Belltown Bent

Framing the name

When Jon and Mary Shirley, lead donors for the rapidly emerging Olympic Sculpture Park, chose the name, they no doubt knew the mountain range would be a strong visual element of the park experience.

As the Pavilion building, at the NW corner of Broad St. and Western Ave, takes on it's architectural identity, it reveals one of the many ways in which their vision, and that of Weiss/Manfredi Architects is being realized.

A satellite image, centered on the intersection, shows the multiple-lot site before construction began. Visitors will enter the Pavilion from this corner. More pictures and OSP information are available here.

Let's go see.

My father and I used to take a lot of pictures together. He taught me to be aware of my surroundings, but to shoot what I was seeing - not what I was experiencing. He wanted me to fill the frame consciously and actively. He taught me to please my mind's eye.

Seeing becomes the experience, and the photograph becomes an essential expression of the moment. The surroundings become incidental, and the object of vivid and clear perception stands on its own.

Decades later, I've encountered a practice of contemplative photography called Miksang, a Tibetan word that means "good eye." It is based on the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa (1939-1987), one of Buddhism's most influential teachers in the West. There are groups who share Miksang images, and organizations that offer workshops on this meditative approach to seeing.

My dad used to say, "Grab your camera. Let's go see."

Mac is back

Mac Rebbenack, The Night Tripper, the good Dr. John himself, is at Jazz Alley through Sunday. It was way back in 1968 when Mac adopted his Dr. John persona, inspired by Dr. John Montaine  (or Dr. John Creaux, depending on who's telling the story) the 19th century voodoo priest

It was then, while a member of Sonny and Cher's backing band, he first introduced voodoo cultural rituals to popular music with his debut album, Gris-Gris, and all its psychedelic swamp-gumbo - still served up on occasions here at the Bent (yes, we walk on gilded splinters).

He has long since been established as a voice for New Orleans. Deeply moved by the devastation of Katrina, his latest recording "Sippiana Hericane" fondly remembers his home. All net label and artist profits from the sale of the CD will be donated to the organizations involved in the relief efforts including the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, Salvation Army, and the Jazz Foundation of America.

Not your every day cumulonimbus

We walked out of SAAM, and something seemed a bit odd. We looked around and everyone else was looking to the south. It looked like we were on the set of a sci-fi movie.

This magnificent cumulonimbus stud-cloud was looming over downtown Seattle, reaching up and out to form it's characteristic anvil shape. (Check this impressive sibling, somewhere over Germany)

We had all been fooling ourselves, pretending it was Spring. Right. Once this mass of majestically moist air rose to block the sun, we were right back into winter. Not quite as apocalyptic as it appeared, but definitely ruling the balance of the day.

High risk health food

After finishing another perfect salmon burger, at the excellent Salmon Bay eatery, Chinook's, the Bent paused to pay our respects to some of the men and women who lost their lives putting brain food on our plates.

Established in 1988, the Fisherman's Memorial honors more than 500 local fishermen and women who lost their lives pursuing their livelihood, and our food, since the turn of the 20th century. Commercial fishing, according the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the third most dangerous profession, just behind logging and piloting an airplane, which are tied for first.

Next time we light up the Bent grill, or cozy up to one of our favorite seafood counters, we'll toast to the health of the folks at sea who risk so much to bring the good stuff back to Belltown, and beyond.

House of the rising sun...

Temperature  72 - 80°, very low humidity, arid climate. Not the way you would describe Seattle in March.

But if you were to design an environment to accommodate succulents - descendants of plants which adapted to dry, hot conditions when the earth began to warm up after the last Ice Age - that would be the ticket.

Spring is a spectacular time to visit the desert. If you live in Belltown, nine days prior to spring's official start is a great time to visit the Conservatory in Volunteer Park. Why wait. Since it's founding in 1912, the Conservatory has evolved into five houses. You'll find the cacti in the warm and dry one. If you can't make it, check out a few more here.

1.64578 nautical miles

Look around Belltown. Probably even your town. Venetian blinds are ubiquitous. They're so common we look right through them, literally and figuratively. One might even be tempted to call them "Belltown blinds," but that would be a bit neighborhood-centric.

The earliest European name for these clever slatted window treatments may have been "gelosia" in Italian. By the mid-16th century, the French used the term "jalousie," or "jealousy," when travelers to Turkey and Morocco observed how they had been designed to protect Muslim women from prying eyes outside.

It was that very function, privacy, as much as their ability to control light and ventilation, that resulted in Venetians claiming the naming rights. In the latter half of the 16th century, gondolas, by law, were all painted a rather anonymous black. The blinds were installed to facilitate incognito trips, often amorous in nature, along the waterways of Venice. No one, save the Gondolier's, who adhered to a strict code of silence, knew who was poling around the canals with whom.

Centuries later, and continents away, a mid-sized condo building in Belltown (the Bent's World Headquarters) has upwards of 10,000 linear feet, or 1.64578 nautical miles, of venetian blinds. No doubt some still serve a similar purpose.

Gravity... it's a law

This 100 to 150 (depending on who's reporting) ton, pile-driving crane fought the law, and the law won. Yesterday afternoon, in a pouring rain, the crane tested the limits of it's reach, soil gave way, and the whole thing fell over. It was busted - so to speak.

It had been pounding (and pounding, and pounding) pilings to create an abutment for the Olympic Sculpture Park's Seattle Cloud Cover pedestrian bridge which will cross 4 sets of BNSF tracks, right about where the 80 foot crane is laying in this picture, blocking rail traffic in both directions.

The Sellen Construction crew, in typical efficient fashion, brought in another crane and had the tracks cleared in a matter of hours. The crane tractor and cab, however, is still lying on it's side, making for a quiet morning at the Bent.

Changing the musical landscape

"Hiromi is changing the musical landscape. Her music, charm and spirit let her soar to unimaginable heights. She is nothing short of amazing." So says her mentor, Ahmad Jamal.

When she was 17 she was introduced to Chick Corea by teachers. He asked her to play. The next day, at his Tokyo performance, he invited her on stage to improvise with him.

The masterful Oscar Peterson recalls in his journal how he marveled "at her command of the instrument, along with her harmonic ideas and unbridled technical control." Great artists recognize greatness.

This week, at Jazz Alley, Hiromi mesmerized her audience with inventiveness, dynamic range, faultless time, and confident command of the club's beautiful new Steinway. She captivated the Bent photographer with her beauty, poise, angular approach to the piano... and remarkable music.

Many writers compare her to Ahmad, McCoy Tyner, even The Bad Plus. I was reminded, at times, of Brad Mehldau. Soon enough, she will attain iconic status of her own. And, would you believe she used to write jingles for Nissan? [more images]