West Seattle scene: Bellydance improv at Skylark
Double bill at Skylark Cafe and Club tonight – after turntable time, bellydancers took the stage. Dina Johnson shares the photo and a report:
Terrific bellydance show from 7:30 -8:30 at Skylark on Delridge, about 8 short sets by solo and troupe acts. The place was packed with bellydancers & friends, but at least one guy there for the self disc-spinning was surprised and HIGHLY entertained by the bellydance show.
Picture: 3 members of the polished Troupe Hipnotica, who improvise all their routines using invisible cues in American Tribal style. Julia, on the right, is a resident of Highland Park.
Could become a regular thing if enough interest, I hope so!
Skylark is at 3803 Delridge, just south of The Bridge (map), usually known a bit more for their four-nights-a-week live music (here’s the calendar).
Reason to use Twitter, #4,513
While a lot of Twitter marketing is fairly basic “hey! come see us and buy our stuff!” (in the case of us news sites, we send out links in hopes you’ll come READ our stuff), there are also 
cool little moments like this one we just happened onto, hours after it happened: Pearl Jam‘s official Twitter account sent word of a photo (at left) of a limited-edition “record” (remember those?) and said, first person who finds it gets it. If you look at the photo full-size here, you’ll see the visual hint – Easy Street Records coffee cups. According to the comment thread on the Twitpic photo page, “someone named Megan got it.” (Reminds us of the April tale of a local family that found a Tony Hawk skateboard at Shadow Land via Twitter.) We use Twitter not just to send out story links (if you ONLY want those, find ’em at @westseattlenews), but also, at @westseattleblog, other tidbits, newsy and otherwise, plus Twitpics of events we’re covering, while we’re there, like the Denny International Middle School ceremony Monday morning (here and here). You can also just check in on the Web – our main @westseattleblog account is at twitter.com/westseattleblog. P.S. Easy Street itself is on Twitter, here – you’ll see tweets about the Pearl Jam release party this Saturday night and the Black Whales in-store show at 5 tonight.
Friends of Southwest Branch Library have 2 invitations for you
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That’s a Google Street View of West Seattle’s Southwest branch of the Seattle Public Library. (9010 35th SW; map), where two big events are coming up. Julie Enevoldsen from Friends of Southwest Branch Library shares both announcements. First – this one’s less than a week away:
Friends of Southwest Branch Library would like to invite all patrons to an informal Meet & Greet reception for our “new” branch manager, Jane Appling, on Saturday, September 19th from 1-2 pm in the meeting room at the branch.
In June, branch manager Theresa Mayer accepted a new position as Outreach Services Manager at the Central Library, coordinating programs and services to immigrant and refugee communities and the Library Equal Access Program serving people with disabilities. We’ll miss Theresa, but wish her well in her new position!
Jane Appling is our new branch manager (and branch manager of South Park) as of early July. Most recently, Jane served as the Library Services’ Operations and Analysis Manager. She offers extensive and varied public library experience, a very insightful perspective, and a passion for serving the community. Come and meet her on September 19!
Second – a call for artists:
The Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library and the Friends of Southwest Branch Library invite community artists of all ages to the 18th Annual Southwest Community Art Showcase.
(Local artists) may sign up by calling 206-684-7455, or by stopping by the Southwest Branch between Thursday, Oct 1 and Saturday, Oct. 24. Artists of any age and artwork of any medium are welcome.
Art work by Southwest community members will be on display at the Southwest Branch from October 26 through November 15. A meet-the-artists reception is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at the library. Artists participating in the Showcase are encouraged to attend. The reception is a chance to discuss art with the artists in a low-key, friendly setting. This is an opportunity to meet your creative neighbors! Refreshments will be served. Join us!
Want to know more about Friends of Southwest Branch Library? Go here.
West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Happy birthday, PCC! edition
More than FIFTY events on the list this week – including: Sunday’s the big 20th birthday party at PCC Natural Markets‘ West Seattle store (WSB sponsor), kicking off at 11 am with free food, cooking demos, samples, more (details here). All weekend long, looks like the weather will keep the summer spirit alive – other Sunday highlights include the Zucchini 500 at West Seattle Farmers’ Market and free Sunday yoga at SoundYoga (WSB sponsor), North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s S’mores in the Park … but first, Saturday’s busy too, with the West Seattle HS Volleyball Team fundraising car wash, Cat Adopt-A-Thon at Southwest Community Center; cats also get a boost from the FCAT fundraiser in White Center Saturday night, which you can check out before Admiral Theater showcases Those Darn Accordions .. Now, the FULL WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup:Read More
Sites to see during tomorrow night’s West Seattle Art Walk
Remember West Seattle Art Walk night last month? Thunder, lightning, downpours? Looks like tomorrow’s expected weather will be much more conducive to wandering. And the offerings keep getting more and more creative. Sampling from among the ranks of WSB sponsors who are participating, for example, Feedback Lounge in Morgan Junction is presenting The Paint Ball – billed as “Four artists, 120 minutes, public scrutiny, suffering” (more here). At Brunette Mix in The Junction, Gatewood artist/writer Pam Mandel (also known for Nerd’s Eye View) is showing collages. Ventana Construction, between Alaska and Morgan Junctions, is having an “artist blowout.” Back in The Junction, Wallflower Custom Framing will show the work of Kelly Rae Cunningham, whose creations adorn walls in Mural Apartments (where Wallflower’s in the ground-level-retail area). Across the street at Dream Dinners in Jefferson Square, Betty Olson Vacca‘s oils, pastels and watercolors. Other WSB sponsors participating: Click! Design That Fits in Admiral, M3 Bodyworks between Alaska and Morgan Junctions, Coffee at the Heights in Sunrise Heights, Endolyne Joe’s in Fauntleroy. One more participant of note: A very young artist, Schmitz Park Elementary third-grader Romy Ehrsam – who likes to draw, paint with watercolor and make block prints – will show her work at Shoofly Pie in The Junction. Here’s the printable map to all of tomorrow night’s participants; look for more venue/artist highlights at the official Art Walk site, and if you have something to highlight, let us know for the next preview tomorrow morning!
