Kids In The Hall and Fun with Crackheads!

We saw Kids in the Hall last night, which was funny and all that (though I felt a little jipped that they used some video bits in concert that are available on YouTube - lazy fuckers). I had parked in Chinatown, and heading back to the car afterwards, I make the ill-advised decision to detour and use one of Seattle's notorious public self-cleaning toilets in Hing Hay Park. As we reach the park, we walk right past a crowd of druggies huddling around a crack pipe, right out in the open. Just ahead is the toilet, but I can see there is a red light on the toilet's door, meaning it's occupied. A scraggly woman is walking circles around the toilet, casting the stinkeye our way as we wait.

Suddenly, a fracas erupts amongst the druggies. "Hey man, that shit wasn't real!" "Oh yeah? You want some of this? C'mon muthafucka!" Three of them are circling around the other, fists raised in the "put up your dukes/kung fu fighting" pose, throwing wild punches and yelling. Morbidly fascinated, I watch as it spills into the street. I say to Ad, "Hrm, maybe I can just hold it til we get home. We should probably get out of here" Ad: "Can we... Please!?"

Dessert Daddy

Thanks to some lucky traffic-dodging and killer robot speedwalking, Ad and I crammed more into a Friday date night in Seattle's arts district than one would have thought possible. For starters, we pondered our place in world history, gazing at time-ravaged marble genetalia at SAM's roman art exhibit. Food-gasming at Troiani followed soon after - I caved in to my carb-craving id and ordered Lobstah Mac & Cheese, determined to will myself into beating the inevitable food coma that would follow.

Chocolate dessert and a double-shot latte at the Triple Door staved off said coma and provided rocket fuel for the Cherry Poppin Daddies show. The Eugene swingers haven't missed a step, and it was nice to see them strut and toot in a swanky venue befitting their talent and style. I hadn't seen them in over 10 years, though I don't think they'll ever top a show at the now-gone OK Hotel, circa 1993 (maybe) from which I snatched a set-list written on the back of a classic Daddies showbill with Evil Clown illustrations.

I captured a great video of their encore rendition of "Cherry Poppin Daddies Strut", though my retarded video skilz haven't figured out how to compress it to an acceptable YouTube bite-size just yet. Stay tuned!

Teppanyaki A Go Go

April was a brutally stressful month for this traveller. May is shaping up much better, thank Zod. In the midst of much fretting and teeth-grinding, last week I got to enjoy a relaxing night of good food and even better company at Seattle's Mikado restaurant. We did the teppanyaki grill dinner-show thang, but the Mikado also has those cool, intimate tatami style rooms, where you take off your shoes and they cook for you at your table. Some 30-odd years ago, I went with the family to Bush Gardens for that dinner treatment, and it was an experience I never forgot.

Tomorrow is hot date night, with dinner at Troiani, followed by The Cherry Poppin' Daddies at the Triple Door. When I first set foot in the Triple Door last December, I told Ad that it was the perfect venue for a Daddies show. Their ears must have been burning from their Seattle fans' collective yearning, cause they booked a gig only a few months later. I'm looking forward to snapping some choice pictures and getting my swing on!