Rock Steady! Watch Sweet Water via Free Live Stream Friday Night! With Jamie Nova Band & Kim Virant For Make-A-Wish Alaska~ Washington Charity

Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington is a great charity organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human spirit, experience with hope, strength, and joy!

Artist Charles Young Is Building a Vast Paper City, One Tiny Model At A Time! by Christopher Jobson

One of my favorite new Tumblrs to follow is Paperholm, a project that started this summer by Charles Young who challenged himself to build a new paper structure each day. Young received his bachelor and masters degrees from the Edinburgh College of Art where he taught himself paper and card modelling. Despite a long-time familiarity with the process and materials, it’s amazing to see the progress he’s made in just the last three months or so as the models become more intricate and lend themselves to bits of animation. You can follow Young’s growing paper city here. (via My Modern Met)

Watch The Missionary Position, Shawn Smith, The Guessing Game & Amanda Hardy Via Free Live Stream on New Years Eve!

Normally we would wait until an event sells out before we announce and offer to live stream an event, but lets face it-with this amazing lineup there's no chance that it's not going to sell out!

Ten Works of Art As Thanksgiving Dinner Plates by Hannah Rothstein

Piet Mondrian

René Magritte

Watch Joshua Pierce Via Free Live Stream Tonight From Seattle's Historic Rendezvous Jewel Box Theater

Photo by Tim Durkin

An intimate night with one of Seattle's most beloved singers-performers, Joshua Pierce -- it's a show that one only dreams of.... In a rainy dark world of all the "grunge"-influenced bands, it's a rare gift that tonight we get a chance to sit and listen to some of the most original music to come out of Seattle's rock scene. Never tempted to follow local trends, Joshua brings his own style to music and he does it with grace and humility. Especially for someone with his history in Seattle music. 

See An Aerial Laser Display Capable of Projecting 3D Objects in Mid-Air: Science B*tches!

A team of researchers in Japan lead by Akira Asano of Burton Inc. have developed a 3D aerial display capable of projecting text and imagery in mid-air. The Aerial Burton works by firing a 1kHz infrared pulse directly into a 3D scanner which in turn focuses and reflects the laser to a specific point in the air. Molecules at the end of the laser then ionize, releasing energy in the form of photons. While the full potential for such a display has yet to be seen, Asano suggests it could be used as a communication aid in the event of a disaster by communicating evacuation routes or broadcasting the location of emergency supplies. Personally, I would be satisfied with a 3D laser butterfly in my backyard. (via DigInfo)

Spend Halloween Night With The Missionary Position, Shawn Smith & The Undead Burlesque! At Highway 99 Blues Club

Oh how the immortal Phantoms crowd around me! 

What charm thy music works! 

I see the vast alembic ever working 

I see and know the flames that heat the world 

The glow, the blush, the beating hearts of lovers 

So blissful  happy some, and some so silent, dark and nigh to death

Love, that is all the earth to lovers 

Love-that mocks time and space 

Love that is day and night

Love that is sun, moon, and stars

Love that is crimson, sumptuous, sick with perfume

No other words but words of love 

No other thoughts but love tonight 

from The Mystic Trumpeter

Walt Whitman 

Celebrate John Lennon's Birthday Tonight at Columbia City Theater for " Come Together for the Planet 2 " with an Amazing Line-Up and Art Auction for Climate Solutions with Lennon Music Performed Kathy Moore, R.L. Heyer and Many More!

When you look at iconic images like this one of John Lennon, on a day like today -- his birthday -- and also another day in American history where we are no closer to having peace in the world than we were in 1969, it tends to hit home and the spirit of John, and all the music he created alone and with The Beatles, asks you to ask yourself, "How have I made a difference? Can I do more?" 

Seattle Super Group Jams at Joel & Amy's Wedding! A Little Story About Love, Friendship & Rock-and Roll

Presenting Joel & Amy Eggert

You know you're at a rock and roll wedding in Seattle when legendary musicians start walking in like Mother Love Bone's Greg Gilmore and the wedding band consists of Kathy Moore, Gary Westlake, Kim Virant and Chris Friel -- all music legends in their own right. This is one union that definitely has a strong support system of colorful & interesting friends and tight-knit families that were clearly meant to become one large awesome family. So to get the extra support and love from some of Seattle's best musicians was just icing on the cake! 

