White Center Now: The blog about White Center

That’s who headlined the music slate in downtown White Center on Saturday night as Full Tilt Ice Cream celebrated its first birthday. The band name’s a little profane so here’s a direct link to their site (where you’ll also find better video – we were a little too close to the guitar, so it drowned out the vocals). And we’ve got the results of the “buy one and we donate one” (hmm, BODO?) ice-cream tally for the day: 165 cones, 60 pints sold. For each cone, Full Tilt plans to give a coupon to the White Center Food Bank for distribution to its clients; for each pint, they’ll deliver the equivalent in ice cream to WCFB for direct distribution. (Of course you can give to WCFB online any time — just go here.)

As of noon, Full Tilt Ice Cream is open for the day and into the night, since there are two bands tonight (starting at 9). This is the day FT is celebrating its first birthday, so if you buy a cone/pint, the equivalent will be donated to the White Center Food Bank. And tonight’s a great night to be on 16th SW, as White Center for the Arts has its monthly event, 5-10 pm in the old skating rink. The group had been trying to buy the building — Justin at Full Tilt tells us a deal couldn’t be worked out by the time the building was scheduled to be auctioned, so the auction went forward last week, but, he says, nobody bid, so that may keep the door open for a nonprofit purchase – at a better price than what was being offered. We’ll keep following the story.

Full Tilt is turning 1 year old Saturday the 20th of June. To celebrate, we are going to give a gift certificate for a cone to the White Center Food Bank, for every cone that is purchased that day. Rick Jump from the food bank is going to try and be on hand for part of the day. COme down and meet him.

The Seattle weekly has a photo series of an afternoon in White Center.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/slideshow/view/14941289

This is going to be an amazing show. Thee Emergency are bringing some special guests that can not be named. It is going to be a fun, but packed show, so get here early. You are going to be kicking yourself Sunday morning if you miss this one.

Son de los Diablos Parade

The Parade Route for the Devil’s Dance has been announced: The Parade starts at El Paisano, on the corner of 15^th Ave. SW and Roxbury, proceeds to La Fondita at SW 98^th St., and then to Full Tilt Ice Cream at 9629 16th Avenue SW then to the Triangle at Roxbury/16th Ave. SW/Delridge and then from there to Cafe Rozella for a Muscial Performance. (Choreography by Monica Rojas, Ph.D.)

Diablo Dancing to Afro-Peruvian Rythms.

Afro-Peruvian Dance and Music:  El Son De Los Diablos
NPR States, “Afro-Peruvian music has complex, sensual rhythms. Its instrumentation is spare, originally just nylon-string guitar, bass and a wooden box called cajon. When it started getting outside attention in the mid-’90s, it felt new. The music’s lean architecture and introspective mood differentiated it from the likes of salsa and merengue.”
“The people of the so-called Black Pacific were so far removed from their African origins that the creators of Afro-Peruvian music couldn’t rely much on cultural memory. So they created instruments, rhythms and a compelling musical aesthetic that was largely a product of their imaginations. The pride of Afro-Peruvian music is the lando, an elegant dance with intertwined rhythms and a seductive undertow.”
El Son De Los Diablos will feature the musicians behind Grammy Award Winner Susana Baca.  Truly a unique experience of a hot new trend in Latin American Music.
Admission is FREE

Diablos do choreagraphed dance movements

AFRO PERUVIAN PERCUSSION; The Cajon

African slaves were brought over to the Spanish colony of Peru in the 16th century to work mainly in the gold and silver mines of the high Andes. However their physique was not suited to the high altitude and they died by the hundreds. Their Spanish or Creole (descendants of European settlers in Latin America) masters sent them to work in the milder climate of the desert coast, where they laboured in the large haciendas; private farms. It was in their small huts, on the packed dirt floors of the courtyards overrun with animals and in the fields of cane and sugar cane that Afro-Peruvian music, song and dance were born.

