Cabernet Classic Next Wednesday

This Classic benefits COCA, the Center on Contemporary Art, which is currently at 6413 Seaview Avenue, the Shilshole Bay Beach Club.

The evening features Cabernet Sauvignons and Cab based blends from numerous Washington wineries including Alder Ridge Estate, Nota Bene Cellar, Alexandria Nicole, Otis Kenyon Wine, Big Smooth/Big Daddy, Palouse Winery, Bonterra Vineyards, Patterson Cellars, Brian Carter Cellars, PengWine, Cedergreen Cellars, Pondera Winery, Chatter Creek Winery, Reininger, DiStefano Winery, Sanctuary, Eaton Hill, Skylight Cellars, Edmonds Winery, Silver Lake Winery, Glen Fiona, Forgeron Cellars, Smasne Cellars, Gamache Vintners, Tasawik Vineyards, Gilbert Cellars, Tefft Cellars, Hestia Cellars, Vin du Lac, Jones of Washington, Watermill Winery, Kestrel Vintners, Whitman Cellars, Lowden Hills Willis Hall, Martinez & Martinez Winery, Wilridge Winery, Milbrandt Vineyards and Windy Point.

There will also be risottos served and art to enjoy.

Sounds like a great night ...

Reverb music festival comes to Ballard today

Seattle Weekly's Reverb music festival featuring over 60 bands and DJs (and one mayoral debate) kicks off this afternoon in venues all around Ballard and will run late into the night.

Here is the schedule from the Seattle Weekly website:

A couple observations:

There are four all ages venues, New York Fashion Academy, Mr. Spot's Chai House, Hattie's Hat and Salmon Bay Eagles. NYFA is featuring hip hop/ rap all day. Salmon Bay Eagles will be rock - alt-rock - indue. Mr. Spot's has an eclectic mix of indie/pop and reggae. Hattie's Hat will covering the alt-country - alt-folk - americana spectrum.

The 21 and over venues are the bars: Sunset Tavern, Tractor Tavern, Bit Saloon (where workin' folk go to eat), Ballard Loft and Conor Byrne and the Volterra Drawing Room. Conor Byrne and the Tractor will be showcasing country - alt country - folk - and americana. The Bit has got variety with several metal/hard rock acts and a sprinkling of roadhouse rock and alt-rock. Sunset Tavern is primarily carrying the indie- alt-rock banner. The Volterra Drawing Room is featuring jazz, and world (afro-pop and tejano). Ballard Loft will have DJs spinning after 6pm.

I'm probably going to camp out mostly at the Sunset but here are a few bands I am really digging (my bias is alt rock): The Tea Cozies at the Bit at 8pm (rock-pop with a singer at various times channeling Belinda Carlisle and Cindy Wilson); The Final Spins at the Sunset at 8:30p (lush Crystal Stilts like psychedelic-garage-shoegaze), The Girls at the Sunset at 9:30p (glam synth-rock); Visqueen @ Salmon Bay Eagles 4pm (80's reminiscent power pop/rock reminding me of Cheap Trick meets Triumph)

There are a ton of bands I would have liked to see but that are conflicting with something else I want to see more.

At 4:30 Jet Sparks (formerly Emily Sparks) is playing at Hattie's Hat. It's quiet singer-songwriter guitar folk-pop. From "Bee Sting" ... some of best lyrics ever "I don't want a bee sting; I don't want to be stung; You'd be dying in a blob of bee blood, I'd be crying and in need of cool mud; I don't see any good that could come; go fly to that flower - forget my plum" What could that mean? ;-)

I also really like the classic American blues-folk of Lonesome Shack (Hattie's Hat 6:30). If you were listening to these tracks on the radio I would defy you to guess that this was a current band with a 32 year old singer. I was reading that singer Ben Todd uses a wood body National Trojan resonating guitar from the '30s to give him that authentic sound. Amazing.

If you get what my buddy Garren calls a "wild hair" check out Southside at the Tractor at 5pm. They call their sound "drunk trucker garage hop" Imagine Kid Rock meets the Beastie Boys.

Check out the Seattle Weekly site for mp3s, articles and pretty much everything you need to know about the festival ...

Encanto

I was excited to see that Encanto Barcelona is coming to Ballard Ave. I have shopped at the 1st Ave. downtown branch. They are a boutique with a Spanish emphasis that carries Desigual shirts, Demano bags etc.

The photo above is copyright Encanto and shows their downtown space.

Ballard Seafood Fest - Thoughts from Day 1

1. Ballardite is now the holder of one of the most authentic and respected titles in Ballard (which I will milk for the next year I guarantee): Ballard Seafood Fest Lutefisk Eating Contest CHAMP! See this link from Myballard.com ... It says it all. (Thanks for the props Swedes!)

2. Is it just me or are a lot more people coming to the Seafood fest? Since first arriving in Ballard in 2001 it seems like the crowds have gone from modest to large. Of course it was a beautiful day yesterday (hot but beautiful)

3. After taking the LEC (lutefisk eating champ) title) I needed something to drink so I listened to the Raggedy Anns from the beer garden. Good times.

4. We stopped by Bastille for a bite at 5-ish and got a cheer from the chefs there -- as well as a visit to the kitchen and chat with Shannon Galusha (told you I intend to milk the LEC title).

5. The Manooghi Hi show was really something. While I loved their original numbers I have to say the highlight of the show for me was their amazing cover of Kashmir. It started raining -- in earnest -- which suprisingly really added to the power of the song. I wish I had my lighter. It was that good. I read an article from a few days ago in the Seattle Times about the band and didn't realize that frontwoman Mehnaz Hoosein is a well known Indian pop star. Check out this article in the India Express for some more info.

Here is a video of Kismet from Youtube