West Seattle, Washington
21 Saturday
The broadcast ended before sunset, but the live music rocked on long into Friday night during KEXP Radio‘s Hood-to-Hood Challenge victory party for West Seattle (the result of this neighborhood donating more than any other during last year’s pledge drive). Top photo, Caspar Babypants (West Seattleite Chris Ballew) delighted the family crowd late this afternoon at Cupcake Royale (WSB sponsor), where kids got to create art while not jumping with the beat to performers that also included The Board of Education and The Not-Its (see our video clip from their set in our midday report).
(P.S. You’ll get to see Caspar Babypants and The BOE on a West Seattle double bill August 19 during Summer Concerts at Hiawatha, co-sponsored by WSB.) Then early Friday night, before the 21+ venues geared up bigtime, an art-and-music showcase at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge brought people in from the rain:
That’s Militant Child, with “Dance With Me,” one of the tracks you can hear in its entirety on her MySpace site. Speaking of audio – if you missed any of the live broadcast that ran from 6 am till early evening, it’s archived here – for example, you can try 10:30 am Friday, May 21, to look for the segment featuring Chief Sealth International High School Marching Band performance (we had video in our first report – here’s one more photo):
Want to try to win Hood-to-Hood again? According to KEXP’s website, its pledge drive is coming up again June 4-11.
Click above to listen to “Killingsworth Street” by Sue Quigley, a counselor at West Seattle High School. Her co-worker Linda forwarded the link with a copy of a school e-mail asking people to help her win a contest to perform at a major festival:
Sue Quigley, is a counselor at West Seattle High School who is a solo artist and has a chance to perform at Lilith this summer! Every vote counts! You can help make it happen by voting via the Ourstage link and asking others to vote for Quigley! Voting requires a bit of effort to sign up but just to listen to her song it is worth it! Listen to Killingsworth Street and place your vote! Only a couple of days left to cast your VOTE…the deadline for voting is midnight May 23, 2010.
It was indeed a bit of a challenge to figure out how to vote, but if you can spare a few minutes, you’ll be giving a West Seattleite a boost. Click ahead for the specific instructions as explained by supporters:Read More
The banners are up – tomorrow’s the day for the Westwood Village Street Fair (WSB sponsor), first big outdoor festival of the season, 11-7 pm with live music, bouncy toys, magicians, JP PATCHES! and a dog show (flyer here with all the categories and how to sign up). And that’s just Saturday – then Sunday, it’s the second annual West Seattle 5K Run/Walk (co-sponsored by WSB), which kicks off the Seattle Summer Streets “car-free day” on Alki. In the meantime, the KEXP Hood-to-Hood victory party continues tonight, with live performances at multiple venues – Seattle International Film Festival is at Admiral Theater for a second year – and all this is just the start of a weekend so amazing, you’d think it’s summer already. The WSWL is sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music, bodacious brunches, plus lunch ‘n’ dinner:Read More
The Chief Sealth International High School Marching Band has taken the stage at Easy Street Records in The Junction as the KEXP Hood-to-Hood Challenge victory party powers through hour 5.
(added 1:42 pm – video of the CSIHS band doing “Tainted Love”)
Right across the street at Cupcake Royale (WSB sponsor), it’s family-activities HQ, and families are waiting eagerly for The Not-Its to start their performance at 11 am:
(added 1:39 pm, Not-Its video – wait for the jumping!)
Later in the day at Cupcake Royale, it’s The Board of Education at 1 pm and Caspar Babypants at 4:30; the Easy Street website has the full details on everything happening there. Here’s our morning report, including schedule links and highlights for the entire day/night.
(Photos by Evan Miglorie)
In June of last year, KEXP Radio announced that West Seattle listeners had donated more money than any other neighborhood in their Hood-to-Hood Challenge – and therefore would get a victory party. As of about an hour ago, that party is finally under way, with the radio station broadcasting live from Easy Street Records in The Junction all day (that’s John Richards in our photo), and live music in a variety of venues, starting with Motopony at Easy Street at 7:30 am (photo added 8:41 am – keyboardist Buddy Ross and vocalist/guitarist Daniel Blue):
At 10:30 am, it’s the Chief Sealth International High School marching band. The full schedule is on KEXP’s site; venues include three WSB sponsors – family activities at Cupcake Royale including live music with The Not-Its at 11 am, The Board of Education at 1 pm, and Caspar Babypants at 4:30 pm, as well as the first-ever live-music performance at Feedback Lounge (7-11 pm) with Kandi Coded and Memphis Radio Kings; and at Skylark Café and Club, the music starts at 9 pm, with Hotels, The F***ing Eagles and The Tripwires. KEXP DJs are at those venues and others including Prost, Shadowland (featuring Brent Amaker and The Rodeo live at 10:15 pm), West 5 and Youngstown Arts Center; again, today/tonight’s full schedule is here. KEXP also is collecting food for the West Seattle Food Bank 10 am-4 pm at a tent by KeyBank.
