The Cars - The Cars

With all due respect to Blondie and The Talking Heads, The Cars are the best new wave band ever (record sales will bear this out too). The group's self-named debut album came out in the summer of 1978 and is basically their greatest-hits record: "Just What I Needed" (number 27), "My Best Friend's Girl" (number 35), and "Good Times Roll" (number 41). The Cars stayed on the charts for over two and a half years, delaying the release of the group's second album, Candy-O by almost a year. Too bad no one buys albums any more, The Cars had some of the best cover art ever.

Awards Aplenty

I have never been one to get too excited about awards, but this has been a banner year for things I have worked on. Coraline won four Lions at Canne. Two for digital, one for promotion, and one for integrated campaign. I have to say this is the most integrated campaign I have ever worked on, so we deserved that one. We also won Best Multi Channel Interactive Digital Campaign from the Digital Movie Advertising Creative Showcase, which I have never heard of, but it got us some recognition in Variety Magazine.

The Book of Oregon book we made for Travel Oregon also won a Design Lion at Canne to go with the pencil we won at DA&D.

Bus is Full Again

You can tell winter is here as all the people that walked or rode their bike to work over the summer are starting to cram back on the bus, to avoid the rain. The half empty bus rides of the summer are over. Today the bus was full several stops before we got to the downtown, so I am sure the later buses will be passing lots of people up.

You also get to experience a lot more coughing and sneezing on the bus this time of year. If I catch the swine flu, I am sure it is going to be from a bus person. There are some pretty sick looking people and none of them were covering up when they sneezed. In fact it seems to be a competition to see how far you across the bus you can spray your spittle. As a first line defense, I like to keep my full rain gear on for the ride to stay dry. I am also thinking of investing in some of those surgical masks.

New York Times App

This is the one app I use everyday. There is nothing better than reading the NY Times on the bus every morning without having to spread out a big newspaper. The opening screen gives you all the top stories you'd get on the front page of the website. You can also get the same sections they have on the website: World, U.S., Politics, Business, technology, Science, Health, Arts, Books, Style, Fashion, Dining, Home, Weddings and my personal favorite the Obits. You can also search for stories you are interested in and save your favorites. All the stories provide links to more info if you want to go deeper. The one thing that bugs a little is the advertising at the bottom, but you get used to it after a while.

The Hardest Par Three in the World

Last year there was a small blurb in Golf World with an amazing picture of "the hardest par three in the world" at Anstruther Golf Course. When I saw it I sent it to my brother and my dad and said we should play it over the summer. Unfortunately, we got too busy and never did, but I finally got over there today.

We started the day with a round at the Balcomie Links and lunch at the Crail Golf Club. I did not play very well, so I was a little worried about playing another nine holes, never mind the hardest par three in teh world. My fears were allied when we drove the five miles down the coast to Anstruther. It is a great little fishing village with several good pubs and restaurants, adn the harbor is probably one of the most photographed places in the area.

The Anstruther Golf Course is only nine holes; a par 31 at 2252 yards from the middle tees. There is a clubhouse that overlooks the harbor, where you can get lunch or an after-round drink and there is a small starter's box where you can pay or put your money in an honor box if no one is around. The first hole is a very steep, uphill, 263 yard par four. My drive hit the top of the hill, then started to roll back down, leaving me with a 100 yard pitch, which I got on the green and two putted for par. I was two over for the next three holes which were pretty flat and uneventful. Then you come to number five, the hardest par three in the world. You have a totally blind tee shot, and the green is 247 yards out. There is a huge cliff on the right and the fairway banks steeply towards the rocks and the sea on the left, so it is almost impossible to keep the ball on the fairway. I hit a great three wood that landed on the right side of the fairway and bounded toward the left rough. After a long look, we were able to find it and I chipped it to within seven feet, unfortunately I yanked the put and had to settle for a bogey.

Number six is a great uphill 128 yard par 3. I hit it long, but it bounced off the hill and came back to within five feet; I made the put for birdie. Seven is a tricky 171 yard par three straight uphill, with the green on a ridge that you can't see from below. I hit my drive way too long and it cost me a bogey. I pared in on eight and nine, putting my chips close enough that I didn't have to put, which was a good thing. I ended up with a 34 for the nine holes. I have to say it was a great experience. I have played a lot of famous courses, but this was as fun as any of them. From now on, I am going to make an effort to seek out these little nine hole gems.

