Enjoy Local Wine & Local Music in Apex Saturday Nov 19 2:00-4:00 PM at Cloer Family Vineyards

Fall often comes late to Apex, North Carolina. And those wonderful fall days are precious and special as we prepare for the oncoming winter and give up the freedom of summer.

What better way to celebrate a rare fall Saturday afternoon than visiting with friends, drinking North Carolina Wine and enjoying live music.

Join Long Time Gone Band as they play the music of the late 60's and early 70's and celebrate a time of peace love and happiness at Cloer Family Vineyards in Apex. With the holidays just around the corner, there will also be a Stella and Dot jewelry show.

DETAILS: Cloer Family Vineyards will be having Toast & Tunes concert series with Long Time Gone Band Saturday November 19 2:00-4:00 PM. Wine tastings for $5 (5 different wines) and wine by the glass for just $3. Appetizers will be served as well.

 

Bring the family and enjoy a day at the vineyard with live music by Long Time Gone playing the music of Crosby Stills Nash & Young and their time. Feel free to bring a picnic lunch and lawn chairs. Cloer Family Vineyards wines sold by the glass and by the bottle. No outside alcohol permitted. Cost is $5.00 per car

www.reverbnation.com/ltgrocks

http://www.cloerfamilyvineyards.com/index.php

Why Does Obama Visit the Peak of Good Republicans Town?

One has to wonder why President Obama selected such a Republican area to visit in North Carolina when he selected Apex, NC for a private fly by.

Apex has been an enclave of Republicans every since they removed Larry Jordan from office more than twenty years ago.  Heck, Apex cannot even get a Democratic candidate for Mayor.  Instead they have two Republicans for Mayor fighting it out.  What do they fight about?  Hey, I'm more conservative than you?  I am still trying to figure out what Bryan Gossage's platform is and how it differs from Weatherly's.

It will be real interesting to see if Republican Mayor Keith Weatherly shows up for the meet and greet with President Obama in Apex.  After all it is an closed event.  Did he even get an invite?  Or will he just say he was stuck in traffic or too busy campaigning for the Defense of Marriage Amendment?

I Will Put Keith Weatherly's Picture
over here on the Right

Loudon Wainwright III Coming to American Tobacco Center this Friday, Sep 16

Grammy award artist Loudon Wainwright III comes to the American Tobacco Campus this Friday at 6:00 PM for free.  Free!  Unbelievable.  Wainwright won a Grammy by mining the work of North Carolina old time troubadour Charlie Poole with his 2009 album, High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project.

Steve Earle says it is real hard to be good at performing solo and accompanying yourself.  “Steve Goodman was an incredible solo performer.  Loudon Wainwright III still is.” 

Wainwright’s latest work is called Songs for the New Depression.  So come this Friday I expect to hear some quirky songs from a great solo performer, a few tales about how Charlie Poole quit the textile mills of Burlington to play music, because music was a lot more fun, and how to beat the  upcoming depression by taking up ukulele.

Let’s hope for good weather at this outdoor concert on the grounds of the American Tobacco Campus.  I want to catch a great solo performer in North Carolina playing songs from North Carolina, about North Carolina. Before the next depression.

Loudon Wainwright website

http://www.lw3.com/home.php

American Tobacco Campus Concerts from WUNC

http://wunc.org/events/back-porch-music-concert-series

I Wish I Had a Vespa

It's a classic and now Vespa's are popping up everywhere, although I am not sure why. They seemed to hit the scene about 1952 when Cary Grant was cruising around Rome with Audrey Hepburn on the back of a Vespa. Not a bad gig if you can get it. I remember seeing one in Raleigh about ten years ago and thinking they might make a comeback, but that must have just been a flash in the pan.

Vespa's seemed to be all over San Francisco. The dealer is doing well there. Not so much so in Seattle and Portland.

Now with Tom Hank's new comedy Larry Crowe, the Vespa is all set for its comeback. Although with a price of about $4,000, I am not sure how successful they will really be.

What seemed so cool in Rome or San Francisco seems a bit foreign in the Triangle. If I ride a Vespa, do I need a tee-shirt that says, "No, I didn't get a DUI!?

