Memorial Day weekend finds the Seattle Center playing host to the 35th annual Northwest Folklife festival. The event, which I’ve not previously attended, is a collection of music, art, food and more with what seemed like a rather eclectic theme to me. The Seattle times obviously covered the event too.
Here’s some music we heard in a few hours of walking around on Saturday. The bagpipes were a disappointment as I think some instruments really are not meant to be played over a speaker. A steel drum band did two interesting covers, followed by some traditional folk music. Next is some Indian music recorded from McCaw Hall. This was the first time I’d been inside the hall and the acoustics were quite impressive. Unfortunately my tiny digital recorder doesn’t present things as richly as they sounded but for a small handheld the booming base of the tabla does come through well enough.
Our musical stroll finished with a short time listening to a country group from a balcony and then a collection of drummers keeping the beat going.
Apologies for not having names of artists but the music speaks for itself.
Month: May 2006
An early morning dental appointment had me catching a cab to return to work. Getting out of the cab I noticed a sign on the door with the large raised letters giving the taxi ID and such. A couple seconds more exploration showed this was reproduced in braille.
Walking into work I had to stop by the ATM. I grabbed an earphone I carry with a portable radio (old school I know because it isn’t an MP3 player) plugged it in and had the ATM speaking my entire transaction.
Both small items but at times you get a glimpse of how the world should be with respect to accessibility. It should just be there and just work. Taking the glass is half full perspective, these simple experiences really jazz me when it comes to accessibility.