seattle history

Falling forward, looking back.

Fall’s rounding the curve here in Seattle and I couldn’t be happier. The light’s already different. Softer. Rounder and more colorful. And not just because we’ve had a few weeks of depressing wildfire smoke wafting in from the Cascades and beyond. It won’t be long and the sun will rise after 7 am. Soon enough we’ll be changing our clocks and bemoaning the short days up here in the northern latitudes. The typical gorgeousness of August and September in the Pacific Northwest held pretty much true to form this year. Which has me taking stock and offering up an overdue blog post for those of you still hungrily Googling for such musings from one of America’s most special cultural outposts.

I’m about to finish up a validating run of Friday Happy Hour tours. I was honored to tell stories to visitors from at least six countries (Canada, England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Mexico…although I did also have a group hailing from all over the globe in town for a Microsoft conference). I also had American visitors from a dozen-plus states. The codifying interest in finding a connection with Seattle’s music brings some truly fascinating people my way, even decades after peak commercial grunge. This seems an especially timely nod in the direction of the past as true grunge nerds celebrate the 30th anniversaries of the release of “Singles” (September 18, 1992) and Pearl Jam’s legendary “Drop in the Park” show (today in 1992). That rescheduled PJ show drew 30,000 fans to my namesake, concert-ill-equipped, nonetheless-favorite Seattle park (Northeast’s under-used Magnuson Park along the shore of Lake Washington) after a months earlier plan was scuttled by the City in Gas Works Park (on the north shore of Lake Union). As I often try to emphasize, however, being a nostalgia merchant is just part of this gig. I aim to loop in earlier Seattle chapters while emphasizing that Seattle’s a thriving place where music’s still made with real passion. Look no further than the Bikini Kill show I saw last week at McMenamin’s Elks Temple in Tacoma. That crowd of hundreds was equal parts Gen Z and those of us still staying out somewhat late for Gen X’ers, along with music fans somewhere in between or on the margins (kudos to the parents taking their tweens out…although Kathleen Hannah getting pissed at a noisy cohort up front probably required a fuller discussion on the car ride home).

Rather than forget to mention all of the amazing individuals who came my way over the past few months, I’ll just finish the summary by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to make new connections. This version of my semi-annual mic drop really only applies to my regularly scheduled tours. I’ve got other irons in the fire and those of you who know me understand this move. So if you’re coming through Seattle and want to see if a tour is possible, just give me a holler. I’ll also be typically vague in saying that I’ve got a few new collaborations bubbling up and various evolutions underway. Want to explore something I’m calling Seattle Sports Redux? I got you. Need recommendations for how to better understand what’s happening in the PNW? Look no further. There are plenty of skilled storytellers and principled historians working in Seattle, but I think my flexibility sets what I offer apart. Just sayin’.

Much like Seattle continues to change like a living organism, so does what I’m doing with this side gig. For each vanishing hunk of Seattle (see the long-expected demolition of the block of Belltown north of the Crocodile Cafe’s former home) there’s an occasional welcome patched-up retrieval (see the reopening of the West Seattle Bridge over the weekend which makes it much easier to direct visitors over yonder for worthwhile pursuits).

Before I sign off again, I’ll offer a few random nuggets o’ note that very recently caught my eye. For those who’ve taken one of my tours, you’ll likely see the connections with the material I typically cover while out on the streets of Seattle.

I could go on with the details. But my purpose here was mainly to check in before shifting away from my regular schedule. Once again, I encourage you to reach out with questions about scheduling a special stop amidst your Seattle explorations. No guarantees that I’ll be free, of course. I always respond, regardless. I do what I do, as best I can as a one-man band. Rock on.

Seattle vs. London vs. San Francisco - historical comparisons come to mind

I mentioned in my last post a recent visit to London. It was part of a longer decidedly awesome family trip. London’s obscenely expensive. But I think it’s valuable to music fans that I recap some of what found by way of obsessively searching for music history there (and everywhere…).