The beginnings of slavery in Peru were different from the rest of the Americas. Although in Brazil or Central and North American countries it was common to import large groups of slaves from the same African tribe, only small and geographically dispersed ethnic groups were brought to Peru. This was meant to discourage rebel movements around the tribal chiefs, and as such, made almost impossible the preservation of communal traditions. Without a common language or tribal authority to remind them of their roots, Peruvian slaves were progressively integrated into the culture and language of their new country. As a result Afro-Peruvian music is a unique blend of Spanish, Andean and African traditions.

Centuries old, this music started to gain recognition in Peru about 40 years ago and it has became popular in the last 25 years. It was born in the coastal barrios (suburbs) and towns and was reconstructed and resurrected thanks to the work of a few artists and historians. Because the Africans were forbidden from playing their own instruments, percussion instruments developed out of the simplest household appliances; spoons, kitchen chairs, table tops, boxes, handclaps, until it reached this century with the creation of the cajon as a specific instrument to play music.

The cajon which is a wooden-box in which the player sits on to play, is thought to have originated in Peru.  The cajon is made out of hardwood with the front cover being of a very fine layer of plywood. The cajon has an open circle cut at the back of the instrument. The player sits and plays two main strokes as well as a few other variations. The main two consist of: the tone of the box which is played with the full palm in the middle of the “head” (this stroke is usually a bass or palm sound on a variety of African derived hand drums found around the world) and the slap which is played on the edge of the “head” of the instrument (this sound also part of the technique used in many hand drums around the world).

Cotito - El cajon

(A big thank you to Latino Cultural Magazine for the photographs.)

May 23rd, (Saturday), 7:30pm,  Afro-Peruvian percussionist Juan Medrano Cotito releases his new CD “La Voz Del Cajon” at  Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.
$20 including CD.

These events are sponsored by AFrican ConeXion Project, 4Culture and Cafe Rozella.

That’s Husbands Love Your Wives, playing live for a capacity crowd at Full Tilt Ice Cream last night.

Damien and his brother Drake have a new band Hoquiam, and they are playing Full Tilt this Saturday with Husbands love your wives, and special guests. The fun starts at 8pm. This will be a packed house, so get there early.

From White Center Now‘s own Justin Cline @ Full Tilt Ice Cream – this news release announcing an event coming up March 1st:

One scoop or two? How about a brew?

Full Tilt Ice Cream, one of South Seattle’s most interesting new small businesses, is joining forces with another local innovator, Laughing Buddha Brewery, to give Seattle palates an evening of exotic bliss. On March 1st, Laughing Buddha brewmeisters Joe Valvo and Chris Castillo will be on hand at Full Tilt to showcase selections from their new line of Asian-style beers, including brews with names like Purple Yam Porter, Mango Weizen and Pandan Brown Ale. While there, Joe and Chris will also be answering questions about craft brewing and discussing their quest to bring the flavors of Asia to the Seattle beer scene.

After quaffing samples of beer, visitors can try some of Full Tilt’s similarly unique and inspired ice cream and sorbet flavors, including: pandan (a Southeast Asian leaf with a nut-like aroma), ube (also known as Filipino purple yam or Okinawan sweet potato), ginger, and lychee.

In keeping with the “meet the producer” theme of this event, Full Tilt owner Justin Cline will be talking about the art of making craft ice cream while he’s scooping you out a dish or coneful. If the ice cream and beer flavors aren’t stimulating enough, you can even try a game of pinball at one of Full Tilt’s 16 vintage pinball machines, or check out one of the local small-circulation “zines” on the reading shelf.

Full Tilt is to ice cream what Laughing Buddha Brewery is to beer: both are craft establishments that use exotic ingredients rarely found in Western-style cuisine. These two local businesses are expanding the world of flavor in ways that no one else is doing, so don’t miss the chance to experience both of them in a single visit.

This happens at 3 pm March 1 at Full Tilt in downtown White Center.