White Center’s new Dubsea Coffee is hosting a FREE, live music show this Saturday night, featuring Brandon Decker & Lets Get Lost.

Brandon Decker is a musician/singer from Arizona with a degree in Philosophy who sings about “romance, personal relationships and coming to terms with his sometimes checkered past.” His influences include Tom Waits, Portishead, Neil Young and PJ Harvey and his music has been called “gritty, soulful, acoustic rock,” and has also been dubbed “grunge folk.”

“My songs are my catharsis of everything I’ve been through, coupled with my empathy experienced from the different profound relationships I’ve had.” Decker said on his website. “In every song, I’m taking a moment and trying to work through it honestly.”

The show starts at 7pm and goes until 10pm.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Live, FREE music at Dubsea Coffee, featuring Brandon Decker and Let’s Get Lost

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 30th from 7pm-10pm

WHERE: Dubsea Coffee, located at 9910 8th Avenue SW in the Greenbridge ‘hood.

INFO: From Dubsea’s website:

This is going to be a great music show to come and check out at Dubsea Coffee, Free !!  Live music by Brandon Decker & Lets Get Lost .
Brandon Decker “vocals, guitar,and producer ” is on his Long Days tour from Sedona, AZ. accompanied by Nanci Mcdonald ” Cello Vocals “.  The duo will be playing his narrative work on redemption with poignant lyrics and resonating vocals.  This folk rock duo is something to witness, supremely you will not be disappointed.

Lets Get Lost is a local Seattle treat, Nick Shadel & Peter Kowalczyk frequent the cafe as they are White Center boys.  If you come to the show you’ll get to experience a flood of the groups indie-pop-rock-carnival aesthetic.  Their music is cotton candy for the ears, sweeter and bolder to the core the longer it resonates in your audible system.

Come to Dubsea Coffee and listen, witness this delectable feast for your temporal lobe.  Let your internal audiometer get the
frequencies and vibrations it deserves.

VIDEO: Here are two videos we found of Brandon Decker:

More info available at the bands’ websites:

• http://www.myspace.com/brandondecker
• http://www.myspace.com/letsgetlosttogether

Dubsea Coffee, White Center’s hip, new and artsy coffeeshop (located at 9910 8th Ave SW in Greenbridge), has put out the following “call for artists”:

Call to ArtistsDubsea Coffee Art Submissions

Guidelines for All Artists

Dubsea Coffee is a new café and public art space located in White Center, nestled in the heart of the Greenbridge community. We are dedicated to bringing quality art and progressive content to the public. Our intent is to work with artists (of a variety of mediums), willing to share their work in a café/community setting. Our supreme hope is to share art that provokes positive energy and pride in the neighborhood. With this intent and these hopes it is possible for us to work with artists and be a catalyst for thought and positive creativity within our community.

<> We request that you send color copies, transparencies, digital files, or links to your website. Please do not send original work.
<> To make the nicest impression, you may want to send a cover letter and/or biographical content when submitting your art work. (OPTIONAL)
<> If you are mailing your submission please send an enclosed self addressed stamped envelope in a suitable size for the safe return of your art submission.
<> Send your submission to:

Dubsea Coffee

c/o Joerael Elliott

9910 8th Ave SW

Seattle WA 98106

* if you are emailing your submission please send to [ joerael@dubseacoffee.com ]

Dubsea Coffee (get it – “Dub C,” as in W.C.?), an independent coffeehouse serving organic and direct trade coffees and teas, will open its doors at its location (9910 8th Ave SW) at Greenbridge at 7am on Saturday, Nov. 14th.

The café will be the first retail business to open at Greenbridge, the 96-acre master-planned community being developed by the King County Housing Authority.

“What better way to build on the vision of Greenbridge than to offer a warm, comfortable destination where people from all walks of life can share great coffee and conversation,” said Stephen Norman, executive director of the King County Housing Authority. “Dubsea Coffee will also provide much-needed jobs in this community.”

Dubsea Coffee is located on south side of the Greenbridge plaza in the newly constructed Salmon Creek apartment building and across the street from Nia Apartments, an 82-unit complex that houses seniors and people with disabilities. To celebrate, the first 250 customers will receive a free 12-ounce drink, courtesy of Synergy Construction, Inc., the company that built the Salmon Creek building.

