nick c. feldman : the blog

Temporarily Inactive

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:34:00 +0000

Hey ladies and gents! Please continue on to my Portfolio or Mini-Blog for the most current from your guy.

Photos: Summer of Food at Seattle Met

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:15:00 +0000

After a period of reflection (and some gentle prodding), I compiled some of my favorite photos from the stint I did from June to December of 2009. I didn't realize at the time, but these photos actually make me extremely happy with how far I've come in terms of clarity and quality. I hope you enjoy.

City Living: Senior centers draw heavily on fundraisers amid budget cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:00:00 +0000

A group of seniors watches a blues band perform during the Central Area Senior Center's "Bite of New Orleans" catfish dinner on March 6. The center, which serves over 1,200 members, offers a variety of educational and recreational programs varying from computer classes to guitar lessons. (Click here to watch a video of the blues guitar performance from the Central Area Senior Center's catfish dinner.)

While the recession economy has forced governmental budget cuts affecting many traditionally well-funded programs, many of the city’s senior centers are not only surviving but avoiding programming reductions by bridging the financial gaps themselves.

“When the dust clears, the budget cuts didn’t affect the senior centers as much as it seems,” said Denise Klein, Senior Services Executive Director. “In fact, some centers got money from the United Way for the first time. I’m sure there were a few takeaways—a couple of the centers that offer adult day health were affected by the state and county budgets. But overall, it’s kind of a wash.”

About half of Senior Services’ $15 million annual budget traditionally comes from all levels of taxpayer-based sources—federal, state, city and county governments—but they also draw significantly from the United Way, fees, and donations gathered through fundraising efforts.

And though senior centers in both the University District and Wallingford have closed in recent years, seven still continue to operate in Seattle with average memberships ranging from 600 to over 1,200. In total, 40 centers exist under the Senior Services umbrella.

However, other King County senior centers have had a harder time softening the blow without the benefit of Seattle’s city funding—especially when it comes to day health programs for disabled seniors.

“Our King County funding was reduced in half this year, from $50,000 to $24,500, and the year before that the support we received through the county for adult day health was eliminated,” said Amara Oden, director of the Sno-Valley Senior Center. “We’re scrambling to make up that difference so we don’t have to make choices that impact the seniors we serve.“

While the funding reduction from the county was significant, even that didn’t cause the program to close. The Sno-Valley Center—which boasts 600 regular members and serves more than 2,000 seniors in Carnation annually—is now considering raising their fees, and like many other centers is pursuing new fundraising opportunities. Some centers have found success hosting golf tournaments and business luncheons, while others run thrift stores or write government grants.

“All senior centers spend way too much of their time fundraising,” said Klein. “I asked all of the center directors what their biggest challenge was in 2009, and each one said that it was some aspect of fundraising. They have to figure out how to get more and more creative, especially when it comes to starting new kinds of fundraisers and attracting younger people.”
However, some see a silver lining on the hard work required for senior centers to bridge the budget gap.

“With these cuts, we’ve had to generate the revenue ourselves,” said Rick Joseph, Central Area Senior Center board president. “When you expect that the money is always going to be there, it takes away from being self sufficient. So in a way, this has been a blessing in disguise.”

While not all directors and board members might agree with Joseph, none will argue the importance of senior centers to its constituents. According to several directors, they’ve seen firsthand that seniors are hurting in the economic climate—instead of having a solidified retirement, many turn to the centers as a way to supplement their limited income with and make ends meet. Amid budget cuts, they’re being forced to consider the possibility of seniors with more needs than ever meeting an inability to meet them.

“It’s important to keep making sure that seniors have their piece of the financial pie,” said Thurston Muskelly, former board president of the Central Area Senior Center. “Any time you have budget shortfalls, social programs are always cut. But these are people who built this city, paid into social security, worked in the factories during World War II—there’s a lot of sacrifice here. Now they need to be rewarded for their deeds, and this is part of their reward.”

Bellevue Reporter: Irish expatriate creates old-country feel with new Bellevue pub

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:00:00 +0000

Owner Pat Coyne has created Paddy Coyne's Pub to be what is called a 'local' in Ireland – a neighborhood bar.

Shortly after Pat Coyne opened The Irish Emigrant in 1999, he realized the pub, located in Seattle’s University District, wasn’t what he set out to create.

“I always wanted a cozy, authentic, comfortable Irish pub, but I ended up with more of a college bar,” said Coyne, who moved from Galway Harbor, Ireland, to Boston in 1984 and on to Seattle in 1992. “When I opened Paddy Coyne’s, it went back to small and comfortable.”

His first namesake bar opened in South Lake Union in July 2004, and was followed by a Tacoma location in January 2007.

Bellevue now is host to the third Paddy Coyne’s Pub.

Accented by dark wood and stone, the interior (also decorated by genuine Irish expatriates) creates an ambience that conveys exactly that. And, with performances by traditional Irish flutist Leo MacNamara every Wednesday night, the experience offered is undeniably authentic.

“Paddy Coyne’s concept is built around what the Irish call a ‘local,’ your neighborhood bar that’s walking distance from your home — or as the Irish would say, stumbling distance,” said Jenny Corry, the pub’s general manager and co-owner. “Being such a metropolitan area, you wouldn’t think that’s what we’d create in Bellevue, but we have. It feels like a community, and we know most of our patrons.”

And while its Lincoln Square Location means several other restaurants and bars surround the pub, Coyne and his staff see them more as allies than competitors.

“There really isn’t anything like us nearby,” said Corry. “We have great neighbors, and we don’t really feel like we’re competing because what we offer is so different."

