Parker Gambino

Jon Andrew Franklin – Ballard Farmers Market  –  March 23, 2025

Franklin is an energetic performer who’s got all of the bases covered: the fiddling, the singing, the rig, the pedals, the stickers, the patter.  He was undeterred by some inclement weather that might have kept other buskers away, and was thereby able to extend his set to accommodate my listening schedule.  To account for his meteorological indifference, he gave a description of the differences between wood and carbon fiber fiddles that drew approval from an attending engineer!  I had seen Franklin perform during an earlier market visit; this time I was prepared to sketch, and had even purchased enough jars of Nils Magic Kimchee (Stone Soup Kitchen) to leave one as a tip.

Jon Andrew Franklin

Loud & Smart & In Color book tour – Push/Pull – March 6, 2025

Push/Pull (https://www.pushpullseattle.com/) is a combination art supply store/gallery/workshop that also hosts events, such as this one catering to the Comix community.  A number of creators were in town for the Emerald City Comic Con, so Maxx (Push/Pull’s macher) arranged to have a some of them come and do readings in association with Alex Krokus’s Loud & Smart & In Color book tour.  Yeah, sketches from such are just a series of people holding the microphone, and I was somewhat distracted from the slide show, but at least the readers mostly did voices for the characters, salvaging my entertainment quotient!  Oh, the sacrifices we make for art!

Deb JJ Lee, rather than display their artwork, recounted (and documented via screenshots) hilarious convoluted backlash interactions with LinkedIn and a scammer posing as legit therein.  I sympathize and also fantasize about wreaking vengenance on the online scum.  Beware!  Lee’s website warns, “You may not use these images for AI I will find you”.  After hearing the story, very believeable, and I wouldn’t mess with it!

https://www.alexkrokus.com/          https://debleeart.com/

Alex Krokus

Deb JJ Lee

Jackson Barnes

Boya Sun

Brandon Lehmann

Duo

Ladies Musical Club of Seattle – University House, Wallingford, Seattle  – February 10, 2025

The program for this concert was billed as “Woodwind Trios” and selections of “Piano Works by Piazzolla, Ravel, & Gershwin”.  The former might well have been dubbed “Double-Reed Woodwind Trios”, as the lineup consisted of two oboes and an English horn, a configuration that is quite limited in available repertoire.  For a nebulosity-bump (and news to me) it was explained that the English do not refer the instrument as the “English horn”, they instead use the translated-into-French “Cor Anglais”.  Which, of course, should not be confused with what the American hoi-polloi refer to as the “French horn”, otherwise known in the professional musician community as simply “horn” (“cor” in French); Wikipedia identifies that brass instrument as “technically a variety of German horn”.   So if you want to know what the instrument played by the English hornist (Perstein) looks like, this is not the correct post, as it was all but obscured by her music stand!  I hope you have enjoyed the journey through this terminological hornets-nest as much as I have in curating it.  Be grateful that I chose to demur venturing down the richly dendritic “corn=horn” etymological pathway.

I’m a sucker for all things Piazzolla, and appreciated pianist Gibb indulging my infatuation.  My recollection (getting progressively less reliable these days, so don’t hold me to it) is that Ravel was omitted from the actual performed program, with a second Gershwin piece substituted.  Is it just me (getting progressively less reliable in general), or do works of that composer virtually invite embellishment, whether spontaneous or by well-planned design?   Whichever was the case, Gibb, having assimilated them to second-nature status, gave her personal stamp.

Woodwind Trio

Ladies Musical Club of Seattle – Music Center of the Northwest, Seattle – February 7, 2025

The themes for this concert were “Spanish American Folk Songs”, sung by Beth Ann Bonnecroy with LMCS steadfast piano accompanist Joan Lundquist (seen in the post from January 8), and “Piano Music by Italian Composers” (with definition-creep allowances for the non-Italian musicians who transcribed, inspired, or were inspired by some of the works) by Karin McCullough.

Beth Ann Bonnecroy

Karin McCullough

Ladies Musical Society of Seattle – Crossroads Community Center, Bellevue  –  January 21, 2025

The program on this date was Beethoven’s Clarinet trio in B-flat Major, Op 11 (piano accompanist was Joan Lundquist, seen on the posting from January 8), and a couple of Schubert Four-Hand piano numbers.

Katie Beisel Hollenbach

Erica Pierson

Four Hands for Schubert

Ladies Musical Club of Seattle – Seattle Main Library Branch – January 8, 2025

https://lmcseattle.org

This organization is new to me, so I’m excited to learn of its extensive performance offerings!   The pattern seems to be two distinct sets per gig, about an hour total and scram!  Some of the players appear at multiple events; each sketched just the once, and then subsequently referenced, permits me time to sketch new people.

For this gig the two themes were “Schubert Piano Trio” and “American Art Songs and Barber’s Knoxville“.  In the latter, vocalist Alfonso’s rendition of Shenandoah got me to put down the pen and pause until my eyes cleared sufficiently to resume.  Lovely!  It turns out that I had previously sketched her at the Ballard Farmers Market where she joined a desgnated busker for an impromptu opera duet! (https://parkergambino.com/?p=4911)

3 Horn Quartet – Broadview Library Branch – Nov 30, 2024

OK, so clearly three horns (trumpet/flugelhorn, French horn, tuba/sousaphone), so what is the fourth player playing?  Sometimes drums, sometimes accordion, whichever is called for.  Website description sayin’ it all, “Four middle aged moms making music that sounds like The Canadian Brass and Queen had a love child.”  One more group that has us rubbing our eyes (or ears?), insisting on the legitimacy of the refractions of its distinct music appreciation lens.  I’m on board!

https://www.3hornquartet.com/

3HQ

Max Crumble Orchestra – Broadview Branch Library  – October 19, 2024

MCO unabashedly specializes in elevator music, so required a cautious approach; clearly much thought has gone into the website description of their sound: Ambient-Pseudo-Retro-Indie-Meta-Folk String-ish Music.   Is it a goof, a joke?   Sure it is, and no way!  So why not have a little fun with every darned thing and make it sound great?  Only the deepest dive into nonsense will emerge as profundity.  Playlist (at least on the website) ranges far and wide, including abundant originals.  Mining of veins similar to my own sensibilities was a plus.  In prepping for this gig (yes, something that I sometimes actually do!) I looked over the site and was amazed to see that they covered George Harrison’s “Within You and Without You”; I considered making a request but decided against it, only to later find out that it was something they could have played.  (in a more recent perusal, I no longer could locate the tune on the site).  “Harvest Moon” was a personal highlight of the day, I would have ridden an elevator for it.

http://www.maxcrumble.com/

Busking Seattle – Nedy Johnson, Ballard Farmers Market  –  September 15, 2024

Unfortunately, I came upon Johnson near the end of her set, and did not get much of a sense of her oeuvre, other than a sweet voice.

Nedy Johnson

Busking Seattle  –  Jeffrey Childs  –  September 6, 2024

After departing the Linda From Work gig at Westlake Park and heading back to the parking lot, Dennis & I came upon Childs set up on a Pine Street sidewalk: electronic drums, a modest PA, drumming along, mostly to Motown.  Dennis humored me with a 15-minute slot, just about all I need.

Jeffrey Childs