seattle gems

The Nutcracker: Ballet vs. Burlesque

Nutcracker

Everyone knows about the Nutcracker. Even if you haven't seen the famous ballet you probably know the music or the general story. It is a Christmas tradition and one of the most recognizable decorations during the holiday season. This year we decided to put two interpretations of the story to the test.

So..which is more entertaining? The traditional Nutcracker, performed as a ballet, or the more... shall we say... "risqué" Nutcracker, performed as a burlesque show? 

George Balanchine's Nutcracker with the PNW Ballet, Image credit: Pacific Northwest Ballet 

George Balanchine's Nutcracker with the PNW Ballet, Image credit: Pacific Northwest Ballet 

George Balanchine's Nutcracker 

The Pacific Northwest Ballet has been putting on The Nutcracker every year for the past three decades. It is a tradition for many families to go each year and experience the childish magic that brings to life the dancing candy canes, mice, and best of all, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Last year big news struck Seattle. The Nutcracker that Seattle had grown to love over the last 30 years, by Maurice Sendak and Kent Stowell, would be getting a face lift. This year's performance is completely updated with sets and costumes by Ian Falconer and George Balanchine's classic choreography. From what we can tell it is brighter, more cheerful, but just as beautiful as always. 

We were lucky enough to have some very young, female commentary coming from the row behind our seats. This added to the story of Clara dreaming of her perfect world. We heard "Ohhhh here comes the peacock, she is my faaavorite." and our personal favorite, as the candies danced, one little girl exclaimed in envy "I wish I had a lot of sugar right now!" Something tells me her parents don't give her lots of sugar for good reason. 

With talented and beautiful dancers on center stage, don't forget to take in the beautiful set decorations and costumes. It truly all adds up to an incredible event. When the curtain drops at the end of the night you will feel like you have just woken up from a dream. Make sure your dreamy state doesn't keep you from cheering loudly, they definitely earn the applause. 

Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker at the Triple Door, Image credit: The Triple Door

Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker at the Triple Door, Image credit: The Triple Door

Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker

What can we say? We love a good burlesque show. The Triple Door puts on a variety of shows throughout the year, but the Nutcracker is definitely a crowd favorite. For those of you who haven't been to one of these shows, we seriously encourage it. It's fun, outrageous, and surprisingly tasteful.

The storytelling is definitely a little loose, the clothing is even looser, but the talent and the beauty is there. Oh, and beware, the glitter and stagecraft is through the roof. 

At the ballet you see very little diversity, even in a city as progressive and open minded as Seattle, ballerina's are just a certain build and predominately white. What we love when you see a show put on by Lily Verlaine and Jasper McCann is it's guaranteed to pay tribute to all shapes and sizes. Male, female, black, white, big and small, it is a homage to the people of our city and the fun-loving energy that many of us love to feel a part of.

Taking in both versions of the show

Taking in both versions of the show

So who wins this face off? Can we cheat and call it a tie? Even if they are the same "story" we admit, we have really been comparing apples and oranges this whole time. If you want a magical and fancy night out, the PNB's Nutcracker is absolutely worth the ticket price. If you want a sexy and laughable evening, go with The Triple Door's Land of Sweets

Pacific Northwest Ballet Insider Tip: You can preorder your drinks for intermission before the show starts. This way, when hundreds of people are lining up for another glass, yours is sitting ready for you on a table to the side, no extra charge! 

The Triple Door Insider Tip: Arrive early and eat/drink in the lounge, not the theatre. The menu has more options and it is wayyyyyy cheaper! 

Give More Than Season's Greetings This Year

The holiday season is here. We are now deeply immersed in holiday decorations, giant red SALE signs, and what seems like infinite plays of "Baby It's Cold Outside". It's easy to get caught up in all the twinkly lights and shiny new things that December promises, and it's fine, we love new things just as much as the next person, but we also think its important to not lose sight of what's truly important. Taking care of each other, giving back, sharing our good fortune with those who aren't as lucky. These are things we all need to focus on this time of year (as well as the other 11 months). 

