99 BOTTLES

I drank 100 bottles of beer and all I got was this T-shirt!

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I am now a member of the 99 Bottles Club. Actually, I got a lot more than a T-shirt. I picked up my 99 Bottles T-shirt and I am now also eligible for discounts on kegs, cases of beer, and tasting events. I also have an opportunity to purchase tickets to 99 Bottles sponsored events before the ruffians and rabble, whose company I just departed.

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Over the two years that it took me to get 100 punches on my first 99 Bottles Club card, I have enjoyed a bunch of great beers I would have otherwise overlooked, been to some wonderful beer tastings and events, built a small but satisfying collection of cellared beers, discovered some new favorite ales, and learned a lot about how beer and food work together.

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Thank you, 99 Bottles, as I embark on filling up card number two!

SEATTLE CENTRAL LIBRARY

The geometry and color of Seattle Central Library.


The child and I were in need of a proper wandering, which hadn't occurred for some time. Therefore, we headed up to the Seattle Central Library in search of a reciprocal library card and a few books that aren't in the hinterlands of the library collections of south Puget Sound.

We gathered up our treasures—the sought after library card, collections of poems by Anna Akmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva, short stories by Matt Briggs, a novel by Matthew Stadler, essays by Renata Adler—after thorough exploration of the buildings many floors, and headed home for some reading.

IPA PARADE

Ballz Deep, an Imperial/Double IPA by 7 Seas Brewing Company.

16 ounce can ("The Ultimate Proper Pint"), served in a snifter, $3.50 per pint.

Words to describe the pour: beautiful, clear, thin streams of carbonation, copper-penny orange, two fingers worth of thick off-white foam head, lacing galore.

Words to describe the aroma: citrus, orange, grassy, hints of caramel and biscuit.

Words to describe the flavor: caramel, bitter orange, varnish, a wee bit of biscuit and/or graham cracker lurking in the background. (There is no metal or "can" flavor on the tasting, which is often found in "lesser" beers.)

The bitterness and varnish are strong and firm, without being overbearing. This is an excellent ale. This could easily be a new favorite Imperial India Pale Ale for me. Kudos, 7 Seas!

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I don't usually do this with beers that I just tried, but I had to immediately find some more Ballz Deep. Therefore, I made an "emergency" trip to 99 Bottles of Federal Way to pick up another can for myself and a couple for a friend to try.

The bitter and varnish combination is the winning flavor. It just pushes this Double IPA into another realm.

PUYALLUP PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Child obtained a library card. Items were immediately checked out on the new card instead of on TWT's card.

The world was turned slightly topsy-turvy today, in a good way.

Someone will be learning about responsibility and its relationship to independence and the choices that are made. Someone will also continue to develop an increasingly deepening love affair with the printed word. Amen.

AN EVENING of PAPER

Troy reads his poem "My Two Melvilles" to Herman Melville as Herman Melville as part of An Evening of Paper. View more images from the event on the Pilot Books webpage.

Photo by Pilot Books.

AN EVENING of PAPER

TWT and another member of Les sardines spent the evening at An Evening of Paper, an art celebration of the literary, the musical, the performance, as well as a celebration of handmade books, zines, and journals, hosted by the ever wonderful Pilot Books. We read our own poems in the midst of a series of other readings and performances.


It was held in The Chapel of The Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.


Sunlight through stained glass at 7:00 p.m.


Refreshments of tea and oranges.


Literature from independent presses and authors was available for sale.


Foreground: four cassette tape players that when played simultaneously made some interesting soundscapes and juxtapositions. Middle ground: this upright bass player made some incredible noises with his instrument—feedback as though from an electric guitar and amp, squeaks and squeals, extended moans, the fluttering of wings. Background: audience members and more tables of books and literary journals and ephemera.

MY TWO MELVILLES

My two Melvilles: Herman and Troy.

I will be reading my poem "My Two Melvilles" to Herman Melville as Herman Melville when I participate in An Evening of Paper. Join me this Saturday (15 May 2010) from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. at The Chapel in the Good Shepherd Center, Wallingford (a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington). Copies of the poems I read will be available as a chapbook for one dollar.

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From the Pilot Books website:

Truculent or translucent tendencies for abstraction?

Welcome to The Chapel, Saturday May 15, 5:30-10:30pm.

Join Pilot Books and the Wayward Music Series for An Evening of Paper—unfolding as probable and improbable geography of the arts. Creative events auteur Sharon Alexander has arranged a montage of ideas, images and sounds for your experience and enjoyment.

Readings by Stacey Levine, Em Kanskje, Evelyn Hampton, Jarret Middleton, William Allegrezza, Summer Robinson, Tyler Holm, local zinesters and special guests. Music, field recordings and soundscapes by Wilson Shook, John Teske, Moriah Neils, Ryan Rood and assorted improvisors.

Short films . . . tea and oranges . . . sunset and stained glass.

Invite your friends, and all our friends will meet and talk.

The Chapel in the Good Shepherd Center is located at 4649 Sunnyside Avenue North in Wallingford.

http://waywardmusic.blogspot.com

BIG TENT POETRY

A screenshot of the home page of Big Tent Poetry.

The Read Write Poem website is no longer active and has been archived. It was great to be able to be part of the poetry community that gathered there for prompts and discussions. I met some great poets there, as well as through various online writing prompts in which they and I participated.

A few of the members of RWP have decided to set up another community at Big Tent Poetry. It appears that it will be both similar and dissimilar from Read Write Poem. There will be both continuity and discontinuity in this new body.*

I will be frequently visiting the 3-ring circus of the Big Tent. I hope you will also stop by.

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*Thank you to John Polkinghorne for the concept, as found in his book The God of Hope and the End of the World.