(Friday afternoon Lincoln Park photo by Chas Redmond)
Late afternoon-early evening, and with 70-plus temps in the sunshine, we know you’re probably most focused on enjoying the outdoors right now. But the West Seattle Weekend Lineup has indoor suggestions for later AND a big slate of activities for the rest of the weekend – take a minute to check out the list and see! The WSWL is sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music, bodacious brunches, plus lunch ‘n’ dinner:Read More
You might have noticed SIFF’s on the marquee at the Admiral Theater – and the festival itself is less than two weeks away. Last year, the Seattle International Film Festival had showings at West Seattle’s historic moviehouse for the first time ever, and this year it’s back. 19 SIFF films will be shown at The Admiral – they’re listed here. The festival begins May 20; first film scheduled for The Admiral is May 21.
We can say with confidence there are HUNDREDS of events this weekend – starting with the ~200 sales signed up for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, all over the peninsula on Saturday, 9 am-3 pm. Many more great events too – Chief Sealth‘s Carne Asada Bowl game/barbecue this afternoon, a Seattle Animal Shelter cat adopt-a-thon at Alki Community Center tomorrow, Family Game Night at Youngstown Arts Center tonight, Mother’s Day photos at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor)… All that and tons more on the list, sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music, bodacious brunches, plus lunch ‘n’ dinner, and 2 special events this Mother’s Day:Read More
(Photo courtesy Westside Symphonette)
In the mood for music? Tomorrow (Tuesday) night, the Westside Symphonette community orchestra’s spring concert will fill The Hall at Fauntleroy‘s Vashon Room with “Classical Elegance.” The Symphonette Strings and Junior Orchestra play at 6:30 pm, the Senior Orchestra at 7:30 pm. Program highlights listed by Westside Symphonette’s Toni Reineke include:
Strings: Fancy Fiddles, Hotaru Koi
Junior Orchestra: Egmont Overture, Grand March from Aida
Community Orchestra: Finlandia, Intermezzo from Hary Janos, Emperor Waltz, Bugler’s Holiday (with a twist!)
All welcome; admission $5 adults, $1 students (extra donations welcome!). The Hall is at 9131 California SW (here’s a map).
The Vietnamese Cultural Center in West Seattle has hosted several major events in the past few years. We were there most recently for a New Year’s event that also celebrated the 34th District Democrats‘ recognition of the Vietnam Heritage and Freedom Flag (shown above). Tonight, there’s an event to which the center wants to invite you. From Ducly Bui:
You and yours are cordially invited to the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, South Vietnam, to the Communist Party. It will be a Candlelight Vigil in remembrance of the South Vietnamese and the US soldiers who gave up their lives for the freedom of Vietnam.
Time : Friday 30 April 2010 at 7:00 PM
Place : Vietnamese Cultural Center, 2236 SW Orchard St.
Here’s a map to the center; we published a feature story about it in 2008.
As noted previously, West Seattle won KEXP’s “Hood to Hood” fundraising challenge – and the celebration is set for May 21st. Today, the radio station has revealed details of who’s playing where and when that day/night as part of the peninsula-wide party – full list here. (Thanks to Lauren for sharing the link!)
Almost eight months after The Sanctuary at Admiral applied to officially change the designation of how its church-turned-events-venue building (42nd/Lander) can be used, the city has granted the request, according to this morning’s Land Use Information Bulletin. The new designation is “theater and spectator-sports facility,” but as explained in our story when the application was made public last September, that’s not what it sounds like – it’s just the classification they had to seek for the sort of events they host (weddings, parties, etc.). Now that the decision’s in, there’s a deadline of May 10th for appeals, as explained on the official notice. The Sanctuary became an official city landmark last year.
