Culture Fiend

The Best of Bumbershoot: Monday

Our top picks in music, arts, and culture for the Labor Day weekend fest.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Sep 02, 2010 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Circus Una Motorcycle Thrill Show

Most of these events have been going all weekend, but we decided to save them for last. Here’s your must-see list for the third and final day of Bumbershoot:

Visual Art: Counterculture Comix
Ever since the early ‘80s, when Lynda Barry first gave a voice to lonely, freckled preteen girls with her comic strip Girls and Boys, Seattle’s been a hotbed of alternative comics ("comix")—and this massive retrospective pays tribute to 30 years’ worth of the city’s angsty sketches. More than 250 artworks by everyone from Barry to Jim Woodring to David Lasky are on display, all curated by Fantagraphics’ Larry Reid. 11-8, Northwest Rooms, Seattle Center. Special Friday opening noon-7.

Dance and Performance: Squonk Opera
Best to call this “performance art,” because genres don’t really apply here. Originally conceived in a Pittsburgh junkyard, Squonk Opera features musicians playing a hypnotic soundtrack (minimalist and rock) among camera jibs and cranes, as acid trip-styled projections flash in the background. It may sound insane, but it’s won over The New York Times, and I have high hopes for their latest show Mayhem and Majesty. 1-2pm, Bagley Wright Theatre, Seattle Rep.

Music: Japandroids
This Vancouver duo is nothing more than Brian King on electric guitar and David Prowse on drums, but they made it out of their garage with their unpretentious, high-energy, hard-driving rock—the kind that makes you want to pick up a guitar yourself. 5:45-6:45pm, Broad Street Stage.

Spectacle: Circus Una Motorcycle Thrill Show
Like a slice of Cirque du Soleil, Circus Una is an all-female aerialist high-wire motorcycle act. All of those things. At once. They balance, hang, extend, and spin with their giant hunk of metal way above your head in a thrilling display of poise and insanity. We’re glad there are acts like this out there, and that we’re not in them. 1, 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, & 7:30pm, Center Square.

Comedy: Patton Oswalt and Friends
Patton Oswalt may be a nationally touring stand-up comedian, hilarious sidekick Neil on The United States of Tara and the voice of Remy in Ratatouille, but according to his Twitter page, he’s just a former wedding deejay from Northern Virginia. One of my favorite tweets: “The Muzak version of ‘Careless Whisper’ in this lobby has turned a bad song into a sonic hate crime.” Awesome. He’s joined here by Eddie Pepitone and Tig Notero. 8-9pm, Comedy Stage South, Charlotte Martin Theatre

Mainstage (always a safe bet): 6pm J. Cole, 7:30pm Drake, 9pm Mary J. Blige

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Tags: Bumbershoot, Best of Bumbershoot 2010

First Thursday: September

Free is the word at downtown galleries and museums.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Sep 02, 2010 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

Z.Z. Wei, Weathered , oil on canvas, 40 in. × 60 in. Photo: Courtesy Z.Z. Wei / Patricia Rovzar Gallery.

Where will we be this First Thursday?

At Patricia Rovzar Gallery, where Beijing-born artist Z.Z. Wei shows new works and a selection of older paintings. Compared to the supersized concrete jungle of his home city, the Pacific Northwest was a revelation for Wei when he arrived here in 1989: all haunting forests and melancholy backroads. For more on how that translates on canvas, click here. Sept 2-Oct 4; opening reception Sept 2, 6-8pm.

We’ll also be at James Harris Gallery where veteran photographer Amy Blakemore shows intimate new works from 2008-2010. For 20 years, Blakemore has used low-tech equipment (i.e. a cheap plastic camera) and rigorous composition to give meaning to the banal—hair blowing in the wind, a woman with a watering can. In her latest pieces, we see more color landscapes and portraits of family, including one 2009 image simply titled Mom with the elderly matron sitting in a shadow, headphones on and expression taut like a teenager daring you to challenge her. Sept 2-Oct 9.

