Seattle: Victor Steinbrueck Park
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Tag Archives: Seattle
Seattle Quintessence
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Seattle Convention & Trade Center
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Stuff We Need: Scrapblasters!
I haven’t posted a Stuff We Need installment in a while, maybe because I’ve been too overwhelmed with stuff lately, like moving 20 years of accumulated stuff from one house to another, and having been immersed in those stuff-filled days we call the holiday season.
But when I saw this, I knew I had to have one:
Scrapblasters are two guys from Seattle, Brian Westcott and John Brink, who do upcycling with great retro taste.
It’s not that I have a thing for vacuum cleaners, it’s just that a vintage vacuum cleaner repurposed as a boom box TOTALLY works for me.
And yet, looking around the Scrapblasters website and checking other things they’ve made, I came up with an idea I’d like more than a boom box.
Back in April, they posted this:
That right there is a speaker and sub-woofer in a 1910 suitcase, and what I’d really like is to commission them to construct a home theater sound system inside a collection various retro items that would sit around the TV room.
THAT would be so rad!
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Happy Holidays, From Fish & Bicycles!
Well, it’s that time of year again, when I’ll be heading over the river and through the woods, to grandparents’ houses for Christmas.
We’re halfway through Chanukah, had a great time lighting candles, playing dreidel, and eating latkes, but we’re an interfaith family, and now we get to load up all of our Jewish stuff to bring with us for the second half of the holiday, along with all of our Christmas gifts, and drive to Seattle for time with the goyishe relatives.
Typically, this means that I won’t be blogging much for the next few days, so things will be quiet here at Fish & Bicycles, probably until Monday.
While I’m indisposed, feel free to browse around Fish & Bicycles in any of the following ways:
- Tags: In the sidebar, under Stuff About…, you can click on any of the Tags and see all the posts I’ve done that have at least something to do with those topics.
- Recurring Series: At the top of the page, hover over the Recurring Series drop-down menu and select from options like Celebrating Eco-Progress, which applauds businesses adopting sustainable practices; Eyecatchers, a collection of photos, graphics, and videos that have, well, caught my eye; Video Fridays, my favorite video of the week pick; and more.
- Archives: Towards the bottom of the sidebar, select a specific month to see everything I posted in that time period.
Cheers!
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Video Fridays: Icelandia
Well, I owe a big thanks to my favorite radio station, KEXP in Seattle, for turning me on to all of the great music I’m featuring here in today’s Video Fridays installment.
Back in October, KEXP traveled to Iceland and set up recording equipment in the KEX Hostel in Reykjavík, capturing some incredible, intimate, and beautiful performances by artists participating in the Iceland Airwaves festival.
And by beautiful, I don’t just mean musically. Judging by the members of the various groups, it appears that every single person in Iceland is ridiculously good-looking!
Seriously, prior to checking out these videos, the only Icelandic musicians I was familiar with were Björk and Sigur Rós, so it’s a real pleasant surprise to discover all this great new music!
It’s hard to nail down specifics, but listening to all of these performances, and thinking of the Icelandic pop music I’ve heard before, there is a definite Icelandic sound that resonates throughout. The music can range from dark and moody to light and airy, and vocals tend to have a distinctive trill. There’s something ethereal going on there, born of that remote land of fire and ice perhaps, and though I haven’t listened to any traditional Icelandic folk music, my best guess is that it has a major influence as well.
There are many more clips on YouTube (search “Live on KEXP KEX”), including more artists than I’m featuring here, so be sure to spend some time browsing and listening.
First up, a band that reminds me a little bit of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, here’s Of Monsters and Men:
Next up, Sóley starts and closes this beautiful song with some looping that reminded me a little bit of tUnE-yArDs, whom I wrote about back in July:
Finally, the most unusual group of the bunch, Retro Stefson…well…um…I really don’t know how to classify them. Perhaps trying to do so would actually diminish them in some way. All I will say, then, is that there’s is happy, fun, energetic music that just brings a smile to my face.
Enjoy!
