I can’t be the only one who plays computer video games as a stress-reliever, right? I don’t play many different games and mostly, I don’t care about scores or winning, I just play to clear my brain or waste time. I play Around the World in 80 Days because I like the sounds it makes, especially when I unlock a locked square. I’ve always loved Asteroids and still like the computer version. I play Mind Your Marbles from Ugo games but the one I’m stuck on is Big Fish’s Bubblez! The thing is, I’m stuck at level 40.

I’ve been stuck at level 40 for over a year now, though! I play on two home computers and two work computers, all at level 40 now. My little home laptop will sometime refresh and dump cookies and I have to start over from level one. Level 34 sometimes takes a few tries to get past, but 40 has me stumped. If you play this game, you know some levels are about clearing all the falling bubbles equally, quickly. Other levels are about the angle you use to attack. I do not get Level 40. If you do, help me!!

I recently found Big Fish is in Seattle. I may have to go to the office and see these people, but I don’t think anybody wants that. Help me and you could help a  local company!

I bet this is the only blog published today featuring Crowded House, Tina Fey, and a a caramel peach pie. Go ahead, prove me wrong!

Crowded House At The Winery

Saturday night, Crowded House played a great set at Chateau St Michele WINERY. Why the emphasis on the booze? Keep reading. The band did something very unique. They gave out USB drives so that you could buy the new album and get a copy of that night’s show delivered right to your computer. Or maybe you had to buy the USB drive and then everything was downloaded automatically to your computer. Honestly, the details on the offer were kind of sketchy, I know there was a USB drive involved…did I mention the show was at the WINERY??

Caramel Peach Pie

Sunday I celebrated Peach O Rama by baking this super yummy caramel peach pie from Gourmet Magazine July 2009. (RIP Gourmet Magazine) And then sat down in front of the tele to eat it and watch every second of Emmy coverage. Yes, I love TV, even awards shows, but rarely have I been this invested.

Recognize These Ladies?

Yes! That is Ask The Md’s very own VP of Content, Kat Lenhart being snuggled by Tina Fey! Kat worked on the Emmy production team, wore a head set, carried a clip board, was seen on TV during those shots when they cut to the Director’s room, and blogged about her whole experience. Kat even took a moment out to call her former supervisor (me) while roaming the red carpet during a break. I am so proud of her that I didn’t mind being hung up on when she bumped into Lea Michelle from Glee. You can read Kat’s entire behind the scenes account here: http://katlenhart.com

Hope you had a great weekend!

So, I’m doing the Mike MS Ride in less than two weeks — it’s September 11 and 12 beginning in Mount Vernon. All the details are here. I’m thinking of doing the 59-mile ride, which is longer than my typical weekend outing, so I thought I should get a long ride or two in before the actual event. As it happens, it’s a 50-mile loop around Lake Washington from my house in Madison Valley, so . . . off I went, heading south toward beautiful Renton.

Sadly, no time to poke around Seahawks HQ, because I was just getting started. On I rode, around the bottom of the lake, past this lovely little park:

and up the East Side to the shiny towers of downtown Bellevue:

I knew I was getting close to Kirkland when I passed this landmark near 520:

but my plan was to refuel at Aqua Verde, a little joint by the water’s edge just south of downtown Kirkland:

Lots of choices:

But those catfish tacos were speaking to me:

Then, adequately fueled up, up from Kirkland and along Juanita Drive — and I do mean “up.” There are some wicked hills there, which didn’t seem all that fun 35 miles into the ride, but that’s what training is for. Of course, once you go up a hill, you have to go down:

Yeah, that’s fast. Before I knew it, I was around the top of the lake and enjoying the splendor of Kenmore:

and I bet I was the only guy actually photographing the splendor of Kenmore that day. Anyway, a quick run down the Burke Gilman, where it actually felt a little bit like fall, with a warm golden glow all around:

past Sand Point heading toward UW:

And, finally, home . . . Didn’t I say it was 50 miles?

That was a good ride. And I feel great about riding for a fantastic cause on September 11. Want to join me? Those details, again, are here.

Trust me — If I can do it, you can do it!

It was truly a happening Thursday night at Easy Street Records in West Seattle as the new band Fistful Of Mercy made their public debut. (George Harrison’s son Dhani, Ben Harper, and Joseph Arthur are the well-known components of the lineup.)

For me it was more of an audio than a visual experience, because the place was stuffed to the gills with music fanatics and I couldn’t see a thing:

Luckily some attendees had a better view, and caught the magic on video:

If the full-on adoration of the crowd was any indication, there are great things in store for this band. I think I saw the back of Shawn Stewart’s head among the throngs. Check out her blog for more eyewitness action. (And special thanks to Mountain listener Louann who bought me a beer. This DJ was parched!)

