No Such Thing As a Free Ride?

Heading south may be free. 

Maybe you are one of the Seattlites who coos, "but I like the rain," when we hit these first days of Autumn with their gray portent of impending months of darkness.  If that is the case, I couldn't be happier for you, and I sincerely hope all your Gortex fantasies come true in the next five or six months.   For the rest of us, it's time to make sure we have at least two trips to sunnier lands planned between now and March. 

These days I'm curious about the Craigslist offers for ride sharing. People post offers for passengers for trips as close as Tacoma and as far as Miami Beach. They usually ask for a little cash and say if they are male or female. You can also post yourself, and say you are looking for a ride. You could probably even say if you couldn't offer cash. It could turn out all sorts of ways, from fun to annoying and beyond.

Maldives free with RSVP at Chopsuey, Wednesday September 29

Recently my life was greatly improved by a pair of cowboy boots.  This concert will be the perfect place to wear them.  And it's free.  Just RSVP!   

Wed.Sep.29.10 The Maldives at Chop Suey
Relentless and FILTER Magazine Present: The Maldives at Chop Suey, The Horde and the Harem, Special Guests TBA! :: Doors at 8 PM :: FREE !! RSVP with Link :: 21+ :: FREE WITH RSVP :: http://www.filtermagazine.com/musicsessions

The Maldives at Chop Suey

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website: http://www.myspace.com/themaldives
from Seattle Washington

Biography
The day had left me tired in a strange way, and I was about in the mood to skip supper and lay down in the short grass and rest, lay there and watch the white moon move across the sky. I flipped a stick into the tank and watched it bob on the rising water. It made me think of an old hillbilly song by Moon Mulligan, called "I'll Sail My Ship Alone." With all the dreams I own. Sail it out across the...more...

SAM is Free Sat, Sep 25

	Seattle Art Museum Downtown 1300 First Avenue Seattle, WA 98101-2003 206.654.3100 TTY 206.654.3137

According to the SAM calendar, if you go to the Smithsonian Magazine website, you can print out a ticket that will allow you to visit for free on Saturday, September 25th (usually $15)!

Free Entrance Days in Your National Parks, Sat, Sep 25

Free Entrance Days in Your National Parks September 25th

This is so cool.  

Free entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees to over 100 National parks on September 25th!  Here's a list of our National Parks here in Washington:

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Lewis & Clark National Historical Park
Mount Rainier National Park
Olympic National Park
Whitman Mission National Historic Site

Thanks Laura Mitchell for the tip!

Free Words and Cupcakes, Wed, Sep 22

You're invited to celebrate the publication of
You Will Not Come Back Unchanged

featuring poetry and prose written
by K-12 students in the 2009-10 WITS program.

Wednesday, September 22

Seattle Art Museum,
Plestcheeff Auditorium
7:00pm reading by the authors
Reception to follow with sweets from Cupcake Royale.

Free and open to the public.

For more information about the event, please email wits@lectures.org.

Writers in the Schools (WITS) matches a local creative writer with a public elementary, middle or high school or hospital to design innovative and culturally relevant lesson plans that meet the goals of the participating classes while engaging students. The program invigorates both students and teachers with fresh ideas and encouragement. Teachers report students' quality of writing improves, and they become more confident in expressing themselves. Gizan Gando from Kimball Elementary School is just one of many students inspired by the program. His writer-in-residence had this to say about him: "Gizan Gando is hungry for words that express beauty and truth. He is the writer who skips me to the front of the room when I arrive, 105% twinkle." Gizan's poem and more stories about other published students are available at our blog: http://salwits.wordpress.com/ .

Founded in 1987, Seattle Arts & Lectures is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to spark the imagination through programs that connect people and ideas. In addition to presenting today's foremost fiction and nonfiction writers, Seattle Arts & Lectures' events and courses illuminate arts, culture, and a world of ideas. Our programs include the Literary\Arts Series, American Voices,
the Poetry Series, and Writers in the Schools.

Major support for WITS provided by:
Amazon .com, Peter Byers & Virginia Sybert, The Clowes Fund,
Mannix Canby Foundation, McEachern Charitable Trust,
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),
NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
Petunia Foundation, Candace Tkachuck & Don Guthrie,
US Bancorp Foundation, WA State Arts Commission,
and WA Women's Foundation.

Special Thanks to Cupcake Royale!