Blakemore will be at Seattle Art Museum tonight to help introduce her complementary career retrospective, Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008, which opens formally on September 4. Curator Marisa C. Sánchez will lead a discussion with the artist from 7-7:30 in the third floor galleries. Sept 2 discussion; Sept 4-Feb 13.

Closing September 6:
Kurt at Seattle Art Museum
Andy Warhol: Love Fear Pleasure Lust Pain Glamour Death at Seattle Art Museum
Reflections: The Mary Wilson Supreme Legacy Collection at EMP
International Conservation Photography Awards at the Burke Museum

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The American: Where George Clooney’s Charm Goes to Die

Clooney miscast as a misanthropic assassin in Focus Features’s new thriller.

Posted by: Matthew Halverson on Sep 01, 2010 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

George Clooney plays a sadsack assassin in The American.

Who is George Clooney if he isn’t a scoundrel or a suave man of action, if he doesn’t have license to flirt with the audience? It’s his charm and verve—and yeah, his looks—that have made him so fun to watch for the last decade. So that’s why it’s such a drag that The American snuffs out that rakish twinkle in his eye and turns him into a dour, depressed misanthrope.

Clooney plays Jack, an assassin who lies low in a small Italian town after a job goes sideways. He’s getting too old for this shit, you see, but he agrees to take on one last job—the design and construction of a high-powered rifle for another merc—and then he’s out! (Not that he’d put it that way; mopey Jack would rather let a conversation peter out than slam the door on it.) Sure, it’s a cliched premise and you can see the ending coming like you’re looking at it through a sniper’s long-range scope, but at least it had the potential for a little intrigue or action. Instead, we get two hours of Clooney gritting his teeth and walking through the strangely maze-like—and absurdly empty—streets of his temporary home, looking for, what, exactly? His spine? A defibrillator? Maybe a baguette to raise his blood sugar? What little action there is—a car chase here, a shootout there—is so anticlimactic that it undercuts the slow-burn approach that director Anton Corbijn is aiming for.

There’s certainly a lot to be said for playing off type, something Clooney did with much more satisfying results when he played a grieving widower in the spacey headtrip Solaris. But in The American he just seems miscast. (Hey, Anton, why buy a rocket launcher when what you need is a squirt gun?) The only genuine moments comes from Jack’s relationship with Carla, a local prostitute: He’s aggressive and assured when he’s paying for her services, but when she shows interest in him outside of the bedroom, he’s as awkward as a teenager on a first date. After years of killing, he’s lost when it comes to love.

As for the rest of Jack’s personality? You’ll have to try to divine it from the butterfly tattoo on his back and his knowledge of the ethereal insects. Because Jack isn’t a stone cold killer. He’s just…cold.

The American is in theaters September 1.

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Tags: Review, Film

The Best of Bumbershoot: Sunday

Our top picks in music, arts, and culture for the Labor Day weekend fest.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Sep 01, 2010 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Hey Marseilles (standing). Photo: Courtesy Hayley Young Photography.

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Hey Marseilles (standing). Photo: Courtesy Hayley Young Photography.

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Ra Ra Riot

Back for more? Here’s our must-see list for Sunday of Bumbershoot:

Music: Hey Marseilles
Seattle Weekly recently called Hey Marseilles “the best local act deserving national attention,” and we have to agree. The septet’s orchestral pop is joyous and melancholic in turns; “Rio” soars on trumpet and violin solos, while “Cities” could be the lamentation of a carnival clown whose shoes are too small. It’s folkish and charming, layered and professional. See them before everyone else realizes how good they are. 2:15–3:15pm, Broad Street Stage.

Comedy Podcast Live! WTF with Marc Maron
For some reason, when I hear “comedy podcast” I think “bearded basement dweller telling bad jokes.” Not the case with Marc Maron, an acerbic stand-up pro whose twice-weekly iTunes podcast draws 200,000 listeners and guests like Judd Apatow and Robin Williams. Here he chats with comedians Patton Oswalt, Donald Glover (of NBC’s Community ), and Doug Benson. 2:45–3:45pm, Charlotte Martin Theatre/Comedy Stage South.

