Category Archive Music

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Wagner Ladles Crazysauce in The Flying Dutchman

Seattle Opera Dress Rehearsal Flying Dutchman 2016 McCaw Hall

Alfred Walker (The Dutchman) photo by Philip Newton c/o Seattle Opera

Opera is about so much more than the story – it’s the entire theatrical experience: sets, costumes, voices, music, emotion. But me, I’m about the story. And the story of The Flying Dutchman is pure Smart Bitches F+ crazysauce. In other words, delightful.

If you are, as I was before attending Seattle Opera’s production of The Flying Dutchman, unfamiliar with the story, let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Read More

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Ólafur Arnalds in Seattle

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Ólafur Arnalds played Benaroya Hall with Nils Frahm at the Decibel Festival in 2013. He was well received. 

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Ticket Season – Part One, Seattle Opera

“I love tickets!” squeals Cameron Diaz’s character in the first Charlie’s Angels movie. (And why has no one ever made a gif of that?) It’s supposed to illustrate what an eccentric character she is, but I understand completely. I love tickets. And spring is ticket season. Season-ticket season, to be precise. All of the arts organizations announce their upcoming seasons, tickets go on sale, and I spend hours each spring planning what I will be doing on Saturday nights all next winter. Case in point: Seattle Opera.

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Doe Baby

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Doe Bay has a slogan that says their music festival is for kids and adults can come, too. I’ve been to many music festivals around the Northwest and abroad, and the tiny Doe Bay, in addition to being a great place to hear next year’s hottest new bands, is the most kid-friendly.

The festival is tiny in part to maintain that wholesome family feeling, and partly due to the limitations of island septic systems. Tickets are almost impossible to get unless you stay at Doe Bay Resort in the off-season and buy tickets while you’re there. The folks who put it together also throw the Timber and Timbrrr festivals, which share a lot of the same great music and laid back atmosphere, but without the ticket scarcity.

(I know you’re not supposed to post pictures of other people’s kids on the internet, but I love this picture from Doe Bay Fest several years ago. Whoever this kid is, they’re not a baby anymore, and there’s no way they could be identified from this picture so I hope it’s okay just this once.)

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Crocodile Rock

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Thanks to Rain City Rock Camp, my 11-year-old daughter has already been in multiple bands and played The Crocodile Cafe twice. My husband’s college band never did get to play that club.