Happy John T. Williams Day!

For what it's worth... In case that name doesn't ring a bell, John T. Williams is the guy who got shot by a Seattle cop last summer. The mayor has made today John T. Williams day for real. I'm sure that's a great comfort for all of those who knew him. I actually saw him a lot around Belltown and the market. He always spoke very loudly - he was quite hard of hearing - and often drunk. He was not a model citizen. But that doesn't mean he should have been shot for giving a cop a dirty look. And that's what happened. He was a woodcarver, carrying his tools with him. Ian Birk, the cop who killed him thought he posed a threat. The time between the his first warning to Williams and when he killed him was just over four seconds. Like I said, Williams was no pillar of the community. His postmortem blood alcohol level was something like .18 - more than twice over the legal driving limit. But that doesn't warrant execution. The guy had troubles with alcohol. I feel sorry for his family and friends, but it also brings up a very troubling scenario: once the cops can start shooting people like Williams with impunity, doesn't that put you and me at risk, too? Last year, it's poor John Williams. This year, it might be some dude from Issaquah who's having a bad day. Or maybe somebody from Kenmore says the wrong thing to a cop. Or it could be me. I'm a Slav. Although I've lived my entire life in this country, I'm genetically predisposed to assumed that the law will be disproportionally harsh for any offense. I know in my mind that this is a different country, but my poor peasant soul isn't so trusting. That's why this whole thing is so disturbing. Officer Birk didn't get prosecuted, because they said that his actions represented a "good faith" effort to enforce the law. Well, at least Birk resigned from the force. That's the only consolation.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Well, my monitor is back from repair. Guess what? Apparently, nothing was wrong with it. It just stopped and started working on its own. I just spent two weeks of profound boredom waiting for its return. OK, then. In the meantime, I visited Denny Park many times. I was joined by a whole gaggle of squirrels. And crows. But I wasn't interested in them. The squirrels weren't exactly friendly, but they were hungry, so they did a lot of creeping up to me and appealing to my generosity with their little paws. There were so many of them that they took to attacking each other, which was rather upsetting, but everybody got a peanut. And that's what counts, I suppose.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the lack of posts, sweet people. My monitor died last Friday, so my mighty Mac is down. I can't write music or do much else computer-wise. I have only my incredibly slow craptop that takes at least 20 minutes to get online and is very hesitant about posting photos. I'm not sure how long this will take to resolve - I shipped my dead monitor off for repair on Monday - but I will blog again in earnest once it's fixed. So be patient. I have many squirrel photos. In the meantime, I'll try to post even despite the limitations of this awful computer.

After Hours

This really doesn't need much of an explanation. It is what it is. However, I really dig his pin cannon. If the Soviets had built these on any sort of scale, I'm pretty sure we'd all be speaking Russian now. Well, OK, I speak Russian, but I'd be speaking it with y'all. Thank you and goodnight.

After Hours

I can only present this without comment. It is really strange, even for someone used to seeing this kind of stuff. Back when I lived in Astrakhan, this sort of fare played a lot. But it wasn't quite as dated and odd as this. Enjoy.

Battle of the Sponsors

Yesterday morning, I happened upon this as I passed the Showbox:

This was bound to happen. OK, so exactly who is sponsoring whom? Since Esurance is sponsoring Sasquatch and Verizon is sponsoring the launch party, does that mean Esurance is actually sponsoring Verizon? It's all so confusing. I think all those planning to go to Sasquatch should figure this question out before they go. You can't possibly know which corporations to be loyal to until you come up with an answer. I mean, they all want your money, but who is more true to indie music, the gigantic phone company or the very large insurance concern? It makes a difference, you know. Everybody knows that bands only make music to garner corporate sponsors. And the sponsors you support reflect your unique personality. Do you prefer cola over whiskey, or heavy equipment over hats? These are crucial decisions. Even with super-inflated ticket prices, these poor, poor, massive music festivals don't have a prayer of making mega-cash without giant corporations stepping in. All I can say is choose wisely.

Your Sunday Squirrel

I only went to Denny Park once this week and I saw just one squirrel. He wasn't very personable. This is quite a nice little clip. I'm pretty sure that this is a Euro-squirrel. He's small and dark. And he really likes strawberries. I hope that Denny Park will yield some more cooperative subjects in the next few days.