Chris Cornell and Tom Morello Set El Corazon on Fire! Here's The Whole Enchilada!

Chris Cornell and Tom Morello on stage at Seattle's El Corazon 

 

You all came here to get the big story, maybe expecting an open letter to The Mustache or even a Dr. Seuss-inspired poem about him (maybe for Christmas).  But you -- much like The Beatles, were wrong! I did, however, include my New Mexico Hatch green and red chili enchilada recipe just for kicks! 

 Chris Cornell joined forces with Tom Morello last Friday night at El Corazon in support of Seattle's 15 Now campaign. Here is a half ass monkey's view of the show, artistically pieced together for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy... and All Hail The Mustache!

For more information on '15 Now' 

Sancho's Classic Hatch New Mexico Green chili enchilada recipe


Hatch New Mexico Red chili enchilada recipe

Medieval Book Historian Erik Kwakkel Discovers and Catalogs 800-Year-Old Doodles in Some of the World’s Oldest Books

Doodle by bored medieval school boy. A 15th-century doodle in the lower margin of a manuscript containing Juvenal’s Satires, a popular classical text used to teach young children about morals. Photo: Carpentras, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 368.

Watch The Mothership via Free Live Stream Tonight!

Last week Seattle hit another high note with a  sold out show at The Croc. for Walking Papers  and The Mothership. It was quite spectacular! To conclude this summer of amazing music and rounding off the last weekend of September, we are thrilled to have another night with The Mothership at The High Dive in Seattle's historic Fremont neighborhood. Think of it this way, would you pass up a chance to see Alice in Chains back in the day? Of course not! Would you have ever said, "Meh, maybe I'll go" to a Nirvana show back in 1988? Hell no! So why miss this? One of the best bands to come out of Seattle in the last 20 years -- if you're out of town, you can tune in to our Free Live Stream on our Live Performance Page right here on Xanaland. 

Although we plan on getting as much video as we can of the other bands -- Mercury Tree, Metameric, and Dead End Friend -- we are only committing to live streaming The Mothership due to power issues. 

Special thanks to Streambox for providing our non-profit Shine Music Project with free 

web casting so that everyone can enjoy

live music!

Watch Walking Papers & The Mothership via Free Live Stream From The Crocodile Cafe! September 19th

Jefferson Angell of Walking Papers 

The two most charismatic and dynamic frontmen of Seattle rock on the same stage in one night! This is really going to be something! This show IS sold out folks -- sorry about that, but Shine Music Project, our non-profit that aids in getting instruments for kids -- is happy to provide a free live stream for this event that anyone can watch on a computer or smart phone. Simply click HERE to get to our 'Live Performance' page. 

Watch Intisaar Jubran & Johndus Beckman via Free Live Stream Tonight~Wednesday September 10th~ at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe

Also known simply as 'Tess,' and lovingly nicknamed Lambchop here on Xanaland, Intisaar Jubran's acoustic shows are like being in a very mystical place somewhere very far form Seattle, almost into another time period -- and with her on cello is Natalie Mai Hall who also adds to the nostalgic feeling her music and singing bring. 

Shadow on the Sun From Earth's International Space Station

One of six astronauts currently on board the International Space Station, geophysicist Alexander Gerst spends much of his free time staring out the window as the world zooms by 205 miles below, camera in-hand. Since arriving at the ISS in June of this year Gerst has taken tons of photographs that document hurricanes, floods, dust storms, and oil fields.

One of his favorite things to shoot are the shadows cast by clouds, something that appears surprisingly dramatic from space. Dense cloud formations can create long shadows that stretch for thousands of miles across the Earth’s surface as they eventually disappear into a black horizon. You can see new photos from Gerst daily onTwitter. (via Stellar)

Watch The Mothership & Amanda Hardy via Free Live Stream at El Corazon for The Layne Staley Birthday Weekend

Bury me softly in this womb 

I kept this part of me from you 

Sand rains down and here I sit 

Holding rare flowers 

In a tomb...in bloom 

Alice in Chains 

Down in a Hole 

Watch Kathy Moore & Friends in 'The Blues According to Jimi Hendrix' at the 2nd Annual Columbia City Blues Festival at The Royal Room~Live Streamed Tonight in Seattle

Life in Seattle.... What can I say? We are spoiled when it comes to music! Tonight at one of the finest venues in Seattle, you can see Kathy Moore, Thaddeus Turner, Jeff Fielder and R.L. Heyer join another all-star band, Crack Sunday, with Skerik, Mike Stone, Keith Lowe and Tim Kennedy. This is the last night of the festival and the only night we have been able to attend -- we are super excited -- these are some of the best musicians in Seattle. 

