West Seattle, Washington
16 Thursday
(Photo by Dale Cotton, looking at Mt. Rainier over The Arroyos)
A few notes for a Friday off to a foggy start (thanks for the photos!):
VACCINATION CLINIC: The city-run clinic at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW), for first/second shots and boosters. Check here for available appointments.
LOG HOUSE MUSEUM CLOSED: Reminder that the museum on Alki – which otherwise would be open Friday/Saturday/Sunday afternoons – remains closed again this weekend because of the currently high community incidence of COVID-19.
(Photo by Sandra Braun)
SONGWRITERS’ SHOWCASE: 7-9 pm at C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor), “a monthly showcase from Songwriters In Seattle. A new lineup each month featuring four local singer-songwriters performing their original material. Anchored and hosted the second Friday of each month by West Seattle’s own Tom Humphreys. Each performer gets a 25-minute set in the showcase.” No cover.
AT THE SKYLARK: West Seattle’s premier live-music venue (3803 Delridge Way SW) features Dredge, War Puppy, and Kitty Junk at 8 pm, 21+. $10 cover.
Anything for our calendar? Email westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Mode Music and Performing Arts in South Delridge has opened registration for winter classes – here’s the announcement:
Mode Music and Performing Arts is a nonprofit organization located in West Seattle that offers educational programs to all children. MMPA provides music, theatre, and dance classes to students of all backgrounds throughout the year. Winter Classes begin January 24th and are available for students to sign up now! These classes all help students to harness their creativity, expand their horizons, and learn something new about music and performing arts. As a COVID-19 safety measure, MMPA will only be accepting students who are fully vaccinated for enrollment at this time.
For more information or to sign up for a class please visit modemusicandperformingarts.org/classes and for interest in private music lessons, please visit modemusicstudios.com.
MMPA Drama Club (one day/time for grades K-3, one day/time for grades 4-6)
This new offering from MMPA is for students who are interested in learning more about the magic of theatre. Together, we will discover what goes on behind the scenes of a stage production, hone our skills as performers, and collaborate on an end-of-season showcase to share what we’ve learned with friends and family! Students will have the opportunity to break down scenes and songs from beloved plays and musicals and work together to write their own original pieces to perform.Dungeons & Dragons Weekly Campaign (Ages 9-12)
Take a trip into the Forgotten Realms with this class, an introductory exploration of the world’s greatest roleplaying game: Dungeons & Dragons. Students will exercise their imaginations by creating Player Characters, developing their backstories, and navigating through a world of high fantasy and adventure to complete their mission. D&D teaches students valuable social and creative skills like teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, and the artistry of character building. Let the adventure begin!Broadway Dance Party! (K-5)
Get ready to bust a move at the Broadway Dance Party! In this high-energy dance class, students will learn musical theatre dance routines set to music from hit Broadway shows like Newsies, Matilda, Frozen, and more! The class will learn proper warm-up techniques, important foundations for jazz, ballet, and theatre dance, and best practices for keeping your body healthy and strong while dancing — and we’ll have a great time while doing it! Students will prepare a number of routines to be performed for a limited audience of family and friends on the final day of camp.
MMPA is the nonprofit sibling of Mode Music Studios (WSB sponsor), both headquartered at the north end of Delridge Way SW. As noted on Thursday, both also have a dropoff donation drive happening right now for warm clothing, nonperishable food, and toiletries.
Chris Baumgarten is a new guest artist at Fogue Gallery on the north edge of The Junction (4130 California SW; WSB sponsor), one of your potential stops on tonight’s West Seattle Art Walk. The artist is debuting a collection titled “Numbers” at Fogue, where you’ll find a variety of work. Stop by before 8 pm to meet her and browse everything on display. This month’s venue list/map is in the preview we published earlier this afternoon. Many venues – like Fogue, of course – show art all month, so the monthly Art Walk post is also a guide to where you can enjoy art in the days and weeks ahead, too.
The weather has lifted just in time for the monthly West Seattle Art Walk. Here’s the map/venue list for tonight:
Art Walk participants include both venues with art and restaurants/bars with specials for Art Walk night. Times vary from site to site. Though The Junction remains a major hub, venues dot the peninsula, as previewed on the official WSAW website. On the north end, West Seattle Grounds (2141 California SW) will have painter Nida Ansari on hand tonight, 4-8 pm. Toward the south end, Viscon Cellars (5910 California SW; WSB sponsor) is hosting Priyanka Parmanand 5-9 pm. The artist explains, “I paint florals because they reinvigorate ‘Hope’, the fundamental belief for human existence. It is an expression of all that is different while unifying this diversity through a common denominator of human feelings. Plus, they are comforting, healing and bring smiles.” And on the north end of The Junction, you can visit Fogue Gallery (4130 California SW; WSB sponsor) 4-8 pm tonight to see a variety of artists’ work – new additions are featured here.
