(WSB photo: Paragon, today)

More than a year after the artist who installed Paragon along West Marginal Way SW sounded the alarm about the city’s intent to demolish it for safety concerns, the demolition is scheduled to happen tomorrow. We reported on the situation involving the Paragon sculpture multiple times over the past year. Last time we checked on its status was in spring, when the city’s public-art overseers voted to “deaccession” it – disown it so it could be demolished. While the city says it’s deteriorated dangerously, artist Don Fels has said that’s the city’s fault for not maintaining it properly. He told us in spring that he worked to gather volunteer support and donated materials to rebuild it but then the city insisted he take on a liability level that he could not. In notifying us this morning that demolition is planned for early tomorrow morning, city Office of Arts and Culture spokesperson Otts Bolisay tells WSB that “The steel armature and concrete portions will be left in place through the end of 2026 if Mr. Fels wants to replace the wooden portion of the sculpture.”

We had by then inquired with Fels and he revealed a plan is indeed now proceeding, telling us:

While it is true they are demolishing the wooden section of the sculpture … it is going to be replaced by a new steel (with wooden parts) iteration.

After a lengthy and sometimes harrowing negotiation with the City which has gone on well over a year- I am pleased with the outcome. Thanks to an incredibly generous offer – Nucor Seattle has jumped in to make possible that the Paragon, in a new and even more complete rendition – truer to the original 100-year-old Paragon- will rise again on the site. Nucor is providing engineering, fabrication and installation of the new boat section on the current steel and concrete support. We are currently in the design and engineering phase. Once that is complete we will present the City with our plans. Once approved, fabrication will begin at the Nucor site. Nucor has been wonderful to work with – their expertise, hearts and souls are fully behind the project.

This positive outcome is the result of the amazing support from the West Seattle community, largely of course the result of the WSB, and that of the Seattle Parks Foundation and Allied Arts. I have been astounded by and am extraordinarily grateful for the outpouring. Without the public support, the demolition of the wooden boat would have been followed by demo of the entire sculpture.

When we checked back with A&C’s Bolisay after hearing from Fels, he said the city’s role in this isn’t finalized: “Re-accessioning is a separate process and isn’t guaranteed.” Meantime, a contractor will be on site starting around 7:30 a tomorrow.

(Los Flacos presented by Sustainable Music NW, August 5. WSB photo by Jason Grotelueschen)

By Hayden Yu Andersen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Music is a part of Seattle’s identity as much as good coffee and bad traffic. But the community-centered, grassroots performances often associated with our neck of the woods have faded away as time has gone on. At least, that’s how West Seatte musician Kevin Nortness sees it. To solve this problem, Nortness and four other Seattle-based musicians and music educators have banded together to create Sustainable Music Northwest, Seattle’s newest music nonprofit.

(Photo courtesy Sustainable Music Northwest)

Sustainable Music Northwest is a nonprofit that performs free concerts at community gatherings and events, and local music shows. “The Seattle music community is missing something – giving music to the public that’s outside of nightclubs and concert halls,” said Nortness, who’s made his living as a performer and teacher for the better part of 20 years. Through this nonprofit work, Nortness and his fellow board members – Marc Fendel, Samantha Boshnack, Chuck Demonnin, and Adam Gross – want to redefine what a concert can be. “We’re making it about the gathering as much as it is the music,” Nortness said. “The performance and the conversations should be at equal sound levels, we want people to be able to use the music as an enhancement of the occasion.”

(Sustainable Music Northwest photo: Board member Kevin Nortness)

On August 5th, the nonprofit made its debut at a Delridge gathering for Night Out, featuring local band Los Flacos. The event was a surreal experience for Nortness, who has been working on this project for the better part of a year and a half. “I put so much time into this,” he joked, “that I didn’t realize I was slowly going broke.” Fortunately, though, his efforts have paid off, and in cooperation with the Musicians’ Association of Seattle, he’ll be receiving a stipend for his work on the nonprofit. They’ll also be working with Seattle-based consultant firm Scandiuzzi Krebs, which specializes in local community-building organizations.

With the combined support from both the Musicians’ Association and Scandiuzzi Krebs, and the collective effort of Nortness and his fellow musicians over the past year and a half, Sustainable Music Northwest is now budgeted for ten more shows in 2025.

