Belltown Messenger - FRONT PAGE FODDER

TO THE MAX

The neon pink Vance Hotel sign no longer illuminates the southeast side of Belltown. The Vance (620 Stewart St.) is now Hotel Max, which claims to be "Seattle's hippest hotel." The Oct. 15 launch party included live music and dancing; but the Max's massive art collection was the star. Each room includes original paintings from Washington and Oregon artists. Each of the nine floors illuminates a photographer and a theme. Each room's outside door is an enlarged photograph. The fifth floor displays Charles Peterson's photographs of the Seattle grunge era, including side-by-side solo shots of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. The third floor features Joan Broughton's photographs of Pike Place Market street performers. Several market buskers played the launch party, including Brother Willie and the Market Crew, Artis the Spoonman, balloon bender Farrell Thomas, and magician Tom Frank. Tessa Papas collected and organized the art in about a year's time, under designer Denise Corso's supervision. Her goal was to make Hotel Max an aesthetically complex home for that semi-nomadic tribe of business travelers and movers who traverse the globe. The hotel's run by the Portland-based Aspen Hotel Group. -Megan Lee

A BELLTOWN MANIFESTO
21. People who make more money than you are not necessarily fascists.
22. People who make less money than you are not necessarily bums.

FRONT PAGE FODDER
The Messenger turns two this month, but another neighborhood institution, "I Heart Rummage," is turning four. The monthly showcase for Seattle artists and fashion designers was begun in '01 by Gia Bahm at the old Nation/I Spy club, and is now run by Sam Trout and Matthew Parker at the Crocodile (Second and Blanchard). More than 40 participating vendors show their wares the first Sunday of each month (including Nov. 6), 12-4 p.m. Next month there'll be two events, on Dec. 4 and 18.

The former Damsel fashion-boutique space, 2222 2nd Ave., is now V Gallery. Its grand opening is Friday, Nov. 4, 5 p.m.-midnight, featuring new paintings by former Belltownian Ethan Jack Harrington. Harrington's smiling face is still spotted most nights of the week; his recent work includes the Whisky Women series.

V Gallery (956-3900) is a partnership between Harrington, Brent Blake, and Melea Johnson. They'll showcase exceptional contemporary art, Wednesday through Sundays. Cherie Thomas will be available during opening hours; the trio of artists hopes to use the gallery as a bit of a studio, engaging the neighborhood and passersby. (Johnson, Blake, and Thomas are veterans of Venue, an eastern-Washington arts magazine.)

"The Troubadour Show," a showcase for solo singers and musicians, continues at the Nexxus CafŽ, 2015 Second Ave. Local street-performing legends Emery Carl, Tommy Dean and Zach Michaud, with special guests, take the stage the first and third Saturdays of each month. It's a chance to see real live "buskers," only indoors and with audience seating. Check out www.thetroubadourshow.com.

If autumn makes you want to blow on something hot, Seattle Glassblowing Studio (2227 Fifth Ave.; 448-2182) offers several options for learning to blow glass-the six-week beginners' class, weekend intensive workshops, bead making classes, and private glassblowing and lamp-making classes. The showroom/gallery displays an array of art to view whist drinking coffee. Check out www.seattleglassblowing.com.

Our friends at the BBC Studio (2306 4th Ave.) have added weekly jazz dance workshops, 1-3 p.m. Sundays, through the end of November. The Nov. 6 session features Kabby Mitchell; subsequent weeks feature Richard Jessup. Space is limited; all levels are welcome; register at 441-6071.

Higher building-height limits haven't yet been OK'd for Belltown, but that hasn't stopped developers from planning projects to go with the potential new rules. One is for the current parking-lot spaces on Third and Virginia, south of the YWCA complex. The mixed-use development would rise 400 feet to 42 stories, and would include 448 apartments plus the usual street-level retail/restaurant spaces. The city's Department of Planning and Development will hold a "design review early guidance meeting" at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, in City Hall room L280 (600 4th Ave.).

-ML and CH