Tag Archives: northwest

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Northwest Folklife Festival Starts Friday at Seattle Center

It’s Memorial Day weekend, so that means it’s time for the Northwest Folklife Festival — the 40-something music fest is still free ($10 suggested donation), and expected to draw more 200,000 people to Seattle Center between its opening Friday, May 24, at 11 a.m., and its closing Monday night, May 27th, around 9 or 10 p.m. or whenever the corn liquor runs out. King County Metro will be on weekend and holiday service schedules, but they’re also running special Folklife shuttles. Car-share service car2go is running a drop-off zone 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. each day, on 2nd Ave N. between Roy St. and Mercer St.

(Graphic: KING 5)

The SunBreak is the proud sponsor of Saturday afternoon’s “Hot Pickin’ & Harmonies Bluegrass Showcase,” featuring the talents of Pearly Blue, The Weavils, Pickled Okra, and Badger Pocket. This isn’t an Mumfordian affectation. We like bluegrass! Seth plays the banjo for god’s sake. (Yes, he’s taken, ladies.) So we chose that one. Now excuse us while we go look for the perfect hay straw to stick in our teeth, and a good, arm-cradlin’ jug of ‘shine.

But actually, if you haven’t been to Folklife in a while, or ever, you might be surprised to know the folks aren’t limited to denizens of Appalachian hollows and Celtic fens. There’s Balkan, Middle Eastern, French, Romanian, and Latin music, even a Bollywood dance party. There’s a lot of participatory dancing, and for when you get hungry, a host of food vendors, and beer gardens, plural.

Here, take a look at the BuzzFeed-friendly “28 Great Things to See at Folklife.” And don’t miss this at the Center House Theatre: “Half movie, half handmade folk art, crankies are animated drawings and papercuts on cloth ‘reels,’ hand-cranked for movement, and presented with traditional Gaelic music accompaniment.”

News, Weather

In the Northwest, Spring is Known as “Disappointment”

374433_10151750743339619_1887313485_nFriday was St. David’s Day, the first day of March and the first day of spring. Scientists will claim that spring doesn’t start until March 20th; however, these are the same scientists who call NASA security every single time I wander off-tour to get my astronaut certification.

Spring is here, and if you live in these parts it’s a very depressing time of year.

In theory the days get longer, warmer, more flowery, and everything gets better. But listen to what National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Burke told the Seattle Times last year:

Around here, he said, July and August are “summer,” September and October are “fall,” “winter” lasts from November through February and there’s no such thing as spring. He’s dubbed March through June “disappointment.”

Their government controlled weather data even backs up these claims.

So, as the rest of the country slowly shifts from down to cotton, we still have four months of gray and overcast cool days. Now, you could be one of these people who doesn’t mind this type of thing, if so, good for you, grab something to read and we’ll see you at the Gasworks Family Fourth. As for the rest of us, how are going to make it through?

Some thoughts…

Spend time with Seattle weather defenders. They get very angry when any one complains about fifteen straight cloudy and 59 degree May days. They love everything about the weather here, and if possible would knock the sun out of the sky with a powerful scowl. Listen to their rants, buy into their arguments, and not only you will feel better, you may even try and move underground.

Make friends at the frozen custard stand. Our transplanted Midwesterners love two things, telling people that where they are from the winters are an icy hell and the summers are a sweltering shit-show and having a good time. They will get will get you so blotto on cheese curds and weak Midwestern pilsner, that it will be July by the time you remember your middle name

At the same time, stay away from people who recently moved here from California or anywhere else pleasant. They’ve spent the last few months getting lured in by our water, mountains, and jobs. They are not only drinking the 206 Kool-Aid, it’s spontaneously flowing out of their ears. Right about now is when they kicked between the eyes by the donkey that is a stalled Pacific Northwest low pressure system. The look on their face when they realize they have to change into a heavier jacket for a noon Memorial Day BBQ is a force so sad and so powerful that light cannot escape from its pull.

Go to Eastern Washington. We are all just ninety minutes away from, sun, short sleeves, wine tasting, and plenty of people willing to explain, in great detail, how all federal taxes are technically illegal.

Write a thank-you letter to the Seattle Times. Thanks to their new pay wall you won’t be able to read their annual articles about how cold June has been. 2008, 2010, 2012…. Hold on, every other year…could 2013 mean warm air in our future?!?! Oh, St. David, we ask that’s it’s so.