(Sustainable Music Northwest photo: Board member Marc Fendel)

“It’s especially heartwarming to see it come together,” said Nortness, “and it’s so nice to finally be in a position to say ‘this is what we’re doing’, and we’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback.”

Now that they’re finally established, they’re going to take a breath and keep pushing forward. Nortness has his eye set on the Alki Beach promenade, Kenyon Hall, and the lobbies of West Seattle’s condos and apartments for performances. The nonprofit is also continuing to apply for grants, looking for new board members, and scoping out new locations to perform at. If you’re interested in any of those areas, Nortness says they’d love to hear from you.

“We’re trying to get the word out,” He said, “This exists, and it’s a resource. We’re essentially offering a free band for people to gather their communities together, create connections, and maintain those connections.” (The musicians, like Los Flacos on Night Out, do get paid.)

For more information about Sustainable Music Northwest, to apply to become a board member, or to book them for an event, check out their website here.

The next Intergenerational Theatre Project has adult participants and is ready to welcome teens too. Here’s the announcement:

CALLING ALL TEENS

for the Fall session of the BAYFEST Intergenerational Theatre Project!

Open-to-All Intro Session Saturday, August 23

Would you like to perform and have fun with people of all ages?

7-10 teens and 7-10 senior adults, chosen by BAYFEST for this exciting, fun and collaborative project, will form the Fall 2025 “Intergen” Cohort, following the success of our first cohort this past winter/spring. The group willmeet every few weeks over several months (usually on a weekend morning) in West Seattle for a fun, meaningful learning process, using theatre games and exercises, guided discussions, participant writing and collaboration. The project will start with an open-to-all intro session (no obligation to continue) on Saturday, August 23rd from 10 AM – 1 PM at Chief Sealth International High School (2600 SW Thistle Street) NO THEATRE EXPERIENCE NECESSARY and the Project is COMPLETELY FREE to all chosen participants!

Questions? Contact director Robert Shampain at bayfestyouththeatre@gmail.com.

The next “Write YOUR Story” free workshop for young writers still has a few spaces – here’s the announcement:

Now enrolling!

Write YOUR Story Fall 2025
Theme: Silly Superman

Who is invited? People age 7-11 who like stories

When? Every Sunday, September 24 – December 7, 2025 (12 sessions) 4:00—5:00 pm

Where? Upstairs activity room, Curious Kidstuff toy store
4740 California Ave SW

Stories we’ll read:

The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen and
I, Crocodile by Fred Marcellino

Write YOUR Story, est. 2012, is a free workshop led by local writers for local kids

“We read, we write, and we have a lot of fun.”

jdouthwa.wixsite.com/writeyourstory1

For info or to enroll contact: juliawsea@gmail.com

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(WSB photo/video)

From “Rock-A-Hula” to “Viva Las Vegas,” Elvis Presley tribute performer Danny Vernon led the audience on a geographic as well as discographic tour of The King‘s music at The Mount (WSB sponsor) on Friday night. We recorded several of the songs – here’s the classic “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You“:

That’s Danny’s wife Marcia, nicknamed “Ann-Margret” after Elvis’s similarly red-haired sometime co-star, dancing and singing with her husband. They also did the “Bossa Nova”:

This one kept the tempo up:

And this song was a tribute to Elvis, “The King Is Gone“:

After a break – during which Marcia sang solo – Vernon returned in jumpsuit and shades inspired by later-stage Elvis:

August 16 will be the 48th anniversary of Elvis’s death at age 42. … This was the first of four consecutive Friday night concerts at The Mount planned for this year; next Friday (August 8) brings another tribute show, Joey Jewell paying homage to Frank Sinatra “and friends,” 6 pm, free, with barbecue dinner available for purchase starting at 5:30 pm.

6:41 PM: The third and final concert in the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s AMP – Admiral Music in the Parks – series is happening right now at Hamilton Viewpoint Park at the north end of California Avenue SW. The Flaming Pies (above) are playing a tribute to The Beatles, and while there’s plenty of people in the park’s meadow, there’s still plenty of room to come down, bring your family, friends, neighbors, and if you can, nonperishable food for the food drive. The first two concerts went past 8:15 pm, so you have some time to get here.

