Parker Gambino

Busking Seattle  –  Ballard Farmers Market  –  6 August 2023

For a change of pace, opera singer Knapczyk was the busker-du-jour.  And then incredibly, one of the shoppers/passersby (Alfonso) turned out to be another opera singer!   As this was made known, she was invited to also perform, including a duet with Knapczyk.  At first she did so while holding her young child, but was then relived of the duty by her husband.  Plell’s jaunty tunes provided an upbeat soundtrack, and his snuck-in asides/comments spread the positive vibe.  He wore the widest-brimmed hat I’ve seen in I don’t know how long.

Krzysztof Knapczyk

Clarice Alfonso

David Plell

Urban Sketchers outing – Golden Gardens Park  –  2 August 2023

https://seattle.urbansketchers.org/

Life things seem to regularly conspire to interfere with me joining the Urban Sketchers more often.  Proximity of this locale to my home made it irresistible; it is our favored place for sea-level walks, and on warm sunny days I do go swimming there.  The low tide on this date bumped the visual appeal, as if it needed it.  I had earlier received a set of pencils from a friend, they belonged to her father, and are likely vintage 1930’s or 1940’s.  This was a good opportunity to give ’em a road test.  Something about what gets washed up on a beach inspires people (not always kids!) to gather and arrange items into what could legitimately be called “installations”; always ephemeral, I was fortunate to happen upon a goodie!  Former colleague Jerry Powell was an esteemed Professor of Entomology at University of California, Berkeley.

Rocks, Well-Barnacled (Algae too!)

In Memory of Jerry Powell

Pilings

Beach Treasures – Installation

Shelby

Edmonds Sketcher Fest – 14-16 July 2023

https://graphite-edmonds.org/               https://pt.linkedin.com/in/mario-linhares

The Washington State Arts Commission designates official Creative Districts, and supports them as communities that connect arts and culture to economic development.  Edmonds is on the list, rightly so, and a hub is the Graphite Arts Center.  Thus was sponsored the 3-day Sketcher Fest, which really pulled in the sketchers!  For the opening reception on Friday the 14th, historian/PhD researcher Mário Linhares guided and exhorted us through a history of sketchers and the sketchbook, with a presentation featuring stunning examples of the works of Delacroix, Picasso, Kahlo, Franklin McMahon (“a drawing reporter”), and numerous others.  Sunday’s post-sketch-walk  throwdown occurred earlier than I anticipated, so I missed it, oh well.  For a finale, four talented-high schoolers jazzed it up at the closing reception.

Mário Linhares

Graphite Arts Center

Don Tran

Ryan Acheson

Braedon Valdivia

Gabriel Espitia

Norman Baker & the Backroads –  Bellevue Downtown Park  –  14 July 2023

http://www.normanbaker.com/

Baker touts his quartet’s music as not only Americana and folk, but also “barrel-aged lumber rock”.  He’s Seattle-based, so has first-hand experience accounting for his “Nisqually Earthquake Waltz”.  But “The Kid Down the Road” seems to be unreleased, or at least not on the CD that I scored, darn!  String-slinger Muir is related to the John Muir.

Norman Baker

Jake Evans

Jeremy Lightfoot

Michael Muir

Cascadia Big Band  – Cascadia Big Band  –  2 July 2023

First time at this venue, or rather, first concert.  The facilities and grounds of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are spectacular, and include the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden, a fish ladder, a heron rookery, and an avian diversity that draws regular bird-walks.  There were two sets, thus long enough for me to sketch every player, however cursory.  Drummer Ellis is the ringleader, solos were well-distributed, the band set up at the shady end of the glen, and from where I worked the sun was blazing!

Byron Ellis

Ingrid DuMosch

Sax Section

Al Shabino

Luke Selbeck

David Block

Tim Lane

Scott Randal

Scott Babcock

Preston West

Mike Hector

Dave Willeiksen

Dave Ege

Bob Hartman

Dave Burris

Concert Truck  –  Ashwood Playfield, Bellevue  –  30 June 2023

https://www.theconcerttruck.org/events

This was my final Concert Truck encounter of the year, where I finally came to understand the nature of the arrangement.  The truck, which propels its self-contained functional stage and piano criss-crossing the continent, is headquartered in Baltimore.  The travelling crew consists of pianists Nick Luby and Susan Zhang (see the post of 22 June), and collaborations are arranged with music organizations of the host locations, in this case the Seattle Chamber Music Society.  No wonder that the programs all feature 4-hands piano pieces.  Nick does all of the driving.  Of the three concerts I attended this year, this one had the most accoutrements, courtesy of the nearby Belletini (upscale senior living complex); folding chairs were provided (if I’d known I wouldn’t have shlepped my own), as well as a complimentary bottle of cold water and snack bag!  The guy delivering mine, noting my off-script seating arrangement, commented that I had chosen to sit in the “orchestra section”.  Plus there was a program of the selections, which included both Debussy AND Ravel (La Valse, my favorite of the bunch).  Luby’s brief curatorial comments, indicative of his passion for both the music and its promulgation, are a nice touch.

Rachel Lee Priday

Mark Kososwer

Elias Kauhane  –  Bellevue Downtown Park  –  30 June 2023

Kauhane is an Oahu native now living in the PNW.  He presented a mix of Hawaiʻian language and hapa-haole (in English) songs, including a healthy dose of sovereignty-oriented selections composed by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (IZ for short).  So, the real deal.  I didn’t get a close look at his uke, which seemed to have eight strings (doubles?).  A wahine danced hula for some of the tunes.

Elias Kauhane

Sketching Cascadia – Graphite Arts Center, Edmonds, WA  –  24 June 2023

Puget Sound area fixture Campanario is pretty much the founder/formalizer of the Urban Sketcher movement.  Here he made a presentation describing his journey, which included, among other endeavors, a sweet stint providing local sketches published in the Seattle Times newspaper.  He was introduced by Gallery director and arts-promoter-about-town Felix.  She also on occasion has published feature sketches in the local Edmonds newspaper.  Disclaimer: I am a minor participant in the Sketching Cascadia exhbit; nothing on the walls or in the cases in the gallery, but with 10 PNW sketches scraped from elsewhere on this site as part of the continuous slide show.

Gabriel Campanario            Tracy Felix

Tracy Felix

Gabriel Campanario

Concert Truck  –  Ballard Farmers Market  –  25 June 2023

I first became aware of the Concert Truck at BFM last year, as I caught the very tail end (un-sketchably brief) of the performance.  I was determined not to miss out this year!  But on this pride-parade day the buses were running late, and I needed to first do some ‘shroom shopping (see the Sno-Valley Mushroom post), so when I got to the truck both the duration and the sketch vantage points were sub-par.  So what!

Meeka Quan DiLorenzo

Emerson Millar

Concert Truck – Lake City Farmers Market  –  22 June 2023

The full description of this gig is the Seattle Chamber Music Society Concert Truck.  Technically, the locale of the gig was Albert Davis Park.  For the various four-hands piano works Luby and Zhang switched positions on the bench (benches?), alternating between foreground and background; it created a sketch format dilemma that was left essentially unresolved, hopefully not misleading (watch that other hand, Nick!).  The program was superlative; equally revealing were Debussy’s cello sonata, to my ears more proto-jazz than strictly classical, and Meredith Monk’s four-hand “Ellis Island” (I’m not really familiar with her extensive oeuvre).  Also some Stravinsky and Piazzolla, what’s not to love?  And then there was the improv: four notes called out from the audience, Luby, Yoshinaga, and Baltacigil took them and gave us an impromptu fun ride!

Efe Baltacigil

Mari Yoshinaga