3 more for West Seattle’s 9/09/09: ArtsWest, 34th DDs, HPIC
(Photos by Matt Durham from mattdurhamphotography.com)
ARTSWEST SEASON BEGINS: The Seattle premiere of “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Carol Roscoe, opens the ArtsWest 2009-2010 season tonight. Performances continue through October 3rd. From the ArtsWest news release: “When Jean answers the cell phone of the corpse at the next table, she unwittingly embarks on a quirky odyssey that takes her from a high society funeral to the black market to the afterlife.” Buy tickets online here.
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS: Just two months after their almost-five-hour endorsement meeting preceding the primary election, the 34th District Democrats plunge back into the waters at tonight’s regular monthly meeting. Here’s the agenda, including a link to a proposed rule change which would set the parameters for endorsement consideration at this meeting.
HIGHLAND PARK IMPROVEMENT CLUB: Meeting tonight at 7 to kick off a busy autumn, including plans for HPIC’s 90th anniversary celebration and other fall/winter events. More info here.
Admiral Neighborhood Association: Concerts’ encore, and more
Notes from WSB contributor Keri DeTore, covering Tuesday night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting:
(August photo)
SUMMER CONCERTS AT HIAWATHA:
The concert series was a hit and plans are already in the works to do it again next year. There will be an effort to increase the diversity in the music, but certain bands will be asked back as well. To provide feedback regarding the concerts, music types, or what you thought was successful or not successful, e-mail coordinator Katy Walum at: katy.walum@gmail.com.
(August photo by WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
DEVELOPMENT:
No updates for either the Admiral Safeway redevelopment or the 3200 block of California rezone. But the 2743 California Avenue project—the 14,100 sf medical and administrative office building behind PCC (WSB sponsor) — is moving forward and a hole for the foundation has been dug.
Read More
West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Last holiday weekend of summer
Last chance to enjoy some summertime staples, like Colman Pool at Lincoln Park, open Sat-Sun-Mon before closing till May 2010 … or take a scenic walk on Saturday with the Emerald City Wanderers … taste tomatoes at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market on Sunday … more than 40 events/activities through Monday night are all featured in the Labor Day weekend edition of the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup:Read More
West Seattle scenes: Terry Brooks; Holy Family fair; The Mount
It’s one of the few things we have now covered four consecutive years since starting WSB in late 2005 – West Seattle-headquartered mega-best-selling fantasy-fiction author Terry Brooks made his annual late-summer appearance today at Westwood Village’s Barnes and Noble. His newest book, released this month, is “A Princess of Landover“; Erin from B&N shares this extra info:
Terry Brooks hosted a bookfair in conjunction with his reading, for the Interagency Academy for Seattle Public Schools. A portion of sales will go to this agency if community members shop at the West Seattle Barnes & Noble and either bring in a voucher if they received one or mention the Brooks bookfair to the cashier. It’s not too late to contribute!
B&N is open till 9 tonight. Less than a mile south of there, Holy Family School is hosting its first-ever “El Carnaval” street fair all weekend – we stopped by about an hour ago:
Bouncy toys for the little ones, too:
Last night’s grand finale to the monthlong Summer Concerts at The Mount (WSB sponsor) series at Providence Mount St. Vincent featured a bouncer too – with a tropical motif:
Cheryl Serio sang a jazzy set:
Next big event at The Mount: Brian Duffy leads a workshop in retirement planning, 2:30 pm Sept. 22nd.
Schmitz Park access limited this weekend — film crew at work
(Art by Susan K. Miller)
If you’ve been thinking about going to Schmitz Preserve Park this weekend, note that access will be limited, as the film crew associated with the online series “Star Trek: Phoenix” is back. We’ve received two notes about this today – one from Susan K. Miller, author of Picturing and Poeting, a Schmitz Park-centric site, who writes on her site that the notices posted at the park say the film activity will be happening tomorrow and Sunday. She created the art above – explaining:
The porta potty at the Admiral Ave. entrance to Schmitz Preserve Park was the first indication something was up. There are two 8×11″ paper signs saying that Temporal Studios, a local film production company, is filming “a short film” Saturday and Sunday, Aug 29 and 30 from 6am-10pm at the entrance and inside the park. Visitors may not be able to access that entrance or parts of the park, the signs said.
