Category: Uncategorized

Concerts/Plays/Shows I attended last year. I was going to put them in order of how much I liked them, but that is way too difficult so they’re in chronological order. The only one that I didn’t love was Melanie Martinez. And Bob Dylan (hate to say it, but the show was not great).  Wardell went to most of these shows with me, but not all of them.  If he wasn’t there, there is a star (*) by the name.

1. Jan 2016- Blackberry Bushes String Band at the tractor tavern (Joy Mills Band opener)- Honestly, I don’t remember a whole lot about this one (it was almost a year ago).  I do remember enjoying both the main act as well as the opener.  I also got some earrings at this show because the lead singer makes earrings with lasers.
2. Feb 2016- Melanie Martinez at the Showbox- My friends came up from Salem to go to this show. Unfortunately, the only reason I enjoyed this show was because my friends came up for it.  I had heard the concept album and was excited to see what she did with it.  She was dressed up, but was walking back and forth on the stage like a coked out lion in a cage (my friends wording, but perfect).  The venue was also full of teenagers (I didn’t realize that she was big with the teens.  Thank god for the bar area where they weren’t allowed).
3. Feb 2016- Eric Prydz at the Armory in San Francisco- I took Wardell to this show, really (for me), it was more about the trip to San Francisco.  I’m not too into electronic music, and I was only going to the show because Wardell had been raving about him for years.  This show was seriously one of the best shows I’ve ever been to!  For me it was more about the lights/lasers/holograms than the music, but the music tied it all in.  I’m so glad I went to this show and would love to see him again soon.
4. March- A night with Janis Joplin* at the 5th Avenue Theatre (play)- I bought tickets for this randomly on the way to my birthday dinner.  I’ve always been a huge Janis Joplin fan, but was unsure what the play would be like.  It was very well done and the woman who played Janis was spot on.  I also liked that it was focused her life and music, not her death.
5. April- Newsies* at the Paramount Theatre (play)- LOVED IT!  I had been so excited for this since I saw it was coming to Seattle.  The music and the dancing was so fun and upbeat.
6. April- Jackie Greene* (Opener Suitcase Junket) at the tractor tavern- This is one of the few shows I went to alone.  Wardell was doing homework and everyone else was busy or not interested.  This was seriously one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.  The opener sounded like an entire band, but it was just one guy with a suitcase full of instruments.  I bought this CD and am still baffled that it’s just him.  Jackie Greene got on and started with one of my favorite songs of his (I don’t live in a dream) and I was so into the music that I forgot I was there alone.  I started talking with other people near me, and there were multiple people who followed him from city to city to watch his shows, and now I understand why.  He is a great stage performer and can play a bunch of different instruments.
7. May- John Craigie at Columbia city theater- I’ve seen John a few times at multiple venues.  He always puts on a great show and has so many stories to tell.  (This was the first of his shows that I went to where he did not sing the Chuck Norris song.)
8. May- Billy Joel at safeco field- This show was so fun and it was cool to see a show on the baseball field.  He sang and danced around, and mixed in other songs with his.  My favorite was when he did River of Dreams, and mixed in a Jimmy Hendrix song (I forget which one it was and am super sad I didn’t get that on video.  Purple Haze maybe.  I was too busy enjoying the show!).  Wardell said he only went because I wanted him to and by the end of the show, he was talking about what a great show it was.
9. June- Paint your wagon (play)- 5th Ave theatre- I went to this show actually expecting to not like it because it didn’t seem like my type of play.  I only went because we got $5 tickets.  I was shocked when I really got into the play and enjoyed it a lot more than expected.
10. June- Bob Dylan at chateau St. Michelle in Woodinville- I’m really sad to say that this show was not great.  Bob Dylan had been on my list for such a long time, and I’m glad that I got to see him live, but the show itself wasn’t great.  Most of the music was his new stuff, but it was impossible to understand him (I know he’s always been difficult to understand him, but this was bad).  The only reason I recognized Tangled up in Blue was because I knew the lyrics.  It did not sound like any version I had ever seen and I think he may just be getting up there in age and his performing days are almost over.
11. July- Avett brothers at the Showare center in Kent- This was the 3rd or 4th time I’d seen them.  I was surprised at how empty the arena seemed.  It was a good show, but was a less intimate show in an arena.  My favorite show of theirs was at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR.
12. September- Dolly Pardon* at the Showare center in Kent- This was at the same venue as the Avett Brothers, but it was FULL.  I went because my friends really like her.   Not that I didn’t like her, but I just did not expect to enjoy the show as much as I did.  This woman is talented (and the sparkles! Sparkles everywhere!).  She can play multiple instruments, tell stories, and preform.  So glad I went to this show and I would definitely see her again if I get the chance.
13. Sept- St. Paul and the Broken Bones at the Paramount- I LOVED this show.  Definitely one of the top.  The lead singer can sing/dance and dress.  He had an awesome plaid suit jacket on.  The whole band was having so much fun and I can’t wait to see them again.
14. Sept – Sia at Key Arena- This show was great.  Sia has such an amazing voice.  It was not what I was used to because she was in the corner singing, and it was focused on the dancers. She seemed so shy, which you don’t see often with performers.
15. Nov- Nekromantix* at El Corazon- I had a lot of fun at this show.  I was in my first mosh pit in years (but ended up with a head injury).  I loved the vibe and had a lot of fun dancing.  My friends left kind of early because they had to work the next day, but I stayed until it was over.
16. Nov- Agent Orange at the Funhouse- This was Wardell’s first punk show.  It was in a small venue, so it was very crowded.  There was a drunk guy who took a mic and got on stage and refused to leave (but also wasnt forced to.  Wardell said he must have been bank rolling the tour).  It was a fun experience and Wardell got to see what a punk show looks like.
17. Nov- Anthony Bourdain (show) at the paramount- This was basically stand up comedy for the first 30 minutes, then an audience Q and A.  It was really interesting to hear some of his stories and this guy is hilarious.  The show was over by 8:30.
18. Dec- Little mermaid* (play) at the 5th Ave theatre- I got a subscription to the 5th Avenue theatre and this was the first of those shows (so lots of plays next year!)- This show was so fun and I enjoyed the way they made it look like it was under water.  They changed the story a bit from the movie, which was unexpected and I felt like a part of the play was missing because of this.  But overall a lot of fun and great costumes, actors and music

