Drama! ’60s rock nostalgia! Yoga to help an ailing teacher! Free coffee and breakfast treats for everyone who helps with the Admiral Adopt-A-Street cleanup! And of course, West Seattle Super Bowl parties! All happening in West Seattle now through Sunday night, more than 40 events ahead in the Super Bowl weekend edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (sponsored by Skylark Cafe and Club):Read More
OPENING NIGHT: Thanks to those who’ve e-mailed us to say tonight’s opening night for the three-night run of West Seattle High School‘s student-directed plays “Reverse Transcription” and “No Exit,” 7:30 pm tonight, Friday, and Saturday in the WSHS Theater (tickets $5 at the door).
5/31 RUN – AND MORE? Checking the WSHS website, we noticed something that’s interesting for more than 1 reason:
Save the Date! WSHS PTSA 5K Fun Run/Walk on May 31, 2009
This fun community event will be held in partnership with the City of Seattle and their “Summer Streets” (car-free) day on Alki. Mark your calendars, tell your family and friends, and get ready for a healthy start to summer at Seattle’s most beautiful park, West Seattle’s own Alki Beach. Watch Westside Notes and this website [WSHS site] for more information about how to sign up!
That’s Madison Middle School student Bazel Rivera, who’ll be in the Admiral Theater spotlight this Saturday night as a student of a different school – the Paul Green School of Rock Music. They’re presenting a salute to The Monkees – the TV rockers whose heyday was so long ago, some of the 8-to-18-year-olds heard about it from their grandparents. Or via a recent resurgence, as Bazel explains in a quick interview clip you’ll see ahead:Read More
As first featured here two months ago, that’s Lynda, who won “Alki Idol” Season 1 (and $1,000)! Now it’s time for the second round – here’s the announcement from organizer John McKenzie:
The Bamboo Bar and Grill on Alki will be hosting Alki Idol Season 2 starting Thursday, January 29th at 9:30 PM. Alki Idol is an eight-week karaoke competition set up for local amateur singers to compete for cash and prizes on a weekly basis, as well as a grand prize for the overall winner. Season 1 was a huge success and featured some amazing local singers.
The contest will include 6 weeks of auditions with 2 contestants qualifying each night based on voting by a panel of judges. The final field of 12 will compete in a semi-final competition on March 12th, reducing the field to 6. The 6 finalists will then compete in the finals for cash and prizes on March 19th. The Bamboo Bar and Grill is located at 2806 Alki Ave SW. Check for updates on Alki Idol at www.alkiidol.com or www.bamboobarandgrill.com.
You might have seen a citywide article or two suggesting arts organizations are struggling in these tough times. Not ArtsWest, retorts exec director Alan Harrisonin this essay.
On West Seattle’s Puget Ridge, South Seattle Community College‘s own celebrated wines were at centerstage, along with offerings from other famous Washington wineries, during the fundraising food-and-wine gala “Gifts From the Earth” on Saturday night. We dropped by to survey the scene at SSCC’s Brockey Center in the early going — including the team ready to show off the college’s famed culinary program too:
For all who attended, beautifully laid-out tables awaited:
“Gifts from the Earth” is an annual fundraiser for the SSCC Foundation. Meantime — earlier tonight, we mentioned West 5‘s first-ever movie screening. Before the lights went down, we stopped in (good-sized crowd!) to ask moviemaker Jamie Burton Chamberlin about the venue where “Gearhead” screened tonight:
He’s working to get “Gearhead” distributed and is also in postproduction on “Double Down Live” (working title).
Toni Reineke from West Seattle’s community orchestra, Westside Symphonette, tells WSB the last call for recruitment was a success — with new brass players joining (thanks!) — so she’s looking for players in three more areas of specialty: Bassoon, oboe, harp. Interested? Next rehearsal is Tuesday at Chief Sealth/Boren (map); call Toni at 206-243-6955 or e-mail tonireineke@comcast.net to find out more.
One more reminder: 8 pm tonight, you’re invited to the first-ever movie screening at West 5 in The Junction — an award-winning documentary by filmmaker Jamie Burton Chamberlin (who lives in West Seattle when not in L.A.): “Gearhead: 4 Days on the Road with Billy F. Gibbons” (of ZZ Top fame). Find out more about the film at its MySpace site.
