I enjoyed the Fourth of July fireworks display from a Queen Anne rooftop in the company of friends and neighbors, one of whom was planning a trip to Wales for the Royal National Eisteddfod. That's a Welsh festive gathering of the bards, presided over by the ArchDruid and featuring lots of music and poetry. There was further discussion on the Celts and Druids, and I learned there was a local gorsedd of Bards and a Druid priestess - living right here on Queen Anne Hill.
'Most everyone in a neighborhood that includes the Seattle Center has heard of the Queen Anne Community Council (QACC), and the organization has weighed in on numerous, sometimes-contentious issues over the years.But does the QACC really make a difference? Board member Jim Smith - who has served on the council for around 35 years - thinks so. "When they get their act together, they're fairly influential," he said.For example, Smith added, the council - in conjunction with the Magnolia Community Club - successfully torpedoed a Port of Seattle proposal several years ago to set up a container-handling facility at Terminals 90 and 91.
Lake Union Yacht Center, a full-service boat center, has moved its operation from north Lake Union to the LeClercq Marine Building at 1080 W. Ewing St., just east of the Ballard Bridge on north Queen Anne.The new facility more than doubles the square footage of LUYC's old location and gives them the ability to haul out boats of 85 tons, making theirs one of the largest haul-out facilities in Seattle.
Magnolia Chorale tunes up for a new season with a new director. She is Heather MacLaughlin Garbes, holder of a master's in choral conducting and a candidate for doctor of musical arts at the University of Washington, where she conducts the University Singers and the Summer Chorale.The theme Garbes has selected for the December concert, entitled "Winter Light," focuses on how light and darkness affect our lives in profound ways, from being a beacon to a lost soul to having it represent the loss of the day or the hope for the future.
Crown Publishers, 2006, $25.95The man who almost invented the wireless telegraph settled for chasing ghosts instead. That is to say, Oliver Lodge, who demonstrated the active, electromagnetic function necessary for wireless somewhat ahead of Guglielmo Marconi, remained, despite this promising start, at least as caught up with mediums who could "provide" him the spirit of his late Aunt Anne, amongst other shenanigans. This widespread and scientifically vaunted practice hardly made a loner of Lodge. Marconi, though, working to the south and east around Bologna, bore down hard and uncompromisingly.
The international cast for Seattle Opera's 2009 presentation of Richard Wagner's "Ring des Nibelungen" has been announced by general director Speight Jenkins. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley reprises his 2005 Wotan, accompanied by such veterans as Richard Paul Fink (Alberich), Margaret Jane Wray (Sieglinde and Third Norn) and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe (repeating as Fricka and stepping over from Third to Second Norn). New to the cast are American soprano Janice Baird as Brünnhilde, Danish tenor Stig Fogh Andersen as Siegfried and Australian tenor Stuart Skelton as Siegmund.
Silent Movie Mondays resume with early Chaplin The Little Tramp is coming back ... to the Paramount Theatre when Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays returns for a four-week run starting Sept. 10. The series features Charlie Chaplin in 12 short films from the early days of his career.Each Monday's progam will consist of three films that run about 20 minutes apiece. They were made in 1916 and 1917 when Chaplin was only 27 years old. At the time he had already spent almost half his life on the stage, mostly in England. A trip to the United States in 1907 and another in 1912 built up a following for the young vaudevillian, and in 1913 he had his first American movie contract. <br
Mel Brooks is up to his old antics as the creative team of the Tony-winning production of "The Producers" takes on another movie-to-musical challenge. His Broadway-bound version of "Young Frankenstein" pays tribute to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's 1818 tome, delivering Brooks' trademark over-the-top zaniness as he spoofs not only his own 1974 film but showbiz in general with old-fashioned musical theater chutzpah.The theatrical version, set in 1934 New York City and Transylvania Heights, includes most of the film highlights, but the ending has been reimagined. And if many of the lines sound familiar, you first heard them in the movie.Although not perfect, "Young Frankenstein" offers an evening packed with the comic maestro's slapstick genius, double-entendres and audacious irreverence. Bottom line, it's an entertaining romp that's bound to tickle ze funny bone.
Magnolian Marta Brace has developed a history jones about the early days of Seattle, but she has a focus most people don't have. Her husband John Brace's great-great-grandfather was the manager and later part owner of a lumber mill at the south end of Lake Union in the late 1800s, Marta told the News.John Stewart Brace rubbed elbows with some of the city's founders, including David Denny, who hired Brace in 1888 to supervise the Western Mill he owned. It was the largest lumber mill in the area, and Brace came from a long line of lumbermen, Marta said.Brace's timing was spot on, too, because Seattle's business district burnt to the ground later that year. The Western Mill provided lumber that helped rebuild the devastated city.
t's that time of year again. The kids are getting ready to go back to school, and they're pining for the latest in name-brand apparel. And perhaps you've noticed that your wardrobe could use a little sprucing up as well. But you have shunned taking action due to price-tag apprehension. If so, a consignment store might be the answer to updating your attire without breaking the bank.
2546 33rd Ave. N.E. (3006340) on a Land Use Application to allow grading in an environmentally critical area. Project includes relocation of 30 parking stalls. The following decision has been appealed: Determination of Non-Significance with conditions (no Environmental Impact Statement required). The appeal hearing will take place Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 9 a.m.
With a new album set to release in the early part of next year, Common Market continues to breathe air underneath the wings of the Seattle music scene. Comprised of Beacon Hill dweller and University of Washington alum, Sabzi - who acts as the duo's producer and DJ - and emcee RA Scion - who's called nearly every corner "home" at one point or another - the duo returns to Bumbershoot this weekend for the second straight year. In what RA Scion calls an homage to the "value of labor and strong work ethic," Common Market will debut some of their new sounds on Saturday at the Esurance Stage.
Josh Yiu, Foster Foundation assistant curator of Chinese Art, recently conducted a press conference at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) for the opening of the new exhibition "SHU: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art." After opening remarks by museum director Mimi Gardner Gates, the young curator was gently thrown into the snarling pit known as the Seattle art press. Without so much as batting an eyelid, Yiu let the work speak for itself. This exhibition not only speaks, it sings in joyous choruses about that most human tradition: the well-made book.
The RC2 Corporation has recalled 22 different "Thomas and Friends" vehicles, buildings and other train set components, including three different versions of the popular "James the Red Engine" character. The toys were sold nationwide from January 2005 until June of this year.
The city is looking for a new person to serve on Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board in the real estate position.The 12-member Landmarks Preservation Board makes recommendations to the City Council for landmark designation and reviews all proposed physical alterations to designated features of landmark properties.