The “Temporal Studios” mentioned on the notices reported by that author is the “ST: Phoenix” production company; they shot in Schmitz Park a month ago (here’s what we wrote afterward).
West Seattle Weekend Lineup: August ends with music, dance…
We’re about to start one of the final few summer weekends, with a list of more than four dozen West Seattle ways to enjoy it – live music (indoors and outdoors), special dance events (indoors and outdoors!), Holy Family‘s street fair on the West Seattle/White Center line, the Reinvent Yourself Workshop (WSB sponsor) on Sunday, fun fundraisers featuring everything from barbecue to haircuts to a dog-treat bake sale … all featured in this edition of the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup:Read More
Grand finale for first-ever Summer Concerts at Hiawatha
The biggest group to play the first-ever Admiral Neighborhood Association-presented Summer Concerts at Hiawatha was also the last to play … Thursday night, the West Seattle Big Band performed the finale in the series of six free outdoor concerts — one of which moved indoors – remember the thunderstorms two weeks ago?) — no sign of rain tonight, aside from singer Stephanie Cortes crooning “Somewhere Over the Rainbow“:
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli, who provided the previous two photos, promises video we’ll add here later today (Friday). First, here’s our pic of the last of six great audiences:
We’re glad to have been able to be among the sponsors (all listed here) of this first-ever season – coordinator Katy Walum did say it was “the first” so we’re hoping that means it’ll be back for an encore next year! (Photo added Friday – Katy receiving well-deserved flowers and kudos from ANA president Mark Wainwright)
If you have ideas for this or other Admiral events, get involved with the Admiral Neighborhood Association – it’ll be back to regular meetings next month, 7 pm Tuesday, September 8th, in the Admiral Church basement meeting room.
West Seattle author Terry Brooks’ annual local reading Saturday
Didn’t get an official announcement about this, but we just happened to check the website of Terry Brooks, 
the mega-selling author who lives in West Seattle, and discovered he’s scheduled his annual-tradition local appearance at Barnes and Noble in Westwood Village: 2 pm this Saturday. This will be the fourth consecutive year we’ve covered his readings there, always in late summer: 2006, 2007, 2008. Also according to the author’s website, Brooks is sponsoring the Seattle Interagency Academy Book Fair at the same time. These appearances always coincide with a new book release, and this time it’ll be “A Princess in Landover,” the sixth book in his “Magic Kingdom” series. (Terry Brooks photo from terrybrooks.net, used with permission)
2 Tuesday reminders: Free head shots; African Children’s Choir
FREE HEAD SHOTS: We brought you first word two weeks ago of West Seattle photographer Rasmus Rasmussen‘s idea to help local jobseekers, and it’s since gotten attention from a couple of citywide media outlets, so it might be a hot ticket: 11 am tomorrow (Tuesday), first-come first-served, free head shots for jobseekers, C and P Coffee (5612 California SW; map). Here’s his own original post about it, and his followup about the publicity. (Early Tuesday update: Rasmus just announced via Twitter he’ll photograph up to 120 people, up from 100.)
FREE CONCERT: It’s been almost a month since we got the news that West Seattle Christian Church would play host to the African Children’s Choir for a free concert (donations accepted) – and now it’s almost here – Tuesday, 7 pm, in the WSCC activity center (east side of 42nd, south of Genesee; map). Here’s our original preview, including a clip of the world-renowned group.
Video/photos: Arts-in-Nature Festival at Camp Long
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reports from the Nature Consortium‘s Arts-in-Nature Festival – which continues through 9 tonight (with evening performers including fire dancing by The Cabiri, shown above in an aerial performance earlier) and again 11-6 tomorrow:
Beautiful weather for the 11th Annual Arts in Nature Festival going on at Camp Long this weekend. I stopped in for an hour around noon on Saturday and each event going on had a healthy audience though it definitely wasn’t crowded. I’d advise people to park on 35th though as open spaces in the Camp Long parking were scarce.
More photos from Christopher, before his report continues:
Lots of crafts for the kids. Coloring, painting, printmaking and face-painting, etc. Music and performance shows inside the geodesic dome on the meadow and down by the pond. The cabins are featuring art installations, including multimedia presentations in some of them.
Christopher also recorded video of one performance, by Lelavision:
For the full Arts-in-Nature Festival schedule, tonight AND tomorrow, go here. Admission is by donation, $5; the Nature Consortium is a West Seattle-based nonprofit whose major work involves restoration of the West Duwamish Greenbelt, the largest remaining stretch of contiguous forest within the city limits.
For the second consecutive year, the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival will include screenings at 
“CROW PLANET” REVIEWED BY NEW YORK TIMES: The NYT Sunday book reviews comprise arguably the most prestigious showcase in America for an author – and Gatewood author 
****The third 4-day run of 
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