Something lively is going on at Taproot Theatre right now, but I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what it is.
Something lively is going on at Taproot Theatre right now, but I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what it is.
Something lively is going on at Taproot Theatre right now, but I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what it is.
It may be summertime, but nobody is taking it easy at the Northwest Film Forum. A slate of new programs and projects are launching over the next two months. From Busby Berkeley to bicycles, NWFF has a program for everyone.Writer/composer Chris Jeffries' latest work illustrates the fabled dance sequences of Berkeley with new songs. In a 75-minute live music performance opening on Thursday, July 20, at NWFF, Jeffries and six vocalists will accompany 16 film clips from the career of the man who could turn dancing legs into a kaleidoscope of surreal images.Although NWFF is best known for showing arthouse films and archival classics, live shows like "Kaleidoscope Eyes: Songs For Busby Berkeley" also fit well into the forum's mission, said communications director Nick Vroman. "Implicit in our mission is to reach out to other artists in the community and to get them working with us. We have commissioned scores for silent films before, so this show fits well with that idea."
Sometimes the scariest news in the daily papers isn't even a story but simply a little filler item.FBI and local cops have been trumpeting the fact lately that violent crime rates, specifically murder and armed robberies, have been going down for the past decade. (Rape is up in some locales, as is child molestation.) New York City in the mid-'70s averaged almost 2,500 homicides annually. That number is down to approximately 1,250 per year now in the cleaned-up Big Apple. Would that we could cut into industrial pollution so heavily in just the next three decades.Closer to home, Seattle's homicide rate rose in the late '80s and early '90s, peaking at 75 homicides per annum. But last year and the year before there were fewer than 30 homicides annually in Seattle. That's the good news.However, nobody is trumpeting the following facts, which were buried recently in a little paragraph The Seattle Times calls "By the Numbers." America's prison population has grown to 2.1 million inmates. That means one in every 75 American males is in prison right now. Washington state has almost 17,000 men incarcerated at present - a 2.9-percent increase from the previous year.Now if all of those locked up were violent crumb bums - murderers, rapos and armed stickup men - you wouldn't be hearing any complaints from me.Unfortunately, more than 50 percent of the people locked up here and nationally are charged with nonviolent drug offenses. This while corporate pirates and streetside killers often walk free. Make profits, for God's sake, on the bones of their victims.
The burning question is 'why?' Why did 28-year-old Kyle Huff shoot and kill six people at the rental house at 2112 East Republican Street before taking his own life in the first hours of daylight on March 25? Why?A few days after the tragedy, at a public gathering at the Miller Community Center, Seattle Assistant Police Chief Clark Kimmerer said we may never know. While no doubt true on the most literal level, Kimmerer, along with Chief Gil Kerlikowske, returned to the same location to formally release a detailed report on the shooting. The 31-page document does not - cannot - answer every question relating to Huff's actions or motives. But it does shed a great deal of light on the subject.
There is no escaping the size of the project. It takes up most of a city block, has access on four streets and due to its bulk alone has attracted the neighborhood's watchful eye. A six-story, mixed-use development, with 208 units, room for 190 parked cars and 50,000-square feet of retail space will certainly be hard to miss.The project is slated for the block bordered by East Pine Street, Harvard Avenue, East Pike Street and Boylston Avenue. The proposal as it now stands has to sandwich its way between several existing businesses on parcels not associated with the project. While the BMW dealership and its parking lot are included in the development, such businesses as Linda's Tavern, Bill's off Broadway and the War Room are not part of development.Initial details of the project were presented last week at an early design review meeting. According to Department of Planning and Development planner Michael Dorcy, the turnout of roughly 30 people provided for spirited discussion."Most of the comments focused on the impacts that would come from a project of this size," he said. "There were questions of height, bulk and scale. The neighborhood likes the diversity of the neighborhood and favors density. But they're concerned with how the design of this building will fit in with the existing street life and vibrancy the neighborhood values and would like to see stay."The design review board made note of the considerable challenge of creating a domestic sanctuary for the building's residents while not attempting to stifle the neighborhood's social vibrancy.
Nearly 300 children participated in the triathlon on Sunday, July 16, at Seward Park. The race featured two categories: splashers with a 50 yard swim, 1 mile bike and .2 mile run; and dashers with a 100 yard swim, 2 mile bike and .4 mile run. All participants received a t-shirt and finishers medal.
Volunteers are needed for the Terrorist Response Drill at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium on Sunday, July 23.Volunteers will be part of a national effort to ensure emergency responders are trained and ready should a terrorist attack occur in the Seattle area. Volunteers will be playing the role of fans at Husky Stadium when a simulated terrorist action occurs during a football game. This will involve acting out various levels of distress, going through decontamination and possibly getting transported to an emergency room for evaluation. In short, volunteers will see first-hand how a major attack will be handled from the inside.
Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of farmers meeting shoppers, neighbors greeting each other, and the sizzle of the grill, Michelle Silver, owner of Silver Table Cooking School, is leading an attentive audience through the chopping of fresh ingredients, just picked from the farm. It's the first chef demonstration of the season at the Columbia City Farmers Market and Michelle, the Kids Chef, is teaching children how to make Lettuce Wraps with Veggies and Chicken. "These wraps are perfect for a healthy snack or meal and a great way for you to enjoy eating vegetables," She explained.Silver oversees a girl cutting a carrot while mixing homemade creamy ranch-style dressing into a colorful blend of red tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh bread, cheese and herbs. "You do not need to buy salad dressing," she insisted. "It is fun to make and so easy!"
