All of a sudden this afternoon, I realized that you and I only have a week left to see the last show at the Empty Space’s Fremont location. Forbidden Xmas, a show about Seattle and the holidays, will be playing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In January, the Space will move to Seattle University.

That’s 13 years of Seattle theatre history ending here, people. The last donor letter says, “Although we are sad to leave a space that we’ve occupied for nearly a dozen years, the new venue will provide us–and YOU–with state-of-the-art facilities, new comfortable seating, a flexible performance space, easily accessible parking, and access to a host of Capitol Hill restaurants and bars.”

The new theatre location will evidently provide the company with a whole host of student flunkies. And according to the P-I, the contract includes free rent. Which is all well and good, I guess, but I have to admit that I’m going to miss the Fremont location. It just isn’t going to be the same when you’re not ducking through a little side door to see something like “Ming the Rude.”

Hopefully, uncommon theatre will continue to be great in First Hill. We’ll all find out in June, which is when the first production happens. But just in case it isn’t, I think I’ll try to be there Friday night, to usher out this particular era.

Last weekend’s stellar performance of Mamma Mia! (the musical based entirely on ABBA songs) was rather marred for me (and 873 other people in my section) by several strings of latecomers (number of other miffed viewers calculated by smacking number keypad with clenched fist).

Here’s how it played out on Sunday afternoon: I was sitting in the best seat I could possibly get (and I could only get down to row O). There were a gang of half-naked youths on stage, clad in very brief summer wetsuits, snorkels and flippers, prancing around and singing. As a happily-married woman, there is exactly one occasion where it’s ok for me to look in the direction of cute young men prancing about. This was it. At that moment, about 20 people thundered past me in the aisle, and then stood in front of my face while waiting to get seated.

I don’t know how the other 873 people felt about it, but during the intermission, I went to find out how the ushers felt about it. A knowledgeable usher told us about how “The Company” (as the show is referred to in usher-speak) had specifically instructed them to usher people in DURING the song-and-dance numbers, rather than during the dialog in between. This is because the dialog bits are quieter and have more of a chance of being drowned out.

I submit that anyone who goes to Mamma Mia! for “dialog” is probably soft in the skull. The rest of us are there to sing along with and shimmy in our seats with the music, and admire the choreography. No one really cares what they’re saying during the rest of it. Anyone who can’t catch up with the storyline has to have the IQ of a 2 year old.

Generally speaking, I’m pretty disappointed with the Paramount for even entertaining the idea that it’s ok to seat people after the curtain goes up. In this part of the country, it seems to be ok to be chronically late to everything. I’ve had people coming in 10 minutes after the movie starts. So why wouldn’t I be surprised to see people coming in five minutes BEFORE the end of act 1? Yes — they actually came in, sat down, and then got up and walked out five minutes later, for the intermission.

Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ve about reached my limit. I paid a lot for my ticket, and having people walk around in front of my face was not in the fine print. The next person from the Paramount who calls is going to get such an earful, they’ll probably spontaneously combust from the shock.

My understanding of “weather” is a little above nil, so last week’s dire predictions were filtered through my ears as “blah blah blah freezing fog blah blah”.

Freezing fog, as it turned out, consisted of a lot of freezing, and not a lot of fog. I will also say this: There is a 2×2 foot patch of ice on my pond that will support my weight. Don’t ask what sort of stupid shenanigans I went through to be able to say that. Let’s just say that there are a lot of floating icebits in my pond that proved to not be strong enough to support my weight.

Later on today, I’ll be going iceskating on the world’s smallest skating rink in my backyard. Or maybe I should just go to the Magic Season Ice Arena down the street.

In Magnusen Park, walk over the little foot bridge just north of the boat ramp and head toward the water. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this. There’s a bench with a spectacular view of Lake Washington, The Cascades, and Mount Rainier and this time of year there are no boats at the ramp. Of course, it’s a little cold, so you might prefer to be at home in bed or sitting in front of a fire. If you don’t have someone to kiss, it’s a great place to enjoy the beauty of Seattle. It’s a good place to take in the sun, meditate, contemplate, or just appreciate a world class view.

With only two hours until Strangercrombie 2005 (and Strangercrombiewatch) ends, the bid bubbles are quickly expanding and getting closer to the auction price = stated value line, but everything except the fashion package and fast-mover Stranger Cover! remains a bargain
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David Ishii is closing up shop.

Usually, people walk right past his little store on first, hurrying on their way to Elliott Bay. They don

Over at The Daily, Maureen Trantham reports that, with the end of Autumn Quarter, the majority of the New Orleans students affected by Hurricane Katrina will be leaving the University of Washington and returning home for their next quarter/semester of classes. She includes an interesting interview with a Tulane junior, Justin Cooper, talking about the largeness of UW and difficulty in making friends, as well as the incredible generousity of both the UW and surrounding community.

Not surprisingly, with less than 100 Katrina students at UW, I didn’t run into any this past quarter, but working across the hall from the Gateway Center (where the Katrina Response team operated from), I saw more than a few the first weeks they were here: easily identified by the shell shock, and the accent. I’d wondered what was going to happen to them, now that the quarter was over, but also with the recent news of Tulane and other universities in New Orleans laying off faculty and staff, as well as completely closing some departments.

Maureen’s article concludes with noting that UW will evaluate the effectiveness of its Hurricane Katrina Response program, to put plans together for future disaster relief that I think everyone hopes will never need to be implemented.

Can you plan a year in advance? If so, then this is for you: tickets went on sale today, December 15th, for the first showing of the Dead Sea Scrolls in thte Pacific Northwest. The catch? They’ll be here Sept 23, 2006 – January 7, 2007. Personally, I can’t plan well beyond two weeks in advance, so asking me to plot out a year in advance is pretty hopeless. But, if you are one of the better organized among us, and know you’ll be here then, tickets are $19.75 for timed entry, at the Pacific Science Center (877-377-1947). In addition to the scrolls, the show will exhibit a collection of artifacts from the desert where the Scrolls were found.
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The Children’s Museum is celebrating the Festival of Lights – all festivals of light – from Dec 5 through January 15th. Although we’ve already missed Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights (and probably my favourite of them all), the following are still set to occur:
Las Posadas: December 12