We were lucky enough to get the opportunity recently to spend a day volunteering at Pike Market Food Bank and it reminded us of this. It was a bittersweet feeling, spending the day working to help provide something so important for people in need. And wow, the need is there. It is shocking how many people don't know where their next meal will come from in Seattle. It's amazing and humbling to see/hear how many organizations donate food to the food bank and it's down right mind-blowing how much this single location hands out every week.

The Market Food Bank does a great job of giving volunteers a full picture of their services. We started the morning off delivering grocery bags of food to local residents of Market senior housing (55+) community who can't make it down to the food bank.

From there we grabbed 8 large boxes and a hand cart and went around the market collecting food donations from many of the market stalls and shops (we listed the full list of donors below, feel free to give them your business). The generosity of the market to donate in order to feed the community was a really uplifting thing to see. 

For the remainder of our shift we worked the "grocery line". Helping hand out donated items to people who had arrived to get food.  By the end of the shift the full bins of eggs, milk, bread, and produce were depleted. The Food Bank had supplied over 300 people with groceries that would nourish them and their families. 

This is what we should be giving during the holiday season. Our time, our service, and our hearts. 

Le Panier donates delicious pastries

Le Panier donates delicious pastries

Pike Place Market businesses who donate to the food bank:

  • 3 Girls Bakery 
  • Seattle Bagel Bakery 
  • Storyville Coffee 
  • Sosio's Fruit & Produce 
  • Lina's 
  • Manzo's 
  • Mama Angelina's 
  • Choice Produce
  • Frank's 
  • Corner Produce
  • Pear Delicatessen
  • Beecher's
  • Michou 
  • Le Panier 
  • Honest Biscuits 
  • Starbucks 

Temple of the Dog

Seattle is known for a lot of things…rain, coffee, evergreens, rain, and, of course, grunge. The Seattle grunge scene (also known as The Seattle Sound) includes famous bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains and was responsible for 100% of flannel sold between 1984 and 1998. 

Today, we are here to talk to you about Temple of the Dog, a band that is celebrating their 25th anniversary and just wrapped up two shows at the Paramount Theater.

Chris Cornell

Now, we’re going to be honest with you here…the grunge scene is a complicated mess of musicians working together and collaborating for years, but Temple of the Dog is an important one to know. Let’s see if we can break it down for you:

Mother Love Bone was made up of Andrew Wood (lead singer), Jeff Ament, Bruce Fairweather and Stone Gossard. Sadly, Andrew Wood died right before the release of their first album.

With the end of Mother Love Bone, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard would go on to create Pearl Jam with Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready.

Chris Cornell, who is the lead singer of Soundgarden, was Andrew Wood’s roommate.

In the months following Andrew Wood’s death, Chris Cornell approached Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament and asked them if they would like to collaborate on an album to pay tribute to Andrew Wood. Mike Mcready and Matt Cameron joined them and, thus, Temple of the Dog was formed. Here is a helpful graphic:

Org Chart of Temple of the Dog

This Soundgarden/Pearl Jam super group only had 1 album with the most well-known song being Hunger Strike (you know, the one where you don’t mind stealing bread from the mouth of decadence. I’m going huuuuuuuuuuuuungry). Not to confuse you more, but Hungry Strike featured vocals by Eddie Vedder who sat in on this singular Temple of the Dog song (Chris Cornell covered all other lead vocals).

Jeff Ament Pearl Jam Temple of the Dog

The band is celebrating 25 years since the album was first released and doing a (short) tour that sold out in mere seconds online (including 2 shows in Seattle). Since the band members were already working on other successful projects, the band has never actually toured making these shows even more of a hot ticket. We still aren’t exactly sure why the music Gods blessed us with tickets, but we aren’t going to argue.