The latest images on the news have had me thinking a lot lately. Does the war in Iraq affect me? Do the elections in Mexico have any influence on my daily life? Should I be concerned about Guatemala, Bolivia, or Korea?Asking whether or not these things affect me begs a deeper, more significant question. Are Americans capable of even feeling what is going on in other parts of the world?In my mind there is no question whatsoever that the world affects me. Whether or not a person can feel it, or better said, if they are willing to feel it, is another issue. Like most, it is for me to just think about my own world and how things are going on Beacon Hill and in the South End.So can Americans truly tune into what is happening? Evidence would suggest not. However, some might sound like the following if they were truly being honest, in my opinion:"I live in a society built on self-interest. I am concerned and interested with things that involve me. Either they will aid or threaten me. If they are not any of these then I have no reason to be interested, concerned, resolved or conflicted. I take no position unless taking one aides in my profit or prevents my deficit. Who am I? I am an American. I am a person who chooses to go along with what the television tells me not because it's really what I believe, but because I don't really believe anything else. I am the epitome of neutrality, the hallmark of apathy, and the essence of indifference."
Children's Garden Summer Programs, weekdays through September. Hands-on garden camps for children ages one to 14 years. 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. 633-0451, ext. 2 or www.seattletilth.org.Free Junior Golf Lessons and Play, July 25 and July 20, 4-5 p.m.; July 22, noon-2 p.m. Jefferson Park Golf Course. Charles, 325-7591.Summer Arts and Culture Camp, through Aug. 4, Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m.-4 p.m. A multicultural arts camp that explores Southeast Asia for ages 7-11. Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S. Alaska St. $195 per week. 725-7169."Angkor/America," July 26-Aug. 5. Rainier Valley Youth Theatre presents this production at Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S. Alaska. 725-7169.Columbia City Beat Walk, Aug. 4. Musicians, business owners, locals and others attend this event on the first Friday evening of each month. $5 joint cover. 760-4211 or www.columbiacitybeatwalk.org.Free Art Class, through Aug. 16. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-noon. Discover new ways to shape clay sculpture. For ages 10-14. Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way S. 923-0853 or www.naturec.org.Tours of the Kubota Garden, July 22, 10 a.m. Fourth Saturdays through Oct. 28. Free public tours of the Kubota Garden, at the junction of Renton Ave. S. and 55th Ave. S. Meet in the parking lot. The guide will be wearing a teal blue stole. 725-5060.
There has been a lot of discussion lately about what to do about the Seattle Center, which is definitely looking a bit frayed around the edges these days.For Seattle Weekly founder and former publisher David Brewster, the answer is simple: Get rid of buildings like the Center House and replace them with green space.Brewster, who set up and until recently ran the Town Hall programs, even has a small core of supporters. The group calls itself Friends of Green, or FROG, and they tout the idea of turning the Seattle Center into a major park as a way to address a glaring deficit in downtown green space.As a member of a downtown parks task force, he noted that it would be too expensive to buy enough downtown land for a major Seattle park. "So it has to be in an existing space."That's why the Seattle Center would be the perfect location, according to Brewster. "A lot of properties in the middle here have reached the end of their effective lives," he said.
It may seem hard to believe, but the award-winning principal of Cleveland High School did not want to go into education when she earned her diploma. When the summer of 1969 began, Marshall graduated from Cleveland with a mind focused more on high fashion than higher education. Like most young adults, Marshall's goals and desires eventually shifted and morphed as she made ends meet in the Emerald City."I wanted to be a fashion buyer," said Marshall, who delayed her entry into college while she worked a full time job in retail. "I was into the clothes."Today, clothes are still a passion for Marshall, but her love of children and education has eclipsed her youthful goal. Now, 37-years later, Marshall finds herself leading her alma mater through a challenging time for both the school's students and Cleveland's identity in the South End community. Drive by the school's Beacon Hill location at 5511 15th Avenue South and you'll see what I mean. Earth moving equipment and building rubble dominate the site. Dozens of construction workers are busy tearing down the school's decrepit buildings, putting up new ones in their place, and restoring the most valued and aesthetically pleasing portions of the historic, 1927 building. The $61 million project calls to demolish the existing gymnasium, renovate the remaining landmark, historic portions with significant facades, modernize the 1927 building, add a new gymnasium/commons building and construct a new three-story classroom building. The old school's walls hugged 15th Avenue South, but the new plan is to include plazas to open up the campus to pedestrian traffic along the minor arterial street.
Something lively is going on at Taproot Theatre right now, but I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what it is. Part revival meeting, part spoof, part giving testimony to God, it's an experience that was a real winner when it played in Branson, Mo., and a favorite at Amish Acres, Ind., where they paired it with potluck suppers. The Taproot evening has all the Bible verses you could ask for and some terrific music. If that's what appeals to you, this is your chance to yell out "Hallelujah" and "Amen." As you walk into the theater, you find yourself in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church up in the hills of North Carolina. It's a Saturday night in 1938, and there's going to be a sing. Pastor Oglethorpe tidies up a bit, but he seems obviously stressed as the minutes tick by and the performers of the evening aren't there. He tries to reassure the churchgoers (that is, the audience) that all will be well, and sure enough it is. The Sanders Family Singers straggle in, late because their bus has flipped over. It's not a good start to their evening, but they're troupers. They're ready to sing out for that old-time religion, and so begins a wonderful musical feast.