Suyama Space Garage Sale

The Suyama Space Benefit Garage Sale is a wondrous and completely irregular event in which the eccentric architecture firm Suyama Peterson Deguchi clears out its curiously curated attic, basement and gallery space. After a two year hiatus the sale is finally back, and includes an incomprehensibly weird and satisfying mix of objects including (but hardly limited to) one of a kind handmade furniture, taxidermied animals, transistor radios, foreign language typewriters, splendid textiles, objets d'art and many more unnameable treasures.

The sale takes place this weekend only, on Friday from 9 to 5, Saturday from 10 to 4, and Sunday from 10 to 4. At 2324 Second Avenue in Belltown. Bring cash!

Punk Rock Flea Market

The 11th Punk Rock Flea Market has come and gone, wrapping up the 5th full year of this underground Seattle institution. Was it fun? Hell yes. Ten hours of booze-fueled shopping with non-stop music from our beloved DJ Port-a-Party. More than 700 people came through the doors - not even including the clowns who sneaked in to avoid paying their $1 entry fee - and we made a donation of about $1000 to our friends and benefactors at the Low Income Housing Institute. If you made it, we were happy to have you there. If you missed it, there's always next time.

Incidentally, our awesome poster for this market was created by Seattle artist Narboo, well known around these parts for his cartoony owls, pigeons, cats & raccoons who appear like magic on stop signs and bathroom walls everywhere between Vancouver, BC and Portland, OR. He still has some limited edition prints left, available right here. The next Punk Rock Flea Market should take place sometime around midsummer. Make a date, mark your calendars and start saving your pennies. And of course, keep an eye on Gurldoggie for details.

Stasia Burrington

The Punk Rock Flea Market happened over the weekend, and it was a hell of a thing. I'll post a full update in a minute, but I first want to highlight one of the vendors who was selling work there. Stasia Burrington is an illustrator here in Seattle, and I just love her work. There's so much to enjoy here - The super cute figures have feelings that run very deep. Her clean clean lines reveal wonderfully complicated ambiguities. And the characters somehow maintain their innocence despite living in a sexy and violent world. Punk rock? Maybe not. Hopelessly romantic? Without question.

Baby Nico really liked this one. For myself, I picked up a pocket-size 2012 calendar with an illustration for each month. Lovely. See more of her work here, and go shopping on her Etsy site right here.

Punk Rock Flea Market

How ya'll been?

Did I mention that that the TENTH Punk Rock Flea Market is coming up? It's the 4th anniversary of Seattle's favorite 12-hour mall, still selling the weirdest objects and most beautiful objets d'art loaded out of basements across the region. We've got some great stalwarts coming back like Adria Garcia and Miss Oblivious, and awesome newbies like Stuff You'll Love and Half Pint Ice Cream.

Plus live music throughout the day by the likes of the Rabbit Stew String Band, the Bucharest Drinking Team, and Ana Bender. And of course the man who brings the party on 45, DJ Port-A-Party. Should be a damn good day. Next Saturday, June, at the Underground Events Center. Where else? Come early and get the pick of the lot, come late and get bargains.

And for Pete's sake it's still just ONE DOLLAR to get in. How the hell do we do it?

Speaking of bargains, I have some beautiful posters for the event, designed and hand-screened in an edition of 50 by Seattle artist NKO. These posters are truly splendid, and I want to mail you one. Just tell me if you want one in comments or send me a note.

Punk Rock Flea Market

I almost forgot to mention... the next Punk Rock Flea Market is right around the corner, taking place this Saturday, December 4. The particulars are the same as ever - at the Underground Events Center, hosted by the Low Income Housing Institute, just $1 to get in - but the specifics are a little different. About 2/3 of our vendors are BRAND NEW this time, including many craft vendors, record sellers and junk dealers who are unknown to me. Very exciting - I love our old friends, but I'm psyched to see the new treasure trove of goodies. As always, DJ Port-a-Party spins the tunes, the bar is open, and the event is all ages, all day. For God's sake people: don't miss this.