I arrived with my casually curated list of sites worth finding. Given the recent phenomenon of The Beatles documentary “Get Back” and my interest in the bespoke tailoring history along Saville Row (for my other work), we set out to find the former home of Apple Records. It had most recently been an Abercrombie and Fitch showroom - not exactly a tribute worthy of the building where The Beatles last performed live. We stayed in Camden Town, mainly to be close to Regent’s Park. There was a theatre now named Koko around the corner from our flat that had been a punk venue where everyone played back in the 1970s. North London’s musical history more broadly isn’t hard to find. Amy Winehouse fans know about her statue up yonder. I sought out the exterior steps in Camden Market where The Clash shot the cover photo of their debut album. I’d hoped to venture further afield to see the former church (St. Augustine) where the iconic Wessex Sound Studios operated for 40 years. Former Beatles’ manager George Martin bought that studio in 1965. That’s where The Clash recorded “London Calling” and the Sex Pistols did the same with their debut album. Queen recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody” there. Everyone from the UK seemingly recorded there, including the Rolling Stones, XTC, and Pete Townsend. Then it was sold in 2003 and eventually converted into posh apartments collectively named “The Recording Studio.” Wessex’s advanced (for the time…) 40-channel console lives on in a studio in South Wales as of 2011. Music nerds surely make the trek there to this day in hopes of feeling a karmic echo.

In many ways, that’s some of what I do with my tour of Seattle’s cultural geography. Seek out places worth knowing and dig deeper for what’s beneath the obvious. Connect those places with stories and you’ve got yourself a time machine worth hopping aboard in hopes of better understanding why the music made there still matters. As I continue to learn from people on their own treks through Seattle, cultural history lives on. I sometimes make the unpopular point of saying that “grunge is dead.” Because it is as a musical genre rooted in a time and a place (the Pacific Northwest more broadly, although so many still associate it with Seattle in the ‘90s). One of my larger points, however, is that by better understanding where things happened you can make your own judgments about why it might’ve mattered in the present and (hopefully) future. Or at least, it’s fun to imagine things with the benefit of hindsight as you wander through what often times only exist as ruins.

Back to London - Soho as a part of the City of Winchester in the West End offers a target-rich environment for such exploration. Even just reading the engraved plaques on buildings scratches that itch. The English far better than us in Seattle put up historical markers. There are official circular blue-colored plaques about the size of a medium pizza pan bolted to buildings all over the place. Soho’s seemingly covered with them, especially in the areas around Denmark Street. Not everything gets a blue plaque - Paul McCartney’s offices and former squats used by David (Jones) Bowie or the Sex Pistols give just a few harder-to-find examples. But if you search for places like The Marquee Club or No. Tom Guitars, you’ll be pleased to see that over time there’s been a broad focus on marking those locations with a good starting point in the narrative. We here in Seattle can learn a great deal from what’s been put up all over London. I’ve been saying for the past few years that we desperately need to start putting up the sort of markers that London uses to remind people what happened all around them maybe not so long ago. When a City with only 170-ish years of history is so busy booming and occasionally busting, there’s only so much energy put into pointing people toward what was there previously.

If you want to go deeper into London’s history, I recommend starting with a walking tour we found through Airbnb that covered Soho. Evren runs it with real heart and soul, as a musician who’s looking to share what he knows. Followed by sitting with you in the pub to talk more about his own journey through the London scene. I was glad I connected with him as a fellow music fan and nostalgia merchant. His wife and brother-in-law were even along for the ride the day my wife, daughter, and I booked that experience. Good peeps, half a world away.

I feel a kinship with people seeking out cultural understanding from the places where music is made. Let me know if you have your own favorite cities with musical histories worth exploring. I’m reminded of a tour I led here in Seattle for a German chocolate company’s very hip executives who chose their corporate retreats based on the music history they wanted to explore. Their visit prior to Seattle was San Francisco. Where I also lived for a few years and loved the history found all over the map. Although I never saw blue plaques or their American equivalent there either. Although those hip chocolate titans did pay Phil Lesh from The Grateful Dead to sit down with them and give a guitar workshop. They didn’t get that sort of craft instruction from me. But I like to think I bring other talents to the stage. What those talents are, I’ll leave open for debate. Rock on.

Summer 2022 Dates Added!

