Culture Fiend

What’s That In the Sky? A B-25 Bomber?

Flying Heritage Collection holds Free Fly Days all summer. Just look up—way up.

Posted by: Allyson Marrs on May 13, 2011 at 10:50AM 1 Comments

Photo courtesy Flying Heritage Collection.

If only History class was this cool.

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If only History class was this cool.

Photo courtesy Flying Heritage Collection.

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Photo courtesy Flying Heritage Collection.

Gotta admit: Seeing a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 in the air is a little intimidating.

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Supermarine Spitfire MK.VC

Maintenance has never looked so good. Each summer, Flying Heritage Collection’s team of pilots takes to the sky to keep the trove of vintage aircraft running as smoothly as in its glory days of the 1930s and ’40s. The planes of Free Fly Days have earned their spot in history, logging time during WWII, and hail from all over the world: Germany, Russia, Britain, Japan, and the good ol’ U. S. of A.

Newest to the fleet is the German Focke-Wulf FW 190D-13 Dora and the U.S. Army North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. Or, for those of you who don’t speak History channel, a heavily armed “Butcher Bird” (superior to what the Brits were flying those days) and a popular Allied forces twin-engine, respectively. Star factor: The German FW 190 is the only original of its kind flying in the world today.

Each aircraft is exceedingly rare and requires special attention—they’re over 60 and have been through battle—so Free Fly Days isn’t as much about putting on an air show as it is about taking the planes out for a test drive. Most of the pilots during Fly Days are ex-military or airline pilots who have clocked hours in the sky at air races, air shows, and in the movies. Imagine if they let Tom Cruise fly his own plane in Top Gun —scary thought.

History buffs unite during the nine free Saturday shows taking off on May 21. A schedule of featured planes can be found at flyingheritage.com. The German FW 190 debuts June 18 and the North American B-25’s flies on July 16.

The Flying Heritage Collection is Paul Allen’s private collection of restored WWII aircraft, based in Everett, Washington.

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Tags: Summer Plans, Free Stuff

Free Comic Book Day

This Saturday, celebrate the nation’s best holiday you’ve never heard of.

Posted by: Annie Rose Favreau on May 05, 2011 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Free Green Lanterns for everyone!*

(*While supplies last.)

Duck into any participating U.S. or Canadian comic book shop on Saturday (find one near you with the store locator) for your very own complimentary comic. If the latest installment of Green Lantern isn’t really your thing, there’s a host of other book events that day to keep you entertained:

Comedian Demetri Martin (you know, the “Senior Youth Correspondent” on The Daily Show) will make an appearance at University Book Store to talk about his new publication This Is a Book by Demetri Martin Called This Is a Book.

Charlaine Harris —author of the paperback series that spawned HBO’s True Blood—will be at Town Hall promoting the latest Sookie Stackhouse adventure, Dead Reckoning. The tickets start at $35, but this price doesn’t actually suck (sorry!): It includes a signed book and an alcoholic beverage of your choice.

For a more thought-provoking time, head over to Pilot Books, where New Orleans photographer Jennifer Shaw will sign and speak about Hurricane Story. Told through 46 photographs, Shaw uses dolls, toys, and a plastic Holga camera to illustrate her real-life escape from Hurricane Katrina.

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Tags: Pilot Books, Free Stuff, Town Hall, Books & Talks, University Bookstore

TONIGHT: Free Ice Skate at KeyArena

The Smuckers Stars on Ice show left the ice behind—now we get to play.

Posted by: Katie Ormsby on Mar 01, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Skate for free tonight at KeyArena.

You know that tiny ice rink at Seattle Center that gets overcrowded every winter? This is better—much better. KeyArena is leaving the ice from Friday’s Smuckers Stars on Ice show in place, and opening up the rink to the public for one night only. Unleash your inner Evan Lysacek from 3–5:30 and 6–8:30 tonight. It’s free and all ages are welcome, so this makes the perfect night out with the kids, after-work party, or excuse to practice those triple axels…or figure eights. No one’s judging. Get there early because skates will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis (sizes: kid’s sizes 6–13, women’s 1–11, and men’s 1–14).

Keyarena.com has all the details.

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Tags: Free Stuff, KeyArena

Art After-Hours: Where to Go This First Thursday

Museums are free, galleries stay open late. So…many…choices…

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 03, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

At Wing Luke: Gene Tagaban, Henare Tahuri and Tawera Tahuri, Ritual of Encounter, 2010, acrylic on wood, 8’ x 15’. Photo and art courtesy of the Evergreen State College Longhouse.

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At Wing Luke: Gene Tagaban, Henare Tahuri and Tawera Tahuri, Ritual of Encounter, 2010, acrylic on wood, 8’ x 15’. Photo and art courtesy of the Evergreen State College Longhouse.

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In this installation, Letters home by Asian immigrants hang in the Welcome Hall of the Wing Luke Museum.

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Decades ago, Chinese elders met around the table in this Family Association Room at the East Kong Yick building.

