Category Archive Travel

ByGD

Doe Bay Moments

doebay fest logoDoe Bay Fest is only six years old, but with its stellar record for booking the best of the Northwest, it is already legendary. Festival-goers recognize each other on the street and nod – “Doe Bay?” “Doe Bay” – like members of a secret society sharing a password. This was my first year at Doe Bay, and because of the type of writing I do for a living, I wanted to tell you how to score tickets to Doe Bay Fest, which always seems to sell out before tickets go on sale. I planned to describe the camping areas and give advice about meal planning and festival food.

But now that I’ve been there, I’m not going to write any of that. Read More

ByGD

Got Itchy Feet? Put Iceland On Them

View of ReykjavikFor those unfamiliar with the expression, itchy feet is a traveler’s disease. It is the unquenchable desire to escape everyday life to explore someplace new. Like other viruses, once contracted, it remains in the body forever, flaring up at the most inconvenient times. The only treatment is hair of the dog. You’ve got to get the hell out of Dodge to find any relief. For me, treatment is only effective when airplanes and passport stamps are involved – long weekends and camping trips rarely make a difference – and generally, the destination must be someplace new. Unless it’s Iceland. Read More

ByGD

Rúrí at Reykjavik Art Museum

Ruri waterfall sculptureBefore the Iceland Airwaves Festival started, I spent a few days as a tourist in Reykjavík, mostly geeking out on saga and settlement history. But I did make a hurried stop at the Reykjavík Art Museum, which turned out to be one of many serendipitous epiphanies experienced in Iceland. Read More

ByGD

The Ones That Got Away: Shows I Missed at Airwaves

I can’t believe I’m not seeing Swans. I do that a lot. I just miss bands that I love.

I do that a lot, too. In regular life, there are so many obligations that can get in the way of a night out watching bands.

Read More

ByGD

Iceland Airwaves by the Numbers

Iceland Airwaves 2012 poster

Uber-geek Souvenir

 

In science there is only physics. All the rest is stamp collecting. – Ernest Rutherford.

 

Maybe it’s because I used to be a stamp collector (molecular genetics lab tech), but I can’t resist the urge to measure things that don’t really need to be measured. Iceland Airwaves was a five-day MFA program in music that quite literally changed the way I hear music. When I came home, I put on my old CDs and sometimes I could barely recognize the once-familiar music – I just heard different things.

That should be enough. But no, useless data must follow.

Read More