Local environmental artist Buster Simpson has a long and rich history of creating art for public commissions as well as for private galleries and institutions, exhibiting his work in one-person and shared exhibitions, teaching and consulting on art from coast to coast and around the world. Among his many great public works are Whole Flow in Pasadena, CA, Offering Hat, Drinking Cup, and Illuminated Boat in Kansas City, MO, and Portal at WSU, not to mention Parable, Rosettarray, Ping Pong Plaza, Beckoning Cistern, Mobius Band, Water Table/Water Glass, Moment, Bio Boulevard and Seattle George Monument, to name a few of his works around Seattle and the Puget Sound area. Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably seen his work.

In recognition of Simpson’s many contributions to public art, Americans for the Arts, a national organization to promote the arts which recently held its annual conference here in Seattle, recognized him with the 2009 National Public Art Network Award. This award “was created to recognize and honor innovative and creative contributions and commitment in the field of public art.”

Congratulations to Simpson; this is an honor truly deserved. Highly recommended is viewing his website to get a look at his projects on film and then going to them in person when possible.

12:00 PM – Mary Daheim: Loco Motive
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
I think this is book 25 of a series featuring B&B-owning cousins, due to be released in hardcover on March 2010. I have no idea how she is going to sign an unreleased book, but that’s what the website says, so I’m going with it.
[LINK]

6:30 PM – Jennifer Worwick: Backcountry Betty Crafting with Style: 50 Nature-Inspired Projects
SPL Greenwood Branch
Deja vu! “…a hip, snappy craft book that includes projects designed to bring the outdoors in! Worick will discuss a variety of craft projects that she has divided into habitats from your backyard to the seashore.” –SPL
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Gillian Gaar: The Rough Guide to Nirvana
Bailey/Coy Books
Publication party. No pie.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – John Kessel: Reading
UW Bookstore
U District
Clarion West, the famed SFF writer’s conference/convocation/workshop/amorphous-whatever, presents the author of Stories for Men, Tiptree Winner, and teacher.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Jillian Venters: Gothic Charm School: An Essential Guide for Goths and Those Who Love Them
Barnes & Noble, University Village
Are people still doing this? Not that there is anything wrong with being Goth: whatever floats your boat (or flutters your tattered lace ascot, whatever), but I don’t think I’ve seen an actual, live Goth since 1994. But The Cure is still touring, so Goth is not dead. If you want to enjoy a little Gothiness without actually donning eyeliner and black velvet, yourself, I suggest Tamagothi. Pixilated heroin has never been more fun!
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Larry Korn: The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoaka
Theater Off Jackson
“Masanobu Fukuoka’s book about growing food has been changing the lives of readers since it was first published in 1978. It is a call to arms, a manifesto, and a radical rethinking of the global systems we rely on to feed us all. At the same time, it is the memoir of someone whose spiritual beliefs underpin and inform every aspect of his innovative farming system.” –Seattle Tilth
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Margot Berwin: Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Berwin delivers a bangup debut packed with adventure, betrayal, love and, naturally, rare plants … It’s a fun page-turner-escapist and wonderfully entertaining.” – Publishers Weekly
[LINK]

This was passed onto me earlier today.

a few pictures from saturday [flickr].

On Saturday night, people stretched around the block waiting to have a look at the insides of the Moore turned inside-out curated by the Free Sheep Foundation and featuring a wide range of Seattle’s finest. The event felt a bit like wandering through a haunted mansion, with paintings, performers, installations, musicians, and participatory experiences lurking in nooks, corners, balconies, and staircases of the century-old theater.
I’m not entirely sure that FSF is at their finest on a vast canvas not slated for imminent destruction; with security guards preserving our safety and the theater’s integrity, the possibility of the art overwhelming the crumbling walls, the visitors, the lengthy architectural monologue, and the set schedule was less present. This, though, is only a minor observation easily offset by the experience of ascending from stage to balcony to applause, finding artwork interspersed everywhere (I very much hope that they leave the back stairway untouched), seeing everyone toting watermelons throughout the hallways, and hearing the brass band bring our evening to a close. Congratulations to everyone who helped to pull it off.

