There is some Japan content in this two-part series on Static-X after all. Koichi Fukuda is the guitarist for Static-X shown here. Koichi was born in Osaka, Japan. Next to him is Wayne’s wife, Tera Wray, who appears to be nearing some sort of wardrobe malfunction.

Wayne saluting the audience. Nearly every movement Wayne makes is some sort of pose. He is very easy to photograph because of this. Notice that he and his wife have matching t-shirts. Aren’t they cute?

She is actually smiling here, something she should have done more often. Most of the night she looked a bit down. Wayne was in great spirits all night though.

One last shot of Mrs. Tera Wray Static for those of you hoping for something a little more close up. It’s a major crop as I wasn’t very close to the stage, but this was the former porn star’s look on her face most of the evening.

Let’s wrap up this two day run on Static-X with the only video I took at the show. The video quality isn’t too bad, but the audio is horrible. I’m not sure why it is so bad as the concert sounded great from this location right next to the mixing board. My LX3 let me down on the audio portion of this video. Turn the sound down on the first one and up and the second. Hit the HQ button just below the video as soon as it starts for slightly better quality.

Posted on May 10th, 2009 under Oregon. Tags: metal, static-x. Comments: 1

Today’s entry has nothing to do with Japan or Travel, but since I’ve blogged about other concerts on here when I was traveling, I figure I can squeeze this off-topic post in anyway.

Static-X is pretty much the only non-local act that comes through town on a regular basis. Most bands skip Southern Oregon and play a show in San Francisco the night before Portland or vice versa with no stop nearby in between. Not so with Static-X. Last night, at the Medford Armory, was the third time they’ve played in Medford in the past four years or so.

This is the first concert I’ve taken my LX3 to. I didn’t go specifically to take pictures so all of my shots are from the same spot, not very close to the stage, but they came out decent anyway. The LX3 was easy to sneak in. I have a coat with a double pocket. I put the LX3 in the inner pocket and my wallet in the outer. When security asked what I had in that pocket I showed them my wallet and in I went.

Wayne Static is a newlywed. His wife, Tera Wray, was on stage the entire night. She is apparently a retired adult film star. I wouldn’t know.

If you don’t like Static-X, but like porn, I suppose you could have enjoyed the evening as well. I’m guessing you’d like to see more of Mrs. Static so I’ll make this a two-part entry; you’ll have to come back tomorrow to see the rest.

Posted on May 9th, 2009 under Oregon. Tags: metal, static-x. Comments Off on Evil Disco

Let’s wrap up our mini, Portland, Oregon week with a view of part of the interior of Voodoo Doughnut, made famous on The Amazing Race. If you want to see more of Portland, check out my other blog.

Voodoo Doughnut was quite an experience. I don’t know if it was just because it was Spring Break or not, but the place was crazy packed. There was a line going out the door of 20+ people. The people lined up outside were getting soaked too as it started to pour rain just after we got inside.

Today’s view of Voodoo Doughnut includes the wacky chandelier and part of the motto, which was the clue on The Amazing Race, “The Magic is in the Hole”. If you look closely you can also see a donut holding a piece of bacon. They actually make and sell donuts with bacon (and many other strange things). You can see a picture here.

Posted on March 30th, 2009 under Oregon. Tags: food, portland. Comments Off on Voodoo Doughnut

OMSI is currently featuring a Leonardo da Vinci special exhibit. Although everything in the exhibit is a replica we still found it to be very interesting. Many of the items we have seen the originals for on prior visits to France and Italy. The exhibit includes some very well done videos as well as a very cool rendition of what the Mona Lisa would have looked like when da Vinci painted it (not pictured above). The original is far brighter and colorful (without all of the cracking and yellowing of course) than its current state in the Louvre.

Posted on March 29th, 2009 under Oregon. Tags: museums, portland. Comments Off on Mona Lisa with braces

For lunch on our second day in Portland we ate at Mother’s Bistro & Bar. The food was fantastic and reasonably priced.

I had the “Carlton Farms Pulled Pork Sandwich” which featured slow-cooked natural pork on a french roll with caramelized onions, swiss cheese, and honey-mustard barbeque sauce. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. In the upper-right portion of this photograph you can see my son’s Belgian waffle and to the left is my wife’s chicken sandwich. No one was disappointed with their meal.

One funny story about this place… As we walked in there was a picture of Bill Clinton with the employees. My 10-year old daughter, who heard Bill campaign for Hillary last year, pointed to the picture and said, “Look, there’s Hillary’s husband.”

Posted on March 28th, 2009 under Oregon. Tags: food, portland, reviews. Comments Off on Mother’s Bistro & Bar