In addition to having a neighborhood feel, Coyne made it clear that the food would have to match the authenticity of the Irish beers and whiskeys — and even went so far as to incorporate his own family recipes.

Everything is made by hand, and stays as authentic as possible. But there’s a mix of traditional and modern gastropub – shepherd’s pie and bangers and mash grace the menu alongside burgers and potato skins. For breakfast, options range from an authentic Irish meal that includes bangers, rashers, broiled tomato and soda bread to more American meals like a breakfast burrito.

“We try to keep it as Irish as possible,” said Coyne. “I look at my pubs as my living room, so I want everyone who comes in not just to experience good food and drinks but also to feel at home.”

Queen Anne View: Off-leash area, development options dominate Lower Kinnear Park town hall discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:00:00 +0000

On Thursday night, nearly 60 landscape architects, parks department officials and Queen Anne residents convened at the Bayview Retirement Community to give feedback on the potential options for the rejuvenation of Lower Kinnear Park. The second of three meetings followed a gathering of 40 people on Jan. 19in which neighbors voiced their concerns to community planning groupFOLKpark and architecture firm Hough Beck and Baird.

Using large maps with overlays of the proposed changes, Dean Koonts and his team of architects took turns explaining the three “preliminary drafts” they created based on input from community members at the previous meeting and from the online survey, to which there were 88 responses.

Of the 59 attendees, 27 chose to discuss the development of an off-leash area (OLA) for dogs as the meeting split into discussion groups. After an hour of dialogue, the group relayed their suggested area size (5,300 sq. feet) and their desire to integrate it into the park’s landscape.

“It would be a great asset to the neighborhood to have an off leash park considering how far away every other off leash area is,” Brad Weinberg wrote onFOLKpark’s Facebook page. “To have a designated area for off leash play would open up the rest of the park for those people who aren’t dog owners [and] would limit people from using the rest of the park as an off leash area.”

While there are 11 OLAs in Seattle, none exist in the Queen Anne neighborhood, and in 2006 the Park Department Superintendent designated Lower Kinnear Park as the best site for that purpose. However, according to Parks and Green Spaces Levy manager Rick Nishi, the allocated funding source doesn’t allow for off-leash projects until later years.

The three large draft plans were fundamentally different, but the two major components that each concept shared were increased compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and a reestablished linkage to the waterfront via the “North Trail Link,” (.pdf) one of the ideas from the previous meeting that Koonts said “came through loud and clear.”

“Plan A” (.pdf) primarily focused on the northeast slope, re-engineering the hillside and easing the grade to make it more easy to navigate. While the cost of that effort was a concern for many of the community members in attendance, there was a general consensus in support of the plan’s expanded plaza on Mercer Street. Koonts also mentioned that this option best fits a designated OLA.

The most notable feature of “Plan B” (.pdf) was its elevated trail and boardwalk, as well as refurbished and redesigned tennis courts—ideas that drew mixed responses from community members based more on cost effectiveness than the design itself.

Focusing more directly on safety and sustainability, “Plan C” (.pdf) featured popular ideas such as rain gardens and other stormwater solutions as well as less popular ones such as a connecting set of hill-climb stairs near West Mercer Place.

HBB now plans to adjust their drafts in order to create an action plan and cost estimate, taking into account the feedback from the most recent discussion. With that plan, FOLKpark plans to apply to the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund in early April seeking an amount likely near $700,000. They then plan to hold the third and final community meeting on April 8 at 7 p.m., also at the Bayview, to establish a community consensus on the preferred plan.

FOLKpark initiated a rejuvenation of the five-acre urban forest after winning a $15,000 grant from the city’s Department of Neighborhoods last year. They chose HBB based on the firm’s history with sustainable green design and crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED).

Link to original post.

JT News: UW Panhellenic Recognizes Jewish Sorority

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +0000

From left to right) Lauren Brown of Hillel, President Jaclyn Leiberman and member Nicki Balk of The Jewish Sorority and Chaya Estrin of Chabad worked to create the recently university-recognized sisterhood.

Three-and-a-half years of hard work and dedicated organization came down to one vote. And that vote, deciding whether the University of Washington’s Panhellenic Council would recognize the 18-member Jewish Sorority, passed.

“It makes a lot of sense,” said Lauren Brown, director of Undergraduate Engagement for Hillel. “There’s a community of Jewish women out there and we’ve seen that build over the last couple of years, and many of them are interested in being a part of the Greek System. It’s really easy for Jewish guys who come to campus, but this gives an independent place for Jewish girls. Now they can say, ‘I really want to join a Jewish house for the best of both worlds.’”

Students at UW have the option of joining special-interest fraternities or sororities as an alternative to traditional Greek organizations. The options for Jewish women have long been limited since the Jewish-founded, non-sectarian sorority Phi Sigma Sigma left campus in the ‘80s. Even Jewish men have had multiple options—namely the Alpha Epsilon Pi and Zeta Beta Tau fraternities.

But with the granting of recognition by the campus’s sorority community governing body, that quickly changed. Now, frankly titled “The Jewish Sorority,” this long-running project already has 18 fully committed women and hopes to be housed by recruitment time next fall.

“This is really important to the UW community because the Jewish girls on campus didn’t really have a place to go,” said Jaclyn Lieberman, Jewish Sorority co-president. “But now, with the Greek community having a place for Jewish women, it’ll help all of us become so much stronger.”

Before the sorority’s creation, the only other Jewish women’s organization at UW was Banot—originally created to be the Jewish sorority—which has since evolved into a less formal bonding group for Jewish women. Most members of The Jewish Sorority were or are also members of Banot, and while overlap exists between the two organizations they’ve come to fill different purposes.

