The Gorge Amphitehatre is my favorite place on Earth. The view is beautiful, the people who are there are almost always happy, the weather is cooperative most of the time and the music is usually really, really good. In my humble opinion, there is never a reason to be in a bad mood while at the Gorge.

  Despite overpriced beverages ( $4 for a 20 oz. bottle of water, $5 for a 20 oz. Vitamin Water and between $9.50 and $11 for a beer)  and an unusually difficult parking situation this season, I’ve been to The Gorge six times this year and I have yet to have a bad time. In fact, I am planning on going back two more times before the season closes on Sept. 6.

A few weeks back I took the 40-minute drive to the Gorge (which is when I took this picture) and hung out in the sun all day while the kids played (translation: all the concertgoers, because everyone there seemed to be between the ages of 12 and 22) at Vans Warped Tour.

  Despite making this 30-year-old reporter feel like an old man, I always enjoy Warped Tour because there is so much to see and I usually stumble upon at least one band I end up really liking during the day. This year that band was Seattle’s Cancer Rising, although I already knew I liked them beforehand I did pretty much stumble upon their set since I had no idea they were going to play at Warped. Overall, I managed to catch 16 bands out of the more than 50 or so that were performing on multiple stages.

Of those 16 bands one, The Classic Crime, had a couple of local musicians in its lineup.

The band plays a hybrid of punk, metal and hardcore music and a rather large number of fans showed up to catch their mid-day set in the meadow of the Gorge.  The band’s local connection comes in the form of guitarist Paul “Skip” Erickson and drummer Justin DuQue. The two are Cashmere natives and the pictures in this post are of the two Cashmerians (or is it Cashmerites?).

  The Classic Crime has been written about in the pages of The World previously and here is what Go! Magazine scribe Jefferson Robbins had to say about their sound:

 … earnest emo-core, rife with broken-heart choruses and power-chord crunch”

While at Warped I took a whole bunch of photos of The Classic Crime and all the other bands I saw that day and you can view them here if you’d like. Below is a YouTube clip I found of The Classic Crime’s stop at the Gorge.

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A little while ago fellow World blogger and newsroom city editor, Russ Hemphill, posted a series of aerial pictures from Google Earth and asked readers if they could name the location of the photo.

Last weekend I went on a short road trip and I shot a photo of something I thought was odd and interesting. Can you name where this photo was taken?

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From the old news, but still interesting news department, an e-mail a reader sent to the newsroom last week:

Yesterday afternoon around 2:00pm I was driving northbound on Mission Street

approaching the 5th St. intersection.  The light was red, and as I stopped I

noticed three individuals walking East on 5th Street, heading down towards

Riverfront Park.  As they passed in front of the former Banner Bank building

there, I saw from their reflection in the glass that they were totally

painted from head to toe in brilliant gold, silver, and what looked like

bronze (I know, it sounds like Olympic medals, but that’s what it looked

like)  It was like a bizarre flashback to the old James Bond movie

“Goldfinger”.  They were totally painted, including their clothing and

shoes.  I’m surprised they didn’t cause a few accidents from all of us

“observers”.  I was just curious if anyone in The Wenatchee World news

department had heard anything about this or possibly even captured the event

on photos.  If I hadn’t been on a tight time schedule, I would have rounded

the block and taken a picture with my phone camera.

(more…)

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Earlier this week, in a search for some fine dining options outside of the dual metropolises of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, I went to a restaurant I have always wanted to dine at ever since moving to the Wenatchee Valley.

(more…)

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Up here at World News Central (a.k.a. the Wenatchee World’s newsroom on the second floor) everyone was abuzz about 30 minutes ago when a massive BOOM came from the sky and lightning struck a tree downtown.

The booming thunder shook the building here on Mission Street and it was soon followed by a couple more monstrously loud thunder and lightning strikes.

While it is not what happened here less than an hour check out this cool video of lightning in slow motion. As the text describing the video states, watch for Zeus lancing bolts of electricity at the :04 mark.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

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Mrs. Applesauce and I are having a garage sale Saturday and to promote said G-Sale I placed an ad in, where else, the Wenatchee World.

Along with the advert of 30 words or so announcing what sort of goods are up for sale, the ad space I purchased also automatically put Applesauce’s garage sale on the Wenatche World’s garage sale map.

