CHS has been reporting on the potential Seattle Parks budget cuts including concerns from its supporters that the Volunteer Park Conservatory might face closure. KING 5 is now reporting that Parks is “considering the closure of two community centers and two to three community swimming pools within the next few weeks.” Also on the cut list: 24 of the city’s 27 wading pools.
Outgoing Seattle Parks superintendent Tim Gallagher told KING that Volunteer Park’s wading pool will continue to operate as will the Green Lake and LIncoln Park wading pools. Last summer, CHS speculated that the Volunteer Park wading pool might be more crowded than ever because so many of the city’s other pools were closed for important safety upgrades. This summer might bring even more kids to the Volunteer Park pool.
A more serious closure would be a facility like the Miller Park Community Center. Nobody at Parks is talking, yet, about what community centers are on the line and it seems unlikely that the only community center serving the Hill would be closed but we’ll see what we can learn about the situation.
Zhivago’s piroshkis will fade further in our collective memory, once Pasta? opens its doors at 416 Broadway East this summer. Pasta? arrives on Broadway, through the efforts of co-owners Francesco Angiuli and Gianni Chiloiro. Angiuli may be a familiar name, since he previously worked as Director of Operations for Via Tribunali. Chiloiro hails from California, where he owns a slew of restaurants including the long-running Pasta? Palo Alto, Pasta? Davis, and Pasta? Mountain View.
Though Pasta? bills itself as a trattoria, a casual italian eatery, Angiuli urged us to think of it as “a restaurant in every way, except there will be no white tablecloths”. Per its name, the focus of the menu will be on pastas but they will have a few meat dishes as well. In addition, there will be a full service bar. Pasta? on Broadway will be open 7 days a week and will serve both lunch and dinner. Look for it to open in June, when hopefully they will have received a permit for outside seating.
For those curious about the name(the name invites curiosity), here’s the story. When Pasta? Palo Alto first opened back in 1997, Chiloiro and his fellow owners ran the restaurant without a name for several months, because the first two names they tried “ran into trademark problems“–other restaurants already had those names. So, in a fit of both frustration and irony, they went with “Pasta?”
This year, Dine Out For Life falls on Thursday April 29. This is the 17th year for this charitable event, whereby participating restaurants will donate a percentage of the proceeds from the day and/or night to Lifelong AIDS Alliance. Here is a list of the Hill eateries that are participating (we recommend making reservation where possible).
A married pair of Capitol Hill filmmakers will be premiering their first full-length feature film at SIFF this June. Kris and Lindy Boustedt are the writers, directors, and producers of Perfect 10, an off-beat dramatic comedy that takes place in Capitol Hill and Eastern Washington. It is slated to be shown June 7th and 8th at SIFF Cinema in Seattle Center and will be released online and on DVD through IndieFlix.
Kris and Lindy met in college where Kris studied film and Lindy studied business. Together they have previously made the short film, Collect All Four, which premiered at SIFF back in 2007. They also wrote, produced, and starred in the web-comedy, Couples Therapy, and are also the creators of First Sight Productions which produces promotional and fundraising films for corporations and non-profits. In addition, Kris teaches film making and film studies at Shoreline Community College.
They spoke with CHS about making Perfect 10, staying married, and being part of the Capitol Hill community.
CHS: Briefly sum up what Perfect 10 is about and what it means to you as film makers. What did you want to accomplish with this film?
Kris Boustedt: The basic plot is about a married woman, hovering between the plus- and regular-sized worlds, going back to her ten-year High School reuinion for a second chance with her unrequited first love. And then discovering that he’s actually come back for her. The film asks that essential question: is what you wish for what you really need? Is the grass greener on the other side, so to speak? We also wanted to deal with the themes of what it means to be desired, how our perception of ourselves is impacted by how others perceive us, and the very nature of trust and honesty in relationships (marriages, friendships, etc).
Lindy Boustedt: Short answer – it meant that we could do it – we could make a feature film. From start to finish. That accomplishment alone lets us know that nothing is stopping us in achieving our dreams of being filmmakers.
CHS: As your first feature-length film, how has the movie making experience compared to creating short films? Are you going to keep doing it?
