New West Network

My Page: Chris La Tray

Stumbling the Walk

Black Friday of course is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally one of the biggest retail days of the year. It is the official start of the Christmas shopping season, supposedly, though it seems apparent that, like Christmas decorations, that frenzy is beginning before the Halloween junk is even stuffed back in the garage. Flyers advertising early “Black Friday” sales started two weeks ago. The chains are particularly desperate this year, especially with typical Christmas meccas like Circuit City bankrupt, and Best Buy issuing their own ominous rumblings. Money is tight everywhere, and the only people who will be surprised if more companies fail after the holiday fog clears will likely be the same ones who were surprised when the house of cards that is our American borrow-and-spend economy started to tumble in the first place! [more]

Stumbling the Walk

My employer is a small company in Ohio. In the department I work in, politics was mostly a right wing circle jerk. We are talking card carrying members of the “you’re either with us or against us” crowd. Men who would give you the shirt off their back, then turn around and spout the most racist, misogynistic drivel you can imagine, and not even realize it. The only way to distract them was to steer the conversation to either sports or lawn care. I got by pretending to cheer for the Buckeyes, when in reality I tend to lean more toward Michigan. [more]

Stumbling the Walk

This entire “collapse” fiasco reminds me of the years I lived in Washington state. I worked for a company a short distance from the late, great Longacres Park in Tukwila. A couple co-workers clearly had gambling problems. As the last of their paycheck disappeared in the showering dirt clods of another bum wager, they would throw their tickets to the ground and bellow drunkenly to the heavens, “I knew I should have bet that fucking 5 horse!” Only in the latest edition, a generous racing official comes along, picks up the loser’s ticket, and says consolingly, “Oh, don’t worry, son, we’ll take care of that.” [more]

Stumbling the Walk

There isn’t anything particularly glamorous about a van-based rock tour. Maybe the bigshots who have money behind them for a fancy bus have it pretty good, but for those of us in the trenches it is a gritty – and smelly – endeavor. Three words sum up the experience in order of time spent: driving, waiting, and rocking. Everything else, like eating and sleeping, you squeeze in as best you can. [more]

Stumbling the Walk

I can certainly see why people like Barack so much. He is a fantastic speaker, and brings a verve to his delivery that is lacking in just about everyone else’s stage rap these days. He has a knack for making a person actually believe that hey, maybe this guy is legitimate, and that all the changes he speaks of are possible. All in all, though, I came away from the speech, and the convention as a whole, feeling about like I expected to: pretty underwhelmed, fairly disgusted, and not particularly hopeful. I’ll vote for the guy, but I don’t know that I’ll put a bumper sticker on my car for him, and certainly won’t do the yard sign thing. I don’t feel strong enough about him, or the Democrats as a party, to really proclaim my allegiance. [more]

Stumbling the Walk

Missoula hosts the premier independent music festival in the Northwest. I’m talking, or course, about Total Fest, which just saw its 7th incarnation go off as a resounding success this past weekend. This is a huge event to wrangle; lots of bands from all over (all of whom needed places to stay, things to eat, gear to protect, etc.) to manage, three nights in a row of rock, and all the promotion and hustling to make it a success. From what I saw Saturday night, it all seemed to go off with less fuss and confusion than most single night shows I’ve had to suffer through with only 3 or 4 bands involved! Just a fantastic effort all around. [more]

Stumbling the Walk

Despite how much I hated the last day/night of the fair, and the realization of where our animals, pets by now, were headed, I have nothing but fond memories of my years as a 4-H kid and a participant in what made the fair so awesome. One of my regrets is the moving around we’ve done did not allow me to get my son into 4-H, though who knows if he would have been interested in it. Times are different now. [more]

Stumbling the Walk

We have a long side yard that runs the length of our house to the east. Half of it gets a fair amount of shade in the afternoon so the grass does okay. The rest is scorched, and right now it is a bloody battleground where war is being waged against knapweed. In this space I have already built two 4’ x 8’ frames that will be filled with soil to serve as raised beds. There is room for more, and we will probably add at least 3, if not 4, more frames between now and the first snows. There is also a metal container that contains four tomato plants, just planted a couple weeks ago. Our neighbor across the street saw the beds, asked if we were making a garden, and gave us some plants. Ah, the community of gardeners! I know she won’t need it, but I intend to gift her with the first fruit of these beauties. [more]

Stumbling the Walk

The stage was set, the wall of black, logoless amplifiers had glowing lights. A roadie would wander out periodically to adjust a mic stand or open a couple bottles of water on the drum riser, then stroll off again. A huge smoke machine was belching fog over the stage and theater; ZZ Top was playing over the PA. The crowd was chanting, “Ace, Ace, Ace!” and it seemed to take forever. Finally the lights dimmed, and it was on. [more]

album review

The eternal struggle for bands who thrive when stumbling around on stage is to capture the energy and vibe of the live show on tape, package it up and deliver it. I don’t know whether or not Bob Wire made an effort to do that, but intentionally or not he pulled it off. Sentimental Breakdown, Wire’s second release since going solo, is everything a kick-up-your-heels-and-yee-haw country roadhouse show is all about, minus the bad breath and beer stains. [more]