P.S. Before you head out to one or more of tonight’s Art Walk venues, check this version of the map/list for any word on late changes/cancellations.
That artwork, “The Matriarchs” by West Seattle High School Class of 2021 graduate Hannah Shelfer. is now on display at the U.S. Capitol! Our area’s U.S. House Rep. Pramila Jayapal (also a West Seattleite) circulated the image this weekend, noting that the artist was this district’s winner in last year’s Congressional Art Competition. WSB reader Kathleen pointed this out and wondered if we could find out more about Hannah. We contacted her family, which tells us the artist is now a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., majoring in food science. Her award-winning painting, according to her family, “was inspired by the 2020 movie ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’. This digital piece was constructed using multiple layers of color and methods that approximate conventional painting and drawing tools. Hannah’s artwork earned her the Fine Arts Department Scholar Award in the WSHS 2021 graduating class.” Also while at WSHS, she was a swim-team athlete and, her family adds, also competed regionally and nationally as a team member of Pacific Waves Synchronized Swim Club.
Earlier this week, we reported on a burglary at Pathfinder K-8 on Pigeon Point – someone broke into the school music room during winter break. Today, Pathfinder parent Lisa Stencel emailed us to say they’re looking for instrument donations so the students can keep making music: “Most of the instruments were taken, so we are hoping that our West Seattle community can help us out. If anyone has any instruments that are not being used, we would gladly take them.” We asked if any specific types were most needed; her reply, “It was mostly wind and horn instruments, but we’ll take anything.” Donations can be picked up if necessary. If you have an instrument to offer – and/or questions – email Lisa at lisastencel (at) gmail.com.
Young singer in the household? Endolyne Children’s Choir welcomes new participants for its winter session, which starts today! Here’s the announcement:
Endolyne Children’s Choir is excited to welcome all three of our choir levels back to in-person rehearsals this Winter Session. This is the first time that our youngest singers in our Debut Choir have been in person for two years and we are excited to welcome new singers to our non-audition choir. Registration for all levels, kindergarten to 12th grade, is open now. Visit form.jotform.com/213500279812148 to register!
Winter session dates: January 4 – March 8, with a concert on March 13.
Rehearsal location: Parish Hall at St. John the Baptist church: 3050 California Ave SW.
Rehearsal times:
Debut: 4:30-5:30 (for all singers in grades K-2)
Encore: 5:45-6:45 (for all singers in grades 3-5, and new ECC choristers in grade 6)
Advanced Ensemble: 7:00 – 8:30 (returning ECC choristers in grade 6, and all singers in grades 7-12)
Tuition: We offer 5 tiers of tuition pricing, from full tuition to full scholarship. You will select your tuition option when registering.
Covid Info: We will continue to follow our successful Covid Safety Plan.
Our staff and volunteers are fully vaccinated.
Our rehearsal space is large and well-ventilated.
All singers must provide proof of Covid vaccination, with the date of their second shot on or before 1/4/2022.
Singers will maintain a minimum 6 feet of distance when singing.
Singers must wear medical-grade 3-layer masks at all times (we always have masks available at rehearsal.)
Singers will have their temperatures checked upon arrival each week.Winter session begins Tuesday, January 4th. Please visit endolynechoir.org for more information.
You can see part of the choir in concert in this video.
For your Christmas Eve viewing/listening – a video that Bells of the Sound invited us to share with you. The group rehearses at Tibbetts United Methodist Church in West Seattle, and performed on the peninsula many times pre-pandemic. Here’s their message:
Merry Christmas from Bells of the Sound. We took advantage of a concert-less pandemic season to make this feature video to share. This jazzy, off-kilter arrangement of “We Three Kings” has been a longtime favorite of ours. We hope you enjoy the grooving bass, right rhythm section, and sauntering melody!
Cameras: Sean MacLean & Nikhil Sarma | Editing: Nikhil Sarma | Audio: Matt Ogaz
Three King Swing – composed by John Henry Hopkins and arranged for handbells by Sondra Tucker. Streaming rights provided by the copyright holder, Laurendale Associates.
Bells of the Sound is proud to receive support from the 4Culture / King County Lodging Tax Fund.