Dad's Birthday

I managed to sneak out a bottle of single malt whiskey from the Edradour tour for my dad's birthday. We also played Kingsbarns Links and had a nice dinner. It was a very slow round, over five hours, as there were several foursomes of tourists in front of us. We actually played better with the slow down. I had two bad holes at the turn, but otherwise I played well. I missed a ten foot put on the last for a 90. Dad had a good tune up for his tournament on Sunday. On the way back to St. Andrews, we stopped at the Barnes, which used to be a great old pub, but has gone down hill a little lately.

We had dad's birthday dinner at a one of the best restaurants in the area, the Grange. They always have several great Scottish inspired selections on the menu. I had the Aberdeen Angus sirloin steak, which was fabulous. The salmon and the duck were also very nice. The guys who were playing in front of us on the golf course were also at the restaurant which is a mixed blessing; it's great that they are getting the business, but I am sad the tourists have found out about it.

Edradour Distillery

We took the day off from golf today and drove up to Pitlochry, a beautiful town in the heart of Scotland that is a well travelled tourist destination in the summer. The drive was very nice as the leaves are starting to turn, so we got to see some amazing colors (or colours as they say in Scotland). There is a lot of great stuff to do in Pitlochry. They have some amazing sceenery, with many lochs, rivers and rugged hilltops. If you are into walking there are eight marked trails that are all very nice. There is a famous festival that runs six plays during the summer. It is also home to Blair Castle, one of the best known castles in Scotland, home to the Dukes and Earls of Atholl. It is also home to the Atholl Highlanders, the Duke’s private army, and the last private army in Scotland.




Pitlochry has three distilleries, Blair Atholl, Edradour (just outside of town), and Aberfeldy to the west. We took the tour of Edradour, the smallest distillery in Scotland. It is a great little place, where they still hand make scotch whiskey. There are only three people that actually make the whiskey and they use a lot of the old-fashioned equipment. Only 12 casks of whisky are produced a week, most of the big distilleries make that in a few hours. It is an amazingly simple process to make the whiskey, there are only three ingredients: barley, water and yeast. It is distilled twice and from beginning to end, the process only takes a week. Then the hard part, you have to wait at least three years for it to mature, and with many single malts 10 to 15 years. The tour is well worth your time and you also get a free taste. If you want to buy some, they have a nice store, at the end of the tour.

Old Course and Pizza

I finally broke 90 on the Old Course for the first time this year. I played with my Dad and two guys from England, one was around my age and the other was his son, who was around 16. They were good golfers, but the son was wild off the tee. We could not get him to line up far enough left and he put two out of bounds on the first tee.

For the last half a dozen times I have played the Old, I have been out of bounds with my drive on the 16th or 17th (or both). Today I pared both holes, although I needed a chip in from 40+ yards off the green on the 17th. Unfortunately I boggied the 18th due to a duffed second shot that barely went 100 yards. I hit a pretty good chip through the valley of sin and had a 12 footer for par that I left about 3 inches to the right of the hole. I was out in 44 and back in 43, for an 87. I was very pleased with the back nine as the wind was gusting up to 40 miles an hour out at the turn and it was tiring just trying to walk.

After the golf, we had dinner at Pizza Express, which has been around for ever, but for some reason I have never been there. It is a really nice, bright space, with lots of pizza choices as well as pasta and salads. We split a couple of Cesar salads and three pizza's between four people and it was plenty of food. The pizzas are great. I would recommend the Fours Seasons - one quarter peperoni, one quarter cheese, one quarter mushrooms, and one quarter anchovies (the anchovies are very strong in Britain, not like the US); the Diavolo - spicy beef, pepperoni, onions and Tabasco, with hot green or jalapeno peppers; and the Pollo ad Astra - torn chicken breast and peppadew sweet peppers, mixed with Cajun spices, garlic oil and red onions. The prices are also very reasonable and the waitstaff are cheery.