Although the sorority’s members can’t yet hold leadership positions on the Panhellenic Council, they do have every social, philanthropic and community leadership opportunity that the nationally recognized fraternities and sororities do. The sorority just doesn’t have letters—yet. When a new national organization is invited to campus, it will hopefully take them under its umbrella and grant what is now The Jewish Sorority membership from its national headquarters.

And while Chabad and Hillel are organizations nationally notorious for butting heads, the two organizations saw this opportunity as one truly important to the Jewish community as a whole and had no difficulty setting aside their differences.

“When I think about it, it’s an amazing thing that Hillel and Chabad were able to come together and bring this huge asset to the Jewish community,” said Chaya Estrin of Chabad. “If the whole world would work like that it’d be amazing.“

Though it has taken time and hard work, both UW Greeks and the organization’s members and supporters see this endeavor to create a new division of Jewish campus life as an important addition to the UW community and an exciting new place for Jewish students to live and be supported.

“AEPi only started nine years ago, and ZBT just three years ago, and they’ve both so strongly helped solidify the Jewish community on campus,” Estrin said. “I think everyone sees that having a Jewish sorority on campus will enhance the Jewish fraternities and enhance the Jewish community. Now more students can be actively Jewish and actively involved at the same time.”

JT News: Planning For The Future

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:00:00 +0000

After six years on campus, Rabbi Elie Estrin and his wife Chaya — leaders of the University of Washington’s Chabad House — noticed two things. First, the Jewish community on campus has seen huge growth. Second, the Jewish student groups could accomplish far more if the students who led them were given the skills to achieve their goals.

With those thoughts in mind, Estrin began to work on a plan to provide students with top-notch leadership training. Through mutual acquaintances at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, he was connected with Jan Levy and her program, called Leadership Tomorrow, a local leadership development and community-building organization that counts dozens of CEOs and elected officials among its alumni.

“When it was suggested I speak with [Levy], that was what really pulled it into existence,” Estrin said. “She understood exactly what I wanted from the get-go and we had a really good meeting of the minds, and the format that we envisioned was really the same vision.”

Leaders were chosen from every major Jewish group on the UW campus, drawing on Huskies for Israel, Hillel, Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity and Banot. Estrin handpicked some students he knew would be serious about the program and would be inspired to give back to the community as a result. Others came forward and requested to participate.

“I was looking for people who would, A, learn what vision is, B, implement their vision and not get distracted by pitfalls along the way, and C, have accountability,” Estrin said. “I felt that there were a lot of students with lofty goals but they didn’t know how to apply them. We’re hoping to eventually cause a greater number of students on campus to have a much more mature outlook, with much more knowledgeable and skillful projects.”

The program, a concentrated synthesis of Leadership Tomorrow’s nine-month program that combines the conceptual, skills and application training led by Levy and her colleague Bob Ness, culminates with a project stage where teams of four or five students select a project to work on and present progress at the end of the school year.

“This is designed to make the students take responsibility for leadership,” Levy said. “The students are learning things that are applicable throughout their lives. In the first session, we asked them to write their own life mission statement, and in each session we revisit it and talk about how it’s starting to evolve.”

The desire of the students to attend was evident through their willingness to contribute toward the seminars’ cost, ensuring that they had a stake in the process.

“I only had something to gain by going,” said Daniel Hirsty, a UW sophomore who is a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi and participates at Hillel. “I have a lot of different interests, and learning how to build coalitions and be a strong leader is important. I really just want to propel myself to be a better citizen.”

Estrin plans to continue the program annually, envisioning a competitive program that selects only the top students with greatest leadership potential—and desire to attend. If all goes as planned, he theorizes by the time the freshmen taking this course are graduating there will be up to 80 students who are trained with the same leadership skills and an ability to accomplish even bigger projects.

“We’re not doing this for our organization,” Estrin said. “We’re doing this for the community as a whole. This is not a project that we’re specifically benefitting from. This is a project the entire university community, and eventually the Jewish community as a whole, will benefit from.”

White Center Now: Dzul: Body art with “flavor” in downtown White Center

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:00:00 +0000

Alex (left) and Smiley (right) on their lowrider bikes in the shop. See more photos in an audiovisual slideshow here.

“It’s a picture of my son,” the man in the chair said in Spanish. “Enrique is his name. When I came to the United States, I left him when he was 2 months old. It’s to have him with me all the time, to have a memory of him, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to see him again.”

Francisco Antonio Flores-Renteria came to the U.S. three years ago. When looking for a place to have the portrait done — his second tattoo — he looked no further than Dzul Studio— a place that was clean, where he trusted the quality of the art, and where he was able to converse in his own language.

The studio, run by brothers Alejandro (“Alex”) and Jacob (“Smiley”) as well as piercing-artist sisters Catalina and Elizabeth, takes the family name to heart: Dzul is a Mayan word meaning master or leader, one who stands above others in character or reputation. And that reputation has been built up over the last decade.

“I started to draw at an early age,” said Smiley, “and my friends from my neighborhood knew that I knew how to draw, so they were the ones who actually got me into it.” He sports seven tattoos himself: on his legs, right arm, collarbone, each shoulder, and his mother’s name on his back — his first, at age 16. “That’s how I started, just doing names for (friends) and their mom’s names and initials.”

After four years of doing airbrush art at weekend swap meets and homemade tattoos for friends on the side — and discovering fairs like Bite of Seattle, Bumbershoot, Hempfestand Portland’s Cinco de Mayo celebration — the brothers had amassed enough capital to open a studio.

