Rearview Mirror: A Higher Bath, a Vivid Riesling, and Les Mis

Moon Bath

Last week, I went to a spring workshop at SLU BRU, the newish beer corridor at Dexter Yard in South Lake Union. Open since November 2025 and operated by Gourmondo, it’s positively prepared for nicer climate, with large garage-style home windows that open onto the sidewalk. The night time was hosted by Orange Moon, the tub and physique model run by mother-daughter staff Jana and Sage. The night centered on making customized bathtub soaks, and I used to be shortly reminded how onerous it’s to decide on a favourite scent when every little thing smells good. Our small group made three scent profiles—floral, citrus, and woodsy.

There have been a number of salts within the combine, some powder-fine, others extra textured, plus oils. Jana defined that some elements assist soften the water, whereas others nourish the pores and skin. The cornstarch we added makes the tub water silky, which I by no means would have recognized.

Orange Moon makes fantastically crafted, house-made bathtub soaks and bathtub bombs, all designed to show an extraordinary tub into one thing indulgent.

Photo courtesy of Orange Moon

Jana, a lifelong Washingtonian, shared that the identify Orange Moon got here from a time in life when her two daughters have been very younger (they’re each grown now) and baths have been a every day ritual. One night time, whereas she was close to Bridgeport, she noticed an orange moon rise over the water, and the picture stayed together with her. She began making bathtub soaks after years of working as a landscaper, so she is aware of lots about vegetation and what every ingredient does. Orange Moon is predicated in Bellingham, however ships nationwide, and after taking house my customized soak, I used to be very able to get within the bathtub and name it an evening.

Night Moves

I acquired to see Seattle soul/funk band True Loves this week throughout their five-night residency at Jazz Alley. They are as tight as ever, with out sounding inflexible. The songs stretch and loosen, with every musician getting room for little solos and detours, however the band all the time finds its approach again collectively. That stability between freedom and management is a large a part of what makes True Loves such an unimaginable reside band, together with the truth that these musicians are all clearly on the prime of their sport.

Jimmy James, as all the time, was unbelievable—an absurdly good guitarist, but in addition humorous and easy-going onstage. Grammy winner Nigel Hall of Lettuce is becoming a member of the band for these exhibits, taking part in organ and keyboard and singing on a number of songs, together with his smooth and soulful voice. At one level he talked about that as he will get older, he retains to himself extra and prefers to remain in, which made his presence onstage particularly beneficiant. I discovered myself pondering what a present it’s when somebody comes out and shares what they’ve with a room filled with strangers.

I’m so grateful for locations like Jazz Alley that made it via the pandemic, and for the prospect to get zhooshed up and are available again collectively in these swanky, low-lit areas. And you probably have the prospect to catch True Loves, don’t sleep on it.

True Loves play Jazz Alley via April 12. Get tickets here. 

House of Smith’s new Blossom Fury riesling.

Photo by Sarah Flotard

Spring in a Bottle

House of Smith has a fairly new bottle on the shelf. Charles and Blossom Fury riesling is the most recent launch from Charles Smith, positioned as the following chapter after Kung Fu Girl, the riesling he first launched in 2006. Made with fruit from Evergreen Vineyard within the Ancient Lakes, fermented in chrome steel, and priced at $18, Blossom Fury is supposed to be dry and straightforward to drink. The official tasting notes promise peach, apple, cherry blossoms, lime leaf, and minerality. It sounds properly suited to spring, and to the sort of night time when a chilly, vibrant sipper is precisely what you need.

Blossom Fury is out there now at Total Wine, houseofsmith.com, and wherever you get your wine.

Jaedynn Latter as Eponine in Les Misérables.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Catharsis on the Barricade

Some folks move down jewellery or possibly just a little actual property. I’m passing down my all-time favourite musical: Les Misérables. This week I took my 14-year-old daughter to see Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed manufacturing on the Paramount. It’s so satisfying to look at a teen get swept up in a narrative this large, this emotional, and this dedicated to struggling on a really heroic scale.  Life just isn’t precisely gentle as of late, although I suppose it by no means has been. Still, folks preserve coming again to this present as a result of its characters are so painfully recognizable. We have all performed some model of those roles earlier than: the idealist, the striver, the inflexible rule-follower, the swindler, the heartbroken one, the misunderstood, the missed, the individual simply attempting to maintain going. That is all Les Mis actually asks of us ultimately—to really feel for them. Seeing it at this degree, from the set and visible results to the voices and costumes, solely makes it hit more durable.

This touring manufacturing provides lots to like. Nick Cartell, who has performed prisoner 24601 greater than 1,650 instances, remains to be glorious as Jean Valjean, and “Bring Him Home” is beautiful as ever. Christian Mark Gibbs is very sturdy as Enjolras, and Jaedynn Latter provides Éponine a fiercer, extra awkward edge that makes the character notably weak. She strikes via Marius’s world like somebody attempting onerous to appear more durable than she is, hanging across the edges and by no means fairly becoming in, which makes his blindness to her all of the extra heartbreakingly plausible. Les Misérables has been translated into greater than 20 languages and carried out in additional than 40 international locations. The well-known barricade scene, one of many present’s most intense and spectacular items of stagecraft, was impressed by the true June Rebellion in Paris.

Les Misérables runs on the Paramount via April 19. Get tickets here.