The third Seattle indie film in as many years to get theatrical distribution is male bonding filmmaker Lynn Shelton's Hump Day, which is getting $350,000 to turn over the rights to Magnolia Pictures for a planned 15 city art house release.

Hump Day is about two straight men who have sex as an art project. The last three films that broke out of Seattle to get some sort of international attention and play in theatres are about homosexual bestiality (Zoo - 2007), a gay man's relationship with a monster (Cthulhu - 2008) and now Hump Day, about gay straight men.

Thanks to Moira Macdonald of the Seattle Times for the news:

Seattle's "Humpday" makes a deal at Sundance
Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton's third feature, "Humpday," was one of the first movies to ink a distribution deal at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, over the weekend.

The Blue Whale starts with a pastoral cod fishing trip and ends in a gruesome industrial slaughter. The beautifully illustrated out of print 1971 children's book by Kazue Mizumura is surely not appropriate material for whale-loving modern children.

The Dispatch scanned some pieces of the book (we didn't scan the whole book for legal reasons) so that you may also learn that "there are many kinds of whales, and they are useful to man in different ways ... whale meat is used for food - some for people and a lot for pet cats and dogs."

It's so hard to find a good blue whale steak these days - I guess we've come a long way since 1971.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Do you remember rock'n'roll radio? Remembering Seattle's KCMU

KCMU was the University of Washington's radio station from 1972 through 2001. In 1971 UW undergraduates John Kean, Cliff Noonan, Tory Fiedler, and Brent Wilcox started talking starting talking about and planning a college radio station at the UW. The Communications Department agreed to host the station, the FCC was petitioned by the University for a broadcasting license, and in 1972 it began broadcasting at 90.5. The CMU in KCMU, as most current students or alums of the UW know, was the abbreviation for the Communications Building where the station broadcasted from. The station was student run and grew slowly throughout the '70s. In 1981 after a funding cut, KCMU started running on-the-air fundraisers and asking listeners to help support the station.

During the '80s, the station was able to boost it's signal (400 watts was a milestone they'd talk about during fundraisers constantly) and the station moved to 90.3. KCMU became...

By Sheila Farr

Seattle Times art critic

"McLeod Residence, a popular Belltown gallery and bar, will close its doors Oct. 31..."

Back in the glory days, when downtown Seattle was a rough and tumble place free of espresso and sushi, Ronnie Pierce operated The Vault, a rock/jazz nightclub with go-go dancers.

Elaine Bonow interviews Seattle Jazz great Ronnie Pierce in the November Belltown Messenger:
Meet Ronnie Pierce, Musician With Appeal

Ronnie Pierce plays every Wednesday night at the Whisky Bar.

From our archives, the cover of the Seattle Star (October 1985!), a four-page tabloid comic zine with cover art by Peter Bagge. Inside, cartoons from Lynda Barry and other quality stuff. Published by Starhead Comix.

update 10-07-2008:

Let's not forget the more recent Seattle Star (Vol 3, No. 26. January 5-18, 2005)! Formerly the South Seattle Star. It then became the Seattle Sun and Star for a couple issues before flaming out. See second photo above.

Press Release                                             Contact: Ron Sandahl
Date: 9/8/08                                                 Phone: (206) 382-4250
Kill Date: Infinite                                           Email: ron@octheater.com
 
Open Circle Theater is ecstatic to announce that it has a new home: the former AHA! Theater in Belltown at 2222 Second Ave., Ste. 222
 
After losing it's theater home of 10 years in South Lake Union to development last year, Open Circle started a long search for a new home, and in fact created an entire itinerant season.  aided by the generous support of Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. and their property manager CB Richard Ellis, Open Circle had the breathing room to be able to wait for the perfect space.  And they have found it.  The Second Avenue location between Bell St. and Blanchard St. is wildly alive at night, and Open Circle will share the second floor with Freehold and Macha Monkey, making it one-stop-shopping for art!
 
Open Circle plans to premiere the new space with...

Seattle, WA--September 11, 2008--A mix of media, from high-tech computer programming to low-tech street art, makes its way to McLeod next month in four new exhibits. An animation installation by Brent Watanabe, paintings by Curtis Taylor, photography by April Brimer and an urban art installation by a variety of street artists open on Friday, October 3 with a reception from 5-9pm. The exhibits will be up until November 22.

Brent Watanabe will create an environment in the Conservatory that is a cross between a large, ever changing drawing, a runaway video game on the fritz, and an experimental animation, complete with surround sound. Stack:Heap:Loop consists of an animation portraying a mother duck pulled in an endless trek through a desolate man-made environment, her head trailing behind on a distorted/elongated neck, ducklings falling from her mouth. In the corner of the room a nest of ducklings face the wall, visible only by their reflection...

For Immediate Release: September 10, 2008

 Introducing 2008-2009 writers-in-residence Ed Skoog, Angela Jane Fountas, Cienna Madrid and Storme Webber

 October 9, 7 p.m. at Richard Hugo House

SEATTLE - Richard Hugo House presents a reading with 2008-2009 writers-in-residence Ed Skoog, Angela Jane Fountas, Cienna Madrid and Storme Webber on October 9 at 7 p.m in the Hugo House Cabaret.

 “The writers-in-residence gig is a tough one," says program director Alix Wilber. “You have to be a great writer, a great teacher and a great mentor, all rolled into one. We feel so fortunate to have found Ed Skoog, Angela Jane Fountas, Cienna Madrid and Storme Webber, four fantastic writers with just that combination of talent and skill, as well as real generosity of spirit.”

