McLotorcycle Diaries: March 2011

Hey Justin,

How you doin'??

How's the Northern part of the valley treatin' ya? Sorry I missed you.

I think you have an IPhone, maybe we can Facetime? I do have wifi here.

Oh I just had an idea!

My next blog post will be my email to you. You being the Creative Genius (2009) behind the title of McLotorcycle Diaries.

Let's see...where to begin...

Things are super sweet here. My job is going well. I'm three shifts deep and I got my first 2 weeks off. I have tons of plans. Time off started with a stop in at

Shaka's

with my friends on our way to a staff appreciation bar-b-que at Whittington's Beach followed by a night dip in the ocean on the way into Hilo, and then hangin' out at the Hilo Tavern. Slept at

The Brown House

and we found a great place called Lowe International breakfast on Friday Morning. It looked kind of sketchy from the outside, but the food was SUPER cheap and actually pretty good. I got a small ham omelet over rice, a grilled cheeses sandwich and a cup of miso soup for about $7! When it comes to cheap & awesome breakfast though, nothing beats

Sourdough Pancake and 2 Fried Eggs for $5

Look at the size of that Pancake!! That's Norm in the back. This is at the SPACE Farmer's Market in Seaview. It's about 15 or so miles from where I'm living in Puna. Something tells me that you will be hearing a lot more about this market from me very soon. You'd love it, it's all very local stuff. There is a circus troupe and community that lives right nearby. Something KERAZY happened to me just before eating the pancake breakfast pictured above on Saturday Morning:

Scene: Farmer's Market

McLean is somewhat feverishly searching for his friends who took his breakfast to the picnic table area for him. He sees them and begins to walk over there when all of a sudden he hears

Mysterious Bearded Man wearing sunglass & playing the guitar: "Hey did you go to Catlin Gabel?"

McLean turns to see a mysterious bearded man wearing sunglasses who's been playin' on the guitar for the last 10 minutes or so.

McLean: Why yes I did!?!

Bearded Man: Me too.

McLean sidles up to the man as his tone suggests discretion. Mutual recognition dawns and the bearded man goes 1st.

Chris: "It's Chris _______"!!

McLean: "Oh my God it is Chris ______"!... McLean Eames!!

It turns out Chris is touring with a couple different musicians, many of which are from Portland. He's got a solo career, but also plays in a group called NIAYH (Now Is All You Have). After some brief catch up, and Chris inviting McLean to the show that they are playing that evening at the Kava Bar down the road, McLean sighs and says (with amazement):

McLean: "Chris ______"!!

Chris: (leaning in and speaking quietly) I actually have a different last name now. It's Chris Worth around here.

McLean: "Oh.....Niiiice. B-) "

After the crazy reunion my friends and I decided to head to Kehena Beach for a quick dip in the ocean. I did the same the day before when I go back to my neck of the island.

Justin, I don't know if you click on the links in the blog but you totally should. They're a part of the viewing and learning experience when I didn't take pictures, or there's something cool to learn - In case you didn't click, I wanted to let you know that Kehena is a nude beach. My very first! Turns out naked people don't look any different on the beach. I think that F-Section pretty much neutralized any big shocks I might have felt about public nudity - "yep...they're naked...". But the beach was fun, and the body surfing fast and harrowing!! There's something really nice about being in the ocean with nothin' on. It's pretty cool, I recommend it.

Later that night I went to the concert at Uncle Robert's Kava Bar.

It was an awesome show for me to go to!! The sets started with a band called Nuestro, and then followed up with SaraTone. Her music in particular reminded me of how cool it was that I was there. She was singing about how beautiful and magical the Pacific Northwest is, and she was singing about SalmonNation! I have to put in a plug for her here Justin, you should go check her out:

From her Website:

Viva Cascadia~ in Portalandia
Sun. March 13th @ Lotus Seed $8-12
6 NE Tillamook
Ribner Bro's Peace Pod
SaraTone & Earth Tribe Gospel ***CD RELEASE PARTY***

Here are directions to the venue from St.Paul

I know it's a drive for you, but it would be worth it to ya, trust me. Or if you know of anybody who will be in town on the 13th and looking to hear some music, let them know! Good stuff! I managed to take a little bit of video of Chris's performance

He's got a seriously sweet set of pipes on him, and he seems to be really happy doing it! Way to BE Chris!! I highly encourage you all to support this man by at least checking out his website HERE. I'm pretty sure he's got a free download there for ya so enjoy!

I didn't hear his other band play, so I can't speak to the music yet, but some of the other performers were up there with him, their acronym name is sweet, and like I say, the man can sing! You can check them out at NIAYH.COM.

3 musical sets and as many cups of Kava later, I headed out to the road to hitchhike back to Pahoa for my work buddy: Alex's birthday party. All in All, a pretty darn good weekend!

How have you been Justin? I think I saw on Facebook that you're not doing the bar trivia anymore? What happened? Anything happen with that lady who was maybe following you on the street and then asked for your phone number? Your new herb garden looks sweet!! Nom Nom Nom.

Always good to hear from ya bud! Keep reading the blog, and throwing some comments out there. I'm taking steps to make it easier, and perhaps even more desirable to leave comments on this blog and for people to be a part of the conversation. This Means YOU!...Justin.

SInce starting this blog post I have since been recalled into the field early, my shore leave's been called up! Turns out I'm getting a week and a half off and going back to work Sunday night - not as much time for time off, but nice to even things out a bit on the ol' paycheck situation.

Aloha!

-Mc

P.S. You might be wondering to your self..."Hey! Who was that girl in the brown house, and what was that disgusting thing you weren't going to post up last blog??" Well my friends, thanks to your friend BRYAN HAYNES, calling in the 1 and only vote from the comments section and winning it for the yea's, I give you