Tag Archives: Royal Room

Features

OPINION: Why Local Jazz Must Survive

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Story and photos by Glenn Nelson

If drummer D’Vonne Lewis isn’t the hardest working musician on the Seattle jazz scene, he is, by all accounts, in the top 1%. Typically, he played two to three gigs per day, every day of the week. Lewis was so busy he even stopped practicing because, spending all his time playing live music, he, his ear, and his body already knew the drill. 

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and performances started cancelling. 

“Oh man, this is getting ugly,” Lewis remembers thinking.

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Arts & Culture

Crowdsourcing Voices for a New Kind of Community Choir

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by Jacob Uitti

Joel DeJong, founder of the South End’s Crowdsource Choir, a non-religious and non-commitment-orientated singing group, remembers a night in 2017 on the light rail train. He and his wife were on their way home around midnight after seeing the famed rock group U2 at CenturyLink Field with a crowd of many thousands. But on the train, DeJong noticed, everyone was on their phones, removed from one another. So, like one does, he started singing Bono’s lyrics.

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Music

Kate Olson on Seattle’s Jazz Scene

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by Gus Marshall

On a cold still night in Columbia City, two of Seattle’s premier jazz combos displayed their grasp of contemporary elegance to a fortunate group of perceptive spectators.

Soprano sax sensation Kate Olson and her K.O. Ensemble assumed the bandstand of The Royal Room first. They began to engage the audience immediately with Olson’s light and coherent original compositions “Pear Shaped” and “To The Left.” Olson’s straightforward swinging arrangements provided a solid platform for her clear and articulate delivery.

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Arts & Culture, Music

Columbia City and Hillman City Receive Official Arts & Cultural District Designation

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by Jacob Uitti

In August, Columbia City and Hillman City received an historic honor: a prestigious Arts & Cultural District designation from Mayor Jenny Durkan. Now forever linked—and not just by Rainier Avenue—the two diverse, multicultural neighborhoods, which are comprised of about 13,000 people, can further showcase their dozens of art and music venues—from the Columbia City Theater to the Royal Room and the soon-to-be-opened Black and Tan Hall. To get a sense of what this new arts and culture designation means for the area exactly, the South Seattle Emerald reached out to Kathy Fowells, Director of SEEDArts, which was one of the many organizations responsible for getting the initiative to the Mayor’s office. Fowells discussed what the future holds for the neighborhoods, what an arts app might look for them and much more.

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Events

This Weekend In South Seattle: #BlackLivesMatter, Battle of the Saxes, and The Duwamish Come Bearing Gifts

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Events this weekend in the South Seattle area

Saturday, November 29th

Community: Catholic Worker Drop In Center Details: All are welcome for food, coffee, good conversation or just a dry, warm place to be-Time: 9:00am-12:00pm Where: The Collaboratory 5623 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98118   – More Info: http://www.hillmancitycollaboratory.com Continue reading This Weekend In South Seattle: #BlackLivesMatter, Battle of the Saxes, and The Duwamish Come Bearing Gifts →