Last week I skipped Bullet Sunday because I was traveling but, lucky for me, Hilly-Sue was kind enough to pick up my slack! This week the bullets are back in Seattle, and so am I...
• Finale! Now that it's all over, I have to say that the cruise to Alaska was pretty darn special. Despite some dreary weather in spots, things couldn't have gone better, and the shore excursions were all beyond amazing experiences. If you're looking for a little adventure in your life, you could do a lot worse than exploring the Inside Passage. I booked through Jester's new company, Cruise Avenue, and am grateful for all his advice in getting me the perfect vacation. Might want to see those glaciers now while you still can...
• Pandemonium! Just got back from the Pet Shop Boys' "Pandemonium" tour stop in Seattle. It seems like it was just yesterday I went to their first-ever concert here in the city, and now they're back for round two! As expected, the show was amazing. I really like their new album, Yes, and they did a good job of mixing the new material with their classic hits...
For my fellow Pet Shop fans, the set-list went something like this... Heart, Did You See Me Coming?, Pandemonium/Can You Forgive Her?, Love Etc., Integral/Building a Wall, Go West, Two Divided By Zero/Why Don't We Live Together?, Always On My Mind, New York City Boy, Closer to heaven/Left to my Own Devices, Do I Have To?, King's Cross, The Way It Used To Be, Jealousy, Suburbia, All Over The World, Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is), Discoteca/Domino Dancing/Viva La Vida (COLDPLAY?!?), It's A Sin, Being Boring (encore), West End Girls (encore). A pretty sweet set... despite the sound at The Moore Theater being really uneven, and the sound-mix for the show being pretty bad in parts (Neil's vocals during King's Cross were obliterated). Still... well worth attending!
• Pet Shop Pics! I was too busy enjoying the show to be much of a photographer, but still managed to grab a few shots when I thought of it. From the looks of things, Neil and Chris have taken the "Cubism" theme of their previous tour and amped it up to the n-th degree, appearing as cube-heads with cube-head dancers and backup singers. As always, it was a pretty impressive production... even when restrained to the small stage of The Moore...
• Dee-Jay? I have been to clubs where very talented individuals have crafted amazing mixes of a wide variety of music in clever and interesting ways. These DJ's deserve their title, and work hard to craft an exciting experience for their audience. On the OTHER end of the spectrum, you have people who just take a string of dance remixes with the EXACT SAME throbbing disco beat... smash them together one after another... and call themselves a DJ. Now, it's probably me... I'm just somebody who doesn't "get" it... but who the fuck cares? Apparently, the Pet Shop Boys do, because THAT'S who they had as their opening act... a disco DJ with one throbbing beat after another. I honestly couldn't tell where one song starts and the other begins. It's just a blur of bass and synthesizers (but mostly bass). Yeah, I'm sure this "music" is just awesome to somebody who can appreciate it (or is high on crystal meth)... but I thought it sucked copious amounts of ass. After 45 minutes of this redundant shit, I was ready to jump off the balcony. The only thing I can think of to explain it is that the Pet Shop Boys wanted to bore the shit out of people before they take the stage so they appear that much better. Which is crazy. They don't need it. Things don't get much better than the Pet Shop Boys live.
• Progress? They keep plugging away at Seattle's Hard Rock Cafe. Now they've got actual signs up to let people know what's coming (but who knows when?)...
• Blue! Man, what a beautiful day in Seattle I came back to from rainy Alaska!
And thus ends my week of vacation big happy fun time. Back to the daily grind...
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Dave, I am happy to hear about your vacation. I took a similar cruise as you did, but missed the shore excursions, being tied down with young kids at the time. Seeing the glaciers is awe-inspiring, but I am saddened that future generations will likely NOT see what we we able to experience. Oh, wait a minute. I am being informed that the receding of the glaciers IS NOT due to global warming or human activity (thanks Fox News) but simply a “natural” cycle that I should ignore. Wow, the right-wing made me feel A LOT better.
I tend to ignore the wacky Left as much as the wacky Right and turn to scientists who are only out to uncover the truth, rather than fill some personal or political agenda. The best book I’ve read on the subject is “Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages” by Doug Macdougall.
In this book, Macdougall takes a (mostly) scientific approach to the topic of glacial ice ages and global warming, and doesn’t really draw any major conclusions because the truth is that scientists really don’t know for certain exactly what our greenhouse gasses are doing. The evidence supports the idea that our pollution is having some effect… but to what extent is unknown. We are in the middle of a global ice age cycle that has spanned thousands of years, and global warming may very well bring this natural cycle to an early end, which could spell disaster.
But here’s the deal… even if there is a chance that we are destroying the planet for future generations… shouldn’t we be doing something about it? If the scientists at the more alarming doomsday end of the spectrum are right, and we do nothing… then humanity is basically fucked. If the alarmist doomsday scientists are wrong, and we do something, then sure we’ve spent a lot of money and made radical changes to our lifestyles… but, from a planetary perspective… no harm no foul.
This is pretty much a no-brainer. In a scenario where the planet can be ruined and humanity is fucked, far better to err on the side of caution, isn’t it? Well, you’re right… not according to FOX News! But logic should certainly be dictating otherwise, and FOX News hardly has logic as a part of their destructive agenda. 🙂
Thanks for the plug, Dave. I’m glad you had a great time. I’d love to see more of the pics you got!
I’ll be touring the Norwegian Pearl on Thursday when she’s in San Francisco. Hopefully, the staff will have long disposed of all the Bad Monkey poo in the casino by then.
I’m glad you’re back, safe and sound, but really grateful and appreciative of all your lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing them!
I’ve never been to a Pet Shop Boys concert. Huh. Kinda strange that I haven’t, really.
The whole deejay concept escapes me as well. I don’t get it. I don’t like it. I feel crochety but seriously, it just sounds like noise to me.
Apparently I *am* my Dad.
Anyway, I am so glad you had a wonderful trip and am glad that you are back home. Only 3 1/2 weeks til I see you!
They played Two Divided By Zero? Wow. One of my fave PSB songs ever. Saw them once many moons ago in London and it was an amazing show.
I’m so inspired by your trip. Thanks for posting about it each day and including so many awesome pictures. You really did move that up to just about the top of my vacation list. (And that’s a long list!)
I think I’d still opt for a DJ over the comedian I once saw as an opening act. That really made no sense.
I’ve never seen The Pet Shop Boys in concert. I really want to someday. It looks like they are true performers.
And Reba is very jealous of your Alaskan Cruise. Not only did you go, but so did her sister. We may have to plan a trip soon.