(8/14 note: To check whether a business is still a current WSB sponsor, please go here)

Interested in music lessons – ukulele, guitar, bass? Music teacher Masa Kobayashi and his Alki Ukulele studio have just joined the WSB sponsor team. Here’s what he would like you to know:

He has 20 years’ experience playing and 10 years of experience teaching. Masa says, “My students are getting constant improvement with me – most of them actually have become active gigging musicians.” He’s proud that his students have been inspired by the fact he too is an active musician with gigs – something they thought wasn’t possible for them to become, before they started taking lessons.

As explained on his website at AlkiUkulele.com, Masa has experience with many musical styles from punk, rock, metal, funk and jazz, to Balkan and African music. For guitar and ukulele, he teaches rhythm and soloing, finger-picking, two-handed tapping, chord soloing, and more. For bass, lessons include various finger-picking styles, soloing and old school/Victor Wooten-style slapping, two-handed tapping, and chord soloing.

The Alki Ukulele studio really is near the beach, and the best way to contact Masa to inquire about lessons is by e-mail – alkiukulele@gmail.com.

We thank Alki Ukulele for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; see our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

(August 2011 WSB photo from Summer Concerts at Hiawatha)
Another announcement tonight from the Admiral Neighborhood Association – in its role as the only West Seattle neighborhood group that presents an annual concert series. ANA has just put out an early call for musicians interested in being part of Summer Concerts at Hiawatha this year (note that the series dates are set, so if you are a potential spectator rather than a potential performer, you can at least do some early calendar-marking):

Hello and Happy New Year!

We are now accepting submissions for bands/acts for the 2014 Admiral Neighborhood Association Summer Concerts at Hiawatha Park. This year’s concerts will be held on Thursday evenings – July 24th, July 31st, August 7th, August 14th, August 21st, and August 28th – beginning at 6:30 pm.

Concerts are free to the community and made possible by sponsorships and support from Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Associated Recreation Council, the Admiral Neighborhood Association, and area businesses.

If you would like to be considered for this year’s concert series, please submit the following preliminary information to info@admiralneighborhood.org:

(1) Band name and brief description of genre/style

(2) Band website or other link to where the band’s past performances may be viewed/listened to

(3) Band’s fee for a 90-minute performance, including a 10-minute break, if desired. Please indicate whether this fee is negotiable

(4) Number of members of band and types of instruments played

(5) Stage size requested and special sound/equipment requests

(4) Band contact name, email address, and phone number

Past artists performing for the series have included The Dusty 45s, Caspar Babypants, Star Anna, LeRoy Bell, Glenn Crytzer & his Syncopators, Fly Moon Royalty, Massy Ferguson, Reilly & Maloney, Pearl Django, and Yogoman Burning Band, to give an idea of the caliber of talent and diversity of appeal we seek.

Band submissions will be reviewed over the next few months (please remember we are volunteer-driven!) and we hope to contact bands and announce our lineup by about May or June.

We also appreciate reader recommendations of bands to consider for the series (that’s how we found The Local Strangers for our 2012 series!).

Thanks so much to all. We look forward to putting together another smashing ANA Summer Concert Series, and we’re already dreaming of warm summer evenings on the lawn at Hiawatha!

Katy Walum
Admiral Neighborhood Association

This will be the sixth year of the concert series, launched in summer 2009.

(SYSO photo: Musician mentors student as they prepare to perform together onstage)
Southwest Seattle Super String Saturday is back again this year – a great day for enjoying the work of outstanding young musicians and inspiring kids who might want to follow in their footsteps. WSB is proud to be a media sponsor again this year. Here are the details:

On Saturday January 25 from 10 am- 1 pm, a free community event, Southwest Seattle Super String Saturday at Chief Sealth International High School at 2600 SW Thistle Street, kicks off with an inspiring performance by one of America’s premier youth orchestras, the Seattle Youth Symphony.

Following the performance, young violin, viola, cello and bass players from Southwest Seattle schools fill Chief Sealth IHS with the sound of their hard work and dedication. This event celebrates the elementary and middle school string players who are receiving coaching by professional musicians hired by the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras.

The free public performance by Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra features Serge Prokofiev’s powerful ballet score for Romeo and Juliet – a work that has become one of the most revered orchestral scores composed for dance. The mini-concert continues with Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to the Der Freischutz, a Romantic-era opera inspired by German folk music.

After the public concert, violin, viola, cello and bass students from Southwest elementary schools (Concord, Roxhill, Sanislo, Arbor Heights, West Seattle, and Highland Park) and Denny International Middle School participate in an array of activities including instrument technique clinics led by top-level Youth Symphony musicians and SYSO coaches and learning how to play in a chamber music ensemble. Then the excitement builds as the string students join the Youth Symphony musicians on stage and are mentored by their high school-aged musical counterparts. All the musicians play “side-by-side” in this large orchestral setting, with the younger students inspired by the level of performance demonstrated by their older peers.

This is an event for the entire family and includes an “instrument petting zoo” organized by the West Seattle Community Orchestras introducing younger children to string instruments, and SYSO coaches and school music teachers on hand to discuss how parents can support their child’s musical learnng. Refreshments and resources are also available.

