West Seattle, Washington
06 Wednesday
Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Indie-folk artist Noah Gundersen played an in-store show for a big crowd at Easy Street Records on Friday night, in support of the Seattle musician’s release of his new album Lover.
The album, which released on Friday on the international label Cooking Vinyl, is Gundersen’s fourth solo record and was recorded in Seattle by producer Andy Park (Death Cab For Cutie, Pedro The Lion).
Easy Street proprietor Matt Vaughan introduced Gundersen, noting that he had played several times at Easy Street previously:
Gundersen was joined on stage for several songs by his sister and longtime collaborator Abby, on violin and vocals:
Video clips from the performance:
Gundersen’s manager Mark Cunningham, who also manages Brandi Carlile, was in attendance and said Gundersen would be touring the U.S. starting in September (including a date at The Showbox on Nov. 16) and will be touring Europe in 2020.
Upcoming in-stores at Easy Street are listed on their website, including Carrie Akre on August 31 and Jack West on September 6.
Looking for a splash of color on this gray day? Restoration work is complete on the “West Seattle Ferries” mural on the west side of the building on the southwest corner of California/Alaska. Now that Bob Henry is done with that, he’s moved on to “Press Day,” on the north wall of 4727 44th SW:
Some of its lower panels have been removed for the start of work. Meantime, crowdfunding continues to help cover the costs of the restoration work, only part of which is funded by philanthropy and grants – here’s where to donate.
(WSB photos)
After moving to South Park last year, Festival CentroAmericano is back in West Seattle, and the celebration’s happening at Westcrest Park until 7 pm.
You can enjoy treats …
… vendors …
… and entertainment:
The Coffee Band – a group with Honduras roots – was onstage while we were there. Other music and dance groups are scheduled to perform all afternoon. The festival’s free – lots of room to roam on the sprawling green at Westcrest!
Tomorrow’s the final day for Pianos in the Parks around the area, including that one at Junction Plaza Park (42nd SW/SW Alaska) decorated by artist Mindi Katzman, so it’s your last chance to see, maybe even play, it. In case you aren’t a piano player and don’t happen onto one, Mark Jaroslaw recorded the piano in use:
Pianos in the park / last chance to play from JaroslawMedia on Vimeo.
The pianos have been in 13 neighborhoods around the metro area since August 1st (when we took the top photo).
(WSB photos)
That’s the newest signal-box portrait in West Seattle – local-raised Hollywood legend Frances Farmer, on the California/Alaska corner outside Easy Street Records. This time, the artist is Son Duong, who painted the box today:
He told WSB that the plan had been in the works for a few weeks, and today was the day he came down from his home base in Monroe to do the painting. He has another portrait outside of Easy Street, this one of Chris Cornell:
Inside Easy Street there’s another Frances Farmer tribute, as reported here in 2016.
We’ve written a lot lately about local art for you to enjoy … and now, your chance to be the artist! Seattle Lutheran High School (4100 SW Genesee) is launching a series of evening art classes open to all. You can learn stained glass, oil painting, and/or drawing. The school says, “All courses are beginner-friendly but also include lessons and exercises helpful for intermediate and advanced artists.” You can register by going here.
1:57 PM: Thanks to Dave Brewer for sending the photo! He’s one of several readers who messaged us to say artist Desmond Hansen is painting another signal-box portrait today, this time the late, great Prince, at 47th and Admiral. Dave observes that it’s an appropriate spot, as SW Prince Street is just blocks away! (Checking the artist’s Instagram page, we see he’s also recently painted Dave Matthews.)
7:11 PM: Thanks to Al for this photo of the finished creation:
The end of summer and start of school aren’t that far off. For many families, it’s also time to think about enrichment programs, like the ones offered by the nonprofit wing of WSB sponsor Mode Music Studios. Here’s the announcement:
As school is fast approaching, Mode Music and Performing Arts is ready to get into our local schools and make a difference. Mode’s enrichment programs are thriving in several Seattle Public Schools. Registration just opened for Fall 2019 classes available at their event space located at 3801 Delridge Way SW.
Check out the story below!
Fall classes can be found here.
As you’ll see at that link, Mode offers classes for kids/youth of all ages, babies through teens.
That new mural on Alki Point is on private property, but publicly visible, and today we got to meet the artist. We found out about Elise Waelder‘s project from her uncle, Danny McMillin (who has shared some wonderful bird photos with WSB over the years). She’s painting it on the west-facing side of his garage in memory of her mom, Danny’s sister Mitzi McMillin, who had been planning to move from San Diego to Seattle before cancer took her life.
While you can see most of the mural if you’re biking, walking, skating, driving eastbound on Alki Avenue in the 3100 block, you won’t see the part above, which wraps around the garage’s southwest corner into a small private courtyard. Elise is an accomplished artist but this is the biggest mural she’s done, and she’s been visiting from California the past week-plus to paint it:
She’s on deadline to finish the mural – Saturday she heads back to San Diego, and not long after that, she’s moving cross-country to Long Island to pursue an art career full-time. You can see more of her work on Instagram.
