Skip to content

Arts

Read More ›

Life in the ‘Fifty Shades’ Building, ‘Up’ House Update

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

escala_0

The late Edith Macefield’s tiny Ballard home that somewhat inspired the Disney animated film Up (remember Macefield’s national-news-making refusal of a $1 million offer forced developers build the Ballard Blocks around her), might go up for foreclosure auction next month. The Seattle PI reports that the current owner of the house owes more than $185,000 on the property. 

Tent city news: A proposed plan from Mayor Ed Murray would restrict new homeless ecampments, or tent cities, to non-residential zones.

What makes a native Northwesterner? According to The Seattle Times‘ Ron Judd, you have to have been born here. Recently, Forbes magazine named Seattle the country’s fifth fastest-growing city. We experienced a 1.3 percent population growth in 2014 and are expected to hit that same number in 2015. That’s a lot of new people who, by Judd’s logic, won’t ever be “official” Northwesterners. Crosscut and Seattle mag contributor Knute Berger, begs to differ: “To me, being a Northwesterner has more to do with affinity for place than birthplace. In fact, some of the most Northwesty people I know were folks who stepped off the plane or out of their microbus and found home here.”

When my husband and I first moved here, we wandered into the Escala building downtown and toured a unit that we were thinking of renting. You can only do that now by appointment and if you want to see one of the penthouses–where fictional S&M enthusiast Christian Grey hung his…er…hat in the romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey–you’re required to be pre-qualified. So what is it like to live in this famed building where Fifty Shades fans arrive in droves to gawk? One resident speaks out, citing a particular annoyance involving the Ride The Ducks tour.  “Escala residents asked the Ducks to have the drivers stop the commentary for awhile, ‘but they are back at it.'”

This year’s lineup for Memorial Day weekend music fest Sasquatch was released yesterday and it’s loaded with some pretty stellar names: Lana Del Ray, Little Dragon, Ryan Adams, plus local acts My Goodness and Ayron Jones and The Way. MyNorthwest.com wants to know, however, if you’ve ever heard of any of the bands playing this year. Take the poll here.

 

SENSORIUM Takes on Our Screen Addiction

SENSORIUM Takes on Our Screen Addiction

Dance, drag, and immersive art collide in an eight-week exploration of our phone-obsessed lives, with a few surprises along the way. 

What do drag queens, smartphone addiction, art installations, and an old luggage shop have in common?  According to longtime Seattle choreographer Alana O’Farrell Rogers, a lot.  “There’s no dead time anymore,” says Rogers, explaining how the proliferation of smartphones fills the empty spaces that once served as time for rest or connection. Where we snuggled…

Salt-N-Pepa on Breaking Barriers and Staying Power

Salt-N-Pepa on Breaking Barriers and Staying Power

Ahead of their performance at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture gala, the hip-hop pioneers talk about creative ownership, connecting with new generations, and the songs that still resonate.

The Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) will host its annual ICONS of Pop Culture Gala in Seattle on October 22, honoring five artists and institutions whose work has helped shape entertainment and culture.  This year’s honorees are martial arts and film legend Bruce Lee, fashion designer Jeremy Scott, the video game franchise Halo, hip-hop pioneers…

Studio Sessions: Christopher Paul Jordan

Studio Sessions: Christopher Paul Jordan

Drawing on childhood memories, neighborhood history, and salvaged materials, Christopher Paul Jordan’s latest show at Cornish’s Behnke Family Gallery explores how the past stays with us.

Start in the middle. It’s good advice for telling a story, and a way into Christopher Paul Jordan’s paintings. By the time you encounter them, their materials have already been something else, and who knows what they might move on to become. The Tacoma interdisciplinary artist works with salvaged objects, including screens, picture frames, canvas,…

Rearview Mirror: Wedding Bells, A Furniture Launch, and the Symphony’s New Look 

Rearview Mirror: Wedding Bells, A Furniture Launch, and the Symphony’s New Look 

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

WEDDING BELLS I’ve been a bit absent from this column lately, but I think I have a pretty good excuse: I got married! It’s already been three weeks since my September 19 wedding, but I’m still reflecting on the magic of the day. My fiancé, well husband now (I can’t get used to saying it!),…