February 2016

On Sunday, Feb. 14, enjoy the irresistible 21st-century musical stylings of the Rat City Brass while indulging in chocolate and champagne, beer or wine at Burien Actors Theatre’s Valentine’s Fundraiser Concert.

Combining infectious melodies from the 1960s golden age of instrumental pop, cool cocktail exotica and a touch of contemporary roar, the Seattle-based Rat City Brass have fashioned an exceptional band guaranteed to raise smiles from old-school music aficionados and jaded hipsters alike. 

When they formed in 2009, Seattle-based Rat City Brass largely paid homage to classic pop composers like Herb Alpert, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. Within months, they added their own arrangements of songs by artists like The Turtles, The Beatles, and even Tchaikovsky.  Suddenly it’s on – and the cool kids get it.

Rat City Brass plays the best rooms throughout the Pacific Northwest, and has been featured live on Seattle’s KEXP 90.3 FM.

With top-notch musicianship, soaring melodies, danceable rhythms and a fun, breezy stage presence, Rat City Brass is what brass sounds like in the 21st century.

Laura Van Horne’s mixed media paintings and Corrie LaVelle’s encaustic paintings are featured in February at the Burien Arts Gallery.

Meet Laura and Corrie during the Opening Reception, Friday, Feb. 5, 5-8 p.m. at the Gallery, 826 S.W. 152nd St. in Olde Burien.

The exhibit runs Feb. 3-Feb. 27.

Laura Van Horne is a mixed-media artist who works in encaustic, acrylic, watercolor, ink, resin, textiles, and ceramics. She has studied acrylic and encaustic painting at Pratt Fine Art Center. She has been painting for about 20 years and teaching art classes for 10 years.

Since childhood, Laura has been passionate about art. When she is not creating on canvas, she is creating in her head.  Common motifs in Laura’s work are often everyday objects such as houses, dresses, birds, and vintage objects.  Many of her pieces are mixed media and include found organic objects, textiles, pages from books, or items from flea markets.

Laura has participated in a number of group and solo art shows over the past 15 years.  She presently paints and teaches out of her Seattle studio/gallery space.

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prizc, In the Next Room or the vibrator play is a touching and comical love story about a young doctor and his wife in the Victorian age.
 
The show will be performed at Burien Actors Theatre Feb. 12 through March 6, and features specialty drinks themed to the show and free on-site parking, plus an opening night party.
 
“IN THE NEXT ROOM, or the vibrator play”
 
Dr. Givings is obsessed with the marvels of technology and what they can do for his patients. He isn’t sure exactly how the vibrators help the women he treats--but they keep coming back. The only woman who isn’t helped is his own wife, who longs to connect with him - but not electrically. Written by Sarah Ruhl, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play explores the Victorian era repression—and what happens when the rules are broken.
 
This show is suitable for ages 16 and older due to adult content and brief nudity.
 
Ticket prices range from $7 to $20. Student tickets are just $10. For tickets, special deals or other information, go online to www.burienactorstheatre.org or call 206-242-5180.

Highline Public Schools has published an online, interactive version of our Annual Report to the Community that puts a sharper focus on student progress. The new online tool gives viewers the opportunity to dig deeper into the data and includes videos that tell the stories behind numbers.
 
Details available in the online annual report include the types of assessments used to measure student success, results broken out by school, and progress over time. Videos highlight Highline’s rising graduation rate, innovative discipline practices that keep students in school, and a program that places graduates in family wage Boeing jobs.
 
Community residents and staff received the print report in December, when it was mailed to all residences within Highline boundaries.
 
The online report was developed for Highline by SeaTac-based web development company CESI.

by Michele Smith

It’s no secret that Burien has an image problem. People who don’t live here or have never been, often think of it as a poverty-ridden extension of White Center somewhere by the airport. The fact that Burien shares the same waterfront with some of the most expensive waterfront and Puget Sound/Olympic Mountain view real estate as West Seattle and Des Moines is lost and the city council aims to change that.

At its January 2015 retreat, the Council identified branding as a top priority for city action this year an effort that is supported in part by a B&O tax increase targeted at funding local economic development.

Dan Trimble, Burien’s Economic Development Manager explains: “A community’s brand plays a big role in defining and relaying its success. All sorts of brand impressions are created for Burien by people who maybe don’t know Burien as well as the community itself does, and we want to make sure we’re telling our story ourselves, authentically and effectively. We need a brand that is up to date and an ongoing branding effort that supports the community’s vision."

This year’s presidential campaign began with more characters than a Dickens’s novel. Yet, amidst all the debate, rhetoric and blather, not one aspirant so far has said a single word about the terrorism happening in our own backyard. And front yard.