Wide variety of events on the list this time around: The newsiest event will be the third public meeting for the West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir Park project, 10 am at Southwest Community Center (here’s one of our earlier previews); also on Saturday, a Duwamish River blessing, plus free Tai Chi for a BIG occasion. School benefits this weekend include Lafayette Elementary‘s first-ever Sports Swap on Sunday (donations accepted tonight/tomorrow) and Holy Rosary’s HEART Auction on Saturday. Plus – a poetry reading at Southwest Library on Sunday! Those are among more than SIXTY! events/activities are on the list, sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music, bodacious brunches, plus lunch ‘n’ dinner:Read More
Tomorrow’s a big day in The Junction – it’s Tax-Free Sale Day (here’s the latest list of participants, with a link to coupons) – look for the balloons! – Also, the new flower shop Fleurt opens in The Junction tomorrow (here’s our preview from last month), 10 am-5 pm. It’s also Record Store Day, with Easy Street Records part of the celebration of independent record stores – and just east in The Triangle, it’s Healthy Kids Day at the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor). With those, we have more than SIXTY! events/activities are on the list, sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music and rockin’ food:Read More
(Our first, as-it-happened HONK Fest West report can be seen here)
That photo shared by Eileen captures the brassy boisterousness of HONK Fest West, making its first West Seattle appearance, with bands spread along two blocks of The Junction in a five-hour-plus period this afternoon. So does this clip, in which we follow the Hubbub Club as its musicians “march” (more like danced, bounced, strode) their way from the designated performance area by the Junction Wells Fargo, to the SW Alaska sidewalk, then back:
And a serious dose of dancing-in-the-streets ensued in the raised crosswalk between Oregon and Alaska – where we found the Carnival Band during our 2nd HONK Fest visit, at midafternoon:
If you didn’t get a close-enough look at the Hubbub Club’s grinning tuba in our clip, Luckie‘s photo captures it for posterity:
And even the little ones were entranced by the splendor of the costumes as well as the music – witness Holli‘s photo of the Minor Mishap Marching Band (visiting from Austin, Texas):
So will this lovably loony street festival return next year? We’ve got the question out to organizers, though they may well be getting ready to recover after 3 days around town (Fremont on Friday, Georgetown on Saturday, then West Seattle today, plus a few bands’ performances in venues elsewhere tonight). Meantime, here’s the official festival website; here’s its Facebook page; and here’s a site where they’re encouraging people to upload photos. The whole thing runs on volunteer power and donations, as carts like this one reminded festivalgoers in The Junction today:
If you didn’t have any cash to throw in the kitty while you were enjoying the show(s), you can make an online donation here. P.S. Added Monday, one last shot from Colby – seems there wasn’t just dancing in the streets, there was a little bit of lying around in the streets too:
Noon-5 pm tomorrow, HONK Fest West brings music and merriment to The Junction, and the organizer-created map above shows the venues and times (click each marker to see where, who and when). It’s a free marching-band celebration, which has been in other Seattle neighborhoods the past two days/nights – Fremont and Georgetown. Here’s a “live report” from Harmonic Dissidents Magazine. If you’re not planning to go for the music, do note that California SW is scheduled to be closed between Alaska and Oregon (although as you’ll see on the map, there are performances outside those boundaries too). There’s a map in another format on the HONK Fest West site (as well as the schedule) – see it here.
The Junction fills with music on Sunday afternoon as HONK Fest West brings the third of its three days to our side of the bay (California SW will be closed between Oregon and Alaska) … Sunday is also when the King County Water Taxi (WSB sponsor) throws its grand-opening party, including free rides ALL DAY … And there’s a HUGE number of benefit events this weekend – a fundraiser for Jade West Café proprietor Wah Wong and family, “Borscht and Bagels” for Delridge Produce Cooperative, Dog Makeovers for the Cure, The Kenney‘s annual brunch, WSUU‘s gala dinner, WSHS Grad Night‘s car wash, two animal-advocacy groups teaming up … And to help your summer planning, check out the High Point Youth Activities Fair. Click ahead to see the whole lineup, because from now through Sunday, more than SEVENTY! events/activities are on the list, sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music and rockin’ food:Read More
ArtsWest still has slots open in its summer Theater Conservatory program and is putting out a last-minute call tonight for actors 12 to 16 years old to audition tomorrow. The play is Aristophanes’ “The Birds” – information about the intensive July/August program leading up to its production is here. Actors need to prepare a “contemporary or classical monologue no more than 2 minutes in length” and bring a resume and headshot photo. Lindsay at ArtsWest says you can just show up there at 5 tomorrow – or if you have a question, you can call during the day tomorrow, (206) 938-0963 x 102.
