B-Town Blog reporter Bart Bryan called in to the newsroom minutes ago with the following phone report:

“Brian Partridge and Janie Kelly are playing at Advertiser The Barrel Tavern in north Burien tomorrow night, Saturday, February 11, starting at 9.

No cover, but lots of fun.

“They rock the gamut from Lady Gaga to Zeppelin to Fleetwood Mac to Aretha.

“Brian masters the keyboards and provides well-timed backup vocals. The light show is phenomenally 70s and 80s!”

Bart adds “I vouch for ‘em! You won’t be disappointed. Put on your dancing shoes!

“And lead singer Janie with a pitch-perfect voice and just the right touch of showmanship sings leads.

“She knocked them out through two rounds of American Idol tryouts last year in Portland, Oregon. And you many see her go even further sometime soon.

“See you there. The Barrel is located at 11051 1st Avenue South in Burien.”

BTB Real Estate Sponsor Prudential Northwest’s Open House for this week is an impeccable West Seattle Craftsman built in 2005, like new inside and out.

Steps to Lincoln Park and located on a dead-end street, this gorgeous home has Olympic, Sound and territorial views with amazing sunsets!

There’s also a huge Chef’s kitchen with granite counters and family room, plus formal dining room, outstanding Master bedroom with fireplace and beautiful bathroom and much more!

Here are the details:

WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 12th, from 1pm – 5pm.

WHERE: 7808 45th Ave SW, West Seattle, WA 98136

INFO:

• List Price: $647,000
• Listing #: 288304
• Beds: 4
• Baths: 2.5
• Year Built: 2005
• Approximate House SqFt: 3,600
• Lot Square Footage: 7,500

Interior Features:

• Bath Off Master
• Built-In Vacuum
• Dble Pane/Strm Windw
• Dining Room
• Fireplace in Mstr BR
• High Tech Cabling
• Security System
• Skylights
• Pantry
• Walk-in Closet

Marketing Remarks:

Impeccable Craftsman built in 2005, like new inside & out.

Steps to Lincoln Park & located on a dead end street.

Olympic, sound & territorial views w/amazing sunsets! Mezzanine formal entry, open floor plan great for entertaining.

Tall ceilings w/high end finishes throughout.

3 frplcs, Brazilian Cherry flrs.

Huge Chefs kitchen w/granite counters & family rm plus formal dining rm.

Outstanding mstr bdrm w/frplc & beautiful 5 pc bthrm.

Decks, ex finished rm, 3 car garage.

Click here to see the full, detailed listing.

Click here to view all of Prudential Northwest’s Open Houses.

REMINDER: Our big Launch Party that will officially kick off our latest locally-grown indie media venture – SoKing Internet Radio – will be one week from tonight, on Wednesday, Feb. 15th from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the Tin Theater.

The radio station will “go live” on the air in the theater at 6 p.m. sharp, so please arrive before then for the best seats – we’ll all gather around a computer, say a few words, perhaps do some weird chanting, then click a button and the station will magically come alive.

And we’re proud to announce that we’ll be featuring a local musician that you’ll hear on the station as our first “live” show – details to come so stay tuned!

All Readers and Advertisers are invited to this free event, which should be fun as well as historic, seeing that (far as we know), we’ll be the first local blog in the entire northwest (perhaps the US) to have its own radio station.

If you’re a local band/musician and want to be featured on our new station, please email music@sokinginternetradio.com. Attach any MP3s, or include a link to any online (we’ll also accept CDs – see our station’s Contact page for our snailmail address), with metadata on your songs, bio info, artwork and anything else you think we can use to help promote you.

And as we get closer to launching we’ll post clear instructions on how you can listen to this new station, which will feature local music, news, events and more!

Click image to see larger version.

The Southcenter Rotary will be holding its 3rd annual Mardi Gras Auction this Saturday night, Feb. 11th at the Southcenter Doubletree Hotel.

Tickets are $60 per person.

“Give back to the community,” reads a poster. “Donate an item for the auction!”

To donate, or for more info, email scrotaryclub@gmail.com.

Burien native John Requa, right, with his filmmaking partner Glenn Ficarra.

by Scott Schaefer

A few years back, you might have seen a young man running around Burien’s Gregory Heights neighborhood with a Super-8 or VHS movie camera, telling his friends what to do, when to do it and where.

And perhaps even one time you called the cops on him because his actors were carrying pellet guns!