Pizza Express
3-4 Logies Lane
St AndrewsFife KY16 9NL
01334 477109

Opening hours: 11:30 AM - 10:00 PM

Castle Course

I have said this before and I will say it again, the Castle Course is the hardest course I have played in Scotland. We had a early local time today, so we there was no one in front of us, which was nice. If we had been any later we would have been in trouble as we finished about six holes ahead of the next game. The Links Trust have made some modifications to the course to make it easier, but the greens are still very difficult (and the pin placements today were especially hard). There is absolutely no room for error. I played several good shots that would have left me with realistic birdy puts on an other course, but today they hit a ridge or didn't make it up a mound and I ended up off the green. I will admit that my short game was not great today, and on the Castle you are punished unmercifully. I think if I played the course several more times, I would begin to get the lines, but it still demands precision play.

The course will be closing at the end of the month, to let it mature over the winter. It will be interesting to come back in the summer to see how it as progressed and what other updates they have made. Still a highly recommend course if you are a better player.

Day Two in St. Andrews

I slept for nine and a half hours last night without waking up. I did my best to stay up until 10:00 p.m., then slept straight through until 7:30 a.m. We played the Jubilee course today in St. Andrews and I struggled to a 94. I did not drive the ball very well, and I could not hit an iron shot straight to save my life. Luckily I putted well enough to keep the score under 100. Yesterday was the opposite, I was driving the ball well, but couldn't make a put, as I shot a 92 on the New course.

Tonight we had a nice dinner at a restaurant called the Doll's House. It is one of three restaurants in town run by the same people. We ate at the Glass House this summer and it was great. The Doll's House was equally good and they had a great fixed price menu, which made it quite affordable. I had a nice red pepper soup to start and the steak for my entree. The mussells and the sea bass were also very popular at the table. After dinner we went to the Byre Theater to see a jazz concert. The concert was good, although it was a little strange to hear a bunch of American standards sung with a slight Scottish accent.

I have been wanting to go to the Byre Theater for a long time as it was renovated several years ago and looks great from the outside. They have added a bar and a cafe, as well as renovating the theater space. Unfortunately they recently lost their grant that allowed them to have a preforming group in residence, so now they have a lot of one off plays, dance theater, and music events. The last time I was in the Byre Theater before today was in 1974 when I was in a school play.

The Doll's House
3 Church Square
St. Andrews, Scotland
01334-477422

Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine is one of those hard to categorize bands, that make you love LA. It is amazing to me that the most consumer centric, self-absorbed city in the world spawned this anti-corporate, anti-government, left wing, thrash band. Their energy was amazing, as was their conviction in a dirty business. I personally think their first, self-titled record was their best, but their third record, Battle of Los Angeles, sold more. My favorite story about this band involves my Miller beer client. They wanted to hire them to be part of their secret concert promotion. When they asked the band they got a letter back that simply said, "f-you, you are the machine."

Arrived in Scotland

I arrived in Scotland this morning at 8 a.m and waited a couple of hours at the airport for my parents to arrive. While I was waiting, I got my first traditional Scottish breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, tomato, mushrooms and hash browns. It was very good, and I don't have to qualify that by saying, for an airport restaurant.

Once my parents got here we drove into St. Andrews and stopped along the way for a light lunch. After unpacking, the first thing I did was head out to the New Course to get in some golf. I played by myself and shot a 92. I missed a lot of easy putts, so breaking 90 was a possibility. Golf is the best thing you can do to stay awake, as you need to keep yourself up until at least 10 p.m. to make it through the time change.

For dinner we tried a Indian restaurant called Maisha that specializes in seafood. They have a great little space on one of the side streets in the heart of town. They have been there for a while, but this is the first time we have tried them as we usually get Indian food at one of my favorite restaurants, the Balaka. Over all the food was good. We got shrimp, crab and salmon dishes that were all spicy and flavorful. My one criticism is there was more sauce than seafood in all the dishes. The atmosphere was nice and it was not too expensive, but it will not change my Indian food allegiance.

Maisha
5 College Street
St Andrews, Scotland
01334-476666

Travelling Sucks

I am starting to wonder if I made a big mistake in my travel plans this week. I went down to Ft. Worth on Sunday to cover a shoot and left on Wednesday morning to head back to Portland as I thought it would be good to spend a day at home before I went to Scotland for 10 days. By the time I got to the office I was swamped with meetings and didn't get home until late. I only had time to pack and spend an hour or two with the family before I had to wake up and head out on an early flight to NY. I also missed out on the Tiger shoot day to travel home. I really don't like travelling, so I am now thinking it would have been a better idea to have headed to NY from Ft. Worth and cut out the trip back to Portland. Being away from home for two weeks is not great, but I could have cut out almost eight hours of flight time.

