Seattlest.com... news with a twist from Seattle.
Last updated on Sat, 31 Jul 2010
New Team of Didier, Akers Prove That Together, They Can Turn On A Computer. Eventually.
If you tuned in last night for Clint Didier and Paul Akers' important announcement, chances are you were either a) deeply disappointed or b) had a pretty low bar set for the use of the word 'important.' Either way, you got to hang around for a while as the two camps presumably found a fourteen year old capable of plugging in their magic electronic announcement-making machine. If you didn't subject yourself to this, well, congratulations on having better things to do with your life than wait to hear Clint Didier or Paul Akers talk. As for the big announcement - it's that the two candidates, who are, we remind you, ultimately vying for a shot at the same Senate seat, will be joining forces. Against what, you ask? The big money machine of GOP politics - by day, anyway. By night, they will don spandex body stockings as Washington's most feared crime-fighting duo. Ok, that last part may just be a fantasy we go to more often than we're entirely comfortable with. But the first part, the one that sounds equally ludicrous? They're actually doing that. Akers acknowledged that "No one has ever done this before," seemingly eschewing the fact that no one has ever done this before because it is profoundly stupid, preferring instead to think of himself and his new BFF as innovators - like the guys who invented the aquacar. Or New Coke. And while they may not both/either win the upcoming primary, if last night's bush league tele-conference was any indication, Akers and Didier do at least have the potential to be a really classic comedic duo. They could be a contemporary Abbott and Costello. A modern day Laurel and Hardy. A Dumb and Dumber for Washington politics, though casting for Dumber is still up in the air here. All jokes aside, this has got to be a hard pill to swallow for Washington Republicans, who are now left with a choice between a real estate vulture who is most notable as a 'two-time gubernatorial runner-up' (translation: LOSER) and a pair of guys who, with significant teams of people at their disposal, still can't make the Interwebs work. That Patty Murray actually stands a very real chance of losing her seat to one of these terminal ass-clowns in November is just incomprehensible to us. But that's not the best question we're left with in the wake of this announcement. The best question is this - now that Didier and Akers are sharing a foxhole, so to speak...who's going to be the big spoon?
Tour de Fat Invades Seattle Saturday
" TOUR DE FAT " by PDGIBSON from our Flickr pool . Revel in the warm Seattle sun this Saturday as New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat invades Gas Works Park. This philanthropic cycling festival travels around the country to encourage biking in the community. Arrive early sporting your favorite costume to take part in the bike parade (parade starts at 11 a.m. but you want to get there at 10 a.m. to register). A bevy of live entertainment will follow including comedian Jonathan Burns and music by The Dovekins . One Seattleite will even trade in their car, making a yearlong commitment to commute by bike. Guests 21 and over may purchase beer tokens with proceeds benefitting The Bicycle Alliance of Washington and Bike Works. Tour de Fat is free to attend but space is limited so early arrival is encouraged. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. // Gas Works Park // Free
Where Ya At? Food Truck Finally Hitting the Streets
As of this morning, Seattle's newest food truck has the official green light to dispense po' boys, beignets and other New Orleans-style favorites on the streets (well, technically private properties) of Seattle. Anyone who attended the latest Mobile Chowdown installment got a preview of Where Ya At? The red truck is named for a New Orleans phrase meaning "how are you?" and fielded perhaps the longest lines of any non-Portland trucks in attendance. And with good reason. The menu will include muffuletta sandwiches and various oyster, shrimp and pork po' boys--plus a new house-smoked portobella version. Several varieties of jambalayas and gumbos will also be available. Beignets are fried in the truck and dispensed in a bag with powdered sugar for shaking. Owner Matthew Lewis has since added some stuffed flatbreads, called piadines, filled with salads and such. The hangtown fry version, filled with fried oysters, lardons and scrambled egg, sounds intense--in the best sort of way. Lewis has developed a tentative schedule and is set to roll next week. Tuesdays you can find him on Beacon Hill near the Amazon campus. He's planning to hit up Georgetown on Thursdays and the new Pioneer Square market on Saturdays. He's still working out details with locations in Fremont and Interbay, but he ultimately plans to be open seven days a week. The new schedule should be up on his site some time this weekend. A New Orleans native and veteran of Canlis, Restaurant Zoe and Toulouse Petit, Lewis says he's got a crew of classically trained chefs ready to turn it out in the truck's brand new restaurant-quality kitchen.