Hello Seattle music fans (and all the ships at sea). It’s been a minute. I’ll get to my recent visit to London in a jif. But I want to lead off with an update on what’s happening with my Grunge Redux tour in Seattle. I’m adding tours. My ever-popular Happy Hour Tours will drop onto the calendar for every Friday starting July 22nd and will continue through September 23rd. Check your itineraries and see if those dates sync up with the next 10 weeks of Seattle’s glorious summertime. Also, I’m still very much open to VIP/Private Tour requests that as always are not limited to Fridays. I make no promises that I’ll be able to honor all requests. But due to an exciting new partnership in the works with Kimpton Hotels here in Seattle, I’m getting back out there with new energy and ongoing research into the history worth seeing around the City.

Bear in mind that plans for my lit’l passion project have often shifted due to up-to-date pandemic concerns and my multitude of interests. Case in point - I’m adding a new sports tour to my repertoire. It’s a driving tour and limited to special requests. Expect much more detail to come in the very near future. If you or your crew love Seattle’s sporty history (baseball, basketball, football, soccer and rowing - oh my!), my new Seattle Sports Redux will be three-hours of bliss for y’all.

Bottom line - I’m excited to get back out there. Join me, won’t you? Rock on, regardless.

A recent partial gallery of good people (posing nonplussed in a trashy alley).

I’m down to the last handful of dates covering my last month of tours. I’ve met some great folks who’ve made the trek to Seattle for a variety of reasons. A few curious locals, too. I’ll do a fuller recap after I drop the mic on the streets at long last on Friday, September 24th. Until then, expect a few pics like the following - same pose, done nearly a hundred times with groups since I kicked this off back in March 2017. If you’ve been waiting to join the fun, the window is closing. I mean it this time. Holler back if you have questions. Thanks for checking in. Stay safe, be well, and rock on.

Getting ready for that final mic drop

If you’ve paid attention to any of the blog posts or updates on my “socials” about Grunge Redux tours, you’ve probably noticed a tendency to cry wolf about the end of this side project. Put all of that aside. Because now I’m really serious. I’m hanging it up. But if you get to this in time, maybe you can join me for one of the last storytelling loops around Belltown. Before I do, however, a few notes on the historic importance of this time of year seems in order.

30 years ago, Sub Pop held Lame Fest at The Moore Theatre. That show on June 9th, 1989 came before most people turned their ears and eyes to the Pacific Northwest. That’s certainly not to invalidate the hard-working bands of all stripes who’d long since been working to create a distinctive blend of punk, metal, garage and amalgamated fuzz. It was just long before it seemed the sounds from Seattle (and the greater Pacific Northwest) would take over the airwaves. One epic sold out show with three local bands on the bill didn’t change the world. It did, however, give us a signpost to reflect back upon if people ask when the hype actually got serious.

Fast forward from Lame Fest less than five years later and you’re looking at the “best of times/worst of times” conundrum that was 1994. That was the year that four bands who called one city home (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains) independently topped the Billboard album charts. It had never happened before. Nor since (especially given how success is now quantified). That was also a year of foundation-shaking tragedies, as evidenced best by Kurt Cobain’s suicide in April.

As I lead people along a path that points out landmarks with backstories from The Moore Theatre to KEXP’s forward-leaning Gathering Space, far too often the connective tissue worth seeing firsthand is being balled up and tossed aside. The point of this side project for me isn’t to fixate upon the sadness of the era. This was a vibrant, rockin’ place, nonetheless full of contradictions and murky as an alley mudpuddle. For every $50M+ mixed-use construction project newly added to the cityscape, there lurk in the shadows countless stories of artistic evolution and sonic inspiration. I’ve tried to point out some of what I remember, sprinkled liberally with what I’ve learned along the way from others. For all those people who came along on one of my tours during their first trip to Seattle, I’m forever humbled by the role. And to each story shared from another’s perspective on what the Seattle scene meant to them, I pay homage with my utmost appreciation.

The bottom line for me is that another door is opening. A few months from now, I’m moving overseas for a year. Big adventures await and I’m very excited to have the opportunity. I’ll be back in the late summer of 2020. Will I pick up my record bag again and head out with the same mission in mind with respect to Seattle’s music history? I simply don’t know. At the rate that things are changing around The Town, there might not be anything left to point toward. When I hear, for example, that the stretch of Second Avenue between Bell and Blanchard is up next for redevelopment, I’m far from alone in wondering what will be gained. Just as I wonder what will be accomplished by the redevelopment of that stretch of Fourth Avenue where Studio X/Bad Animals and other recording studios thrived until as late as last October. I find solace in the belief that storytellers find ways to connect the past with the realities of the present and hope for the future. Maybe I’ll be one of those storytellers performing the function for visitors or longtime Seattleites who simply want to be reminded of what had been there before. If so, I’d be honored. If not, maybe someone better will figure out a way of explaining what happened to the grunge era’s legacy in Seattle. Either way, I believe a whole gaggle os someones should do so. Because nostalgia isn’t just a way to sell things. It’s a duty to keep alive what’s real and good and worth remembering.