8:35 PM: The Flaming Pies – led by a West Seattle resident, we learned – just wrapped up, inviting the crowd – 700! – to sing along on “A Little Help from My Friends.”

We have video and photos to add later. The ANA’s next big event is the Admiral Block Party on August 23; the next big outdoor-music event in West Seattle is Summer Concerts at The Mount, starting at 6 pm tomorrow with Danny Vernon‘s Illusion of Elvis.

ADDED 1 AM: As promised, adding video and photos. Above and below are three chunks of the concert, a mix of beloved Beatles sits and some of their lesser-known album cuts. Each of our clips has multiple songs – the band played prolifically, with few pauses.

As with the previous two concerts in the series, this one drew a mini-mob of little ones dancing and playing on the lawn between the performers and the audience, and you’ll see them in our video:

ANA president Joanie Jacobs thanked all the volunteers who made the series possible, especially organizers Meagan Loftin and Dan Jacobs:

Also volunteering, the cleanup stars of A Cleaner Alki:

The Beatles fans weren’t just the older members of the crowd, by the way – this young trio showed off Beatles pins purchased in the Strawberry Fields area of Central Park (near the Dakota building where John Lennon lived) while visiting New York City for a school trip in May:

The concerts were all free, costs covered by sponsors (we were among them, as were other community businesses including WSB sponsors Timeless Kitchen Design and PCC Markets) – if you want to chip in, you can donate to the ANA here.

In the photo are members of the first cohort of West Seattle-based BAYFEST Youth Theatre‘s Intergenerational Project, earlier this year. Want to be part of the second group? Here’s how:

WHAT: 7-10 teens and 7-10 senior adults, chosen by BAYFEST for this exciting, fun and collaborative project, will form the Fall 2025 “Intergen” Cohort, following the great success of our first cohort this past winter/spring. The group willmeet every few weeks over several months (usually on a weekend morning) in West Seattle for a fun, meaningful learning process, using theatre games and exercises, guided discussions, participant writing and collaboration. We will culminate in a final group public “showing” of a company-devised piece of theatre that explores intergenerational themes in new and creative ways. NO THEATRE EXPERIENCE NECESSARY and the Project is COMPLETELY FREE to all chosen participants! We encourage anyone interested to apply and attend an intro workshop (see below), from which the final cohort members will be chosen. Led by BAYFEST and CSIHS Drama Company Director Robert Shampain, who has over 35 years experience leading this type of workshop-format project. Other BAYFEST teaching artists may join us for some sessions.

WHEN: Intro Session for the Fall, 2025 Cohort will be held on Saturday, August 23, from 10-1 in West Seattle (venue TBD) Regular Fall sessions will be held every three weeks beginning in mid-September.

WHERE: While we are happy to have participants from anywhere in the Seattle area, all sessions and performances will be in West Seattle.

WHO: We are open to all seniors and teens (13-19 years old), including friends, relatives, grandparents/grandchildren.Again, NO THEATER EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY – JUST A DESIRE TO WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH PARTICIPANTS OF ALL AGES AND (WE HOPE!) CHALLENGE YOURSELF A BIT.

COST: FREE. This project is being sponsored by BAYFEST Youth Theatre and our funders. We only ask that participants commit to being collaborative, having fun, and adhering to our code of conduct (that we will discuss as a group on the first day.)

HOW TO APPLY: Please send us an email – BAYFESTyouthTheatre@gmail.com – with the subject line “Intergen Theatre Project” and we will send you an information packet and application. More info is also available on our website: www.BAYFESTyouthTheatre.org

Almost three weeks after Easy Street Records proprietor Matt Vaughan introduced Alain Johannes on the West Seattle Summer Fest main stage, he hosted Johannes on his own year-round stage. WSB’s Jason Grotelueschen shares a few samples from the show;

Johannes played about an hour, solo – his Summer Fest show was with his band – and the songs spanned his decades-long career, with myriad bands such as Eleven and Queens of the Stone Age and musicians including Chris Cornell.

P.S. We feature Easy Street shows in our daily event lists; you can look ahead at their schedule on the ESR website – tonight Eric Thompson performs at 7 pm

This Thursday and Friday nights, hundreds of people will be enjoying free outdoor concerts in West Seattle, as one summer series ends and another begins. And if you love classic oldies – both are tribute concerts!

