April 2010

Weeklong Series of Events Includes Concert Open to the Public at Jazz Alley on April 26

Through generous funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz will introduce its “Peer-to-Peer” jazz education program in Seattle public schools April 26-30. Combining performance with information, these “informances” will be presented by six exceptionally gifted high school jazz students from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts along with internationally acclaimed saxophone recording artist Antonio Hart, vocal sensation Lisa Henry, and renowned jazz educator Dr. J.B. Dyas. Also appearing will be Thelonious Monk, Jr., the Institute’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees and son of legendary jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. Each school visit will include an assembly program featuring a musical performance for all students, followed by jazz workshops for each school’s jazz band and choir with the visiting student performers playing alongside and sharing ideas with their Seattle counterparts.

Ballard Avenue's Bop Street Records is relocating to a new Market Street location that can hold maybe the 250,000 records housed in the upper level of the store. That does nothing for the 200,000 records in the basement owner Dave Voorhees is currently searching through to find a Dusty Springfield album.

The problem of what to do with 200,000 records – some valuable, some not– is vexing Voorhees, and he's open to suggestions.

"If I had five to 10 people who wanted to start a record store and not compete with me, I would be find," Voorhees said before offering an invitation to the neighborhood. "Dave needs serious suggestions. Come commiserate with Dave."

As daunting as moving nearly half a million albums is, Vorhees said he is excited for the relocation to the former Tableau space at 2220 N.W. Market St.

"The place I got is a 100-times better location," he said. "The foot traffic is going to be 10 times what it is now."

Greg Shaw, owner of Second Ascent a few doors down from Bop Street, bought the building at 5219 Ballard Ave. N.W. to turn it into Second Ascent's bike shop. Voorhees' lease ends June 30.

During the 2008-2009 school year, the Seattle Police Department Traffic Section deployed a mobile van equipped with traffic safety camera and across-the-road radar to document and issue citations for school zone speed violations. The principal purpose of this pilot project, which was conducted pursuant to provisions of the Revised Code of Washington and local ordinance, was to enhance pedestrian safety by slowing vehicular speeds and citing violators proceeding in excess of the posted 20 MPH limit in school zones when children are present.

Preliminary results of this work suggest that the project has succeeded in this broad purpose. Following is a thumbnail recap of the project.

RESEARCH PROGRAM
The research design called for mapping vehicle speeds at the beginning and end of speed van operations. Focused speed enforcement operations were conducted at two different kinds of elementary schools in all parts of the city: 1) schools with electronic beacons set to flash when children are coming to and departing from school; and 2) schools without beacons. These schools are identified below:

With Beacons
Bagley
Bryant/Assumption

Westwood resident Nolan Palmer calls himself a character actor. Well, he may be a bit of a character on stage, but he can also carry the lead when asked. Palmer, who resembles Jack Lemmon but thinks his raised eyebrows give him a Jack Nicholson look, said, “I am not a method actor” with his quiet but commanding voice, adding, “I don’t need to feel it. I just need to do it.”

And he’s been doing it for 42 years. Palmer was born in Pocatello, Idaho, and grew up in Salt Lake City, where he started performing.

“I wanted to move to the West Coast and drove to San Diego,” said Palmer. “I kept driving north until I found a place I wanted to stop, and Seattle was it. There is a lot of theater here and I love the climate. ‘The gray, that’s OK.’”

Palmer has performed at the Village Theatre, the Book-It Repertory Theatre at the Seattle Center in a production of “Giant,” the now-closed Empty Space Theatre, and for 29 years at the Taproot Theatre Company in downtown Greenwood.

Teamsters Local 174 has agreed to end its strike and will return to work for Waste Management, picking up trash, yard waste and recycling in King and Snohomish counties.

Seattle Public Utilities advised its Friday customers to put out their garbage, yard waste and recycling before 7 a.m. on April 23.

Customers whose collections were missed due to the strike on Wednesday and Thursday may set out up to twice their garbage, yard waste and recycling on their next regular collection day, at no additional cost, according to Seattle Public Utilities.

Missed recycling should be set out on customers’ next recycling day, which would be in two weeks.

According to Waste Management, it will collect commercial garbage and recyclables as soon as possible, with priority to accounts like hospitals and nursing homes, where public health and safety is a priority.

Waste Management workers began their strike at 10:30 a.m. on April 21.

