Washington Hall Reopening

Man – it got busy in Farfetcher land, what with loading in the Rimini Protokoll show at OTB, and rehearsing up the Silverhands set for the sold out shows at the Tractor Tavern and Dante’s down in Portland. So this episode is running a bit behind (and a bit long, sorry) – hope I can remember everything that happened at the …

Washington Hall House Party

Washington Hall in Seattle’s Central District has been a dance hall and performance venue for over 100 years. The Danish Brotherhood built it in 1908, and were equal opportunity renters (Daughter’s of the Revolution and the Socialist Party!). Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Mahalia Jackson, even Jimi played here. Martin Luther King spoke here. It was also the old home of On The Boards, presenting works of Spalding Grey, Meredith Monk, Mark Morris etc.

Link here : http://www.washingtonhall.org/

Historic Seattle and 4Culture managed to purchase the hall (!) and yours truly was invited to do technical support and sound for the grand reopening of the space. Luckily (maybe) the Langston Hughes Center is closed (temporarily) for seismic upgrades (we live on a fault line, its called Interstate 5) and I went over and picked out any gear that seemed useful. The Historic Seattle team lugged it over and I started untangling cables and plugging things together. A few hours later, we have a PA! It sounds awful. The room is great, with an extremely live acoustic - that’s a long RT60 - **nerd stuff coming:

RT60 = k(V/Sa)

k= 0.049 (it’s a constant – this is for measurements in feet)

V=volume (or width x length x height)

Sa= the total surface absorption of the room S=surface area, a=coefficient of absorption)

=0.049((62x100x24)/1132.17 (a guess – plaster and lathe and lots of it)

=6.44 (!)

So it is taking over 6 seconds in theory for the reverberation to fall 60dB. I left out the windows and doors though. It really sounded more like 3 seconds. Still it was enough that it was hard to clearly make out speech more than a few feet away, and as the PA got louder, the room got muddier and murkier. **

So anyway, it’s horrible. I’m thinking about donning a disguise and changing my name in the flyers. All of them. By hand with a sharpie. Then people start showing up, lots of them, and the whole thing just fixes itself. Well maybe not fixes, but it got a bit better huh. On to the show –

Act I – Hadley Caliman Quintet

Jazz man. I mean that like “Jaaaaz, maaan” Mr Caliman is 77 years old, plays saxophone beautifully, in a no nonsense straight ahead style. Dawn Clement on keys, Dan O’Brien on bass, D’Vonne Lewis on drums and Thomas Marriott on trumpet. The usual effect, the audience mostly talked through and over the music, but still clapped whenever a solo finished. Now, I know this will piss of many of you, but this is partly an i-pod issue, and partly that Jazz is now mainly an academic music form. When you get too intellectual, you lose the people. I’m not saying intellectual is “bad”, I’m just saying no-one wants to listen to it. Oh, by “no-one” I mean me and Big Cat and Chunk, and RD and Lee, and so on, but I’m not throwing on the Miles at a party right after Beyoncé. You tell me how to get pop again, and I’ll jump on that train, because its got to make the pop better than it mostly is now. Oh look I talked through my own review. Seriously the players are wonderful musicians. Oh yeah, and 77 year old jazz guys are on myspace now :0

http://www.myspace.com/hadleycaliman

Act II

Richard Svensson played the 5 row Chromatic Button Accordion. Both player and instrument were made in Sweden, he had his first paying gig at the Hall in 1963. There was polka dancing (Looking at you Erin Jorgensen!) He was charming.

Lori Larsen gave a sweet and captivating tale of her family (3 generations have performed Sunday on Amager at the Hall) and then performed a duet with Victor Janusz who scored a kiss on stage and love from the audience.

Black Stax – featuring the all night MC Felicia Loud doing her Billie Holiday impression, then busting into some hip hop with Eccajace, Silas Black and Owuor Arunga on trumpet. They have talent, and skills, but the tracks needed mastering, too much boom and sting, just adding to the mud in the room. Tough on the sound guy, who was cringing. (Me I mean, not some other poor boob)

Dayna Hanson – showed yet another simple looking dance, that I dare you to try and do. Shannon Stewart joined her and they really classed up the joint. Today! (the band) played, minus Maggie (though she swung by), plus Dan Bernunzio, Paul Moore and Dave Proscia..

http://www.daynahanson.com/

Jim Kent, Mark Haim, and Ben Maestas pulled out the now ubiquitous (in Seattle it seems at least) “Put a Ring On it” dance – see the video link (coming soon)…

Cristina Orbé has a great voice, fabulous stage presence, and already has a fan base. Pretty theatrical musical style, she should do well in this town – http://cristinaorbe.bandcamp.com

Act III – brought to you by Hidmo.org (it’s a restaurant, it’s a cultural center, its really awesome)

Audio Couture – wow these guys can play anything! Mainly they play jazz and funk, totally danceable.

Sukutai – Dance and music from Zimbabwe. Some of the most amazing dancers I have seen in a long time hiding in this group, and trust me, at my job I see a shitload of amazing dancers. Rough gig man, rough gig. There is a little girl in Sukutai who moves so well, you can keep your bun heads man.

Yirim Seck – hip hop, energetic, nice tracks.

Brothers from Another – hip hop, young and cute, the highschoolers are screaming still.

Piece Kelly – hip hop, together young lady, better tracks, better stage vibe, and I noticed she had a picture of herself getting a hug from the Dalai Lama on her laptop wallpaper. So why not “Peace” Kelly I wonder?

http://piece.be

Jus Moni – Hip Hop and R&B vocals, young and earnest.

Sunday

Alley Oop – Folk guy with a guitar and a whole lot of different whistles for the kids.

Savoy Swing – duh. Casey McGill’s trio can rock it old school though – One mic centre stage, gather round and go. Cut a rug here –

http://blue4trio.com

Jimmy and Grace Holden – Ok I fell in love with Grace, who is 80 and sings so strong it made me cheer. Jimmy sang It’s a Wonderful World, and Georgia on my Mind, which made me cry. How can jazz get back to the pop? I want songs like these again please, and singers like these too. I wonder if I can get a lesson? Hmmm.

Kibibi Monié / Dark Divas – the stereotypical African American theatre, with mentions of slavery, lynching, use of fake southern accent, and a very little girl singing beautifully. There is also a very intelligent woman inside the caricature. Check.