Can't Miss It: The Weekend
"Dracula — A Case Study 84" courtesy of Seattlest Flickr pool member ntisocl EDGAR AND CHARLIE AND PUNCH AND JUDY : The Northwest Regional Puppetry Festival, known around town as Puppet-o-rama , happens throughout this weekend at Seattle University. Puppeteers of all ages and disciplines will gather to perform, educate, jam, and occasionally creep out the unwary. Many of the performances are open to the public, including Frog Belly Rat Bone by Rogue Artists Ensemble, Karaghiozis Saves the Economy by Leonidas Kassapides, and The Amazing Mysto's Magic Show by Parasol Puppets. Awesomely, there's also a Puppet Slamm , for short pieces. Friday - Sunday, Various Times // Seattle University // $8 - 10 SOUL HOLE : Nothing caps a long week better than a leg-shaking BBQ, especially one soundtracked by seven of the city's best DJs. Come join the crew--Greg Vandy, Miss Lilli, Nipper, Cruddy, Self-Administered Beatdown, Chilly, Johnny Horn, and live music by The Basements --as the Georgetown Ballroom hosts The Soul Hole's Summer BBQ Edition. Get your fingers messy and your feet on the floor. Friday 8:00 p.m. // Georgetown Ballroom // $5 A SOFT GLOW : The first night of a tour is often a magical thing, an amped-up appearance shot through with promise. Depending on how that show goes, a canny band can predict the outcome of the tour. And even if you don't believe that's true, it would be hard to wake up the day after your first tour date, find, as Brooklyn's Phosphorescent did, that someone had stolen your van, merch, and equipment overnight, and think the rest of the tour was even a possibility, let alone a success. But Phosphorescent refused to get snagged in metaphysical distinctions. They intended to press on, playing each scheduled gig on borrowed gear, including Saturday night's at the Crocodile. It's almost unfortunate that their van was recovered a few days later; we would have liked to see a band that dedicated and free. Instead, now, we will become one in love under the soft glow of Phosphorescent. Saturday 8 p.m. // The Crocodile // $10
Tatjana Soli on Her Debut Novel, The Lotus Eaters
Tatjana Soli will be reading from her debut novel The Lotus Eaters at Elliott Bay Book Company on Saturday, July 31, at 2:00 p.m. Tatjana Soli's debut novel The Lotus Eaters is not your average "war story." Rather than being told through a male perspective--or even a male soldier's perspective at that--the book details an American female photojournalist's journey into the depths of the Vietnam War. Overall, The Lotus Eaters ' unique point of view was extremely refreshing, considering that many American novels surrounding times of war are written by men and solely about men. And to be honest, we love those stories and we can't blame them; those WERE different times, but such is the case today and Soli couldn't have asked for more appropriate timing with her debut novel. After all, this is 2010--the same year where we saw Kathryn Bigelow's low budget Iraq War film The Hurt Locker beat out her ex-husband James Cameron's blockbuster not-so-low-budget film Avatar . (And with good right!) Besides the fact that Soli is writing about the Vietnam War through a female perspective, we as well loved the complexity of seeing the war through the eyes of a photojournalist and from the perspective of Linh, a Vietnamese man. Regardless of the death and demise surrounding his family and homeland, Linh is ultimately filled with forgiveness and hope for the future, rather than rage for the American soldiers invading his country. All of these aspects combined made The Lotus Eaters a fantastic read and needless to say, a welcoming new take on the effects and the destruction of the Vietnam War. The Lotus Eaters delves deep into the Vietnam War and the politics of the 60s and 70s; how did you go about your research for the novel? Had you traveled to Cambodia or Vietnam before working on the novel? My research was in two stages. I had always been fascinated by the war and read all the fiction, saw all the movies, documentaries, etc. years before I ever thought of writing about it. So that was research as hobby. Once I made that decision to write my own book, my research was all about getting the facts right. I read everything non-fiction about the war, from both the American perspective as well as the Vietnamese. But I also studied French colonialism, Vietnamese culture and language. Over the years I spoke with many Vietnam vets and also many Vietnamese immigrants. Bits and pieces accreted, which is an inefficient method, because you might only use five percent of what you have, but it's organic, the way we experience life itself. What prompted you to choose the Vietnam War as your subject and setting for The Lotus Eaters ? I was a little girl when my mom worked for NATO in Naples, Italy, and then transferred to Fort Ord in Monterey, CA. This was in the late 60s. Things were going on that were very traumatic to the adults around me, if little understood by me as a child. I have memories that I would never use in fiction, they are too personal, but they fueled the longing to understand. So in the way memory works, I emotionally connected with that time in a way that was deeper than more current conflicts. I wanted to write about a character who bears witness to violence. How does a human being decide to live her life when confronted with a fallen world? But I also liked the remove in time from the war, the space that allows one to mythologize the experience. It was so refreshing to read about Vietnam from a female perspective; can you tell us more about your choice in using Helen Adams as the main character? As a young reader, I always loved adventure stories--Conrad, Greene, Hemingway--and I hated that the main characters were always men. The women were always staying behind, waiting and knitting socks. They were never active in making their fate. So I wanted a grand adventure for my heroine. I wanted her to be tested, to grow as a human being from her experience, so that was one motivation. The other is that as a writer, you always want to add something new to the existing body of literature. No writer will discover the truth of the soldier's experience in Vietnam as brilliantly as Tim O'Brien. That's not my story to tell. But bringing an outsider's perspective to the war--an outsider to the military and also an outsider to the world of journalists--that character can see things about the country, the people, and even the military, that is unavailable to insiders. When I was still reading about Vietnam as a hobby, I came across a picture of Dickey Chapelle in Vietnam. I still clearly remember the shock of her wearing pearl earrings, and I couldn't get that picture out of my head. In all the reading I'd done, there had been no mention of women as photojournalists. Admittedly, there were only a handful, including one of my prime inspirations, Catherine Leroy, but I felt this deep recognition - this was my story. Helen is an American photojournalist--do you do photography as well? What inspired you to choose that role for her? Again, to put the character in the center of things, to make her take an active role, I needed to make her a journalist. Who else runs toward