Tsunami Waves, Coffee Shops, and the Sound

It's something I rehash from time to time. It's the same territory, the same struggle for relevance and meaning. The tiresome quest to be unique is a drag. Unique content is the new buzz word. Yes, I was there -- in the Emerald City -- when the zeitgeist shifted in the early 1990s. So what? Well, so what indeed.

Being part of history is more than watching it unfold on your TV screen. You have to be there. No, it's not New York in the 1970s. No it's not LA in the 1960s. It was Seattle, 1992. The Nineties, as a cultural phenomenon, had just begun and there was no sense that anything particularity interesting or earth-shaking was going to happen -- other than the usual pop tremors. But, I was on the cusp.

Shacked up in a Seattle hotel, I was dead-set on staying. Why? Like I've said, I couldn't tell you. In fact, had you known me before, you would have known I despised the rain and I couldn't abide a gray day. Had you known me before, you would have put good money on me never putting up with a place as dour as Seattle.

The proverbial air was all a-hum. Something was building, like a tsunami about to crest. The coffee house scene was well-entrenched before Schultz jumped the bandwagon and set up shop with Starbucks. The rain has a funny way of fueling coffee consumption. It was the Arabica aroma of reading, of knowing, of discovering. The smell of coffee beans and books have a way of complimenting each other.

I toiled for a few years. I did odd jobs. I did square jobs. I did the usual jobs you do in your early twenties. I was hungry, and I was bored and I was curious. Seattle blossomed in fits and stops. It wasn't until the first, opening chords of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that I would only know in retrospect that the swell had crested, and the rest of the world was about to inundated with something...new.

Article Source: TravelFreeGuides.com

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If you're keen on retreading history and want to find the source of the sound, book yourself a Seattle hotel, some goodies, and plenty of note cards.

by: Myer Thompson

Total views: 3 Word Count: 353 Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 Time: 2:47 PM - 0 comments

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