If you’ve ever walked through downtown Portland, Oregon, and wondered about the origin and meaning of the “Rip City” signs and banners, the answer is rooted in the city’s professional basketball team, the Portland Trailblazers. The term was reportedly coined by local broadcasting legend Bill Schonely during the team’s inaugural 1970-71 season.
Read MoreKen Burns remembers sitting in a tiny editing room, sobbing, as he put together his latest documentary, Country Music. In fact, the acclaimed filmmaker says, there are often a half-dozen boxes of tissues in the office for him and his staff to use as they pore through old photographs and emotional testimonials—content they choose from to tell intimate stories about impactful time periods, iconic structures and significant cultural movements in American history.
Read MoreSeattle native and 19-year NBA veteran Jamal Crawford grew up with a basketball in his hands. By the time he was 8 years old, he says, he was already hitting reverse layups while other kids struggled with the basics.
Read MoreFor Los Angeles–based chef Roy Choi, who is often credited with spearheading the modern high-quality food truck movement, and who has dedicated his life to feeding people of all walks of life, real societal change happens with each basket of produce sold and each plate of food served. Choi’s TV show, Broken Bread, which launched in May, aims to prove this point.
Read MoreSeattle music producer Ryan Lewis, one half of the Grammy-winning rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, remembers telling his elementary school class that his mother was HIV-positive. Julie Lewis, now a 35-year survivor, contracted the virus in 1984 from a blood transfusion during the complicated birth of her first daughter, Teresa.
Read MoreSan Francisco Mayor London Breed knows the importance of community support at the right time.
A native of the Bay Area, Breed grew up in the Western Addition housing project in San Francisco. However, an internship with the nonprofit Family School when she was a teenager helped change her life.
Read MoreWHEN BEN HAGGERTY WAS 7 YEARS OLD, he already knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. The Seattle-based emcee/rapper, now better known as Macklemore, was aware even at this young age that he wanted to be onstage with a microphone, hearing his voice boom through speakers as he shared his music with an audience. Now, 28 years later, in the midst of his Grammy-winning career, Macklemore is helping to make similar dreams come true for young musicians through The Residency, a music-education program born in the city where he made a name for himself. Macklemore’s work with this program, which is supported by Alaska Airlines and other local organizations, reflects his broader interests in giving back to his community and providing opportunities for aspiring musical artists.
Read MoreIt isn’t every day one of the world’s most famous and powerful rock ‘n’ roll bands takes a stand publically and loudly on an important social and political issue. But that’s exactly what Seattle’s Pearl Jam is doing. On Aug. 8th and 10th, the Hall of Fame grunge band will perform two sold out shows to benefit the Emerald City’s homeless community. Partnering with many prominent local businesses and celebrities - like Alaska Airlines and Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson, respectively - the band has raised over $10 million dollars along with a great deal of awareness for those living in and around the city without housing. I got a chance to talk with Pearl Jam co-founder, guitarist Stone Gossard, about the shows, why the band decided to get involved and what the group’s mission is with these two giant performances for a piece in Alaska Beyond magazine. Below is the transcript of our conversation.
Read MoreTalking about the Holocaust is difficult, especially if you’ve lived through it. Yet, that’s precisely what 92-year-old survivor Sonia Warshawski does every day. She talks with people about the details of her time in concentration camps and being freed. It’s one of the many remarkable aspects of her vibrant daily life, which includes running a small tailor shop in Kansas City, Kansas, and, more recently, advocating her message of “love over hate” to the U.S. Congress.
Read MoreIn the final home game of the 2017 season, the WNBA Seattle Storm caught a promising glimpse of its future. Although the Storm lost that game to the Phoenix Mercury, the Storm’s young star guard, Jewell Loyd, scored a career-high 33 points and raised many eyebrows, including those belonging to teammate and shoo-in Hall of Fame point guard Sue Bird.
Read MoreFor their new album, “I’ll Be Your Girl,” released in March, the members of Portland-based rock band The Decemberists set out to challenge themselves. The group hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with its 2011 LP “The King Is Dead” and has built a following for creative sounds and lyrics. But fresh tactics, says frontman Colin Meloy, had to be taken to keep making invigorating music.
Read MoreWhile visiting nashville, Tennessee, singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc found something he did not expect. Inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Blacc stood before a large mural depicting the origins of the museum’s central genre. The painting showed a cultural mashup of players with West African banjos, as well as fiddles and other harmonic and melodic elements that originated in Europe.
Read MoreI open my front door and find a square cardboard box with the words PeachDish emblazoned on the side. With a sense of anticipation, I pick up the heavier-than-expected delivery and take it to my kitchen to see what tonight’s dinner is going to be. Atlanta-based PeachDish, which offers recipes with a southern flavor, is among the dozens of companies contributing to one of the hottest trends in dining today: meal-kit home deliveries. While the services vary greatly, many of the bands allow you to choose savory dishes from an online menu for generally about $10 to $12.50 per serving.
Read MoreSeattle resident Chris Darrell, also known as DJ absoluteMadman at area nightclubs, finds a certain Zen quality to the process of playing a vinyl record. There is taking the album out of the sleeve, cleaning it, placing it on the turntable and gently dropping the needle. He maintains that the mechanics of the operation put him at ease.
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