Oregon – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise at Pine State Biscuits in Portland, Oregon

We flew into Portland, Oregon, late last night and went directly to Rodeway Inn by the airport, where we’ve stayed a number of times and where we’ll stay at the end of this trip before flying back to Phoenix in 10 days. An excellent breakfast and knitting were had at Pine State Biscuits in downtown Portland, and then it was time to braid the Columbia River on our way to the Pacific.

Caroline Wise and John Wise making a pit stop at 420 Holiday in Longview, Washington

Recreational marijuana is legal up here in Oregon and Washington, so why not stop and inspect the goods as the last time I looked at legal marijuana in a shop was in Amsterdam. This particular shop in Longview, Washington, seemed fitting to the idea of a vacation with the name 420 Holiday. If you are wondering if we bought some weed, come on, do we look like stoners?

Caroline Wise in front of a Welcome to Washington state sign

From Oregon over to Washington and then Washington back to Oregon.

Wahkiakum County Ferry on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington

And then Washington back to Oregon, or something like that. This is the Wahkiakum County Ferry on the Columbia River between Puget Island, Washington, and Westport, Oregon, and it is the last ferry on the river before it dumps into the ocean. Every chance we get, we’ll opt to take a ferry, even if it’s a bit out of the way.

Astoria, Oregon looking across the Columbia River to Washington

Made it to Astoria, Oregon, and while I’m tempted to drive over that bridge into Washington to go get a coffee and a pastry at Chinook Coffee (love this little roadside shack), we are here early enough to go to this place on the river that has been closed by the time we are passing through on our other visits.

Whalebone Yarn Swift at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon

The day started with knitting, so let’s continue with a theme; here at the Columbia River Maritime Museum is a Whalebone Yarn Swift, which was used to hold a skein of yarn while it is wound into a ball.

The Light Ship Columbia at the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon

This floating lighthouse is a Light Ship named Columbia and is a National Historic Landmark. The mouth of the Columbia and the crossing of the “bar” is notoriously treacherous, and this “Light Ship”  helped guide the way. As you might deduce from the available light, we were too late to visit this landmark and so now we have one more reason to come back to Oregon.

Mehmet Polat Trio

JWise Photo of the Day

Mehmet Polat Trio at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona

Tonight at the Musical Instrument Museum was the Mehmet Polat Trio…I think I’ll let his website do the talking this time:

The Mehmet Polat Trio is a spiritual yet adventurous meeting of three virtuosos of magical instruments: ney, kora, and ud. With roots in the Ottoman, ancient Anatolian, Balkan, and West African music traditions, the trio welcomes listeners with its musical authenticity. The original compositions are colored by daring improvisations and grooves, presented in an atmosphere of chamber music.

King Sunny Adé

JWise Photo of the Day

King Sunny Adé

The King of Ju Ju music from Nigeria; King Sunny Adé was playing tonight at the Musical Instrument Museum. I’d first encountered his music back in the early 1980s in Los Angeles as somehow he became rather well known in the punk rock circles of L.A. at the time. That it took me more than 30 years to finally see him is as bad as the 30 years between learning of Kronos Quartet and finally seeing them here at the same venue. The diversity of acts that perform at the MIM is extraordinary and I cannot praise their booking department more for their fantastic efforts.

MoogFest 2016 – Day 4

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Eban Crawford playing the prototype Expressiv Infinity at MoogFest in Durham, North Carolina

This is Eban Crawford playing the prototype Expressiv Infinity in one of the hallways near our workshops. The city of Durham has done a great job bringing this event to their city and the support for all of the art and venues that are playing a role at MoogFest. I’d love to come back but will need to take off a few years to recover from the stress of signing up for events and workshops that fill up minutes after the schedule goes live, and even then, it turns out that your reservation doesn’t have to be respected if one of the MoogFest staff members decides to let walk-ins enter a workshop early thus bumping you because of fire code rules that only allow so many people in the room. Getting booted from the Robert Rich performance also hurt my enthusiasm. The solution next time, I suppose, would be to purchase the $350 VIP option, which allows the attendee to register their interests before the cheaper $99 general admission guest. While the organizer might think their pricing is fair, I don’t think they take into account those who are incurring greater costs due to coming from out of state and out of the country. The truth is that I don’t know how I’d organize it any differently for such a niche and eclectic event.

Caroline Wise at the LittleBits workshop at MoogFest in Durham, North Carolina

Building circuits at the LittleBits workshop, where we are learning to make our own optoelectronic sequencers and noisemakers, is a blast.

Suzanne Ciani performing on her Buchla at MoogFest in Durham, North Carolina

Our last performance was in the middle of the afternoon and it was of Suzanne Ciani performing on and demoing her Buchla synth. Suzanne is a pioneer in electronic instruments and sounds having created an iconic bottle of Coca-Cola being opened sound and a wide body of work for film and television over her career. She also holds the distinction of being the first woman to be the solo composer of a major Hollywood film. Most recently, she’s been working with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, who has been gaining attention as a Eurorack synthesizer artist.

Suzanne Ciani's Buchla synthesizer at MoogFest in Durham, North Carolina

Suzanne Ciani’s Buchla synthesizer.

Caroline Wise and John Wise entering South Carolina

Heading south out of North Carolina and traveling through South Carolina on our way back to Atlanta for the flight home tomorrow. It was a truly great adventure and learning experience.