2008.9.28. Snow Lake

Finally some good weather (and in weekend too!)

2008.9.27. Annual Italian Festival at Seattle Center. Grape stomping is fun. Vegan chef Christina Pirello is entertaining. The stage is well set up, a mirror hung above the table, and a side booth with a small army of slaves chopping the ingrediants and distributing the samples. Seattle Opera also performed a few Italian arias. The small photo exhibition is worth browsing through, some dated to 1903.

2008.9.28. Snow Lake. Maybe may be the first time I hike here this late in season. Still some snow licking the lake. An easily accessible beauty (6 miles R/T, I-90 exit 52). No surprise to have such a big crowd (even the overflowing lot had a dozen cars). A few maples are already red, but huckleberries bushes are still green. No berries whatsoever.

2008.9.24. ReBar presents "Tootsie", a new installment of Ian Bell's Brown Derby Series. Starring Andrew Tasakos as Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman), Nick Garrison as Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange), Brandon Whitehead as Jeff Slater (Bill Murray), Joe Randazzo as Sandy Lester (Teri Garr), Scott Shoemaker as John Van Horn (Goerge Gaynes), Jason Sharp as April Page (Gina Davis). Tasakos is very good. Garrison is too full of himself. The rest of the crew is mediocre at best. Costume is not up to my expectation. Not enough rehearsal. Still quite funny, albeit crass.

2008.9.22. Gutenberg the Musical by Strawberry Theatre Workshop at Erickson Theatre off Broadway. The only stage/costume design is about 20 hats and a couple of packing boxes. Two actors and a piano man. Quite creative. A bit silly and over done, but still fun.

2008.9.18. Swingin' with Marvin Hamlisch and Seattle Symphony. Celebrating the Jazz age. Featuring Nikki Yanofsky, a 14 year-old prodigy, and a local high school talent, Carl Majeau who soloed on clarinet, and a newly founded jazz band Four to the Floor with 4 kids from 4 different high schools, and the Jazz Ambassadors of US Army.
The girl has a fabulous voice, completely at ease in improvising, so was the 17 year-old clarinetist. What I don't like is the girl's outfit, and the blue trousers of the soldiers (an incoherent match with the dark navy blue of their jacket). Hamlisch was funny, talked in between every number. Overall, highly enjoyable.

2008.9.14. Benaroya Hall's 10th birthday celebration. Free performances by various music groups, inside and outside of the concert halls, and Seattle Art Museum also opened for free.
Arriving late, I managed to see Seattle Men's and Women's choir, and Pacific Northwest Community Orchestra playing Mahler symphony no. 1. Captain Smartypants's song that rhymes with e was a lot of fun. Gerard Schwarz conducted (as he announced to be unrehearsed) Mahler's no. 1. Each section has at least one Seattle Symphony's core members, including the concert master Maria Larionoff. All was well and grand.
Time flies. I still remember going to Benaroya Hall's very first open house!