Outside of the occasional school play, dental appointment, or rock 'n roll show, my weekdays are pretty regimented by the time constraints, travel logistics, and schedules of family life. My car could run on a rail, there's so little variance. So on the weekends its nice to do something a little different and get out and explore a bit. It's also really nice to put off cleaning the house for a few more hours too. Here's a few pix from the small delights found around town this weekend.
I've been jonesing for a decent burger for a couple of weeks now, and the weather was nice, so that to me says DRIVE-IN. I'm always up for trying a new one, so this time it's across the lake to Dick's Drive-In, this one in Lake City, a somewhat bleak but quiet area of Seattle. It recently re-opened after a drunk plowed into the front. Dick's is a legendary place 'round these parts as it's been in business for like 250 years and wins lots of local foodie awards.
The first thing you notice is that the menu is limited to just a few typical drive-in items like burgers, fries, soda, shakes. But then you rub your eyes when you look at the PRICES. It can't be right, can it? $1.40 for a cheeseburger? Two bucks for a shake? FIVE CENTS FOR ONIONS? HOO EEE! Whatever time warp Dick's lives in, I am SO FOR IT. I upgraded to their "Deluxe" burger, all of $2.55 with the ONIONS, an order of real and soggy fries with a 5 cent ketchup cup, and a strawberry shake that was yummy and not too sweet. MMMMMMM.
Entertainment was provided by a bevy of crows stealing trash from Dick's garbage cans. As you would expect, they were both clever and ruthless in their pursuit of inexpensive American retro food.
The last of my spilled bag fries were consumed, by me. Screw you, crows.
You may recall that I was quite thrilled to have attended some of the panel discussions at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum in Seattle for the Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs, Selected by Graham Nash exhibit. My only problem was that I didn't have enough time that day to actually spend much time looking at the photographs! So when I saw that the EMP/SFM was giving away some free passes to see Taking Aim before it leaves Seattle on May 23rd, I put my name in the hat, and I WON! YAY! This time, I wanted to bring along MissSeven and Mr12 to see these great rock images up close. When we got there, the very nice lady behind the desk found my tickets and quietly comped us all, which was just the nicest thing. Thank you EMP/SFM!!
We went right up to the photos and I talked to the kids a bit about some of them; who the people were in the pictures, how old some of the pictures were, venues I too had been to, and why the photos were so good, what made them special. It was nice to see all kinds of people there -- hipsters, oldsters, youngsters, tourists. After a bit, the kids ran off to the Sound Room to play instruments while I looked at the photos a bit longer. It was strange and sad to realize that the day in February I was there for the photographer panels, Jim Marshall was alive and I shook his hand and thanked him for coming and telling all his great stories behind his pictures. He died on March 24th, at age 74.
After that I went into the Sound Room and played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on guitar along with Kurt Cobain, co-drummed with MissSeven, listened to Mr12 make up a rather nice Latin piano melody, remixed Jimi Hendrix's "Dolly Dagger" and read his diary from 1968, remembered when a great nasty sound the Sonics had, and then found this in the guitar room...a Telecaster owned by Dave Davies of the Kinks! Yay!
Now, I don't recall Dave playing any Tele on those records mentioned -- if anyone did, it was Ray Davies, but no matter -- it was cool to see Dave represented.
I had never been over to the Science Fiction side of the museum before. Now, I am really not a big sci-fi girl at all, other than to enjoy the hilarity of The Blob or Plan Nine From Outer Space or the giant blancmange from The Prisoner series. I'm not a very fantastical thinker, and not that kind of nerd. I've never even seen more than the first Star Wars movie, even, and I think E.T. looks like a big ugly inside out colon. But I was excited to see some of these cool things.
HA! Look at this awesome Star Trek stuff! I love it. It all looks like a cross between my old transistor radio, random crap in my dad's garage, and cereal box toys.
Don't tell me you wouldn't want to sit in Captain Kirk's chair. The red dress was very tiny.
Let me tell you, I got PRETTY DAMN EXCITED when I saw the Robot from the old '60s TV series "Lost In Space" there. OMG, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! He's my guy, that guy. DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON! HAH! All those insults back and forth with Dr. Smith were so wonderful. His pal Robby the Robot was there too!
I took a small video of his control panel all lit up. Sigh. Really, I just love it. Maybe I AM that kind of nerd!
This Terminator 2 prototype looks a lot like Skully, the Day of The Dead skull decoration I admired for years in a Chicago shop window. I named it Skully all by myself.
So it's now dinnertime on a Sunday, I haven't cleaned a damn thing yet, but I sure had some fun and fun is FUN. Thanks again Dick's and EMP/SFM!
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman