Cafe Rozella

May 29th, (Friday) 6pm Devil’s Dance Parade in White Cente

2009-05-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

May 29th, (Friday) 6pm

Devil’s Dance Parade in White Center

followed by concert at Café Rozella

7pm

9434 Delridge Way SW

Seattle, WA 98106 (206) 763-5805

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.

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

Seattle Arts & Lectures is bringing Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz

2009-01-07T16:14:00.000-08:00

Seattle Arts & Lectures is bringing Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz (author of the amazing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) to speak on February 24 at Benaroya Hall.
Junot Díaz
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
“When I enter that higher-order space that’s required to write, I’m a better human. For whatever my writing is, wherever it’s ranked, it definitely is the one place that I get to be beautiful.” This is Junot Díaz, winner of a Eugene McDermott Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Lila Acheson Wallace Readers Digest Award, and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He came out of the gate early and emphatically with Drown, a collection of largely autobiographical short stories published to critical acclaim in 1996 when Diaz was twenty-eight. Eleven years later, his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.

His experience as a Dominican-American has informed his work as a fiction writer and immigrant advocate. He teaches creative writing at MIT.
Díaz will speak about the themes of immigration, displacement and alienation in his work.

Junot Díaz appears at the Taper Auditorium at Benaroya Hall at 7:30 PM on February 24.

Tickets:
Patron: $50 (Includes Patron reception with Junot Díaz and front-of-the-house seating), Main Floor: $30, Balcony: $25, Student/Under 25: $10
Groups of 5 or more receive a 15% discount.
To order tickets, visit lectures.org

or call 206.621.2230

Literary Reading This Friday, December 5th at 6 p.m.

2008-11-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

Beyond One Language – Más allá de una lengua

A literary event celebrating the Spanish language and Latino/a culture

The second in a series of popular literary readings will happen Friday, December 5, from 6 to 9 PM, at Taqueria del Rio, 10230 16th Avenue SW in Seattle’s White Center neighborhood.

The goal of these events is to promote the Spanish language – as well as native Latin American languages – via literary readings by Spanish language authors. For the December 5th event, local writers Javier Amaya and Paola Casla Taylor will be reading their work. Zita Paulino will also be there, and will read the poetry of Irma Pinedo Santiago in their native Zapotec language. English translations of the readings will be provided by House of Writers / Casa de Escritores, Inc., so that non-Spanish speakers can join the celebration.

The event is free to the public, and an outdoor setting resembling a Mexican town has been secured in order to enhance the experience. In addition to the readings, there will be a demonstration of traditional Jarabe dance, a book exchange, music, and food.

This event is sponsored by:

The Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs
House of Writers / Casa de Escritores, Inc.
The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior
Hedgebrook
Viva la Música
4Culture
La Sala
Mujeres of the Northwest

# # #

For more information about this event, or to schedule an interview with one of the featured readers, please call Laura González at 206-320-8780 or e-mail her at lago1212@msn.com.

Zapotec Weavings from Oaxaca- Tuesday Sept. 30th

2008-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

La Vida Nueva – Zapotec women's weaving collective visits Seattle

Tuesday, September 30^th 3pm – 9pm

Café Rozella: 9434 Delridge Way SW 206.763.5805 www.caferozella.com

La Vida Nueva is a women's weaving collective in Teotitlan del Valle , Oaxaca Mexico . These Zapotec artisans are continuing their traditional methods of dying, spinning, and weaving wool tapetes (rugs) all by hand. Their work and homeland are internationally acclaimed for the quality of weaving.

Pastora Gutierrez will be representing the 14 women of the collective on this 2008 West Coast Tour. Each stop is an opportunity to create cultural ties with the Zapotec women, as well as learning about the work and community of their cooperative. All the women of La Vida Nueva are independently supporting themselves and their children through the work of the collective.

There are two opportunities in Seattle to meet Pastora and her friend and translator Juanita Rodriguez. These are also opportunities to purchase heirloom quality traditional Zapotec tapetes. This annual selling tour is the main source of income for La Vida Nueva.