the danger, not away? I wanted to give the reader a very visceral experience of the war, alongside Helen. Photography is perfect for conveying the images, the visual stimuli in a way that having her be a writer would not have. And Vietnam was the first war that was recorded extensively in real time so that pictures, moving and still, were in the newspapers, magazines, on the television each night. We feel we know that war because of the journalists who risked their lives to bring it to us. Do you think that a photojournalist's perspective on the war differs greatly from the perspectives of others involved? I think that Vietnam was especially unique in the freedom that it gave to reporters. When Helen goes to Vietnam with no professional experience and little idea of what she will encounter, that's not far from the real stories of some of the famous journalists who built careers and reputations during that war. But that freedom did something else--it allowed the press to get the real story, not the story fed to it by our government, by the press briefings from the military. On the ground, out in the bush, the truth was impossible to hide. The soldiers on the ground knew it. So did the civilians. Many journalists were sickened by what they saw, they got angry, they became activist. It's pretty commonly accepted that the press turned the tide of public opinion in the US. There was no precedent for that in any other war. Nor has it happened since. The Lotus Eaters talks a lot about the exciting and thrilling "high" or "addiction" that people can get from war; can you tell us more about this idea? Especially after the movie, The Hurt Locker , there has been attention on the more sensational aspect of being addicted to danger, but I was going for something more complicated than Darrow and Helen just being addicted to war. Don't get me wrong, there was definitely pride in being good at your job. There was competitiveness in getting the cover, in winning awards. I didn't want to portray my characters as saints. But still, many of the journalists were incredibly dedicated, and they cared deeply. Going back to that freedom they had, they felt they had it in their ability to change the course of the war, the fate of millions of people. Pretty heady stuff. Or you can narrow the focus to one human being. Nick Ut (AP) taking the picture of Kim Phuc, the young child burned by napalm. After taking the picture, instead of making sure the film got out (with the conditions at the time, there was a real chance it could have been destroyed), he drove the girl for hours to a hospital, made sure she got care. Without him, she might have died. And he stayed lifelong friends with her, to this day. So rather than addiction, I'd say I focused on the all-consuming nature of the work. We couldn't help but fall in love with Linh--a Vietnamese man who develops a deep relationship with Helen. In the midst of seeing his country ravaged with loss he always seems to maintain an underlying genuine optimism for the future. How did you feel about Linh while writing his character? I started as a short story writer, and I had written many stories about Vietnamese immigrants starting new lives in California after the war. Linh was an extension of that. Really, Linh is the heart of the book. Especially when you are dealing with the most extreme darkness, war, it is too easy to be destroyed by it. I was absolutely humbled reading the many accounts by the Vietnamese of how they survived the war and its aftermath. My husband and I know a local Vietnamese broadcaster, a lovely woman, who was still a child during the fall of Saigon. She so casually tells of coming to this country with nothing, starting her own business and working eighteen-hour days, seven days a week, for over a decade, to afford to bring the rest of her extended family over. And she treats the hardship so lightly. As if it were nothing. People like that were the inspiration for Linh. What are your own thoughts on the Vietnam War? Do you feel differently about it after writing the novel? I was not really a student of history before I took up the novel, but now I feel that maybe it is the only thing that we should study endlessly. Because Vietnam is right now, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and whatever lessons were learned then are not preventing us getting in new wars now. The cost of war in lives lost, cultures devastated, the legacy of war spilling over and affecting new generations, is beyond comprehension. One of the real pleasures in going out on tour has been talking with the many vets and others who were actually there. The war is still fresh for those people. The lessons learned. But the collective memory does not seem to be there. My husband and I live near a canyon where we go hiking every evening. About a year ago, two soldiers wearing pale desert uniforms were hiking there. They told us they were getting ready to be shipped off to Afghanistan. My husband had been there in the seventies, and when he told them that, they were filled with questions. "What's it like?" He told them how vast the distances were, how cold it got in the winter. They were so young. They had no idea. Who could answer the real question, which was, What are we going to find there? Vietnam might as well be ancient Troy as far as they were concerned, but I felt a lump in my throat. Can you tell us more about how you came to choose the title, "The Lotus Eaters" and what it represents? The title came from the lines in The Odyssey describing the lotus eaters, "who ate the honeyed fruit of the plant lost any wish to come back and bring us news," and "forget all thoughts of return." I'm fascinated by people who have real passion. The average person is going to do his job, stay safe, and go home. They are going to keep that mental distance from events. But I'm interested in the person who has such passion that she forgets all thoughts of home. Is she reckless, selfish? Addicted to the high of war? Or is it something from which she simply cannot walk away from? Nick Ut and the little girl. I recently came across a quote from Diane Arbus: "I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them." That is the simple reason that Helen stays. Who do you read for enjoyment? Where there any particular writers that you feel helped influence your writing and research for The Lotus Eaters ? There are so many great writers my only regret is that I'm such a slow reader! My pantheon of all time greats, all of whom influenced this book would look something like this: Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway. Contemporary writers such as Tim O' Brien, Robert Stone, Philip Caputo, Bob Shacochis. I love Joan Didion, J M Coetzee, Joy Williams, Marilynne Robinson, Michael Ondaatje. Right now I'm just starting to read Peter Carey, Jean Thompson, Barbara Kingsolver. Are you currently working on a new novel? What can readers expect for the future? I am deep into my second novel. It's set in contemporary Southern California. It takes place on a citrus ranch, one of the last holdouts, with developers encroaching all around it. My characters are living a sequestered existence there. They are passionate and stubborn. Notice a pattern?