(WSB photo, last year’s Hamilton Viewpoint AMP crowd)

THURSDAY – ADMIRAL MUSIC IN THE PARKS: Thursday night, Hamilton Viewpoint Park (1120 California SW) is where to be for the third and final concert in this year’s Admiral Music in the Parks series, presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association (with community co-sponsors including WSB). Bring your own chair, blanket, picnic dinner, etc., for the 6:30 pm show by The Flaming Pies (a tribute to The Beatles). And if you can, also bring nonperishable food for the donation drives ANA’s been hosting throughout the series.

(WSB file photo)
FRIDAY – SUMMER CONCERTS AT THE MOUNT: For the first four Friday nights in August, Providence Mount St. Vincent (4831 35th SW; WSB sponsor) invites community members to join Mount residents on the south side of the main building for a 6 pm concert. First up, this Friday (August 1), is Danny Vernon, performing The Illusion of Elvis. Bring your own chair or blanket for this show too, and if you want to bring your own dinner, that’s welcome, but you also have the option of buying a barbecue dinner The Mount will be serving up starting at 5:30 pm. For The Mount’s full series slate, see our calendar listing.

6:12 PM: Nino Cantu SW Athletic Complex is hosting a huge free concert right now – All-City Band Jam‘s return to West Seattle, where ACB director Dr. Marcus Pimpleton founded it, a showcase for marching/brass bands on the eve of the Seafair Torchlight Parade. It could run until 9 pm.

8:50 PM: Just ended. We’ll add video from all 9 groups when back at HQ.

ADDED: Here’s one of the two sports-team-support bands that performed, Sound Wave (official band of Seattle Sounders FC):

And from the Seahawks, here’s Blue Thunder (which led the crowd in the call-and-response “Sea!” “Hawks!” before they were done):

Tons of drums all night long – including the Seismic Sound drumline:

Two brass bands were on the bill – the Blowout Heavies opened the night:

Chaotic Noise Marching Corps were a crowd favorite – with their description proclaiming them a “renegade marching band” and noting that part of their performance is “havoc”; even their outfits were a bit, well, chaotic:

And of course, marching bands … Kennedy Catholic, seen last weekend in the West Seattle Grand Parade:

Rainbow City, which brought a mashup of four ensembles:

Sumner, a huge band with middle-schoolers as well as high-schoolers:

And of course the hosting All-City Band, grand-prize winners in last weekend’s West Seattle Grand Parade and preparing for tomorrow night’s parade downtown. Their director Dr. Pimpleton confessed to the crowd that he secretly dislikes parades and enjoys Band Jam as a chance to enjoy marching bands without the unnecessary parade trappings! Here’s their full set:

(Compare to our video of the 2009 ACB performing at the very first Band Jam!) The ACB is practicing at NCSWAC this summer, as well as hosting Band Jam there, because Memorial Stadium downtown is off-limits while being overhauled; Dr. Pimpleton said he’s pretty sure that means Band Jam will be in West Seattle next summer too.

Our photo shows members of the Seattle Schools All-City Band in Hiawatha Park on Saturday morning as they prepared for the West Seattle Grand Parade (in which they won the Grand Prize, again). These student musicians from around the city are busy with parades throughout the summer, plus a special event that’s returning to West Seattle: Band Jam. The band hosts this “jam” for visiting bands, primarily the ones that will join it in the Seafair Torchlight Parade. This was originally held at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex, then moved post-pandemic to Memorial Stadium downtown, but is now back, since the overhaul of that stadium is under way. (All-City Band is also practicing at NCSWAC this summer, as you know if you’re in earshot.) Band Jam is a free event open to spectators – here’s the announcement from the band’s website:

Founded in 2009 by All‐City Band Director Dr. Marcus Pimpleton, Band Jam is an outdoor marching band jamboree where spectators can enjoy full performances of the marching bands many typically see only in passing on parade routes. This non-competitive event, held each year the night before Seattle’s Torchlight Parade, is free and open to the public as a celebration of what we all know to be the best part of any parade – the bands.
​
Date: Friday, July 25th, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex

Performances begin at 6:00 pm with a band lineup that is soon to be announced. The event is free of charge. Please invite everyone you know. We expect to finish by 9:00 pm.

(We covered that first one in 2009!) NCSWAC is at 2801 SW Thistle.