Don’t presume that I’m melancholy about this transition. I’m just adding a bit more backstory, in case you were curious about why someone would pursue the folly of keeping grunge era memories on life support. My kernel code has always been to steer lovingly into meeting new people and to talk openly about an era that continues to reverberate with Seattle’s heart and soul. Maybe I’ll see you out there, sooner or later. Maybe you’ll find it on your own. Rock on, regardless.

Tour schedule update, and KUOW's "The Record" segment on "What Killed Grunge?"

February’s almost over, which means that my Grunge Redux tour schedule kicks back into gear. I’ve recently led some special tours (including one awesome group of high school age music fans from Seattle on a particularly rainy January day). I’ve done some special advance scouting travel for an August overseas move (more on that later). But for those interested in regular walking tours around Seattle’s fascinating cultural geography, I’m happy to announce that I’m getting back out on the streets.

As always, you can drop me a quick line if you have plans to visit Seattle when you don’t see a tour on my schedule. More often than not, I’m open to thoughtful pitches and special requests. There’s really nothing else out there like what I do for those obsessed or at least curious about the Pacific Northwest’s grunge era history. As I’ve often said on my tours, “I’m not trying to ‘out cool’ anyone.” This is a labor of love and my (self-appointed) ambassadorial duties have introduced me to an expanding atlas of far-flung tour takers. So far, people from a few dozen countries and more than 30 American states have toured with me. Why not jump into the mosh pit yourself? It’s a friendly, invigorating way of seeing a slice of Seattle - both past and present.

I need to add some links to some recent media that has featured Seattle Grunge Redux. I’ll preview them with a link to a recent conversation on Seattle’s NPR station (KUOW) that I was honored to join. Host Bill Radke’s from “The Record” brought a few of us into the studio - Ean Hernandez (from Seattle band Sicko and many other bands with a signature pop punk ethic) and Gretta Harley (writer, musician, educator with a new album coming out this weekend from her latest band, Love and Fury). and yours truly. The segment used the 25th anniversary of Green Day’s “Dookie” being released as an intro to ponder when the grunge era and Seattle’s presumed dominance came to fade away. I had recently come back from a trip to Africa, so my jet lagginess took the edge of my insights. I did the chance to voice my opinions that marketing shaped much of the world’s view of Seattle and that nostalgia is actually a worthy lens through which to view the music from the grunge era. Give it a listen and let me know if you have any thoughts to contribute.

I’m going to expand upon my usual sparse posting here to reinvigorate the conversation. Let me know if you have any questions. Sign up for a tour. Or just check back. More to come…

Back on the road (with new dates scheduled)

The rumor(s) spread (by me…) about the extended hiatus of my Grunge Redux tours have been quashed. Due to popular demand, I’ve added some new scheduled tours starting on Valentine’s Day (with more to come). I’ve actually been out rockin’ and rollin’ on the streets of Seattle often enough recently that I should offer a fuller update. That will come soon, I pinkie swear. But the bottom line for anyone curious about when you might be able to book a storytelling journey into Seattle’s fascinating past/present/future is the band is back together! If I can call myself a band (I can’t) as a solo artist (loosely speaking, of course) out on the road (here in Seattle) trying to entertain and educate the crowds (generally limited to less than 10 people).

I should mention a special tour I ran earlier this week for a cool, thoughtful bunch of local high schoolers. Plenty of musicians in the group, with a super-cool adviser who got our “field trip” approved with the administration of their Seattle-area high school. If you’re also angling at a special group event, feel free to give me a holler. No promises. But I definitely love the chance to tailor the research I’ve done to audiences with special interests.

As visual evidence, here we are outside MoPOP. Good looking crew, I must say.

School of Learning More About Rock.jpeg

It's been fun, but the time has come to end this chapter.