For more information: http://home.comcast.net/~vidanueva

********************************

La Vida Nueva – Zapotec women’s weaving collective visits Seattle

2008-09-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 30^th 3pm – 9pm

(Café Rozella: 9434 Delridge Way SW 206.763.5805 www.caferozella.com

)

La Vida Nueva is a women’s weaving collective in Teotitlan del Valle , Oaxaca Mexico . These Zapotec artisans are continuing their traditional methods of dying, spinning, and weaving wool tapetes (rugs) all by hand. Their work and homeland are internationally acclaimed for the quality of weaving.

********************************

La Vida Nueva - la colectividad que teje de las mujeres de Zapotec visita Seattle

Lunes, 29 de septiembre de 6 P.M. - 9pm

(residencia privada: para más Info 206.323.4483 o bikewitch@yahoo.com

)

Martes 30 de septiembre de 3 P.M. - 9pm

(Café Rozella: 9434 Delridge Way SW 206.763.5805 www.caferozella.com

)

La Vida Nueva es una colectividad que teje de las mujeres en el del Valle, Oaxaca México de Teotitlan. Estos artesanos de Zapotec están continuando sus métodos tradicionales de teňido, de giro, y de tapetes de las lanas que tejen todas a mano. Su trabajo y patria internacionalmente se aclaman para la calidad de tejer.

Pastora Gutiérrez representará a las 14 mujeres de la colectividad en este viaje 2008 de la costa oeste. Cada parada es una oportunidad de crear lazos culturales con las mujeres de Zapotec, así como el aprendizaje sobre el trabajo y la comunidad de su cooperativa. Todas las mujeres del La Vida Nueva se están apoyando independientemente y a sus niños a través del trabajo de la colectividad.

Hay dos oportunidades en Seattle de resolver Pastora y su amigo y traductor Juanita Rodriguez. Éstas son también oportunidades de comprar los tapetes tradicionales de Zapotec de la calidad de la herencia. Esta publicación anual que vende viaje es la fuente de ingresos principal para el La Vida Nueva.

Brother can you spare $700,000,000,000????

2008-09-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

The Conversation Cafe had a very productive discussion regarding the proposed Wall Street Bailout. In the course of discussing the financial crisis that is animating the proposal to write out a Treasury check for $700 billion to Henry Paulson, someone brought to the group's attention the recent book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein. Klein posits that crises are manufactured in order to push through unpalatable economic and political measures. You can read her post regarding the current crisis here. As well, the group agreed that any taxpayer bailout should, at a minimum, include the following conditions.

1. Reinstatement of the provisions of Glass-Steagall, which forbade speculation
2. Re-regulation of the finance, insurance, and real estate industries
3. Accountability on the part of those who took the companies down:
a) resignations of management
b) givebacks of executive compensation packages
c) limitations on executive compensation
d) admission by CEO's of what went wrong and how, prior to any government bailout
4. Demands for transparencey
a) with respect to analyzing the transactions which took the companies down
b) with respect to Treasury's dealings with the companies pre and post-bailout
5. An equity position for the taxpayers
a) some form of ownership of assets
6. Some credible formula for evaluating the price of the assets that the government is buying.
7. A sunset clause on the legislation
8. Full public disclosure by members of Congress of assets held, with possible conflicts put in blind trust.
9. A ban on political campaign contributions from officers of corporations receiving bailouts
10. A requirement that 2008 cycle candidates return political contributions to officers and representatives of corporations receiving bailouts.

Join us next Saturday at 2 p.m. as we continue the conversation.

Tall Latte at Half-Price - Rush Hour Special 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m

2008-09-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Tall Latte at Half-Price - Rush Hour Special 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.\

Weary commuters, we know what a grind it is to get in your car and join the mad rush to that beloved job. So Cafe Rozella wants to make your commute a little easier. Pull up to Cafe Rozella, jump out of your car and get a tall latte for half the usual price! Just come in before 7:30 am and say, "I want my commuter special!" While supplies last.
----------------
Keep up on current affairs and latest White Center developments at the WC blog: whitecenternow.com

----------------
Freebie 2.0 download of the day. If you are like me, as you work at your computer, either on the web or while writing, you run into stuff that you want to save for later or merely want to have around for later use (like a software key, an address or a phone number). If you use gmail, you could email it to yourself but that has its limits. Well there is a tremendous freeware download called Evernote that allows you to record, save, copy and generally memorialize anything on your PC and best of all it syncs with all your computers so if you save something on your laptop while surfing at Cafe Rozella it will be in your Evernote clipboard in your home desktop. The download can be found at: Evernote download. Here's a screen shot.

