Evan grew up in the area and has a burgeoning career as a musician. I really enjoy his music, and would even if he wasn’t a local guy.
To learn more about Evan, head over to his SoundCloud page, or his website.
Tag: Music
Music From A More Innocent Time
…well, at least for me.
Back from the days of naivete…well, mine at least. When my life was simpler, the world seemed kinder and the school-yard bully the most cruel creature on earth.
Motivational Thought by Eric Whitacre
I’ve loved Mr. Whitacre for years, ever since discovering his Virtual Choir projects (if you haven’t experienced them, go do so right now…I’ll wait).
I appreciate this post. Music runs deep within me. I find inspiration, focus and energy within the dancing notes. The reminder of its power: important.
What does music mean to you? I’ve talked with folks who feel “music…meh…” That’s something I can’t comprehend. Just so alien to me.
Has music saved you? Brought you focus and drive? Are there any songs that you turn to? I’d love to hear your stories.
A Review of Seattle’s Own Paula Boggs Band
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.
Compline at St. Marks Cathedral
Every Sunday night at 9:30, Seattle’s St. Marks Cathedral hosts compline. For those not versed in Anglican church history, compline is sung evening prayer, harkening back to monastic traditions. They’ve been performing this weekly for decades.
It was compline that attracted me to the Episcopal church. After attending the service for several months, a friend of mine and I tried regular worship. And I became a member there, staying for several years. Met several of my dearest friends there, and it’s s key piece of my faith journey.
Many years ago, KING FM started broadcasting the service live. At one point, they shifted to playing a recording of the week prior. I’m listening to that right now.
I’m flooded with memories. Of this massively diverse array of humanity and it’s conditions. There are millionaires sitting eith street people. All are welcome, and all hold the moment holy
Someday soon I hope to introduce my son. Such a deep, powerful and rich part of my life, and Seattle’s. I want it to be part of his experience, too.
It’s Labor Day Weekend: Time For Bumbershoot And Prepping For AutumnÂ
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.
Google, Music, Spotify and Being Behind Knowledge-Wise
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.
A new band to me: Fell From A Star
My friend Anna, over at Anna’s Transformation mentioned a band, Fell From A Star in her recent post. I listened to their song Made of Diamonds, which I think is pretty good. Love the vocals along with the harmonic blend. If you have Spotify, you can stream their album Made of Diamonds, which I’m doing now. They’re also on Google Music, if that’s your jam. I expect they’re on Apple music as well, but I’ll let you search them there. :)
Give them a listen today. If you like them, they’ll be playing tomorrow out in Woodinville. The price is quite fair.
Anyway, definitely check them out.
Summer Is Coming for Edmonds Own Steel Magic Northwest
This evening was Steel Magic Northwest’s “Here Comes Summer” concert, held at Edmonds Seventh Day Adventist church. Â 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.
Memorial Day, 2017
An amazing weekend. First, perfect weather. Which seems to turn off tomorrow. Giving a more divine feeling to the holiday weekend. Also, though we had plenty of activity, we were able to get quite a bit done around the house.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with concert preparation and performance in my church, Trinity Lutheran Church by the Snohomish County Youth Chorus. Not only was my son singing, but I ran a PowerPoint and helped with sound.
We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Edmonds Farmers Market, and a couple of walks in. Met my Fit bit step goals every day.
Today was mostly home centric. Finished cleaning out the garage, more cleaning around the house, that sort of thing. Then we wandered down around Edmonds beaches, enjoying the low tide. It never ceases to delight me how opened up the beach becomes. We can walk around the jetty, and under the ferry dock.
Watching these clams (I presume) feeding through their siphons delighted me.
Journeying up the hill to Revelations Froyo is a must on warm-to-hot days in Edmonds. Other days, too, but it’s especially welcome in the heat.
Then we ended with the first salmon of the year. Just splendid!
I hope your Memorial Day was reflective and refreshing. Of course, tomorrow we’re back into it.