I went to some other smaller shows as well as a book talk, but did not include those.  Keep in mind this is all from my point of view.  2016 was full of great music and I will try to make 2017 full of even more!

We initially went to Lausanne because they have a satellite office for Starbucks.  We had a tour scheduled for 9:30am, but got there kind of early, so we walked down the road and took in some of the sights near the office.  There are lockers in the train station, which our luggage fit into, which was a lifesaver.  It was $9 (Swiss Francs), but so worth it so we didn’t have to carry all of our stuff around.  We stopped at a park that had mancala in it! We went back to starbucks (no pictures from this part of the trip, sorry) about 15 minutes before we were supposed to be there, and the person who answered the door asked us to come back.  So we went to starbucks around the corner while waiting.  When we came back, we were greeted with open arms.  They were very excited to show us the (small) office and what they do.  We had a brief tour (the office was really small, so it was quick), then were taken into the kitchen area for a “cupping.”  This is quality assurance in the coffee world.  We were handed an apron and a spoon and told to grab a spittoon to take with us (they were on wheels).  There were bowls of coffee beans and 6 small cups of coffee, brewed from those beans.  We watched as one of the employees showed us that you take a spoonful of coffee, make sure to slurp it and get it to the back of your mouth to ensure it gets to the taste buds in the back of your mouth, then swish it around in your mouth, then spit it into the spittoon.  The employees did this 6 times per bowl (there were about 20 bowls), but we just tried a few from each country.  The people who were working would take notes after each, and if something seemed off, they would compare notes.  After the cupping, we were taken into a meeting room and shown a slideshow about what that office does.  This small office buys all of the coffee for EVERY STARBUCKS IN THE WORLD. After the slideshow, as we were leaving, again, everyone was very welcoming and said they were happy that we came in.  The man who toured us told us to reach out to him if we made it to Amsterdam (where there is another office), or if we needed help when we got to Germany.  He told us that the waterfront was “just at the bottom of the hill,” so we decided to walk toward the waterfront.  It was actually quite a ways down the hill, and realized that when Swiss people say “just over there,” it is actually further than you expect.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, we were very hungry, so we decided to get some food.  After looking at a lot of the menus, we decided on pizza, which was SO GOOD at Boccalino.  The pizzas are named after celebrities and they have Pharell Williams, Lady Gaga, George Cloony and Barack Obama, for example.  We chose the John Kerry pizza and it was delicious.  This was also the first full meal we had in Switzerland (not counting those hot dogs from the day before).  After eating and grabbing a few souvenirs, we walked to the water front.  They had checkers AND chess in the park.  It seems that all of the parks in this city had some sort of giant game.  When we decided to head up to Montreux, we thought about taking the bus up the hill, but then decided to walk (I think it was about 0.7 miles, all uphill).  We grabbed our stuff from the lockers and moved onto the next part of our journey.

