Laughs abound in Seattle Shakespeare Company's delightful production of "Much Ado About Nothing." Exiting the Center House Theater on opening night, I was exhilarated and energized by witty wordplay, rib-tickling low comedy and the ultimate resolution of two thwarted love affairs. When the cast joined in a lively circle dance to celebrate the play's conclusion, their physical enthusiasm and joy released any remaining tension generated by a "problem" drama that famously cuts deep into sexual fear and distrust. Returning from waging successful war, Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, and his lieutenants - brave Claudio and brash Benedick - stop in Messina, whose governor Leonato (a most amiable Gordon Carpenter) proposes to host them for a month or so. The idea is to give the vets time to tamp down their testosterone and transition back into peacetime conduct, civilized manners and the company of women - notably, girlish Hero, a blushing, dutiful virgin, and willful Beatrice, shrewd and shrewish, witty mistress of elaborate puns and bon mots. His eye ever on communal health, Shakespeare works a dramatic dialectic here: introduce a cadre of plainspoken soldiers, bonded by bloodshed, into the nuanced dynamics of peacetime love, sex and duplicity, and hope that good comes of the ensuing collision.
This is a big year for the Seattle Art Museum. There's the rejuvenated Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) and the ongoing major renovation and enlargement of the downtown museum. And that's not all. In the fall, the 8 1/2-acre sculpture park and pedestrian green space opens, connecting arts to the natural beauty of our region.It has the potential of being as important to Seattle as the new library. So, it seems appropriate to look at the museum's history and connect it to Seattle's creativity and artistic vibrancy. That's exactly what's happening at SAAM, which is currently featuring five separate exhibits related to the arts of the Northwest. Although local artists have explored all arts media, it is in studio glass that Northwesterners have made their most important contribution. The largest of the exhibits includes three rooms of art glass selected from the recent donation to the museum by Jon and Mary Shirley of more than 100 glass pieces. Dale Chihuly is in this exhibition, of course, along with a number of other local glassblowers.
Renowned Greenwood artist Bill Braun can't remember when he started dabbling in trompe l'oeil art, but it's consumed him for the last couple of decades. "I've been doing it for so long - I started as a young adult in art school," Braun said. "I went to school in the Bay Area and went to lots of museums. One whole room was filled with trompe l'oeil."While at art school, Braun saw parallels between trompe l'oeil (pronounced "trump l'wah") and modernism and first became hooked on painting abstract geometrics. Over the years, he began using shadows, textures and then cutouts of birds, houses and flowers. The cutouts appear to be adhered by masking tape and stapled to a crinkled background of brown kraft paper. The viewer often has to look several times to realize that what appears to be a 3-D collage is a masterful application of acrylic on canvas.
Upon meeting Reginald and Rosa Beck, you wouldn't suspect they live amidst the devastation following financial ruin. Educated and articulate, the couple do not whine or cower. They tell their story without apology and request people listen attentively and learn from it.As the Becks recover from their trip through financial hell, they give thanks to the Fremont Public Association (FPA), which tossed them the lifelines they're using to climb out. Before the FPA, Reginald encountered "a series of doors slammed in our face."
It was all smiles on Wednesday, June 7, as Lorig Associates, Stellar Holdings, members of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund (LCLDF) and political leaders came together to celebrate the ground-breaking of Thornton Place.When the project is completed in 2008, there will be 109 condominiums, 278 apartments, 52,000 feet of retail and other commercial space and a 16-screen movie theatre. Plans also call for 850 underground parking spaces.ERA Care Retirement Communities is developing a 129-unit senior living center on the southeast side of the property.LCLDF advocates were on hand for the event and were happy with the 2.7 acres of open space being planned.Before the program, LCLDF members walked across the bleak concrete lot with smiles on their faces, to a blue line painted on the ground. The line indicated where the ground will be dug up to reveal Thornton Creek.Bruce Lorig, founding partner of Lorig Associates, said Thornton Place was a great example of the public and private sectors coming together with the community.
Fremont is a popular destination, especially for a stroll on a warm summer day. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels took the opportunity last Saturday, June 10, to tour selected sites throughout the self-proclaimed Center of the Universe. He came to listen to concerns of local leaders and to acquaint himself with previously unfamiliar local landmarks. The taste test at the Theo Chocolate factory came as an unexpected reward.Listening to concernsOne Saturday each month the mayor tours one Seattle neighborhood. The city has identified 38 Urban Village neighborhoods, but the Mayor's Office takes a broader approach, and his monthly visits rotate among 69 neighborhoods, large and small.The Department of Neighborhoods (DON) Service Center coordinators usually contact leaders and stakeholders in each community, letting them identify the high-priority issues they want to present to the mayor. Yun Pitre, of the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center, organized this tour.
