The last time we checked in with Rancho Bravo owner Freddy Rivas way back in April, we were trying to track down whether the dream of cheap, good Mexican tacos in Pike/Pine was too good to last. We learned Bravo has plans to stick around awhile. Now it looks like the taco joint is making a few more investments in its space at the corner of Pine and 10th. From Rivas:
Yes, I'm working on doing a patio out front. I'm still in the early stages, although I'm hoping to have the project done pretty quickly. I haven't decided on a final design yet, but should be doing that very soon here.
Meanwhile, we've heard Rancho Bravo also has plans to start offering beer but haven't confirmed with Rivas yet and couldn't yet find record of an application.
Lots of art and a decent turn out at last night's art walk. Here are some photos from the evening.
Brad Biancardi's work at the Grey Gallery & Lounge. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
The Bluebird ice cream shop was a popular stop along the walk. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
Art walkers gather outside of Throwbacks NW. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
B-Bam's new door greeter. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
Seattle is a city that loves its naked cyclists: Fremont Solstice Festival, Critical Ass...World Naked Bike Ride? We're there:
It's On! Drop your drawers – Bike Summer is here! Come join the 6th Annual WNBR Seattleride on 11 July 2009! Last year's ride was a huge success, not only in Seattle, but around the world!
Seattle also loves its causes, which makes WNBR twice as popular. The Ride isn't just about exhibitionism - it was created to be a body-positive, car-free, socially-just environmental protest statement. Which packs a little more punch than your usual protest because it's being led by a crowd of nudists on bikes.
Capitol Hill is getting a piece of the action this year with a ride that starts in Louisa Boren Park, just north of Volunteer Park. Saturday brunch on the Hill is going to be just a little bit more exciting this weekend.
- * Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this - give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people's email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special - make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters... whatever.
Don't have a TopSpin as a partner? Use Amazon for your transactions and fulfillment. [www.amazon.com]
Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere. [www.tunecore.com]
Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget your recording appropriately.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact - it sucks as the musician BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So... have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).
The Beastie Boys' site offers everything you could possibly want in the formats you would want it in - available right from them, right now. The prices they are charging are more than you should be charging - they are established and you are not. Think this through.
The database you are amassing should not be abused, but used to inform people that are interested in what you do when you have something going on - like a few shows, or a tour, or a new record, or a webcast, etc.
Have your MySpace page, but get a site outside MySpace - it's dying and reads as cheap / generic. Remove all Flash from your website. Remove all stupid intros and load-times. MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO FIND AND HEAR MUSIC (but don't autoplay). Constantly update your site with content - pictures, blogs, whatever. Give people a reason to return to your site all the time. Put up a bulletin board and start a community. Engage your fans (with caution!) Make cheap videos. Film yourself talking. Play shows. Make interesting things. Get a Twitter account. Be interesting. Be real. Submit your music to blogs that may be interested. NEVER CHASE TRENDS. Utilize the multitude of tools available to you for very little cost of any - Flickr / YouTube / Vimeo / SoundCloud / Twitter etc.
If you don't know anything about new media or how people communicate these days, none of this will work. The role of an independent musician these days requires a mastery of first hand use of these tools. If you don't get it - find someone who does to do this for you. If you are waiting around for the phone to ring or that A & R guy to show up at your gig - good luck, you're going to be waiting a while.
Hope this helps, and I'll scour responses for intelligent comments I can respond to.
TR
link.
Sunday at Volunteer Park - photo by Wesa
In 2001, GreenStage, Theater Schmeater and Wooden O Theater created the Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival.
Due to the success of the festival, in addition to the Main Stage (Volunteer Park Ampitheater), there is a new Second Stage, located directly behind the Seattle Asian Art Museum.
Saturday, July 11
- 12:00pm - THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR - Last Leaf Productions
- 2:00pm - RICHARD III- Seattle Shakespeare Company's Wooden O
- 2:30pm - THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - Balagan Theatre
- 5:00pm - THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE - Theater Schmeater
- 7:00pm - THE COMEDY OF ERRORS - GreenStage
Sunday, July 12
- 11:00am - TWELFTH NIGHT - Young Shakespeare Workshop
- 2:00pm - KING JOHN - GreenStage
- 2:00pm - WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF - Open Circle Theater
- 5:00pm -THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE - Theater Schmeater
- 7:00pm - THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - Seattle Shakespeare Company's Wooden O
For more Cap Hill weekend fun, check out the CHS events calendar:
 Saturday July 11 2009  |
|
| 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Seattle Architecture Tours: Pike/Pine
From the SAF listing: "Where bass players once roamed, condos now rule. Experience the revolution as we take a trip through this eclectic neighborhood'... (more)
|
| 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM | World Naked Bike Ride Seattle
Bare what you dare! http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org/countr
|
| 12:00 PM - 06:00 PM | Steampunk swapmeet
On Saturday July 11th at the All Pilgrim’s Church (lower level) we will be holding a Steampunk swapmeet/jumble/garage sale/ flea market thingy. It is... (more)
|
| 04:00 PM - 07:00 PM | Revelry and Wine
After years of working in the wine industry, Jared Burns invented the synthetic wine cork; then he figured he probably should open his own winery. The... (more)
|
Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!
Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? ( England )
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.
Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.
Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.
Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? ( Sweden )
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.
Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada?
Can you send me a list of them in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax? ( England )
A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? ( USA )
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it.
Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary.
Come naked.
Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions
Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ? ( England )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.
Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-t ri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it.
Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races.
Come naked.
Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )
A: No, WE don't stink.
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? ( Italy )
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.
Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Only at Thanksgiving.
Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? ( Germany )
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers.
Milk is illegal.
Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )
A: It's called a Moose.
They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them.
You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.
Please send this on to any Canadian (or others) who you think will enjoy it as much as I did.
07.10.09
There are only a couple boxes of my book Thinking of You left, get one now!
- Music:waiting 4 a way / 2009.07.03
okaypzldiethx: could you please lodge a complaint for me?
Ash: dear dentranets,
Ash: you have failed me and my mouth
Ash: not to mention my brain and loins
Ash: i curse thee
pzldiethx: no no no it goes in your eyes not your mouth
Ash: that's not what i hear
pzldiethx: oh yea but it goes in your brain and loins too ok
Ash: ANYWAY
Ash: i'm pregnant, dear hydranet
pzldiethx: DONT CHEW ON THE INTERNET
Ash: please send your cousin, aquanet, with a check
pzldiethx: i have no clue what you are saying thx
Ash: and a copy of your biographical film starring sandra bullock
pzldiethx: ahahah
Ash: love, ashley
pzldiethx: this was a wonderful letter
- Mood:
blah
Ash: it's gotta be good
caplatter: hahaha
caplatter: i don't like it when they come out brown
Ash: neither do the nazis
- Mood:
depressed
One of my favorite reads so far this summer has been the Atlantic Monthly's 15 Ways to Fix the World. Some of the ideas are audacious. Some are simple. They're all inspiring. The articles have me thinking about ideas -- audacious and simple -- to make life on Capitol Hill better.
Keith Harris is kind of like our own Atlantic Monthly. He is a lot of the energy behind the People's Parking Lot(s) group. And he's got his own list of things he's working on to help "fix" Capitol Hill:
1) Park(ing) Day: I sent the proposal to Murray Franklyn yesterday. We have requests out for help with cheap insurance and grants to pay for it.
2) Madison and Terry: We're hoping to transform the grassy swath along Madison into something, and utilize the Virginia Mason wall mockup for that something. Maybe it's a garden and a shed or maybe it's a bike sharing node? The owner is in NYC and I have yet to receive a response.
3) Empty Retail for Artists: I'm working on a google map that shows spaces for lease, while also speaking with agents at CBRE and Catalyst (hopefully soon; this week?) about getting some activity in their empty spaces. Check out the Google Map (work in progress) in the sidebar.
4) 11th and Pine: Everyone seems to have a soft spot for this poor vacant building. The owners, at least as far as I can tell from public records, are Pryde + Johnson. They develop "green" buildings but don't seem to be having much luck lately: Hjarta Condos are now apartments and Ashworth Cottages are largely empty. Not that this means they will or should allow us to use their space -- I was thinking some temporary gardens on the roof? -- but I figure that a progressive sort of developer might be open to the possibility. We'll see.
At the core of ideas like the Atlantic Monthly's and Keith's efforts is a desire to move beyond unsolvable big issues and a focus on fixes for specific pieces of the problem. What's on your list to fix Capitol Hill?
Every July the Serpentine Gallery -- currently under the direction of the enlightened Hans Ulrich Obrist -- lets an architect erect a temporary pavilion in its Kensington Gardens enclosure. SANAA's, the ninth in the series, is certainly the least bombastic. As the Times' architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff explains in a video on the paper's site, the Japanese team has built a light plane of polished aluminium sloping modestly towards the ground across pillars and bendy plexiglass walls. The inside space, dotted with Nishizawa's white bunny chairs, merges inside and outside. From a distance, the mirrored structure seems to blend with the trees, like a calm sheet of reflective water.
Equally reproachful of bombast is the music of Otomo Yoshihide, the subject of a new documentary called KIKOE. Filmmaker Iwai Chikara (who also runs a club with Yoshihide) filmed the musician over ten years, building up 500 hours of footage of concerts, interviews and sessions, which he's edited down to 99 minutes. Chikara calls it "a document of a system observed from a fixed point" -- the fixed point being Yoshihide himself, and the "system" being collaborators like Sachiko M and Kahimi Karie. The film shows at Shibuya Eurospace later this month before heading out to European film festivals.
Yoshihide is part of the No Input onkyo movement which shares a certain organic minimalism with SANAA's architecture. "I just wanna listen, no playing," as Sachiko M puts it, and I can imagine SANAA saying the same about Kensington Gardens -- their building really seems to want to listen to the park rather than dominate it.
