Pearl Jam 20

Glen Ellen, California


I downloaded and watched Pearl Jam 20, the documentary by Cameron Crowe about the bands first 20 years. Apple TV rocks! I wrote a blog post regarding my time living in Seattle during the grunge explosion. Please read that post by clicking here. It did not disappoint in the least. PJ fans obviously will love the film.  I love a good story, especially captured in a documentary. This is in keeping with my latest theme of odd ducks. My respect for people who may do things a little different. Pearl Jam clearly followed the road less traveled, and still does. The first thing that popped into my head as the credits rolled is this is a band with a lot of heart. Not the fake kind, but true believers in their craft. Kind of in the vain of what I wrote in my last post about Sterling Hayden. Neither Sterling nor Pearl Jam were/are conformists. Not that I advocate

PJ20 Promo Shot. Pearl Jam: Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard

necessarily how any of the people I write about live, but having a massive population consistently going along with societal flow breeds a boring society. One that is just not exceptional in any way shape or form. People who are in a constant state of protest over every conceivable injustice is fatiguing. But, they are the ones to agitate pushing back against those (me included) who like consistency. 

Pearl Jam 20 A Documentry by Cameron Crowe

Glen Ellen, CA


 I was more than a little excited to learn about a project that has been ongoing, and now is complete. I like odd ducks so to speak. Cameron Crowe fits said description nicely. I've been an admirer of his for quite sometime, based upon his remarkable life, and the awesome films he writes and directs. I can hardly believe that Pearl Jam is now over 20 years old. PJ would also fall under the heading of odd duck. Aside from their fantastic music, and singer Eddie Vedder's distinct, almost ethereal voice, I have a bit of a connection to the Grunge scene of Seattle that they emerged from. I joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1988 and had my first duty station aboard a ship, the Polar Sea, homeported along the Seattle Waterfront. It was a crazy crazy time. Seattle seemed to be exploding with clubs and music. My mates and me were in the thick of it all. About a block from the Coast Guard Base on Alaskan Way was a neighborhood called Pioneer Square. The hood, not surprisingly, was prominently featured in Cameron Crowe's way cool 1991 movie called Singles. It was a real bohemian situation. The movie promo picture below was taken in Pioneer Square. My shipmates and I would pay a 5 dollar cover charge and have access to about 10 clubs within the square. Bands like Mother Love Bone, and the folks from Soundgarden would play along with old school jazz and blues bands. Vedder and company along with Nirvana jammed at these clubs during this stretch of time.