For Rainier Valley neighbors who love Thai food but have noticed its absence in our community - you can now celebrate. A new restaurant opened six months ago at 2609 S. McClellan St. called Thai Recipe.This local Beacon Hill family owned restaurant opened in the midst of Sound Transit's construction dust and debris at the base of McClellan Street. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm excited that it's so close to home. The décor is clean and simple and the smell of Thai basil fills the air when you enter the building. Another new restaurant opening in the neighborhood just up the street from Thai Recipe is the Mioposto in Mount Baker. It's located at 3601 S. McClellan near the Mount Baker Community Club. Many previous restaurants have struggled in this space but the new owners Jeremy Hardy & Peter Levy have done some great remodeling; moved the front door to face McClellan Street, new furniture and a new menu make the space family friendly. The open-air café features breakfast, lunch and dinner with pastries, sandwiches & salads. Mioposto is also a pizzeria joining Tutta Bella in making wood fire oven pizza. I've noticed that it's busy most evenings so the changes must have made a difference. It's always nice to see a community respond so quickly to a new business. Stop in for a slice of pizza or an espresso. The third new restaurant that is getting great reviews is Kallaloo in Columbia City located at 3820 S. Ferdinand Street. Kallaloo has Caribbean Creole cuisine with a home cooking twist.
"Most people don't believe me when I tell them how this works," said Doug Nafziger, a Seattle resident and owner of Advanced Mobile L.L.C., an environmental car-detailing service and auto-glass repair business since 2003. Instead of washing the cars the old-fashioned way, Nafziger uses a spray-on substance that can be wiped right off the dirty car. "The only thing that touches your car is our cleaner and [a] soft, terry-cloth or microfiber towel," he said. "This is superior to a conventional car wash, which grinds in the dirt, or power-washing, which 'sandblasts' grit across your car's delicate finish."Actually, several good causes are involved," Nafziger continued. "One is a clean car, which everyone loves. Another is water conservation. Another is protecting our planet by ensuring nothing whatsoever goes down the storm drains and harms fish."
"Don't cheat yourself!" This is a "Noelism" - epithets which regularly come from the mouth of Noel Montgomery, the step aerobics instructor at Rainier Beach Community Center for the past three years, 6-7 p. m., Tuesdays and Thursdays.The petite teacher began instructing classes at The Family Center at the Atlantic Street Center in 1991. To know Noel is to understand why people take her classes. Proof of her superiority at this life-changing exercise comes from the many students who, despite their exhaustion, praise her incessantly.As many as 35 adults of both genders, all shapes, sizes, weights and colors work out. Often sitting on the sideline is Noel's 85-year- old mom, Modeste Montgomery, who sometimes dances to the cheers of the class.Gimme 20!Some fortunate folks have been in Noel's class for as long as seven years. Others attend intermittently. Some students always keep up with the wiry, never-tired instructor; some usually keep up; and others rarely keep up. But all show up - and most of the time on time. Entering late may elicit a militaristic "Give me 20 push-ups" or "Give me 20 squats" from the sergeant, er, teacher. Everybody complies. At the completion of the "penalty," Noel may say, "See how cooperative she is." As students complain before class what Noel may have them do ... and after class about what she had them do ... but all agree that the benefits of the class are excellent. The body gets aerobic and anaerobic exercise. And that most important muscle - the heart - gets stronger.
At Columbia City's Matthiesen's Flowers, glass-door refrigerators encase sunflowers, orchids, roses and more exotic species. There are other items one would expect at a flower shop: A helium pump stands ready to inflate latex and Mylar balloons, and a variety of potted plants and stuffed animals are on offer.But the store's new owners, Sarah Bishop and Suzanne Hoole, have also added some surprises - such as dishware, candles, baby clothes and specialty teas. Framed photos of flowers are accompanied by a brief biography of photographer Andrew Forsell. The large greeting card collection, which is not your typical drug-store variety, boasts many striking nature-inspired cards by Seattle designer Herman Yu.Bishop and Hoole, who both live in the area, worked together at Amazon.com for seven years teaching employees customer service skills before taking over Matthiesen's on March 1. We knew we worked well together, and we had long talked about opening a card and stationery store," Hoole said. They sometimes spent lunches looking at retail space, but everything seemed out of their price range.That changed when Hoole's in-laws, who are acquainted with former owner Nancy Bratton, told the women that Matthiesen's was up for sale. "It kind of fell into our laps," Hoole said. "The space is great, and we knew we could learn flowers."