These are terrorists undermining the dirt, sod and root structure of this country’s land---solitary outlaws who creep silently beneath the surface, arising only long enough to ruin the hard efforts of our best lawn care.

These terrorists are destroying the very fabric of our America---assuming fabric can be made from grass.

These terrorists are the velvety-furred saboteurs known as moles.

These are not the kind that dermatologists can handle. Freckles, skin tags, seborrheic keratoses and benign lentigines are generally removable---like a drunk at a city council meeting.

But the intruding moles that leave dirt piles everywhere behave like members of a small mammal Mafia: The Talpidae Family, in this case.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Thursday, Jan. 28

Wrestling
Foster 36, Tyee 18
The Bulldogs scored a victory over the Totems Thursday.
Hazen 59, Kennedy 24
Kennedy absorbed a loss at the hands of Hazen.
Chief Sealth 45, Lakeside 9
The Seahawks scored a win over Lakeside in Metro League action.
Roosevelt 48, Chief Sealth 27
Chief Sealth took a loss to the Roughriders in a second match Thursday.

Boys swimming
Lindbergh 99, Kennedy 81
The Lancers lost a close one to the Eagles.
Renton 62, Evergreen 32
Renton was a winner against the Wolverines on Thursday.
Renton 69, Highline 19
The Indians also won compared to Highline.
Renton 71. Tyee 0
Renton won by shutout over the Totems at the same time Thursday.

Wednesday, Jan. 27

Girls basketball
West Seattle 44, Blanchet 30
West Seattle took sole possession of first place in the Metro League and remained undefeated at 17-0 this year with Wednesday's win.

Article Courtesy of Gerardo Bolong

PUYALLUP - Defining defense and a cast of game changers combined as they led the Seattle Christian Warriors girls basketball team to an essential 44-40 Nisqually 1A girls basketball win at Cascade Christian High School on Fri., Jan. 29.

Benefits of the win include inside track on second place at 4-2 and a 9-4 overall record with two regular season games to go, including a Tuesday game at Charles Wright (3-2, 10-4) and a Friday match up against league leader Bellevue Christian (5-0,15-2). The No. 2 seed to West Central District avoids a play-in game and will get to host the first round of WCD.

"I thought that all seven that played did a great job," said Warrior head coach Dave Jansen. "We needed this game and they all stepped up."

The final countdown to conquest began in the fourth quarter with Cascade Christian leading 32-29 with just more than five minutes left.

Anna Whitten made the second of two free throws before freshman Serianna Anderson took center stage for Seattle Christian on seven consecutive points.

Article Courtesy of Gerardo Bolong

PUYALLUP - When you have an opponent down, it can be difficult to keep them down.
In a game fraught with fervor, thrills and side tours, the Seattle Christian Warriors let a 10-point lead escape midway through the fourth quarter en route to a 62-57 Nisqually 1A League boys basketball loss at Cascade Christian High School on Fri., Jan. 29.

The loss enabled the Cougars to slip by the Warriors into second place at 4-2 ahead of SC's 4-3. CCHS is 7-8 overall while SC is 9-7.

Leading only 44-43 in the fourth quarter with 4:06 showing on the scoreboard clock, the Warriors blew out what appeared to be the winds of winning.

Ryan Gifford notched a short baseline basket followed by Taggart Anderson's 13-foot jumper. Next came two free throw conversions from Gunhus as Seattle Christian tried to write the final chapter of victory. Anderson angled home a 3-point basket to put the Warriors in command at 53-47 with 2:12 in regulation.
But the final chapter of four quarters strongly favored CCHS.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Friday, Jan. 29

Boys basketball
Seattle Lutheran 73, Quilcene 11
Seattle Lutheran of West Seattle ran its overall record to 16-0 and its SeaTac League mark to 8-0 with Friday's decisive win.
Shorewood Christian 68, Rainier Christian 53
Shorewood Christian also emerged victorious in Friday action.
Kennedy 57, Hazen 34
Kennedy Catholic nailed down the Seamount League championship with Friday's victory over the Highlanders.
Roosevelt 54, Chief Sealth 41
Roosevelt roughed up the Seahawks on Friday.Garfield 86, West Seattle 32
Garfield cruised past the Wildcats in Friday action.
Highline 57, Foster 51
The Pirates edged out the Bulldogs on Friday.
Lindbergh 56, Tyee 35
The Eagles soared past the Totems Friday.
Renton 69, Evergreen 58
Evergreen took a loss Friday.
Todd Beamer 80, Mt. Rainier 52
Todd Beamer trounced the Rams on Friday.

Girls basketball
West Seattle 62. Garfield 40
West Seattle cruised out to 13-0 in Metro League action and to 18-0 overall.
Roosevelt 54, Chief Sealth 39