LB: From my viewpoint I believe that short films are a building block to features. For me I break down a feature into smaller chunks – chunks close to the size of a short film. But, when you are on set it is a whole different story. My brain doesn’t know how to sleep on day 1-13 (out of 14 days of principal photography) when it knows there is still so much to do! That makes it a little difficult to function but luckily the adrenaline keeps me going. Absolutely we will do it again. It may be some of the hardest work we’ve ever done but it is also the most rewarding. I love everything about it – the difficulty is what makes it great.
KB: While they are certainly related, feature filmmaking is an entirely different beast. I don’t know if I can really quantify exactly why a feature is not simply several shorts strung together, but it’s definitely more than the sum of its parts (or, in this case, longer run time). Mostly, though, I think it just has to do with the fact that in a feature, you can create much richer characters and environments – you simply have more time, therefor you can have more gradiated arcs and explore deeper the essential themes. To answer the second part of the question: we’re already writing the second feature. :-)
CHS: Your production company, First Sight Productions, mainly creates short films for non-profit corporations. Do you do both types of movie making? What is the relationship between this and Perfect 10?
LB: Basically we are storytellers. Whether it is a film for the silver screen or for corporations and non-profits we try to find a story to tell. It all relates.
KB: Yep. Story is king. Find it and tell it.
CHS: The making of a feature film must be a very expensive thing to do. What was your budget for this film like, and how was it funded?
LB: It is expensive and we did it with a very small budget. We don’t really want to say what exactly we paid but we are in the category of Micro-Budget. Perfect 10 was funded primarily by us – self-financed with our bank accounts. But we also had funds contributed by family and friends. It was an 80/20 split – 80 being us.
KB: Yeah, we’re certainly not ashamed to say that we got a lot of support from family and friends. It was a great honor that so many people had faith in us. I can’t say enough about the nature of micro-donations. Every $20 or $50 or $100 counts and matters. We couldn’t have done it without them! In fact, in the credits of the film, there is a long list of supporters/friends/fans. We owe them all a huge debt of graditude. The great thing about doing it the way we did (small donations + our own pockets) means we didn’t have to answer to anyone creatively. We could make our movie the way we wanted to, and didn’t have to worry about someone else forcing us to go one way or another with respect to story.
CHS: In what ways did a lack of funds limit the vision you had for the film? In what ways did it help?
LB: I wouldn’t say it limited us at all. We went in writing the film knowing we would have a limited budget and finding a story that could be told with locations and items we could afford. However, I wish we had more funds to pay our actors and crew more – we paid them a little but I would have liked to pay them a lot. Lack of funds is also being seen in how much we can spend on marketing. I wish we had more money for that. It is also nice, when working with locations, to have a little money to help grease the wheels. When you pay for a location you get a lot more support and flexibility from the location managers/owners. That helps.
KB: I couldn’t agree more. “Limit” is an interesting thing…because really, all art or creative endeavors are limited somehow. Usually money. But out of limits, I think, you can do some amazing things. I’ll just add, too, that I am so happy we made the film with limited resources. We learned an unbelievable amount because of how we had to make things work within the confines of time and budget. Great learning experience, great training. Now we know we can do it again, only more efficiently. But yes. If anyone out there is reading this and has money they don’t know what to do with, we’ll take it to pay cast and crew more money on the next film. We need Seattle to be a sustainable filmmaking communtiy for everyone, and that starts with paying cast and crew.
CHS: You are both listed as the screenwriter, director, and producer for this movie. How did you split up the duties? Was there a lot of butting heads?
LB: The only time we didn’t do things 50/50 were on Pre and Post production. On Pre-production it was more of a 70/30 split with me at 70 and swapped with Kris on Post-production. Then on set since Kris was the DP he was focused on the cameras, the equipment, telling the crew what he needed and getting the shots set up and 30% on the actors. I was 70/30 with my focus being on the actors and 30% on the shot/equipment/etc. We definitely want to change this for the next feature. Hire a separate DP so Kris and I can focus on the actors together.
