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!

Messmann's Messquerade

There's still time to register for "Messmann's Messquerade," coming up on Halloween. Since 1999, local bike messenger Messman has been throwing an annual spooky Scavenger Hunt, bicycle costume pageant and hard drinking Halloween party. This year, the scavenger hunt begins on October 31st at 7pm in the sunken parking lot behind Cafe Vita on Capitol Hill and ends at the Underground Events Center in Belltown. The party is open to everyone but you must register ahead of time for the Scavenger Hunt. The $30 registration fee gets you and your 2 to 6 teammates a list of clues, commemorative hooded sweatshirts, entrance to the after party, beer all night long, and a chance to win some great prizes from an impessive list of sponsors including Counterbalance Bicycles, Recycled Cycles, Cafe Ladro, New Belgium Brewing Company, Dead Baby Bikes, Aaron's Bicycle shop, Piecora’s Pizza and lots more.

Just $3 to get into the party, with music by Portland indie punk band Sprinkles and Seattle Ska legends Georgetown Orbits plus DJ's Grimus and A2Z, among others.

More info here.

Street Level

I was up in Greenwood this morning and saw a few hopeful signs of things to come. Some nice stencils of a decidedly political bent.

Also, this photo from v!sualism of the ever-changing Belltown stencil wall appeared on the Seattle Streetart flickr page.

Nickelsville

Last night I headed out to Nickelsville to lend a hand and take a look around.

Nickelsville is a homeless camp that appeared early in the morning of Sept. 22, on a vacant lot in the industrial lands south of Seattle. Using tents donated by the girl scouts and the Race for the Cure, the makeshift city had some 200 tents in place by dawn. By the end of that day the City of Seattle had covered the site with No Trespassing signs and 72-hour eviction notices.

For a "city" that was built overnight, Nickelsville is impressively efficient and well-organized. Tents are arranged in distinct groups, with a small group of Port-a-potties behind each group. At the entrance to the camp a set of tables beneath tarps serves as a check-in point, first aid station and camp kitchen.

While I was there, a team of volunteer builders, led by UW engineering student Joe Taylor, was constructing an administrative building from palettes and donated scraps of lumber. SHARE/WHEEL, the organization responsible for organizing the Tent Cities that roam Seattle and the East Side, was a major force behind getting Nickelsville up and organized. Many of the campers had been living in the two nomadic Tent Cities.

Mayor Nickels (for whom the camp is named) has been consistent in describing the camp as a political demonstration - which it is, to a certain extent - but much more importantly it's abundantly clear that the camp is full of genuinely neglected people who need a safe and supportive place to stay.

As advocates have pointed out again and again and again, 2,631 people were counted sleeping outside on a freezing January night this year. The Post-Intelligencer reported that 24 people were turned away from Operation Nightwatch on the very night that Nickelsville went up owing to a lack of shelter beds. The fact is indisputable - there just isn't enough shelter in Seattle.

The word in the camp is that clearances may begin this morning. The City is due to arrive between 6 and 7 am today, with bulldozers. Send an email to Mayor Nickels to let him know what you think, and keep an eye on Real Change news or Tim Harris' blog Apesma's Lament for updates.

Different Approaches to Mass Transit

Very interesting story in the NYTimes today about the transit system in Rochester, New York. It seems the Rochester transit system just cut fares, thus increasing ridership and ultimately making more income.

"The Rochester system, which expects to run a surplus for the third year in a row, has been able to reduce its one-ride fare in part by eliminating some low-trafficked routes, avoiding debt and aggressively raising revenues from other sources. The fare fell to $1 from $1.25 on Sept. 1."

Concurrently, the Rochester system made some creative arrangements with local public schools, colleges and private businesses, all of whom have students or employees who use the system extensively, to help subsidize transit operations.

In contrast, this morning King County Metro announced that it will be adding new bus routes and more frequent service to keep up with rising transit demand, and “revising” bus service for 22 other routes. To support the service expansion Metro has already had to raise fares 25 cents, and another 50-cent increase is in the works. As Rochester's approach demonstrates, higher fares lead to lower ridership, bringing lower revenues, which launches us once again into the vicious cycle of crowded buses, unreliable schedules, and a less pleasant bus experience.

Obviously there are great differences of scale - Rochester’s Regional Transit Service carries 15 million riders a year, which is a fraction of the King County ridership. But as economic hard times have reduced tax revenues and increased demand for government transit subsidies, Rochester's unusual approach to transit may provide valuable lessons for larger cities that are having trouble balancing increasing demand with reasonable fares. Like Seattle.

Thanks to RocBike for the sweet photo taken on a Rochester bus.

Twilight Zoning

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels recently rolled out his latest proposal to increase development in the City of Seattle while ostensibly benefiting the affected communities. The plan creates a structure for a voluntary trade off: developers would be asked to create or pay for new affordable housing in exchange for lucrative land-use changes. Basically, the proposal would require developers to convert 11% of increased height into affordable housing. The legislation won't change building heights anywhere, but it would establish how developers can take advantage of greater building height allowances in the future.