Watch it free via live steam--click here!

Link here to The Royal Room -- a beautiful place, dinner reservations welcome, and tonight is dirt cheap at $10.00,  so if you're lucky enough to go:

Click here to Royal Room 

Watch Jefferson Angell via Free Live Stream Tonight * Saturday August 16th * at Duos Lounge~West Seattle

Don't panic, you crystal-wearing dreamers in Portland (you'll never be as cool as Seattle -- There, I said it!) Calm down, Bee Charmer groupies in France -- you know I got your back, it will all be okay -- We're also recording it -- special Italian monkeys... no need to stay up all night! But please do join us, Seattle, at DUOS Lounge in West Seattle for an evening with Jefferson Angell, dynamic front man of Walking Papers and The Missionary Position. There is so much one cannot be certain of in this life. So much that can go wrong to change your plans and outlook. One thing people that go see Jeff play know is that, on that evening, for that brief moment in time, nothing else in the world matters. He's good for you -- like soup -- like nothing bad. 

For those that cannot attend you can watch our live stream:

Click here to get to the LIVE page! 

DUOS Lounge/ event page~

Free live stream provided for 

Shine Music Project by Streambox

Edible Anatomically Accurate Chocolate Human Skulls

Cannibalism never tasted so good. These anatomically accurate chocolate skulls are life-size because, well, they were cast from a mold taken from a genuine human skull. They’re the creation of UK-based chocolatier BlackChocolateCo, a duo who combined their passion for art and chocolate, which yielded this fantastic creation that they sell over on their etsy shop.

Hug Hug Kiss Kiss Ta Ta Andrew McKeag! The Presidents of the United States of America's Andrew McKeag Gets a Proper Send-Off to California at Slim's Last Chance Saloon

The amazing Jeff Fielder and Kurt Bloch send Andrew off in style 

Last night the lucky few who packed a sold out Slim's got treated to a once-in-a-lifetime all-star jam! Even though I only recently became familiar with Andrew, his presence in the Seattle music scene reaches into so many areas that I probably still don't quite have all the information to write a "proper" blog on him. All I know is that if that was my send-off party, I'd have a huge smile on my face this morning! It's very clear that all the work he's done with Musicare, School of Rock, and the many musical projects in which he's involved has paid off big time in the 'love' department, because Seattle LOVES this guy! 

John Leighton Beezer Answers Twenty Questions~ The Man Who Brought You The Thrown Ups and Stomach Pump Plays Tonight at Seattle's Central Tavern: Expect the Unexpected

John at Jack Endino's Soundhouse 

Studios recently. I don't know if either 

of them knows how many times 

they have worked together, but it's a lot! 

In the early 19th century, Marcel Proust was given a questionnaire called "an album to record thoughts and feelings," also known as a "confession album." At the time, it was popular among English families to assure that the man or woman was marriage-worthy and bona fide.

Tiniest Book of Big Events by Evan Lorenzen~This is F*cking Awesome!

Trying to compress the history of Earth into a single book is an especially daunting task, the difficulty is compounded when the book you’re writing is the size of a nickel and is limited to just a few pages. Oh, and it needs lots of pictures. Lucky for us, illustrator Evan Lorenzen was up to the task and identified a few pivitol moments in history which he turned into this extremely tiny hand-bound book. You can see more of his miniature books over on his Tumblr. (via F*ck Yeah Book Arts)

Out & About in The Emerald City ~ The Missionary Position, Amanda Hardy & a BBQ for Special Monkeys ~ It's All Part of My Rock & Roll Fantasy!