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Designed by Ming Wong and hand-painted by Neo Chon Tech, Four Malay Stories, 2009. Acrylic emulsion on canvas. 96 × 120 in. Image courtesy Singapore Art Museum Collection/Frye Art Museum.

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Ming Wong, In Love for the Mood, 2009. Three-channel video installation. Image courtesy Singapore Art Museum Collection/Frye Art Museum.

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Ming Wong, Life of Imitation, 2009. Two-channel video installation. Image courtesy Singapore Art Museum Collection/Frye Art Museum.

This First Thursday, we’re celebrating Lunar New Year by starting at the Wing Luke Museum. Their latest exhibit, Cultural Confluence, tells the story of urbanites of mixed Asian-Native American descent and what it means to be “native” when so many live off the reservation. Stop in for the video tribute to woodcarver John T. Williams.

But it’s the historic hotel tour that’s the hidden gem here. Even if you’re a local, you might have missed the rickety staircase just to the left of the Wing Luke entrance in the same East Kong Yick building. Those creaky boards lead up to the remnants of a 100-year-old migrant hotel that used to be a second home for Chinese laborers. It’s like the set of an old western: hardwood everything, narrow hallways, low tin ceilings, rooms with the kind of metal-frame beds suited for military barracks and college dorm rooms. You almost feel like the tenants just stepped out for a minute, considering the wealth of abandoned photos, hairbrushes, steamer trunks, and a too-tiny faded vest and suit jacket, hanging neatly on the back of a chair. It’s a time warp in here.

There’s one room dedicated to Family Association meetings, with an long oaken table fit for a banquet hall, another room just for mahjong. And though we didn’t get to experience this, we hear that a couple in their eighties leads the tour and has lots of great slow-cooking stories to tell. For fans of the Underground Tour, this is a nerdy slice of paradise.

The tours are $8.95-$12.95 for 45 minutes, and you have to step out earlier in the day to catch them (they only run 10:30-3:30). But now that you’re out, you might as well swing by the Frye Art Museum on First Hill, where Singaporean artist Ming Wong has put together a very impressive collection of Southeast Asian movie memorabilia and new work exploring identity in its many forms—language, race, gender, nationality—through the lens of Singaporean cinema of the 1950s and ’60s. “The glory days of national cinema,” as he calls it. Though it’s easy to miss, check the hallway to the right of the exhibit for a five-minute documentary on the making of the exhibit’s vibrant billboards by Singapore’s last remaining billboard artist, Neo Chon Teck.

View the slideshow above for a glimpse of everything.

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Tags: Visual Art, frye art museum, First Thursday, Wing Luke Museum, Wing Luke Museum, Free Stuff, Chinese New Year

Free Museum Days Are Back

We hear impressionist paintings soothe all those New Year’s Day pains.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Dec 29, 2010 at 12:00PM 3 Comments

William Glackens, Natalie in a Blue Skirt, 1914, oil on canvas. Courtesy Tacoma Art Museum.

Oh Bank of America, you generous monolith. Thank you for giving us free access to local museums this coming weekend…in turn, I will continue to deposit my paychecks into your accounts. You’re welcome.

The deal: If you’re a Bank of America cardholder, you can get into museums across the country for free on January 1 and 2. In the Seattle area, that means entry into:

Northwest African American Museum (current exhibit: After Hours, the Northwest Jazz Scene)
Tacoma Art Museum (current exhibits: The Movement of Impressionism: Europe, America, and the Northwest, Mighty Tacoma: Photographic Portrait 2010)
Seattle Art Museum (current exhibits: Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, Amy Blakemore: Photographs 1988-2008, SAM Next: Cris Brodahl, Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves)

And in Portland, you can visit the Pittock Mansion, Lan Su Chinese Garden, and Portland Art Museum. To get a ticket, just bring your photo ID and a valid Bank of America/Merrill Lynch credit or debit card. One ticket per person.

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Tags: Visual Art, Free Stuff, Free Museum

Free Museum Days in Seattle

If you have a Bank of America card, you’re in luck.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Nov 29, 2010 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Oh Bank of America, you generous monolith. Thank you for giving us free access to local museums this coming weekend…in turn, I will continue to deposit my paychecks into your accounts. You’re welcome.

The deal: If you’re a Bank of America cardholder, you can get into museums across the country for free the first full weekends of December (4 & 5), January (1 & 2), and February (5 & 6). In the Seattle area, that means entry into:

Museum of History and Industry (current exhibit: The Purse and the Person)
The Wing Luke Museum (current exhibit: A Refugee’s Journey of Hope and Survival)
Northwest African American Museum (current exhibit: After Hours, the Northwest Jazz Scene)
Tacoma Art Museum (current exhibit: The Movement of Impressionism: Europe, America, and the Northwest)

And in Portland, you can visit the Pittock Mansion and Portland Art Museum. To get a ticket, just bring your photo ID and a valid Bank of America/Merrill Lynch credit or debit card. One ticket per person. Participating museums may change in 2011, so check back on Culture Fiend for updates.

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Tags: Visual Art, Free Stuff