--------------------------------
News and Views:

Get to know potential President Sarah Palin

------------------
Upcoming Events

La Vida Nueva – Zapotec women’s weaving collective visits Seattle

Monday, September 29^th 6pm – 9pm

(9th House: for more info 206.323.4483 or bikewitch@yahoo.com )

Tuesday, September 30^th 3pm – 9pm

(Café Rozella: 9434 Delridge Way SW 206.763.5805 www.caferozella.com

)

********************************

La Vida Nueva - la colectividad que teje de las mujeres de Zapotec visita Seattle

Lunes, 29 de septiembre de 6 P.M. - 9pm

(residencia privada: para más Info 206.323.4483 o bikewitch@yahoo.com

)

Martes 30 de septiembre de 3 P.M. - 9pm

(Café Rozella: 9434 Delridge Way SW 206.763.5805 www.caferozella.com

)

Music Nights at Cafe Rozella

2008-08-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

The Music Nights at Cafe Rozella continue with some outstanding performers. Performances start at 7 p.m. on Fridays.

Alma Villegas brings her sultry voice to an exquisite and passionate selection of Latin favorites. Friday August 15th at 7 p.m.

From the bouncy feel of Perfidia to the passionate tango version of Besame Mucho and the salsa sound of Mi Tierra these selections have entertained and captured audiences internationally for decades.

Alma Villegas and her band have performed for five years at various venues including Dulces Latin Bistro, Serafina, Bouchée Café in Fremont, St. Clouds, Misto Café, Mamey’s Cuban Café, Madrid, The Tractor Tavern, El Sombrero, The Sitting Room, Julia’s, the Musicquarium at the Triple Door and Jazz Alley. And, of course, Alma is a regular at Cafe Rozella.
-----------------------
Children of the Revolution's Acoustic Trio Friday, August 22nd at 7 p.m.

"When you go to a Children of the Revolution show, you might as well leave your preconceptions about world music at the door" wrote Tina Potterf of the Seattle Times. Fans will usually say something like, "That was the best live show I've ever been to; I don't quite know how to describe it." From Bozeman Montana to the caves of Granada, Spain, from Istanbul to Taiwan, COTR make life-long fans wherever they go.

They can loosely be compared to such breakaway and high-energy world music artists such as Ozomatli, Gipsy Kings, Santana, Manu Chau and the Afro Celt Sound System, but all similarities stop there. Made up of virtuoso musicians, singers and dancers from around the world, COTR blend their Flamenco, Greek, and Rock roots creating, a lush and melodic sound driven by infectious Latin and Middle-Eastern grooves.

The group is fronted by lead singer Vassili, who grew up on the Greek Islands, and former metal head turned flamenco guitarist Eric Jaeger. Sharing the spotlight is Barcelona-born flamenco dancer Encarnación. Their electrifying and sexy concerts showcase outstanding musicianship and songwriting with world-class dance performances. Both world music aficionados and those new to the genre agree - COTR puts on one of the most unifying and entertaining shows in the world.

Guest artists both live and recorded have included legendary rock singer, Ann Wilson of
In less than two years, COTR went from playing small clubs to filling some of the Northwests most prestigious theaters such as Meany Hall, Benaroya Hall and the 3,000-seat Paramount Theater.

COTR is a consistent audience favorite of major festivals in the region such as Folklife, Vancouver Folk Festival, Bumbershoot and Montanas Sweetpea Festival, 3-6,000 people can be seen dancing and singing at these shows. Eleftheria (the Greek word for freedom) is their anthem that ends the show and ALWAYS gets the crowd jumping in unison!

COTR have the achievements, experience and systems in place to create a totally new movement in popular music. They have toured extensively through the Northwest and Canada and have been invited to perform at very special historical events such as; the first Western band invited to play for the Buddhas Birthday in Taiwan for over 30,000 people, the Government Leaders conference (organized by Bill Gates and Paul G. Allen) in Seattle at Experience Music Project, opening for former President Bill Clinton at his "We the People" speech in Seattle in 2006, and KROCKs 2005 Tsunami Relief benefit concert headlined by surviving members of Alice in Chains and Heart. COTRs concert DVD has aired on numerous PBS stations across the country and select tracks from their album, Liberation appear on Putumayo Records compilations.

After spending five months in Europe where they performed and studied with Flamenco masters in Spain, Rye singers in Morocco and Turkish musicians in Istanbul, COTR returned to record their latest CD, Life, Love and Guantanamo Bay. The album is an artistic breakthrough for Children of the Revolution and promises to bring them into the international spotlight.

-----------------------

Eduardo Mendonca’s exuberant energy always gets the house on its feet to his Brazilian beat!

Friday August 29th at 7 p.m.

A native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Eduardo traces his lineage to a royal African family bearing the hereditary title of Mama Beka (”prophet of the royal court”), as documented by the Instituto Geográfico e Histórico da Bahia. Eduardo Mendonça has lived for the past ten years in the Seattle area. He began performing in Seattle, and traveling throughout the United States and Canada with the Bakra Bata steel drum band. Now, he has his own group known as Show Brazil!, which has gained much recognition in the past ten years. Show Brazil! has played throughout Western Washington and Brazil at events and locations such as the Folklife Festival, Bumbershoot, Seattle Children's International Festival, BrasilFest, Redmond Arts in the Parks, Taste of Bellevue, Hispanic/Latin Month, Fiestas Patrias, Fall Fandango, Fat Tuesday, Sundiata Festival, World Rhythm Festival, Earth Day Festival, West Seattle Street Festival, Marymoor Heritage Festival, Brazilian Carnaval, Burien Strawberry Festival, Edmonds Festival, Mercado Modêlo (Brazil), Itaigara and Piedade Malls (Brazil), and the Catholic University of Salvador (Brazil).

Eduardo was also featured at Bumbershoot in Seattle, as guest artist of the internationally well-known performing group OLODUM, opening act for Olodum at the Brazilian Carnival in 2003 (Seattle, WA); the Brazilian Carnival in Vancouver- British Columbia - Canada; the Brazilian Carnival in Calgary - Alberta - Canada; the Brazilian Carnival in Seattle - WA - US; and at a Nike-sponsored show in Portland, Oregon. The performances listed above are just a part of Eduardo’s continued success as a performing artist. He also had the honor to play for Pope John Paul II’s welcome to Brazil, former South Africa President Nelson Mandela (Seattle,WA - USA - 1999), Brazilian President João Baptista Figueiredo (Brazil 1979), and was also featured in a Paul Simon documentary video in 1991.

- Eduardo is voting member of National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences - GRAMMY.

-Eduardo Mendonça is winner of “Outstanding Brazilian Male Singer based in the U.S.” for the Brazilian International Press Award 2007 (Florida)

- Winner of “Tribute for Excellence and Achievements in Advancement of Performing Arts and Education of the Brazilian Music in 2006” - Centro Cultural Hispano Americano and University of Washington;

- Eduardo is winner of Aspasia Phoutrides Pulakis Memorial Award 2005 for his significant contributions to the Brazilian Community and the community at-large of the Northwest
---------------------
Charanga Danzón is a fluid ensemble of wonderful musicians, with a repertoire of Cuban music including traditional charanga, son/danzón, cha-cha-chá, classical, and jazz.
Friday, September 5th at 7 p.m.

---------------------

REPTET brings their award-winning and energetic jazz to Rozella.

Friday September 12th at 7 p.m.

Reptet is a sextet consisting of six multi-instrumentalists all of whom are members of the internationally acclaimed Monktail Creative Music Concern based out of Seattle, WA. They have established themselves as a group of considerable excitement, flair and vision while simultaneously debunking preconceived notions of what a jazz group ought to be. Their music has been aired on radio stations across the United States and Europe, and their members have toured internationally. The arts organization Earshot Jazz has described them as, “A hot progressive combo of Seattle's best young players. Their music is intense, taut, and fresh.” With the release of their second full length CD Do This!, Reptet has established themselves as an irrepressible force in modern jazz.