Why would I be so eager to cut out eight hours on a plane? This morning as I was boarding, the guy in my row filled up all the overhead space with bags and coats. I suggested he put something under his seat so others could share the bin and he looked at me like I was crazy. Luckily there was still space for me to put up my bag across the aisle, but I was one of the first on the plane. By the time all the people on the row were on, it was full and this older lady had no where to put her bag. She tried to push it in by his coats and he said, "I really don't want my jackets crushed like that." She asked if he could remove them so she wouldn't have to check her bag (they were not offering gate check, so she would now be adding at least half an hour to her trip getting it at the baggage carousel). He looks at her and says, "I guess you'll have to check it." Class move. I guess travel brings out the best in all of us.

U2 Concert

We are in Ft. Worth for a Nike Golf shoot and after a long day that started at 6:30 a.m., we drove out to the new Cowboys stadium to see the U2 concert. The funnest part was that my brother Stephen, his wife Amy and their kids Logan and Gregor were there too. They came by the shoot and got autographs from all the Nike Golfers before they went to the concert.

The show was amazing, they played all the old favorites as well as some new songs. The stadium was huge, with over 100,000 people there. They did not use the big screen at the stadium because they had their own big screen, which came down and cocooned the stage.

British Open Trophy

Here I am with the real Claret Jug. I brought a replica from Nike for a TV shoot we are working on, but Stewart Cink had the real one with him, so we ended up using that. Everyone started passing it around and getting pictures with it, so I had to jump in. I even managed to ding it on the wall as I was trying to give it back to Stewart. He gets to keep the real jug for a year, then he gets a replica. This is the third trophy, and it dates from 1902. In the old days you got to keep it if you won three times.

Legend - The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers

Two weeks in a row of "best of" records is not good, but this is possibly the best, best of record ever. Legend has all the Bob Marley and the Wailers hits, from "I Shot The Sheriff" to "No Woman, No Cry." Marley put reggae on the map for white people and I think it would be hard to find any college student who has not owned this record at some point. I was lucky to be exposed to Marley at a young age as my cousin Alan was a huge fan in the early 70's. Think of this as your reggae starter record, and hopefully you will want to go deeper.

Eastern Oregon (III)

It was an early start this morning; we took off from downtown Baker City at 7:00 a.m. to get to John Day for a 9:30 a.m. meeting. It is a great drive down Hwy 7 to Hwy 26 and into John Day, yet another great old west downtown.

John Day is home to a few great museums. The Ranch and Rodeo museum is relatively new, but sounded very interesting. Unfortunately we didn't have time to make it over there as we took the tour of Oregon's newest state park Kam Wah Chung. This place is well worth the visit. In the 1920's Eastern Oregon had a large Chinese population that worked to build the railroads. While they were treated very poorly, a couple of men prospered. Businessman Lung On and herbal doctor Ing Hay ran a business out of the building that still stands today. Lung On ran a general store as well as many other businesses and Hay treated both white an Chinese patients from all over the region. When Hay died in 1952 the building was boarded up and forgotten about. Some 30 years later it was opened up and all the amazing relics were still intact. It became a museum and you could get a great tour of all the herbal remedies that the doctor used to administer, see all the products they sold in the general store and hear how the walls and ceiling were blackened with opium smoke not paint.

Our meeting in John Day was a little bit of a downer. Clearly people are having to work a lot harder in the southern part of Eastern Oregon to make a living and to keep their towns alive. That said, the heartiness of these people is impressive and there is no doubt they have a lot to offer for the right kind of tourist. This part of Eastern Oregon is not for people looking for four star hotels and gourmet restaurants, but if you are looking for the authentic old west experience, and people living their heritage you'll find it here. Before we left John Day we had a nice lunch at The Outpost Trading Co. They have a pretty big menu, with good sandwiches and pizza, but the fried pickles are a must.