Without spending on advertising…aside from a few days of testing out Google Adsense and realizing that clicks mean next to nothing in terms of connecting with actual people…some pretty awesome people found their way to my walking tours during the past handful of months. I’ve done a few tallies to illustrate the dynamism of who’s come along (here’s a brief snapshot). I’ve met visitors to Seattle from 18 countries. I’ve had along journalists from right here, a German “Rolling Stone” reporter, and a documentary TV film crew from France. I showed around as many as 15 people in one group (a hopeful mistake) and as few as just one woman visiting from South Korea (a total delight). There were boundlessly positive waves of Pearl Jam fans especially around the time of the Home Shows in August. So often there were tough questions asked that drew me obsessively deeper into the research of Seattle’s cultural history. We’ve experienced the sudden loss of Paul Allen, watched the unfolding debate over The Showbox, awaited the evolution of the former Galleria Potato Head/Black Dog Forge space into something new and exciting, appreciated MoPOP’s Pearl Jam exhibit and the unveiling of the Chris Cornell statue, celebrated with Sub Pop their first 30 years of going out of business, and prepared for places like Studio X/Bad Animals to leave behind their Belltown digs. The list of discussion worthy points along the way through Seattle’s landscape and history goes on.

And now it’s time for me to drop to mic.

I have one more tour scheduled for this week. Given the current warm and sunny weather, it should make for yet another lovely walkabout. I even have a few more fun details to share that I recently learned from both the Andrew Wood documentary (available from Seattle’s awesome Public Library) and the obsessed folks behind Northwest Passage’s reporting on the story behind the Deep Six compilation by C/Z Records back in 1986.

Whenever I finish a tour, I scrutinize what I forgot to mention. I don’t have a script…as might prove obvious to most…even though I have some reliably retold tales and a good memory for detail. Although I shouldn’t push the analogy too far, I’ve seen this little side project take on the elements of a live show. In that light, the thing that I’ve learned above all else from this particular performance is that I respect the power of nostalgic yearning. I often say that I don’t want to ever fall into any form of “your band sucks” criticism as we conversationally amble through music history. That’s not to say I’m without strong opinions on what music then or now matters. Either here in Seattle or beyond. I’ve simply tried to offer an entertaining mix of stories tied to the places from whence the stuff came.

If you’ve found your way to this humble post and want to reach out in hopes of still scheduling a tour, I’m always open to hearing your pitch. But I’m not planning to put up anymore regularly scheduled tours for the foreseeable future. Not that you asked, but the year ahead will be an extremely busy one for me and my family. I have a book project that demands my immediate and full attention. My family and I are planning for a sabbatical year starting next August in Ethiopia. I’m thinking about developing this material further for a self-guided podcast/audio tour. Yada yada yada. We all have our plans and dreams and day-to-day distractions. I’m nonetheless glad to have met all the people I did while trying to share a small slice of Seattle.

This isn’t the end. The conversation will continue. Thanks for checking in. Holler back if you have questions. And rock on.

Pearl Jam's "Home Shows" and Sub Pop's 30th Anniversary...pump up the volume on an amazing week of Seattle activities

The summer's been hot and the news has been steamy in Seattle. A brutal report about Dave Meinert's sexually abusive actions shocked many, and the backlash has been severe from all quarters (I will continue to mention his background, but with the essential update that came from that KUOW story last week). News of The Showbox's possible demise and/or pending landmark status may be stirring people into action (I strongly suggest signing the Change.org petition as I've done to do whatever's possible to protect this essential big room venue, and putting your words into action as I'm also doing). 

And this all comes as Pearl Jam prepares to play their "Home Shows" in less than two weeks from when I write this. I've sold out my Grunge Redux tours for that week, and the far flung members of the "Jamily" arriving soon have reached out with much excitement and earnestness. MoPOP long ago tapped into that energy by organizing a new exhibit set to open on Saturday, August 11th.

Sub Pop's 30th Anniversary Weekend celebration adds an equally amazing river of energy to that week's festivities. KEXP has kept them fresh in everyone's mind as they've played something off the entirety of Sub Pop's 1200+ release catalog for months counting down to the parties themselves on 8/10 and 8/11.  