Sweet Songs Are Free, Tue, Sep 21

 

 Cobirds Unite (featuring Rusty Willoughby & Rachel Flotard) free

There have been lots of chances to hear these guys over the summer and more to come  the next weeks, but this Tuesday it's free. You may have seen a lot of these folks live, but not playing together, I bet. What I've been able to hear online and on KEXP has been sweet. Kind of a last-official-day-of-a-not-so-summery-Seattle summer sort of sweet, which you just might need here in late September.

Easy Street Records

Tuesday September, 21 @ 6:30PM

Free and all-ages! 

Queen Anne Store

20 Mercer Street

(206) 691-3279

*********

(I also feel it's worth mentioning that the CD release party at Columbia City Theater --$8-- on Fri, Sep 24 looks fun.)

"Eating Animals" is not free tonight, Sep 20

So everyone liked the book Everything is Illuminated and then they didn't, but whatever. I liked it. I still haven't gotten around to reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close or Eating Animals. The negative reviews always smelled a little of jealously to me--Jonathan Safran Foer is 33, very talented, and had the fortune to be taken under the wing of Joyce Carol Oates as an undergrad. I probably won't pay $5 to go see him, but I doubt I'd regret it if I did. Here's the facts from the Town Hall Calendar: Jonathan Safran Foer: ‘Eating Animals’

Monday, September 20, 2010 | 7:30 – 9pm Location: Town Hall 1119 8th Ave Seattle, WA 98101-2738 (206) 652-4255 Great Hall, enter on 8th Avenue Jonathan Safran Foer—the acclaimed author of Everything Is Illuminated; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; and a new worker of non-fiction, Eating Animals—spent his youth oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood, and facing the prospect of making dietary choices on a child’s behalf, his casual questioning became more urgent; Foer ended up visiting factory farms in the middle of the night, dissecting the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probing some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong. Presented by Town Hall with University Book Store. Tickets are $5 at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Late seating not guaranteed. LEARN MORE: eatinganimals.com Read actress Natalie Portman’s Huffington Post article "‘Eating Animals’ Turned Me Vegan" Watch Foer on The Colbert Report

Decibel Festival Opening Gala, Wed Sept 22, Free!

Okay, so everything else happening at Decibel Festival will run you between $5-$25 (not to say it's not worth it), but the OPENING GALA is free and looks like it could be cool. I'm going. I just decided.

You should at least check out the Decibel Festival website. It's got gobs of info, plus it's really pretty in a tron-tastic sort of way.



dB OPENING GALA Wednesday, September 22, 2010
PRAVDA STUDIOS : 1406 10th Ave
DAREK MAZZONE /dj/ 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm
KRIS MOON /dj/ 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
EAN GOLDEN /dj/ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
INTROCUT /dj/ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Doors open at 5:00 pm : All Ages : Free

Spam is Free

If you like to enter contests --probably if you don't mind spam-- you might want to check out The Seattle Weekly Promotions page. You can enter to win tickets to events, gift certificates to restaurants, and other random goodies. I've never done it. If you do, let me know what you think.

Lunch-time Ballet Tuesday Sep 21 at Central Library

Tuesday, Sep. 21, 2010, 12 – 1 p.m.

Event type	Other
Where	*Central Library
Level, Room	Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium
Audience	Adults
Language	English
Summary	Join Doug Fullington, Educational Programs Manager at Pacific Northwest Ballet, for a preview of Director’s Choice, a program of four ballets to be performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Full Description	Fullington will introduce Director’s Choice, PNB’s fall program of four ballets, through an informal lecture and recorded film excerpts. Two works choreographed by Jiri Kylian to the music of Mozart are the "Petite Mort", a returning favorite whose choreography includes six men, six women, and six fencing foils; and a PNB premiere, "Sechs Tänze (Six Dances)", a comic tour de force utilizing bubbles, powdered wigs, and rolling ball gowns. PNB premiere "Glass Pieces", choreographed by Jerome Robbins to three works by Phillip Glass, evokes poetry through dancer groupings and movement progressions. Audience-favorite "Jardí Tancat", choreographed by Nacho Duato, rounds out the program with powerful signature work danced to traditional Catalonian songs. Audience comments and questions are welcome.
Event Notes	Library events and programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required.
Contact Info	*Central Library 206-386-4636 or Ask a Librarian

Seagulls Are Free

The Seattle Water Taxi is free if you're under five years of age. It takes you from Pier 50 over to West Seattle ($3.50), where you can walk up to Alki Beach. Or you can take it over to Vashon Island ($4.75). While you are in the neighborhood, pop down to Pier 54 and check out Ye Old Curiosity Shop.