The band played every single song from their album and included covers from Mad Season, Mother Love Bone, Bowie, Black Sabbath, and Jimi Hendrix. There was some harmonica playing, some guitar slamming, and some swinging around of the microphone stand. The biggest highlight for us was when the entire crowd sang Hunger Strike in lieu of Eddie Vedder. It felt like the entire theater knew the words and sang along. Amazing. It was an incredible night and lets hope it's not another 25 years before they play again!

Chris Cornell Temple of the Dog Soundgarden
Chris Cornell Singing
Temple of the Dog Paramount Theater

The Tallest Drinks in Seattle

The Smith Tower's Temperance

The Smith Tower got a facelift this year! For those of you who haven't been to the new and improved Observation Deck yet, we highly recommend it. Along with the all-time favorites like the lever-operated elevator, The Wishing Chair, and the incredible views at the top, the experience now includes a much higher amount of educational content and a speakeasy style bar! Seems so obvious now that the space was always missing a bar, how did we not figure this out sooner?!

The staff was incredibly friendly and helped us land on a delicious cocktail named Serenity for our drinking pleasure. In true speakeasy fashion it was strong, but good. And you can sip it in comfy chairs as the sun sets on Seattle. It really is a beautiful space with a wonderful view.

The Smith Tower is 35 stories tall (462 ft.), placing it in 3rd place on the list. It might not be the tallest, but something about standing amid all the buildings that have sprung up since 1914 is pretty magical. 

cocktail at Temperance Bar Smith Tower
view from the Smith Tower with Space Needle

Space Needle's SkyCity

SkyCity is the high-end, rotating restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. The restaurant is the shape of a donut, wrapped around the Space Needle right beneath the observation deck. When you exit the elevator you are led to a table along the outer edge; definitely try to get a table against the window -- watching the city circle below you is a ton of fun! When you eat/drink at SkyCity you also get complimentary access to the Space Needle's observation deck, so make sure to factor in time to head up before or after dining.

At over 500 ft. tall, SkyCity sits in second place on our list of tallest drinks in Seattle! 

Insider Tip: Going to SkyCity does comes with a food and beverage minimum. Dinner is a tad pricey at $35/person, but they have a promotion right now for Sunset Hour with a lower minumum of $25. For comparison a ticket to just the observation deck is $22, so we think this is the way to visit the Space Needle! From 2:30 - 5:30, Monday - Friday, you can go to the top, have a drink while the sun goes down over the city, and visit the observation deck. It ends December 16, 2016 though so hurry on over! 

Columbia Center's Sky View Observatory

Columbia Tower is the tallest building in our skyline and also has the highest observation deck in Seattle (we covered it here). Your ears will pop as you ride the elevator up to the 73rd floor. When you arrive, you will be granted beautiful 360-degree views of the entire area and this is the only observation deck that includes unobstructed views of the Space Needle and the floating 520 bridge. On clear days you can see as far as Mount Hood in Oregon. 

Their cafe/bar is a bit lacking compared to the other places on this list. It's the Panera Bread to the Space Needle's McCormick and Schmick's. But, they have local beer and wine and happy hour, which is exactly what we were looking for when we visited after work at 5:00 PM. We sipped on a Naughty Nellie from Pike Brewing Company and a red blend from Chateau Ste. Michelle.

At 900 ft. this is the tallest you can be in the city while sipping on an adult beverage! 

The Tallest Geographic Point- 35th and Myrtle

Well what do you know? The tallest geographic point in the city is not in Queen Anne, it is in West Seattle in the Delrigde neighborhood at 35th and Myrtle St. We wouldn't recommend drinking here though (do as we say not as we do), as the city frowns upon opening beers on street corners, but we found a really great bar, The Westy, nearby where you can enjoy a nice taplist along with wine and cocktails.

This one is obviously a bit off trend from our previous three, but we thought it would be a fun one to include-- now you know a little piece of Seattle trivia! 

Standing at the tallest geographical point in Seattle!

Standing at the tallest geographical point in Seattle!

Alright folks. That concludes our drinking in tall places post. it was random. It was fun. We raise our glass to you for reading Rain or Shine's recommendations! 

Cheers!