A New Day

Iconic Seattle Mucisian Dies

I came to my blog to post about Obama's great victory and clicked on my favorite daily blog Seattle Daily Photo link at the right of this page>>>>>>

I noticed today's article "Seattle's Beloved Tuba Man Silenced" and was shocked to see when I continued reading that I knew this person.

Goodbye Sweet Ed

As The United States of America celebrates the victory of president elect Barack Obama, the city of Seattle mourns the loss of a special person. This is the second memorial posted to my blog in a week, the first about Obama's grandmother, this one hits closer to home.

This week we lost a sweet soul due to a horrible senseless assault by young thugs roaming the streets unsupervised.

When my son and I arrived at the Emerald City, from the east coast fall of 2005, Ed happened to be in the lobby of our apartment building, he had been a resident there for some time. Ed welcomed us with a big smile and asked if he could give us a hug, that was my first impression of him. He struck me as a free soul, a kindred spirit, an 'independent dealer of mirth' as Art Thiel, columnist of the Seattle PI described him.

We settled with our busy lives a mere block away from the Space Needle in a studio apt that I loved directly above Ed's studio.

My son returned to his job at sea on a ship confident that I was in a decent place in good hands with friends and a helpful building staff.

Every time I ran into Ed anywhere in the building, doing laundry, in the lobby, outdoors...he always wore a smile and if he noticed that you were having a particular difficult time his mission was to make you smile and make you forget your troubles, always offering help, holding a door, offering to carry packages...

Ed had a bit of a reputation as mischievous prankster.

One particular thing I noticed, he owned a large collection of hats and they were usually themed, if he attended a game he wore one corresponding to it, one particular chicken hat cracked me up every time I saw it on his head.

I ran into Ed once and when I asked him about his day he told me he had been outside Key Arena, most probably during a Sonics game, when a Seattle radio station, the wolf 100.7 FM, asked him to howl for a television commercial they were filming.

One evening while my son was visiting, sitting in front of the tv, I heard him say 'Isnt that your neighbor?' sure enough, Ed's howling smiling face covered the screen with the Space Needle poised behind him.

Months after I moved from the studio into an apt in Greenwood, a very cool Seattle neighborhood, the commercial was still running, it always made me smile to see Ed howling for the camera, he was such a ham.

During one of my shopping trips I found a cool hat and immediately thought of Ed, when I presented it to him as a show of appreciation for his warm Seattle welcome on that stressful fall evening he was so thankful and grateful I had thought of him it touched me deeply.

His loss to this city is great, so great that Art Thiel called the Seahawks to help arrange a memorial at Qwest Field, one of Ed's favorite hang outs, Wednesday November 12 at 6:30 PM.

MEMORIAL FUND SET UP FOR ED

I am a firm believer that one simple word, one act can touch someone's life forever, Ed's kindness touched many and he did not deserve this.

Tuba Man was a grin set to music

Images and videos of Ed

All musicians are invited to play at a special, musical memorial

Saturday, November 8th

11:00am

In front of McCaw Hall

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Added Nov. 18, 2008

It has been almost a week since we buried Ed. Thanks to the generosity of so many people, hundreds, probably thousands...Ed's family was able to pay for his funeral.
So many other folks donated their services, the Pastor, a funeral home donated the casket, so many many kind beautiful people.

I was one of the folks at the private funeral service. I will scan the program so that folks can see it, a tuba pin was also given along with the program as a memento.

Images of Ed as a child and many others shared by folks who had their photo taken with Ed flashed on a screen. We told of our personal Ed experiences, his childhood music teacher who first taught Ed to play on the piano, friends from childhood and beyond, people he met in so many different places not just in the streets of Seattle, many touching funny stories.

I told how on a fall night after driving the biggest moving truck in the fleet over so many mountain passes from the east coast, we arrived at our destination in Belltown exhausted and sleep deprived, the task of finding a parking spot for the massive truck began...'Good luck!' many told us, all we wanted to do was crash for a couple of hours, as we had a long day ahead of us meeting a crew that would help us move it all into a storage unit downtown.

My son finally found two parking spots in a private lot across the street right under the watchful eye of the Space Needle. As we finally made our way back into the building Ed happened to be standing in the lobby, to the side, a smile on his face, not pushy, I thought probably eccentric friendly fella in a funny hat, watchful, waiting for the right moment where he seemed to want to find a way to make us feel just a little better, to take our minds away from our pressing needs and make us realize that we should be thankful, that we had finally arrived and that our journey was only just beginning.

Ed asked very simply if he could give us a hug, he also planted a quick peck on my cheek. That was my first Seattle impression.

