Sunday, February 10, 2008

First Georgetown Art Attack

I spent most of the evening at a birthday party (where three of the celebrants were brand-new Obama delgates and two were alternates) at Calamity Jane's last night, so I didn't have time to attack much art. But I did take a few pictures.

I ran into George before the party, and Kathy and Holly helped me dress up my cool last-minute gift of a cute apron for the birthday girl. (Thank you, thank you.)

Sarah at CJ's let us eat cake.

IMG_3592

It was too loud to follow this performance very closely, but I think it depicted a witch trial involving cannibalism and the sexual abuse of a couple of German children. Cute!

IMG_3581

I'd hoped to meet Erika of Full Throttle Bottles, even though I was two hours late to the belly-dancing performance she'd told me about. So we headed that way.

IMG_3593

I saw her car (or, at least, a car with her name on it parked right outside her shop), but the place was locked up. Another time...

We dropped in Georgetown Tile Works, where I did not recognize Amie from Friends of Georgetown History because I'm kind of dumb that way, and besides, I'd never met her out of costume before.

IMG_3595

On our way back to the car, we got pulled into Lucky's Choppers ("Psst. Hey. Do you guys like guitars? Come check this out.") to see this guy's amazing handmade guitars.

IMG_3596

He ran out of cards so I don't know his name, but I'm sure some of you do.

-----------------

Prefer blurry photos from a G-town wannabe to thoughtful, provocative commentary from someone who actually lives there? I thought so! Vote for me at Metroblogging Seattle, if their poll is working.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

New Hardscaping at a Beacon Hill House

My mother-in-law asked for a photo of my brother-in-law's lovely new retaining wall and landscaping. Since it's on Beacon Hill, it's topical enough to post here.

IMG_1146

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Another Beacon Hill Man in the News

From today's P-I:

A Beacon Hill man who admitted filming eight women in the Cinerama movie theater restroom won't serve any time in jail, a King County Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

As part of a plea agreement, Philip Michael Thomas was sentenced to 30 days of community service and required to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to one count of voyeurism, a felony. Thomas, 21, is also required to undergo a sexual deviancy screening and may have to undergo therapy.

Thomas was arrested Aug. 11 after a patron discovered a video camera planted in a women's restroom at the downtown Seattle theater. While reviewing the recording, officers discovered that Thomas had inadvertently videotaped himself while setting up the camera.

According to court documents, police found recordings of eight women, as well as images of another woman at her home.

After his arrest, Thomas told police he set up the camera in a single-stall women's room because "he knew that he wasn't going to film any kids," according to police statements.

At sentencing, Thomas apologized for his crime.

"This was a very dumb mistake," Thomas told Judge Chris Washington. "I'm deeply sorry for what I did."

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Three Hours of Vintage MTV

Boing Boing reports that a dude in Belgium has posted three hours of MTV from 1983.

If you were to sit at your computer and watch all three hours, here's what you would find.

Night Ranger - Don't Tell Me You Love Me
Huey Lewis - Heart and Soul
The Tubes - Monkey Time
Prince - Little Red Corvette
George Thorogood - Bad to the Bone
Police - Synchronicity II
Sammy Hagar - Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy
Steve Miller Band - Jet Airliner
Kansas - Fight Fore with Fire
Michael Bolton - Fool's Game
Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel the Noize

"October 29th in Alabama is Lionel Richie Day, as proclaimed by Gov. George Wallace"

Bow Wow Wow - Do You Wanna Hold Me?
The Who - You Better You Bet
The Motels - Suddenly Last Summer
Madness - Our House
Nick Heyward - Whistle Down the Wind
ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
Garland Jeffreys - 96 Tears
Stevie Nicks - If ANyone Falls
Elton John - I'm Still Standing
Thompson Twins - Lies
Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself
Men at Work - It's a Mistake
Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - Say Say Say

"because coffee lets you calm yourself down... join the coffee achievers"

Quarterflash - Take Another Picture
David Bowie - Modern Love
Billy Quier - Lonely Is the Night
INXS - The One Thing
The Romantics - Talking in Your Sleep
Jefferson Starship - Be My Lady
Robert Plant - Burning Down One Side
Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
Split Enz - One Step Ahead
The Fixx - Red Skies
The Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
Joe Walsh - I Can Play That Rock & Roll

A Cold Saturday in Georgetown

Your options are limited at 11 a.m. on a Saturday in Georgetown if you're hungry and not in the mood for breakfast or vegan food.

I wasn't sure if the Hangar Cafe would be serving lunch yet. And we were so hungry that we weren't sure if we could wait for any crepe people ahead of us to get served anyway.

Smarty Pants does its brunch menu until 3 p.m. Stellar's not open until 3. Georgetown Liquor Company's not open until 2.

I kind of wanted sushi and would have tried Daimonji, but they're not open until dinner on Saturdays.

However, Calamity Jane's and Jules Maes serve lunch at 11 on Saturdays. Since we went to Calamity Jane's on Monday, we went to Jules Maes today. The BLT and tomato basil soup were perfect.

It looked like Georgetown Tile Works was open, what with the beckoning clown out front and all, so we decided to go check that out.

IMG_3559

First we passed a couple of closed storefronts.

IMG_3557

Full Throttle Bottles should be opening soon.

IMG_3558

We hung out quite a while in the tile and gift shop, wasting the owners' time chatting about leatherwork, Chris Crites, Chemical Wedding, tiles, belt buckles, outsider art, the east side of Beacon Hill, remodeling, and their new view from the shop. They can see the I-5 signs for Vancouver, Tacoma, and Portland now.

IMG_3560

I love the tile they're making. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before.

IMG_3564

I think I like this even better.

IMG_3566

And these metallic glazes remind me of Tau Ceramica's lovely Corten tile that we currently have in our bathroom. (I say "currently" because we already have some remodel plans drawn up, though we're not sure when they'll actually happen.)

IMG_3565

We finally left the GTW folks alone so they could get some work done. I was too lazy and cold to cross the street like these other folks and get a closer look of the demolition.

IMG_3567

Monday, January 21, 2008

Photos of the Stock House Demolition

Tonight at Calamity Jane's Pabst was sponsoring an art show and swag giveaway. I was just there for the all-you-can-eat spaghetti.

IMG_1123

IMG_1124

We ran into a friend, and a neighbor, and my brother-in-law and his fiancee.

After dinner and some free beer we checked out the demolition down the street.

IMG_1128

IMG_1134

IMG_1137

Sabey's Jim Harmon, who seemed unfazed by the cold, pointed out the roof damage from a 1988 fire.

IMG_1141

He said things are about on schedule and that the crew will be taking a day off tomorrow, though he'll still be there. I would have asked him some more questions, but I was fucking freezing out there.

Inside the warm confines of Jules Maes, I saw some dudes adding flowers to the fence.

IMG_1143

IMG_1145

Things will never be the same around here.

Misc. South End News

Decrepit building on its way out: The Paper Noose reports that the DPD has asked the owners of this old Georgetown building to fix it up pronto. Somehow I'm guessing it's going to end up getting torn down and rebuilt.

IMG_5136

Call for submissions: The Paper Noose (whom I really should start calling by his new SEO-friendlier name, Blogging Georgetown) also reports that Georgetown's third annual Super 8 Film Festival is coming up. Your three-minute-long entry's due Feb. 6.

Sad news: After 60 years in business, Andy's Diner has closed.