My visit to Cooperstown

My plan to move to Oregon took another step forward last week, as I visited Portland over Christmas break -- taking an airplane, and leaving Greyhound bus behind for a week's vacation.

New Year's Eve at my daughter's condo, with her friend, and my son and his family. We listened to Ryan Adams Easy Tiger, and stared at Court (soon to be Tru-)TV and talked, until 'round about midnight, when Dick Clark's heir apparent, Ryan Seacrest, rang in the new year at the stroke of 12. I also learned who Hanna Montana was, thanks to my three-year old granddaughter, who had a doll that played the same lyrics when its belly-button was pressed, over and over . . .

If you could see
The other side of me
I'm just like anybody else, can't you tell?
I hold the key (the key)
To both realities
The girl that I want you to know
If only I could show
The other side...the other side
I want you to see
The other side...the other side
The other side of me

Ask me to sing it for you sometime. Or you can see Hannah perform entire song on YouTube.

My grand-daughter is very cute, as you can see by this photo at her tea. But I am biased because I'm not only 'Doodah', but also her agent. Isn't it time for a Minnie Minnesota? a Jane Maine? The SIU cap is her dad's, but she'll endorse other products or candidate for a cup of imaginary tea.

I saw a couple of streaks continue while in Portland, too. On Dec. 30 I saw the Trail Blazers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, in a game that had a "posterizing" dunk that's already on YouTube. The next day the Patriots won their 16th straight on the TV at a sports bar called Lil Cooperstown.

The entire town of Portland could be renamed Cooperstown, too, because so many people still remember the hijacker D.B. Cooper, who boarded a plane to Seattle in 1971, and sky-dived out with $200,000 before the plane landed . 'Cooper' was the #1 "Where are they now" in Willamette Week's year-end review. Also last week, the FBI released a photo of a clip-on tie Cooper left behind when he baled -- a tie that contains DNA, they say. The case has never been solved. There have been several claimants to Cooper's golden parachute, but none have been accepted (or convicted) by the Bureau, which has re-opened the case.

In addition, the kid who found 5 grand of Cooper's stolen loot buried in the banks of the Columbia wants to auction his collection. (He got to keep half the stash he found; the other went to the insurance company.) The story is given in detail at Yahoo News: Finder hopes to sell '71 hijacking cash.

Speaking of open cases, my own suitcase came back full of music and boxes of Nature's Path cereal (to fill the space where Christmas gifts had been). I got several CDs while in Portland. Instant Karma-Save Darfur (covers of John Lennon tunes); I'm Not There (movie soundtrack; Dylan covers). The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots; Dion, Song of Skip James; Prince, Planet Earth; Blood Sweat & Tears first album Child is Father of the Man, "Raising Sand" a Robert Plant and Allison Kraus collaboration.

All in all it was a great trip. I got to spend time with family; and drink a lot of Starbuck's Americanos. My son and his wife are expecting a boy baby in March. I suggested the name Cooper.