Normally I post concert pics and video on my other blog, but I think I will post local shows here from now on. Actually, I posted Floater here as well.
Few bands come through Southern Oregon, given the small population, but last night the Deftones made their first appearance. The crowd at the Medford Armory was not as large as it was for Black Label Society or Static-X, but they are about the only two bands who never miss the area so it makes sense that they have built up a strong fan base here.
More photos and HD video will be coming soon. For now, I’ll leave you with a video I took of the song “My Own Summer.” Even though cameras were “not allowed” you can see that the rules were not enforced. The two large guys that walk in front of the video (from left to right at 3:16) near the end are actually security guards.
The old SOU logo is being replaced with a new one. The one in today’s photo will likely be replaced in the next month. The art buildings can be seen in the background.
I always thought the old logo was supposed to represent the mountains, but I recently heard that they are supposed to be the windows in Churchill Hall. A photo or two of the new SOU logo will be coming here soon.
The weather has been really great in Ashland since returning from hot and humid Tokyo. Every day the highs have been in the 80s, lows in the 50s, and best of all no humidity. The humidity is about the only thing I don’t miss about Japan.
Before my year in Japan I would visit Quiznos about once a week for lunch. It was my favorite place for lunch in fact. Just across the street from SOU, the Quiznos sub sandwiches were far superior to Subway (which is actually on campus).
After a week back in town I decided to go out for my first meal back home. I totally missed the “Space For Lease” sign and went straight to the door. There I found the sad news that Quiznos had gone out of business. Nooooooo……
I guess they didn’t think I was coming back to support them. 🙁 There was always a line at lunch so I’m not sure what happened to cause the crash while I was gone. Maybe the place was empty at night and on weekends?
I bet there will be some students next month who are unhappy to find Quiznos went under while they were away on summer break.
August 10th, 2010 | Tags: buildings, signs | Category: places | Comments Off on Quiznos no mo
One more pic from our return flight from SFO to MFR. Here we are approaching the airport in Medford. The United flight was on a small plane with probably about 30 seats. Several were empty and most were taken up with the bodies of Japanese middle schoolers who were on our same flight from Narita (Tokyo) to San Francisco. I found out they were doing a mini, one-week home stay in Eagle Point and White City (Oregon). Since I was the only one on the flight who could speak both English and Japanese they moved me to the exit row. That was nice as I had more leg room, but it meant my view was obstructed by the wing and propeller of this small plane.
Small planes coming from the south have to go over the mountains that spring up on the California-Oregon border. Frequently this involves a load of hair-raising turbulence, and this flight experienced about as much turbulence as I have felt on the dozen or so planes I’ve taken on this Medford-San Francisco journey. The Japanese kids were freaking out but had big smiles on their faces when we finally landed.
August 7th, 2010 | Tags: aerial, medford | Category: places | Comments Off on Flying into Medford
I always seem to get really bad jet lag. This trip home has been no exception. The jet lag seems to get worse before it gets better. It’s 4 in the morning on night 3 after returning, and I’ve been wide awake since 2 so I decided to take this pic from the back deck instead of lay in bed any longer. The photo didn’t come out very well. Things looked far more magical in person. With my natural eyes I could see the Milky Way, and the moon is a beautiful crescent. I guess I need a tripod, less moisture in the air, and/or a better camera to make this shot really work.
Looks like this photo was taken in Oregon, right? Actually, I took this pic a couple weeks ago in Japan (Nikko to be exact–湯ノ湖 is the name of the lake, and I got up for an early morning bike ride at 5 a.m. to get this view). A couple more weeks and I’ll be back taking fresh photos of Ashland. Until then you can see some of my recent Japanese adventures here.
The hike to this lake is not very difficult. It is a bit under 2 miles each way from the trail head. Next time I want to take the more difficult, 9.6-mile loop trail that takes you above this lake and right by the Long Gulch Lake.
The location is northern California, about an hour and a half south of Ashland.