The Henry Clay People Bring Sloppy Fun to the Paramount This Saturday
The Henry Clay People Often met with comparisons to The Hold Steady , The Replacements and Pavement , Joey Siara of the up and coming Southern CA band The Henry Clay People describes the group’s music quite simply. “I usually just call it rock and roll. Sloppier than most. Hopefully fun.” Don Yates of KEXP sums up the group’s sound a bit more fully, by offering that Joey and co’s songs are greater than the sum of their parts by “transforming everyday subject matter into raging, celebratory anthems for slacker rock 'n' rollers and other folks just trying to make ends meet.” Agreeing with both takes, we recommend checking the band out at the Paramount tomorrow night as they open for the Silversun Pickups and Against Me! We’re always fans of bands that (at least lead us to believe that they) don’t take themselves too seriously. Hence we’re eager to see how the band’s good-natured outlook translates to the crowd who will no doubt be gathered for the headliners’ bleaker fare. When we asked Siara about it, he responded with an expected humorous nonchalance indicating, to paraphrase a line from our favorite sloppy rock band , the bar is really too low to fail. “Typically people don't care much for the opening act. I guess I hope that people come with an open mind. It's not rocket science or anything. I hope they leave thinking that the opener wasn't so bad.” While our predictive chops don’t measure up to that eight-armed German , we’re confident things won’t turn out so bad after all. The Paramount Theatre // 911 Pine Street // 7:30 p.m. // $28
Chef Maria Hines on Iron Chef America Sunday
Don't forget to watch Tilth chef and James Beard award winner Maria Hines do culinary battle on Iron Chef America Sunday night. The episode will air on the Food Network at 10 p.m. The Bottleneck Lounge is hosting a viewing party , but alas, Hines won't be able to make it . She's working that night. On Tuesday, Hines is offering a special dinner at Tilth, re-creating the dinner she concocts in the show's Kitchen Stadium for $200 a pop. Each of the five courses will, naturally, feature the secret ingredient revealed at the start of the episode. All aflutter about what that secret ingredient will be? Bide your time by watching (and re-watching) this excellent YouTube mash-up of the Chairman nearly busting his eyeballs and vocal chords as he presents a host of past ingredients. Truly, who else can sound downright menacing when bellowing words like "squash" and "goat cheese"? [ via Eater ]
Goodbye and Hello
Seattlest.com is introducing a new editor next week. After just a few months on the job, I am leaving Seattle and thus, leaving Seattlest. Running the site has been a great experience, and I've had a blast working with our great writers, but I couldn't be happier or more excited to leave the site in the hands of our new editor-in-chief, Allecia Vermillion. Thanks for reading and making this site possible, everyone, and keep checking in every day to keep up with everything going on in this great city I'll being missing so much.
Extra, Extra
A Target? In Seattle? If only Seattlest HQ had a fainting couch. The national big-box retailer has purchased a three-story space on 2nd Avenue between Pine and Union streets. [ Seattle Times ] It's a majorly eventful weekend in the city, with Seafair and closures on I-5 and I-90 making for some seriously snarled traffic. [ Seattle Times ] President Obama signed legislation to provide emergency funding to fix the storm-damaged Howard Hanson Dam. Engineers expect to start work this fall, in hopes of avoiding an ugly flooding scenario. [ KING5 ]
Can't Miss It: Thursday
NEWSPEOPLE : Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen. Cannonball! We're pretty into news here at Seattlest.com, and as news people, it's our responsibility to try to know every single line from the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy . But we'll take some help from our friends, too, at tonight's Anchorman Quote-Along. "I love lamp." "Scotchy, scotch, scotch." "Great Odin's raven." They'll all be there, just waiting for us to remember. 8:00 p.m. // Central Cinema // $10 PUNK AND PEPPERONI : There are fewer things more American than punk rock and pizza (or more British and Italian, if you want to be like that .) But never have the two come together more beautifully than at Seattle Pizza Fest, three days of pizza and punk at Seattle's venerable punk venue, The Funhouse. The fest kicks off with five groups, including Tacocat, Idletimes, Suspicions, Butts, and Tax & Leisure Corporation. Post Alley Pizza provides the pies. Pizza, beer, and 17 total bands? Yes please times three. 9:30 p.m. // The Funhouse // $6 TOO MUCH AIN'T ENOUGH : How can you know how much is enough until you've have too much? In the dark improv comedy, Interrobang Anonymous, a support group will take a seemingly innocent and harmless activity, suggested by the audience, and show what happens when people take it too far. Interrobang?! Improv is a group of five Seattle improv veterans, Shira Wilson, Natasha Ransom, Randy Miller, Kai Curtis, and Dave Clapper. The interrobang symbol (), a combination of ? and !, is wonderful, and this new improv comedy should be just as good. 8:00 p.m. // Theater Puget Sound, Seattle Center House 4th Floor // $5
West Seattle Stolen Totem Pole is Back--and Bolted Down
Courtesy of Rotary Club of West Seattle A bizarre chapter in West Seattle's totem pole-related history has at last come to a close. The Seattle Times says 34-year-old iconic totem pole stolen from Rotary Viewpoint Park last fall returned to its proper perch Wednesday--with the help of some ground-down bolts to discourage future theft. In lieu of criminal charges, the 70-year-old West Seattle man accused of pole theft agreed to pay $17,000 to restore the 18-foot talisman...since it was already taken down from its pedestal and all. The Rotary Club of West Seattle commissioned the pole in 1976. It's now free of moss and wood-loving creepy crawlers and received a colorful coat of paint from local art restoration company Artech . Not surprisingly, West Seattle Blog has covered the hell out of this bizarre saga, from the pole's surprise departure via hired towing crew to its reappearance outside Salem, Oregon. The official dedication is set for August 10.
