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Best place to meet ravers
Independent bookseller Raverbooks (1205 E Pike, 328-7445, www.raverbooks.com) not only sells rave-related literature and accessories, it's ground zero for local rave information, the place to find out about the best parties in the Northwest. So before you plunk down $25 for some lame-o warehouse party, consult the folks at Raverbooks. If staffer Groovin Kim isn't around, log onto the site for her Party Info page. Owned by Larry Zoumas, Raverbooks recently achieved a coup: They've become a major supplier of EMP's library, spreading their message of PLUR to Paul Allen and company.
Best place to schmooze with the literary in-crowd
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Who cares if Elliott Bay Book Co. is this town's largest indie bookstore, complete with the biggest-name author readings? Even if you spot Memoirist of the Moment, PhD browsing through the George Eliot biographies, you—the struggling writer looking for that connection—can't say squat to her when you're half a football field away, stuck on the platform that houses the Writer's Markets. A store that promises coziness, oozes culture, and features infrequent yet memorable readings by the hip and the happening, Bailey/Coy Books (414 Broadway E, 323-8842) makes the schmoozing process that much easier. Occasionally hiring literati herself, owner Barbara Bailey's a kind of Northwest Gertrude Stein who's transformed a modest bookstore into a hotbed for Seattle's literary elite—and those who want to be, flatter, stalk, or sleep with them.
Best place to watch belly dancing
Around 10 o'clock on weekend nights, when other restaurants start winding down, Kolbeh (1956 First S, 224-9999) heats up. While dinner guests polish off their excellent dinners (lamb dishes abound, often served with a tasty basmati studded with dried fruit called barberries), baklava, and saffron ice cream at this off-the-beaten-path Persian restaurant, a stream of raven-haired, elegantly dressed families arrive, hugging each other and the staff. It's the perfect atmosphere to watch the belly dancing that then begins: lively in a sensuous, Mediterranean kind of way but without the cheesy thrill-seeking, mood-spoiling qualities. The undulating dancing, the dim lights, the beautiful people, all conspire to transport you out of Seattle and into ruminations on modern Persian culture.
Best new local festival idea
For two years now, one of high summer's most enjoyable events has been WOMAD—the Northwest incarnation of Peter Gabriel's globe-girdling World of Music and Dance festival sponsored here by One Reel, producers also of ATT Summer Nights at the Pier and Bumbershoot. But the more you enjoy WOMAD, the more thoroughly jazzed you get by thrumming sitars, the twangle of mbiras and the thunder of drums, the harder it is each night to go back to your car, crawl through traffic, and drive back to town from King County's Marymoor Park; particularly if you're planning to repeat the whole sequence in reverse next morning. This summer, for the first time, One Reel has persuaded Metro Transit to run busses directly to the park; even better, they've persuaded Park officials to allow overnight camping for WOMAD in a nearby field, so that determined celebrants of world music can party on—decorously, of course: no alcoholic beverages allowed, no pets, no drum circles after 10pm—right through the weekend.