“When we first moved out to the Northwest, there wasn’t a lot of art put out with our perspective or flavor,” said Alex. “We’re from the Southwest, and when we came in there were a lot of people who wanted art but they weren’t getting it. That’s one of the places where we come in and really shine, because we have a very unique style.”

Smiley, the studio’s resident tattoo expert, is a master of the more urban black-and-gray tattoo style, but is also a talented tribal and color artist. About 80 percent of the art done at Dzul is original, and while the brothers have “flash” designs premade — reusable and template art — they’ve found that people are more interested in art that speaks directly to them, and that both parties are often more excited to do unique work.

While the Dzuls cater to their culture, only 30 percent to 40 percent of their clientele is Hispanic. Instead, they draw on the many ethnic and age demographics that tattoo culture has infiltrated, as well as their clients from places as far away as Everett and Vancouver, B.C., who travel specifically to visit the White Center studio.

“A lot of people who speak Spanish feel good to be understood, but the population in Seattle is not heavily Hispanic,” said Alex. “We’re really pretty diverse when it comes to who walks through our doors. “

The siblings, all Queen Anne residents, are currently looking to either move or expand to a location somewhere closer to the center of Seattle. One of their main reasons for originally choosing the shop’s location was its affordability for young artist-entrepreneurs.

In addition to massive updates to the studio’s Web site — including an education-focused FAQ section — within the next year, Dzul also plans to launch a clothing line and sponsor an art exhibition with a Day of the Dead theme featuring original art, tattooing and photography.

“People come through, they get their work, it’s original,” said Alex. “They have a perspective and we just help them to make it look good. I thought it would be good to do portraits of them and their tattoos to tell their stories.”

In the words of Alex, who studied graphic design at the Art Institute of Seattle, artists always need a community of other people who share their passion. And, luckily for these four siblings, that artistic community is also blood.

“If there’s anyone you can trust the most,” Smiley said, “it’s your family.”

photos: Cupcake Royale on Capitol Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:39:00 +0000

I dropped by the pre-opening event of the new Cupcake Royale location yesterday on assignment from Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, and was greeted by some lovely ladies and absurdly delicious cupcakes. The Strawberry 66 — made with 66% locally sourced ingredients — is to die for. Go. Now. And read Jess Voelker's post on the spot here.

photos: Barrio on Capitol Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:49:00 +0000

I took a trip to Capitol Hill's Barrio Restaurant with Seattle Met's resident food and drink writer Jessica Voelker (Sauced Blog) to visit the chic spot and their all-star bartender.

feature: Khingz comes full circle

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:38:00 +0000

As Khalil Equiano began his set at the Chop Suey album release party for his highly anticipated solo debut From Slaveships to Spaceships, there was nothing but good vibes and positivity. Opening with the track “Full Circle” and rapping “I’m right back where I started / In the south of the city where the rain and my heart is,” every so often his trademark braids would shake free, flying out with his passionate words.

Seattle has latched onto the 30-year-old MC, also known as Khingz, and the show was a “family affair.” Aside from the prominent Seattle hip-hoppers on stage including Gabriel Teodros, Nam, The Physics and Spaceman, numerous local hip-hop luminaries in the crowd made appearances to show him love. The intimacy of the venue became a perfect showcase for the rapper who got to see his words translate into action, fueling a crowd pushed together despite differences in age, race or neighborhood. And though the small stage could barely contain his energy, Khingz gave it everything he had. Before ripping into the set’s last track, he stepped back and created a sober moment amidst the celebration.

“Standing up here is a blessing,” he said, emotion palpable beneath his voice. “I didn’t have any plans to make it past 21.”

This one-time short-term outlook was the result of nearly a decade of gangbanging as a 47th Ave. Santana Blocc crip that began at age 10; at 15 he was shot twice. Being so deeply involved in the city's South End/Central District conflict is something impossible to completely escape, and while Khingz doesn’t glamorize a gangster-rap image, he doesn’t shy away from the realities of street life.

“I feel like every weekend we’re losing another kid, and so every weekend I get murdered and it hurts,” he said. “And it fucks with me really hard too, because when I was younger I was a part of that shit. I didn’t say no when I was a kid, and I can see how my not saying no lead to other people not saying no.”

But for Khingz, his approach to the city itself and the music that’s produced here are very different. The album's flowing sound echoes the vibe that's come to represent Seattle hip-hop, not harmless or soft but without a doubt conscious. From race relations to coming up as a "thug nerd," he creates a portrait based on pure lyricism that results in one of the best hip-hop albums of the year, from Seattle or otherwise.

“Honestly, the thing I like best about the album is that I made it at the right time,” he said. “A couple friends got shot up, I lost a girlfriend, moved, had the financial issues and a lot of friction with cats I came up with. When I was going through a lot of shit, making this album helped me get through a rough time.”

Khingz has a wide array of talents, and his solo project utilizes the full arsenal. On the track “Pony Boy,” he challenges the stereotypes he dealt with in the multicultural South End of Seattle: "I'm an outsider / Blacks, Latinos, and Asians / And the white girls love me 'cause I'm black and I'm skating." Meanwhile, “Blaq Han Solo” — maybe the best track on the album, despite the fact that he nearly left it off — showcases his ability to write a “ghetto love hymn.” Ultimately, the record delves into a deeper mental understanding that channels the rapper’s struggle into a powerful message.

“I’m coming from a personal and a political stance, which are really very closely aligned,” he said. “In the political stance, I’m talking about scientific mental colonization that happens when a group of people is never really free. On a personal level it’s about seeing how that colonization played out in my life, with gangbanging, selling drugs, doing things that I thought were necessary at the time. For me, this album started off and ended with my own personal breaking of those shackles.”