Press Quotes
“This Seattle sextet does it all: it grooves, it rocks, it squawks - occasionally, it even talks. Mostly, it sounds like a New Orleans jazz band on crystal meth.” ~Alex Gelfand’s Critics pick for the best release of 2006, Jazziz Magazine~

“Trumpeter Samantha Boshnack's open voicings, jaunty tempos and buoyant timbral mixes for two winds and two brass have a friendly monster feel that conjures a bittersweet and elegiac mood of orchestral grandeur.” ~Downbeat~

“A juggernaut jazz band, arresting, compelling, and just plain cranked-up. Do This! is one of the most convincing albums of the last several years from Seattle jazz players.” ~Earshot Jazz~

MUSIC NIGHTS AT CAFÉ ROZELLA STARTING FRIDAY JUNE 27, 2008 With Children of the Revolution

2008-06-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

MUSIC NIGHTS AT

CAFÉ ROZELLA

STARTING

FRIDAY JUNE 27, 2008 With Children of the Revolution

"When you go to a Children of the Revolution show, you might as well leave your preconceptions about world music at the door" wrote Tina Potterf of the Seattle Times. Fans will usually say something like, "That was the best live show I’ve ever been to; I don't quite know how to describe it." From Bozeman Montana to the caves of Granada, Spain, from Istanbul to Taiwan, COTR make life-long fans wherever they go.

They can loosely be compared to such breakaway and high-energy world music artists such as Ozomatli, Gipsy Kings, Santana, Manu Chau and the Afro Celt Sound System, but all similarities stop there. Made up of virtuoso musicians, singers and dancers from around the world, COTR blend their Flamenco, Greek, and Rock roots creating, a lush and melodic sound driven by infectious Latin and Middle-Eastern grooves.

The group is fronted by lead singer Vassili, who grew up on the Greek Islands, and former metal head turned flamenco guitarist Eric Jaeger. Sharing the spotlight is Barcelona-born flamenco dancer Encarnación. Their electrifying and sexy concerts showcase outstanding musicianship and songwriting with world-class dance performances. Both world music aficionados and those new to the genre agree - COTR puts on one of the most unifying and entertaining shows in the world.

Guest artists both live and recorded have included legendary rock singer, Ann Wilson of
In less than two years, COTR went from playing small clubs to filling some of the Northwests most prestigious theaters such as Meany Hall, Benaroya Hall and the 3,000-seat Paramount Theater.

COTR is a consistent audience favorite of major festivals in the region such as Folklife, Vancouver Folk Festival, Bumbershoot and Montanas Sweetpea Festival, 3-6,000 people can be seen dancing and singing at these shows. Eleftheria (the Greek word for freedom) is their anthem that ends the show and ALWAYS gets the crowd jumping in unison!

COTR have the achievements, experience and systems in place to create a totally new movement in popular music. They have toured extensively through the Northwest and Canada and have been invited to perform at very special historical events such as; the first Western band invited to play for the Buddhas Birthday in Taiwan for over 30,000 people, the Government Leaders conference (organized by Bill Gates and Paul G. Allen) in Seattle at Experience Music Project, opening for former President Bill Clinton at his "We the People" speech in Seattle in 2006, and KROCKs 2005 Tsunami Relief benefit concert headlined by surviving members of Alice in Chains and Heart. COTRs concert DVD has aired on numerous PBS stations across the country and select tracks from their album, Liberation appear on Putumayo Records compilations.

After spending five months in Europe where they performed and studied with Flamenco masters in Spain, Rye singers in Morocco and Turkish musicians in Istanbul, COTR returned to record their latest CD, Life, Love and Guantanamo Bay. The album is an artistic breakthrough for Children of the Revolution and promises to bring them into the international spotlight.

Friday Film: Control Room - April 25th at 7:00 p.m.

2008-04-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim (Startup.com) directs Control Room, a documentary investigating the ethics of media-managed wars. This film particularly focuses on the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Noujaim and her film crew travel to the headquarters of Al-Jazeera, the media leader in the Arab world, to find out what the news looks like in Iraq. She interviews several journalists and producers involved in war reporting for Al-Jazeera, including senior producer Sameer Khader, journalist Hassan Ibrahim, and producer Deema Khatib. Noujaim also interviews American correspondents David Shuster from NBC and Tom Mintier from CNN. Control Room premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum program.

