New Day Northwest

Bonnie and Tom have been involved with the Tears Foundation. The TEARS Foundation is a non-profit that sets to compassionately lift a financial burden from families who have lost a baby by providing funds to assist with the cost of burial or cremation services.

As part of their efforts to advertise a Walk 'N Run event they're sponsoring, they arranged to get a mention on a local TV show New Day Northwest. This is a local news TV Show from King5.

They needed at least ten people to be there for the host, Kim Holcomb, to mention the Tears Foundation and so Bonnie put out an SOS for support yesterday. Fortunately, since I am retired (I still love saying that!), I had the time available.

So Carol and I were off early this morning riding the Link downtown. We can pretty much get anywhere we want downtown via the Link and our own two feet. King5 is just a little under a mile away from the Westlake Center and so we walked on over. Easy-Peesy!!

And so we were off to New Day Northwest!!

Walking on over from the Link, we were able to enjoy a beautiful Spring morning and, of course, some views of Seattle's iconic, Space Needle.

We passed by the first park in Seattle, established in 1884 on land donated by the Denny Family.

We passed a lot of restaurants and, of course, a lot of advertisements for another Seattle staple, micro-brews. I tell ya, everyone has their boutique beer to offer. Makes for some great signs, though.

When we got to the studio, we had time to kill and a camera. Carol joined this family watching, of all things, a TV!!

The inside of King5. Pretty impressive, eh? That guy, sitting kind of nervously on the edge of his seat, was waiting, I think, for a job interview. While we were coming in a fellow came out from the back and called his name and this guy jumped up and went into Salesman mode. Good luck to him if he was, indeed, going into a job interview.

The receptionist's desk.

Oho, here we go!! First we had to go through security…empty our pockets and go through a metal detecter. He searched Carol's backpack, too.

Once we made it through security it was up to the second floor where the lobby was. I got this shot of the atrium from the lobby.

Ok, here's the lobby and these ol' gals were sitting round, jabbering away. I didn't know this, but these guys, and a bunch of others, are like regulars in the audience for this show. They must come fairly often cuz they knew their way around and seemed to know some of the producers of the show.

Oh, and they knew that to get into the seats where the camera would pan they'd have to be among the first ones into the studio. And they were. And they got into a lot of the audience shots. Lesson learned, Ladies. Yes, lesson learned.

The rest of the audience was bussed in from a senior center. It was funny, the old ladies all made their way up to the lobby and then, almost to a woman, they all got in line to use the restroom. It looked like all of them were crowding into that restroom. I think they, too, were seasoned veterans and knew that once the show started, potty breaks would be few and far between. Again, they knew what was going on and, of course, where to sit to get on camera.

Another shot of the lobby.

And this finely crafted and high-tech sign. Stopped me in my tracks.

The organizer of this event passed out T-Shirts so we could show some solidarity. The Tears Foundation Logo is on the upper right side of this shirt.

And then we were off…down hallways to the studio...

Pass the advertisements...

More hallways...

MORE corridors...

And we had time for a quick selfie as we were moving through the hallways.

As we came into the studio, I saw this attractive display. It was used for the IKEA segment. Mmmmmm, wine, cheese and crackers…Summer living.

Finally, we made it to the studio.

The set with the 'couch'. Here's where the real work is done.

Oh, yeah, here it is. New Day Northwest.

A long view which includes the back of Tom and Bonnie's heads. Carol and I were on the last row. In fact, after a while, we WERE the last row. 

Oh, look!! There's Kim Holcomb, the hostess. Honestly, the whole crew worked well together and put together a really good show with little or no errors. Kim was good and the crew did everything. Ran the cameras, set the stage, adjusted the lights…not at all like when I was a stagehand.

The first segment was on a beefcake calendar being used to raise money for Military Families. These guys were four of the 15 posers and came out and showed off their abs for the show. 

After the segment, during commercials, the guests answered questions from the audience. 

C'mon, guys, put on your shirts. Cheez...

There was a lot of drinking on this show. In the second segment, or act as the producer called it, they had former Mariner, Edgar Martinez (he's the guy with the gray jacket and white shirt, third from left), there with a chef from Salty's talking about their preps for the Cinco de Mayo Fake Holiday celebration. By-the-by, that chef was a near dead-ringer for Wil Wheaton!!

The Wil Wheaton Chef, Edgar and Kim. The chef made a Cino de Mayo taco and then mixed up some margaritas with mescal and…other stuff.

Here the chef is mixing up the taco stuffin's

Then this young lady came on and sang. She's singer-songwriter Arielle and, as much as I can gather, her main claim to fame is that Brian May, the Queen guitarist, is her mentor. 

Still, she was OK.

They had another segment on an upcoming African-American Film Festival. All in all, it was an interesting show and I was impressed with the energy and professionalism of all involved. 

Unfortunately, the producer that booked Tears was off for the day and, somehow, our little segment, where they recognized Tears and showed the supporters in the audience, didn't make it. The kids were keenly disappointed but the opportunity was lost.

We said our good-byes and then started our walk back to the Link.

Here's another Seattle icon, the Ducks. Here's the lot where you can take a Duck Tour.

And the Space Needle...

From a different angle...

With a little blue sky...

We had a great lunch at Quincy's in the Armory. Fish and Chips. It was a healthy portion and, man, was I full afterwards. Tasty.

Then we hit the gift shop under the…Space Needle!!

Still feeling the euphoria from the Super Bowl Win!! My favorite was, "DangerRuss".

Oh, yeah, and the...

Seattle landmarks...

The Angry Birds even got onto the Space Needle Bandwagon...

"Wha'chu lookin' at, Willis!?!?!"

They had the Space Needle on yo-yos, snow globes, dishes, shirts, hats, and even etched into rocks!!

Oh, and commenmorative coins...

in artwork, 

on magnets...

and more magnets...

and MORE magnets...

and little ceramic thingies….

Whew!! There was a lot of Space Needle.

Then the walk back to the Link and, of course, the rain. Always. The rain.

This cafe has some good corn-beef hash. Mmmmmm...

And the crazy artwork found all over Seattle.

Great way to spend a retired day in Seattle. Next time, though, I'll know better. I'll be elbowing out some of those old ladies and get myself into the good seats for the show.

Oh, and if you're visiting, now we'll offer to take you to a TV show in addition to visiting the, "Space Needle"