Washington Square in San Francisco

Washington Square is a park in the North Beach area of San Francisco. It is a great place to enjoy the sites and the customs of San Francisco without feeling over ran by tourists. There are many restaurants close to the park, so on a beautiful sunny day you can just get a sandwich and hang in the park. It is ideally situated between the Italian North Beach community at the edge of China Town. The number 30 Stockton Bus (among others) runs right by the park so you can stop on the way the warf from Union Square or on the way back. Or just make Washington Square a destination.

Starting at 7:30 or so in the morning the park comes alive with the Asian population greeting the day. Then couples and individuals just lay in the grass. The evenings are beautiful for a sunset. I think there is a video waiting to be made--24 hours in Washington Square. Spend some time in Washington Square and it will become a state of mind that you can return and remember and enjoy.

Raleigh Among Good Company as One of the 40 Worse Dressed Cities in America

GQ, that fashion rag for very young men, has just listed Raleigh as one of the 40 worse dressed cities in America. We are not in the top ten, but we made the list with Portland and Seattle. Now that is great to get this cred. But it is about golf and pleats. What do you think?

http://www.gq.com/style/fashion/201107/worst-dressed-cities-america#slide=1

I really think most people playing golf in Raleigh could care what GQ thinks about their fashion. At least they did not show a guy in knickers and argyle socks. Or is that in now?

Not Sure About Seattle

Seattle is neurotic. Or at least it is on pins and needles. Trying to pinpoint what Seattle is like is like eating a bite of icing on a cake and trying to figure out what the whole cake taste like. Seattle is like Charlotte by the sea. Seems they have recruited a lot of drivers from Raleigh cause if you set at a just changed green light to long, there is a horn behind you reminding you they have places to go.

The first day in Seattle we made sure we did the tourist things for a new city we had never been. Pikes Market, Experience Music Project (EMP), the monorail, the space needle. Did I leave anything out?

We walked about five blocks from our hotel to Pikes Market. It was not what I expected. It was more of a farmers market and flea market. I am not sure what I was expecting, but we stopped at Pikes Place Chowder for ....well Chowder. Chowder for lunch was a good idea and this is really a lunch spot. It almost felt like a variation on the Southern barbeque restaurant Seattle style.

From Pikes market we walked to the monorail and took the monorail to the Space Needle. The Needle had a line, so we did EMP. After about two hours in EMP we were hungry and searching for a bar. We found the Lower Queen Anne area and Pesos Kitchen, a Mexican place with ditsy service but quite good Mexican food. We ate here because we were tired and hungry, not because it was recommended. The margaritas were good and the beer was cold even thou the waitress could not tell me the type of beer a Manley's was. Later I looked at the menu and found the name of the beer is Manley's Pale Ale. Humm...wonder if she had ever looked at the menu? If you are interested in the food (and it was much better than what was described by the wait staff) then here is the menu:

http://www.pesoskitchen.com/Website%20Dinner%20Menu%206-28-2011(3).pdf

After refreshments it was back to the Space Needle to watch the sun go down over Seattle. Then at 10:30 we had an almost private ride on the monorail back to the middle of town where we walked the five blocks back to the hotel. Our monorail driver said that downtown Seattle closes down except for the Pioneer Square area after dark. It was Friday and the streets were almost desolate.

So we ended our first day having done all the touristy things. Maybe tomorrow we will find out what Seattle is really like.

The Great Nice West

You have always heard it called the Great Northwest. I think the Great Nice"west" would be more appropriate. At least for Portland. I can't say about Seattle yet. But the whole city seems worried you might think them a cad or not nice enough. I'm sorry seems to be as common a greeting as hello. I am sorry my dog sniffed you from 3 feet away. I am sorry I almost brushed against you in a crowded elevator. I am sorry I turned my car in your general direction as you were walking across the crosswalk.

We talk about being nice in the South. But I am beginning to think that is just talk. Bless our hearts, we have so many people here that are not from the South, we use to be nice.

Portland must have an orientation class for new residents. Welcome to Portland you must learn to become nice and say I'm sorry.

We went to a free Tony Furtado concert in Willamette Park. There were prizes given for who just moved to Portland (along with who just rode their bike to across a bridge to the concert). Welcome to Portland, we have all moved here from somewhere else. So here is a present just to show you how nice we are.

I drove two days around Portland. Everyone seemed to follow the rules. If there was a line, there was no breaking, less people think you are not nice. "Are you sure it is my turn? No you go first. I'm sorry, did I get in front of you in line? Are you sure I am next?" Oh you are on a bicycle, you get priority because you are kind to the environment and making smaller carbon footprint than me, so you get priority.