Boston Society of Film Critics
2004 Best Documentary

Broadcast Film Critics Association
2004 Best Documentary

Directors Guild of America
2004 Best Documentary Jehane Noujaim

Independent Spirit Award
2004 Truer Than Fiction Award Jehane Noujaim

Writers Guild of America
2004 Best Documentary

Cafe Rozella's First Night of Music

2008-04-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Cafe Rozella hosted its first musical event of the music season with a performance by Victor Puentes and company. The duo played a cool acid-jazz improvisational style reminiscent of Miles Davis. Very, very cool. As soon as we get a recording we will post it as well.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - Friday Night Movie at Cafe Rozella - March 8, 2008 at 7 p.m.

2008-03-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a study of one of the largest business scandals in American history.

The film examines the collapse of the Enron Corporation, which resulted in criminal trials for several of the company's top executives; it also shows the involvement of the Enron traders in the California electricity crisis.

Interviews are conducted with former executives, stock analysts, reporters and the former Governor of California Gray Davis.

The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards.

As an analysis of corruption in corporations the film gives a realistic look at corporate culture and the inherent problems within. The movie presents two mechanisms for motivating a vastly immoral and profit-driven corporate culture; namely the vitality curve and the Milgram experiment.

The vitality curve is an idea of constant competition in the work place. Individuals are driven to out-perform each other wherever possible because the employees doing worst in a particular field will be fired. Enron constantly hired new staff because even with record profits it was firing people for making less than 1000 times what they were being paid. The atmosphere of the work place caused people to not only disregard the law, but also to act competitively in breaking the law.

The film features actual voice clips from Enron employees discussing the transfer of electricity from the state of California into nodes in other states where there was a surplus. California had signed legislation allowing for a free market in energy. As a response to this, Enron created a demand by causing blackouts across the state. Following this the price of electricity sky-rocketed, right in time for Enron to ship back the energy they took out of California back into California, making billions upon billons of dollars in profits. The controllers who were doing this discussed how much energy they had transferred knowing full well that it was going to blackout the cities in California.

The Milgram experiment was conducted to see how long an individual can take an order before they question that order. The test was set up so that a person is told that an individual will be shocked with electricity every time they push a button. The person is told to raise the voltage and push the button over and over until the person pushing the button decides to stop on moral grounds. On average a person would die three times over with the number of times the button was pushed.

With a goal derived from the pursuit of profit, Enron employees were constantly told to break laws or perform acts that could be considered immoral. Few Enron employees ever came forward to report the corruption. The factor that inevitably led to people coming forward was a "sinking ship" feeling, resulting in some of the Enron executives selling their shares while telling employees to keep their shares.

Panchito passed away

2008-02-29T10:56:00.000-08:00

Panchito, otherwise known as Gary Francis Gray, died this week. Panchito was a vibrant, healthy soul who, though retired, still herded carts at the Westwood Target. He also spent hours walking through the neighborhood. During cold or rainy days he would stop by the café for a big mug of hot coffee and a maple bar. He spoke great Spanish and had recently taken up Vietnamese. He was only 62 years old.

Gary did not like his middle name, Francis. One day he found himself working with a group of Latinos who told him that in Spanish, Francis was Pancho (as in PanchoVilla). Panchito, which is the diminutive of Pancho, is what Gary liked to be called. He liked the name so much that he took it upon himself to learn Spanish. Panchito spoke the language flawlessly and we enjoyed conversing with him in Spanish.

Not one to be left behind by any immigrant group, Panchito had recently taken it upon himself to learn Vietnamese. In Spanish or Vietnamese, there was not a hint of an accent when he spoke. He saw what the immigrant community was doing for White Center and being of a broad mind understood that the area was being revitalized by immigrants. He welcomed the change.

We have lost a tolerant and vibrant being in Panchito. Sadly, we have also lost a gentle soul. I grieve for my friend and for this community.

