R.E.M. at the Hollywood Bowl

Man, R.E.M. has changed.

The last time I saw the band of my youth - it was December 1986 on the William and Mary campus in Virginia - Michael Stipe was sporting long curly hair, a baggy flannel shirt, faded jeans and sneakers.

Now, he's in completely bald and in a sharp suit, gyrating before a media screen that would give the lamest Midwesterner a flashback.

Thursday night's show at the Hollywood Bowl was, well, just awesome. It definitely made my top 10 all-time - maybe top five, but I need some time and distance before I make that call.

We began the night with a picnic on the lawn (Amstel Lights; red wine; turkey, bacon and avocado sandwiches; chips and cookies) before moving to our seats for the opening act, Modest Mouse (decent, but unremarkable; we intentionally missed the first band, The National). Then, the sun went down and R.E.M. took the stage for a hard-charging 20-song show.

Enjoy these videos of four of my favorite R.E.M. songs. The one at the top of this post is of a great new song, "Electrolyte." I'm not a huge new-song R.E.M. fan, but this one is defintely one of my all-time faves from the Athens boys. I had to use YouTube, because Blogger couldn't handle the large file size.

Here's the encore, "Man on the Moon," a tribute to late comedian Andy Kauffman - and those who pursue their dreams at any cost:



For all you old schoolers, here's the opener, "Pretty Persuasion," off the "Reckoning" album, my favorite:



Here's "The One I Love":



Some of the other songs they played (that I recognized): "What's the Frequency Kenneth," "Drive," "I've Been High," "Losing My Religion," and "Fall on Me."

One of my favorite bands in one of my favorite venues. Man, it doesn't get much better ...

Cooling our heels

Saturday in Vegas was pretty laid back: waking up at 10 a.m., eating lunch, going to Bonanza for souvenirs, nap, and downtown for Saturday night (pictured).

When I first came to Vegas, the strip called to me. As I've become more familiiar with Vegas, however, I've started siding with the locals and spending my time downtown, on the Fremont Street Experience. You can get your arms around downtown, and it doesn't take a 15-minute walk from one casino to another.

Saturday night, we pounded drinks with RJ employees Anne and Carly (pictured) at the Griffin, a local hangout, before we all headed to Hennessey's for some yummy Guiness and Irish music (pictured).

Sunday morning, I did what I said I'd never do again - drive on my motorcycle from Vegas to the LBC during the middle of the day. Imagine sitting in front of a hair dryer for two hours. That's what it's like on the trip from Vegas, through Baker and into Barstow. Once through the El Cajon Pass, the weather returned to normal. I was home by 3:30 p.m., and promptly passed out.

The road trip was fun, and whet my appetite for another one really soon. I'm considering summer trips north (Vancouver, perhaps?), and maybe an early fall trip to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

Lone Pine to Death Valley to Vegas

Friday morning, we got up early for the 120-mile drive to Death Valley.

We rode east over two mountain ranges offering awesome vistas. We pulled into Death Valley (pictured) at 9 a.m. - and it was already 100 degrees.




From there, we traveled southeast through Pahrump and Red Rocks (pictured) into Las Vegas, where we saw the Dropkick Murphys at Hard Rock Hotel, followed by a night at the Double Down Saloon, where we saw four bands for free.

We also saw Teller (pictured), from Penn and Teller fame. He sat right in front of us and was close enough that Jerry could've broken a Pabst bottle over his head without even standing up. The photo is underexposed, because I didn't want to use a flash and bother him.




Enjoy this clip from the wild-ass Dropkick Murphys show. The audio's a bit broken up:

Day 2 of 5: On Top of ol' Whitney

After a windy first night camping at Portagee Joe's, we had a great breakfast in town Thursday and then rode up to the end of Whitney Portal Road, where they trailhead to Mount Whitney (pictured) - the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states - begins.

The road ends at 8,360, but the trail heads way up to the summit at 14,505 feet. We didn't hike any of the trail, but we did mill around the heavily wooded road's end, with waterfalls (pictured) and wonderful views east of the valley (pictured) and, in the middle of the valley, the Alabama Hills, our next stop.







The Alabama Hills is a cropping of strange rock formations in an otherwise flat valley. The otherwordly landscape is best known for being the setting of dozens of westerns, but it has also been the setting of many recent films too, most notable "Ironman." The original TV show "Star Trek" filmed several episodes there as well.





We had a hairy three-mile ride on a dirt road before we headed back into town. After siestas and cleaning up, we headed back into Lone Pine for burgers, beer and a trip to Museum of Lone Pine Film History. Exhibits of most classic western and modern movies were on display here. We even hung around for the nightly 7 p.m. showing of a western filmed in the Alabama Hills. We checked out "The Tall T" with Randolph Scott and Richard Boone.

Knowing we'd have to get up early to beat the heat in our trip through Death Valley - and the second-lowest location in the world - we had brief stops at the Double L and Jakes before returning to camp by midnight.

FYI - I snapped this self-portrait with Mt. Whitney in the background:

Day 1 of 5

With my saddlebags filled and my tent and sleeping bag tied down (pictured), we headed out at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 21 and headed north for 240 miles. Once out of L.A. County, we merged onto I-15 and headed north through the El Cajon Pass before getting onto 395 North at Hesperia.

The drive up 395, with the high Sierras to the left, is just beautiful. About 60 miles north of the 15 exit, the desert gives way to green valleys, fed by the snow pack run-off.

We stopped for two nights in Lone Pine and pitched camp at Portagee Joe's (pictured), a county facility with plenty of shade, running water, bathrooms and a nice stream (pictured) - which also doubled as a beer cooler.





I'm not sure if the original "Portagee Joe" had any Hawaii ties ...

Lone Pine is a one-stoplight, two-bar town that's home to the Alabama Hills and the portal road to Whitney Mountain - the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states.

We spent the first night getting camp set up, eating a great local pizza, and introducing ourselves to the town's two bars, the Double L Saloon and Jake's Saloon.

On the road

I just got back from a five-day, 800-mile odyssey on the motorcycle with Jerry. We left Wednesday morning from Long Beach, headed north on 395 to Lone Pine for two nights, then east through Death Valley for two more nights in Sin City. After that, I headed back to the LBC, while Jerry headed southeast to a new job - well, a promotion at an old job - in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Since I've so many cool pics and stories, I'll stretch this out over a few days.

Coming next - heading out up California's Mother Road to the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states ...

2nd annual Bureau Baseball Night

Today I doled out the tickets for the annual Bureau Baseball Night.

Here's how it works: Folks in the Anaheim bureau round up friends, lovers, non-lame spouses and drinking buddies for a game. We get group rates on the tickets, our names flashed on the Jumbotron and a night of, well, you know.

This year, 45 of us are going to Monday's game against the Chicago White Sox. We're gonna start with a barbecue at 5 p.m., followed by the 7:05 p.m. game. In the above photo, I'm working out the seating chart.

I'm also getting ready for next week's big road trip. We're heading on the motorcycles up the high Sierras for a couple of days, then coming back down - through Death Valley - to Las Vegas for the weekend.