KB: And, I mean, we’d be remiss if we didn’t say that yes, sometimes we argued. Heck, we’re married AND working together AND doubling up on certain jobs. But, really early on in the process we actually sat down and said that we could argue as long as we were arguing for the betterment of the film, and as long as we both recognized that the other person was doing the same thing. This way we could disagree in a safe place.
CHS: You have described Perfect 10 as semi-autobiographical. Since the movie is partially about a desire for an extramarital affair, how difficult was it to work together as a couple? Do you feel as if the movie is airing your dirty laundry in a way? Was it scary or cathartic?
LB:It wasn’t difficult at all. Because we know that every marriage goes through these situations – even if they don’t talk about them. I think if anything it was really healthy for us to write these situations and really talk about what they mean, what the characters mean, etc. And also, I don’t know if the movie is really airing any dirty laundry since we don’t feel it is “dirty” per-say. We feel it is honest and real.
KB: Yeah. Perhaps I’m going out on a total limb here, but I think it’s safe to say that married people who say they never think about what it would like to be with someone else are lying. Is it weird that we made a movie about it, based on our own experiences? Maybe…but, hey, we’re still married! We really feel that the need to be desired is an extremely powerful, universal force; one that we don’t think anyone can truly escape. Now, whether you act on that, or are duplicitous about it…that’s an entirely different story.
You are residents of Capitol Hill and part of the film and a lot of scenery in the movie is based in Capitol Hill. Was there a reason in particular you focused on this locale?
LB: We love living and working on Capitol Hill. So when we were deciding how to visualize Seattle for that portion of the movie we wanted to show the view point from the neighborhood we live in. It was a very purposeful choice to do so and makes it have a special Seattle feel.
CHS: The soundtrack also seems to have some connections to Capitol Hill. How did you find most of your music?
LB:Well, one of our singer/songwriters lives on Capitol Hill – Wonder Russell. And we met her through the casting process as she not only sings on the soundtrack but plays the Liz Stone character. We really lucked out finding her! We found the rest of the music through musicians we know – the Brook Lee Catastrope has a drummer that is a dear friend (Mike Duncan) and also plays the Stoner character in the film. And the other two groups, Ahn Trio and Cloud Cult, are favorites of ours.
CHS: Your first feature length film is going to be premiered here locally at the largest film festival in the United States. That must be quite a sensation. Are you nervous?
KW: I now wake up every day kind of wanting to poop myself.
LB: Nervous but completely excited!! I love that we are having our World Premiere in our city.
KB: Yeah. It is completely, utterly, fantastically awesome.
CHS: What have you been doing to prepare for SIFF since finding out about being accepted?
LB: We have been getting the word out to the press and getting our ducks in a row to promote the crap out of it once the festival starts – we need to get people to our screenings! Also, we’ve been building a partnership with IndieFlix. They are going to help us release Perfect 10 on DVD which will be available at our SIFF screenings for those who join us and online the day after we screen – June 9th.
CHS: You also have had a short film, Collect All Four, show at SIFF a few years ago. What was it like to be a part of such a large festival?
LB: It was magical, amazing, life changing. To be a filmmaker in a festival we’ve been going to for years. We admire the art of film so much and it was great to finally be categorized fellow filmmakers.
CHS: What is next for Perfect 10 after SIFF?
LB: The DVD release online and further festival screenings! The next festival on the list is the Okanagan International Film Festival in Kelowna, BC in July.
CHS: What is next for you two after Perfect 10?
LB: We are writing our next feature film! We hope to have the script finished by the end of this summer, start pre-production this fall/winter and film it early 2011.
KB: It’s kind of funny. For the rest of our lives, the answer to this question will always be the same. “What’s next?” “Another film.” It’s a never ending cycle. And we LOVE it.
Capitol Hill shutterbugs, there’s a swarm being planned for you starting Friday night and, like any good party, going all night long and into Saturday. Nonprofit art spacePhoto Center NW is staging its second annual Long Shot photo marathon. The event will feature a camera-toting mob’s tour of the city from Capitol Hill to Georgetown to Ballard. Shots from each photographer who participates will be featured in the Long Shot Exhibition in June. CHS will also be featuring some of the Capitol Hill-related images from the marathon. Details on the how, when and where are below.
