Seattle gay-census underway

With yesterday being the beautiful day that it was, I decided to take a walk on my lunch break about six blocks to Irwin's to purchase a delicious iced coffee beverage. On the way there I called my wife to see how her day was going, but was interrupted when a truck that had approached me from behind (no pun intended) stopped a few feet after it had passed me on a fairly busy two-lane road. The driver yelled out to me, "Hey, are you gay?" I was startled but quickly replied, "Yes." The driver then pumped his fist in the air and yelled "Yessssss!" before speeding off. Okay.

So, if you happen to be in Seattle this weekend, be aware that two young males in a black Toyota truck are apparently conducting their own grassroots gay-census.

The long and gray winter months can be a bit too much to stomach in Seattle. The water that surrounds the city reflects what is above it, usually low and gray cloud cover which can have a claustrophobic effect as the months wear on. Seattle in the winter and spring can be a dreary place to be. However, it is weather from weeks like this past one (and hopefully continued in the forecast for the weekend) that remind me why I live in this city and in this climate. There is something spectacular about the plentiful green trees in this region backdropped by a brilliant blue sky and equally brilliant blue water which is surrounded by majestic mountains to both the east and the west.

Driving back home from Minnesota a few years ago on I-90 I took in a lot of beauty along the way. The badlands in Wyoming and South Dakota, the mountains in Montana. Still, my biased eyes felt the views were increasingly spectacular the further I headed west.

The weather/climate I experienced while living in Minnestoa was extreme: frigid winters and hot and humid summers. This was quite a change from the mild NW climate that I was accustomed to. In some ways this change in climate mirrored the life I lived in Minnesota: it was an extreme time in many ways.

Upon my return to Seattle I found that I needed to adjust to the mildness of life again -- both literally and figuratively. Not only had I grown used to a more extreme climate, on a foundational level, I had also grown used to instability on both a spiritual and relational level. Now, some of what I learned and experienced through this instability was good, but some if it was also bad.

In my upside down world a return to stability at that time seemed . . . too safe. Perhaps even dishonest. Life is complicated and hard, right? In that context, admitting there might be "answers" to my questions about God, life and other people made me uncomfortable with myself. If there were "answers" to my questions on some level, than that required that I change and reorient myself again.

Looking back now, I feel that I craved stability even if I feared it at the same time. I had equated stability with a static life that contained no growth or change. Of course, that is a potential pitfall. Still, I pray that I am growing and learning each day and continuting to hold the paradox of what I know and believe along with the infintely more that is beyond my human comprehension.

And hey, it's supposed to be in the 90s this weekend in mild 'ol Seattle. I guess even stability can have some variety perks (I apologize for the cheesy weather tie-in at the end).

My Hollywood Weekend

A few weeks back I left the dreary, hipster-loving and cynical enclave I like to call Seattle to visit my brother Bryan in West Hollywood. For a weekend, I lived the "L.A. lifestyle." We spent quite a bit of time in a recording studio tracking for a song that is going to be pitched to Keith Urban, we went out to eat for every meal, I listened to a guy my brother works with/for talk about writing a song for Lionel Ritchie's next record (he referred to him as "Lionel"), we watched an all-white reggae band with a lead singer who took his shirt off to reveal a massive Star of David necklace at the Whiskey A Go Go, and bumped into B.J. Novak. You know, the usual.

My brother is one of those people who doesn't seem too concerned with living life by the unspoken "rules." He says he's going to do something semi-ridiculous (at least to a "realist" like me) and then he usually does it. By the end of the weekend I felt like saying, You know, at 29 you aren't supposed to be an Executive VP of a company (Neoganda -- he's explained to me what they do but I still don't get it) and have a loft in the Hollywood Hills facing the Hollywood sign. Maybe he makes a ton of money or is in debt up to his eyeballs. Probably both. Nevertheless, I find his inner-drive inspiring and I'm proud of him.

One morning my brother woke me up and pointed down to the valley below. From my vantage point on the floor next to his bed I could see a massive plume of smoke rising from the giant Universal Studios complex. With a smile my brother said, "there's a fire at Universal Studios." I don't know if it was that I wasn't fully awake or the way that my brother said it, but I dismissed the fire as a film shoot for a movie, rolled over and went back to sleep. My brother woke me up again an hour later and showed me the current front-page story at CNN.com of the fire, which apparently was not the result of a film shoot but an out of control fire that was engulfing Universal Studios. The picture on the front page looked like it could have been taken from my brother's deck. Weird.

Another fun part of the trip for me was visiting the virtual vinyl-wonderland of Amoeba Records. The place is massive and disorienting but also includes the largest collection of new vinyl records that I have ever seen. It gave me the opportunity to get started on my annual Top 08 of 08, which I had begun to fear would be incomplete as we are now almost half-way through the year and I had not yet found any new music that had struck my fancy enough for me to recommend it to others. That all changed at Amoeba Records as I purchased Bonnie "Prince" Billy's latest, Lie Down in the Light. Stay tuned at the end of the year for a review if you wish.

To wet your appetite, I will close with a video parodying Kanye West's song, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" in which Bonnie "Prince" Billy participated (he's the skinny guy in the video). If you are familiar with his music, it makes a funny video that much funnier.