Arts & Culture

  • Too Much Coffee & Lots of Books: Missing the Gilmore Girls

    The Fall 2008 TV season has begun, and while there are many new and returning shows that look interesting, all I can think of is how much I miss The Gilmore Girls. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the show centered around the mother-daughter duo of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her namesake daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel) in… Continue reading

  • All That Is Sarah Polley

    “You pray that this is your life without you. You don’t know who or what you’re praying to, but you pray. You don’t even regret the life that you’re not gonna have, because by then you’ll be dead. And the dead don’t feel anything. Not even regret.” From her role as little Sara in The… Continue reading

  • Left on the Shelf

    Nothing left on that DVD shelf at your local branch library?  You might want to take a closer look. I decided to try an experiment in serendipity with the DVD shelves at the branch where I work.  I would select a movie to watch from what was left on the shelf, and, to make things a… Continue reading

  • Before Autumn Leaves

    Before autumn leaves, settle down into a bounty of words, sights and sounds that crackle with the color and energy of the season.  Then, take a few moments to take in an eclectic array of books and CDs that’ll bring an extra spark to warm the chill heading up that frosty hill. Let’s start with some… Continue reading

  • Top Ten Things to Do in our Music Practice Rooms

    Drumroll Please! You’ll have to imagine you are hearing one of those amazing announcer voices reading the list below (with no apologies to any TV show): #10 Play 1 piano 4 hand duets with a friend. #9 Play your favorite song with different keyboard sounds. #8 Improvise on that tune you can’t get out of… Continue reading

  • The Russians Are Coming

    Seattle is a city of communities – neighborhoods, ethnic groups, churches, schools, clubs, etc. And even if you don’t belong to a particular group, they often sponsor events throughout the year that may be of interest to you. One of my favorite annual smaller events is the St. Spiridon (Russian) Orthodox Cathedral Annual Bazaar, which… Continue reading

  • The Piano: A Romance on Three Legs

    Few other instruments equal the piano for beauty, simplicity, engineering and sensitivity. For more than one hundred years pianos have been found in homes all around the world. It is the easiest instrument to make music on, but also fiendishly difficult to master. Our love affair with the piano has grown over the years. In… Continue reading

  • Record Industry a bunch of Luddites?

    While riding the bus a while ago I noticed a fellow bus rider was reading an article in Entertainment Weekly. I had trouble remembering what the article title was but I remembered it was about the recording industry and also about their resistance to modern technological breakthroughs that enable music to be shared. I decided… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Eric Liu

    Editor’s note: Whether he’s interviewing Daniel Schorr at Town Hall, inspiring leadership or talking about patriotism, local author Eric Liu manages to get us thinking—and to get the conversation going. In The True Patriot, a book written in the pamphleteering style of Thomas Paine, Liu and co-author Nick Hanauer offer a lively challenge to look… Continue reading

  • Daddy’s Little Girl: Extreme Edition

    Being a daddy’s girl myself, I find the dynamics between fathers and daughters very fascinating. We rely so heavily on them to help mold us into the women we will become, and when they are not there or depend on us too much it can affect us for the rest of our lives. These are… Continue reading

  • Pacific Northwest Ballet Previews at The Seattle Public Library

    Plan now to attend the free lunchtime previews of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s wonderfully adventurous 2008-2009 season. PNB’s Education Programs manager, Doug Fullington, will offer entertaining insights on the ballets, complete with video excerpts. These lecture/video previews take place at noon, in the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium, First floor,1000 Fourth Ave. Everyone is welcome! Tuesday, September 23… Continue reading

  • Preview the UW World Series Fall Line-up

    In their publicity the UW World Series says, “Each season we strive to bring a varied and exciting, (and yes, occasionally challenging) season of dance, world music and theater, piano and chamber music to Meany Hall.” At The Seattle Public Library,  we’re thrilled to be bringing previews of the 2008-2009 UW World Series to Microsoft Auditorium of… Continue reading

  • Scooters scream into mainstream

    There’s a meteoric rise in scooter use since gasoline jumped the $4 mark.  I’ve been scooter commuting since 2002 and I’ve got a lot more company these days. Scooter registration is up 33% over the period June 2007 to June 2008 in King County. Fuel costs for your car range between $1200 -$4200 per year. (That’s the difference between a 1984… Continue reading

  • What Is a Mix Tape?

    “When I first saw you, I saw love.” “All you need is love.” “Love is a battlefield.” “I’m not going to write you a love song.” “I’m all out of love.” From famed music critic and contributing editor at Rolling Stone Magazine, Rob Sheffield’s book Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song… Continue reading

  • Da Vinci’s Inquest: The Best Hour on TV?

    So, I love Vancouver. I love escaping up there for the weekend in the Summer or going to penguin shuffle the half-marathon each Spring, and lately I’ve been telling everyone who will listen that I just love the Vancouver-based cop show, Da Vinci’s Inquest. After watching I don’t know how many thousand hours of the ubiquitous yet duly… Continue reading

  • Rascally Rabbits

     If you live in Seattle you have probably seen or heard about the unusual design of the newly built Ballard library, its literally green architecture crowned with a softly sloping grass-covered roof.  On sunny days, this roof is a golden meadow replete with bees and even butterflies. When I’m feeling whimsical, I embellish the scene with rabbits–two or three of them. In my mind, they bound joyfully through… Continue reading

  • You Must Learn: A Hip-Hop Education with Black Star

    Among hip-hop fans, the group Black Star is known for its lyrical muscle and strong literary-bent. Members Mos Def and Talib Kweli pack their tightly crafted rhymes with intelligence and wit that seems lacking in much of contemporary hip-hop. Their 1998 album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star  was a welcome return to… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s vibrant early music scene

    In recent years, Seattle has become a mecca for early music, the world of music created from its earliest beginnings to about the year 1750. World-class performers such as Stephen Stubbs have moved here to join long-time Seattleites Margriet Tindemans and Nancy Zylstra. It means that there are some thrilling opportunities for exploration of the world… Continue reading