14/48 Summer Festival Kicks Off Tonight
Gordon Carpenter and Hillary Pickles in the January 2009 festival. Photo by John Ulman Around 7:00 this evening, local artists taking part in 14/48 , the "world's quickest theatre festival", will be gathering at Theatre Off Jackson to start the first night of a whirlwind creative process that will churn out seven brand-new plays by Friday night. A theme will be drawn out of a hat tonight and handed to the festival's playwrights, who will write furiously all night to meet the 8 a.m. deadline for a completed 10-minute play. The festival directors come in tomorrow morning, draw a script and a cast, and have until 7 p.m. to design, set and rehearse each play with their assigned actors and a live band. At 8:00 p.m. sharp, the plays will premiere in front of an audience. Another theme will be drawn live on-stage tomorrow night, and the entire process will begin again for a performance on Saturday night. While everyone from week one drops from exhaustion and recovers their strength and wits, a whole new group of writers, directors, actors and designers will be herded in next weekend to do it all over again. All Fest Passes have already sold out, but you can still grab tickets for individual nights at $20 a pop. During the festival, be sure to check out the 14/48 blog for behind-the-scenes commentary, interviews, photos and play-by-play updates. And Yours Truly will be a week two blogger, capturing every tear, triumphant moment, and bout of raging anguish that is the 14/48 creative process. Cheers and hope to see you there! July 30/31 & August 6/7, 8:00 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. // Theatre Off Jackson , 409 7th Ave South // $20, tickets here
Sleep Bad - Coffee Good
File under Totally Unsurprising News: Seattle is America's coffee drinking-est metro area, according to a very scientific study by The Daily Beast, smoking our nearest competition in Portland. So what does it take to be the biggest bunch of caffeine junkies in the good ol' U S of A? First of all, a truly startling variety of coffee shops to choose from, with 35 coffee shops per 100,000 residents. And while being the home of the worldwide face of coffee certainly doesn't hurt, there are also, thankfully, plenty of quality establishments and roasters around to help you satisfy your most acceptable drug addiction. It also means spending an average of $36 per month on coffee drinks, which...seems kind of low, doesn't it? We don't like to think we have a problem with caffeine consumption, but your Seattlest has been known to spend $36 on coffee in the course of a particularly rotten day, much less a month. But it's not because we have a problem - it's because we love our health food ! Our hot, dark, buzz inducing health food.