Neither one of us had slept well for the days coming up to the trip, and we had a super quick layover at Reykjavik airport.  When we booked the flight, we were concerned about the 35 minute layover.  Wardell tweeted Iceland air and was told it should be fine because it was a small airport.  However, when we arrived, there was an issue with the doors of the plane opening properly, and we were not able to get off right away.  As soon as we got off the plane, we ran to the passport check area and had to wait.  Our flight had already started boarding and was set to leave in 15 minutes! When we were almost to the front, a man came up and asked if he could cut in front of us because his flight was boarding.  I let him know that ours had already started boarding, and it was set to leave very soon.  We got through the check area and ran to our gate (which luckily was close by).  Then we had to stand in line to wait.  After all of that, we had to hurry up and wait for the plane to even board!

Needless to say, when we got to Geneva, we were exhausted.  However, we knew we only had one night there, so wanted to at least see the city briefly.  We got a free train ticket from the Geneva airport into the city.  Our hotel was 600 meters from the train station.  It didn’t look that far on paper, but when you have all of your luggage, it seems very long.  Luckily at that point, I still had my backpack (I’ll share story about this when we get to Germany).  We got to the hotel and dropped off our stuff and decided to try to see the fountain Jet D’Eau.  We had seen it shoot up in the air on the way to the hotel, so thought it would be fun to go to the base.  The hotel we stayed at included a public transit pass, so we decided to take the bus, as it was a bit of a walk.  We found out that as long as you’re connected to wifi when you download a map on google maps, it will still work, even when you’re offline, so that was very helpful throughout the trip.  We saw the fountain shoot up once again while we were on the way.  When we got there, we waited for about 30 minutes before leaving and actually never saw it go off again (photo of the base of the fountain below), but it was a fun walk and lake Geneva was beautiful. On the way there, we had seen a lot of small food carts and I thought the food would be better at these than at a restaurant.  So we went on an adventure to find a cash machine, which seemed more difficult than it should have been.  This was because people will tell you that it’s “just down the road,” and this does not always mean within a few blocks down the road.  We asked 3 different people and finally found the bank after walking multiple blocks (and getting distracted at a dress shop on the way).  After we got the cash, we headed back towards the waterfront and stopped at one of the little carts and ordered some hot dogs.  These were disappointing, and I learned that I was wrong about the food from these carts being better (although it was less expensive than a restaurant would have been).  After this disappointing meal and a $4.50 (Swiss Francs) sprite, we decided to head back to the area where our hotel was.  We booked this hotel specifically because we found out that it was Geneva Cocktail week and a bar nearby had a facebook event that day (Moe Bar).  We walked into Moe bar, and it was not busy at all.  It was connected to a hotel near ours, and seemed very upscale.  We looked at the menu outside (one thing I love about Switzerland is that most places have the menu on display outside of the restaurant/bar) and saw that the prices were pretty high (about $25 or more for each drink), but decided that since it was cocktail week and there was supposed to be an event there, we would try it.  We sat at the bar, and there were 3 employees at the other end of the bar.  One brought us a menu, which we looked over, and then waited for about 15 minutes before we decided that it’s not worth the money and since no one has come over since they initially brought over the menu (all 3 of them were still standing at the end of the bar).  We got up, and said sorry and left.  It seemed like there was no event there at all, and it was very slow.

We went to another place nearby to grab a drink and watched the city below out the window.  At one point, we saw a woman in the top window across the street watching down as well. Then later, we saw a dog looking from one of the windows (pictured below).  We had dessert and a quick drink, then headed back to the hotel.  We actually fell asleep by 7pm because we were so tired.  We woke up around 5:30am, which worked out well, since we had an early morning the next day.

Where we stayed: Hotel des Tourelles – 1 night.  600 meters from the main train station.