It's a head-spinning mix of awesomeness. To show some of my priorities...and to give a hopefully helpful cheat sheet for that week...I'll offer the following list of activities that deserve to be on your schedule. In chronological but certainly not entirely complete order:

Saturday, 7/28 @ Georgetown Records - Punk Flyer Retrospective 1979-85

Wednesday, 8/1 on-air with KEXP - The Home Shows spotlight (from 6am to 6pm Best Coast Standard Time)

Thursday, 8/2 @ KEXP's Gathering Space - Storytelling Session with members of the Black Constellation collective

Tuesday, 8/7 @ MoPOP - Member Preview Day of "Pearl Jam: Home and Away" exhibit at MoPOP

Tuesday, 8/7 @ Optimism Brewing - MoPOP + Optimism "Pop Culture Trivia Night (focus upon Pearl Jam)

Thursday, 8/9 in Magnuson Park/NOAA Campus - Chris Cornell tribute

Thursday, 8/9 @ KEXP's Gathering Space - Storytelling Session with Mudhoney

Thursday, 8/9 @ Nordic Museum - Danish music journalist Henrik Tuxen's book talk for his fascinating bio titled "Pearl Jam: The More You Need, The Less You Get"

Friday and Saturday's redonkulously interesting lineups of Sub Pop Concerts @ Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheatre and West Seattle's Alki Beach. Check the SP30th website for all the updates.

Saturday, 8/11 @ MoPOP - the opening of "Pearl Jam: Home + Away" exhibit. Expect that it will sell out incredibly fast. 

Please note that I will be adding more details and/or suggested events for that whole week soon. 

Plus, I've got just two more tours left before the end of the summer (Tuesday, 8/14 and Saturday, 9/1). Some other fascinating media outreach has cropped up. So there's much going on, and much to look forward to. Rock on y'all.

Looking back on the anniversary of "Bleach" dropping...and forward

It's been a few months since I put up one of my periodic time capsule-heavy how-you-doin' updates. Today seems like an especially apt time to do so. Because on this date, Nirvana's first album "Bleach" was released back in 1989. While the album was well-received by critics, it barely reached the broader public still quaintly thinking of Seattle as an out of the way "noun" rather than a soon-to-be ubiquitous "adjective" (as in "Seattle sound" or "Seattle band" or the like). The relative lack of promotion eventually led Nirvana to leave Seattle's own Sub Pop Records. "Bleach" sold just 40,000 copies by the time their next album "Nevermind" fully cracked the cultural firmament two years later. However, it would go on to become Sub Pop's biggest selling album (1.9M and counting). Not bad for an album that cost just over $600 in studio time to record. 

Music journalists eventually dug way deep to learn that Cobain wrote most of the lyrics for that first batch of songs in a "pissed off mood" (Kurt's characterization, not mine) the night before their first recording session with Jack Endino at Reciprocal Records in Ballard. The sound was somewhat shaped to fit what Sub Pop was looking for at the time. But the energy and the originality and the off-kilter melodic fury endures. I still spin it from time to time. In fact, that's what's playing in the background as I write this. 

As I also like to point out at the start of my Grunge Redux tours, six days prior to "Bleach" dropping was an especially fortuitous date for the 2000-ish lucky people who made it into Sub Pop's "Lame Fest" at the Moore Theatre. The kind, naive people running that venue misjudged a billing with Nirvana, Tad and Mudhoney on the marquee. Hardly anyone aside from the in-the-know local fans thought it could sell out (which it did). Surely including the management of The Moore, who chose to send home early their security. And maybe not even Sub Pop, who were (reportedly) banned for a decade from that neighborhood venue as a result of the mayhem that resulted. 

Shifting forward to the now-ish...two months on down the line, we'll all most likely be lamenting "where did the summer go?" Before then, I've got big plans. Travel, family fun, a pile of work that's staring me down. Not that you asked, but I like to keep y'all in the know. Regardless, interspersed until mid-August on some special dates, I'll be running more Grunge Redux tours. Then after Pearl Jam finishes up their first Seattle shows in five years and Sub Pop throws itself a 30th birthday bash out on Alki Beach, I'll be dropping the ol' tour guide record bag (aside from a few charitable outings and the occasional special request). My subtle wink wink nudge nudge point here is to say that I'd love to have you join me for one before I stop doing encores. Next Friday even. Which could be an unseasonable warm day. What better time to skip out of work early and make a few Happy Hour cooling stops wrapped up in my uniquely Seattle storytelling experience? Tickets are available. Questions, as always, are welcomed and answered as soon as I can get to them.