This is the first in a series of articles derived from conversations, which I had the great fortune and pleasure to have, with longtime Fauntleroy resident Morey Skaret. Much has already been written about Mr. Skaret’s life. Although out of print, his 2003 book, Morey’s Bench: Stories From the Life and Times of Morest L. Skaret, can be read on-line. Several related HistoryLink.org essays are also available.

My goal therefore is not to duplicate what has already been written by and about Mr. Skaret, but to enhance it with the inevitable gems of wit, wisdom and humor gleaned from our talks. If I have managed to capture even a glimmer of Morey’s magic, then I believe that you will enjoy reading these articles as much as I have in compiling them.

One: The land of Odin

By Charles Ganong

I will treasure you as my companion
I will celebrate the joys of life with you
I promise to support your dreams
Stay with me forever

—Handwritten inscription on the back of the calling card of Captain Morest L. Skaret, Retired–U.S. Coast Guard.

The Ballard High School girls tennis team fought hard against Roosevelt April 22, almost pulling off its first win of the season.

The Beavers won one singles match and two doubles matches to fall just short of Roosevelt, 4-3.

Stephanie Loo beat Roosevelt's Sis Odloud by scores of 6-2 and 6-3. The doubles team of Hannah Murphy and Sara Gilmore beat their opponent 6-2 and 6-1. And, Nicole Frederick and Maya Voelk defeated their doubles opponent 6-0 and 7-5.

Coach Charles Brenner said he has been especially impressed with Loo, Murphy and Gilmore, all first-year varsity players with a competitive drive to win.

"They have really been taking what I have been teaching and really rolling with it," he said.

Murphy and Gilmore have won two of their last three doubles matches, and Brenner said they have been surprising him ever since he started playing them together.

Ballard (0-5) takes a swing at Newport at 3:45 p.m. on April 26 at Newport High School.

Complete results from the April 22 match:

In # 1 Singles Hallie Martin from Roosevelt High School beat Anna Brokhaug from Ballard High School 6-0, 6-1.

Seattle Department of Neighborhoods has announced the 2010 Neighborhood Matching Fund Small and Simple Award winners. Recipients of the award will receive up to $20,000 in funding to improve their neighborhoods and communities through various projects. This year’s award winners will use funding to train youth in violence alternatives, engage at-risk and under-served students through mural creation, create safer bike circulation systems, and much more.

Small and Simple Projects Fund activities may be physical projects as well as less tangible but equally significant educational, cultural, and relationship-strengthening activities. The overall goal of the projects is to build stronger and healthier communities through driven participation centered on a neighborhood or community.

“Partnerships between city and community are more important than ever in this economy. The Neighborhood Matching Fund program continues to support the many projects that are so valuable to the communities in Seattle. This is a very powerful collaboration between the City and community that we hope continues to grow” said Stella Chao, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Director.

Seattle Tilth is a nationally recognized non-profit educational organization dedicated to inspiring and educating people to garden organically and conserve natural resources. They have announced a series of classes to be offered beginning in April.

Permaculture Design Course with Toby Hemenway
One weekend each month for six months: May 8-9, June 12-13, July 10-11, August 7-8, September 11-12, and October 9-10; 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. each day
South Seattle Community College, West Seattle Campus, 6000 16th Ave. SW., Seattle, WA 98106

Chef Colleen Steele, award winning chocolatier is the star of Dessert Extravaganza! an event set for Sunday April, 25 at Bridge Park Retirement Community 3204 S.W. Morgan Street.

Steele, who trained in Europe, is the Head Chef at Bridge Park and is preparing an incredible array of dessert treats for the event.
"We will have used 166 pounds of Callebaut Dark Chocolate, 33 pounds of white chocolate, 360 handmade praline cups, 250 patechoux and more," Steele said.

All the ingredients come from Switzerland, from Albert Uster.

"We're going to be doing chocolates with 'transfer sheets'," Steele continued which are food grade images that can be transferred from a sheet to the outside of chocolates to give them any appearance the artist chooses. Many are wildly colorful, others are subtle sophisticated patterns. "The chocolate has to be perfectly tempered," she said, "and we've got all the avant garde patterns." Some will be decorated with 24k gold leaf, which is edible. "Gold is actually good for arthritis," Steele said. These special chocolates will be used for a "Golden Ticket" chocolate that will be hidden around the room. Those that find them will win a special prize.