As people milled about the venue and spilled outside, seemingly nobody was in a hurry to leave the welcoming atmosphere. In many ways, the performance was a product not only of his Khingz life as a gangbanger in the South End or his work on the other side of the struggle as a youth and community programs volunteer, but a representation of his complete self-destruction and reincarnation. It’s the culmination of his transformation into a man of honor, and his tale of liberation is as inspiring as he intended it to be.

photos: Seattle EPA Rally

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:21:00 +0000

On May 22, a few hundred Earth-loving Seattleites flocked to the EPA hearings addressing a recent ruling that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare. It was one of two in the nation, and I couldn't help but stop by.

The first two are pictures of a young girl I spotted, semi-symbolically toying with a globe balloon she snagged from a passerby. Adorable and very well-behaved.

The last three are of some of the costumed demonstrators (who actually ended up interacting as I left). The first was a polar bear that seemingly mimicked the two-man Chinese Lion Dance; the two inside did a great job, and the costume itself was actually pretty impressive. Soon after, I ran into "plastic bag man." No more needs to be said. Then the two met each other, with hilarious (?) results.

photos: Ballard's Syttende Mai Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Norwegian Constitution Day, or "Grunnlovsdag" — commonly known as "Syttende Mai" (the 17th of May) — is a celebration of the day in 1814 when Norway’s constitution was signed in the town of Eidsvoll, Norway.

In Seattle, the day has been celebrated since 1889 in the waterfront Ballard neighborhood. Some say Ballard has the biggest Syttende Mai parade outside of Norway, driven by its large Scandinavian population who descend from fishers who settled near the port generations ago.

This is a quick glimpse of the new generation through a shot I snapped while enjoying the festivities.

feature: SOL Makes His Mark

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Sol Moravia-Rosenberg started rapping when he was in the fifth grade. Back then, it was just him fooling around with his cousins.

By age 12, he was already in the studio, improving at such a rapid pace that an album was never an option. For the UW sophomore, now known as SOL, this was the beginning of a process he refers to often: artist development.

“Before I knew it, I was a rapper,” he said. “I would listen to my brother’s CDs and my cousin’s CDs, and I would learn all the words and come up with my own lyrics. I would be rapping on top of “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” with the same delivery DMX has. And before I knew it, I was writing songs.”

When SOL and his cousin parted ways at age 15, he began his solo career; this is when he exploded as a musician, taking drum lessons and regularly practicing singing and rapping. It still wasn’t time for an album — according to Rosenberg, puberty made him “sound like a chipmunk” — but that only drove him to work harder.

“It takes a lot more to be a good hip-hop artist than one might think,” he said. “It’s not just talking over the beat — a bad rapper can talk over a beat and rhyme. There’s a lot of music involved in making good music.”

From an early age, Rosenberg paid for booth time at Seattle recording studio Undercaste. He would be assigned homework every week, sent home to write songs and develop ideas. It was a slow process, but it taught him to get things right the first time. And he had heart; instead of settling, music was always about improvement. Everything he’s done so far led up to his debut album.

“I was a student to the game and the culture of hip-hop. I grew up within the culture because I was always listening to hip-hop, but this was the business side; I was a sponge, and I feel lucky that I was dropped into that situation.”

Recorded at Undercaste, most of his February-released debut LP The Ride was co-produced by Captain Midnite and Isaac Meek, but SOL makes it clear that he was the executive producer. There’s no question that the album is his from top to bottom, taking the listener on a journey of sounds and ideas.

The album is, as Rosenberg describes it, just like Seattle: two-thirds dark and rainy, one-third sunny and beautiful. On The Ride, SOL talks about socioeconomics, race, class and poverty. He doesn’t explicitly draw his family into the rhymes, but his parents give him global context; though they met at the UW, his mother was born and raised in Haiti, while his father's family emigrated from Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution.

“Instead of creating a character on the microphone, what I really did was find out more about myself and bring this realness that I have as being multi-ethnic and immersed in the hip-hop culture for so long,” he said. “I have no problem just being me.”

Influenced by Eldridge Cleaver’s prison essay compilation “Soul on Ice,” “Heart of Ice” stands as one of the album’s most complex and moving tracks. In it, SOL fiercely denounces prejudice via the persona of Bigger Thomas, antihero of Richard Wright's classic "Native Son." Even “Spliff,” as a stoner groove with an infectious beat and catchy Notorious B.I.G. sample, displays SOL’s schooling in hip-hop history.

“The writing in my music is something I take really seriously,” Sol said. “I’m not dealing with hunger or starvation, I’m not dealing with daily violence, but these are realities that people I know and people that I care about and people in general deal with. It’s my responsibility, almost as a sociologist, and as a storyteller, to talk about these things.”

The past month has been big for SOL: he’s done a radio appearance on KEXP’s Streetsounds, picked up play from local stations including hip-hop giant KUBE, while finishing second overall in the EMP Sound Off! competition. That win earned him recording gear, studio time and, best of all, a slot at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival.

“I’m excited about taking second place as a solo artist, but Sound Off! isn’t the pinnacle of my career. I’m trying to put myself in a position where 2009 is going to be a really good year for me,” he said with a laugh. “I plan on making my mark."

review: Ra Ra Riot lives up to ‘best young band’ buzz

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:00:00 +0000

The brace-faced, plaid-clad crew was out in force at Neumos on Feb. 25, but to my surprise the barriers separating bar from dance floor was left a larger drink-available region than I’ve ever seen at Neumos. That allocation of space and diversity of crowd was a true testament to the cross-generational appeal that genre-melding indie rock has gained.