This event showcases Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Southwest Seattle String Project, an initiative that provides professional musician “coaches” to work alongside public school music teachers and lead small group and individualized instruction.

(SYSO photo: Double bass musician Todd Gowers coaches Denny IMS students)
This service is provided by SYSO at no cost to the schools or the families because SYSO is committed to enabling equitable access to arts education, especially in areas which historically have had lower participation rates in instrumental music due to economic barriers.

SYSO provides this program free to the Southwest Seattle public schools because of generous support from national and local funders. In fact, last month Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras was one of just twenty-three American orchestras selected by the League of American Orchestras to receive a 2013-14 Getty Education and Community Investment Grant specifically to fund SYSO’s school programs. To learn more about how to donate to SYSO’s school programs, contact info@syso.org.

West Seattle Blog and Classical KING-FM are Media Sponsors for this event. For information about the Southwest Seattle Super String Saturday event, please contact Kathleen Allen, Director of Education, Communications and Partnerships at Kathleen@syso.org.

Here’s our coverage of last year’s SWSSS event.

(Photo tweeted Wednesday night by @Russell_News)
With two days until The Game, Seahawks fever is intensifying. Again last night, as visible from West Seattle’s northeast-facing shores, the Russell Investments building displayed #12 – tweaked since the Friday test shown here. The photo above is from Russell’s Twitter feed (we took a photo from Seacrest earlier in the evening, but that was before the display reached its final configuration). Update: Russell says this will be repeated FRIDAY night. Meantime, some of what’s happening today/tonight:

MICROHOUSING-RULES-RELATED APPEAL HEARING CONTINUES: Starting at 1:45 pm, testimony resumes in the Hearing Examiner’s chambers downtown, in a community-activist-led challenge to a city decision that the proposed rules for “microhousing” don’t need environmental review. This picks up where Tuesday left off. (Municipal Tower downtown, 40th floor)

CHALLAH BREAD-MAKING WORKSHOP: 5:30 pm at Delridge Community Center. Details in our calendar listing – contact the center to see if there’s room. (4501 Delridge Way SW)

Tonight’s peninsula-wide event:

WEST SEATTLE ART WALK, JANUARY EDITION: 6-9 pm, 18 venues around West Seattle welcome you to see local art and, in many cases, meet the artist(s) whose work is on display. Here’s the walking map/venue list for the winter quarter, which includes WSB sponsors Chaco Canyon Organic Café, Click! Design That Fits, Hotwire Online Coffeehouse, Wallflower Custom Framing, West Seattle Cyclery, West Seattle Office Junction, and a dozen other local businesses supporting the arts; see artist previews on the official WS Art Walk website.

COLLEGE APPLICATION SUPPORT: Tonight’s event offering support for college and financial-aid applications is at Chief Sealth International High School, but it’s open to all local 12th graders and their families. Details in our calendar listing. 6 pm, Sealth Library. (2600 SW Thistle)

MINI-OPEN HOUSE ON METRO CUTS: Tonight Metro reps will be at the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council‘s monthly meeting in White Center, which will start half an hour earlier than usual – 6:30 pm, to facilitate Metro’s mini-open house on the proposed cuts. (1243 SW 112th)

READ THE KORAN IN 4 WEEKS: The next session led by First Lutheran Church of West Seattle pastor Rev. Ron Marshall, who’s been teaching this class for more than a decade, starts tonight at 7 pm – details in our calendar listing. (4105 California SW)

In the New Year, you’ll be able to get the blues weekly at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) in Morgan Junction. Co-proprietor Jeff Gilbert says it’s a plan that’s been in the works for months, and you can enjoy the shows even when you can’t make it to the Feedback to see them live: “The cool part is the shows are going to be recorded live for TV and the music streamed as it happens on the Internet.” Here’s the official announcement:

BLUES TO DO LIVE is coming to the Feedback Lounge, recording for TV and streaming live on the internet, every Tuesday night, 8 pm, beginning January 7.

BLUES TO DO LIVE is being booked and hosted by Marlee Walker, Queen of Seattle Blues for the last three decades, and a West Seattle/Morgan Junction resident.

BLUES TO DO, a hugely popular brand, is a quarterly magazine, TV show on cable, and is broadcast live on the internet. Blues To Do has a 30-year legacy, starting back in 1984 at KPLU for a multiple award winning nine years and quickly growing from a two hour Sunday night show to a three night weekend blues block.

Marlee hosted a radio show on The Mountain called “The Blues Kitchen,” which lasted just under two years, and was recognized with a “Keeping The Blues Alive Award” in 2000 from The Blues Foundation in Memphis. Soon after she was invited to host “Preachin’ The Blues” at KCMU, which became KEXP, with the Blues To Do calendar being a weekly feature there for another eight years and more awards.

Here is the January 2014 BLUES TO DO LIVE lineup…

January 7th
POLLY O’KEARY & THE RHYTHM METHOD with special guest SEATTLE SLIM
An amazing power trio featuring one of the hottest rhythm sections in Polly O’Keary and Tommy Cook, both of whom were backing up Too Slim as The Taildraggers.