Surprisingly, at about 6:30 tonight a woman knocked on my door and inquired about some of the items I listed for sale in the advertisement. My wife sold showed her what we are planning on selling and the woman purchased what she was looking for for $10.

I am completely amazed by this.

What amazes me isn’t that an advertisement in the Wenatchee World actually brought me business (take that Criagslist!), what amazes me is that someone showed up at the garage sale nearly 36 hours before it is scheduled to happen just to purchase one item!

(more…)

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I just left a meeting where the topic of discussion was The World’s plans for a special section commemorating the opening of the Town Toyota Arena  Center.

Yes, that’s right, the TTA has been officially renamed the Toyota Town Center.

Really though, it doesn’t matter much to Applesauce what it is going to be called because it shall forever be known as The Toybox in my mind.

Or now maybe I can call it The building formerly know as the Town Toyota Arena.

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I have always wanted to make a permanent mark sometime during my life. Now, after Global Entertainment’s mysterious press conference about one hour ago where the official name of the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center was announced (Really Global folks, did you need to be so secretive about your news conference?), I have my chance.

It was announced earlier today that the GWREC is no more. From now on the building shall be called The Town Toyota Arena. But that’s not what Applesauce is going to call it.

Since the GWREC has an official name, it now needs an official nickname. This is where my opportunity to make a permanent mark comes into play.

I mean, after all, everyone remembers the names of people who create catchy nicknames, right? For example, everyone knows who Everett True is, correct?

Bueller … Bueller … Anyone?

Well, okay, Everett True is the guy who came up with this well-known term.

Anyway, my point is that journalists get famous when they come up with names for things, and I want my little piece of fame. So without further ado, Applesauce is declaring naming rights to the the official nickname of The Town Toyota Arena and wants it to be known to all that the nickname for TTA shall now forever be:

THE TOY BOX

That’s right, you can now call the former GWREC, a.k.a. the current TTA, The Toy Box, a name I though of all by myself.

So every time you decide to go catch a concert, attend a quilt show or watch the Wenatchee Wild hit the ice, you can say “I’m going to The Toy Box” and hopefully you might think of me when you say it. And the best part is, it’s sort of three nicknames in one. You’ve got the Toy Box, or The Toy or The Box.

I can hear the announcers for the Wild and Fire saying it now:

“The crowd here at The Toy Box is going crazy after that goal.”

“Boy The Toy sure is rocking tonight.”

“It’s a playoff like atmosphere here at The Box”

It sort of rolls off your tongue doesn’t it?

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Astute Applesauce readers will recall Global Entertainment officials tend to not be forthright with information regarding mysterious press conferences. That’s why I sort of already knew what was going to happen when I decided to probe further into an e-mail I received earlier today containing a press release from Amy Gensinger, the premium seat coordinator for the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center.

The body of the e-mail read:

We wanted to make sure this got to you J

Hope to see you tomorrow!

The press release, which you can view here, states there will be a news conference at the GWREC at 3 p.m. Friday. The public is invited to the news conference.

Since I am a reporter and my job is to ask question (also, since the press release more or less says nothing), I e-mailed Amy back asking what exactly what might happen at the news conference.

Will there be a new sponsor announced? Has a company purchased naming rights to the arena? A new tenant? Has the GWREC booking team landed a big name blockbuster event or performer to open the arena? Surely Amy would want to share some vague details about what will go down at during the news conference.

Here’s how the rest of my e-mail exchange with her went:

Thanks Amy. This release is a little vague. Any word on what is going to be announced? A new tenant? Sponsor? Event? Any additional info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Best,
Travis

Amy’s response?

I’m sure it would be appreciated J See you tomorrow!

So yes, you guessed it, tomorrow I will be walking blindly into a press conference that is about something that may or may not have to do with the GWREC. Stay tuned for more details. That is of course if there are details given at the press conference. Who knows what the press conference will be about given Global’s coy nature regarding dealings with the media.

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Because I am a journalism nerd and have recently made the transition from full-time reporter to part-time copy editor and page designer, I found this especially humorous.

Apparently, The Valley News in Vermont/New Hampshire, made a pretty critical typo on the front page of their paper. It’s something you’ve gotta see to believe, so here is the link.

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