"Millions of years of isolation from other land masses" are free this Thursday.

"Millions of years of isolation from other land masses" are free.

Miller Lecture: Gordon Collier: A Land Apart

Thursday, 9/16, 7 – 9pm

Location:

Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195

Miller Lecture: Gordon Collier: A Land Apart The 16th Annual Elisabeth Carey Miller Memorial Lecture features Gordon Collier speaking about gardening in New Zealand. This illustrated lecture will focus on the unique flora of these far off specks of land where earth meets sky. Images of some of its 40 endemic plants that cling to life there will tell a tale of millions of years of isolation from other land masses; these include two plants beloved by gardeners everywhere — the giant forget-me-not Myosotidium hortensia, and the equally spectacular Astelia chathamica. The lecture is FREE and is a gift of the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation.

Web Link:

www.millergarden.org…

Write Together

Writing is free. You can easily borrow a pen and use the back of your utility bill if you haven't got any money. Every Tuesday night I get together with a small writing group. We either compare our work from the previous week and/or write together. My friend Sierra Nelson, an awesome poet and collaborator extraordinaire, taught me this writing game.

The Rules

• Decide how many lines you want your poem to be (let's say 12, for example).
• Divide that by how many people are writing (let's say three people, so four).
• Give each person a piece of paper for their lines (each person has four lines).
• Each piece of paper represents one line of the poem. Write a rule for that line on the piece of paper.

The rules can be about grammar, imagery, meter, on anything at all.

Example: "In this line the speaker is reminded of something from their first day of high school."

or "In this line you repeat one word as many times as necessary."

or "In this line something is falling."

• Once you have all written your rules, put them in the middle of the table and mix them up.
• Without looking at them, take turns drawing one at a time and putting them in order on the table.
• Each person writes a poem following these rules in this order.

Write.
Compare.

You probably won't get a great poem from this exercise, but you'll probably get a good line or two, or an idea, or a good laugh. Mostly, you'll get the knowledge that writing is possible.

Fiddle on the Roof (or in the basement)

Bored? There is really no excuse for that. There is a camera in your computer and music and dancing in your heart. Silliness is free.

Maija Magic

Go downtown and see the works of the lovely and talented Maija Fiebig at the G.Gibson Gallery. You have until October 9. Looking is free.

So, if I didn't have plans tonight, I'd check out the Carol Tyler reading at Fantagraphics. SLOG has the details covered for you, plus some other free goodies that may be happening in your neighborhood tonight.

As always, Ryan rocks with free events worth checking out. Here's his latest newsletter:

BSC and BSC-related art events:

Sept 2nd - First Thursday at the Baby Seal Club Kate, Chris and I will all be at the studio. I'll be the tired one. Stop by though and say hi! Oh, and Kate Protage is hanging some new works at SAM Gallery in the coming weeks.

Opening September 17th Fondue: a melting pot of new works by Chris Sheridan New paintings by Chris Sheridan at Upper Playground in the U District. Opening reception form 6-9pm September 17th and runs into mid October.

Don't forget to check out City Arts and Molo's Sketchbook for all the latest!

Molo's September Art Picks:


Opening in September:

Jennifer Zwick: Partum at SOIL in the Backspace. Jennifer Zwick's been preggers and she's been painting while preggers. This show is going to be rad. Also at show is the show Beaker with Kirk Lang, Nola Avienne, and Jana Brevick. Opens September 2nd 5-8pm. Show runs Sept 1-October 2nd

Pop This Troy Gua is showing up in Port Townsand no less with Mike Leavitt at the Northwest Arts Center. Show runs Sept 3-27 with the reception on Sept 4th.


As far as other exhibitions goes I've been head down in work and I'm not sure what's happening so I checked out Joey Veltkamp's recommendations on the CAB and looks like there is some great stuff. Tim Bavington's paintings at Kucera look too delicious to pass up.

--
Ryan Molenkamp
www.ryanmolenkamp.com
Molo's Sketchbook

PS I am not responsible for misspelling "Challenge" in on the video screen in the photo, this time.