P.S. Her mom had deep West Seattle roots, as does Danny, who tells us Mitzi was a 1974 West Seattle High School graduate “who almost singlehandedly led the WSHS girls’ Track and Field team to a state championship” that year, and later won a national pentathlon championship while studying at the University of Southern California.
(WSB photos/video unless otherwise credited)
Cloudy and a bit cool last night, but that didn’t keep the audience away from this week’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha show, with Ranger and the Re-arrangers.
As usual, there was dancing:
Here’s a sample of the music:
And a longer clip, courtesy of Mark Jaroslaw:
Another highlight of the night – a guest appearance by Katy Walum. She founded the Admiral Neighborhood Association-presented series a decade ago:
WSB is proud to have been a community co-sponsor of the series since the start! Two more shows left on this summer’s lineup – The Highsteppers, next Thursday (August 15th) and Caspar Babypants the week after that (August 22nd), both shows at 6:30 pm, free, on the east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center (along Walnut south of Lander).
(Mallard, photographed by Mark Wangerin)
Highlights for your Monday:
WADING POOLS & SPRAYPARK OPEN TODAY: Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW) wading pool is open 11 am-8 pm, Delridge wading pool (4501 Delridge Way SW) is open noon-6:30 pm, South Park wading pool is open noon-7 pm. And the Highland Park Spraypark (1100 SW Cloverdale) is open 11 am-8 pm.
FREE SUMMER MEALS: Still a month until school starts back up again, and local efforts continue to make sure no kids/teens go hungry. Various locations and times – use this lookup to find them.
FAMILY STORY TIME: Air-conditioned High Point Library welcomes kids of all ages, 6:30 pm storytime. (3411 SW Raymond)
WEST SEATTLE QUILTERS: The air-conditioned Senior Center of West Seattle will be a great place to hang out at 7 pm if you’re a quilter. (4217 SW Oregon)
QUIZ NIGHT: 8 pm at Parliament Tavern. $2/player. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
PREVIEW THE REST OF THE WEEK … via our complete calendar!
(July 2018 video courtesy Kim Barnes)
Last summer, that community duo played music from Burkina Faso at a Roxhill Park community barbecue. Now – as you might have seen in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar – a World Music Festival is planned for the park next month, and Seattle Parks just announced how you can help shape it:
Seattle Parks and Recreation is sponsoring a free community music festival on Sunday, Sept. 8 at Roxhill Park (2850 SW Roxbury St.) and we invite participation by the community in planning the event.
What activities would you like to see at the festival? What music or musicians can you recommend? What organizations would you like to have represented? Please come to one of the planning meetings listed below, or contact Randy Wiger with your ideas: Randy.Wiger@seattle.gov or 206-684-0775.
Planning meetings’ dates – everyone is welcome to attend! The meetings will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Roxhill Park at the picnic tables by 29th Ave. SW.
Thursday, August 8
Monday, August 12
Thursday, August 22
(WSCO photo: Sofia Aragon and Caroline Peyton, both members of the Debut Orchestra)
Calling musicians! The West Seattle Community Orchestras are ready for you to join:
West Seattle Community Orchestras (WSCO) announces that registration is now open for its fall 2019 session.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with WSCO, this is West Seattle’s very own community music organization, with three orchestras and a wind symphony (concert band). These performance ensembles rehearse weekly through the school year, each performing quarterly concerts.
In addition to these performing groups, we offer classes for adults in strings (violin, viola, cello, bass) and winds/percussion (e.g., flute, clarinet, saxophone, French horn, trumpet, trombone—oh, and percussion).
This fall we are also adding beginning student strings for those in grades 4 through 12. No charge to students for this class or for participating in any of our groups. (Adults pay a modest fee.) As far as we know, WSCO is unique in the state of Washington for having adults and young people play side by side in each of our performing groups. That is, placement is by ability (or inclination), not age!
Registration for all groups and classes is now open online: Visit www.wscorchestras.org and click on the Registration tab. (We’d appreciate your registration before August 31st to reserve space.)
UNCERTAIN WHICH GROUP IS RIGHT FOR YOU? If you’d like more information on opportunities to learn an instrument or perform in our ensembles, please fill out the registration form with your contact details. For new musicians, we’ll be in touch soon, to orient you further before the first classes and rehearsals begin.
As in previous years, rehearsals will be held Tuesdays at Chief Sealth International High School. Specific start times for the rehearsals and more details will be shared in upcoming announcements as well as listed on our website, www.wscorchestras.org, or you can contact info@wscorchestras.org.
We hope to see many of you—former members as well as newbies—when we open this, our eighteenth season of providing outstanding concerts for our community!