That young man is named John Requa, and now he’s all grown up but doing the same thing, only in a different city – Hollywood, CA – and making a darn good living doing it, including directing a film that will be playing at the Tin Theater (BTB Advertiser) next week (Fri. Feb. 10 – Thurs., Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m.) called ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love,‘ a romantic comedy starring Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone and others:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Requa, who was born at Group Health Hospital, grew up in the Gregory Heights neighborhood of Burien. Influenced by the many movies he watched with his father while growing up, John’s childhood ambition was to be a film director. As a kid, John made many movies with his neighborhood friends in Gregory Heights, which also happens to be the name of the school in “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” He attended Gregory Heights School from kindergarten to first grade, then attended St. Francis and Highline High School, where he performed skits for his school assemblies, even acting in his senior play. John then went to Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied film and ended up meeting his writing/directing partner Glenn Ficarra. John and Glenn have been working together ever since, both as screenwriters and directors. They have written screenplays for several films including “Bad Santa,” and their directing debut, “I Love You Phillip Morris”. And most recently directed “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” John and Glenn recently started their own production company and are currently working on several different projects.

Here’s an interview with John and Glenn:

Click here to view the embedded video.

John still flies to Burien from LA on a regular basis with his wife and 3-year old son. He has a brother, sister, parents and good friends in Seattle and a sister in Yakima. And yes, he still roots for the Seahawks.

We managed to track John down and conducted a quick Q & A that shares some insight into how the Burien area played into his growing movie-making career:

Q: What were some of your favorite shooting locations in the area?
A: Seahurst Park was my favorite.

Q: Did you ever complete a full film as a kid?
A: Yes, I made four 20-minute films in and around Gregory Heights, Burien and Normandy Park.

Q: What advice you you have for aspiring filmmakers?
A: Best way to learn to make movies is to make movies. Don’t worry about quality. Just make them and learn. It’s easier to do them now than it ever was.

Q: What was it about growing up here that inspired you to make movies?
A: Burien’s proximity to Downtown which had a plethora of arthouse theaters and allowed me to see all of classic American and foreign films in the theater with an audience.

Q: Any other Burien/area-related anecdotes?
A: One time we were shooting a scene with pellet guns. Someone in the neighborhood thought they were real guns and called the police, and the police ended up pulling their guns on us!

‘Crazy. Stupid. Love.’ plays at BTB Advertiser The Tin Theater from Friday, Feb. 10 to Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. nightly. Don’t forget to print your own Coupon for FREE popcorn here. More info at http://tintheater.com.

Click image to see larger version.

BTB Advertiser Highline Athletic Club & The BNI B-Town Business Builders Health & Wellness Power Team will be holding their second annual “Health & Wellness Fair” at HAC on Saturday, Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

This fair is FREE and open to the public so mark your calendar, invite a friend and be sure not to miss this exciting event.

Here’s more from our friends at HAC:

Dona Forrester, General Manager of Highline Athletic Club shared that her BNI “Health & Wellness” Power Team partners started this event last year to bring awareness to our community on the many different forms of health care. This is a collaborated effort and will bring you the best of the best from our community. Attendees will be able to talk to vendors; learn from each treatment professional what is unique about their service as well as share their passion for their industry.

The BNI – Business Builders Power Team bringing you this event consists of: Dona Forrester, Highline Athletic Club; Susan Parko, Rodan and Fields Dermatologists; Bryn Karlberg, Licensed Massage Practitioner; Dr. Kyle Beffa, Beffa Dental; Dr. Spencer Wade, Collins Chiropractic; and Patricia Eslava Vessey, Integrity Coaching & Training Systems.

In the Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, West Seattle areas we are quite fortunate to have many forms of health and wellness services available to us, including Highline Athletic Club. The health and wellness fair will also have dentists, Licensed Massage Practitioners; Acupuncturists, Chiropractors, Family doctors, Mental-health providers, Nutritional advisors, skin care consultants, healthy eating options & much more. Our current list of vendors include: Vitality Chiropractic; Lake Burien Physical Therapy; SHIBA/Senior Services; Highline Therapy Services; Flourish Acupuncture & Wellness; Moss Chiropractic; Roxbury Spine & Wellness Clinic; Integrity Coaching & Training Systems; Eating Well: Living Well; Face to Face Euro Spa & Healing Hands Massage; Beffa Dental; Bryn Karlberg Massage; Rodan & Fields Dermatology; Collins Chiropractic; Triton Team Nutrition; Xocai Healthy Chocolate; Normandy Park Senior Living; Ren; Skin Secret; Human Being More; Somantic Education – Feldenkrais; Freggies Organic Produce; Change Front; Seahurst Chiropractic & Wellness Center; Synergy Home Care; Town Square Dentistry; One Earth Natural Medicine Clinic; Karuna Arts Yoga Studio & the Tag Zone.