If you’re on KEXP Radio‘s e-mail list, you already heard this – a couple people mentioned it when they included it in an e-mail blast as an aside, but KEXP wouldn’t confirm it for us till now – May 21st is the date they’ve picked for the celebration of West Seattle’s victory in the “Hood-to-Hood” fundraising challenge last year (here’s our June 2009 report). Their short announcement says, “KEXP is planning to take over your neighborhood Friday May 21st with a LIVE Broadcast that will include live performances from bands and artists you love along with various evening showcases and events! Look for more updates in the near future!” At least one West Seattle venue has confirmed its live slate – see this Facebook status update from Skylark Café and Club (WSB sponsor).
That’s the official venue map, organizer David Stern tells us, for the West Seattle leg of HONK Fest West, the marching-band festival that will toot, honk and, well, march its way around the city April 9-10-11. The final day is when it’ll be here on the peninsula, with multiple venues in The Junction noon-5 pm Sunday 4/11, as the map shows – here’s the full schedule in text form (or click a marker on the map, and you’ll see the full slate for that particular venue). Part of California SW will be closed for the occasion.
The Alaskan Way Viaduct is scheduled to be closed 6 am-6 pm both days this weekend. No problem – no need to leave West Seattle! Plant trees with the Rotary Club of West Seattle, local Scouts, the city and others tomorrow … then, even though it’s a private event, you should be able to enjoy fireworks on Elliott Bay tomorrow night – right about the same time Earth Hour begins … help clean up Westwood on Sunday … join in efforts to fight hunger and raise $ for other causes … From tonight through Sunday, more than SEVENTY! events/activities on our list, sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music and rockin’ food:Read More
(Photo by Ronn Dunnett, provided by Matt Chamberlain)
Matt Chamberlain may be the most famous West Seattle musician you haven’t heard of – or haven’t heard much about. But there’s a strong likelihood you’ve heard his work, given everyone with whom he’s played/recorded. And now he’s e-mailed WSB with news that DRUM! Magazine has included him in its list “15 Greatest Groove Drummers of All Time.” Here’s an excerpt he shared from the writeup by Sam Pryor:
By creating a singular groove, Chamberlain became the first-call L.A. session drummer (sorry, Josh Freese). The diverse artists he has recorded with mirror his enormous ability to fit into any situation. Majorly pliable, Chamberlain’s skills (both physically delivered and occasionally programmed) have appeared on more than 200 albums, including those by Fiona Apple, The Wallflowers, Stevie Nicks, Dave Navarro, Master Musicians Of Jajouka, Garbage, David Bowie, Keith Urban, William Shatner, Shakira, Sean Lennon, Sarah McLaughlin, and Dido.
If you noted the L.A. reference – he spends a lot of time there working, but lives here. He explained in his note to us, “My wife and I have been residents of West Seattle for over 15 years … I live here and travel quite a bit but this is always home to me.” The “Top 15” list is in the April issue of DRUM! – which isn’t online yet (though Chamberlain has posted the full text on his website), where we also found word (scroll below the DRUM! mention in the text box on the home page) that he’s playing with Pigeonhed in a benefit at Seattle club Neumos tomorrow.
After a fab Friday night (check out the All-Access Showcase at Youngstown Arts Center starting at 6 tonight), many great ways to celebrate spring (which arrives at 10:32 am our time Saturday) – there’s a plant sale, a meeting about the potential West Seattle Community Orchard, two spring cleanups (Delridge on Saturday and Highland Park on Sunday) … West Seattle Hi-Yu‘s Tea and Silent Auction is Saturday … this weekend we also have WSB sponsors with special events, both on Sunday: Free yoga at SoundYoga and a gold-buying event at Northwest Gold Exchange/938.GOLD, and ArtsWest is into the second weekend of “Sunlight” … From tonight through Sunday, more than SIXTY! events/activities on our list, sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club, where you’ll find FREE live music and rockin’ food:Read More
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