(Photo courtesy West Seattle Community Orchestras)
For the first time since pre-pandemic, you can see the West Seattle Community Orchestras perform onstage again. Just one big change – their usual performance venue, Chief Sealth International High School, isn’t available because of district COVID policies, and no place else in West Seattle has a big-enough stage, so they’re performing in Burien. WSCO hopes you’ll make the trip! Here’s the announcement:
Tuesday, Dec. 7, at 7:00 pm three WSCO orchestras will be on stage in their first performance since December of 2019!
Music will include contemporary pieces as well as classical selections by Bach, Tschaikovsky, and Copland, along with holiday favorites.
PLEASE NOTE THE NEW VENUE! We will be at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien, 401 South 152nd Street.
Admission is FREE!
Doors open to the public at 6:30 PM
Concert begins at 7:00 PM
“Intermissions” will occur during stage resets (approx. 7:25 & 8:00)Reminder: Concertgoers must provide proof of vaccination OR a negative COVID test result from the past 24 hours.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Seven months after its longtime manager’s untimely death, Kenyon Hall is coming back to life.
Lou Magor‘s sudden passing in April came one year into a time that already was uncertain and unnerving for everyone involved in the arts. And then, while mourning its charismatic frontman, Kenyon Hall’s fans found themselves wondering about the future of the historic venue.
But now, Kenyon Hall is hosting shows again – from recorded, streamed performances like last weekend’s concert by Casey MacGill, to Twelfth Night Productions‘ upcoming in-person holiday play, opening soon. The board of its parent nonprofit Seattle Artists has “stepped in to actively do work that needs to be done,” explained longtime board member Connie Corrick, in a conversation with us at the hall (7904 35th SW).
Help the first weekend of holiday-shopping season finish strong for local independent businesses! Fogue Gallery (4130 California SW; WSB sponsor) is one place you can do that. This afternoon, their three-day art sale is wrapping up. As Fogue proprietor Patti Curtis puts it, “Looking for a unique and thoughtful gift? Consider handmade, local gifts made with love from small- businesses. Bring joy to an artist and the lucky recipient.”
The sale has moved inside the gallery because of the soggy, breezy weather, but the festive atmosphere and wide selection carry on.
Fogue’s open until 5 pm today.
At the Duwamish Longhouse Native Art Market and Holiday Gift Fair, you can find ornaments to decorate your tree, and/or gifts to put under it.
The work above is by Seciwa’s Southwest Native Jewelry and Crafts, one of this year’s vendors, spotlighting “the people and crafts from the Pueblo of Zuni,” described in a flyer as “the largest of the 20 ‘Pueblo’ tribes in New Mexico and Arizona.” The gift fair is a place to learn as well as to browse and buy.
It was also a popular shopping stop while we were there in late morning, with a line to get in since capacity was capped. But you have plenty of time – until 5 pm today, and again 10 am-5 pm tomorrow and Sunday.
Parking is across the street in the Seattle Public Utilities lot – and there are crossing guards to stop West Marginal Way traffic so you can safely get across. (The temporary signal and crosswalk are not ready yet – more on that in a separate story later.) P.S. You can also visit the exhibits in the Longhouse Cultural Center while you’re there, and the gift shop is open,
(WSB photos. Above, Rheanna Atendido at a rehearsal for ‘We’ve Battled Monsters Before’)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Tonight, a public preview performance debuted “We’ve Battled Monsters Before” at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) in The Junction.
Even before the lights went up, ArtsWest managing director Laura Lee was already imagining how emotional a moment that would be.
It’s been a long 20 months, even more uncertain and unnerving for the arts than for some other disciplines and businesses. ArtsWest was about to open “St. Joan” in March 2020 – had just presented the preview, in fact – when pandemic-safety orders shut down many businesses and venues, including theirs.
“St. Joan” never opened, and ArtsWest stayed closed. They thought, Lee recalled, that the shutdown might last “a few months, and then we’ll get going again.”
West Seattle’s best-known musician/visual artist couple is leaving the peninsula for Vashon Island. Tomorrow is the last day in West Seattle for Chris Ballew (aka Caspar Babypants) and Kate Endle, and they’re inviting you to join the sendoff via their art and garage sale. Here’s the announcement they sent tonight:
Super Duper Art and Garage Sale
featuring Kate Endle and Caspar BabypantsNovember 21, Sunday 11 am-4 pm
5414 SW Beach Dr Terrace
Come celebrate our last day in our West Seattle house with a garage and art sale! Items for sale include full-price art, deeply discounted art, Caspar CDs and merchandise (including the latest and last Caspar release, “Easy Breezy”!), books, home decor, art supplies, TONS of clothing and more.
Endle says you’ll still see them around town – “Our hearts will always be in West Seattle.”