12:00 PM – Jamie Freveletti: Running from the Devil
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Columbian guerrillas, cosmetics, and “covert personal mission”s.
[LINK]

6:30 PM – Janna Cawrse Esarey: The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife
SPL Ballard Branch
“the humorous true story of a woman who abandons her tidy life to honeymoon across the Pacific on a leaky, old boat–only to find that sailing 17,000 miles is easier than keeping her relationship off the rocks.” –Secret Garden Bookshop
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Larry Korn: The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoaka
UW Bookstore U District
“[o]ne of the founding documents of the alternative food movement, and indispensable to anyone hoping to understand the future of food and agriculture.” –Michael Pollan
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Richard Bernstein: The East, the West, and Sex: A History of Erotic Encounters
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“‘Is the notion of the East as a zone of special erotic possibilities purely a matter of Western fantasy and wishful thinking …?’ This question is at the center of Bernstein’s wide-ranging, critically astute history of the complicated relationship between Western male sexuality and the East. The book opens in 2006 in Shanghai and concludes in contemporary Bangkok; in between, we are led through a sweeping yet focused, male-centered history of male sexuality, spanning a broadly defined East and West, from antiquity to the 21st century … Former New York Times correspondent Bernstein writes lucidly and with verve. This probing, absorbing and eclectic study critically challenges morally- and politically-correct interpretations of the western sexual exploitation of the East.” – Publishers Weekly
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Robert H. Frank: The Economic Naturalist’s Guide to Washington: Common Sense Principles for Troubled Times
Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs
The behavioral economist explains how our decisions impact our wallets and happiness. Presented in conjunction with Elliott Bay Books.
[LINK]

Remember when the Stranger was edgy, fun, cool, and hip? Me neither, but remember when the Slog was a must-read local blog?

In the last couple months, I’ve basically stopped reading it. Yeah, Eli Sanders did some great work covering the last days of the P-I, and every once in a while one of the other authors comes up with a good article in a blind-squirrel-find-acorn way, but the rest of it seems to have crumbled from being humorous and ironic to being a cross between an angry teenage wannabe sensitive hipster and an angry teenage wannabe gay rights activist who thinks everyone else isn’t gay enough.

Here’s how I think the Slog’s content currently breaks down:

Current Slog post content, showing it's mostly Dan Savage being unreadable

At this point, the Slog can’t even cover Capitol Hill well anymore — Capitol Hill Seattle is running circles around them, natch, but it’s almost like they’ve forgotten they’re even on Capitol Hill.

It’s all about content, kids. And maybe turning the place into an Andrew Sullivan/Democratic Underground repeater station is working, but you’re gaining the whole world while losing Broadway and John. Push Dan off onto his own blog and get back to what you did well. Whatever that was.

a few scenes from saturday’s solstice parade in fremont [flickr].

It turns out that the sun shone on Fremont’s annual summer solstice parade. The naked cyclists were out in force, as were hordes of belly dancers, occasional political floats, hug patrols, pirates, and deities. Show us your favorite scenes from the floats, dancers, celebrations, or fair by adding your pictures from the weekend to our group pool [flickr].

7:30 PM – Mike Farrell: Of Mule and Man
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Once upon a time, Mike Farrell was Captain B.J. Honeycutt in the popular TV series M*A*S*H. In real life, he is a writer, and an activist for human rights and social justice.
“Farrell writes with an upbeat, optimistic attitude, infused with humor, insights and soul. As he drives across the landscape, he also drives home important social justice issues.” –Publisher Weekly
[LINK]

Useless trivia to amaze and delight all your friends at the bar tonight:     

1. Seattle is the northernmost city in the U.S. with a population of over 500,000.

2. Seattle was the first city in the U.S. to play a Beatles song on the radio.

3. The world’s first gas station opened in 1907 on E. Marginal Way in Seattle.

4. Harbor Island is the largest man-made island in the nation.

5. The restaurant at the top of the Space Needle was the country’s first revolving eatery.

Hey everybody, tomorrow June 21 is the Summer Solstice!

The official start of Summer and the longest day of the year, hopefully Mother Nature cooperates and we get some more sunshine around here….

Get your shades ready, Seattle!

Don’t know if it’s true or not but supposedly Seattlites buy more sunglasses per capita than anywhere else in the country. All those months of gray makes our eyes sensitive I guess….