Film: SIFF Audience Award Winners
Since the typical audience at the Seattle International Film Festival is full of wannabe film critics and movie junkies, we take the SIFF Audience Awards pretty seriously. (Past Golden Space Needle recipients have included Oscar-winning documentary The Cove and Oscar golden girl Kathryn Bigelow as best director for The Hurt Locker.) This afternoon, SIFF screens the best short films: Ormie, about a pig on a mission to crack into the cookie jar; The Little Dragon, about a dragon spirit trapped inside a plastic toy; and The Crush, about an 8-year-old boy with a thing for his teacher. 4:30–5:30pm, 1 Reel Film Festival, SIFF Cinema, 321 Mercer St.

Music: Ra Ra Riot
These New York indie kids just released their sophomore album on August 24—lofty, strings-driven The Orchard—but don’t expect them to go all MGMT and forget that they also know how to play high-energy live shows. Orchestral pop is the name of the game this weekend. 5:45–6:45pm, Broad Street Stage.

Page and Screen: TV Writers and the Comic Novel
They should just call this “Living the Dream”: A panel of writers who pen literature and TV scripts discuss their latest work. The lineup speaks for itself: Simon Rich (Elliot Allagash: A Novel, writer for Saturday Night Live); Steve Hely (How I Became a Famous Novelist, contributing writer for 30 Rock, American Dad, and The Late Show with David Letterman); Seth Greenland (Shining City: A Novel, writer for The Office); Maria Semple (This One Is Mine, former Arrested Development writer). The Stranger books editor Paul Constant moderates the discussion. 7:15–8:15, Leo K Theatre, Seattle Rep.

Mainstage (always a safe bet): 5:45 Rise Against, 7:30 Hole, 9pm Weezer

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Tags: Bumbershoot, Best of Bumbershoot 2010

The Best of Bumbershoot: Saturday

Our top picks in music, arts, and culture for the Labor Day weekend fest.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 31, 2010 at 09:20AM 0 Comments

Caspar Babypants welcomes you to Bumbershoot.

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Caspar Babypants welcomes you to Bumbershoot.

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Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs play Saturday at Bumbershoot. Photo: Courtesy Conor Byrne.

Let’s face it: Navigating Bumbershoot without a map is like driving cross-country with a six-pack of Red Bull and a friend who “swears he knows where he’s going.” Things could get ugly, quickly. That’s why we’ve prepared a must-see list for every day of the festival. We start today with Saturday’s top five events, and continue through Thursday with a new list every day. We cover it all: music, film, comedy, “spectacles.” And since we all know that the main draw is the mainstage, where headliners Bob Dylan, Weezer, and Mary J. Blige will perform, we’ve strayed off the beaten path. Enjoy.

Visual Art: The Portrait Challenge
It started with one bored security guard at the Frye, who challenged his colleagues—also stationed at the so-called Siberia entrance to the museum—to sketch a picture of this “poor, goofy-looking fellow” he found in a copy of BusinessWeek. The Portrait Challenge has since morphed into an interactive exhibit at Bumbershoot, curated by Ryan Molenkamp, who recruits artists and passers-by alike to take their turn drawing. Ongoing, Friday preview noon–7, Sat—Mon 11–8. Shaw room, Northwest Rooms, Seattle Center.

Music/Youngershoot: Caspar Babypants
If Chris Ballew could make music videos about ninjas and peaches, it seems only natural he’d transition to singing about three blind mice and “Rocks and Flowers.” Bring the little ones to hear some of the best kindie rock in town by the former front man of the Presidents of the United States of America. 1–2pm. Northwest Court Stage.

Music: Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs
Ellensburg rock chick Star Anna counts Duff McKagan and Mike McCready as fans and friends, joining them for Thursday’s Hootenanny for a Healthy Gulf at the Moore Theatre. Here she lends her throaty vocals to alt-country with real soul, backed by the Laughing Dogs. 1:15–2:15pm. Starbucks Stage.