 Lilly Anderson " Lovechild 2.0 "

Indeed what a special weekend it's been! Not only did we get to see one of our very favorite bands in Seattle, The Missionary Position, but we hosted a BBQ for some of our special friends and asked several musicians to come and play an acoustic set.

The Mesmerizing Gifs of Graphonaute!

Science student Hugo Germain (aka. Graphonaute) is just 18 years old, but crates animations and visual effects that seem well beyond his years. Though animation is not his primary focus, Germain spends his spare time mixing live action footage with various 3D tools to create quirky visual effects and experiments. You can see more over on Graphonaute. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

The Mothership's John Beckman Answers 20 Questions: Extra Awesome Sauce Included

In the early 19th Century, Marcel Proust was given a questionnaire called "an album to record thoughts and feelings," also known as a "confession album."  At the time, it was popular among English families to assure that a man or woman was marriage worthy, bona fide if you will!
Written in 1890, it was discovered in 1924, and in 2003 auctioned for over 100,000 euros . 

The TV show The Actors Studio had their own version that the host would ask the actors live in the studio. And Vanity Fair's readers have long enjoyed the magazine's version of The Proust Questionnaire. It's fairly basic but gives you a glimpse into the minds of some of the most famous and respected people in the world. It is so popular that there is now an online version that you can take and compare your answers to everyone from John Waters to Eric Clapton. 

Shattered: Photographs of Sunsets Taken Through Broken Glass by Bing Wright

Broken Mirror/Evening Sky is a series of images by New York photographer Bing Wright who captured the reflections of sunsets on shattered mirrors. The final prints are displayed quite large, measuring nearly 4′ across by 6′ tall, creating what I can only imagine to be the appearance of stained glass windows. The series was on view early this year at Paula Cooper Gallery where you can learn more about the works, and you can see more on Wright’s website. (via Found Inspiration Moving Forward)

The Mothership's Bright Side of Dim Lights Up Seattle

Photo by Hitch Hiker

This is thy hour O soul

Away from books, away from art 

and the day erased~the lesson done

Thee fully forth emerging, silent, 

Stargazing!

Pondering the themes 

thou lovest best 

Night, sleep, death...and the stars 

Walt Whitman 

A Night at the Tractor with Shawn Smith

Golden Slumbers fill your eyes 

Smiles awake you when you rise 

Sleep pretty darling do not cry 

And I will sing a lullaby 

- The Beatles 

 It's not how I pictured a night with Shawn. I'd much rather be with him at the opera or at the races, but there we were... at a country western-themed tavern. Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic -- The Tractor Tavern is as rock as Ballard gets, and that's just fine. It's my new favorite neighborhood. It's only natural to think of Shawn on a much more regal stage; the delivery of his music and message, it turns out, though~ needs no fancy opera house. We need only to open our hearts.

Animated Photo Collages by Qi Wei Fong Shimmer to Life as Time Passes

Glassy Sunset, 2013

Tanah Lot Sunset, 2013

Shanghai Freeway, 2014

Chinatown Sunset, 2013

Several months ago we featured a photographic series called Time is a Dimension by artist Qi Wei Fong that depicted layered collages of landscapes and cityscapes photographed over a 2-4 hour period. Fong has since taken the project a step further by animating the images in this new series called Time in Motion. The new photos, shot in locations around China, Indonesia, and Bali show the change in light at sunrise or sunset through angular rays and concentric circles that shimmer as time passes. You can see more from the series on his website.

Vaudeville Etiquette's Bradley Laina Answers 20 Questions~ You May Want to Dig Out Your Tambourine!

In the early 19th Century, Marcel Proust was given a questionnaire called "an album to record thoughts and feelings," also known as a "confession album."  At the time, it was popular among English families to assure that the man or woman was marriage worthy and bona fide. Written in 1890, it was discovered in 1924, and in 2003 auctioned for over 100,000 euros.

The Art of Self Promotion

A shameless admission and story by Seattle filmmaker Shaun Scott

One night while riding Seattle's Light Link Rail, a lanky, consternated, black adolescent took a seat next to me and began writing in a bound leather notebook. He held his pen as fiercely as a grudge, his stringy forearm muscles pronounced themselves with each stroke, the blank white sheet filling in with words at an alarming rate as our train sped sideways into Seattle night.