KPLU Local News
(2010-10-17)
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A few years ago, Sotirios Rebelos took notice that Seattle had no cool, dependable car service. The industry lacked style and character, and he vowed to change that. Enter Crown Black Car. His drivers arrive wearing leather pants, black t-shirts, studded belts, and playing great music.
Photo by Chase Jarvis
He gave just one instruction to the people he photographed: Come to his studio but come looking any way you want.
"If you show up in jeans and a T shirt I'll shoot you. If you show up naked I'll shoot you. If you show up with costumes and stilts and a motorcycle we'll figure something out," Jarvis recalls saying.
So in walked a parade of folks: Kevin Calabro, the sports talk radio host, in a dark buttoned up shirt; hip hop duo The Blue Scholars, in jeans and converse.
And then: ninja outfit, tiger mask, teeny, sparkly bikini. The founder and drivers with Crown Black Car.
"AKA kind of punk rock taxi," Jarvis says.
"It's a car service that instead of a suited gentleman with an accent, 'Here's your car, sir.' It's way more of a,'Hey man, What's up?' "
Jarvis says the car company is just one example of Seattle's many creative forces making a mark on the city.
"I wanted to get in touch with people at the grassroots level, the ditchdiggers, the people who are actually making stuff happen in the trenches, in the culture of Seattle."
So it was a no-brainer for Jarvis to spotlight Crown Black Car founder Sotirios Rebelos, who showed a reporter one of his Ford Crown Victorias that have been shuttling musicians and club owners for the past 14 years.
He's happy to be included alongside dozens of others who typically fly under the media's radar.
"That book is mostly filled with people who are passionate and don't care about the spotlight," Rebelos says.
But Rebelos figured if he was going to get his 15 minutes of fame, well, then, he and his drivers were going to make it memorable.
"(Driver) Dav ended up wearing a tiger mask. And Taylor is a burlesque performer, so she changed into one of her burlesque outfits. She had a whip, the whole deal. Anytime somebody came out of the bathroom it was a surprise, as it was with me when I came out in a full ninja outfit."
"It was complete mayhem," Jarvis recalls. "There's cocktails and food flying around."
But the resulting photo - like all of them in Jarvis' book - is arresting.
The drivers look like superheroes standing in front of a stark white background.
Jarvis is in his studio, paging through is book, the one he hopes will make rock stars out of locals who'd pass unrecognized on the street.
"In many ways this is also the coolest and craziest cultural guide to Seattle."
And what's cool? Jarvis is asked.
"To me, people that are driving culture, that are not just participating but are taking a lead role in shaping, through their actions, are shaping what our city thinks and does."
These cultural drivers include a lot of people connected to the city's night life. But also represented are athletes, farmers and affordable housing activists.
"There are people in this book who are pure scientists at the highest level but they've had to look at the world in such a creative way to really let their science shine."
Scientists like Dr. Yoky Matsuoka, who builds robotic hands. In one photo, she sits quietly, smiling. But in a second image, she's in the same chair, reaching down for a bag of tennis rackets. Jarvis' photo actually cuts off her face.
"I'm not necessarily framing to make the ideal picture. I'm framing to get a moment. And sometimes I'm zooming or unzooming and just really firing away."
He shot between 200 and 2,000 images of each person in order to capture a single slice of magic. A photo that makes you really look at someone - and not at their usual surroundings, like a lab, an office or a kitchen.
Chef Ethan Stowell runs four restaurants in Seattle. But rather than standing at a stove, Jarvis had Stowell and his wife and business partner Angela drive their scooter into the studio.
"He wanted you to be yourself. He wanted your world to be kind of portrayed in it," Ethan Stowell says.
"I think I'm probably in Chucks, Ts and jeans. And I think he kind of was like, Whatever you're comfortable in. Whatever most classifies your style.'" Angela Stowell says.
The idea for the book came one day when Jarvis was swinging in his hammock, at his Ballard home, and realized how much he loved the city where he was born and raised.
He's a successful commercial photographer. But this was a labor of love.
He started out shooting friends, who turned him on to more people, and suddenly it turned into a book.
Jarvis says the book isn't meant to be The Defining List of Who's Cool. In fact, he wants us to see ourselves in his subjects.
"Hey, city take a look at yourself. You should be inspired by these people because you are one of these people. There are people like it in your community. There are people that you don't know, that are your neighbors that you should know, because look at how amazing they are. And if we can just light this fire, we can move the world.
Proceeds from the book go to 4Culture, King County's non-profit Arts agency. And in true artistic fashion, the book's contents actually tweak its own title. It's called "Seattle 100" but if you look closely, you'll notice 106 people are actually profiled here.
Florangela Davila, KPLU News.
Photos from the "Seattle 100" book are on display Oct. 22 and 23 at the Chase Jarvis gallery space, 757 Thomas St. in Seattle, as part of the Heineken City Arts Fest. There's also a "fireside chat" with Jarvis as part of the festival. More information is here.
The Seattle 100 website
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