Also worth noting: the graphic and poster for PRFM9 were designed by none other than Seattle street art heroine 179. AND true blue PRFM honcho The Corey has got our new website up and running. Cheers!

Georgetown Market

At the same time that the Punk Rock Flea Market gets going in Belltown this Saturday, the first-ever Georgetown Saturday Market opens its gates. The long awaited market on Airport Way in the heart of Georgetown combines a full farmers’ market selling locally grown meat and produce, with antique dealers, craft sellers and entertainers. Georgetown and its surrounding neighborhoods are the part of the city least served by grocery stores. A weekly farmers' market is a welcome addition to the neighborhood and long long overdue.

The market will be held every Saturday throughout the summer, organized by the Seattle Farmers Market Association (SFMA), the same folks who operate the busy year-round market in Ballard. See the best of Seattle on sale this Saturday by coming to the Georgetown Saturday Market and the PRFM!

Punk Rock Flea Market!

The next Punk Rock Flea Market is just around the corner, returning to the Underground Events Center on June 5. The PRFM is basically unstoppable at this point, getting bigger and better with every incarnation. It's Seattle's best flea market in my opinion, welcoming vendors and purveyors of music, movies, clothing, toys, furniture, jewelry, soap, candles, computers, radios, books, belt buckles, balloon animals, bike parts, vintage porn, ceramics, roller skates, spray paint, incense, cupcakes, pickles, arts, crafts, pretty much anything you got.

A few good changes this time around - the event is now open to all ages all day, and the bands are going to play outdoors so that there can be live music DURING the market. Seems like a better way to take advantage of the sunshine and it will hopefully get a bigger crowd in to see the bands.

Like always, the space has been generously loaned for the day by the good folks at the Low Income Housing Institute, a non-profit organization that builds homes for homeless and low-income people all around the Puget Sound. Table fees and entry donations go to them.

The glorious poster for PRFM #8 was put together by Chelsea Conboy a damn talented young designer who also just completed all the design work for Bumbershoot 2010!

There's still some selling spaces left, but get word back to the organizers quick if you want a booth, and keep your eyes on Gurldoggie for up-to-the-minute info on bands, vendors and taco truck appearances.

Back to the Punk Rock Flea Market

Things are falling into place for the 7th Punk Rock Flea Market, just a few short weeks away on December 5. Market spaces sold out in record time - within 3 weeks of announcing the date all 60 spots were gone - and we've got an unusually strong array of vendors this time around. In addition to the usual books, records and high-class trash, a number of nationally known print makers and crafters have sniffed us out and are traveling to Seattle for the occasion. Plus the loyal Pokie Bones from Bike So Good is making a return appearance with a full load of bike supplies. Good stuff for sale, I kid you not.

The band line up is also insanely good once again, with appearances from the Hungry Crow Sideshow out of Eugene, OR ("forged in the cauldron of transcendent poetics and stamped with the sepia-tinted
seal of vaudeville"), Variables (from a collective of intelligent, angsty, nihilist, and absurd Seattle hip hop musicians, rapping over old school, new school and punk beats.) and Mexican UFO (five piece glam/punk/metal rock n roll powerhouse, making trouble wherever they go.) The Underground is only just big enough to contain all this insane energy.

And of course DJ Port-a-Party spins old school 45’s and accompanying films, bringing us back to a time when hope was plentiful, love was cheap and recorded music occupied physical space.

All this plus our taps are full of beer, and it still costs just ONE DOLLAR to get in. Word. The market is on Saturday Dec. 5 from noon to midnight at the Underground Events Center, 2407 1st Ave. in Belltown. More here. Don't miss it!

Some of You People Just About Missed It

I hope for your sake that you got down to the Punk Rock Flea Market on Saturday. It was one hell of a good time - a gorgeous day, a record turn out, and just awe inspiring music. Huge props to the Yellow Hat Band, Keg, Specs One and Kled, all of whom gave larger than life performances and left our audience enrapt.