Film and Music: Wheedle’s Groove
With Wheedle’s Groove, Humpday coproducer Jennifer Maas has made an eye-opening, ear-teasing, irresistible documentary about Seattle soul in the ’60s and ’70s, says our own Eric Scigliano. She screens selections from the film here, plus outtakes and previously unreleased concert footage, before nearly 25 members of the soul/funk supergroup reunite for a concert at 3:45. “We’ve never had Wheedle’s show with this many original members,” Maas told me. "Black on White Affair vocalist Calvin Law is flying in from Salt Lake City, ‘Deep Soul’ vocalist Ural Thomas will be driving up from Portland. There’s Pastor Patrinell Staten Wright, Overton Berry, Ron Buford, Robbie Hill, Bernadette Bascom… All in all, it should be well over a 25-piece band—full horn section and all!” 2-3pm screening, 1 Reel Film Festival, SIFF Cinema. 3:45–4:45pm concert, State Farm Stage. Wheedle’s Groove runs at Northwest Film Forum Sept 3–9.

Words and Ideas: The Four Fingers of Death with Rick Moody
Fiction writer Rick Moody (The Ice Storm) is a transition player, helping Bumbershoot move gracefully from the more traditional, author-based “Literary Arts” program to its new, poppy, YouTube-friendly “Words and Ideas” genre. He straddles the line with his new darkly comic novel, The Four Fingers of Death, which he’s called ‘a 900-page comic novel about a disembodied arm set in the desert in 2026.’ Pacific Northwest author Mark Lindquist moderates the conversation. 5:30–6:30pm; Leo K Theatre, Seattle Rep.

Mainstage (always a safe bet): 5:30pm The Decemberists, 7:15pm Neko Case, 9pm BOB FREAKIN’ DYLAN

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Tags: Bumbershoot, Best of Bumbershoot 2010

The Reason Vampire Weekend Bailed at Marymoor

“Inflamed vocal cords.”

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Aug 30, 2010 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

No singing for this guy.

If you were at last night’s Vampire Weekend show and you’re wondering what the hey caused the band to bail on 4,000 fans at the last minute, Line Out ‘s pulled an explanation from the indie band’s Facebook page.

Apparently lead singer Ezra Koenig was suffering from “inflamed vocal cords” and was ordered by his doctor not to perform for 48 hours. The mandate came after the quartet had already recorded a session with radio station 107.7 earlier in the day.

UPDATE 9/1/10. Vampire Weekend has rescheduled for September 22 and 23 at the Paramount Theatre. Ticket holders can swap their Marymoor tickets for their choice of date at no additional cost, though there are some conditions, according to a press release from Seattle Theatre Group. If you bought your ticket:

…Online or over the phone, call 800-745-3000 to exchange.
…At a Ticketmaster outlet, you have to go back there to exchange.
…At Marymoor Park’s box office, you have to exchange at the Paramount box office before Sept. 19.
…The night of the show, in cash, at the gate, you have to exchange at the Paramount box office.

To get a refund, send your tickets (with your name and return address marked clearly) to:

Ticketmaster
c/o emm0829 refund
216 1st Ave S, Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98104

And finally, to BUY tickets, go to stgpresents.org.

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Tags: Concert, Vampire Weekend

No Love for Lost at Emmys

Apparently, no one on the Academy understood the final episode, either.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 30, 2010 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

This is all you need to know about last night’s Emmys: Modern Family won best comedy, Mad Men won best drama, Top Chef took the reality TV torch away from The Amazing Race, and Lost won absolutely nothing for its mind-melting sixth and final season. (A preshow picture editing award barely counts.) The show’s best shots at Emmy love, Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson, both lost to Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul for best supporting actor in a drama, even though O’Quinn played at least three characters—including a smoke monster—on a weekly basis.