Image from LONG SHOT 2009: Lisa Ahlberg 16th Ave White Center portrait 8 4:30pm
LONGSHOT– The 24-hour Photo Marathon April 30 (6pm) to May 1 (6pm)
LONGSHOTis an event designed to inspire creativity and build community while supporting Photo Center NW, a non-profit center for photography that offers education programs, exhibition opportunities, facilities and resources. Register online, seek support from friends, shoot during all or part of the 24-hour period (using any camera!), and submit your images.We will choose one photo from each participant to be featured in theLONGSHOTExhibition on Friday, June 4 (6:00-12 midnight) at the Photo Center.
Use any camera. Go anywhere.This event is open to ALL levels and anyone who wants to participate!
Here’s the marathon’s meet-up schedule if you want to drop in along the way:
Come to as many or as few meet-up locations as you’d like – drop in as a team or on your own, and be sure to meet in Ballard at 6pm on May 1 for our wrap party!
5:00-6:00 pm :: Photo Center NW (900 12th Ave. Seattle WA 98122)
• Meet at the Photo Center to collect your registration packet, grab a cup of coffee,
introduce yourself to other teams and photographers, get tips from participating
instructors, and share plans for the shoot. Starter pistol/ribbon cutting at 6PM SHARP!
8:00 pm :: Cal Anderson Park (11th and Pine, Capitol Hill)
• Check out the dodgeball game in the tennis courts, photograph the fountain, and get a
glimpse of the light rail station construction on Broadway & Denny.
9:00 pm :: Georgetown Open Studio (707 S. Snoqualmie St, just north of the Argo Bridge on
Airport way)
• Visit instructor Janet Neuhauser in her studio and head out about in Georgetown for neon
and industry. (Studio open from 9-10pm)
11:30 pm :: The Hideout (Boren & Madison on Capitol Hill) (21+)
• Look for the “cocktails” neon sign for the location of this semi-secret art bar on first hill
2:00 am :: IHOP – Capitol Hill – (950 East Madison Street, Seattle, WA 98122)
• Hot chocolate and waffles anyone?
5:45 am :: Sunrise! – I-90 overlook
• Meet at the circle bench above the 1-90 bridge (Lake Washington Blvd and S. Day St.
where the bike path starts over the bridge) and then head into nearby Leschi for… more
coffee at Starbucks and views of the marina.
7:00 am :: Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)
• Meet in the lower parking lot at MOHAI near the 520 bridge and take a walk along the
winding trails into the arboretum. Spot local wildlife amongst the waterways and
photograph the overpasses that criss-cross this wetland habitat.
10:00 am :: Kubota Gardens – ( 9817 55th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98118)
• Seattle’s largest public Japanese garden features a waterfall, ponds, bridges, and
beautifully kept grounds.
11:30 am :: Taco Bus – Othello Light Rail Stop (7300 MLK Jr. Way Seattle WA 98118)
• Grab a snack at Tacos El Asadero , the taco bus at the Othello Light rail stop!
12:30 pm :: Labor March starts at Judkins Park
• May 1 Labor march starts at Judkins Park in the Central District – join in, document, or
both!
3:00 pm :: Lenin Statue, Fremont – (600 N 36th St, Seattle WA 98103)
• Toy Camera expert Michelle Bates will be present to lead a Holga adventure in Fremont,
the Center of the Universe …
5:00-6:30 pm :: La Carta de Oaxaca, Ballard (5431 Ballard Ave. NW Seattle, WA 98107)
• Local photographer Spike Mafford (whose photos adorn the walls of this great restaurant)
will be on the back deck shooting portraits. Wander through Ballard, and do a few
A rider’s joyride on a stolen motorcycle had an abrupt ending Wednesday night as the bike collided with a vehicle in the intersection of Denny and Olive Way. Here’s the eyewitness picture and account from Tiffany Von Arnim’s tiff_seattle Livejournal:
Photo: Tiffany Von Arnim
Just a few minutes ago I was standing in front of the Bus Stop and heard a crash. I looked to my left and saw human body flying over a car. The motorcyclist laid down in the street for about 30 seconds before getting up, limping to the sidewalk, yelling “Fuck!”, and then running down the street. It was somewhat surreal and a little bit like the scene in Pulp Fiction when Bruce Willis rams into Ving Rhames in his Ford Fiesta. Eventually the police showed up, and I guess the rider is off in some alley somewhere bleeding to death. Who knows?
