Life In The Pacific Northwest
I love how Edmonds has engaged the local arts community over the years. This betters the quality of life for the area, which brings people into the City. We have a unique blend of artisan businesses in the urban core. And, actually, throughout the city.
So, congrats to all the businesses, government staff, and artists that help make all this possible.
Please join the Snohomish County Youth Chorus for a celebration of our favorite holiday music this Saturday, December 15 at 7 p.m. in Mukilteo at Pointe of Grace Lutheran Church!
Learn more about the chorus:
👍 Like their Facebook page for updates on future events!
🎵 Check out their website at www.snocoyouthchorus.org!
The good folks over at the Pacific Chamber Orchestra pinged me on Twitter a few days ago, asking me to add them to my Music and the Arts Page.
@NotJustSeattle Good morning, please add our website to your "Music and the Arts" Blog https://t.co/TQGIRz9VPK @PacificaCOrch is in 9th season of chamber music in #Everett outreach concerts in schools too Thanks! pic.twitter.com/s0BhGgRB8Y
— Pacifica Chamber Orchestra (@PacificaCOrch) November 6, 2018
I always delight in finding new artists, so am more than glad to add them. Head over and say “hi”, and lend them your ears during their holiday concert season.
I’ve been involved with this choir for about two years now. My son sings with them and I’ve known the director for years. I think very highly of them and couldn’t recommend them more.
Presented by Snohomish County Youth Chorus
WHEN: Monday 7/30 – Friday 8/3 9am – 12pm
WHERE: Trinity Lutheran Church, 6215 196th St SW, Lynnwood, WA 98036
WHO: Students entering Grades 3-12
WHAT: A fast-paced week of music and fun for kids who love to sing.
No experience necessary!
Group and solo singing, hand percussion, chimes/handbells, and miniperformances/ AMA sessions with local professional musicians! Daily snack. Friday showcase for friends and family.
It was a fun day down in Edmonds by the Bay. Stunningly beautiful with plenty of sunshine: a perfect day to be outside, with the Saturday Farmer’s Market, the Edmonds Arts Festival and extreme low-tide.
I’ve been dealing, lately, with some foot pain, and my back’s been bugging me, which drug my attitude down some. But it’s hard to be too grumpy when it’s a beautiful, sunny day spent with family and friends.
Highlights:
It was lovely, and I am tired. I took plenty of photos, which I’ll upload tomorrow. Here is my favorite.
I was sitting by this bush with flowers the bees adored. After taking around a dozen photos with my Olympus, but the autofocus hated this. The breeze was bouncing the flowers and the bees were, well, being bees. I gave up on the good camera, pulled out my Samsung S7 and was able to grab this one. I did need to zoom in and crop a bit. A lot of work for this one.
I’ve been exploring what I want to focus on this year. I’m strongly drawn, to bettering my skills in photography.
Now, my father has always been an avid photographer, so it’s always been part of my awareness. Going further, I fell in love with photography back in elementary school. In Junior High, I started taking classes, and became one of the nerds walking the halls with a camera shooting candids for the yearbook. And I carried on with that all the way through highschool. It was one of my career ambitions as I pondered post-highschool life.
As life progressed, though, I slipped away. I did take my camera with me on a few trips. Looking back, without any plans to publish my work, the effort seemed empty. I went from my binders of photos and the occasional album, to boxes of prints, then complete neglect: rarely shooting anything. I devalued my work. Slowly, through moves and such, my collection simply vanished. Fortunately, I still have all my old gear.
Looking back deeper: I hate that I ever entertained those thoughts, the hateful ramblings of self-doubt and internal cruelty . Now, I wish I had albums with the places I visited. Note to myself: I always regret when I give in to my self-destructive mindset. Don’t do it!
Over the past few years, my family encouraged me to re-engage. It’s been deeply enriching, though I see plenty of room for growth.
So, here I find myself: 2018 and wanting to reboot this part of my life. I’m not too sure of everything I want to try to do regarding photography yet. Clearly, though, the main thing is to take more photos. And I want to upgrade my digital gear. My main camera is an Olympus E-PL1. Non-DSLR, no viewfinder, shooting through an LCD. It’s a nice little camera, but I want to move more into a prosumer DSLR. Thinking Canon so that my son and I can share gear. I’m going to explore some classes, whether college ones or local workshops, well, I don’t know. I think the discipline of a recurring class would be good for keeping my momentum. Perhaps joining up, or starting, a photography group. Definitely will look into hitting up some local photography events.
If you have suggestions, please leave a comment. I really would value direction.
It’s a world and community I miss. And it’s a great way to get out and explore the community.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve created over the past year from my Flickr account.