Is any of this surprising? Not really. Lost fans jumped ship this season as they started to realize their questions about four-toed statues weren’t going to be answered. What was surprising was how entertaining Jimmy Fallon was as the host of the show, especially in their Glee-inspired opening number, which even featured a singing/dancing Jon Hamm. Enjoy the YouTube clip with your second cup of coffee.

(For the full list of Emmy winners, click here.)

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Balazsing His Own Trail

The Bernini of Spokane gets some overdue exposure in three shows and a lavish new retrospective book.

Posted by: Eric Scigliano on Aug 29, 2010 at 07:00AM 0 Comments

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On left: Crucifix, 1961, torch-cut silver-plated steel, nickel-plated steel, and verdigris copper; 10 × 6 ft.
On right: Altar, 1961, torch-cut nickel-plated steel and marble; 38 x109 x 41 in.

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Rhododendrons (Part II), 1976, vitreous enamel on steel; three panels, 8 × 12 ft.

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Tree of Life, 1966, stucco; W. 29.5 ft., courtesy of Hennessey Funeral Home, Spokane

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Game Without Rules, 2007, wood, glass, brass, and enamel; board 14 × 14 in.; pieces, H. 3 in., collection of Emma Perkins

It may sound presumptuous (not to mention ridiculous) to call any artist the Bernini of Spokane, but it’s somehow apropos for the sculptor Harold Balaz. A quick review of the evidence—UW Press’s splendid new retrospective of his work (his first ever), Harold Balazs —shows that the artist has done at least as much for the Spokane cityscape as Bernini’s fountains and monuments did for Rome; the weekly Inlander even called him “Spokane’s Exterior Decorator.” On this side of the Cascade Curtain, we know Balazs’s public works, even if we don’t recognize his name: the monumental Seattle Project—a dancing dinosaur skeleton as imagined by a mushroom-amped Mayan carver—at First and Marion by the federal tower; the deep woods reimagined in a wall-wide jigsaw frieze of wood at UW’s Graves Building; and, in an entirely different naturalistic mode, the three huge but jewel-like enamel Rhododendron panels, pretty as Tiffany glass, hung first in the Kingdome and now at the King County administration building.

Balazs (pronounced "blaze") matches Bellini’s exuberance, but in style(s) and spirit he harks back to Picasso, an acknowledged inspiration—minus Picasso’s raw minotaur sexuality. Like Picasso, he’s a master draughtsman, explosively prolific, and unafraid to experiment and to fail (most often be falling into the Valley of Kitsch). As a craftsman he’s incomparably versatile—a jeweler and woodworker, a major innovator in the exacting art of enamel, a heroic metal bender executing his own monumental commissions. And, in every medium, he’s irrepressible. Commissioned to produce a 30-foot stainless steel Centennial Sculpture for the Spokane River, he made it float like an unmoored bridge. When anxious UW regents demanded a “shop drawing” of what he planned for the Graves wall, he fobbed them off with a detailed sketch of his workshop, down to the last shavings on the floor—an inspiration to client-harried artists and architects everywhere. There’s much delight to be found in these pages—and doubtless in the retrospective show of his work at Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (2316 W. First Avenue, 509-456-3931), continuing through October 9.

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Tags: Visual Art, Books & Authors, Out of Town

Weeds in Seattle?!

Totally inane pop culture news, coming your way.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 27, 2010 at 03:30PM 1 Comments

Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) and her brood escape to Seattle in season 6 of Weeds.

Welcome to the first of what (I hope) is a weekly Pop Watch blog, where I bring you totally inane, Seattle-friendly pop culture news to ease you into the weekend.

We’re starting strong: After a year of waiting…impatiently waiting for the sixth season of Weeds to start, we got a killer first episode on August 16 (killer, ha) where—spoiler!—we learn that Shane really did club the life out of creeper Pilar, and now the entire Botwin family is on the run. Know where they ended up? Be still my nerdy heart, they’ve escaped to Seattle, where they’re working/hiding out in an “upscale hotel” and presumably selling brownies at Hempfest. Now, I’d be writing about this sooner, but I don’t have Showtime and have to get my weekly Weeds fix through … less traditional methods. But I plan to keep you posted on the Botwins’ movements, Nancy’s bitchiness levels, and how Shane’s settling into his new role as family sociopath.