Also major gratitude to all the volunteers who came out to move tables, sell entrances, sweep the parking lot, empty trash barrels and pour beer. Come back next time? Please? And as always, big kisses to the Low Income Housing Institute without whom of this could happen.

Speaking of next time ... I had a few conversations on Saturday which may just lead to a new-and-improved Punk Rock Flea Market which could bring even more shoppers and bigger audiences for our extraordinary entertainers. Watch this space for details. And check out EspressoBuzz's flickr page, or my own, for more photos of the day. Thanks again for choosing the Flea Market for all your Punk Rock shopping needs!

Punk Rock Flea Music

The Punk Rock Flea Market is coming up on Saturday. In addition to the most vendors EVER (80 booths + 8 food sellers + several roaming salespeople equals close to 100 vendors!) we've also got a stellar line up of music and entertainment. Starting at around 6:00 Keg (local high-energy high-kicking one-man-band) takes the stage, followed by Seattle hip hop legend SPECS ONE, and the night wraps up with Kled, dramatic psycho-death-disco-rockers in hot pants. Also, our regular tunesmith, the extraordinary DJ Port-a-Party, will be spinning records all day, the Yellow Hat Band will be making an appearance, and we've got an "almost-promise" from the Bicycle Belles dance troupe that they'll show up as well. Rock and Roll, flea market style.

It's gonna be a insanely good show so come to the market, stick around for the show, and tell all yer friends. See you there!

And hey! The Punk Flea up above was drawn by Rachel Dukes of Poseur Ink, who I met at the Emerald City Comic Convention, where she was pushing her book "Side B: The Music Lover's Comic Anthology." Available here! Now!

Punk Rock Flea Market #6! 6/6!

Fresh from baby birthin' and a six month break, Pepita, Nico & me are up and running and getting things in place for the next Punk Rock Flea Market. This being PRFM #6, it seemed poetically appropriate to hold it on 6/6. Should be a good one - a whole mess of folks have already signed up to be there, including 4 record vendors, lots of clothing makers, that guy with all the stereo equipment, two people selling pet reptiles (!), the haircut lady, a few printmakers and graffiti artists selling their work, plenty of baby stuff, & who knows what else. If you want in, just drop me a line and I'll send you a form. Spaces are still just $25, and double spaces cost $50. DJ Port-a-Party will be there to rock the joint, and once again the market space has been generously donated by the Low Income Housing Institute.

The poster this time was designed by awesome Seattle street artist and graphic designer Kinoko! We'll have an edition of signed silkscreened posters for sale at the event. See you there!

Place Your Bids!

Theater director Richard Foreman — the creator of expressionist spectacles so brilliant, so inspired, so lunatic that no one has ever adequately described one — is letting go of some of his famously baroque prop pieces in an online auction that starts today. The auction includes a Large Hypnotic Heart ("Viewed by some as a melancholic target and others as a spellbinding vortex pulling them into a trance"), Bejeweled Axes ("The masculinity and destructive quality of the Axes reverberates against the femininity of the plumage and the multi-colored jewels") and a Jewish Fish Wrapped in Silk ("The gold and green fish, wrapped in silk with Hebrew letters...is a little atom of total potentiality.") Even if you have no room for an 8 foot tall feathered ax, the site is worth visiting for the descriptions alone.

Foreman's latest offering, Astronome, plays in New York City through April 5. He also recently released the handsome DVD Compilation Sophia: The Cliffs and 35+ Year Retrospective Compilation, which casts an eye back over a truly mind-boggling career.

Rat City Recession

The White Center neighborhood, aka. 'Rat City', is one step ahead of the rest of Seattle when it comes to making the most of the recession, perhaps because the economic boom never quite made it into that small, broke suburb west of the city. Whatever the reason, there's a few events coming up in Rat City that aim to redistribute a little of your wealth.