(SDOT photo)
Noticed the new art installations in South Delridge? It’s part of the RapidRide H Line project. It’s been almost four years since the announcement that artists had been chosen – and now the results are in place. From SDOT:
This month, the Office of Arts and Culture and the Wowhaus artist team worked with our crews to install some new public art at the intersections of Delridge Way SW at SW Henderson St and 18th Ave SW.
The artwork titled “Know How” was created by Wowhaus artist team Ene Osteraas-Constable and Scott Constable. The area will be restored with groundcover later this year.
In the development of the artwork, the artist team attended several community meetings, held impromptu focus-group meetings while riding the 120 Metro Bus, hosted a site walkthrough with elementary students from Roxbury Elementary School, and delved deep into the history of the area through resources at the Seattle Public Library and Museum of History and Industry. From this engagement work, the idea for the artwork Know How was developed.
This project is funded through SDOT’s 1% for Art funding.
ADDED: Here’s a city post with more backstory on the new art.
Live theater is coming back – including schools. Tonight and tomorrow, the Seattle Lutheran High School Drama program invites you to come see their new production:
Seattle Lutheran Drama is proud to present Crazytown by Jonathan Rand.
In the weirdest town in America, let Jim and Babs of Crazytown Action News break down all the top stories of the day. In politics, the race for president at Crazytown Elementary is really heating up! In public safety, citizens are being brought in for questioning by police for being too kind and considerate! A fierce competition is underway by two professional sports-watchers! All that, along with weather and traffic, tonight on Crazytown Action News.
Crazytown will be performed in person in the Menashe Gymnasium at Seattle Lutheran High School. Audience members will be seated in distanced household groups. Masks are required for audience members. We hope to see you there! Crazytown is appropriate for grades 5 and up.
Friday and Saturday (November 12th and 13th) at 7:30 pm
Tickets at the door (Cash or credit card payment accepted):
$7 for adults
$5 for seniors and non-SLHS students
Free for SLHS students (bring ID) and children 6 and underProduced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc.
The gym is at 4100 SW Genesee, just north of The Junction.
(Photo courtesy Brent Amaker)
More local music news: Last time West Seattle musician Brent Amaker and his band The Rodeo played on the peninsula was their headline gig in 2017 for Summer Fest in The Junction. Tomorrow (Wednesday) night, they’re playing a “surprise” hometown show, before heading out on a West Coast tour opening for Grammy winners The Mavericks. Amaker’s announcement notes, “All of the 1,200-seat-theater shows are sold out. The first of the dates will happen this coming Sunday at the legendary Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco.” But first, a kickoff at Yen Wor Village in Admiral (2300 California SW): “The event is free (with a suggested donation) and open to the public. Karaoke will be hosted by Loretta from 7-10 PM followed by a performance by Brent Amaker and The Rodeo.” Note that the event “is 21 + and proof of vaccination will be required.” Here’s their latest video;
If you miss tomorrow night’s Yen Wor show, you can catch their Holiday Show at Neumos on Capitol Hill December 17th, along with local faves The Dusty 45s.
Meet THEM – what you see above is the band’s video debut. Member Ellie emailed us to say, “We are a West Seattle teen girl band (ages 16-19) that formed at Mode Music Studios called THEM! We just released our first music video to our debut single ‘BAD 4 U’.” She and bandmates Hudson, Maia, and Thompson asked us to share it with you. You can also stream the song via a variety of channels that are all linked here. You can also see THEM onstage at a big gig downtown next month – they’re playing the Paramount on December 12th as part of the 30th anniversary screening of “Nirvana: Live at the Paramount” – tickets are on sale online. Find out more about THEM on their website.
(WSB file photo)
The Duwqmish Tribe Longhouse and Cultural Center (4705 W. Marginal Way) is usually open Tuesdays-Saturdays, but not this week. The longhouse is closed “to get ready for the Native Art Market and Holiday Gift Fair,” which as usual is set for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after Thanksgiving (November 26-28). The Longhouse plans to reopen at 10 am Tuesday, November 16th. If you’re doing early shopping, the announcement includes a reminder that you can shop with them online any time – art, apparel, books, toys, more – by going here.
Love wildlife? Go see what Jen Vanderhoof has, at the Fauntleroy Fine Art and Holiday Gift Show, now in its first of three sessions this weekend. Her underwater seal photos are especially enchanting. Across from her booth, you’ll see Rance Curtis Holiman:
The vivid sunset painting was reminiscent of so many sunset drives westward on West Seattle’s water-facing hills. More local scenes are part of Tom Costantini‘s work:
Classic cars, too! Steps away, you’ll see Linda Zhao and her creations, including these cuddly bees:
They’re just a few of the more than one dozen artists from whom you can buy local to get your holiday shopping going – we also saw jewelry, cards, plants, textiles, garden art, more. Get in the holiday spirit with some music and decorations, in the Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW) Fellowship Hall until 8 tonight, 10 am-4 pm Saturday, 11 am-2 pm Sunday. No admission fee.