Seattle’s Paula Boggs Band has released a new album: Elixir: The Soulgrass Session. The good folks over at Northwest Music Scene have a review of the album. Once you’ve given it a read, give the album a listen. Below is Spotify’s link.
For many folks Labor Day weekend with temps in the mid to upper 80s is glorious. Week, not for me. This Seattleite find such temperatures abhorrent.
Now, I like the sun. Though the brown grass saddens me. Seattle is the Emerald City, not the Kinda Brown City. Our famous misty rains are what keep our fair city laden with green.
So, it’ll be a great weekend to either be outdoors, or right next to an AC. A decent weekend for our great music festival: Bumbershoot. For the uninitiated, the Seattle Center is taken over by musicians, comedians, and other artistic types. Along with hordes of humanity, in all its array of states and conditions. It’s quite the spectacle.
If you aren’t familiar with Bumbershoot, it’s not a weird fringe thing (Seatttle had those, too, much to my delight) . This one is well regarded and brings in top-billed talent. Check out this year’s line up. For me, more importantly, you’ll also find many up-and-coming acts, so you’ll have great opportunities to find your next favorite artist.
A very different vibe than Folklife. Not bad, but Folklife is much mite “hippie” where Bumbershoot is a polished, commercial event.
With any major event at the Seattle Center, expect traffic to horrible. When I lived in the Downtown Core, I’d bike down there. I delighted in riding all around the city, and working my way through crowds and heavy traffic was even better. If you’re not interested in cycling, here’s a pro-tip: drive to an outlying park and ride, bus down to Westlake Center, then grab the Monorail to the Seattle Center. During major events like this, they’ll be running until 11:30. Do plan ahead and make sure your bus/park-and-ride convo soul work for the time you’ll want to leave. Getting stranded in the City sucks worse than traffic or inflated parking prices.
Enjoy Bembershoot if you’re going. It’s ironic that the best use of the event’s namesake will be to keep the sun off. Me? I’m gong to try to do some biking (nowhere near downtown). Probably just up here in Lynnwood and Edmonds. And otherwise just relax. Write and read, and look forward to autumn finally arriving. I guess I could get my wearer’s out and give them a good washing. Their time is coming.
So, my family watched quite a bit of YouTube. Everything from Rick Steves to vloggers to geek stuff. I’ve learned so much more about the extended Star Wars universe than I ever thought possible. I consider myself a great master of Jedi lore and wisdom, until YouTubers instilled great humility in me.
Seemed a good idea to pony up for YouTube Red: I hate commercials. HATE! Clearly I failed to read my terms clearly enough as, just today I discovered that I had full access to Google music. So my Spotify account was a bit redundant.
I spent today exploring it. Quite happy so far. I like the interface, and that it’s not a resource hog like Spotify. Plus I seem to have better access to artists like Peter Gabriel. Oh, they have podcasts in there (yeah, Spotify does, too) and my favorite podcast, Radio Free Burrito is in there, too. No sign of Design Matters with Debbie Millman, but I guess we can’t have everything. Hopefully we’ll get them in Google, too.
I’m leaning heavily towards dropping Spotify and getting a family plan for YouTube Red. I’ve not sure what my metrics are for making the shift. Music selection is a big one, and resource use. I’d like to see how they compare regarding artist compensation, too.
Now here’s my weird Seattle connection. Years ago, one of the first streaming services was Real Networks, headquartered in downtown Seattle. I explored them for awhile before launching into iTunes and streaming radio. And evolution has evolved us, so, here we are.
What are you using? I’d love to hear. Also, if you could give a “like”, share, it helps support the site. And follow us! We’d love to stay in touch.
This evening was Steel Magic Northwest’s “Here Comes Summer” concert, held at Edmonds Seventh Day Adventist church. I’ve written about them before, after I saw their holiday concert. This steel drum ensemble is just amazing! Tonight’s concert was simply brilliant. An amazing amount of sound comes through these guys, and clear, crisp, wonderful sound! As a musician, I’m delighted after each performance. Gary Gibson, the director, excels at leading this group.
Steel Magic performs a wide array of styles, and very challenging repertoire with complex music. Check out their schedule and make it a point to lend them your lobes, my chums! You won’t be disappointed!
With that, they have some ambitious summer plans. In order to pull that off, and provide opportunities to both play, and to be heard, they need our help.
Check out their Kickstarter campaign. With a rather humble goal of $3,000, they can reach an amazing number of children, youth and adults. I can rattle off the details, but I’d rather let them do it (see the video below). And, of course, please help them out any way you can. If you can’t donate yourself, please share the campaign with your friends.