A beautiful oil image of Ed playing his tuba sat on an easel next to a gleaming copper casket, on top sat a fall arrangement of flowers with his furry orange and green Dr Zeus hat. Later under a canopy, as we said goodbye to Ed on a rainy November Seattle day his brother barely able to contain his sadness stood in front of the casket and reverently, respectfully with all the honor Ed deserved saluted him one last time.

Ed's story makes it to the NY Times

Video of Tribute to Ed.


Added 11.22.08 {click on the image to enlarge}

Obama's grandmother dies a day before election

By HERBERT A. SAMPLE

HONOLULU (AP) — Barack Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of the life of the Democratic presidential contender, has died, Obama announced Monday, one day before the election. Madelyn Payne Dunham was 86.

Obama announced the news from the campaign trail in Charlotte, N.C. The joint statement with his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng said Dunham died late Sunday night after a battle with cancer.

"She's gone home," Obama said as tens of thousands of rowdy supporters at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte grew silent in an evening drizzle.

"And she died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side. And so there is great joy as well as tears. I'm not going to talk about it too long because it is hard for me to talk about."

But he said he wanted people to know a little about her — that she lived through the Great Depression and World War II, working the latter on a bomber assembly line with a baby at home and a husband serving his country. He said she was humble and plain spoken, one of the "quiet heroes that we have all across America" working hard and hoping to see their children and grandchildren thrive.

"That's what we're fighting for," Obama said.

Obama learned of Dunham's death Monday morning while he was campaigning in Jacksonville, Fla. He went ahead with campaign appearances. The family said a private ceremony would be held later.

"So many of us were hoping and praying that his grandmother would have the opportunity to witness her grandson become our next president," said Hawaii state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, an Obama supporter. "What a bittersweet victory it will be for him. Wow."

Republican John McCain issued condolences to his opponent. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to them as they remember and celebrate the life of someone who had such a profound impact in their lives," the statement by John and Cindy McCain said.

Last month, Obama took a break from campaigning and flew to Hawaii to be with Dunham as her health declined.

Obama said the decision to go to Hawaii was easy to make, telling CBS that he "got there too late" when his mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at 53, and wanted to make sure "that I don't make the same mistake twice."

Outside the apartment building where Dunham died, reporters and TV cameras lined the sidewalk as two police officers were posted near the elevator. Signs hanging in the apartment lobby warned the public to keep out.

The Kansas-born Dunham and her husband, Stanley, raised their grandson for several years so he could attend school in Honolulu while their daughter and her second husband lived overseas. Her influence on Obama's manner and the way he viewed the world was substantial, the candidate himself told millions watching him accept his party's nomination in Denver in August.

"She's the one who taught me about hard work," he said. "She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me."

Michelle Obama's voice choked with emotion during a campaign appearance in Colorado as she asked people to remember the woman her husband called "Toot," a version of the Hawaiian word for grandmother, tutu.

"Say a prayer for Toot and thank her for raising Barack Obama. I think she did an amazing job," Obama told about 2,500 people at a suburban Denver high school gym.

Madelyn and Stanley Dunham married in 1940, a few weeks before she graduated from high school. Their daughter, Stanley Ann, was born in 1942. After several moves to and from California, Texas, Washington and Kansas, Stanley Dunham's job landed the family in Hawaii.

It was there that Stanley Ann later met and fell in love with Obama's father, a Kenyan named Barack Hussein Obama. They had met in Russian class at the University of Hawaii. Their son was born in August 1961, but the marriage didn't last long. She later married an Indonesian, Lolo Soetoro, another university student she met in Hawaii.

Obama moved to Indonesia with his mother and stepfather at age 6. But in 1971, her mother sent him back to Hawaii to live with her parents. He stayed with the Dunhams until he graduated from high school in 1979.

In his autobiography, Obama wrote fondly of playing basketball on a court below his grandparents' 10th-floor Honolulu apartment, and looking up to see his grandmother watching.

It was the same apartment Obama visited on annual holiday trips to Hawaii, a weeklong vacation from his campaign in August, and his pre-election visit in October. Family members said his grandmother could not travel because of her health.

Madelyn Dunham, who took university classes but to her chagrin never earned a degree, nonetheless rose from a secretarial job at the Bank of Hawaii to become one of the state's first female bank vice presidents.

"Every morning, she woke up at 5 a.m. and changed from the frowsy muumuus she wore around the apartment into a tailored suit and high-heeled pumps," Obama wrote.

After her health took a turn for the worse, her brother said on Oct. 21 that she had already lived long enough to see her "Barry" achieve what she'd wanted for him.

"I think she thinks she was important in raising a fine young man," Charles Payne, 83, said in a brief telephone interview from his Chicago home. "I doubt if it would occur to her that he would go this far this fast. But she's enjoyed watching it."

Stanley Dunham died in 1992, while Obama's mother died in 1995. His father is also deceased.