Puget Sound SAGE (Seattle Alliance for Good Jobs and Housing for Everyone) called a community meeting last Friday, September 11, to dissect the proposed plan. SAGE, an up-and-coming coalition of labor, faith and community organizations, is coming off of a successful three-year effort which created the landmark Community Benefits Agreement guaranteeing culturally sensitive development and 200 units of affordable-housing in the rapidly changing Little Saigon neighborhood.

Around 75 people showed up at the Columbia City Library to learn about incentive zoning from local development experts, and to hear a detailed analysis of the Mayor's proposal. The organizers made it perfectly clear that while they support increasing density as an important means of creating urban communities, curbing traffic and reducing greenhouse gases, the City could do much more for its citizens in exchange for instituting zoning changes that make development far more lucrative.

The general feeling at the meeting was that the Mayor's proposed incentive program does very little to create affordable housing in neighborhoods where it's most needed. Given the option, most developers will make the choice that least affects their bottom line - either paying a fee to build low-income housing in distant locations, or designing smaller projects to avoid the costs altogether. Unsurprisingly, many developers are arguing that any legislated community benefit is too much. In cities where zoning has worked well to create affordable housing - including New York City, San Francisco, and Boston - the rules have not been voluntary but rather require that a given share of new construction be affordable to people with low to moderate incomes.

Adding insult to injury, Mayor Nickels' current proposal provides primarily "workforce housing," or homes for people making up to 100% of Seattle's median income - around $77,000. By any measure there is already an abundance of such housing in Seattle. What we really need is a strategy to build housing for poor people within existing communities.

Seattle area developers will make a presentation to the Seattle City Council on Sept. 24, and the only public hearing on the matter is scheduled for October 7. Every Seattle resident who has an interest in the future of their neighborhood and who believes that the creation of affordable housing is a necessity, should come to this meeting to demand that any new laws work to meet the housing needs of people in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, and don't just open up further opportunities for massive give-aways to powerful developers.

Free Sheep Foundation

Two great looking art openings/ events in Seattle this weekend.

On Friday 8/8/08, at 8:00 pm, Seattle's nomadic arts organization, the Free Sheep Foundation hold their second opening at their current home at Third Avenue and Battery Street in Belltown. DK Pan and his revolving roster of artists have created a series of exhibits in the display windows, on the sidewalks, and on the walls, floors and ceilings of the slated-for-destruction 10,000 foot gallery. The theme of the current program is 'Childhood Olympiad' and features glosses on games like tether ball, hopscotch and hangman from local artists Static Invasion, Karn Junkinsmith, NKO and DK Pan himself.

The cabaret show begins at 10:30 and features a performance from local hiphop legend Specs, aka. "The Holy Ghost of Northwest hip-hop."

The Free Sheep gallery is open to the public on Friday afternoons. Writing in the Stranger, Jen Graves said: "what draws Free Sheep artists together is their sense of theater, of event-ness, of time. So far, the artists behind Free Sheep have delivered ephemeral monuments to the ephemeral monument we all live in, the city. They've been mythic and short-lived; the challenge now will be to preserve that spirit over the length of a three- or six-month lease...It's a moveable feast of artists in real-estate purgatory."

Race to the Bottom

For a chaotic group of rebels and misfits, the Dead Baby Bike Club sure gets a lot accomplished.

The perennially raucous Seattle bike club is holding the 12th annual Dead Baby Downhill bike race on Friday August 1. The race, which began as a lark by a bunch of drunk bicyclists in Belltown, has grown into a 4-day festival of competition, bike culture and punk music that draws hundreds of people from up and down the west coast. For the first time, the race begins on the north side of town. Riders of tall bikes, small bikes and assorted dangerous contraptions surrender to gravity at 7:00 PM sharp, from El Chupacabra, high on Phinney Ridge, at 6711 Greenwood Ave N.

In addition to the teetering-on-catastrophic downhill race, the weekend brings a track stand competition, bunny hop limbo, the midnight Huffy heave, and the always popular tall-bike jousting. The group has also arranged 2 screenings of their Dead Baby Short Film Festival on Thursday June 31 at the Central Cinema. The highly entertaining film collection first screened at the Underground Events Center back in May, and has since been picked up by a number of larger venues and festivals across the country.

More info on all of this, including race registration, is at the Dead Baby website.

Out of Sth

Briefly showing on the streets of Wroclaw, Poland is an extraordinary exhibition of graffiti as part of a festival called "Out of Sth." The groundbreaking exhibit features beautiful and deliberately provocative paintings in extremely public places and is sponsored, in part, by the Polish Ministry of Culture. Among the works now adorning the streets of Wroclaw is this amazing piece, on a commandeered billboard, by Polish artist Peter Fuss.

Many more images here and here. If you happen to find yourself in Poland, the exhibit is on display until August 17.

Reachin'

Lots of weird and interesting art popping up in Belltown recently. This is a nicely modified billboard on Bell st.

And here's a storefront display window at 3rd & Battery.