The White Center For The Arts Building (aka. the Old Skate Rink) is holding their first Open Studio Art Tour on Feb 21st from 5:00-10:00pm at 9639 16th Ave SW. White Center for the Arts is a new project by six area artists, including the well known stencil artist Soule, who have come together to form an organization focused on supporting the arts in their corner of the world.

On Saturday, February 28th, from 10am to 6pm, the same building is hosting Rat City Rummage at which vendors of all stripes will be selling handmade arts and crafts, baked goods, household items, furniture, clothing, cd’s, bicycles, small electronics, dishware, etc. The skating rink holds a lot of people and the word is that there's still a few spaces open for vendors, but time is of the essence. For a a vending application and questions, email ratcityrummage@hotmail.com.

PRFM #5 Wraps Up

Gotta say, the fifth Punk Rock Flea Market was a doozy. At the last minute, 4 unexpected vendors showed up and one dropped out, bringing us to a grand total of 58 vendors selling records, clothes, furniture, computers, stereo equipment, housewares, toys, videos, CD's, tamales, falafels, handbags, skateboards, 'zines, fetish wear, smoking supplies, watches, knives, jewelry, pickles, plastic robots, zippo lighters, hoodies, stickers, political propaganda, soap, soup, books, art, bike parts, baby stuff, handmade cards, and curse words hand-sewn onto recycled clothing.

Exactly 880 people paid to get in, plus another 100 or so who found the secret entrance, and then at about 7:00 everyone was tired of working the door and we decided to just forego the entrance fee altogether. It's safe to estimate some 1200 people making their way through the Underground on Saturday. Massive.

Glad to report that the Wrecked Chords got over their break-up drama to kick the music off in style at around 7:00, followed by the red hot Absent Minds who drove up from Portland just for the show, then a surprise set from the Yellow Hat Band. Everyone left standing at that point was pummeled by a blistering set from Suburban Vermin who had recently recruited Seattle Punk superstar Chris Crass on lead guitar. Damn, Sam.

In all, an exhausting and satisfying day for us organizers, and hopefully for all the vendors, bands and friends who showed up. Keep an eye out for #6, some time in spring. Hell yes!

Punk Rock Flea Market Holidaze Edition

The date for the next Punk Rock Rock Flea Market has been nailed down.

The Underground Events Center presents the Holidaze edition of the Punk Rock Flea Market on Saturday December 6. For those of you keeping track, this is PRFM #5.

This is a full on flea market selling records, clothing, furniture, computers, stereo equipment, housewares, haircuts, toys, videos, bicycles, tacos, falafels, vegan treats, skateboards, political propaganda, information from non profit groups, books, art, baby stuff, tarot readings & whatever else we can fit into the space. Don't let the name lead you to believe that we only welcome vendors selling punk records, clothes etc. The "Punk Rock" of the name refers as much to the DIY spirit of the event as it does to any particular music or lifestyle.

Spaces are still just $25 (cheap!), and double spaces cost $50 (insanely cheap!). Like before, the market opens to the public at 10:00 am and bands will begin to play at around 6:00 pm.

Once again, the space we are using has been generously loaned to us for the day by the Low Income Housing Institute, aka. LIHI, a non-profit organization that builds homes for homeless and low-income people all around the Puget Sound.

To reserve a table or ask questions email the PRFM crew at PRFleamarket@gmail.com or visit the PRFM MySpace page. More info soon!

Handmade Nation

Long-time Seattleite and current Milwaukee resident Faythe Levine just returned from a promotional visit and art auction in Los Angeles. The visit and auction were coordinated to raise money and attention for Levine's new film and book, "Handmade Nation." Faythe, who runs Paper Boat Boutique and Gallery in Milwaukee and coordinates that city's version of the Punk Rock Flea Market, the "Art vs. Craft" fair, is filming and editing a documentary about the swelling wave of independent artists making a living by selling their handmade crafts. The film frames the contemporary craft movement as the bastard offspring of traditional handiwork and punk rock - a genuine alternative to mainstream consumption rather than a lifestyle trend. To date Faythe has spent hundreds of hours filming and interviewing artists, crafters, organizers, critics, curators, cultural theorists and historians at boutiques, studios, galleries and craft fairs and through websites, blogs and online stores. The independently produced and financed documentary is slated for a 2009 festival release.

