Norm, I saw this page and I thought of you.

About three weeks ago, I purchased a re-mastered CD of "Lou Rawls Live" recorded in front of a small audience in 1966.  Complete with a scaled down combo (drums, bass, piano), this recording is the essence of live jazz/R&B.

 Smooth and silky, Lou works melody lines like nobody can.  He is the master of the understated and yet, can grab a note and hold it until you run out of breath just listening.

His talking intro to the John Loudermilk classic "Tobacco Road" puts in to the point where you understand how this man got that much soul.  He tells you about the wind of Chicago (The Hawk) in such terms that you get a shiver just listening to him.  The lyrics ring out the truth for anyone that has had to bootstrap up a bit:

Gonna leave, get a job, with the help and grace from above....make some money, get rich and old....bring me back to Tobacco Road.....Bring dynamite, and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.....build a town, I'm proud to show....give it the name, Tobacco Road.

But it's home, the only life I've ever known.  I dispise you 'cause your filthy, but I love you 'cause you're home.

I found this recording online at CD Universe where they have a great selection of remastered stuff.  Take a look for yourself.

Printable Event Flyer Now Available for 30th Anniversary Event

Still resisting Trident: for love and for life: To commemorate GZ's 30th anniversary, the August 4-6, 2007 event flyer contains reproductions of several vintage newsletter covers... Please help promote this important event -- download, print and distribute the flyer.

link to flier front

link to flier back

event start: 2pm Saturday the 4th of August

event finish: sometime after Monday morning action at the Bangor Naval Nuclear Submarine Base on the 6th of August

read more:

Join us at Sylvester Park at 4:30 this afternoon for a meet up to talk about the nurses situation and make signs. At around 5 we will hit the intersection of 4th and Washington and picket until we drop.

Be there or be swine!

This is an opinionated survey of the web pages of Thurston County Primary Candidates. Please feel free to join in. The focus is not on the meat of their campaigns, it is on their web presence. What is your first impression of each web site? What would you keep or change?

First up is Reelect Bob Van Schoorl for Port Commissioner. Eh. That first photo on the home page has him in sunglasses, shades. I don't want my political types represented in shades, makes me think of shady back room deals, but perhaps that is just me. I also want Bob to hand sign his full name instead of just his first on the front page.

Otherwise the site is sorta blah and tired but maybe okay. Yeoch! That Frequently Asked Questions link leads to a site under construction page (at least as of this moment)! Big no-no.

Next look over Elect Jeanne Marie Thomas . Better. I think I'd tighten up some of the text and maybe cook the content down into fewer categories. As for the home page, does that "To The Voters of Olympia" work for you?

Matthew Green for Olympia City Council shouts Word Press theme, which isn't a bad thing in my book. I like the tab layout, the use of white space, and the color scheme is okay. I can tell that a lot of thought has gone into this site. I'm pretty confident that most anything I want to know about this campaign can be found right here. And it publishes a feed.

http://www.myspace.com/toren4occ is not listed in the local voter's pamphlet but I was able to find it easily with a quick google. Aargh. I personally hate most if not all myspace pages, which this is. I find them way too cluttered and confusing. Though maybe this will work to reach young myspace fans.

• Help find a lost kitty (near 36th and Overhulse)
• Maybe don't eat here
• Take a walk through Watershed Park