Fermented Beverage Meet Fermented Dairy 8/27
"Pete's Brewcheese" by Culinary Fool from the Seattlest Flickr pool . For some time we have mentioned the versatility of beer when it comes to food (ref. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even Hanukkah). This isn't an elitist thumb in the optical socket to wine, its just alternate view when it comes to how you kill your liver and kidneys (slowly). However, we are ashamed to admit that we haven't touched on another of the fermented family, cheese. True cheese is not beer and would sure as hell freak you out, if you saw it in your glass, but it is food. So we are happy to start another entry in the journal of craft beer and food pairings with the introduction to the cheese pairing. Truthfully, most you are zombies when it comes to what kind of beer you like. Usually you walk into a grocery store, bar, sporting event, review the selections and settle on something completely without baggage. This is not your fault. It's the fault of good marketing and the your willingness to avoid change. But there are a few of us out there that shun breweries with names that rhyme with Sudmiser, Snores, or Swiller. Those of you still reading can attest that there is a vast ocean of possibilities, if you are willing to strap on a pair and try something different. On Friday August 27th, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., you are being asked to open your mind to what a cold beer tastes like when accompanied by a piece of fermented curd. Hood River's Full Sail Brewing and Urbane Coffee & Wine Bar (located inside the Hyatt, 1639 8th Avenue) invite you to their Northwest Beer & Artisanal Cheese Pairing Party. The catch however is that you have to part with $17 and four hours of your life for the sake of sampling fare like Gruyere and onion flatbread or aged cheddar mac & cheese, while sipping on a little piece of Hood River in a glass. Worth it? I should say so. August 27th, 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. // Urbane Coffee & Wine Bar , 1639 8th Avenue // $17 (206) 676-4600
Can't Miss It: Wednesday
" City water testing laboratory, 1948 " by Seattle Municipal Archives from our Flickr pool SOUND OF SUMMER : A couple of weeks ago, KUOW's Weekday ran a segment during which Steve Scher played iconic sounds of summer that listeners had sent in. We missed the opportunity, but We Are Scientists would have been one of our entries. When last we saw these gentlemen, they were opening for the Arctic Monkeys during a Phoenix summer. Oh the irony of listening to British snow monkeys complain about the dessert heat. Our boys of summer are currently promoting the release of their fourth album, Barbara , as well as starring in their own television short Steve Wants His Money . Radio porn isn't something that only you've thought of. 8:00 // NEUMOS // $15 FUR TRADERS : It's not what you're thinking. Fur, Fortune, and Empire is a narrative of one of America's most historically rich industries. Beginning his epic history in the early 1600s, Eric Jay Dolin traces the dramatic rise and fall of the American fur industry. He shows how the fur trade, driven by the demands of fashion, sparked controversy, fostered economic competition, and fueled wars among the European powers, as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. The trade spurred the exploration and the settlement of the vast American continent, while it alternately enriched and gravely damaged the lives of America's native peoples. 7:00 // University Book Store // FREE CAMP : G.I.’s salute to John Waters brings you one of the sleaziest films of his career! Female Trouble follows the trials and tribulations of dejected teenager Dawn Davenport. When her parents don’t buy her a pair of “cha-cha” heels for Christmas, Dawn goes on a shit-kicking rampage: beating her parents and then running away from home. Soon after she is raped, Dawn becomes a single mother and career criminal. Her daughter spends most of her time staging fake car wrecks in their living room while Dawn becomes a famous model with the help of a hair dresser couple who believe that her acts of criminality are a thing of artistic beauty. Eventually Dawn’s fame inspires jealousy in a rival criminal who throws acid in her face. Regardless of her now ruined face, Dawn’s criminal beauty lives on… right up to the moment that she’s strapped into the electric chair. 7:00 & 9:00 // The Grand Illusion Cinema // $8
Grassroots Movie Filming at Seattle Central Today
Seattle's ever-vigilant neighborhood blogs are keeping tabs on the filming of Grassroots, the feature film based on the memoir Zioncheck for President , authored by former Stranger scribe Phil Campbell. According to the Capitol Hill Seattle blog , actor Jason Biggs will be on campus at Seattle Central Community College shooting scenes all day. Dying to stand in the background while the American Pie actor says his lines? Then you really should be following Seattle Central on Facebook , 'cuz they posted a casting call for extras a few days ago. The film crew has also been spotted shooting outside The Comet , elsewhere around Capitol Hill, on Phinney Ridge and at the 5 Spot in Queen Anne. You can also track the film's whereabouts on the official Grassroots site . Grassroots is directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal (must we always mention that he's the father of Jake and Maggie?) and stars Biggs, Six Feet Under actress Lauren Ambrose and Cobie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother. Tom Arnold and Cedric the Entertainer are also in the cast. Zioncheck for President tells of Campbell's role managing writer-activist Grant Cogswell's unlikely bid for City Council in 2001. Check out Seattlest's 2005 interview with the author here .
Wait, So Pike Place Market Didn't Already Have a Blog?
Pike Place Market by la tristesse durera toujours from our Flickr pool From the department of "why didn't this happen five years ago?" we bring you the brand new Pike Place Market blog . Seattle's oldest and most famous farmers market is turning to the blogosphere to let potential patrons know what's in season--and introduce the farms and farmers who set up shop each day. It's an approach popularized by the city's ever-growing roster of neighborhood farmers markets.The Queen Anne Farmers Market runs a lively blog filled with recipes, events and other features that help make the QAFM the farmers market equivalent of the cool kids' table. Hell, the Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market has been open less than three weeks and it has an active blog . The Pike Place Market blog will be updated several times a week. Find it at www.pikeplacemarket.org .
Parents Transform Personal Tragedy into Hope for Others with “Jackson’s Ride the Gorge”
" THE MIGHTY COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE " by HERBISARA from our Flickr pool . On August 7, hundreds of cyclists will gather at the Columbia River Gorge in Hood River, Oregon to take part in “Jackson’s Ride the Gorge.” The annual fundraiser, now in its fifth year, was created by David and Melissa Hill to honor their late son, Jackson . The 12-year-old sports and cycling enthusiast lost his battle with sarcoma in late 2005. According to Melissa Hill, “My husband and I vowed, as Jackson grew weaker, we would do everything in our power to help other children and families avoid our fate." Three route options are available: 25, 50 or 100 miles, so cyclists of all skill levels are encouraged to attend. Featuring breathtaking views, catered rest stops every 12 miles and a finish line party complete with gourmet BBQ, live music and massages; this is a great way to enjoy the outdoors while supporting a worthy cause. Space is limited so pre-registration is strongly encouraged. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation , a local nonprofit committed to providing support for patients and families living with this rare cancer of the connective tissue. August 7, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. // 1600 Air Museum Road, Hood River, OR // Registration: $60 (Adult) $10 (Children 10 & Under)
Seattlest Pix 27July10
Starbucks Empty on Fence Spike by Paul Swortz from the Seattlest Flickr pool .