…was a big night in West Seattle. Hundreds of folks packed Easy Street Records to check out the first ever live performance by Fistful of Mercy. FOM, you ask? It’s a super group of sorts, just like The Wiburys, only this group consists of Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur, and Dhani Harrison, George Harrison’s son.

I’ll get some more photos and vid up in a bit, but a quick google search will probably score you tons of photos and video; it was cell phone and flip cam central last night.

The Mysterious DJ Gold Toe snapped this photo of me and Ben post show. Yeah, i kissed him and people, he tasted good.

Mercy!

Ok, UPDATE. A tall man in the madness helped me by snapping a few photos during the instore. I know, not the best quality, but you’ll get the gist. And by gist I mean, how much does Dhani Harrison look like pa.

Dhani Harrison

Tall Guy Strikes Again

Dhani's father Looks on From A Magazine Cover!

Say hello to Fistful Of Mercy — Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper, and Joseph Arthur. It’s kind of a Traveling Wilburys for the 21st century (and of course Dhani’s father George was a Wilbury. And a Beatle.) Their story, according to Rolling Stone:

In February, when Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur and Dhani Harrison arrived at the Carriage House studio in Los Angeles’ Silverlake neighborhood, they had three days booked and zero songs to record. “I thought I was going there to add some guitars or harmonies on Joseph’s album,” says Harrison, who was invited to the session by Harper, whom he befriended at a skate park in Santa Monica. “When I got to the studio, I saw Joe and asked, ‘What songs are we going to do?’ He said we hadn’t written them yet.” After three long days, the trio had recorded the nine acoustic tracks that make up As I Call You Down — and called themselves Fistful of Mercy, after the track of the same name. “I never thought we’d pull off an entire album, [I thought] maybe we’d get an EP,” says Harper, who credits Arthur as the catalyst who pushed for three songs a day. “The three of us were able to create something we never could have done on our own.”

The good news for us in Seattle is that the band is doing its first public live performance tonight (Thursday 8/26) at 7:30 at Easy Street Records in West Seattle. Details here.

They plan to tour in October. Fingers crossed for a Mountain Music Lounge visit!

It’s the new verse-chorus-verse: something soft, followed by something loud, followed by something soft again. Honestly, I’m just making excuses for playing you 3 new songs I like that have nothing in common, except that I like them.

The first is from former Screaming Tree, Mark Lanegan and his collaborator Isobel Campbell of cherished Scottish indie band Belle & Sebastian. Wowee this is sexy-fied.

Come Undone

Next up it’s a song I first heard on a Holiday Inn ad campaign. I tracked it back to this Nashville fellow, Kyle Andrews. Fun and funky!

You Always Make Me Smile

And finally, well this is just a gorgeous rare acoustic version of Ray LaMontagne’s “Beg, Steal, Or Borrow” that needs to be heard.

Beg, Steal, or Borrow Acoustic

Every year everybody who works at The Mountain and our sister radio stations takes a day off together to do some good in the community — we call it Make A Difference Day. This time we headed down to Seattle’s Arbor Heights Elementary School. The school has a huge asphalt-covered playground

with typical games painted on the surface — foursquare, basketball, etc., plus a map of the world and a huge outline of the U.S.:

Everything was outlined in fading white paint; our job was to fill things in. Kind of like paint-by-numbers on a giant scale, only there weren’t any numbers. Equipped with buckets of brightly-colored paint, we went to work.

My team tackled the big U.S. map:

The hard part was keeping similar colors from touching one another. Easy in the West; tougher in the Northeast. But we did it:

And we all went home with at least a few souvenirs on some part of our bodies:

But first we had lunch on the playground:

We found this project thanks to a great organization called Kaboom, a non-profit dedicated to creating play spaces for kids all over the country.

This is where we sing “We Are The World . . . .”

Today, intern Gavi and I show off some beautiful dahlias left behind after Melissa Etheridge’s Music Lounge and talk about how songwriters get paid. Or, as in the case of Live From The Mountain Music Lounge Volume 16, DON’T get paid.

Yes, it’s me and Melissa Etheridge, just after her session in the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge. As soon as the video goes up on the Mountain homepage, you have to check it out. Or listen to the full session now right here. It’s hard to believe she sang for three hours at the Paramount, then came in here the next day and rocked it hard.

When I was a young DJ in Columbus, Ohio, in 1989, I did a broadcast from the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, and I interviewed Melissa, who was up for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. (She lost to Tina Turner, but hey — she did get nominated for her very first album, which isn’t bad.) Anyhoo, today I reminded her of that interview, and guess what? Big surprise: She didn’t remember it. Does it really count as a reunion if one of the people doesn’t remember meeting in the first place?

BTW . . .here’s the guitar she played today. Pretty, huh?: