A SIDE PROJECT
"Suzie and The Side Project are playing at Calabria," said Downtowner Valerie Shafer as she takes me to the performance..
Downtowner Toni Pietromonaco is already there. "You've gotta write about these guys," he says.
I met with Susie Bradshaw and The Side Project at Sasi's Café next door one afternoon. The core group made up of Susie, her husband and bass player Ben Bradford and keyboard player Parker Moosman.
Listening to them at the wonderful Calabria, I understood why they can develop their own innovative music. Not to mention their regular Wednesday night appearance at Calabria, they also have had six full-house performances at the Triple Door in Seattle.
Suzie began singing when she at 8 years old and started writing at 17.
"I happened to be around Dax Johnson and a lot of inspiring people and I started writing," said Suzie. "It's just easier to write and understand how to do it when you're around songwriters. I was raised on Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan. But our music is definitely a mix of the three of us. Everyone is writing their own parts. It's a collaboration."
"Suzie has written four songs, lyrics and melody for the instrumentation," Ben says.
"My voice was a lot more suitable to The Side Project than other bands I was playing in," Suzie adds.
The three of them moved to this area from Spokane.
"All we did the first two years here was play every day. None of us had a regular job," Suzie said.
"We played at everything we could," Ben adds.
The conversation turned to their up- coming show, which is co-sponsored by Calabria and the 12th Avenue Café. The show will be at the Kirkland Performance Center on May 4. They will be playing original music with the full band, including Jason Edwards on drums, Aaron Heibert on guitar and Zoe Boysen on cello.
There will be two live painters painting while the band plays, and a child ballet dancer from the Trilogy Dance Company.
Suzie sings in a gentle voice reminiscent of Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Beth Gibbons. Several of the songs are definitely inspired by the group Portishead.
I asked about the often melancholy mood of the songs.
"I was writing a lot about our relationship," Suzie said. "Ben was in Bellingham and was going out. I was in Spokane and it is all I was thinking about. A lot of uncertainty and I guess I was hunting him down."
Ben jumped in: "We are really upbeat now. We're a lot happier."
The May 4 show at KPC is intended for all ages.
Dinner and a tango
Mixtura has brought exotic food and dance to Kirkland for almost two years, opening in November 2005 at 150 Lake Street South. A number of restaurants have been there through the past few years. Does anyone remember the silver plating shop, though? On the first and third Wednesdays, Mixtura offers a tango show and open Tango dancing.
Marisol Bernal and husband Gus Rivabeneira own and manage Mixtura, along with their partners Oscar Costa and Emmanuel Pequeras.
Oscar lives in British Columbia, where he owns a Peruvian restaurant. Gus also lived in British Columbia. Oscar and Gustavo have known each other for a long time, Marisol told me.
"They played soccer together. Seventeen years ago, Gus moved to Portland for his work. He traveled all over for his work," said Marisol.
Marisol told me she and Gus received an invitation to a new Peruvian restaurant, Andina in Portland. Gus is Peruvian. Oscar said that Gus called him to say he needed to see this restaurant, that he needed to open one. Together they decided they would open Mixtura, choosing Kirkland because it was a good middle point for them. Marisol and Gus have moved to the Juanita area.
Marisol told me that they liked the food so much at Andina, they stole the chef, Emmanuel.
Marisol describes chef Emmanuel's work:
"He is amazing. His imagination.... Oh, he's not someone you can easily describe. He's always trying to invent. He's an artist. You can see his ideas going on in his head. You feel his excitement when you eat his food."
Our server Marritt explained Mixtura means appetizers and that qunioa is a principal South American grain. It sounds like "key wah," it is quite enjoyable in many dishes.
Two rows of tables line one side of the dance floor, a couch on the north edge of the dance floor, bridges the lounge and dining room into one.
The music had been playing and the dancers performing a while when Rosemary commented: "It is quiet enough you can comfortably talk."
The dancing started. We were fascinated by the tangueros - tango dancers - intricate interlacing stepping. The lovely Downtowner Patty Leverett performed the first recital. Patty is the guru of tango dancing. She and Gus have worked out the first and third Wednesday events. Also worth noting is that there is no cover.
We talked with one of the dancing couples, Christa Rodriquez and Neiraj Korde. Christa and Neiraj have been practicing together for two years, dancing three or four times a week.
Christa said she teaches tango at the Eighth Style School of tango in the area to support herself. She's majoring in art history at the University of Washington. Neiraj is a software engineer currently working at Amazon. As it turns out, Maritt studies with Christa and Neiraj.
What makes this dining especially fun is the tango and, as Rosemary put it, "this isn't the kind of food you would normally cook at home."
ARLO AND SCOTT
"It was an awesome show," Downtowner Scott Becker said in the morning over breakfast at George's.
As a member of the Kirkland Performance Center board of directors Scott and Molly Becker, along with Dwight and Prudy Olson, sponsored the Arlo Guthrie Family Legacy Tour. Each year, the board attends a banquet on the Kirkland Performance Center stage where they eat well and bid on sponsoring the next season's shows. The funds are used to offset the cost of the shows.
Scott and Molly and daughter Annie came out for the show, visited friends and threw a surprise 80th birthday party for Scott's dad. Annie has grown so much! She breaks boards with her little feet in her martial arts class. It is just too bad we were unable to have a city wide reception for this lovely family.
Center Director Steve Lerian asked Scott to introduce the Arlo Guthrie Legacy Tour show. It's called the Family Legacy Tour because they sing a lot of Woody Guthrie songs along with Arlo's songs.
Arlo sang all of his hit songs, including "Alice's Restaurant." The was no Alice's Restaurant in Stockbridge, Mass. Arlo bought a church there and that inspired the song. Arlo lives there now.
"It sure was good to be back in Kirkland and seeing everyone," Scott bubbled. "And it was just an awesome show."
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Story ideas? Call me at 425-821-9678 or e-mail me at ragraham27@hotmail.com.
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