Avatar is being re-released in theaters today with nine new minutes of footage—including, according to a James Cameron interview with MTV, more “alien foreplay” between Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Because that’s what I’ve been waiting to drop $14 to see….hmm. Cameron came through Seattle on Tuesday with his wife Suzy and the Black Eyed Peas for a special fundraising screening of Avatar at the Pac Sci IMAX. He did zero interviews…excellent.

Plenty of big names coming to town over Labor Day weekend for Bumbershoot, but I’m strangely excited about seeing local Sir Mix-A-Lot at a Wheedle’s Groove screening at Northwest Film Forum on September 9. (Read more here.)

Know how Rainn Wilson is doing a local standup show with (yet to be named) costars from The Office in October? The Shorecrest High grad also has one of the most addictive Posterous pages I’ve ever come across. Three words: “Problems with Kelly.”

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Met Picks: Indoor-Outdoor Edition

Your best entertainment bets Aug 26-29.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 26, 2010 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

Book-smart indie rockers? Never. The band, courtesy of Vampire Weekend.

Today’s weather is bumming me out. Everything I want to do is outdoors this weekend, and this soggy gray business doesn’t bode well. That’s why I’ve made two sets of plans: one inside, one out.

OUTDOOR EDITION
Dancing Til Dusk, those free outdoor dance lessons in parks across the city, continue through September 9, with a salsa lesson starting at 6 tonight at Olympic Sculpture Park.

We’ll be back in OSP on Friday night for the return of Seattle Art Museum’s late-night party, SAM Remix. Reasons why you should go: 1) Truckasaurus’s lo-fi set. 2) The giant collaborative comic drawing. 3) Absinthe. Fun starts at 8; first 50 people to show up wearing Day-Glo neon get in for free.

On Saturday evening, Northwest Film Forum hosts the fifth annual Seattle Bike-in at Cal Anderson park. Grab your favorite two-wheeler and head there at 7 for free concerts; Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure screens around 9.

And then, there are the outdoor concerts… This weekend alone, Vampire Weekend plays Marymoor Park (Sunday), Herbie Hancock is at Woodland Park Zoo (Sunday), Crowded House plays Chateau Ste Michelle (Saturday), and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band rocks the Mural Amphitheatre (free Friday show).

INDOOR EDITION
Discover the mechanics of human cannonballs and “packanatomicalization” (the art of cramming yourself into really small spaces), or test your own skills on the high wire, nine feet off the ground at Pacific Science Center’s Circus! Science Under the Big Top. (Family friendly; exhibit closes Sept 6.)

Before the Frye opened in 1952, the museum’s benefactors, Charles and Emma Frye, hung their expansive collection of early-twentieth-century European paintings in their home. This showcase of more than 150 pieces, Tête-à-tête, recreates that intimate, salonlike experience. It’s on display through September 6.

Two films worth seeing:
Ken Loach’s dry comedy Looking for Eric, about a depressed postal worker and football fanatic who turns to legendary Man U footballer Eric Cantona—his imaginary guardian angel—for inspiration. It’s at Film Forum Friday through September 2.

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Tags: Met Picks, Weekend

Reasons to Love SAM Remix

Let me count the ways…

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 25, 2010 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

Party under Alexander Calder’s Eagle at SAM Remix. Photo by Laura Dannen.

I love thee for the depth and breadth of fare…

Seattle Art Museum brings its late-night party outside on Friday, August 27, with even more music, dancing, and after-dark art tours at Olympic Sculpture Park.

I love thy absinthe, pungent and green…

Dress the same shade as your absinthe cocktail: The first 50 people to arrive wearing neon get in for free.

I love thee wildly, dancing with lo-fi on high…

Local electronic crew Truckasaurus provides the soundtrack to the evening, with the help of Library Science, SunTzu Sound, and I Heart Shiva.