I'm sorry to have missed the auction on July 19th which featured exquisite work from such artists as Nikki McClure, Dawbis, The Polaroid Kidd and many others. I'm hoping that we can arrange a similar event later this year with the help of the Punk Rock Flea Market. Until then, Faythe has recently posted an 8 minute trailer of her film, available right here.

PRFM Follow Through

Damn.
Another great Punk Rock Flea Market.

In the end, we had 70 vendors selling everything from comic books to hunting knives to pocket watches to Crass records. Among the scores of the day: Count Spankula had a huge collection of bootleg Residents recordings, and the "What would GG Allin do?" t-shirts went like hotcakes.

Local graffiti hero Heck showed up at the last minute to sell stickers and hand painted tiles and Bruce Pavitt, the founder of Subpop Records, made a killing and cleaned out his attic at the same time. The entertainment was spot on as well. We couldn't keep it all contained during the day, so DJ's Grindle and Isepp moved the sound system into the parking lot. Scott Adams showed up with his banjo for a few hours, and after the sun went down the music was insanely good. Heaping helpings of fantastic music from Geist & Samuel Joseph, the Wrecked Chords, T.V. Coahran and the hugely popular Suburban Vermin.

Hope you made it. If not, check out some great photos at espressobuzz or my flickr page, or visit the updated PRFM myspace page (thanks to The Corey.) Keep an eye on Gurldogg for news of the next one. Peace out!

Punk Rock Flea Bands

As of 10 pm yesterday there's a full slate of 4 bands and 2 DJ's confirmed for the Punk Rock Flea Market on July 26.

The bands, not yet in order, include:

Geist
The Shy Ones
T.V. Coahran
Suburban Vermin

And from Beetlabs DJ James Grindle will be spinning during the market and DJ Isepp is playing the post-market dance party.

This is gonna be a righteous show. A huge shout out to all of the bands and DJ's who keep coming to rock the PRFM. You're all awesome and I wish there was some way to include you all on one bill. Maybe one day. Until then, come to the market and the show on July 26, and spread the word.

The pirate dog is apropos of nothing. I just like the photo.

Making Jam

The stencil jam on June 21 was great fun. A moderate turn out in the Underground parking lot - about 15 people showed up to make and paint images - but the results were grand. Here's a few photos of the work in progress. More at Gurldogg's flickr page.

By the time the wall was finished the sun was down, so I didn't get any good photos of the completed project. I'll try to get some shots in the next few days.

Huge props to DJ's James Grindle and Isip of beetlabs who showed up with turntables just as the action was getting underway and really helped to create the party.

Punk Rock Flea Market! #4

The date for the summer edition of the Punk Rock Flea Market has been set. The Underground Events Center presents PRFM #4 on Saturday July 26. The Underground remains at 2407 1st Ave. in Belltown.

PRFM 4 is gonna be "Double Plus Good." The word has gotten out in a big way about the PRFM, and the list of vendors is about twice as big as the last time we did this, back in March. So we're gonna have at least 80 vendors, and we're expanding into the parking lot next door.

Like before, the market opens to the public at 10:00 am and bands begin to play at around 6:00 pm. As always, the Underground space has been generously loaned for the day by the Low Income Housing Institute.

Spaces are still just $25, and double spaces cost $50. I'm working on a great music line up as well, and gonna try to set up an outdoor stage. Lotsa logistics to wrestle with, let's see how it all falls together. Watch this space for details.

This Punk Rock Flea drawing was made by comic artist David Wong, who I had the pleasure of meeting at Wondercon in San Francisco. He takes commissions, so let him know if you need a battle maiden for a power point presentation or want to redo your dragon tattoo.