Cafe Rozella Movie Night is Seattle Weekly Pick of the Week

2008-02-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

The Cultured Cafe

Thought Fremont was the Center of the Universe? Café Rozella has been challenging that claim—championing its White Center location—since 2005 by offering an atmosphere of progressive politics, world music, literary goings-on, and films every Friday night. It's your typical coffee shop, where people still check e-mail and passive-aggressively flirt, but with a few more things on the calendar. Tonight, check out Final Friday Film Freakout No. 2, a new monthly film and noise (as in avant-garde music) series. Olympia's Devon Damonte, who has screened his direct-animation films at Northwest Film Forum and festivals around the country, will show recent work, along with films by Chris Ando. Damonte's are abstract motion graphics made by hand, without cameras, and he'll present a workshop on that process at the cafe on Saturday, March 1. In the "New Center of the Universe," you might discover another artistic one.

Café Rozella, 9434 Delridge Way S.W.

Donation requested. Fri., February 29, 8:00pm

Ruminating on the memory of Steve Cox

2008-02-22T11:57:00.001-08:00

It’s been over a year since Deputy Sheriff Steve Cox was gunned down while investigating a shooting in White Center. For the White Center neighborhood the trauma refuses to abate. There is a dull pain that will not go away. I feel it and I know others do as well. Steve’s absence is like a missing limb –you feel its presence but when you go to use it, you find that it is gone. We keep waiting for Steve to swing around the corner in his cruiser and check in, like he used to and announce, “how are things goin’ here?” But there is no cruiser and there is no Steve Cox. There’s just his absence and that hollow pain.

I see Steve’s mother around the neighborhood. She still wears the grief that she clearly feels. I cannot imagine the pain a mother must feel burying her son. I wonder if the pain ever ceases.

Steve’s widow has sued Washington State for contributing to Steve’s death by failing to monitor the punk who killed him. The lavish funeral and the hero’s wake do not still the rancor that remains. And we, the survivors, are left to sort out Steve’s legacy.

Who speaks for the dead?

As I write this piece, various groups and individuals assert their entitlement to bear Steve Cox’s legacy. A memorial committee labors on but is deeply divided over issues both symbolic and trivial. To whom should we defer? Steve’s widow, Maria? Steve’s mother, Joan? Steve’s brother, Ron? Steve’s fellow deputies? Or the community that Steve served? Who should have greater say? Who loved him more and who is best suited to honor his memory. Antipathy grows.

White Center is today a divided community. The encomiums to Steve Cox’s legacy have exposed simmering rifts. Annexation becomes a flash point. Pro-Burien folks challenge the legitimacy of the pro-Seattle folks. Old timers challenge the legitimacy of newer arrivals. Other rifts are exposed: those between business owners and home owners; between black and white, immigrants and non-immigrants, professionals and craft-workers, Latinos and non-Latino, etc.

Ironically, the mass held on the anniversary of Steve’s death drew only a handful of people. Unlike the public ceremony following Steve’s death, at the mass there was no governor, no police chief, and no mayor in attendance at this mass. There were a few law enforcement colleagues and a few community members, but that was it. For some people, it seems that the time to honor the man, Steve Cox, has passed. What remains is the fight over his legacy, and for that we need no encomiums. So the battle begins.

Ghosts of Trolley's Past Lives on in White Center

2008-02-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

Many of you may be aware that Seattle once had an extensive trolley system. In fact, the Rozella building, in which Cafe Rozella resides, faces a driveway between two buildings. The driveway was a turnaround for trolleys that went up 16th Avenue S.W. On the day that the U.S. entered World War II, the trolleys were decommissioned and the trolley tracks were torn up thus assuring us roads that would make cars essential. One wonders why the trolleys were decommissioned on such an auspicious event? Could it be that everyone was so focused on the cataclysm that was our entry into war that no-one would bother to query a relative political trifle like the death of mass transit in Seattle? I speculate here, but it is interesting timing.

If you would like to see the old tracks you can do so by driving on 16th Avenue SW between Roxbury Avenue and Henderson Street. In the middle of the road are concrete pavements covering the old tracks. It is now a full half century later and the City has yet to improve this stretch of road so that it is even. Instead, the space between the track pavement and the rest of road constantly yields potholes that occasionally swallow small cars. Given our current predicament ($100 a barrel oil) perhaps the better part of wisdom would be to just put the tracks back and bring back the trolleys. Next time you run into the mayor asks him which he prefers the ghosts of the trolley tracks, a driveable road or a new mass transit system.