One of the first things I noticed while waiting for middle-slotted New Zealand outfit Cut Off Your Hands was a dreadlocked fan from the band’s first Seattle stop in support of We Are Scientists last July. After the group’s performance that night, he thanked each member personally as they exited the stage in a touchingly personal example of true appreciation. Though he didn’t get quite as involved this time around, he seemed to enjoy the show as much as the rest of the crowd.

The kiwi quartet utilized strobe lights and fog machines to their complete advantage, and turned their danceable indie-rock into a total crowd pleaser. The one thing I failed to notice last time is that all four members are mic’d up for vocals — and they all contribute significantly — making the entire performance was really an exercise in sharing.

Unsurprisingly, frontman Nick Johnston pulled many of his same stunts: tossing his microphone into the crowd, writhing around the dance floor, somersaulting over barriers. I have no idea how he didn’t break through the skin of his drum after beating it with the wrong end of his sticks, or break his neck from the wild positions he contorted into while writhing on the stage.

When Ra Ra Riot took stage around 11 p.m., I remembered that, through no fault of my own, female musicians are intrinsically attractive. That being said, cellist Alexandra Lawn surpassed Flobots violist Mackenzie Roberts as my latest crush. She’s incredibly talented, along with violinist Rebecca Zeller, and was clearly classically trained before she switched to electric and traded in Rachmaninoff for Rock ‘n’ Roll.

With six on the stage, Ra Ra Riot managed to maintain perfect stage flow and awareness not only of self but all the others. That really came through as evidence of their closeness, a bond developed from years together at college and the death of a band mate; John Pike, the group’s original drummer, drowned in June 2007. And though they attended Syracuse and mostly hail from the Northeast, signing to Seattle record label Barsuk made the Northwest their home away from home.

The sextet, who began generating buzz almost as soon as they formed and toured with the likes of Art Brut, Editors, Vampire Weekend and Los Campesions!, earned their headlining tours. It’s still amazing to hear how they can transform a cello-violin string duet into a rock song at the drop of a hat. Ra Ra Riot creates a true symphony of sound, a wave rising above the stage and crashing down on the audience. I caught myself starting to lose focus on the band itself and focus only on the music-inspired feeling.

With the volume turned just a few notches below “eardrum-bursting,” my ears rang for hours after leaving the venue. The performance — and feeling of musical satisfaction — was well worth the cost.

review: K'naan — "Troubadour"

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:00:00 +0000

6.8/10

K’naan Warsame fired his first gun at age eight. At 11, he demolished half his school after accidentally detonating a found hand grenade. The next year, the boy fled from gunmen and narrowly escaped with his life; his three best friends weren’t so lucky.

Growing up in a part of Mogadishu known as “the River of Blood,” named by the UN as “the worst place on earth,” his childhood bore witness to unimaginable horrors. K’naan’s mother walked through gunfire to the US Embassy daily to file for a visa for her family. He was 13 when they left in January 1991. Theirs was the last commercial flight out before the government collapsed and violence closed the airport.

K’naan and his family moved to New York City for a brief stay, then continued on to Toronto. He caught the attention that fueled his rise to international fame after performing a spoken word piece before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999, criticizing the UN for their failed aid missions to Somalia.

Sophomore album Troubadour — a French word meaning “folk singer” — is a fitting follow-up to 2005 debut The Dusty Foot Philosopher. K’Naan truly acts as a voice for his region, following in the footsteps of his aunt Magool (one of Somalia’s most famous singers) and poet grandfather Haji Mohamed.

He doesn’t beat around bushes. There’s “mountain bike racing,” where kids wrap rusty barbed wire around bicycle tires and roll them down hills. He touches on the common practice of mixing cocaine and gunpowder to make “brown brown.”

Despite being signed to A&M/Octone Records, a subsidiary of “big four” label Universal, K’Naan doesn’t hesitate to be real in the only way he knows. His long-term goal isn’t a mansion or a clothing line, it’s to effect change in his East-African home. He makes the point that gangerstism isn’t something to brag about — for some, it’s a horrible fact of life.

Troubadour features some titanic guest appearances for the fresh new artist, including Mos Def, Chali 2NA, Chubb Rock, Damian Marley, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. Those artists and their varying genres are represented through the pure lyricism, The buffalo soldier ideals, pop vocal backings and symphonic instrumentation that saturate the album.

Explosive single “If Rap Gets Jealous” is the only carryover from K’naan’s debut album. But while the underlying theme is still unbelievable pain, the palpable angst and stream of consciousness from the first version fades after a complete rewrite of all but the first three lines of chorus. Fortunately the solos and guitar riffs from Metallica’s Hammett, intensifying the musicality of the song and pushing it beyond the purely hip-hop original composition, redeem the new recording

The crown-jewel track of the album is undoubtedly “Somalia,” a beautifully flowing and deceivingly upbeat ode to the horrors of his homeland and “to never know a single day without a big commotion.” The piano-backed diamond in the rough is “Take a Minute,” opening up with a time-old revelation: “any man who knows a thing/knows he knows not a damn damn thing at all.”

K’naan’s flow is consistently impeccable, and his melodious beats mask the pain of a childhood filled with closed coffins and blood-soaked streets. Don’t miss your chance to share it at Neumos on March 10.

photos: Portfolio Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:55:00 +0000

Hi all — just updated my photography portfolio slideshow HERE.