We launched this in the WSB Forums last week (here’s the official announcement) and want to make sure everybody gets a chance to make suggestions, so we’re posting it here on the main page too. Big happy crowds enjoyed Movies on the Wall in the Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) courtyard last summer (here’s the report on the one we sponsored), after the movies were chosen from a list that included suggestions from WSBers – and this year, we’re proud to be one of the sponsors for a new Winter Movies on the Wall series, with dates set for three Saturday nights in March — March 4, 11, 18 — at the new West Seattle Christian Church activity center (opening soon). So what movies would YOU like to see on those three nights in March? Please post a comment here and/or at the series’ official site. Deadline for suggestions is end of this month; you can see some of the suggestions already made here.
Among your many entertainment options on tonight’s West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Two “classic silent comedies” accompanied (with ragtime!) by Donald Sosin at Kenyon Hall (interior photo above). If you aren’t well-acquainted with that venue, time to fix that. We revisited the historic building (on 35th just south of Kenyon – here’s a map) recently to talk with manager Lou Magor and find what’s new – read on!Read More
Thanks to Paul Dieter for sharing that video of The Center School‘s Poetry Slam performance/competition on Thursday night. We learned more about TCS during the Seattle Public Schools closure process that’s heading for a vote next Thursday; TCS changes are NOT part of the plan any more but when they were, we learned that the unique Seattle Center-based school has more than a few West Seattle teens in attendance, including one who performed in the Thursday night event, as Paul explains:
The Center School presented A Night Of Poetry and Theater For Social Change at the Seattle Repertory Theater. The standing-room-only audience was treated to these talented high-school students exercising the power they are finding in words, performance and personal poise confidence. The evening began with 18 students reading their own poems and finished with a competitive poetry slam that included West Seattle’s own Daniel Willoughby. There was also a brief performance by the school’s Theater For Social Change class that gave us a view on some of the issues facing these young adults.
That’s the trailer for “Rock ‘n’ Roll Gearhead,” which on Sunday night will become the first movie ever shown at West 5 in The Junction. Also happening in The Junction, opening weekend for “WELL”:
At ArtsWest, Kate Witt and Therese Diekhans star in a play that’s about a play … and about the playwright’s mother … sort of … taking a “riotously funny” turn, per AW. And yet another Junction fete – Saturday’s the 4th birthday bash for Twilight Art Collective, featuring Goldhick/Crystals:
What does G/C do? Follow the links from Twilight. And if you like pancakes, Saturday’s the morning you’ve been waiting for:
That’s the morning you can enjoy a pancake breakfast at Fauntleroy Church to support the Fauntleroy Fall Festival. Those events, plus the food/wine gala “Gifts from the Earth” at SSCC, a chance to help Seacrest become a Wildlife Habitat, school events including open houses and a Chief Sealth-WSHS joint fundraising car wash, a free parliamentary-law workshop (gotta run meetings? this will help), all part of more than FIFTY!!!! events and activities in West Seattle this weekend, ahead:Read More
Thanks to MarkB for that video from tonight’s West Seattle High School winter concert – where students played the drums donated to them as a surprise gift last spring by the WSHS Foundation (as reported here). Many other student musicians performed tonight – MarkB also e-mailed this photo to share:
ADDED 12:58 PM: Also just got word that the West Seattle High School music department’s winter concert is tonight, 7:30 pm, WSHS Theater, all welcome – and it’s free!
Our new leadership in DC is challenging us all to reach out and help each other – and we’ve got a stack of ideas to share with you – many are already on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar, but we want to shine an extra spotlight too – for starters, Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) still has appointments available for its annual “Have a Heart Day” on Sunday 2/8 — here’s what it’s all about:
Illusions Hair Design is raising money for West Seattle Helpline – benefiting many families in our community – and Pencil Me in for Kids – benefiting hundreds of local grade-school kids each year – through its annual fund raiser “Have a Heart Day.” Since 1994, Illusions has opened its doors the Sunday before Valentine’s Day, donated staff time performing haircuts at reduced cost, and donated ALL monies raised to local charities. This year’s event will be on Sunday February 8th, from 12-5. Please call (206) 938-3675 to schedule an appointment, or visit www.illusionshairdesign.com to learn more.
Illusions, by the way, is currently featuring a photography display that you are welcome to stop by and check out during regular salon hours Mondays-Fridays, through the end of February – the debut show of Marybeth Coghill (here’s some of her work on Flickr).