Photo: Ben Grefe
According to Seattle police radio reports, the rider in the 7:10 PM crash was last seen limping from the scene of the collision westbound wearing a black and orange riding suit. The police dispatcher confirmed that the 2004 Yamaha was stolen. A search of the area for the rider was not successful. Nobody else was injured in the crash.
At Pine & 10th on her way to work at Oddfellows. I took this one a little while back… as you can see the finishing touches were still being put on EveryDay Music and Elliot Bay Book Company. Now that the weather has gotten cold and rainy again I felt inclined to post a photo of someone more bundled up. Plus, she is wearing TOMSShoes; my all time favorite for walking around our hilly city.
For more street fashion around Capitol Hill and the rest of Seattle check out It’s My Darlin’.
Today, further reminders that the social and economic factors that drive crime are bigger than the arrest of any single individual. After a seeming lull in activity following the arrest of two people in connection with a string of street robberiesacross Capitol Hill and nearby neighborhoods, CHS has learned of another recent mugging — this one an aggressive purse grab last Wednesday night just before midnight.
Late last night, CHS reported on a street robbery near 17th and John in which a woman lost her cell phone to a man who attacked her from behind.
In the April 21st purse snatch, a woman told police she was walking on E. Harrison near 11th Ave E when a man “grabbed her from behind, threw her to the ground, and laid on top of her as he pulled her purse from her grasp,” according to an SPD report.
The man fled north on Federal Ave and through a yard where the victim lost sight of him. Police and K-9 units searched for the attacker but were unsuccessful, according to the report.
The victim described the man as a white male in his 20s, around 5’10” to 6′ tall, 180-190 pounds, with a blond buzz cut and wearing a black hoodie and dark clothing at the time of the attack.
At a recent community crime meeting, East Precinct officials said that street robberies in the area had dropped following the arrest of two suspects who allegedly used an Airsoft pistol in their hold-ups. CHS will have more on the man and the teen charged in that crime later this week.
Every month or so when I’d run out of coffee, instead of taking my dog Trixie for her usual morning walk through Volunteer Park, we’d head down 15th Ave to Cafe Ladro where I’d order an Americano to go and a pound of beans. The staff was welcoming, and even gave Trixie treats on occasion. People waiting in line would fuss over her and initiate the usual dog conversations – what’s her name, what breed, how old, etc. It was a nice routine.
On Monday, we set off once again on our coffee run, but this time we were greeted by a sign on the door featuring a dejected looking dog with a note from the Ladro staff politely informing us unless Trixie was a service dog, she was no longer welcome.
Desperately in need of caffeine, I considered my options. Past attempts to leave her outside while I went into a store had been a catastrophe. Unlike those noble dogs content to plunk down on the sidewalk and gaze indifferently at passers by, Trixie would howl and whine and tug on her leash and create a big embarrassing scene. Leaving her outside was out of the question. Could I take her into Victrola, or would I have to endure stink eye from the staff and patrons, or worse, suffer the humiliation of being asked to leave? I didn’t know.
Then I remembered seeing the dog of the month picture outside the not-a-Starbucks down the street, and set off to give my money to “the man”. The people there made the usual fuss over her, one of the workers suggested she should be dog of the month, the barista complimented me on my vintage Blues For Allah T-shirt, the coffee was hot and good, and the price was several dollars less than at Ladro.
I don’t know why Cafe Ladro decided to ban dogs. Perhaps someone was bit, or more likely, they made a business decision to pander to Seattle’s noisy dog-hating mob. I understand how bringing in a dog for an extended period of time could cause problems. Some people are allergic, some dogs have accidents, and some dogs aren’t very friendly. But I can’t bring my dog in for a couple minutes for a to-go order? Really?