The café is the brainchild of Sibelle Nguyen, who sees her shop as a place where civic interaction can take place. She hopes Dubsea Coffee will be a hub for coffee, art and inspiration at Greenbridge and in the White Center community.

“Being open and loving — and inspiring each other to be that way — is what I hope this space will achieve,” Nguyen said. “There’s so much going on in this community that I want Dubsea to be a catalyst for fostering connections and friendships. I want to offer a place that fills residents with a sense of pride.”

The space is a reflection of this sentiment. With its simple, clean lines, cerulean blue ceiling, celadon green concrete floor, scored oak bar, and tall window banks defining its perimeter, the interior of the coffee shop evokes an airy, natural vibe. It’s also consistent with the attributes of the award-winning Greenbridge community, which has been certified as Three-Star Built Green™ by the Master Builders of King and Snohomish Counties and features a number of creative approaches to environmental sustainability.

Dubsea Coffee will serve organic and direct trade (even more socially responsible than fair trade) Stumptown coffee, organic Rishi teas, hot chocolate and chai. A variety of baked goods from Little Rae’s Bakery, Macrina Bakery & Café, and High Five Pies will be featured as well as breakfast items including bagels, granola, and yogurt. Sandwiches and Boylan sodas will also be offered.

“Stumptown looks to source and roast the best quality coffee in a socially and environmentally responsible way,” said Luke Dirks, sales and wholesale account manager at Stumptown Coffee. “We’re delighted to provide our products to Dubsea Coffee, which embodies an enviable business model: It’s an approachable café where fabulous, high quality drinks will be served, and it’s a place that will create a lasting, uplifting impact in its local community.”

Beyond coffee and comestibles, the coffeehouse features gallery space for local artists. Dubsea Coffee will debut with “Fractured Parables” by Joerael Elliott, Dubsea’s art director, and plans to feature the work of about a dozen artists per year. Free wireless Internet will also be available.

Though she grew up in Edmonds, Wash., Nguyen has strong ties to the neighborhood. As a toddler, she lived for a brief time at Park Lake Homes, the now demolished former public housing community that Greenbridge has since replaced. As a young woman, Nguyen returned to work as an AmeriCorps volunteer at Neighborhood House at Park Lake Homes. Now a resident of White Center once again, she is eager to fulfill her dream of owning a coffee shop here.

Even the name Dubsea Coffee is a kind of homage to the neighborhood residents. At one time, White Center was considered by many outside the area to be an undesirable place to live. Those living in White Center often felt otherwise. To overcome its (unfair) negative reputation yet still identify with their neighborhood, residents took to calling their community “W” (Dub) “C” (Sea) – an affectionate nickname for White Center.

Nguyen is already making a difference in the community; she has hired a Greenbridge resident and a White Center resident as baristas-in-training.

Bryant Sim, the Greenbridge resident, is a 16-year-old Evergreen High School student who will work part-time at the café.

“Coffee is really interesting to me – and this job is really close to home, so I can walk to work,” Sim said. “This is also my first paid work experience. It’s a great opportunity because it will help prep me financially for college.”

Greenbridge residents are excited by the prospect of a coffee shop in their neighborhood, said Tim Locke, president of the Greenbridge Association.

“Dubsea Coffee is an ideal business for Greenbridge,” said Locke. “It will offer a fantastic product, local jobs, and a lively environment with art and music. It’s a perfect fit.”

Calendar of Events for Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 14th:

• 7am: Doors open. Any 12-ounce drink will be free to the first 250 customers, courtesy of Synergy Construction, Inc. The bottom of each cup will be numbered. Numbers will be drawn in a random raffle; winners receive a 1-pound bag of Stumptown coffee.
• Noon: Program begins with Laudan Espinoza and Sean Larson on Spanish guitar.
• 1:30pm: Program concludes. Music by DJ Jon Lemmon and DJ Murdoc commences.

Dubsea Coffee will be open from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and from 6 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

We like the joint already, just ‘cuz of the name “Dub-C“, which we’ve used for a long time.