29 days of Ballard Christmas

The holiday season is right around the corner and for our neighbors who own local businesses trying to make it through the recession, this could be make or break time.

There are 29 days from Thanksgiving to Christmas (including both of those days). As with last year my pledge to Ballard is to spend money at an average of one Ballard business per day during that period. I'm going to try to go to 29 separate businesses.

It's not as hard as you might think. A croissant at Cafe Besalu; a bottle of wine or produce from the Sunset Hill Greenmarket; a dog toy or treats from Bark; a movie at Majestic Bay; Dinner at Picolinos or Bastille; a happy hour at Moshi Moshi or Copper Gate; coffee at Cafe Fiore; a CD or record from Sonic Boom; a show at Live Girls or the Sunset ... before you know it, you'll have done it.

I'm not asking you to spend a lot of money that you were otherwise not going to spend. All I am asking is that you consider taking some of the dollars that you would spend outside of Ballard and put that into local businesses this Christmas season. I want Ballard to remain a vibrant, interesting place to live. We need to help our local businesses stay afloat.

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.