Tag Archives: music

Arts, Local Events

Swingin’ sounds coming to Beacon Hill

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Photo by Reed George via Creative Commons/Flickr.
Music fans will want to swing on over to the Garden House over the next couple of weekends to enjoy two musical events presented by ROCKiT Community Arts.

This Sunday, May 6, at 6 p.m. the Sunday Folk Club brings Charlie Beck to the Hill to perform acoustic American roots music, traditional old-time country, and blues. Hear some examples of Beck’s music here. This show is a release party for Beck’s new CD, Leave on the Light.

HopSkipJump will open with new and old fiddle tunes. Admission is $5, free to ROCKiT members and kids 12 and under.

The following Saturday, May 12, at 7 p.m., it’s swing time for everyone with the 2012 Beacon Rocks! Swing Dance Fundraiser. Savoy Swing Club Performance Troupe will put on a demo, followed by a short swing dance lesson. Then the rest of the evening will be your chance to show off your moves to lots of swing music. There will be refreshments and raffles, and all funds raised will go to support the 2012 Beacon Rocks! music series.

All ages are welcome. Admission is $15; kids 12 and under by donation.

Arts, Local Events

Hot jazz and a swinging barn dance coming to ROCKiT’s Folk Club

Photo by Michelle Tribe via Creative Commons/Flickr.
The ROCKiT Community Arts Tuesday Folk Club is holding its last Tuesday show this coming Tuesday, March 27. Have no fear, the folk is not going away — instead, it’s moving to First Sundays, with the first show just a few days later on April 1. No foolin’.

Tuesday’s show features the Chicago 7, playing jazz of the 1920s and ’30s. According to their website, the group, organized by trombonist Marc Smason, is “a salute to, and extension of, the polyphonic early hot jazz styles of New Orleans, Chicago and New York.” Here’s an audio clip: “More Than You Know.”

The show will open with a performance by Washington Middle School Alternative Strings. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the cover charge is $5 for adults, free for kids.

The following Sunday the Folk Club debuts on Sunday nights with a Garden House barn dance featuruing fiddler Tony Mates and caller Charmaine Slaven. Cover for this one is $7 for adults, and free for kids. Doors will open at 6 p.m.

Both shows are, as always, in the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.

Local Events, Meetings

Musicians and gardeners meet at Garden House this week.

Does music make your garden grow? Find out this week, when events for both musicians and gardeners will take place at the Garden House on 15th Avenue South.

On Tuesday, January 24 at 7 p.m., ROCKiT Community Arts presents this month’s Tuesday Folk Club show, featuring Percy Hilo and
Friends, who are described as “original songs to sing, laugh and think with in Americana folk stylings.” Opening the show will be Betty Jean Williamson and Jack Lenoir. (Make note—next month’s show will feature Golden Tree Story, with Jean Mann opening.) Admission is a $5 donation, and kids get in free.

The following day, Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m., the Beacon Hill Garden Club meets. The local chapter is the newest chapter of the Federation of State Garden Clubs. At this week’s meeting, the group will look at seed catalogs to make a group order from multiple companies. All are welcome to visit, and it is $10/year to join the club.

The Garden House is located at 2336 15th Ave. S.

Vines growing in the Beacon Hill P-Patch during warmer weather. Gardening time is coming soon! Photo by Dapper Lad Cycles in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
Arts, Local Events

Tuesday Folk Club celebrates a year of music on Tuesday, 12/27

The Tuesday Folk Club at ROCKiT Space has been happening for a year now. To celebrate this year of folk music and community participation, there will be a holiday/anniversary party on Tuesday, December 27 at 7 p.m. The site is the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.

The party starts with a casual open mic, followed by a barn dance, complete with callers. There will be light refreshments, and drawings for ROCKiT gear. ROCKiT Space and Beacon Rocks! t-shirts will also be available for sale.

Admission is $5; ROCKiT members and kids under 12 get in for free. Donations for food and drink are welcome. For more information, see the ROCKiT Space website.

Arts, Local Events

Music, “Urban Retreat” among this weekend’s events

Music and a peaceful retreat are coming to North Beacon this weekend through two events.

On Friday (tonight!) at 8 p.m., the Tangletown String Band will bring bluegrass, alt-country, and “old-time” music to Quetzalcoatl Gallery, 3209 Beacon Ave. S. Hear some examples of their music here.

The second event is Urban Retreat: Advent through the Senses, a “day of retreat” at Poustinia House, 3007 16th Ave. S. from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 3. All are welcome. The hosts say:

“Located in a house in North Beacon Hill this retreat will offer spaces to read, walk a labyrinth, do some writing, meditate or have a cup of tea. Advent is a latin word for ‘coming’ and is a season preceding Christmas. In this space we get to be and come into a new way of being during this holiday season.”

Jonathan Myers of Poustinia House adds “We’re not at all interested in preaching to people or having them join anything. All we want to do is provide space for people to escape from the craziness of life, center and ground themselves before the mad rush of the holidays gets too overwhelming.”