When Obama was young, he and his grandmother toured the United States by Greyhound bus, stopping at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, Disneyland and Chicago, where Obama would years later settle.

It was an incident during his teenage years that became one of Obama's most vivid memories of Toot. She had been aggressively panhandled by a man and she wanted her husband to take her to work. When Obama asked why, his grandfather said Madelyn Dunham was bothered because the panhandler was black.

The words hit the biracial Obama "like a fist in my stomach," he wrote later. He was sure his grandparents loved him deeply. "And yet," he added, "I knew that men who might easily have been my brothers could still inspire their rawest fears."

Obama referred to the incident again when he addressed race in a speech in March during a controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother," he said.

Dunham was "a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world but who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her on the street."

Still, much of who Obama is comes from his grandmother, said his half sister.

"From our grandmother, he gets his pragmatism, his levelheadedness, his ability to stay centered in the eye of the story," she told The Associated Press. "His sensible, no-nonsense (side) is inherited from her."

Madelyn Lee Payne was born to Rolla and Leona Payne in October 1922 in Peru, Kan., but lived much of her childhood in nearby Augusta.

She was the oldest of four children, and she loved to read everything from James Hilton's "Lost Horizon" to Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd."

Dunham and her husband were "vicious" bridge players, according to her brother Jack. After retirement, the two of them would take island cruises and do little but play bridge and a more difficult version called duplicate bridge.

Associated Press Writers Nedra Pickler in Charlotte, N.C., and Kristen Wyatt in Littleton, Colo., contributed to this report.

Hope over Fear in 08

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The Girls In Their Maxis

Ive always been a huge fan of the maxis, wore it even when they were not strutting designer catwalks. The past couple of years the maxi has returned with a vengeance and it seems to be here to stay for a while, I hope.

Honestly, I have no idea why the maxi ever goes out of style, it is one of the most versatile garments that has ever lived in my closet. I wear mine as a beach cover up, when I am traveling the gauzy cotton ones pack so light, they are heavenly! They go from day to night with ease...

“Right now I am wearing it to just walk around the city, but tomorrow I’ll wear another one like it to a daytime wedding shower,” says the owner of a Williamsburg boutique in an Observer article.

"Alexander McQueen and Roberto Cavalli sent expensive maxis down the runway for their spring 2008 collections; Patricia Field put tie-dye hippie ones on the ladies of the Sex and the City movie; and in this week’s issue of Us Weekly, readers can vote on whether actress Kate Hudson or Jimmy Choo designer Tamara Mellon wore their identical Balmain’s violet-feather-printed “boho gowns” better."

Indeed, we all know designers draw constant inspiration from vintage.

Here is one of my maxis, the real deal found at a tiny NYC Village shop in the 70s.

Please click on the photo to see a larger image



I am listing my maxi in my store figure8studio.com along with a few other pretties!

I have such great memories of this dress, Central Park concerts and summer fun!

I hope the next owner enjoys it as much as I did!

XOXOXOXOXOX

Project Runway Season 5

I've had a couple of days to digest and discuss the first episode of season 5 with my friends and vintage group.

This season was highly anticipated, the tube is so lacking of anything interesting, except for So You Think You Can Dance, I guess. My last fix was more than a month ago during Sex And The City (read prior post)

We've been hungry for fashion! Thank you Bravo!

As I type I'm dealing with drying sod ugh! how non fashionista huh? I hate sod. It came with the house, if it had been my choice I would have had it ripped out instantly but at least someone is enjoying it, the moles, on the other hand, the sun has been burning it to a nice dry crispy straw texture. My dear son, has spent oodles babying, feeding, primping, wishing, praying over it...I water every single day...to no avail.

I so want to plant natives, I want the cottage look, but I'm just going to have to settle covering it with bark for now.

I wish I could have donated it to PR for the first challenge.

teevee has been as dry as my sod.

last season some criticized Christian's 'attitude' (we call it Tude in the city) in my college days I hung out with hundreds of young designers just like Christian who were equally FIERCE and who's tudes paled Christian's in comparison! as a matter of fact, I was the muse of some

yours truly during studio 54 days

It is early in the season to rush to judgment but I fell in love with Kelli from Columbus Ohio owner of Black Market, delighted when she won.

Loving to experiment with fabrics myself I admired how Kelli dyed the paper from vacuum cleaner bags of all things. I adored every detail.

My other favorites are Terri from Chicago, Daniel and Korto.

Kelli's winning design



Daniel's fantastic Solo Blue Cup dress



Korto's kale, tomatoes dress



I enjoyed the episode so much I taped it and hope to find time to watch it again.