Each person attending this Health & Wellness Fair will be eligible to win a variety of great prizes donated by the vendors that you will not want to miss out on!

The demographics of our community cover a wide age range and we’ve taken this into consideration when planning our vendor list. We have provided a list of vendors, however we continue to add more as we approach our event and a current list will be posted on our Face Book page which is available if you search for Highline Athletic Club Health & Wellness Fair.

Please plan to join us – it is an event you won’t want to miss. Saturday, February 25th, 2012 from 10am-3pm. Mark your calendars!

Highline Athletic Club is located at 125 South 156th Street, Burien, WA 98148; 206-246-9000; www.highlineathleticclub.com.

Karuna Arts Yoga and The Tag Zone celebrated their grand-opening at their new Des Moines location with a ribbon-cutting this past weekend.

Formerly located in Olde Burien, these side-by-side businesses run by Anne and Johnny Basco are now settled into a freshly remodeled building at 605 South 223rd Street in Des Moines.

Read the full story and see photos from the event on The Waterland Blog

Helpers assist the Bascos in moving out of the Karuna Arts Yoga location Friday, Feb. 3. Photo by Scott Schaefer.

Karuna Arts Yoga has occupied the building on the corner of Ambaum Blvd. and SW 152nd in Olde Burien for 7 years and Anne Basco the owner has successfully taught a wide range of students from the novice to advanced. She has also conducted in-depth programs that have produced many new teachers who now teach at the studio and who have carried the skills taught by Anne to studios around the area and beyond.

Johnny Basco opened The Tag Zone 2 years ago and has built a thriving business that has attracted children and their parents to Old Burien.

The studio is now moving to a new location in Des Moines, on the corner of 6th Ave SW and S. 223rd (605 South 223rd Street). The building has been extensively remodeled, turning it from a boat showroom into a 1st class yoga facility with 2 studios and reception area, bathrooms and changing rooms. The Tag Zone is in the same building but in its own separate and private space.

This weekend Feb 4-5th, the Bascos are hosting an Open House, with tours of The Tag Zone as well as free yoga classes. Saturday at Noon the Mayor of Des Moines will be cutting a ribbon to celebrate the opening of two new businesses in Des Moines. Definitely a celebration in these lean times.

I hope this may be of interest to you and your Readers as the moving of the studio will leave a big hole at the entrance to Olde Burien but will be filling a hole in the business core of Des Moines.

Thanks for your kind attention,
Avril Steele
Yoga teacher at Karuna Arts

[Have something you'd like to share with our 50,000+ Readers? Please send us your Letter to the Editor via email. Include your full name, and, pending our review, we'll most likely publish it.]

According to the voting website:

“Discover Burien recognizes exemplary individuals and organizations in the community through leadership, public service and achievement in the areas of business, non-profit, student achievement, and volunteer service and outstanding service from a member of the clean sweep program.”

Nominating doesn’t take long, so please click the following link to nominate someone you know:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nHyVQomSQj_2fk9qCpdwDusQ_3d_3d

BTB Real Estate Sponsor Prudential Northwest’s Open House for this week is a brick basement rambler in Shorewood, just waiting to be made beautiful again and at a reduced price!

Daylight basement, carport, large lot and great location.

And it’s got a little Sound view too!

Here are the details:

WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 5th, from 1pm – 4pm.

WHERE: 11825 26th Ave SW, West Seattle, WA 98146

INFO:

• List Price: $299,500
• Listing #: 292562
• Beds: 3
• Baths: 2
• Year Built: 1952
• Approximate House SqFt: 2,060
• Lot Square Footage: 10,950

Interior Features:

• Hardwood Floors
• Carport-attached
• 2 Fireplaces

Marketing Remarks:

Brick basement rambler in Shorewood just waiting to be made beautiful again!

Daylight basement, carport, large lot and great location.

A little Sound View too!

Click here to see the full, detailed listing.

Click here to view all of Prudential Northwest’s Open Houses.