That time my husband’s sword school gave a demonstration at the Aki Matsuri and he turned into a cartoon character.
ByGD
The Evolution of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Swan Lake
Photo by Angela Sterling c/o PNB
Swan Lake is almost the definition of “canon” for classical ballet. What could be more rigid and tradition-bound than the most famous ballet? It turns out, a lot of things can. Swan Lake has changed a lot from its premiere in 1877, and even today, every performance is a little different. Since it’s also performed every three or four years in Seattle, we can actually watch the evolution of Swan Lake. Read More
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Renaissance Man
The last time I could afford to go to Bumbershoot, I saw Chimurenga Renaissance, a project the Stranger called
a wildly experimental hiphop collaboration
between Zimbabwean-American Tendai “Baba” Maraire with Congolese-American musician Hussein Kalonji. A member of Seattle’s intellectual Black Constellation hip-hop collective, Maraire also performs with Shabazz Palaces with local hero Ishmael Butler (formerly of Digable Planets fame).
The first Chimurenga Renaissance album was released on a carved wooden flash drive pendant. A copy is on display at Seattle Art Museum.
He also makes his own traditional instruments. The Globalist has an interesting interview with this renaissance man.
ByGD
Pacific Bonsai Museum
Tucked in behind an office park in Federal Way, the Pacific Bonsai Museum is a treasure trove of carefully maintained bonsai in a series of outdoor rooms with pale walls and raked gravel floors. Their hours are limited and the location is unlikely, but it’s a beautiful space that inspires even active little kids to contemplation.
ByGD
Amazing
A couple years ago I attended Seattle’s Decibel Festival (the local electronic music festival, not the traveling heavy metal one sponsored by the magazine of the same name). In the EMP (now MoPop) Sky Church, giant visual displays moved on the wall behind the performers. I took a picture of this one, which reminded me of the Papago (now Tohono O’
In the actual myth, I think the man, I’itoi, created humans and later retired, hidden from men in a cave hidden by the maze. But he is usually placed at the entrance to the maze, and so looks to me like any other human – a person with a long journey ahead and no idea what they’re doing or what they’re in for.
This modern, electronic man is already in the thick of it. For each of the last two years, the American consensus seems to have been, “Well that sucked, I hope the next one is better.” But each year gives birth to the one that follows, so we can expect 2018 to be a tangled maze we must navigate if we’re going to repair the damage of the last two years. We can count on this year to be “amazing.” I hope some of the good connotation applies as well.