City unleashes 60 goats to clean up hill climb
Hello, Goat by Espalier from our Flickr pool The steep slope and precarious stairway between Alaskan Way and Western Avenue can be difficult for humans to navigate (especially after a few drinks). Now imagine trying to mow the sucker. The Seattle Department of Transportation has called in a fleet of brush control specialists with four-chambered stomachs and an unstoppable desire to devour grass, weeds, thorny vines and various other forms of vegetation. A herd of 60 goats is spending the week taking down the overgrown brambles and foliage currently choking the Pine Street Hill Climb and creating a secluded haven for illicit activities . The goats come from the awesomely named Rent-a-Ruminant, and apparently each and every animal has a name. Portable fencing helps direct the goats to the areas requiring their utmost attention. And, according to the company's website , a "goat wrangler" is on hand to provide water and nutritional supplements for whatever essential vitamins you don't get from a diet of ivy and thorny vines. The city expects the goats to be in place through Friday; the Pine Street Hill Climb will be closed until their work is complete. Goat-based maintenance has been around for years --not surprise in a city with steep hillsides, fast-growing foliage and an aversion to chemical pesticides. Ravenous ruminants have cleaned up land for the University of Washington and various Seattle neighborhoods.
Tod, We Hardly Knew Ye
CEO of an NHL team may be the dream job of many a lifelong hockey fan. At least, that is, until you add a small ownership stake in the franchise to sweeten the pot. That's the pitch that seduced Tod Leiweke away from Seattle for the noted hockey weather of Florida, and it was an offer he couldn't refuse. After seven years as Seahawks CEO, Leiweke will depart for sunnier climes and a chillier games, taking over as CEO and minority owner of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning - and just when we had learned to pronounce his last name, too! The nerve... As he prepares to depart the Northwest to take the reins of a franchise in the midst of rebuilding, Leiweke leaves some mighty big shoes to fill, not only in the Seahawks front office, but also as an instrumental figure in the world of the Sounders and Blazers as well. Since he's a classy chap, Leiweke will remain in place until his replacement is on board, but as Art Thiel points out in today's P-I, there's no clear successor waiting in the wings, meaning that from CEO to GM to head coach, there are officially one heck of a lot of question marks in place as the Seahawks head into training this Saturday. One thing we can be sure will be in place, though, is this snazzy new informational poster about head injuries , recently released by the NFL and guaranteed to end all concussions forever. So that's something.
Can't Miss It: Tuesday
Yoram Bauman-Ignite Seattle 7 by Randy Stewart from the Seattlest Flickr pool. LAUGH FOR CHARITY: Just because tonight's Non-Profit Comedy show at the Comedy Underground is a charity benefit doesn't mean it'll be missing the snark. Local comedian Yoram Bauman will be contributing his econ-nerd stand-up services to help raise money for the Centerpoint Institute, which helps people find their true calling through life and career counseling. Rather fitting, no? 8:30 p.m. // Comedy Underground // Tickets: $12 CATCH KINKY: Transplant Texan Kinky Friedman is a lot of things: humorist, writer, philanthropist, politician, musician, cigar aficionado. He'll be juggling multiple of these hats during his first swing through town in about two decades, playing a show at the Triple Door that also includes a reading from his book Heroes of a Texas Childhood . Merch includes cigars from Friedman's own brand and limited editions of The Kinky File . It's a guaranteed colorful evening, if you can see through the cigar smoke. 7:30 p.m. // Triple Door // Tickets : $30 EASY BEING GREEN: Stan Sitwell would be so proud. Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. is joining local award-winning architect Matthew Coates tonight at Elliott Bay Book Company for a night on green living and building. Begley Jr. will give a talk, "Live Simply So Others Can Simply Live," and afterward Coates will receive a Design Architects LEED Platinum Certificate from the United States Green Building Council for a green job well done on a residential building on Bainbridge Island. 6:30 p.m. // Elliott Bay Book Company // Tickets : $8
Central Cinema's Strange Double Feature
We're always impressed when we check out Central Cinema's calender , almost every day they're showing something different, and today is no exception with a couple of diverse screenings that made us do a bit of a double take. Tonight at 7 p.m. is a presentation of STIFF Nights , a monthly screening of a film selected by the Seattle True Independent Film Festival. Tonight's showing is Phillip the Fossil , a gritty, indie movie about an aging party animal. The film's lead Brian Hasenfus won a special jury prize at the SXSW Film Festival, and the film looks to be a pretty interesting low-budget flick. STIFF is always showing great, underseen films, so it's always worthwhile to check out what they have up their sleeve. Following that up, is Mel Brook's classic Blazing Saddles . If you managed to miss Blazing Saddles over the 36(!) years of it's existence, you owe it to your feeling of self-worth to get to Central Cinema tonight and check it out with a proper audience. Of course, you could always just rent it or something, but where's the fun in that. Central Cinema // 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. // Tickets $7 ($5 Advance)
