| Sunday | February 21st | 2010 |
Dancers at Gasworks.
Lawn ornament?
Dragon attack.
Boffin' and larpin' on a February day.
It hit 56 degrees in Seattle today, though it often felt more like 60 or higher. Some of Seattle’s more “creative” folk converged upon Gasworks park to fly kites, dance, bike in anachronistic costumes and hit each other horrifically hard with flails and spears. For the record, the anachronistic bikers later rode down the street shouting “Hip hip, cheerio!” for added effect.
| Saturday | February 20th | 2010 |
Two grocery stores on the same block. Makes you wonder if there’s a competition going? As a Futurama dork, I’d vote for the Zap drawing, but the Mayer one probably trumps in quality. But, there’s a little groaning Kif at the bottom of the first one! So cute!
| Sunday | January 3rd | 2010 |
“Cross My Heart” The Senate
Those crazy Senate kids are at it again. This time around they have a beautifully produced music video to go with a new-ish song (which sounds a little different than their usual fare). If you’re in the Seattle area, you should try and catch a (now very rare) show by these three. They are incredibly talented and pretty nice guys to boot! Additionally, this song is offered for free download on their elegant site.
| Thursday | December 3rd | 2009 |
It’s another First Thursday in Seattle, which means that the galleries and museums keep their doors open and lights on til late to entice gawkers and buyers inside.
Sean O’Neill—an up-and-coming glass worker—is having a solo show this month, and judging from the photos above, his monochromatic work has become even stronger. Glass that simulates the corona of some dark sun? I’m on board.
| Sunday | November 15th | 2009 |
“The Flood 1 & 2” Ryan Molenkamp Oil and graphite, 48” x 54” (these are terrible photos that don’t do them justice.)
Nick and I were both stopped in our tracks by Ryan Molenkamp’s “The Flood” last night. Walking through the tripartite show at Vermillion, these two panels ate up the space and the light, making everything go hushed. Like the skeletal ruins of some town, the burnt remains of a grove, or the spreading tendrils of a topographic black hole, “The Flood” was the gem of the show. They were also already sold, along with 85% of all Molenkamp’s other pieces, which is a relief and a triumph in this age.
Molenkamp’s work can be seen in two contexts, either one just as equally and completely. His skeletal framework laid over monochrome or muted color might be the sprawl of man-made industry, a latticework gone rusted and bare with neglect or catastrophe. Or, it might connote a nature gone rogue and rampant, with lance-like trees spearing the sky and tangles of roots forming dense networks along the landscape. And, of course, it might be a combination of both: an intermingling of city and nature, and not all of it harmonious.
Either way, the ominous and sometimes spectral work Molenkamp paints is thunderingly quiet and wonderfully engaging. This small piece pictured below begged to come home with us, but alas, had already been scooped up by some luckier passerby.
“57 Place” Oil on canvas 13” x 30”
| Friday | November 13th | 2009 |
Thank you, and good night (hopefully). Now I don’t need to BOLT awake every time I hear an alarm. I hope they string him up by his thumbs. 17 arsons in the last two months, the fucker. I wish they’d reinstate public floggings.
| Thursday | November 12th | 2009 |
Hunh. I didn’t know bodies of land and water could be up and changed just like that. Also: the Board on Geographic Names. Who knew?
| Tuesday | October 20th | 2009 |
Summer Sounds: September
“Blow Away” by A Fine Frenzy
Bomb In A Birdcage, Sept 2009
September was a funny little month, with sudden spikes and dips in temperature and temperament. One day it would creep to 90 degrees in summery style, and the next would be a blustery 60. Apt, then, was the release of A Fine Frenzy’s second album, which is full of little surprises and changes of mood.
Located in Seattle, too, Alison Sudol charmed audiences with her 2007 debut, One Cell in the Sea. While sometimes veering into eye-rolling doll-like fragility, the album was intriguing enough to garner some serious praise. Her second outing is stronger in tone and subject matter (though lyrics and phrasing stumble on occasion into cliche), and poppier on the sound front. A foray into 80s rock anthems, some unabashedly gleeful pop, and a couple of wounded bird coos are some of the components that make up this smorgasbord. Though her voice will never be as distinct as some of her peers’, A Fine Frenzy does her best with her pipes (including banishing most of the yearny whine from her timbre) and keeps us guessing with lyrics that grow increasingly mature.
Interestingly enough, her music has ceased to match her projected image: her press photos depict a retro-indie goddess on a picnic with her Victrola, or a softly lit chanteuse with a parasol. But, her music is unapologetically modern, pop-centric, and destined for a spot in the Top 20. Which sensibility will end up most prominent? That’s for album three to decide.
