Hattie’s Hoot for Haiti

As long I’m on the subject of Hattie’s Hat, I might as well give a quick shout out to Max, Jeff, Kyla and the other folks at Hattie’s Hat for putting on such great event there tonight.

Jeff and Rusty at the Hattie's Hoot for Haiti
Jeff and Rusty at the Hattie's Hoot for Haiti

In my post the other day, I talked about Ballard and how the Senior Circuit seemed like it was increasingly fighting an uphill struggle for survival against the changes going on in the neighborhood. But I must say, tonight was that older Ballard scene at its finest. Tons of great musicians playing a few songs each in the back room of the bar, Rusty Urie spinning vinyl in the front. Joanna Hoyt Heidi Park, and their friends selling raffle tickets. It looks like they had raised over $3000 for Red Cross assistance to the victims of the hurricane.

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures. But I will say that Fred Speakman brought the house down with an only somewhat comical medley of “Aqualung” and “Suite for Judy Blue Eyes.”

Hattie’s had started to feel a little moribund that last 4-5 years, but it seems like a little reboot may be in progress. That’s good to see, as it is a very long running establishment and deserves to keep going strong.

The Ruining Element

A couple of Fridays ago, my sweetie and I headed out to the Ballard neighborhood here in Seattle. To get there, we had to traverse the western edge of the Fremont neighborhood.

As we turned the corner and headed west down Leary away from Fremont, I noticed a group of four women on the corner of 39th and Leary headed east towards Fremont. They were dressed up like they were getting ready to hit a dance club of some sort.

Perhaps you are familiar with the look: high heels, tight low slung jeans, and a sheer top that shows off what I’ve heard referred to as “the Muffin Top.” I guess it might be considered an urban look, in the hip hop sense. But I associate it more with a bridge and tunnel, Jersey Shore, suburban archetype.

When I saw those folks, the following thought immediately popped into my head: “the Ruining Element.” For Fremont did not used to be a place where urban styled, Jersey Shore wannabes hung out. It had more of a funky hippie feeling to it, the last vestiges of which still survive in the a large statue of Vladimir Lenin by the Taco Del Mar and the annual Solstice Parade, with its crazy floats and naked bike riders. But little by little over the last 15 years, that aesthetic has been developed out of Fremont, replaced by one that is more popular with people like the ladies above. Continue reading “The Ruining Element”

The Allure of Air Power

During the early days of the first Iraq War, a video seemed to run continuously on television. In this video, a jet fighter launches a smart bomb. Moments later, it hits a ground target the size of a doorway, as the audio backing track explodes with the celebratory sounds of the American pilots and ground crew.

The scene in the video was some high order, whiz-bang stuff, offering, as it did, the tantalizing possibility that America’s future was one of remote control wars waged mostly from the air, with few, if any, casualties on the ground. Continue reading “The Allure of Air Power”