6:52 PM: “My favorite place to play is outside!” enthused Alec Shaw between songs as tonight’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha show got going. It’s a great place to be tonight whether you’re onstage or on the lawn (east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center (Walnut south of Lander) to be specific) – the stage and most of the lawn are in the shade already and the rest will be soon. The show’s on until about 8 – free – bring your own blanket/chair.
Alec Shaw at Summer Concerts @ Hiawatha. Beautiful night, hundreds here, all ages. pic.twitter.com/lSFqaoqufu
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) August 2, 2019
7:57 PM: Concert’s wrapping up – last song.
ADDED 11:11 PM: More photos!
You can find out more about Alec Shaw’s music here. Next week at Hiawatha – Ranger and the Re-Arrangers, 6:30 pm Thursday (August 8th).
Pianos in the Parks is back, with 11 art-covered pianos placed temporarily around the metro area, including this one in Junction Plaza Park (42nd SW/SW Alaska). The artist for this piano is Mindi Katzman; the community partner is West Seattle Community Orchestras; Pianos in the Parks is presented by One Reel. You can see this piano – and play it! – through August 18th.
6:51 PM: The drums are booming and the spectators are cheering at Southwest Athletic Complex as the 2019 Band Jam marching-band showcase proceeds.
Before Seismic Sound, the drumline that’s on the field right now, the Junior All-City Band performed:
Among the other bands coming up at this free event, the award-winning All-City Band themselves, whose director Dr. Marcus Pimpleton hatched the idea for this pre-Torchlight Parade showcase a decade ago. In the SWAC lot right outside the stands, something new this year, food trucks, so even if you haven’t had dinner yet, grab the family and come on over (2801 SW Thistle). You’re also invited to buy 50/50 raffle tickets to support the ACB.
7:11 PM: The band from nearby Kennedy Catholic High School followed – they were in West Seattle just last Saturday for the WS Grand Parade, as was the group on the field now, the Rainbow City Band (with their flag team Spinout), which so far has gone from Lady Gaga to Macklemore to Bruno Mars.
7:40 PM: Yet another band seen in the Grand Parade last Saturday, from Sumner High School in Pierce County, followed:
The event is in an intermission right now, with the Seahawks’ drumline Blue Thunder due to play at 8 pm, and the All-City Band to follow.
8:05 PM: But first – Sounders FC’s Sound Wave is on the field.
8:35 PM: Also from the stadium zone, Blue Thunder:
8:44 PM: And the grand finale, the hosting All-City Band, is taking the field.
($505 raised for them by tonight’s raffle, too!)
12:30 AM: We’ve finished adding visuals above.
Saturday and Sunday, you can enjoy more than “just” the sun and sea at Alki Beach – the annual Alki Art Fair is happening both days! We’re among the community co-sponsors again this year. From festival organizers explain that you’ll find more than at=rt:
What’s better than music, beer, wine and the beach on a summer weekend in West Seattle? Join the festivities at the Main Bathhouse Stage (sponsored by Canna West Culture Shop), featuring live music and performances throughout the weekend from 10 am – 9 pm on Saturday, July 27 and 10 am – 6 pm on Sunday, July 28. Rock, blues, jazz, folk, theatrical performances, yoga – with 18 performances, there’s a little something for everyone! Catch acts like Tobias the Owl (the award-winning musical collective), Angela Soffe Band, Payge Turner, Tiger Rider, The Odd Kids, Steel Beans, Annie O’Neill Band, and Sam Cobra. Come down to the beach Sunday morning for FREE yoga with Limber Yoga. Plus head down the promenade to the Community Stage hosted by West Seattle Blog for additional acoustic performances and more. See the full Bathhouse stage music lineup and schedule here (and above).
While you enjoy the views and performances, the beer & wine garden (a new addition to the fair) will serve up tasty local sips from Two Beers Brewing, Georgetown Brewing, Seattle Cider and Charles Smith Wines. All proceeds support the fair and keeping it free for the community.
In addition to the music lineup, the fair has a lot to offer—an expanded artist lineup, larger kids zone (hosted by Outer Space Seattle), more interactive art activities and the new beer and wine garden. Best of all, it’s on the beach, free and easy to get to with free shuttles (sponsored by Therapeutic Associates – West Seattle) running a loop between the Admiral Junction and the Park n’ Ride under the West Seattle Bridge.
The shuttle stop in Admiral is on the northwest corner of California/Admiral, by the Chevron station.
11:50 AM: One by one, the canoe families are leaving Alki Beach, carrying their wooden canoes to the water and paddling off to the next stop, hosted by the Suquamish Tribe on the Kitsap Peninsula, ultimately headed for the Lummi Nation, this year’s hosts at journey’s end. (And yes, this is what the helicopter is circling Alki for; it’s a TV chopper.) More photos to come.