September was the final month of the summer, and here I end my summer sound rewind. What will come to define the months ahead remains to be seen!
| Sunday | September 20th | 2009 |
I saw this in an empty storefront downtown. It’s like the Great Depression all over again. Try some snake oil!
| Friday | September 18th | 2009 |
John at the prep table, workin' magic.
Jason in his Robin Hood chef's hat
Masters of Via Dolce pizza oven
Almost gone before it's off the paddle
Savvy friends of ours spent some time over the summer constructing a clay pizza oven in their back alley. Dubbed “La Strada Dolce,” (or Sweet Street) this 2,000 lb oven on wheels had its introductory run a few weeks back. The result? Absolutely delectable small pizzas topped with some seriously quality ingredients.
These photos were taken during the great Greenwood garage sale last weekend, when over 150 homes in the area put out their dusty wares for barter. The pay-what-you-can pizzas were almost gone by the afternoon, and with good reason. These mobile gourmands will be popping by farmers markets, fairs and street festivals all through the fall, their giant oven in tow and smokin’.
| Thursday | September 3rd | 2009 |
“Steamed” Alyssa Monks, 2009.
The first time I saw Alyssa Monks’ work I naturally assumed the medium was photography. Ok, water droplets, vapor, breath, fine and dandy, not earthshattering stuff. Imagine my surprise when I read these were in fact paintings: jaw hit floor. Check out the archive of her work and you’ll see just how incredibly photorealistic these oil paintings are. Each is more stunning than the last.
“Just Before the Junction” Kate Protage, 2008.
On a more local note, a number of us visited the 619 Western art collective for the monthly art walk this evening, and I had a chance to revisit the studio of one of my favorite local painters. Kate Protage (whose works are so badly represented in digital form) paints the urban landscape as if through a veil of tears: puddles of color, stars of light, long contrails of headlights swoop across street and skyline rendered in inky darkness. Protage’s large canvases bring a slice of night and noise inside and allow part of the speeding, wild city to interact with the quiet of the civilized room. Too bad they’re so out of my price range…
| Wednesday | August 26th | 2009 |
Mmm, Italian.
Mmm, pretty.
Mmm, seaweedy.
Hey, lookit, there’s a new pic feature! Snazzy, no?
First off, I finally wandered into Stella Cafe, which has taken up residence in a 100-year-old building right next to the SAM. Holy traditional Roman cafe! Mica-flecked marble tabletops, stacks of De Cecco pasta and Bacio chocolates, a gold plated mirror behind the brass-pipe bar? Only the Keen-sandaled baristas and Hammering Man outside convinced me I haven’t stepped into a portal straight to cafe Tazza d’Oro. Meraviglioso!
Second, it’s a beautimous piece of latte art! It’s just a sampling of what folks will be doing at the Barista Jam/Latte Art Throwdown taking place at Victrola on Saturday. It also happens to be the work of a certain Cloudherder contributor who shall remain name:LegalDrug:less. I had the pleasure of watching him practicing for the smackdown last week, and this wasn’t even near the best pour of the night.
Lastly, um…it’s a seaweed soup! And it was ridiculously delicious. So I took a picture. And shared it with you. Aren’t you lucky? (From Charm Noodle House, which is famous known renowned okay, they just make really REALLY good lychee martinis.)
| Saturday | August 8th | 2009 |
“Catherine” by Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount.
Julia Massey is wonderful and talented musician whom the Cloudherders have the privilege of knowing (and occasionally getting coffee from.) Persuaded to see her with her band—the Five Finger Discount—last week, Nick and I adored the instrumentation and the sound of her raw, lovely voice carrying through the Conor Byrne pub. Check out this fledgling singer’s work at her website, and be on the lookout for their first cd, hopefully coming down the pipe later this year!
| Wednesday | July 22nd | 2009 |
Remember a little while ago when I wrote about the ice cream wars in Seattle? And how there were, uh, quite a lot of choices for dessert in this city? The Stranger’s food critic begs entrepreneurs to quit it with the gelaterias, cupcakeries, bakeries, ice creameries and candyopoli.
| Sunday | July 12th | 2009 |
Topless activists protest veterinarians’ fish toss
Yeps. Remember that article I scoffed at about PETA protesting against the tossing of (already dead) fish at Pike Place Market? Topless mermaids are showing up to lay around on the ground in front of the market stall to confuse/arouse/guilt people into…uh…not tossing mermaids? Not…killing mermaids? Not stepping on PETA protestors? I’m really not sure, but I know one thing: it’s hilarious.
Leif writes words, music, code and bug reports; somehow he's still sane.
Nickherder is a science and engineering kind of guy, but we forgive him for it.
SaRRa is using her fancy university degree to blog.
Legal Drug makes the coffee, eats the food and drinks the booze.
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Posted by various vapor, assembled. on Sun Feb 21st at 9:30PM
