Seattle Museum of Flight

Swifties at San Jose Airport + Authors at MCI + Musical Astronauts at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

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San Jose Airport is Ready for Taylor Swift Fans

Thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as “Swifties,” will be flying into San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) this week on their way to Levi’s Stadium, where Swift will be performing on July 28 and 29 as part of her Eras Tour.

The airport is ready with friendship bracelets for trading and SJC goodies for sharing on Thursday, 7/27, in the Terminal B bag claim around 4 pm, while supplies last.

Summer Lit Fest at Kansas City International Airport

Here’s a great idea that would be great to see at every airport:

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) is hosting a Summer Lit Fest with a pop-up event that will feature readings and book signings by Kansas City authors.

The event will take place on Friday, July 28th, from 11 am to 2 pm, at the post-security Turn the Page KC store.

Here are the authors participating:

  • Former Kansas City Mayor Sly James will discuss and sign “Mayor Sly and the Magic Bow Tie” written by Aja James and Audrey Masoner;
  • Jim “Stinky Feet” Cosgrove, author of “Bop Bop Dinosaur” and “Sullen Sally”;
  • Chris Meggs, author of “Twas the Night Before Tipoff” and “Go Chiefs Go”;
  • Julie Snodgrass, author of “The Search for your Best Furever Friend” and “Puppies on Parade”;
  • Christle Reed – “I Can be me in KC;” and
  • Crystal Everett –  â€śMommy and Mari Move It.”

Astronaut band to perform at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Bandella, a band made up of five former astronauts and guest artists, lands for two shows at Seattle’s Museum of Flight on July 29.

Bandella includes Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed a solo performance video of David Bowie’s Space Oddity while floating in the space station. The four other astronaut artists include Cady Coleman, Dan Burbank, Ken Cockrell, and Steve Robinson, with Micki Pettit as the lead singer.

The concert will blend music with stories from space, plus a Q&A with the audience.

Airports (and a museum) remember Charlie Watts

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The Rolling Stones’ drummer, Charlie Watts, died on Tuesday and several airports, including Philadelphia International Airport and Dublin Airport – and Seattle’s Museum of Flight – went into their archives to share photos.

An opera about being stuck at the airport filmed at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Music, ,

Like so many arts and cultural organizations, the Seattle Opera has gotten pretty darn creative with finding ways to bring its productions to the people.

The newest production is a great example of that and will be of interest to opera fans and avgeeks alike.

Courtesy Seattle Opera

For the 2020/2021 season, the Seattle Opera was planning to present a performance of “Flight.” The three-act opera was written in 1998 by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist April De Angelis and has been performed around the world.

Here’s the story of the opera:

“An omniscient air traffic controller watches over a departure lounge bustling with relentlessly cheerful flight attendants, an excitable couple on vacation, a mysterious older woman, and a diplomat and his expectant wife, all of whom must spend the night to wait out a storm. At the heart of the show is the Refugee, a character inspired by Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris for almost 18 years.”

The pandemic means that the Seattle Opera can’t perform the show live. But rather than pass on the opportunity to present it, the Seattle Opera teamed up with Seattle’s Museum of Flight and filmed the opera there.

Brilliant, right?

The live stream of the Flight runs April 23-25. And tickets are just $35.

Below you’ll find a trailer for the opera and a pre-flight/pre-show talk full of tidbits on how the project came to be.

There’s also a fun interview with Museum of Flight curator Matthew Burchette sharing some of his favorite aircraft in the museum and talking about the control tower exhibit, which plays a role in the opera.

Enjoy!

Astronauts invade Seattle

Art,

MUSEUM OF FLIHGT PReiquam_SpaceTourist

Peter Reiquam – Space Tourist

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Seattle’s Museum of Flight has placed 25 life-size, space-suited astronaut statues around town. Each statue began as a white fiberglass statue and was then transformed by a local artist into something new.

David Newman and Ruth Cieol_SpaceSquatch

SpaceSquatch Explores the Pacific Northwest – by David Newman and Ruth Cielo

The museum is encouraging locals and visitors to find astronauts around town, take selfies and post them on Instagram (tag: #astronautsonthetown) for a chance to win a pair of tickets on Alaska Airlines, good to any Alaska Airlines destination.

The statutes will be in town through mid-September, but an on-line auction for all 25 astronauts runs throughout August – in case you want an arty-astronaut for your home or office.

Here’s a link to a gallery featuring images of all statues in the Astronauts around Town project.

Scott_HappyConstellations

Happy Concstellations -by Fin’es Scott

Area 51 items at the Museum of Flight – maybe

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Area 51 warning sign

Area 51 Warning Sign –

Seattle’s Museum of Flight, which brought us an exhibit of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane just about this time last year, has cooked up another special exhibit set to open on April 1.

Due to the heavily redacted press release, it’s difficult to tell exactly what will be on display, but it appears that some never-before-seen items relating to Area 51 just might be on view.

Or not.

Museum of Flight Area 51