Images of White Center

2008-02-16T16:58:00.000-08:00

William Stafford writing about White Center Poet Richard Hugo

Richard Hugo, as writer and friend, embraced people and places wherever he went. He humanized vast landscapes -- [The Isle of] Skye, Montana, the Northwest coast.

The more austere or remote or forsaken the land or the person, the more certain was Hugo to reach out with love and understanding.
His poems have already made legends of places on the map that before his coming were lost in empty space. The places he lived, or even the places he just visited, became scenes and characters in his poems.

With care and skill he teased stories and lasting allegiances into being. He couldn't let a place or person feel alone. In the area of his strength he is unsurpassed -- sympathy, human perception, glimpses of the epic dimensions of the individual life.

Richard Hugo Night of Poetry Coming to Cafe Rozella - Thursday February 28th at 7 p.m.

2008-02-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

The Sun Makes a brief appearance

2008-02-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

The sun made a brief appearance reminding us of warmer times to come and the joy of sipping a latter in our outdoor cafe.

Friday Film: Who Killed the Electric Car

2008-02-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15TH at 7 P.M.
Cafe Rozella Presents the Celebrated Documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car"

It begins with a solemn funeral…for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person's terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer).

And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine's film so desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Hedgebrook Café Rozella Event

2008-02-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Café Rozella in conjunction with Hedgebrook Institute hosted a multi-cultural event. Two authors read from their works. Wendy Call, who is a writer in residence at Richard Hugo House and co-editor of the book, Telling True Stories (Plume/Penguin 2007) read from her latest work. www.wendycall.com

As well Maria Victoria, from Veracruz, Mexico and author of the novel Les Dejo el Mar (Ediciones B, 2005), a finalist for the 2006 Mariposa Book Award, also gave reading from her works. (www.mivictoria.com)

Music was provided by Charanga Danzon, Seattle’s New Cuban Music Ensemble. The ensemble is led by violinist Irene Mitri.

The evening was a grand success with over 70 people attending. A wonderful array of people from the local community as well as from the larger area were on hand for celebration of words and music. We look forward to hosting more such events.

Movies at Cafe Rozella

2008-02-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

Last night we screened the Battle of Algiers at the Cafe. This is a powerful movie whose message appears timeless given the current state of events. The film depicts an episode in the war of independence in then-French Algeria, in the capital city of Algiers. It reconstructs the events of November 1954 to December 1960 in Algiers during the Algerian War of Independence, beginning with the organization of revolutionary cells in the Casbah. From there, it depicts the conflict between native Algerians and European settlers (pied-noirs) in which the two sides exchange acts of increasing violence, leading to the introduction of French paratroopers, under the direction of General Massu and then Colonel Bigeard, to root out the National Liberation Front (FLN). The paratroops are depicted as "winning" the battle by neutralizing the whole FLN leadership through assassination or capture. However, the film ends with a coda, depicting demonstrations and rioting by native Algerians for independence, in which it is suggested that though the French have won the Battle of Algiers, they have lost the war. (Wikepedia). And most certainly it is true that the French lost Algeria while neutralizing the combatants. A lesson we should all take to heart.

Next week's fare will be quite lighter with the showing of Woody Allen's film, "Annie Hall." This is certainly one of the classic meloncholy romantic films of our time. And it is, perhaps, Allen's best film. Annie Hall is an Academy Award-winning, 1977 romantic comedy film directed by Woody Allen from a script he co-wrote with Marshall Brickman. It is one of Allen's most popular films: it won numerous awards at the time of its release, and in 2002 Roger Ebert referred to it as "just about everyone's favorite Woody Allen movie." Allen had previously been known as a maker of zany comedies; the director has described Annie Hall as "a major turning point", as it brought a new level of seriousness to his work, in addition to consolidating his signature cinematic style, which includes long, realistically written scenes of conversation, often shot in uninterrupted takes, and an equal thematic investment in both hilarity and heartbreak. The film will be screened at Cafe Rozella at 7 p.m. on Friday February 8th at 7 p.m. As the file is sponsored by the White Center Arts Alliance it is free. Come and enjoy another classic at Cafe Rozella.