I think Portland worries about becoming Seattle. There is that sister-brother thing similar to Raleigh and Charlotte. (Well, if we have rules about everything, we will be just like Seattle. No we can't let that happen)!

This area feels like a mash up of North Carolina, just without the heat and humidity. Portland is like Asheville, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, Winston-Salem (for the Yadkin Wine Region) & Wilmington mashed together with just a sprinkling of Charlotte for professional sports teams and glass office buildings. Imagine living in a North Carolina town with the mountains just 35 minutes away. Highway 30 through the Columbia River Gorge reminded us of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Columbia River reminded us of the beach around Wilmington except with Asheville mountain bikers hanging out and windsurfing. The town of Hood River seemed like Boone and Blowing Rock. We had travel so far to find a different type of North Carolina. Or North Carolina is just like Portland, only spread out over five hours and seven cities.

Portland is very reasonably priced. You can afford to live and eat here. Even drink a little local wine. And the restaurant scene is very vibrant much like Durham. The Willamette wine area has about 20 years more time to have developed over North Carolina, but we see what North Carolina's wine area can become. More like Willamette, less like Napa!

So when we return to North Carolina and eat at a great restaurant in Durham, I will be reminded of Portland. And I pledge to be nicer. Especially to those Yankee car drivers in the Triangle who hate bicyclist. Bless their hearts.

Figuring out this Train Thing

It is so close and the airlines are making it so easy to want to take a train instead of a plane. I am taking the Amtrak Cascades from Portland to Seattle. It takes about 3 3/4 hours for this trip. The Cascades is a commuter train with Coach and Business class that runs between Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia. I am setting in a leather first class airline-type seat but I am riding coach. I think this trip costs about $33 one way. The train is packed with bicyclist heading to Seattle to ride back to Portland. My kind of people. The ride is smooth. There is a bistro car on the train.

The Portland train station is so much nicer than the train station in Raleigh. No one is behind a plastic bullet proof shield. The staff is very caring and offer great service. Portland's Union Station is being renovated outside, but inside it is spacious and has a 1920's inviting vibe. Much like the stations in Pittsburgh and Orlando. The stations in San Francisco (and Emeryville where the train actually leaves) feel more like neglected bus stations.

With the airline's help, train travel can make a come back. If your destination is five hours or less, the train can compete with the airline in terms of time of travel when you factor in how long before you flight leaves you must check in. I will also arrive in downtown Seattle, not some urban airport that charges as much as my train ticket just for a ride to downtown Seattle.  It's urban to urban.

Out my large clean window I see the Washington state county-side. There is a TV Monitor on the train that tells me how long it is to next stop. Now if they only offered a camera view of the track ahead, it would really be neat. There is free wi-fi on this train, another feature that needs to be added to all passenger trains.

So how are we going to do this? Why is Amtrak the only option for train service in most areas? According to Wikipedia train travel was nationalized in 1970 with the Railroad Passenger Service Act during a time that large freight train operators were going bankrupt. It takes a crisis to make us change. How does our government open up train travel to private business and how does private business make it successfully profitable? When do we get NetJets to start NetTrains?

With our Airline passenger regulations, the new and long term high price of gas, the cost of new cars, the stage is set for a major change in our thinking. We must make it financially feasible to take the train to a remote destination, rent a car and return back home. When that cost is less than driving ourselves and nearly as convenient, then we will see demand for these services to increase. If I was Zipcar, I would put a Zipcar site at each major train terminal.

Government needs to have the vision and set the stage for private train service. This will be a major change. Can we do it politically? Do we have a handy crisis to make this happen?

Washington Square Tai Chi

Early mornings in Washington Square Park are almost spiritual. The Asian community turns out in mass for morning Tai Chi. What a great way to treat the morning. What is interesting is that there is a large Catholic church on the square. It is almost as if there is an east meets west religion clash. But somehow it works out, as if there is one God. Vacations should change your prospective and make you think. I think I will take some Tai Chi classes at the fitness gym, read some about the spiritual side and Tai Chi and practice in Apex. It will make my neighbors wonder what I am up to.

Portland Via Amtrak

Vacation should be an adventure. There is not much more adventure I need than a long ride on the Amtrak. First you forget there are people who just don't function that well. Well, they are on the Amtrak. And there are people who just like the train. They are on the Amtrak.