January 14th
ELNAH JORDAN & FRIENDS: CELEBRATING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Elnah gathers amazing musicians around her and always puts on a dazzling show that includes blues, gospels, jazz and more. This night will see dynamic voices from the Seattle music scene and will be a very special celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 21st
RIPPIN CHICKEN
This dynamic West Seattle trio features Delvon Lamarr, who plays the classic Hammond organ done with a contemporary Seattle twist. The band also features guitar legend Ben Bloom and drum master Olli Klomp.

January 28th
ROD COOK & TOAST
Guitarist Rod Cook, one of Seattle’s best kept secrets, plays with both precision and soul, either alone or with Toast, his top notch trio of 20 years. Toast features musician excellence in rhythm from Marty Vadalabene or Chris Leighton on drums and the gifted John Bayless on bass – all award-winning players.

Look for these shows, which are being recorded live for TV, to include interviews and a Blues CD of the Week offered every week.

Blues To Do-TV airs Fridays at 7 pm on ch. 23/77 on Comcast in King Co./Seattle, or ch. 23 on Broadstripe, and repeats Saturdays at midnight / Tuesdays at 2 pm. This will also stream at those times at seattlecommunitymedia.org. See past shows at bluestodo.com

The Feedback is at 6451 California SW.

No, ballerinas are NOT all sweetness and light. Alki resident Simone Bruyère Fraser, who danced professionally for 10 years back east, wanted to have some fun and show ballet dancers’ tough side – so she and friend Esy Casey made that video, with composer Carl Clark, and invited us to share it here for the lighter side of Christmas. (Full credits are on the video.) Simone says she and Esy, the video’s director (at left with her in the photo at right), shot it at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor) – perfect place, considering they are the home of life-size Nutcrackers. And yes, she has danced in “The Nutcracker” – “almost every role in 10 years … from lamb, to mouse, to snow queen!” These days, she also does commercial, TV, film, and print work as well as dance, but says her “true commitment is trying to do some good in this world and help people to ‘respect the dance’,” adding, “Ballerinas need respect!”

For years, youth-education efforts at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) have been focused on its summertime programs. But the new year will bring a new program to West Seattle’s arts hub – a new 10-week series of performing-arts classes for all ages. The classes are:

*Exploratory Drama for 4- and 5-year-olds
*Creative Drama for 1st- through 3rd-graders
*Acting 101: Heroes’ Quest for 3rd- through 5th-graders
*The Pituitary Monologues: Writing Monologues for the Stage for 6th- through 8th-graders
*Beginning Improv for 6th- through 8th-graders
*Intro to Musical Theater for 9th- through 12th-graders
*Adult Introduction to Improv

You can follow the links on each of those class names to find out more, or start on the main page for the new program, which also includes contact information for registration.

West Seattle filmmaker Christen Marquez has made a film to tell the story behind part of her name. “E Haku Inoa: To Weave A Name” has its Seattle premiere tomorrow at the Northwest Film Forum at 6 pm, preceded by a “meet the filmmaker reception” at 5:30 pm (appropriate to the Hawai’i theme, catered by Marination!). She explains her film as “a personal documentary that follows the budding relationship of between my mother and I as I try to discover the meaning behind my extremely long, 60-plus-letter, Hawaiian middle name. Before embarking on the project, I had been estranged from my mother for nearly 20 years.” Here are Christen and her mom in a promotional photo from the film:

Christen’s West Seattle roots run deep too: She came here from Hawai’i at age 8, going to school at Schmitz Park Elementary, Madison Middle, and West Seattle High School. Her film has won acclaim, and has been shown on PBS in Hawaii; now, she’s bringing it to a Seattle audience. Northwest Film Forum is at 1515 12th Avenue on Capitol Hill; tickets for the Saturday night screening are available online; if you can’t get there tomorrow, the NWFF website also shows a screening on Sunday.

A special West Seattle showing of the inspirational film “Girl Rising” is planned for 4 pm Monday, November 11th, at the historic Admiral Theater – but organizers have just a few days for ticket sales, so you need to buy yours ASAP by going here. The trailer’s on YouTube; see it here. In short, the film “directed by Academy Award nominee Richard Robbins journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world”; it will introduce you to the memorable girls you’ll glimpse in the trailer. Buy your ticket(s) by Sunday to help the organizers finalize the screening!

Their new album isn’t officially out until tomorrow – but today, you could buy The Head & The Heart‘s new album “Let’s Be Still” in advance at just one place: West Seattle’s own Easy Street Records. And those who did, were guaranteed a spot inside the store for tonight’s announced-at-the-last-minute live performance. Big spillover outside:

It’s not easy running a record store -slash- café -slash- live-music venue – ESR proprietor Matt Vaughan was seen minutes before the show, coming down from his crow’s nest by the café’s front door; he had been moving some audio equipment:

After tonight’s Easy Street performance, The Head & The Heart (profiled in The Seattle Times [WSB partner] today) was off to a sold-out show at the Columbia City Theater, and heading east on tour after that; as for ESR, there’s more excitement at the store later tonight – Pearl Jam‘s new album will be playing and on sale in less than an hour, when the release party starts at 9 pm.