Sonic Fourth

Speaking of July 4th, Sonic Youth are giving a free Independence Day concert in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan. There's no fucking way you're getting in, but wfmu will be webcasting the concert live. Starts at 1:45 Pacific time with a rare appearance by the Feelies.

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.

On the Bus

Very very silly front page article in the Seattle P-I today explaining how to ride the bus (actual quotes: "The bus is not going to be exactly like your car" and "The bus doesn't take credit cards"), followed by this even sillier (but at least self aware) response from the Stranger.

Clearly Seattle desperately lacks for public transportation, and I consider it a positive development that rising gas prices are finally forcing commuters to consider alternative means of getting around. But if King County Metro really wants to get folks on the bus, I suggest exposing them to the exquisite sketches of Gabi Campanario. Campanario is a graphic artist and illustrator from Spain who has been living in Seattle for a few years, working as a Seattle Times staff artist and keeping a blog of his professional and personal illustrations. As far as I'm concerned, the high point of his work is the hundreds of sketches of his daily bus trips that he makes in his Moleskine notebook. The sketches of people and scenery are all done rapidly, and feature little scraps of context and commentary - "one scary looking dude," "guy with long beard lights up," "Super long legs," "Oops! She got off!" - that feel and sound just like a bus ride. Honest and sometimes annoyed, but refreshingly non-judgmental. Maybe he's seen you!

Blowing My Own Horn Dept.

Knowing me as well as she does, Pepita came home on Saturday with a brand new book as a surprise. The recently published Street Art and the War on Terror is a copious collection of the fiery graffiti that sprang up around the world in response to 9/11 and the War on Terror bullshit. The book, from Portugal, has been painstakingly edited by the London-based Eleanor Mathieson and Argentine-Catalan Xavier Tapies. It's lavishly printed with full page color photos of ballsy acts of civil disobedience from around the globe. Well known artists like Shepard Fairey, Dolk and Banksy are all represented, but most of the work was done by unknown and unsigned scribblers from Paris to Sydney to Baghdad.

Imagine my amazement when I turned to page 34 and found that the single image representing Seattle was an angry little piece of work by the Gurldogg herself. It's a stencil that Pepita imagined and I cut one summer night, and I sprayed it around town for about 3 weeks before the stencil bit the dust. Within a couple weeks most of the images were gone too, as expected. But somehow, someone in Portugal got a photo, and Pepita and I are now anthologized. And empowered. There's even a silly little blurb explaining how we "used one of the classic figures of American childhood to highlight the illegal torture." Sure. Why not.

I've done a lot of graffiti in my time, but this is the first time I've ever seen a piece of mine preserved for posterity. What can a gurl say? I'm chuffed.

Teatro Mexicano en Ruedas

Teatro UNAM is a mobile theater company based in Mexico City. They travel with a specially engineered trailer that transforms into a full stage complete with props, puppets, wardrobe, the works. The company roams throughout Mexico, and at each stop they set up the stage and perform, often in rural areas of the country where stage drama is rarely seen, if ever. This video shows one such transformation, in a high school in Mexico City, for a performance of J.M. Synge's "The Playboy of the Western World," under the direction of Alonso Ruizpalacios.

Critical Mass

It's not all doom-and-gloom around Gurldoggie headquarters. Critical Mass this month was a glorious affair. For the first time in months the weather cooperated with our plans, and around 300 of us turned out to take over the streets on our bicycles.

The ride circled through the city, passed down 1st Ave. amongst Mariners' traffic, and hooked back for a velodrome-like ride around the Seattle Center fountain. After a brief break, we headed straight up Dexter and over the Aurora Bridge to catch the last rays of the warm spring sun. When we finally stopped for beers and smiles in Gasworks, there were still some 200 of us, including lots of new faces. This bodes very well for summer.



Had a nice chat with Daniel who has been riding and documenting Seattle Critical Mass rides since 1996. Check out his extensive photo archive here.

Law and Order

Quick tip for Seattle cyclists: The word on the street is there are many more police than usual writing tickets to bicyclists for running lights and stop signs. Local blogs and websites have repeated reports of police all over the city this week (April 1-5) wasting their time and your money this way. Be aware.

Office Chair Downhill

The second Office Chair Downhill race takes place on April 4 at the corner of Boren and Fairview. Like last year, the race is sponsored by the inspired maniacs at Dead Baby Bike Club and has few rules or regulations, other than sitting your ass in an office chair and pointing it downhill. The race competition is broken down into several heats, and winners take home some awesome bike and beer related prizes. Last year, awards included a brand-new Ultegra road groupo and a handmade wheelset from Mobius Cycles. Score!

Professor Anderson Explains

Having trouble understanding the impact of the National debt on the volatile economic situation? Here's Laurie Anderson in a PSA from the 1980's, putting it all into perspective. The numbers have become more extreme and depressing of course - in this video the debt was around 2 trillion dollars and now it's something like nine trillion - but Anderson's personalization of the issue is as relevant as ever.

Anonymous Confessions

I saw these photocopied posters pasted to a crumbling wall at 8th and Pine. I liked how they were simultaneously quite intimate and totally anonymous.