panel. He went off on an angry tangent on politics and blah blah blah. I was a little bored. I had to leave early for my photo op with David Giuntoli. Once again I could see Avery Brooks looking sitting at his table and I felt bad again. They made an announcement that he was leaving early. Maybe one or two people came to his table after that and then he left. David was a little late, but the line moved quickly as expected. He was really nice. I thought it was funny that he asked for my name and introduced himself like I didn’t know who he was, like I didn’t pay to have a photo made with him. After that, I was done with the con for the year. On my way out of the exhibition hall, I almost ran right into Jewel Staite, who I think was on her way to her last autograph session.

One again, I’m exhausted, but I’ll definitely be back next year unless something major comes up. I hope this and the competing Wizard’s World Portand Comic Con can both continue for a long time to come. Portland’s a nerdy city and there’s room for both.