Fall-Line

Ken Griffey jr. said this during an interview aired on FSN tonight in Seattle:

Would I [come back]? Yeah. For the simple reason that this is the place where I grew up. And I think I owe it to the people of Seattle and to myself to retire as a Mariner.

Holy Sh*t!

So Mr. Bavasi, you want a little more respect from your home town fans? Make it happen… just make it happen.

Credit owed to Seattlest for this post.

Technorati Tags: Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr

I have often wondered why Washington state wasn’t dotted with small craft whisky and other spirit distilleries of the sort that are found in so many similar climates throughout the world. While traveling through Scotland this spring I couldn’t help but imagine the potential for such a business to thrive in the fair northwest climate, and relatively liberal political landscape. I had always assumed that there was a provision in the (uncharacteristically considering the local politics) strict Washington State liquor control laws forbidding the production of any spirits. Well, two men by he name of Don Poffenroth and Kent Fleischmann have investigate the subject in more detail and clearly found no such provision.

Poffenroth and Fleischmann have both resigned management roles in well established food processing and distribution companies to pursue their passion for the drink by founding what will be the state’s only operating spirits distillery in Spokane. Construction on the new Dry Fly Distilling facility is well under-way, with spirit production scheduled to begin in ernest in August of 2007.

While my interest in venture is predominately whisky (whiskey in this case) related, I’m thrilled to see any kind of quality craft distillery operation giving it a go in the state. Needless to say, I will be watching their progress with a great deal of interest in the coming months and years. If production begins as scheduled, we should be able to get our hands on a bottle of their vodka or gin late this summer. Our whiskey palates will have to wait for the spirit to come of age in 2009 at the earliest.

Links:

• Seattle Times Business & Technology article
• Dry Fly Distilling Website
• Dry Fly Distilling Blog

Technorati Tags: Northwest, Washington State, Whisky

I was browsing my iTunes today, looking for some hidden gems which might buried deep in the under explored corners of my library. I cam across a track which I had automatically downloaded from a great MP3 blog called Said the Gramophone sometime during the summer of 2006.It was a pretty catchy, somewhat airy little piece of indy-folk-rock-stuff called Grass Stains by a fellow from Portland named Jacob Borshard.

Music:
[audio:Grass_Stains.mp3]
Grass Stains, from the Album The Last Brontosaurus (2006)

After noticing it about half way through the song, I restarted and took a good listen. It’s cute.. kinda cheesy, but good. Good in a way that if you don’t take yourself too seriously as a music critic, you can really enjoy.. for a little while. Since it had my attention, I took a closer look at the track in iTunes. It was then that I saw something that will endear this track to me for a long time. Someone, at some point, when creating the mp3 of this song had assigned the song’s genre as (and quote) “pantywaist pop”.

After a short fit of barely controllable laughter while sitting at my desk at work, I thought about this designation a bit more. It’s right on. I’ve decided to go through my iTunes collection now and reassign about half of the stuff in there currently classified as “Indie” to match. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the stuff (in moderation) I just like it more having called it what it is.

Listen to the mp3 (above) and judge for yourself.

You can learn more about Jacob Borshard and listen to more of his music at his website: http://www.creebobby.com/
He’s really quite talented in his own way. I dig the ukulele! Come to think of it, I think I recall hearing a track from his earlier album Songs for a Small Stereo (2004) on KEXP a few years back.

Technorati Tags: Music, pantywaist