Kudos to Austin Scarlett for looking absolutely divine and flawless during what looked like a beastly hot summer NYC day, you could not miss the designers fanning themselves, So how does she do it? I bet not having one ounce of fat on your body helps :)

I have one bone to pick with the judges, I disagree that Ms Rocker Pimp/Ho designer (her words not mine) Stella, should have won over Jerry's

Nothing against Rockers, Pimps or Hos, mind you, I sell to and some of my friends are rockers, we even call each other HOs...anyway, initially I pulled for Stella, cringed along with her in horror when I saw she picked the el cheapo garbage bags, girl, when you want the fetish look you MUST stick with the designer label of garbage bags, Hefty.

Still, I had confidence that she was the tough cookie she portrayed in her video interview. I had faith she would succeed making something fabulous. Instead, she disappointed me, big letdown.

which brings me to another peeve, why act tough in your interview video then turn around and whine and whimper throughout the challenges? I mean, these guys are no strangers to the show!? they know how tough these challenges are, it will only get harder

Are we about to endure another season of criers? Please no.

I didn't think the garbage dress should have won over Jerry's because when Ms Thing saw the box contained cheap bags she should have immediately changed her strategy

The point of the show is

How good of a designer are you in a pinch? which is why you only have a certain amount of time to whip up something

tic toc tic toc...

If I throw cheap plastic bags, kale, tomatoes at you, can you still WOW me?

tic toc tic toc...

That's why we loved Christian, he produced challenge after challenge without batting a fierce eyelash no matter what was thrown at him and with a smile to boot!

Stella's garbage dress looked awful, it came out fitting the model's body awful, showing down the runway awful, I get what she was trying to achieve but it still came out looking like a cheap bag



trust me, project runway's photo makes it look much nicer than it actually looked

really now, dont you think anyone blindfolded with hands tied to the back could have pulled what she did?

In my honest opinion, if she had been a better designer she would have created something that would not have looked like a garbage bag, after all, that's the point of using grocery store items

reading Tim's blog I found out that other designers were nice enough to donate materials to her, with his approval to boot, but seems she may have been too flustered to listen to anyone? hmm, girlfriend better take a chill pill and soon or she will not last on the show

at least Jerry's dress looked like something other than a tablecloth or a showercurtain, it looked like a *shudder* hazmat gown but when you look at it you don't see tablecloth or showercurtain

it is so radioactive American psycho, after all Dressed to Kill made millions





I'm so looking forward to watching the tan slowly fade from Seattle guy, you know, the one that created the diaper, towards the end of this challenge he was already looking a bit pale, could have been the lighting (?) and God, if I hear him say 'Girlicious' one more time I'm going to stab myself.

forreal.

No hun, you are not Christian so fugetaboutit.

as you were

Sex and the City

this week's evintage blog tag came just in time.

evintage asks:

1)We know Carrie favors vintage, to kick it off, show us a piece you think the quirky, eclectic and whimsical Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) would look great in from your inventory.

I just sold this Delightful Novelty Print POP Guy Laroche Dress that I can absolutely see on Carrie.



Here's the detail of the print



2)Samantha (Kim Cattrall) works the vampy edge of fashion…what do you have in your inventory that can bring out the temptress in a woman?

Kim has a model's body, she can wear a potato sack and still look gorgeous, I can totally see Kim wearing this Ungaro



or this sexy Sonia Rykiel



3)Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) tends to play it safe, tending toward clean lines and classic silhouettes with the occasional sexy edge. What do you have in your inventory for her?

I can see Cynthia wearing this little black LAUNDRY dress.



ONLY $29.99 at figure8studio.com

4)Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is often seen in more feminine, flirty and girlie pieces. What vintage dress or ensemble do you have that would work for her character?

Im prepping to list this cool and stylish paisley 60s dress



5) Sex and the City Shoes. Stilettos? Of course! If you’ve got some vintage shoes to rival Carrie’s Jimmy Choos, show ‘em off here!

although more of a fall/winter shoe I love these Bruno Maglis



6)Love the show? Hate the show? Never seen it? Do tell. No spoilers if you’ve seen the movie!

Love it! We are having our girls night out tomorrow, dinner with Cosmos (of course!) and Sex And The City! Cant wait!

6/6/08 What a fantastic movie! The four of us made it to the restaurant by the AMC Loews Theater just in time to have our first round of Cosmos, we toasted and made it in as the previews were running.

About the movie, I wont give up any secrets, we laughed and laughed and there were a couple of tears too, loved loved loved the fashions! But I have to say that I do not remember Samantha looking as tacky as the movie made her look in the Showtime series, was that just me?

Anyway, we cant wait till the movie comes out on DVD so we can play it over and over again, like an old friend.

I was tagged by Life of a Jersey Girl

figure8studio tags Pin-up Glam to Groovy Kitsch