Another Fine Weekend You've Gotten Us Into
On Friday, davidlevine and kateyule came up from Portland for a weekend visit. The precipitating event was the Uncle Bonsai 30th Anniversary show at the Meydenbauer Center, but it became the justification for a whole weekend of goodness.
Until kateyule mentioned Uncle Bonsai to me, I'd never heard of the group--but many of my local friends have. Turns out that they're something of a Pacific Northwest institution, a folk trio with a clever, twisted sense of humor and tight, melodic harmonies to die for. I, of course, hadn't yet arrived in Seattle when the group was making its mark, so this was a delightful discovery for me. If you like good folk, clever and funny lyrics, and have never heard of them before, I strongly recommend checking out their audio page and giving them a listen. If you're a child of the 1970s, a fan of "The Love Boat," start with Isaac's Lament. They do have a more serious side as well, as the lovely Just One Angel (MP3) demonstrates (this was incredibly powerful live). Anyway, the concert was just wonderful. I laughed out loud, marveled at their harmonies and their lyrics, and just really enjoyed the hell out of the show. If you're local to Seattle, you might want to catch their upcoming show, Uncle Bonsai: New Jobs for America, at the Phinney Neighborhood Center on January 21 presented by the Seattle Folklore Society, at which they've promised 13 news songs (and limited seating, so go get your tickets now). Care of this weekend's house guests, I've already got a seat, for which I'm truly grateful.
Saturday, we took our time getting up and out, eating a simple breakfast and talking until past noon. At that point, we headed out to Kozue in Wallingford (where I'll definitely be going again) for a good Japanese lunch (the mushroom dish from which I'm going to try to duplicate myself), and the Best of the Northwest Arts and Crafts Show, an annual curated high-end craft show that showcases artists from all over the region. We saw some great stuff, kateyule purchased a nice pair of earrings, and then home we went to prepare for the evening.
We had dinner at Buenos Aires Grill, which is fast becoming a favorite of mine. And then we attended ACT's performance of Double Indemnity, a staging of the classic James M. Cain novel, upon which the movie of the same title is also based. The performances were all very good, very mannered in the way that performances in noir films tend to be. I don't think there was any one particular standout in the cast; the performances were uniformly good. The set, with its moving, overlapping, malachite-colored flats and its rotating carousel floors was beautifully designed and extremely versatile. The costumes, especially the women's clothes, were quite fine. Well worth seeing.
On Sunday, we met varina8 and snarke for breakfast at 611 Supreme, a creperie and lounge. I enjoyed the vegetarian breakfast crepe and shared a small plate of breakfast potatoes with davidlevine, but with five of us at the table, there were enough of us to determine that the food was all tasty and the place worth another visit at some point. We spent the rest of the day tromping around downtown at Pike Place Market and parts south of there, and then my guests headed back to Portland.
And so we're back into the week. I have a phone interview this afternoon and other items to occupy my time. I should get to them, but wanted to make sure I got all this down. I enjoyed the weekend hugely. It was precisely what I needed in the wake of last week's stress and bad dreams.
Until kateyule mentioned Uncle Bonsai to me, I'd never heard of the group--but many of my local friends have. Turns out that they're something of a Pacific Northwest institution, a folk trio with a clever, twisted sense of humor and tight, melodic harmonies to die for. I, of course, hadn't yet arrived in Seattle when the group was making its mark, so this was a delightful discovery for me. If you like good folk, clever and funny lyrics, and have never heard of them before, I strongly recommend checking out their audio page and giving them a listen. If you're a child of the 1970s, a fan of "The Love Boat," start with Isaac's Lament. They do have a more serious side as well, as the lovely Just One Angel (MP3) demonstrates (this was incredibly powerful live). Anyway, the concert was just wonderful. I laughed out loud, marveled at their harmonies and their lyrics, and just really enjoyed the hell out of the show. If you're local to Seattle, you might want to catch their upcoming show, Uncle Bonsai: New Jobs for America, at the Phinney Neighborhood Center on January 21 presented by the Seattle Folklore Society, at which they've promised 13 news songs (and limited seating, so go get your tickets now). Care of this weekend's house guests, I've already got a seat, for which I'm truly grateful.
Saturday, we took our time getting up and out, eating a simple breakfast and talking until past noon. At that point, we headed out to Kozue in Wallingford (where I'll definitely be going again) for a good Japanese lunch (the mushroom dish from which I'm going to try to duplicate myself), and the Best of the Northwest Arts and Crafts Show, an annual curated high-end craft show that showcases artists from all over the region. We saw some great stuff, kateyule purchased a nice pair of earrings, and then home we went to prepare for the evening.
We had dinner at Buenos Aires Grill, which is fast becoming a favorite of mine. And then we attended ACT's performance of Double Indemnity, a staging of the classic James M. Cain novel, upon which the movie of the same title is also based. The performances were all very good, very mannered in the way that performances in noir films tend to be. I don't think there was any one particular standout in the cast; the performances were uniformly good. The set, with its moving, overlapping, malachite-colored flats and its rotating carousel floors was beautifully designed and extremely versatile. The costumes, especially the women's clothes, were quite fine. Well worth seeing.
On Sunday, we met varina8 and snarke for breakfast at 611 Supreme, a creperie and lounge. I enjoyed the vegetarian breakfast crepe and shared a small plate of breakfast potatoes with davidlevine, but with five of us at the table, there were enough of us to determine that the food was all tasty and the place worth another visit at some point. We spent the rest of the day tromping around downtown at Pike Place Market and parts south of there, and then my guests headed back to Portland.
And so we're back into the week. I have a phone interview this afternoon and other items to occupy my time. I should get to them, but wanted to make sure I got all this down. I enjoyed the weekend hugely. It was precisely what I needed in the wake of last week's stress and bad dreams.