You always hope Amtrak will improve. The Coast Starlight from San Francisco to Portland has many things to like. No x-ray machines, no baggage searches, no turning off your electric devices, no your seat back can be used as a flotation device speeches. Shone was a wonderful station attendant in San Fran. I think he was just happy to be dealing with some normal people for a change. He looked after us like we were first class passengers. We had to fight the 4th-of-July-Fireworks-Crowd around the Ferry Building. But our bus taking us across the Oakland
Bay Bridge left on time as did the train from Emeryville. This train's on time performance is much maligned online, but over the three weeks I tracked the train it never was more than 1 hour late and that was an exception. Usually it was on time or just a few minutes late.

We boarded on time in Emeryville, with the sleeper car passengers having to take the longest walk down the platform. Hey Amtrak, what gives, I thought we were the first class high paying group. How about a little first class service here? The much advertised WiFi did not work "because we didn't bring that car." Then don't advertise it guys. The train was not pristine clean and the roomette was a very small stacked bunk bed that converts to a private room. A great feature for a 17 hour ride.

The top bunk was much to claustrophobic, with no window access and a ceiling staring you in the face. The lower bunk was much more livable and did not come with special seat belts to make sure you staid in the bed like the upper one. But the morning came and so did the beauty of Mount Shasta from the observation car. All can easily be forgiven. We met some neat folks on the train at breakfast and lunch and enjoyed feeling like we were traveling without the headache of fighting the traffic. Or the fun at the airport.

Showing up in downtown central Portland without a long ride from the airport is not an adventure but a convenience.

2011 Fillmore Street Jazz Festival Goes to the Blues

Escape. Vacation should be an escape and a chance to change and reflect. This is maybe our 5th Fillmore Street Jazz Festival and we had to escape to the Eddy Street stage to escape the crowds of the Sutter Street and California Street Stages. But that was okay. We had spent most of Saturday at my favorite California Street Stage and I had vowed to be more mobile on this Sunday. So the day opened with the Future Perfect Band playing "To Close To Heaven." A great way to start a Sunday morning on this earth God has given us. The Future Perfect Band usually plays the 1300 on Fillmore restaurant's Sunday Morning Brunch. I wish they had a website so I could tell you more about Michael, his sister who sings with him, and his casually perfect backup band including Cedric the guitarist.

After being lead in worship by the Future Perfect Band we were transformed musically by Markus James, as much a music historian as a talented musician. James strives to take music back to its roots -- be that West Africa, Mali or Jackson Mississippi. I wish I had thought of this. But hey, what key to they play those instruments in and how do you make it sound this good together? Really mind opening, mind expanding and an escape from reality experience and isn't that what you go on vacation for? For more on Markus James, see below

http://www.firenzerecords.com/?p=22#more-22

Fillmore Street Jazz Festival with the California Honeydrops

Great music, great band. We warmed up to the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival Jenna Mammina, a very smooth and scat-filled set. Jenna's albums are mostly Jazz, but she says she has a bluegrass album. I can't imagine what bluegrass scat sounds like, but her music can be found on emusic.com, so I am sure I will download and find out.

http://www.jennamammina.com/

We thought the California Honeydrops were the band of the day. Their lead singer, Lech Wierzynski, thinks he is Wilson Pickett. This native Polish musician can cause you to remember how good Wilson Pickett songs are. They also write some wonderful soulful songs. One of our favorites was Carolina Peach. Lech is super talented, playing guitar and trumpet and great vocals. Again they are available on emusic.com and can be found on their website at

http://www.cahoneydrops.com/

The photo above is the crowd dancing at the California Honeydrops performance at the Fillmore Jazz Festival.

Feeling Like You Are More Than a Tourist in San Francisco

It has been nice. Staying in a vacation apartment on Union Street rather than a hotel. We have a beautiful view of the bay that glows red in the morning just before sunrise and then sunny all day.

Our first two days where filled with walk abouts and great food. The House has been the best. So look for a separate blog on that.

We are about three block above Washington Square and on the edge of Russian Hill, yet still considered North Beach. Our apartment makes us feel a part of the warm vibrant city. The apartment gives us a base. A kitchen. Space. A roof top deck. A home that we could never afford in San Francisco.