Or you can also check me out for a limited time on Airbnb. If you've joined me before and want to say something about the experience, reviews can be placed there. No pressure. Just another friendly nudge.

Now if you'll excuse me, time to get back to rocking out. I hope you're doing the same...or will be soon...on this room-temperature and sunny Friday.

New deets for Grunge Redux walking tours in May and June

No one should aim to dwell too much in the past. But who doesn't love an entertaining ride in the ol' time machine every once in a while? If you set the flux capacitor for 27 years ago right about now, you'd be able to make the grand opening of the Crocodile Cafe (with The Posies and Love Battery on the bill). Looking around Belltown in the Springtime of 1991 might seem delightfully primordial. Or well past prime for those locals who'd grown up going to venues well before the Teen Dance Ordinance starting shutting them down. No one, however, could have foretold that two of the biggest-selling albums of the entire decade (Pearl Jam's Ten released that August and Nirvana's Nevermind in September) would soon come from here. Who wouldn't get a charge out of skipping that rock back to before Seattle largely became an adjective and grunge became a noun in common worldwide usage?

Or what about a trip back to 1989 around the time of "Lame Fest" at The Moore (with Mudhoney, TAD, and Nirvana introducing their first and only Sub Pop album Bleach). Or the turbulent watershed year of 1994 when Seattle's Big 4 (Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden) all hit #1 on the then-still-important Billboard Album chart. You could easily wear out the dial flipping back and forth between the dates that could showcase Seattle's unlikely rise and evolution as a music City of sizable awesomeness. 

Thankfully, you don't have to. You can instead sign up for one of my Grunge Redux tours. 

As we leap into May, I've got three tours on the calendar, and another 5 scheduled in June. I'll be on the road in July, but then back in August with a prescheduled slate of tours the week of Pearl Jam's "Home Shows" and Sub Pop Records's sure-to-be epic 30th Anniversary Party. Nothing's rock solid, however, since even the most beloved side projects get shelved when the proverbial band gets back together. 

This is, nonetheless, a rather long-winded wink wink nudge nudge way to say that there are available spots on my Happy Hour tour this Friday, 5/4, starting at 4pm. As usual, we'll walk an approximately two-mile path through Belltown and finish up at KEXP's Gathering Space in Seattle Center. The many stops along the way make this a two-hour-plus-a-skoch storytelling journey. Tickets are $50/person, although cheaper as pairs or even more so in larger groups. I'll happily reply with timely answers if you lob back questions. Or I'll send along all the logistical details you'll need if you pick out tickets that appeal to you.

In the past month alone, I was been delighted to lead around folks from Germany, Denmark, Scotland, England, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit and the Great Pacific Northwest. As always, people ranging from the most casual of music fans to the randomly obsessed lobbed back new insights along the way. Snippets from those conversations and other newly discovered grunge-y gems factor into the storytelling I'll be doing along the way. If you've not yet heard my backstory on this, my love for that era's music developed both prior to and after making my own way out West in 1993. As I like to say (on purpose), "grunge is people." One of these times on this evolving loop around Belltown, I'll figure out just what I mean by that. 

But in all seriousness if you're looking for a more tangible sense of what gets covered on my Grunge Redux tours, I've dug deeply for places where the essential music of the mid-1980s through later-1990s was both created and consumed. The course of a few hours gives us time to explore a workable overview of the grunge era in Seattle and beyond. More material will come your way later to inspire additional exploration. I'm happy to proclaim that this ain't no sucky suicide and sadness tour. Although I certainly don't shy away from giving those chapters their due inclusion. I'm just firing up the wayback machine, and hopefully connecting some of the dots you might have missed along the way. With more than a few yucks thrown in. Hopefully. 

Whether or not you can make it on a tour, feel free to pass this or future friendly promos along. There are no guarantees of how long I'll be offering this. Passion projects are like that. I'm nonetheless happy to accommodate y'all and any special requests that arise so long as I do.

Regardless, here's hoping we cross paths at a show sometime soon. Be well, and rock on always.