Feedback is always welcome. Be well.

review: Matt & Kim - "Grand"

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:18:00 +0000

9.2/10

When Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino met in 2002, they hit it off and started dating. Two years later, the skinny art-school couple from New York decided to start making beautiful music together — literally. Forget that they didn’t know how to play their instruments at the time, or that they don’t really know why they decided to do it. It was a fantastic choice, and Grand is the proof.

The sophomore album, recorded in Johnson’s parents’ home in an isolated stretch of Vermont countryside, is a testament to the duo’s dedication. The fact that the whole record was recorded by the duo over a nine-month span — from laying the tracks to mixing and producing — speaks wonders for both their dedication and the absolute realization of their vision.

Lyrically, the songwriting process is one that sounds utterly insane but somehow manages to create brilliance: Kim writes random lines of text, and Matt sifts through them until he can assemble something meaningful. The compilations always feel perfect, even if seeming to border on nonsensical.

But that’s not to say they’re not trying to say anything; the metaphor-rich album hosts more than a couple of gems, like, “Pull out all the stops/We’re coming home tonight/A pair of old boxing gloves in a new fight/Where every single scar/Well it means something to me.”

Poppy treble notes and metered bass notes drop into Johnson’s vocals and Schifino’s catchy drums on “Daylight,” Grand’s first track and it’s catchiest. Throughout the album he handles keys and vocals, alternately substituting a heavy left hand for an active right hand, and she drums and chips in with background vocals and harmonies.

While Johnson creates some addicting candy-coated indie melodies, it’s just as easy to be struck by Schifino’s drum work. The rhythms are often seemingly simple but expertly placed, and the organic clap-and-snap recordings underscored with hi-hat clang sound far more expert than amateur.

Third track “Good Old Fashioned Nightmare” is another genius work of pop music, with keyboard melodies that flow over a thumping bass drum. “I Wanna” appears just two songs later, a hard and fast powerpop contrast to some of the less aggressive tracks on the album.

And though Grand clocks in at a hair less than 30 minutes, the short span doesn’t reflect a lack in substance; instead, the album’s 11 tracks just get played twice as often.

Want to hear those 11, plus a whole slew of others from their debut album? Drop by Chop Suey on Dec. 29 for one of the best shows $10 can get you into.

photos: "Back in the Game" at Key Arena

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:00:00 +0000

After a less-than-impressive first half, the Seattle Universtiy Redhawks snatched a 49-39 victory in a defensive game against the Loyola-Marymount Lions at Key Arena. The game was a milestone for a "rebuilding" program that recently re-entered the Division I league, and led the way to negotiations for a long-term lease of the arena for the 2009-2010 season.

It was fascinating for me to shoot court side at the Key; it wasn't a Sonics game, and the stadium was holding less than 5,000 fans, but I was shooting on professional hardwood and that in itself was exciting. I also had the chance to experiment with telephoto lenses — though I relied mostly on my trusty f/2.8 70-200mm — which provided me with some important knowledge.

photos: Behind the Scenes with SU Cheer

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:00:00 +0000

When Seattle University scheduled their basketball game with Loyola-Marymount on January 1, the venue was as symbolic as the date: Key Arena. As exciting as the milestone game was for the team and alumni, it was equally as exciting for the cheerleaders; the television cameras and large crowd alone were a source of constant giddiness. These photos focus on their preparation and makeup, for which the team brought in MAC makeup artists.

Though it was a long, tiring day — 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. shortly following New Year's Eve festivities — it was extremely fun to be a feature photographer roaming freely behind the scenes. I was able to capture moments and experiment with angles and lighting and subjects that I hadn't previously had the opportunity or ability to do.

review: The Whore Moans - "Welcome to Radio Wasteland!"

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:00:00 +0000

8.2/10

A band name as blatantly punk-rawk as this seems as though it should’ve been captured a decade or two prior, but local favorite The Whore Moans have it, and they’re not letting go.

Though the band even goes so far to bill themselves as “dirty smut-rock” and “aggressive-trashy,” thinking of the Whore Moans as just a punk band would be unfair, as sophomore album Hello from Radio Wasteland! demonstrates. Though they clearly come from a skuzzy foundation, the new record builds on the grit of 2006 debut Watch Out For This Thing and manages to capture most of the band’s copious amounts of energy.

Drawing on old-school punk, 80s metal and 90s post-hardcore, the Whore Moans thrive on stripped-rough vocals and driving bass overlaid with powerfully-picked guitar riffs. Second track “The Holy Fucking Moment” is a prime example, swelling and ebbing with sound waves and lyrics that threaten (literally and figuratively) to tear you apart.

Opening track “Nerve Tonic!” kicks off the LP systematically adding in each element — first Nikki O. and Jonny Henningson’s guitars, then Ryan Devlin’s bass, then Jason Kilgore’s drums — then base-jumping into an ecstasy of punk.

There are other epic moments, like the shrieking verses of “Wall of a Song” and the moving acoustic ballad “Before the Frost” that appear unexpectedly in an exciting way. Pop elements, “oohs and ahhs,” hand claps and harmonies appear intermittently, only adding to the diversity that the band can incorporate under the punk moniker.

“Here Comes America,” like most of the other tracks, opens with a blast of distorted guitar and carries into power chords and lyrics like “Here comes America/boys what do you say/And the old man preaching/on the corner/got a sign that say the end is/coming soon.” It’s old school form punk, modded and prodded into gritty rock ‘n’ roll at it’s finest.

Hello From Radio Wasteland, though not officially released until January 27, is currently available at Capitol Hill’s Sonic Boom Records and Queen Anne/West Seattle’s Easy Street Records. Repeat: you can buy it now. And you should.

