Labor Day weekend in Seattle means the Bumbershoot arts festival takes over the city. Get ready to jump into the annual end-of-summer celebration by reading the story for a small peek into a few of the festival's performers and artists (including Ivan Burnetti's graphic novel work, shown above). For more comprehensive coverage, log in to www.northseattleherald-outlook.com for our BUMBERBLOG. Starting on Saturday, Aug. 30, we'll have roving photographers and reporters bring you their daily impressions of the iconic Northwest festival.
North Seattle residents will recognize many faces and locales in Robin Williams' upcoming dark-comedy movie "World's Greatest Dad," which finished its month-long filming in local neighborhoods on Aug. 15. According to James Keblas, director of the Mayor's Office of Film + Music, the cast and crew members numbered in the "hundreds," with actors from throughout the Greater Seattle area in supporting roles. And numerous North Seattle locations figure prominently in the movie, which takes place in an unidentified city. The movie was filmed "almost exclusively in North Seattle. [The film crew] focused on the texture of the neighborhoods," Keblas said. "They fell in love with Seattle."The movie's main star enjoyed the local scenery so much, Williams rode his bike often on the Burke-Gilman Trail and he visited neighborhood coffeehouses, Keblas said.
It was a perfect time for a television-induced adrenaline rush last week when Seattle's recent heat wave finally dissipated with the night air and swimming legend Michael Phelps prepared to dive into the Olympic pool at the Beijing Aquatics Center. Watching him out-touch Milorad Cavic by a 1/100th of a second during the 100-meter butterfly final to take his seventh gold medal was historic, cheer-at-the-screen fun.
Late last week, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the recall of Port of Seattle Commissioner Pat Davis could proceed as planned. The unanimous ruling, which found that there was evidence of official malfeasance in Davis' secret 2006 guarantee of a lucrative golden parachute to retiring Port CEO Mic Dinsmore, was pretty unequivocal:"We can infer from the record that Comm. Davis understood her duties as Port Commissioner and the legal necessity of voting in public session before potentially obligating the Port in any monetary agreement, and, for purposes of recall, intentionally acted outside the scope of these duties by signing an agreement with Dinsmore."
Mayor Greg Nickels and the City Council are at it again. As early as September, they will be entertaining a proposal for "incentive zoning," which would allow nearly a doubling of densities in neighborhood business districts, mid-rise and high-rise residential zones. To prepare you for this onslaught, I've put together a citizen's handbook of planner jargon, nice-sounding euphemisms they'll be spoon feeding you to neutralize any concerns you might have about the changes coming to your neighborhood. When you hear these phrases, watch out!
So now we know. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware will be Barrack Obama's running mate in the coming presidential election.Choosing Biden represents a practical, pragmatic and even logical choice for the Democratic ticket. He's a six-term senator, a former presidential candidate and an acknowledged foreign policy expert whose presence should add some heft to the Democratic ticket. Also, Biden is expected to be something of an attack dog, someone who won't hesitant to lob verbal attacks against John McCain and whomever McCain chooses for the VP slot
The following are based on incident reports from the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct. They represent the officers' accounts of the events described.AssaultJust after 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, officers on routine patrol near 23rd Avenue East and East Union Street noticed a car pull up beside them. A woman gestured for the officers to roll down their window. When they did, the woman said she'd seen another woman being assaulted a few blocks away.
As just about everyone knows, Bumbershoot, this city's largest music and arts festival, is ready to roll this weekend. While space does not allow for a complete event primer, a smattering of personal highlights is presented for an idiosyncratic frame of reference.. "Seattle is a great town, no doubt," writes singer/songwriter/subversive non-quite-cowpunk Kathleen Edwards, from somewhere inside the mobile "small and smelly bubble" recording artists call home. "I love the community of chefs, store owners, winemakers, artists, the Long Winters, and of course, Rainn Wilson." (Of course, Rainn Wilson hasn't lived around here for some time. But forget it, she's rolling.)
For those interested in Green history, according to legend the bricks making up the building that houses All Pilgrims Christian Church, built back in 1899, are recycled from the various ruins of the Great Seattle Fire."I've never been able to prove it, but it looks like it from pictures from that time," said CJ Adamo, the caretaker at All Pilgrims, describing the century-plus history of the church.
Organizers stress that everybody is welcome, but the 38th Annual ROOTS (Relatives of Old Timers) picnic on Aug. 31 in Gas Works Park traces its beginnings to when eight African American couples who had been friends and lost touch 30 to 40 years before met for a renunion dinner at the home of Arline and Letcher Yarbrough.The old timers, who had moved to Seattle before and during World War II for work, quickly organized a picnic that was held at Seward Park and around 300 people showed up, according to a history of the organization.
Sixty students from Seattle high schools finished up a tough, three-week summer-school language program on Friday, Aug. 22, at Seattle University. The program was tough because students in the daylong classes were only allowed to speak either Madarin Chinese or Arabic. And the total immersion approach was part of a broader effort by OneWorld Now! to introduce students of color and low-income students to the rarely taught but widely spoken languages, according to Kristin Hayden, the founder and executive director of the program.
Park space, or rather the lack of it, is one of the challenges inherent in living in a dense, urban neighborhood such as Capitol Hill. Last year, when the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation acquired property for a future park at Summit Avenue East and East John Street, just north of the large Starbucks on East Olive Way, there was more than just a passing interest.
Nowhere is the classroom transformation more apparent at the gloriously renovated Garfield High School than in Bonnie Hungate-Hawk's fine arts room. Before the school temporarily moved to Wallingford in 2004 to accommodate the extensive renovation and modernization of the Central District's historic, 1920s-era neo-Jacobian building, Hungate-Hawk taught her students in the confining space of a converted girls locker room that had no natural light.
The Moyer Foundation has announced it raised more than $125,000 at its annual Celebrity Waiters Dinner on Sunday, Aug. 24, at the Union Square Grill. A five-course dinner and paired wine was served by local sports and TV celebrities such as "New York Vinnie" Richichi, Seattle Storm's Yolanda Griffith and Kristen O'Neill, Seattle Mariners great Dave Valle, announcer Rick Rizzs and hydroplane racer Chip Hanauer. One of the highlights was an appearance and message by Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, who's living with cancer.
AND UP INTO THE CULTURAL GLOAMING Last Monday, Aug. 25, for the second time in four years, I waltzed down to KeyArena, strolled up to the will-call window and picked up my free ticket to the circus sans animals, Get Motivated! as presented by Peter and Tamara Lowe.