After lunch we started the drive back to Portland. We followed Hwy 26 all the way for about five hours. There are several great opportunities to stop along this trek. The first and best tourist site is the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument which is run by the U.S. National Park Service. If you are into paleontology this place is your Disney Land. You will also see Sheep Rock and the amazing colors and textures of the Painted Hills. You'll go through several interesting small towns, where you should take the time to visit the general store or the farmers markets. We got a great milk shake in the Sidewalk Cafe in Mitchell.

The drive can get a little tedious as you go over Mt. Hood and down in to Portland. You need to be careful as the speed limit is only 45 in many areas. I was pulled over for going 70 in a 55, I thought for sure I was going to get a ticket as the rental car had a Washington plate, but but luckily I only got a warning.

Kam Wah Chung State Park
125 NW Bridge St.
John Day, OR
541-575-2800

Grant County Ranch and Rodeo Museum
241 East Main St.
John Day, OR 97845
541-820-3624

The Outpost Trading Co
155 W Main St.
John Day, OR
541-575-0250

Sidewalk Cafe & More
204 W Main St.
Mitchell, OR
541-462-3800

Eastern Oregon (II)

I started the day with a short run, but unfortunately our hotel was at the top of a pretty steep hill, so the trip back left me out of breath and a little rubber legged. Luckily we did not have far to go for our first meeting, as it was in the hotel we were staying in, in Pendelton. We were out in Eastern Oregon for a series of meetings with people in the tourism industry to help find a way to better market Eastern Oregon to tourists. It is a beautiful area with a lot to offer, but currently they don't have a cohesive message like the other six regions in Oregon.

The Pendelton meeting was very interesting. There was a good mix of people from city planners to hotel owners to tour operators. They all had a lot to say about the place and it became obvious that it's going to be hard to get consensus. However, we learned a lot and there is a lot of great heritage to build on out there. After a quick lunch we headed down to La Grande for our second meeting.

La Grande is a very pretty town. It has a great old west downtown with a lot of historic buildings. It is also home to Eastern Oregon University.We held our meeting in the library which was a nice new building that was busy with people checking out books and using the computers. The second meeting went a lot like the first, people were very positive about the tourism opportunities in the area and had a lot to say. The representatives from Baker City seem to be very organized and making a serious effort to attract tourists. After the meeting we had a nice dinner at Ten Depot Street. It is located in one of the historic buildings downtown and has a fantastic old school bar area where you can get sandwiches and the like. In the main dinning room they have heartier fare. I enjoyed the beef kabobs and a delicious peach and raisin desert. I also heard good things about the steaks and the Emu burger.

After dinner we drove down to Baker City to spend the night at the Geiser Grand hotel. This is one of the nicest hotels in Eastern Oregon. It is located in the historic downtown area and is a striking building. It has a copula that is the first thing you see as you pull into town and it has been expertly restored. The rooms are all large and well appointed. Although everything is old school, it is nice and all works well. They have a nice restaurant, but unfortunately we did not have time to eat there, as we had to leave early in the morning. We did have a drink in the beautiful old bar that is on the first floor of the bar. The hotel is supposedly haunted, but I did not encounter any ghosts.

Ten Depot Street
10 Depot St
La Grande, OR 97850
541-963-8766

Mon-Sat 5:00 pm-10:00 pm, closed Sunday

Geiser Grand Hotel & Restaurant
1996 Main St.
Baker City, OR 97814-3350
541-523-1889

Eastern Oregon

The drive from Portland to Eastern Oregon is not as far as you think. We made it from the office to Pendelton in three and a half hours. It's a pretty amazing drive once you get out into the Gorge area, the wind surfing capital of the west. Then once you get over the cascades you drop down into the desert mountains of Eastern Oregon. Pendelton is not the prettiest town when you come off I-84, but it has a great old downtown area where you can imagine cowboys pulling up on their horses and moseying into a saloon. In fact, that is not too much of stretch during the Pendelton Round Up, Oregon's biggest rodeo, which will be celebrating its centennial Sept. 15-18, 2010.

I am sure Pendelton has some nice hotels and B&Bs, but I have not stayed in one yet. Last time I was there I stayed at the Best Western and this time I was at the Red Lion. They are both perfectly fine, but there was not much local flavor. We had dinner at Hamley Steak House, which is a great space in an old building in historic Pendelton. The Hamley saddle and western wear shop has been open for over 100 years, but the restaurant is relatively new. It is very well decorated in the old west style, right down to the pictures of naked women you might see in an old bordello. The food was pretty good, we all stuck to the steaks which seemed to be the specialty and the prices and service were also good.