And, for the fortunate 21+ crowd, you can catch the album release show on Jan. 22 at Neumos (with Cute Lepers, The Hands and The Ironclads). As Jonny wrote on the band’s MySpace: “This show will go down in Whore Moans history. Someone might die, a baby might be born, a dragon may very well penetrate the fragile membrane separating fantasy from reality [and] lay an egg with a shell made of gold and a beautiful angel burning with lust might just be born from said egg.”

Needless to say, you want to be there.

feature and photos: Horizontally Integrated

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:00:00 +0000

UW senior unites one person at a time
Veiw a slideshow of the studio session with Jack Newman and Andrew Vait.

From the sidewalk, this particular Brooklyn Avenue two-story doesn't look particularly special. It's indistinguishable in most ways from the houses to its right and left, just another University District home in a youth inhabited area.

But the treasures concealed in its basement set this particular home apart from its neighbors: a collection of turntables, mixing boards and musical instruments lie on tables in the studio of Jack Newman and home of his Unite-One Productions.

Newman spent his early teen years spitting rhymes and sitting in on hip-hop recording sessions with the likes of Hieroglyphics and Living Legends. From those sessions, he took away an important lesson: It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, or what type of music you make, as long as your skills are sharp and your movement’s fresh. The young white boy with an interest in hip-hop and a background in jazz would eventually morph his interests into a love affair with reggae. The potential was endless.

Now, Newman plays guitar and trumpet, sings and produces across multiple genres. Last year, he released the Evergreen Organics LP, a first attempt to “test the waters” and learn exactly what it takes to put out an album. And everything on the album carries the message: Unite one.

“This production, in the name itself, embodies a theme of horizontal integration where the next person counts as much as the entire world,” he said. “I’m just uniting one person at a time, pairing conscious thought with method. I want people to feel the opposite of apathy.”

In reality, it’s all a big project in fusion: the blend of his Bay Area upbringing and college experience in Seattle, the meshing of multicultural genres, and the progression of socially relevant ideas across boundaries of race, income and education.

“Music is a great outlet,” Newman said. “It breaks down barriers. Through music you can love me, and yourself, and everything in your life. This is just my attempt to bridge society’s gaps through music.”

The influence of Seattle and a university community played heavily into Newman’s creations; in fact, he credits UW Professor Joel Migdal with inspiring his consciousness. While in Migdal’s International Studies 201 course titled “The Making of the 21st Century” about the shaping of our interdependent, fragmented, and fractious world. The class instigated an awakening within Newman that led to the song “INT. Related” and went on to shape the development of Unite-One.

“I felt the love from this university environment, this instantaneous love,” he said. “That lives on in eternity. We have so many resources — how could you not do anything and everything you could ever want to?” Newman said. “There’s nothing holding you back. There’s just no stopping.”

Newman is all about collaboration and innovation, and in keeping with his mission almost all of his connections come from within the university community. Those connections are widespread and exciting for both Newman and Unite-One, combining to create a diverse portfolio of work. He's teamed up for projects with cinematographer Harrison Shoff, graphic designer Jeremy Juel, vocalist Maddy Shaw, DJ Aerel Rankin and skateboarder Jordan Roper.

One of his most exciting collaborations has come while producing multi-instrumentalist Andrew Vait. Currently, Vait is working on an EP to be touted to successful Northwest record labels like Barsuk and Sub Pop.

Most recently, Newman has continued to experiment, “taking the best part of every sound,” including a stint as lead trumpet and backup vocalist with free-flowing funk outfit Pink Carpet and collaboration with hip-hop artist and poet Jeffon aka The Essence.

Newman’s social consciousness has even expanded outside of music and artistic production. In 2008, he formed the group “Students for Green Development and Sustainable Practices,” combining his awareness with his Construction Management studies to create a forum for UW students who want to be successful in their focus on environmentally friendly development.

Though there’s a lot on his plate, Newman recognizes that he has to achieve his goals as a student first. He might take a break after he graduates to travel — his eyes are set on Norway, Portugal, Brazil and Thailand — but in the artist’s own words, “you can’t just end the music.”

Update: New Side Project!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:54:00 +0000

I have been pretty slow to update here, but with good reason! If you follow this link to University Street Meet, you can find the newest street fashion blog to hit the Seattle area — and the only dedicated to the University of Washington and the surrounding area. Check up on that as colleague Nikolaj Lasbo and I keep developing the blog, and of course keep reading Reverb, The Daily Weekly, Thread Count and all the other great pieces of Seattle Weekly (I'll be there through December).

It's Been a Damn Long Time

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:34:00 +0000

I haven't posted to the site since July — and I feel horrible — but with good reason. I've kept busy all summer with Seattle Weekly, and eventually gave up trying to link to my work via this site. BUT, you can definitely check out what I've been upto over there on the Weekly Wire and the blogs (especially Reverb). Now that I'm (sort of) back at school, I'll (hopefully) have lots more fun stuff. In the meantime, here's a slideshow of my photos from Bumbershoot 2008 at the Seattle Center; I didn't have a mainstage photo pass, but I did catch some great action on the side stages including Flobots, Anti-Flag, Bedouin Soundclash... well, you'll see. Take a look:

SW: Rooney @ Chop Suey

noreply@blogger.com (Nick) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:27:00 +0000

My review (and photos) from last night's show — also at Chop Suey. I'm hoping that it's a little more lucid than the last, if only because I'm writing it at 2 a.m. instead of 5. And though I only caught the last two acts (Rooney and opener Locksley) I'm pretty psyched on the night.