Thanks to Roxhill Elementary principal Carmela Dellino for pointing us to a KIRO Radio story about a song written by a Roxhill teacher, and performed by students, in honor of MLK Day. (Find it online here, including audio of the story, in which you hear the kids sing part of the song.) Carmen explains: “Chris Robert, one of our Kindergarten teachers, combined the importance of King as a civil rights leader with the significance of our upcoming inauguration of the first Black president of the United States by writing a song. He taught all the Kindergarteners the song and incorporated it into a lesson about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. I am extremely proud of his work and all our teachers at Roxhill.”
What we mean by that is: Our weekly list of Friday-Saturday-Sunday events is a “map” in its own right, but the big map activity this weekend happens tomorrow afternoon, when Snowstorm ’08 WSB mapmaking star Alice is leading an informal session on how to make Google Maps – that, and other activities including a big concert rescheduled from its snow-scuttled date, are all part of more than 30 events and activities in West Seattle this weekend, ahead:Read More
Tomorrow morning at 10 am, ArtsWest starts taking applications for its always-popular musical-theater summer camp. No auditions are required, but only the first 30 to sign up are guaranteed a spot. This year’s production: “A Year with Frog and Toad.”Full scoop here.
From Toni Reineke with Westside Symphonette, West Seattle’s community orchestra:
We are short 3 trombones, 1 or 2 trumpets, and at least one French horn player … we have great strings this year (though we could always use more, especially violas). We even have an oboe player!
We started our winter/spring session last Tuesday but players are welcome to join any old time. They could call me at 206-243-6955 or e-mail tonireineke@comcast.net.
Next rehearsal is at Chief Sealth (in the Boren Building) this coming Tuesday, January 13.
(For original report with background on what this is about, go here)
1:56 PM UPDATE: Adam shot photos separate from the webcam, and here are two of them (above and below).
Note the burning car tipped on its side; WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand, who was covering this on the ground, says hydraulics were used.
ADDED 4:23 PM: Three WSB video clips – first, the car (a BMW) as it burned:
Second, the fire being put out:
Third, a hooded contestant arriving at the shoot:
The plot of “The Phone” apparently involves contestants answering ringing cell phones in major cities, and embarking on an action-packed race for cash prizes. We’ll watch to see when it’s scheduled to premiere — and we’ll be looking to see when this episode turns up. One more photo: Adam snapped the helicopter that was participating in the shoot – note the attached camera:
Published earlier in the afternoon:
1:12 PM UPDATE: Much better pictures from the webcam mentioned below, sent by Adam (thank you AGAIN!). What follows is what we originally posted at 12:54 pm:
That’s a screen grab from a couple minutes ago via the camera.eastalki.com webcam set up across the street from Seacrest, where – as first reported here yesterday – the TV show “The Phone” is shooting today, and their promised “detonation” simulating a car explosion was just set off. Lots more pix/video to come later. (Reminder, the parking restrictions remain in effect till 6 pm.)
ORIGINAL 4:13 PM POST: Thanks to JBC for the first tip on this — the Seacrest parking lot will be off-limits tomorrow as will a lot of parking in the area along the east side of Harbor Avenue, 6 am-6 pm, because a film/video crew will be in action. Someone we asked at Seacrest would only say “film” but Adam says his building nearby has been notified it’s a “TV pilot.” (We saw one obvious prop – a makeshift A-board sign for a nameless “Water Taxi” with three tiers of ticket prices that bear no relation to the pricing of the real Water Taxi, which of course is out of service till spring.) We’re off to do more online research in hopes of securing details, but wanted to get word out ASAP about the parking restrictions for tomorrow. 4:41 PM UPDATE: Just got a photo of the notice (thanks again to Adam). Will retype the text here momentarily. Two things of note: Alki Crab and Fish WILL be open during the shoot (which the notice says will last about six hours), and one part of the production will include “the detonation of a charge which will simulate a car explosion.” 4:57 PM UPDATE: To read the entire text of the notice with details about what they’re doing tomorrow, including that “detonation,” and why there may be some intermittent traffic control in the area tomorrow too — plus which show is apparently involved — click ahead:Read More
Drama! ’60s rock nostalgia! Yoga to help an ailing teacher! Free coffee and breakfast treats for everyone who helps with the Admiral Adopt-A-Street cleanup! And of course, West Seattle Super Bowl parties! All happening in West Seattle now through Sunday night, more than 40 events ahead in the Super Bowl weekend edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (sponsored by 
Our new leadership in DC is challenging us all to reach out and help each other – and we’ve got a stack of ideas to share with you – many are already on 
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