Since its creation in the 1960s, skateboarding has been a sport that has thrived beneath the public's cultural radar. Its underground status is beginning to change. Skateboarding is one of the nation's fastest growing sports, but for the estimated 20,000 skateboarders of both genders and all ages residing in Seattle, their sport is currently being underserved.Seattle currently has two public skateparks for the area's skaters. To put this in a Pacific Northwest perspective, Vancouver, B.C., has six public skateboarding facilities with a plan enacted last year to increase the number with a citywide strategy. To the south, Portland has one public skatepark but completed a plan last year to add 19 additional skateboarding facilities of various sizes.With these facts in mind, the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department is holding a series of public meetings to gather ideas and comments concerning what Seattleites would like to see in a neighborhood skatepark through a series of three meetings and a skateboarding open house.
"I am saddened, as a parent, that all of the children of Graham Hill are just having to relocate like it means nothing. It feels very unjust and unfair," said Suzanne Wolf, a mother of two children who attend Graham Hill Elementary School.As the school year comes to a close, most parents would be anticipating the relaxation that comes with summer. However, this summer proves to be different for those parents dealing with potential school closures and consolidations; some are preparing for the change or, like Suzanne Wolf, some are fighting back. "People are still wanting to fight the decision and that is where people are putting their energy," Wolf said. "The energy is there. People aren't even thinking about what is next. We want Graham Hill to stay open."
Something is going on, because I woke up Saturday morning at 6 a.m. after a mere two hours of sleep. Sunday was the same, except I managed to double my sleep time before the early wake-up call. Now, I may be a college student, used to the occasional all-nighter in order to finish a big paper, but 6 o'clock is still a little early.So why exactly did I get up? I didn't have to work, my brother didn't change my alarm clock and my dog didn't lick my face as I dozed on the couch.No, I got up for soccer's World Cup - plain and simple. That monthlong event that comes around once every four years and unites soccer - or, as the rest of the world calls it, football - fans all over the globe. Germany plays host to the madness this year, meaning that the games begin a wee bit early over here on the West Coast. However, the starting times are pretty reasonable when compared to the 2002 competition, which was hosted in South Korea.So what's so great about the World Cup? Why do I watch?I watch to see the nation of Trinidad and Tobago tie a heavily favored Swedish squad. I watch to see Brazil's Ronaldinho freeze a defender with a crossover so sweet that you could play it back a million times and never get bored. I watch to see England's David Beckham defy the laws of physics and bend another free kick into the corner of the goal.
I'm hosting a big shindig on Thursday, June 15, and I hope you'll show for it. It's at the Rendezvous Grotto (2320 2nd Ave.) and it's called "The 20th MISCiversary."Twenty years ago this week, I started a little column in a little monthly paper based out of Belltown. In those months and years since, I've watched a lot of people, places and things come and go.I saw the Seattle rock scene declared dead on at least a dozen occasions. But it refuses to go away; despite the occasional attempts by politicians and the record industry to kill it off for good.I've seen downtown housing go from almost extinct to a high growth industry.I've seen local politics pretty much stay the same, with the usual "downtown vs. neighborhoods" and development vs. preservation arguments repeated like a familiar jingle.Speaking of jingles, 20 years ago commercial radio didn't quite suck as awfully as it does now. Cable TV was still a novelty. (Remember when music videos were widely derided as a threat to real rock? Heck, remember music videos?)Yes, Virginia, there was online communication in 1986. It was in the form of dial-up bulletin board systems (BBSs), running off of the home PCs of their respective systems operators ("sysops").I resided then in the Consulate Apartments on Belmont. It was the first post-college abode I'd managed to stay in for longer than six months. The manager at the time was a flamboyant yet cynical gay guy who, unfortunately for me, parked his motorcycle directly beneath my unit; prior to his late-night treks to Chinese restaurants, he'd be revvin' up the thing for a good five to 10 loud minutes. He'd installed a Dymo Labelmaker sign inside the back door: "Don't let strange people in. We have plenty."
When I think of landscapes, I generally think of the luminous work of Albert Bierstadt or Frederick Church. Certainly Cézanne's hawk-faced mountains of Provence come to mind, as do pastoral scenes by Corot. The current set of four exhibits at the Frye Art Museum aims to expand that understanding of the genre.These are not landscapes as we traditionally think of them. The four contemporary artists who have created them are pulling us into new territory. Last month I saw Robyn O'Neil's wonderful pencil depictions of tiny men in vast mountainous expanses and Amy Helfand's garden-inspired textiles and collages. Now it's time to look at the two artists, Robert Yoder and Sigrid Sandström, whose work more recently has been placed on display.