My final example of a Japanese dislike of bombast comes in the form of the documentary Jesus Camp, which we watched last night on the recommendation of Japanese friends. The Christian evangelicals depicted in Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing's 2006 film probably won't surprise anyone -- they're a well-explored, even over-familiar subject, and for the moment they've lost their mainstream political capital -- but what I found interesting here were the cut-aways to a Japanese studio discussion in which a short-skirted woman exclaims to an expert how sorry she is for American kids whose ideologically-motivated home-schooling doesn't allow them to study art or music -- let alone Darwinian evolution -- and whose parents are so out of love with the world that they can't wait to die.
"It's truly scary that 25% of Americans think this way!" these Japanese commentators agree. A religion, or a culture, with a little more love for its surroundings -- and a little less bombast -- suits them better.
top of st helens
Originally uploaded by lisachopsticks
a few hh on st helens. hopefully this will be the last pic i bore you all with.
Poll #1427610 What to do, what to do
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
Should I get a new pair of glasses or switch to contacts?
Contacts--guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses!
7 (28.0%)
Glasses--at least TRY to fake some intelligence! 18 (72.0%)
calm
Trash Bob Originally uploaded by chrisfurniss
Let's give the magical CHS link machine a shake and see what comes out:
- 24-year-old man charged with hate crime for attack on Muslim woman and her baby was apprehended on Capitol Hill.
- Text of the speech given at the 2009 Seattle Dyke March by Lulu Carpenter of Pinay sa Seattle. "So I leave you with this chant…. It is based on the greeting I came with, 'MABUHAY!' which means 'Long Live' or 'Live long and prosper.' It comes from the root word buhay meaning 'life, alive, live, and/or become alive.'"
- Sonic Boom press release confirms what CHS reported two weeks ago. Their Capitol Hill outlet is moving to Capitol Hill.
- Poppy chef Jerry Traunfeld will be doing a cooking demo at this Sunday's Broadway Farmers Market.
- PostGlobe has a mostly lovely essay on Stuart Thayer. CHS reported on Thayer's death -- and life as a renown circus historian -- last month after he was hit by a car at 17th Ave/Republican. Why the PGlobe insists on the whole 'blogs are bad' approach to the story is beyond us. Blogs is good.
- I really, really doubt this. OK. Maybe 5 out of 10.
I changed my doorknob back to the non-locking version (no point if everything is packed and in the living room!) and had a few moments of panic when I, in one of the greater moments of measurable stupidity I've had, closed the door with the knobs off to see if I'd matched up the latch properly, handily locking myself in. Napoleon remained relatively unconcerned. He, of course, was biding his time until he felt justifiably hungry enough to kill and eat me and then defecate on my remains. Luckily, I escaped with only my dignity harmed by the knowledge that, yes, now I was one of THOSE people.
Was I the only person on earth who didn't know that the non-refundable pet damage deposit doesn't actually cover any potential damages caused by the pet? It's just immediately forfeited into the aether. I suppose the name tricked me into believing that it would serve...some purpose? At all? There goes that measurable stupidity again.
I inquired about a move-out checklist, and the apartment manager took that time to inform me that we could either produce a receipt stating that we'd had the carpet professionally cleaned or they'd charge us $60 on move-out to clean the carpets. Lady, I may have demonstrated that I'm not the sharpest tack in the drawer lately, but I do know that you can't charge me for carpet cleaning as I've lived in the same place for 3 years and that's normal wear and tear. You also can't charge me for paint. And I'm going to have those laws all printed out and ready to go on walkthrough day. Also, if you try to charge me for the damage to the linoleum that happened when your dishwasher leaped out of its little cubby and landed on the floor, you are demonstrably crazy and I will not hesitate to kick you straight square in the face.
Page Summary
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capitolhillsea : Rancho Bravo + outdoor patio + beer = neighborhood blog gold [+0] ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
erik : (no subject) [+0] - capitolhillsea : Pictures from the Capitol Hill arts walk [+0]
- teh_dirty_robot : Hungry-Hungry-Hypocrite [+11]
- capitolhillsea : Nakey Cyclists: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You... Saturday [+0]
- erik : (no subject) [+0]
- capitolhillsea : Free theater at Volunteer Park this weekend - Shakespeare outdoors [+0]
- seviana : For my Canadian and ofrmer Canadian friends [+1]
- explodingdogrss : explodingdog drawings for friday [+0]
- girlsgirlsgirls : (no subject) [+0]
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vespa :: dummycash : V-men [+4] - goldfischegirl : Danny's turn [+2]
- goldfischegirl : Christina is cheering me up [+0]
- capitolhillsea : 4 ways to fix Capitol Hill [+0]
- imomus : Contra-bombast [+12]
- oven : top of st helens [+1]
- teh_dirty_robot : Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words! [+30]
- biffah : Life [+1]
- capitolhillsea : Links: Dyke March speech, Poppy chef at farmers market, Stuart Thayer's amazing life [+0]
- teh_dirty_robot : Measurable Stupidity [+9]