Angela Jane Fountas and Ed Skoog will replace outgoing Hugo House writers-in-residence Wendy Call and David Wagoner, both of whom finished writing projects, held public events at Hugo House and met with more than 3...

Second meeting of the newly formed Sustainable Belltown community group. The group is dedicated to raising awareness among Belltown residents regarding environmental issues facing the neighborhood and providing a forum for discussion of smart growth and sustainable living. Meeting is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM on September 15th at 2801 Western Ave. Guest speaker, Vic Opperman, founder of Sustainable Ballard and SCALLOPS will be on hand to discuss what other neighborhoods are doing for sustainability. All Belltown residents, workers, business owners and concerned citizens are welcome. For any questions or to get on the mailing list, please email sustainablebelltown@live.com.

Press release of the day:

August 20, 2008
REGRADE: Installation by Wade Kavanaugh

Wade Kavanaugh, a sculptor from Portland, Maine will construct an undulating topography of handmade bricks, punctuated by pathways on the gallery floor of Suyama Space, located at 2324 2nd Avenue.   The exhibition, entitled REGRADE will open to the public on September 15 and continue through December 12, 2008.  The sculptor will be present at an artist reception on Friday, September 12 from 5 - 7 p.m. and will deliver an artist talk at the gallery on Saturday, September 13 at 12 noon.  Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is free to the public.

Wade Kavanaugh’s installation work is inspired by idiosyncrasies associated with selected architectural spaces.  Not unlike an archeologist or forensic scientist, he unravels the history associated with the space in order to create a direct relationship between the viewer and the site.  Here the artist will investigate...

Update: 09-11-2008
Microsoft ad set in Ballard hits the airwaves
-myballard.com

---

Microsoft is paying over-the-hill comedian and Bee Movie star Jerry Seinfeld ten million dollars to hype it's archaic, unsuccessful Windows Vista software. An illegal monopoly, whose founders, vulgar bullies, have saved billions of dollars in taxes thanks to Bush's tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, hiring a rich jerk who last had credibility sometime in the early 90s, at about the same time Microsoft peaked, to push their expensive, buggy crap. And as the rest of the country goes to hell, basically - how out of touch is that? Another dumb move spawned by Microsoft's culture of arrogance.

Seinfeld to step into spotlight for Microsoft
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - August 22, 2008

(Update 01-21-2009): Latest Seattle Indie Film Inks Sundance Deal

(Update 01-14-2009):

I am so "friends" with Grant Cogswell on Facebook™ now! If you want Grant Cogswell news and events coverage from the source go on there and "friend" him too!

Stories about Grant Cogswell - artist.

Little Stabs of Happiness (and Horror)
"Lovecraft was also, alas, a homophobe who railed against "precious sissies" and other "deviants ..."
Bright Lights Film Journal - Nov 3, 2008

(Update 10-10-2008):
I know they recently tore down the building next to Piecora's Pizza on Cap Hill where Grant held some orgies and whatnot. The giant hand-painted "cthulhu-themovie.com" url on the wall was audacity and then some, and lasted from 2003 until recently.

Hey wait. I can't find my damn pictures of that bulding but did they change urls? I thought the sign said "cthulhumovie.com" now that I think of it.

SeattleNoise: At the Spine
"Grant wanted to have a big party afterwards"
Seatle Post-Intelligencer 10-10-200

Seattle Times 09-12-2008 An amateurish take...

I can't refrain from mentioning that local creative genius and recent victim of an alleged Belltown gay-bashing incident Grant Cogswell used to be a Hugo Hut poet-in-residence.

For Immediate Release:
August 20, 2008
Media Contact: Brian McGuigan, (206) 322-7030 brianmcguigan@hugohouse.org

New Hugo Huts Writers-in-Residence Announced

Cienna Madrid and Storme Webber chosen as 2008-2009 Hugo Huts residents SEATTLE - Richard Hugo House is pleased to announce Cienna Madrid and Storme Webber as 2008-2009 Hugo Huts writers-in-residence. Each writer will spend 12-month terms in residence at the Hugo Huts, two former cannery cottages in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle.

The residencies begin September 1, 2008. The writers will write and hold weekly office hours open to anyone in the community seeking to discuss or receive advice on writing. “We had an extremely competitive field of applicants this year,” says program director Alix Wilber. “But the projects Cienna and Storme each want to work...

Big profile of Seattle art galleries that are bars by Sheila Farr today in the Seattle Times. As a grizzled veteran of almost twenty years of Seattle art openings featuring bad art, undrinkable plonk in a box and Costco cheese, I welcome this trend. Belltown's McLeod Residence is featured as well as local media darling Gregg Lundgren (The P-I's Regina Hackett has an ongoing crush on this debonair ladies man). At McLeod, there are monthly exhibits and all that, but you can buy a drink. A reason to be there - at most galleries you wander in, look at the art, and leave. And does alcohol not make art more tolerable? Let's use the local music scene as an example.

Imagine being at the now closed Crocodile Cafe, a club owned by wealthy rock stars who paid their loyal workers minimum wage and tips with no benefits. You're there with some friends watching a band but it's too loud to talk, and you are standing behind a giant foundation post which is blocking your view. You are watching indie rock - four or five twenty-...