Salute Local Shorts this Thursday
You know what’s cool these days? Doing it Yourself. So you and all your friends are awesome filmmakers having a hard time getting people to see your movies. Instead of uploading to YouTube and crossing your fingers or going cinema to cinema with your hat in your hands, why not be total upstarts and just convince a bar to let you show an hour or two of films all made here in the region. Yeah. Why not do that? Yeah! Well, guess what, people did. And to prove it we have a one day film event called Tall Beers and Short Shorts . Tall Beers and Short Shorts is a quarterly screening series of shorts made exclusively by filmmakers from Oregon, Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska. They bring their cinematic programming to your eyes on a quarterly basis all over our fine city. This Thursday they are taking over the Re-Bar and feature a lineup of some of the city’s most promising filmmaking talent, which is saying a whole lot considering how talented the community is in our region. The best part of this kind of thing is that it makes filmgoing really fun. You can sit around a bar with a bunch of your buddies and fellow cinemaphiles, drinking beers and watching films you probably will never get a chance to see again. And to make it even cooler they have made arrangements with ice cream slinger Full Tilt , which has donated frozen delights for your tastebud pleasure. Also, there will be trivia, prizes and an audience award! Most of it is going to be good, some of it is going to be less than good, but all of it will be unique, local and done by people who love film. Pull up a stool, grab a beverage and feast your eyes. Re-Bar // Thursday July 29 8:00 p.m, Doors 7:00 pm. // Tickets $10 21+
Grab Your Sippy Cups, Big Al Brewing Turns 2 On 8/7 (& 8/8)
"amber, porter and belgian.jpg" by p_d_gibson from the Seattlest Flickr pool . Listen up you lazy asses, something is about to come up next Saturday (no, the one after this one)! Situated way out of the way in the White Center neighborhood, patron Alejandro Brown has been brewing beer in the area for two years now. Hard to believe given the situation around here, but yeah, two years. So what does that mean for you and the rest of the world? Well the truth is, any business that lasts through these past couple of years needs a pat on the back and a toast. Starting early afternoon at 1 p.m., you are invited to head down to drink Big Al beers, hang out with friends, and inhale Dante's Inferno Dogs , Full Tilt Ice Cream , while listening to Rat City Brass (from 6pm to 8pm). Or, or you can head down on Sunday the day after and enjoy Proletariat Pizza, MORE Full Tilt Ice Cream and listen to Casper Baby Pants (from 3pm to whenever). Get off your butt and get out there! $ - $$ // 9832 14th Avenue S.W. // Sat. 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. & Sun. 'til 7 p.m.
Can't Miss It: Monday
DROP DEAD GORGEOUS Remember that Republica song Drop Dead Gorgeous? "I know my ex-boyfriend lies? Oh he does it every timmmme?" Well, this has nothing to do with that song, just wanted to get it stuck in your hand. But the completely different group Drop Dead Gorgeous is in town tonight, with Sleeping with Sirens, Attila, Abandon All Ships, For All Those Sleeping, Scarlett O'Hara, and Woe Is Me. That's a crap ton of tunes. 5:15 p.m. // Neumo's // $13-15 MORE ROMP, PLEASE : Any theater that involves the word romp is generally promising. Tonight at Rendezvous, you can catch ' BJ: A Musical Romp '. Even more compelled now, right? "Go down. A different road." Teehee! 8:00 p.m. // Rendezvous // $10 WHAT'S BETTER THAN POETRY? : Prose, by a poet. A local poet even ups the ante. Tonight William Johnson reads from his book "A River Without Banks: Place and Belonging in the Inland Northwest", a collection of prose. Sounds lovely. 7:00 p.m. // Elliott Bay Book Company // FREE
Re:Take: Pork Place Arterial Congestion
Re:Take is a weekly look at the Emerald City now and in days of yore through photos dug out of the city archives. This week Seattle's arterials clog with 40k pounds of bacon. The old photo was taken by the city as it prepared to evict farmers from the bustling Pike Place Market to let traffic flow smoothly. More on that over at Flickr . This was the quiet before the storm. Two weeks later the city sold 40,000 pounds of bacon in two days from stalls at the market. It was leftovers from World War One, scored from the United States Army Quartermaster. "This morning the line of waiting customers stretched for several blocks... With virtually all of the purchasers taking the maximum amount of each foodstuffs allowed -- twenty pounds of bacon, twelve cans of tomatoes and two cans of corned beef. All classes of people were in the long lines of waiting, while policemen stood by to maintain order." The army responded by opening its own store to sell boots, blankets, kitchenware, and the "issue bacon" among other material. The army store was on the waterfront behind where Starbucks Headquarters is today. And it was the beginning of our infatuation with Army Surplus. Within weeks the quartermaster issued a plea because the bacon was not selling. "The bacon and corned beef are good! Even if those who buy it are dissatisfied they can use it for seasoning purposes." Like in cupcake frosting? Or vodka , perhaps? (First quote 8/17/1919 Seattle Times page 15; second 10/17/1919 ST p14; photo Seattle Municipal Archives 7/19/1919.)