1:04 PM: The Duwamish Tribe has joined the Paddle to Lummi – after we left Alki, we found the Duwamish canoe launching from Don Armeni:
Back at the beach, Alki photographer David Hutchinson says all have left, just one canoe (flying the Chehalis flag) left on the beach. He sent this photo:
ADDED FRIDAY NIGHT: Carrying a canoe back to the water posed some challenges:
It was something to watch with admiration:
The departures continued:
Still adding!
(Photo courtesy Young Shakespeare Workshop)
It’s not your first chance this summer to see a Shakespeare play in a West Seattle park – but it’s the only one featuring the national-award-winning Young Shakespeare Workshop: 6 pm Sunday (July 21st) at Roxhill Park (29th/Barton), you’re invited to see YSW’s production of “The Merchant of Venice.” From YSW director Darren Lay (a Vashon resident):
The Revolving Company of the nationally awarded Young Shakespeare Workshop presents a free performance in the birch grove at Roxhill Park. Bring a picnic dinner if you like and dine with the Doge, no Gondola required.
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
“Tell me where is fancy bred, or in the heart, or in the head?”
– a question posed in song in this curious and complex play in which Shakespeare also explores the antithetical question of where is loathing bred, and of course some silliness by way of the clown Launcelot Gobbo.
This event is made possible with funding from Arts in Parks by Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Seattle Parks and Recreation.
Free, all ages welcome. YSW is in its third decade!
7:30 PM: Great night for a concert, and the West Seattle Big Band has drawn a great crowd to the east lawn at Hiawatha.
You still have time to get there – the free concert’s on until about 8:30. More coverage to come!
ADDED: The WSBB, directed by Jim Edwards, played up a storm until almost 8:45! A sample, featuring vocalist Jenaige Lane:
And the big finale:
One more thing to add – the special Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community presentation to philanthropist Adah Rhodes Cruzen!
ADDED WEDNESDAY: Adah (above with Michelle Edwards, WSBB member and West Seattle Grand Parade co-coordinator) accepted the award after an introduction by Barbara Edwards, who detailed her philanthropy. Her donations have enabled restoration of some of the murals her late husband, Earl Cruzen, made happen, as well as the new Welcome to West Seattle sign. She noted in her remarks that he had left her “extra zeroes” to carry on his legacy. You can cheer her as she rides with the trophy in Saturday’s parade (11 am, southbound on California SW from Lander to Edmunds).
(WSB photo, July 2018)
On Thursday, some of the canoe families participating in this year’s Intertribal Canoe Journey, the Paddle to Lummi, will stop at Alki Beach. We’ve confirmed with the Alki-hosting Muckleshoot Tribe‘s cultural director Willard Bill Jr. that they are expected to start arriving around noon on Thursday. Fewer canoes this year because the journey is northbound – he says they’re expecting about 15. They will then travel by land to the Muckleshoot Powwow Grounds in Auburn and depart Alki on Friday morning for the next stop – here’s a map of the stops before and after (those stopping here will have been with the Puyallup Tribe the night before, and headed to Suquamish the night after). Every year a different tribe/nation in the region hosts the celebration at the end of the journey route.
(Video courtesy Ralph Lane Productions)
That video is from yesterday, when the West Seattle Big Band played to a big crowd at the Ballard Locks – and tomorrow night, you can see them right here at home, during their 24th annual Concert in the Park. Free! Just BYO chair/blanket to the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center, along Walnut south of Lander – the music starts at 7 pm Tuesday (July 16th).
(WSB photo from WSBB Concert in the Park 2018)
The WSBB is directed by Jim Edwards, also a coordinator of the West Seattle Grand Parade, and the concert has another connection to Saturday’s parade – presentation of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community. As reported here last week, this year’s honoree is philanthropist Adah Rhodes Cruzen, and you can applaud her at tomorrow night’s concert. Side note – its past winners include WSBB director Jim and wife Barbara Edwards, who as the video clip above shows, just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary!
P.S. Don’t let today’s rain worry you … tomorrow’s forecast looks dry. All ages are welcome to come enjoy the WSBB’s outstanding music. You can even get up and dance if you feel like it.
Thanks to Judy Waring for the photo! That’s from last night’s “Backyard Bard” edition of condensed Shakespeare at High Point Commons Park, courtesy of GreenStage. After “Merry Wives of Windsor” last night, tonight it’s an hourlong edition of “Measure for Measure,” also at High Point Commons Park (right behind Neighborhood House at 6400 SW Sylvan Way), 7 pm, free. Judy advises, “Easy parking nearby, not crowded, bring cushion for sitting on a rock or a lawn chair for tonight’s play.” GreenStage has other performances – both “Backyard Bard” and full length – coming up this month and next at other West Seattle parks; we have them all in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and you can check out the GreenStage website too.
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