IX IN THE C M IT CO
January 20-26, 2016 | VOLUME 41 | NUMBER 3
What
Y
Is the
Price of Progress?
On the eve of his latest venture, civic doer David Brewster takes on the skeptics. BY MARK BAUMGARTEN
PAGE 11
“The bartender was friendly and willing to answer all of my newbie beer questions and unselfconsciously sang ‘Jessie’s Girl’ as he whipped them up. In an era where bartenders often are too cool for school, this one was refreshingly unaffected—just like the food.”
VANISHING ACTS ANDREW IMANAKA
A
Why local musicians decide to leave the PNW (and why they come back). By Kelton Sears
t first, the four members of La Luz were afraid to tell anyone about their decision to pack up and leave town. “I felt like we’d gotten so much support from the people in Seattle,” Shana Cleveland says, “especially after the accident; people really showed us how much they loved us here.” The band’s lead guitarist and vocalist is referring to the night in 2013 when a semitruck spun out on a patch of black ice and smashed into the band’s tour van. Fans responded by filling La Luz’s PayPal account with donations, and local artists directed proceeds from their own shows to help recoup the equipment the band lost in the near-fatal collision. » »CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Bramling Cross reviewed by Nicole Sprinkle Page 18
I
t’s been 50 years since a young academic named David Brewster moved from the East Coast to a sleepy Seattle. Since then, the city has changed dramatically, and Brewster has been a catalyst for much of that change, first as the founding publisher and editor of this newspaper—a role he held for 21 years before selling the paper in 1997—and then as the founder of the event space Town Hall, the online news outlet Crosscut, and other more minor yet still highminded concerns. This week, at age 76, he will embark on his latest venture, Folio. A membership library located in the downtown YMCA building, this new institution will provide Seattleites willing to fork over $125 a year a place to study, write, and collaborate. It will also serve as a quasi-public space offering concerts, lectures, and other programming that its founder hopes will cultivate the creative energy in this city. I spoke to Brewster about his latest venture and his legacy.
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