for subcategories)
Just like Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and E.T. and Reeses Pieces, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken are yet another unlikely pair forever linked together the two, were the last ones standing on 2003s Season 2 of American Idol (Ruben barely won). Studdard is large, black, straight, and the poor mans Luther Vandross; Aiken is skinny, white, gay, and the poor mans... More >>
I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly . . . Oh! Is the camera rolling? Well, then, let the broadcaster finish his drink before delivering the news. Which he does, on camera, without shameand thats the way Will Ferrell tears up the rest of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. (He's abetted by Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David... More >>
Maybe you didnt think much about SoDo until March 26, 2000, when the Kingdome was imploded. What was once South of the Dome became, in a dusty instant, South of Downtown: a roughly four-square-mile patch that looms large in our citys narrative. Theres no better person to write about SoDo than Dan Raley, a native Seattleite who spent nearly 30 years at the P-I. His... More >>
The colorful wire "Creatures from the Deep" make this darkened, second-floor gallery at BAM seem like an aquarium. San Diego artist Fisch twists, bends, and knits together strands of copper into jellyfish, seaweed, and coral. The wire is plastic-coated in colors including pink, green, tangerine, and purple, making the room as multi-hued as a Caribbean reef. Mos creatures are suspended from the... More >>
Admittedly, looking at the color-separated images in Tim Cross' wall-mounted light boxes can make your eyes hurt. Using old source photos of a plane crash and construction of I-90 floating bridge across Lake Washington, he pulls apart the images into cyan, magenta, and so forth. Intentionally misregistered, these layers blur and buzz against one another. The photos seem to vibrate, reaching... More >>
Whenever the Beatles vs. Stones question comes up I always have to go with the Kinks, says local rock marimba player Erin Jourgensen. They seem the most honest to me somehow. Jourgensen isnt alone in her assessment; Seattle is full of notable musicians who love the Kinks. Consequently, the line-up for tonights show is stacked fat. Along with... More >>
Some people might argue the Kentucky-based rap quintet Nappy Roots hasnt done anything worth listening to since its 2002 hit singles Awnaw and Po Folks. Those people are wrong. Nappy Roots might never see the chart success they did earlier in the decade, and their most recent attempts at club tracks like Fishbowl have come off as hollow at best.... More >>
This years Torchlight Run has been substantially detoured, with a new start/finish area near South Lake Union Park. Still, as in past years, runners and walkers will travel a section of Fourth Avenue, where onlookers gather for the following parade. (The 5K and 8K runs begin at 6:30 p.m.; registration $25-$30.) The 61st Torchlight Parade follows its traditional route, meaning clowns and... More >>
The Tour de France is over. Lance Armstrong has retired again. The naked cyclists of the Fremont Solstice Parade have put their clothes back on (and, BTW, thanks for that). The STP is past and probably already oversubscribed for next year. Whats left for local cyclists to do? Drown their misery in beer at the Tour de Fat, where your skinny carbon-fiber frames are most unwelcome. (And you... More >>
If you only know veteran singer-songwriter Steve Poltz as the one who wrote Jewels 1996 mega-hit You Were Meant for Me (which he calls the song that sent my parents on an Alaskan cruise), youll be in for a very pleasant surprise tonight. For starters, his own rootsy pop songs drawn from a lengthy catalog that stretches back to his early 90s... More >>
Maybe you didnt think much about SoDo until March 26, 2000, when the Kingdome was imploded. What was once South of the Dome became, in a dusty instant, South of Downtown: a roughly four-square-mile patch that looms large in our citys narrative. Theres no better person to write about SoDo than Dan Raley, a native Seattleite who spent nearly 30 years at the P-I. His... More >>
When hes not fronting the excellent, under-appreciated Widower, guitarist and songwriter Kevin Large can often be found at the Hazlewood in Ballard. Every Monday, while his stylish gal Sarah Fisher mixes up fresh ginger bourbons and other artisan cocktails downstairs, he holds down the DJ decks upstairs, playing an oddly successful mix of primarily classic country staples like Merle... More >>
Remember 2003? You know, when Indiana-based quartet The Ataris had just put out a gold-certified record called So Long, Astoria and were riding high on a handful of pop-punk meets alt-rock radio hits including their cover of Don Henleys The Boys of Summer? Well, that was 2003. But a recently released EP titled All Souls Day out on Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorellos... More >>
With e-Books outselling hardcovers on Amazon, the uncertain future of traditional reading makes Super Sad True Love Story (Random House, $26) even more topical. Its a near-futuristic satire of corporations gone amok whose nebbishy hero clings to print, even as his wavering girlfriend complains that books smell funny. But Gary Shteyngart (Absurdistan) is caught in the same... More >>
The old moniker Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel was fitting for a band that carried and moved something bigger than themselves, a band started by a few friends from Missouri who'd moved to Colorado, leaving marks in all the trails they'd crossed and surely worn down in return. Stripped of "The Wheel," perhaps Nathaniel Rateliff and company are settling down. In Memory of Loss is a wailing,... More >>
Is Chatham County Line a seasoned, flawless bluegrass band from North Carolina? Or are they a major league baseball team? All evidence points to the latter, even though the real answer is the former. While in the State of Washington, theyll play a de facto four-game series in three days, beginning with a Wednesday night gig at the Tractor Tavern and culminating with a Friday night gig at... More >>
A man moves to New York City under a pseudonym. A legend grows around his swirling bourbon, ever-present cigarette and way with the ladies. He oozes the kind of magnetic charisma for which the phrase charm your pants off was invented. Hes one debonair mystery and wears the hell out of a hat. You probably assume Im referring to Mad Mens Don Draper. But the above... More >>