Arts, Local Events, Volunteering and Giving

Caspar Babypants to play at Wellspring Open House Saturday

Wellspring Family Services, just a bit east of Beacon Hill on Rainier Avenue, is holding a free Holiday Open House this Saturday, December 3. The event will feature a special performance by Caspar Babypants (otherwise known as Chris Ballew from The Presidents of the United States of America). Caspar will be debuting a brand-new song written about the winner of this summer’s Kids Helping Kids coin drive contest.

The event runs from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Wellspring, 1900 Rainier Ave. S. Caspar Babypants performs live at 1 p.m., and there will also be holiday treats and tours of the facility.

Admission is free for all ages, however, you are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the Wellspring Holiday Toy Room. The Toy Room is a place where homeless families may come and choose gifts for their children. Wellspring expects to share gifts with over 1,000 children in this year’s Toy Room.

Caspar Babypants performs for happy, dancing children. Photo courtesy of Wellspring Family Services.
Arts, Local Events

Harvest Fair comes to Garden House on 10/22

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Mark your calendar for the Beacon Hill Harvest Fair, Saturday October 22 from 2-9 p.m. Activities for all ages include apple cider pressing, art, music, and dancing. On the edible side of things, there will also be a bake sale, food vendors, a Food Forest demonstration, and, to share the harvest’s bounty, a donation drive for the El Centro de la Raza food bank.

The Harvest Fair is free and will take place at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.

Here’s the planned schedule of events:

  • 2 p.m. until dark:

    • Apple cider pressing with 300 pounds of apples grown here on Beacon Hill at the Jose Rizal Park orchard. If you have extra home grown apples you would like to share, bring them to be pressed.
    • El Centro de la Raza Food Bank food drive
    • Beacon Food Forest demonstrates a “fruit tree guild”
    • Beacon Hill Garden Club members talk to interested folks about membership in their organization
    • ROCKiT space bake sale
    • Food vendors
  • 2-5 p.m.: Create an Art Chair with Kathleen McHugh. For all ages, no experience required.
  • 3 p.m.: Hamanah Don plays West African Malinke harvest rhythms.
  • 5 p.m.: Aaron Hennings leads the Mercer Middle School eighth grade orchestra.
  • 6 p.m.: Jefferson Community Center-based break dance crews perform.
  • 7-9 p.m.: Harvest Fair Barn Dance featuring the Small Time String Band (Oliver Abrahamson on fiddle, Eli Abrahamson on banjo, Terrie Abrahamson on guitar, and Danny Abrahamson on bass), with Sherry Nevins calling dances that are fun for the whole family—no lessons or experience needed.
Arts, Local Events

Beacon Boogie brings art, music, and fun on 10/29

The first Beacon Boogie will celebrate food, art, and music on the Hill on October 29. Five bands will perform in five different North Beacon venues for five dollars (free for kids 12 and under). All of the venues are on Beacon Avenue South within a half block of South Hanford Street.

The festivities begin with pizza and the jazz of Trio Zazou at Bar del Corso from 5-7 p.m. Then from 7-10, the music moves to four other venues:

Quetzalcoatl Gallery will also host a community Day of the Dead altar, and a reception for a photography exhibition by Almendra Sandoval.

The Beacon Boogie is sponsored by the Beacon Hill Merchants Association.

Here’s a video of Beacon Boogie performer Greg Ruby:

Read on to see more videos and a clickable map of the event’s venues.
Continue reading Beacon Boogie brings art, music, and fun on 10/29 →

Arts

Get Off the Hill: Blue Scholars, World on a Wire

This is the first of an occasional series of “Get Off the Hill” posts, in which the BHB will mention some entertainment options that aren’t in the neighborhood. We love spending time on Beacon Hill, but we can’t spend all our time here. Occasionally it’s worth leaving the hill for a good movie or a concert.

* * *

Beacon Hill hip-hop duo Blue Scholars have just started their first nationwide tour and will be playing in front of the hometown crowd in an all-ages show at the Showbox at the Market, Saturday night, September 17. The tour will take them all the way to New York City, where they’ll wrap up the whole shebang on November 11.

The Showbox show is sold out. We hope you have tickets. If not, perhaps you can catch them in Portland, Olympia, or Bellingham. (Tickets are cheaper there anyway.)

In the meantime, check out this discussion between Sabzi of Blue Scholars and Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes of Tarboo Inc., and enjoy this song:

Continue reading Get Off the Hill: Blue Scholars, World on a Wire →

Arts

Songwriters’ Circle tonight

Working on a song? The Songwriters' Circle welcomes you. Photo by Delwin Steven Campbell via Creative Commons.
If the recent musical activity of Beacon Rocks! and the NEPO 5K Don’t Run inspired you, you may want to attend tonight’s monthly installment of the Beacon Hill Songwriters’ Circle. It’s a casual group for songwriters at all levels to get feedback and support from other songwriters.

The Songwriters’ Circle is held at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month (including tonight, September 13), at Betty Jean and Jay’s house, 5919 Shaffer Ave. S. There is a $5 suggested donation, free to members of ROCKiT space.

For more information, contact beaconrocks@gmail.com, or call Paul at 206-658-3622.