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At one end of the long building that houses Hammond Ashley Violins in Issaquah, five students are getting ready for a violin class. In the middle of the building, luthiers are repairing violins and cleaning string basses. And up front, behind a door marked “Suite 100,” customers are coming in to buy or rent violins, and get them repaired. “In this industry, people work until they can’t drag their butt to work anymore,” says Bryce Van Parys, general manager of Hammond Ashley. “There are plenty of

Marcus Haney has caught several big named musicians on camera, including the likes of Coldplay and Elton John. In 2014, he was asked to produce a music video for the British band Bear's Den. He came up with the idea of coming to Seattle to film his younger brother, Turner Haney, and Turner's friends, who all attended Seattle Pacific University, capturing youth on the brink of adulthood. But on June 5, 2014, the day the filming was supposed to begin, tragedy struck. Aaron Ybarra walked onto to

To enter De Charlene William's Beauty and Boutique hair salon at 21st and Madison, where First Hill meets the Central Area in Seattle, you have to get past an iron gate. The extra security is a reminder that doing business here for 48 years has not always been easy. "I've been through a lot here on this corner," Williams says. Despite cars crashing through her front door and thieves cutting holes in her ceiling, Williams' beauty shop continues to serve longtime customers and women in search of a

The most difficult part of recovery from addiction can be taking the first step to get help. For hundreds of heroin and prescription pain medication addicts, that first step is a walk through the door of a methadone clinic in the South Sound called Tacoma Treatment Solutions. Every day people arrive at the clinic as early as 5 a.m. to get their daily dose of methadone. “Taylor,” who asked that we not use her real name, is in her 40s and definitely doesn’t fit the image of a down-and-out addict.

28-year old Yemeni-American Mokhtar Alkhanshali loves coffee. In fact, h e is the first Arab certified Q-grader, the coffee equivalent of a sommelier for wine. Mokhtar grew up between the United States and Yemen. In his grandparents’ garden in Yemen, Mokhtar picked red coffee berries off the trees and laid them out on drying beds. His grandmother taught him when to harvest the berries, and later, how to brew coffee with spices like cardamom and cinnamon. This early affinity with coffee stuck.

This week on Sound Effect , we head out to the islands. The Good Ship Issaquah Marsha Morse was one of the first women captains in Washington’s ferry system. She’s been navigating the waterways since 1975. And while she captains the ferry Issaquah , she considers her office the entire Puget Sound. The One Lonely Island All of the available islands in the San Juan’s were snatched up by homesteaders by 1919. All but one. A lonely, rocky, 15-acre dot close to San Juan Island. This rocky mound

Washington boasts the largest ferry system in the country. “Twenty-two ferries cross Puget Sound and its inland waterways, carrying more than 22 million passengers to 20 different ports of call,” according to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s website. Marsha Morse was one of the first women captains in Washington’s ferry system. She’s been navigating the waterways since 1975. In this episode of Sound Effect , we hop a ferry with Marsha, who explains how she handles thick fog as

The San Juans' last homesteaders first discovered the islands on a map. June and Farrar Burn were newlyweds. They met in 1919 at a party June threw in her log cabin in Virginia. June quickly fell for Farrar’s ruddy-cheeked smile, curly red hair, and his ability to make himself useful immediately: gathering firewood, serving drinks, hosting as if it were his own home. Farrar was drawn to June’s lively eyes and her unmistakable, fierce spirit. In a month, the two were married. That spring, June

Affordable housing is certainly a big issue these days, especially if you are living in the greater Seattle area. But it is also a major issue on some of our islands. On San Juan Island, an overwhelming shortage of affordable housing is threatening the community and economy. But a non-profit in Friday Harbor is come up with a way to help that problem: by picking up old houses that are no long wanted in Victoria, British Columbia, putting them on a boat, and giving them a second life in Friday.

Note: Some of the content in this story might be upsetting to some listeners. McNeil Island in South Puget Sound is where the Special Commitment Center for sexually violent predators is located. There are about 250 permanent residents at the Special Commitment Center -that’s what they’re called — and there are only a few ways you can leave the facility: you die, you’re deemed to have successfully completed treatment, or you can challenge your commitment with a trial. This is what a man named