I love thee until your opinions run dry…

Artist Jenny Heishman explains her installations—like the awning to nothing—and The Stranger’s art critic Jen Graves leads another highly opinionated art tour.

I love thy spirit, thy creative flair…

Mandy Greer leads a crochet circle, and Trenton Doyle Hancock explains his new work at PACCAR Pavilion: a graphic novel-inspired episode in the epic struggle between Mounds and Vegans, his imaginary personifications of good and evil.

I love thy comic collection, which you share.

Join the collaborative comic drawing with the Bureau of Drawers, who’ll be part of the “Counterculture Comix" exhibition at Bumbershoot.

I love that you’re not expensive ($15), but bemoan your sellout rate.
Get your tickets now…if it’s not too late. (Ugh, too much rhyming.)
seattleartmuseum.org

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Tags: SAM Remix

Scenes from Seattle’s NOH8 Photo Shoot

It was all duct-tape smiles at the W Hotel Monday night.

Posted by: Sarah Hirsch on Aug 25, 2010 at 10:00AM 6 Comments

Strike a pose The NOH8 guys were in town yesterday clicking away like paparazzi at the W Hotel. Photos by Douglas Bair.

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Strike a pose The NOH8 guys were in town yesterday clicking away like paparazzi at the W Hotel. Photos by Douglas Bair.

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Models lined up to get a number, then waited their turn to go in front of the camera…like at the DMV. But classier.

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The only rule: You have to wear a white top. Though models have been known to go naked for this campaign.

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As part of the silent protest to Prop 8, models wear duct tape over their mouths.

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A family affair Bill French and Paul Gott posed with their 10-month-old daughter Audrey. Washington is one of a handful of states where same-sex couples can adopt.

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Hugs for all At the end of every shoot, which was anywhere from 5-10 frames per person, NOH8 cofounder and photographer Adam Bouska hugged the model.

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Behind the lens Adam Bouska has photographed thousands in the LGBT community and supporters across the country, including celebrities Jane Lynch, Michael Emerson, and Cindy McCain.

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Drinks and Friends Before (and after) the shoot, models could sip martinis and mingle.

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Everyone caught paparazzi fever; many posed for their own photo shoots in the lounge.

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Activists in action It was a great turnout for the shoot, with a line that never got short and a lounge filled with white T-shirts….and makeup.

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Anything but a drag Credit the high energy of the crowd to models like Sister Stella Standing.

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Everybody loves merch.

Celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley were in town on Monday to continue their NOH8 campaign, a photographic silent protest to California’s Prop 8, which bans same-sex marriage. More than 300 people came to the W Hotel to participate, among them partners Bill French and Paul Gott and their 10-month-old daughter Audrey; and Sister Stella Standing, a 7-foot-tall drag queen who, while towering over us, summed up the evening: “It’s such an honor to be a part of one of the most profound silent movements of this generation.”

We had a chance to talk to the cofounders between frames.

How does Seattle stand out from other cities you’ve visited?
Adam: It’s an amazing turnout, which says a lot about the time we live in. Twenty years ago we wouldn’t have been able to do this.

Any favorite experiences from this campaign?
Adam: Being able to talk with Cindy McCain, and going to the Glee set to photograph Jane Lynch. When we shot Russell Simmons he got a lot of people involved.

Did you have a hand in picking out today’s music? I noticed there was a lot of Glee.
Jeff: No, that’s someone’s iPod. But yeah, we love Glee: Glee and Lady Gaga. How gay is that? [Laughs.]

Do you guys have a dream subject?
Jeff: There’s a wish list, for sure. The most beneficial person would be…Oprah, maybe. It makes a big difference to have straight allies speaking out, plus she’s pretty influential. But one of our mottos is “every face counts.”

Any plans for the future, for growth?
Jeff: Ultimately we want to do a billboard campaign, a photo book, and PSAs, especially when it’s a relevant time, when there’s a vote coming up.
Adam: And this isn’t just a California issue, or even just a national issue. People fly in from all over to do this.

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