(Art by Linda McClamrock)
Your next chance to do early holiday shopping by buying directly from local artists and crafters is only a few days away. The three-day Fauntleroy Fine Art and Holiday Gift Show starts Friday. Here’s what you need to know.
These 15 artists and artistic crafters will be showing, discussing, and selling their specialties at the annual Fauntleroy Fine Art & Holiday Gift Show when it returns to Fauntleroy Church (9140 California Ave. SW) this coming weekend (Nov. 5-7). Show hours in Fellowship Hall will be Friday 5-8 pm, Saturday 10 am-4 pm, and Sunday 11 am-2 pm. ADA access from off-street parking; masks required.
Leslee Avery-Beausoleil – hand-crafted soaps
Tom Costantini – fine watercolors, prints & cards
Apple Cox – whimsical media cards & prints
Gretchen Curtis – hand-knit wearable art
Rose Grandbois – glass ornaments, sun-catchers & garden art
Rance Holiman – everyday sightings in oil
Tim James – miniature landscapes in terraria
Espie Lazo – wrapped & hammered beaded jewelry
Johanna Lindsay – twisted, fused & hammered beaded jewelry
Kathryn Lorenzini – fine greeting cards, packaging & fabric art
Linda McClamrock – fine collage art
Dee Miller – welded & fused glass art for the garden
Linda Thorson – molded concrete designs for home & garden
Jen Vanderhoof – fine photographic images of water worlds
Linda Zhao – hand-crafted critters, polished stones & crystal balls
The rain has stopped, good news for watching Skeleton Theatre in person during its second and final 2021 night. The animatronic-skeleton show in an east Admiral front yard (36th/Hanford) is just six minutes long this year, and it’s goofy, not scary. If you don’t want to go watch in person, you can watch it online instead.
The show’s been a labor of love for 15 years now, created and staged by a team of family and friends led by Chris;
The show’s running continuously – with a few minutes between runs, for a reset – until 9 pm.
(WSB photo, July)
That’s how the mural on the north-facing wall of the business building at 35th/Henderson looked when we reported on it in July. Here’s how it looks now:
Part of it has been painted over, while part of it has been altered. This all has its roots in a dispute between neighbors – the Birdhouse coffee shop, which commissioned the mural, and CoCo and Co. salon, which has added to, and painted over, part of it. We’ve talked with both in the last several hours, after Birdhouse contacted us today about the situation, followed by tips/questions from multiple readers.
If you’re not familiar with the building, note that the Henderson-facing wall with the mural is alongside the salon, which faces 35th, while Birdhouse faces Henderson, west of the section of the building that holds the mural. Here’s a wider perspective, from Google Maps Street View:
Both businesses are tenants. Both said the coffee shop had talked with the salon and with the building’s owner before the mural project – which the Birdhouse called its “love letter to the neighborhood” – and no objections were raised by the salon until after it was painted in July. The dispute has simmered over the ensuing three months. The salon says the mural’s prominent feature of birds, among other things, gave the impression that the coffee shop was the sole tenant. In an email to the Birdhouse and the building owner three weeks ago, the salon wrote that “we continue to have customers believe we have moved, closed or downsized, which is unacceptable to us.” So the salon offered, in that email, what they called a compromise, saying the mural could stay if some elements were removed, including “the two (2) black colored birds, the coffee cup, the color red (sun/moon?) and the name ‘fre-mann’ from van license plate.” (That’s the Birdhouse owners’ company name.)
The coffee shop did not respond; they told us the building owners advised them not to. The salon provided an email from the building owners, dated mid-August, suggesting the two parties should work it out – “we cannot decide for either of you.” The salon set a deadline of last Thursday for a response, saying otherwise it would repaint the wall. Still no response, so the salon made some changes to the mural earlier this week: “Our intention in updating the mural was to add inclusivity and remove specific branding. (We added) BLM. RGB. Rainbow feathers so the bird was no longer the Birdhouse logo. Trans symbols. First responders.”
After that, the salon says, they were threatened, and their security cameras were broken. A police report was filed. They blame the coffee shop, which told us they take responsibility for the cameras. As a result of that, the salon then decided “the mural was not worth dealing with” and started painting over part of it today. The Birdhouse filed a police report about that.
So what now? The salon says, “We will work on a solution to the current situation.” As of a phone conversation this evening, the coffee shop had no next steps planned.
–Tracy Record, WSB editor
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