If you have an extra few hours to spend in Pendelton I would recommend doing the underground tour. You can hear all about how gentlemen would head into a reputable bar on the left side of the street and take the underground tunnel over to the brothel on the right side of the street. The Rainbow Cafe is a great place to get a drink or a hearty breakfast, you may also spot a real cowboy.

Hamley Steak House
8 SE Court
Pendleton, OR 97801
541-278-1100

Monday–Thursday Open 11am – 9pm
Friday and Saturday Open 11am-9:30p
Sunday Open 11am – 8pm

Rainbow Cafe
209 S Main St.
Pendleton, OR
541-276-4120

Henry's

Henry's is an old standby that has been on the lunch circuit for a long time. It is a good place for big groups as the dining room and the bar are both large spaces. The bar is a great place to have lunch or drinks after work, there are several large screen TVs and the bar menu is extensive. Some might say this is a draw back, that the menu is too extensive.

Henry's is in what used to be the Henry Weihard's brewery building, built in 1908. The brewery closed in 2000 when they sold out to Miller and they moved all the production to another brewery in Washington. I met with the folks who bought the building because they were interested in putting up some Weihard's memorabilia and Weihard's was a client of ours at the time. I remember them telling me about the concept for the place and I thought it was going to be a disaster. They wanted to have 100 beers on tap, just as the micro beer craze was coming to an end, and they had about five pages of menu choices. They were also talking about making it upscale with pool tables, etc. upstairs. I thought the place would do better as a neighborhood bar or tavern, but they were not interested in what I had to say. When Henry's opened it was a huge success, it was packed out every night, but it was a cheesy crowd. The 100 beers on tap thing died pretty quick and they now finally have their menu down to a more manageable one page, although they still do way too many things as far as I am concerned.

So what's good there? The salads are all good and the burgers are OK (not great). Really the best stuff is the apps and the bar food, like the onion rings, the Gorgonzola fries and the tortilla soup. Again this is a great place for lunch or after work drinks, not a place you want to take someone for a special dinner.

Lunch Hours: Daily 11am-3pm; Dinner Hours: Sun-Thurs 3pm-11pm, Fri & Sat 3pm-12am; Bar Hours: Sun-Wed 11am-12am, Thurs, Fri & Sat 11am-1am; Happy Hour: Daily 3pm-6pm Mon-Wed, 9pm-Close, Thurs, Fri & Sat 10pm-Close, Sunday All Day Happy Hour

Henry's 12th Street Tavern

10 NW 12th Ave.

Portland, OR 97209

503.227.5320

Henrystavern.com

The Cure - Staring at the Sea: The Singles

The Cure was formed in 1976 at the height of the punk movement and have gone through countless incarnations since. The band is essentially guitarist/vocalist Robert Smith and a revolving cast who are still making records and playing live today. However, they stopped making good music in the late 80's. Their best studio record, was 1985's, The Head on the Door, their sixth album.

I am not a huge fan of compilation records, but unfortunately there is no way around it with The Cure. This is a band that made a lot of great and varied music over the years, so you can't latch on to one of their records, and the compilation Staring at the Sea: The Singles is excellent. It has all the radio friendly favorites from the later part of their career: "In between Days" and "Close to Me" as well as the more sparse songs from the early punk days: "Killing an Arab" and "Boys Don't Cry." This is the band that invented Goth and they still sound great today.

Zipcar iPhone App

Zipcar is a great service here in Portland that allows you to rent to a car by the hour. There are cars parked on the street and in lots all around town, so it is easy to get a car. I ride the bus to work every day, so I often grab a Zipcar to head out to my clients offices during the day. I have been looking forward to this app coming out as they have been teasing it on the site for a while. I downloaded it and used it for the first time yesterday. I did not reserve a car on the iPhone, but the reservation was there as soon as I added it on my computer. I was disappointed that you still have to use your plastic card to initiate the reservation, but you can use the iPhone to open and lock the door. It doesn't really make sense unless you keep the app open while you are away from the car, it is much faster to use the plastic card, so that was a let down. One thing that I really did like was that you can extend or cancel a reservation on the iPhone. I can see this being a big help if you are out somewhere and you need a car fast.