Well, it sounds even less like Weezer than "Psychic City (Voodoo City)" did like Rich Jensen, what with its languorous bass guitar and disco drumkit groove, its distorted, peripheral synth squawks, and its not a hint of power pop guitar. It's fine, breezy, could've snuck onto See Mystery Lights easily enough, but I'm not sure it's worth buying an iTunes EP over. (Pro-tip for fellow music bloggers: it's not "Bechtolt's gender-bending voice" doing the singing here, it's his now longtime YACHT bandmate Claire L. Evans).

It will be more of a challenge to pin down the barren real-life venues of Michael Brophy's South of Twenty series, showing this month at G. Gibson. They're from the southeast corner of Oregon, on the eastern side of the Cascades.

But surely somebody's up to the task.

What's the other side of the debate?

Jim Cooper, vice president of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention, testified against state senator Sheldon’s bill (SB 6204) and thinks the revenue argument for privatization is bullshit (my words, not his). Successful privatization, he argues, would mean thousands of new liquor stores would flood the state, which would drive up underage drinking rates.

Right now the WSLCB brings in $850 million in revenue from selling booze, a little less than half of which goes to state state and local governments ($332.7 million in 2009). Currently, the state gets money from both liquor markup and taxes, but if liquor stores go private, the state loses out on markup.

If we were to privatize liquor stores—thereby putting the state simply in the business of selling licenses— Cooper says the state would have to open up between 3,000 and 6,000 new stores to generate the same amount of revenue we are now. He adds, "We have to sell that much more booze to generate the same amount in taxes."

Then there's the case to be made regarding increased underage drinking. The liquor enforcement officers and police regularly execute compliance checks, sending teenagers into liquor stores to try and buy alcohol. “In state stores,” Cooper continues, “compliance is above 90 percent, in private stores, it’s below 70 percent.”

“We know from research that when you have a higher liquor density, there are higher rates of youth and adult abuse of alcohol," says Cooper. "In the 12th grade we have 60 percent using alcohol in last 30 days [according to AskHys, which sponsors Healthy Youth Surveys throughout Washington]. In 10th grade, the percentage is about 35 or 40. With higher access, there’s more availability, and a direct correlation to more youth drinking."

Cooper adds, “It’s an American myth" that European kids can handle their liquor. "Several states in the EU are looking to change their drinking age to 21 because of high rates of abuse.”

Which is partly true: France, Australia, Scotland, Italy, and Scotland have all explored raising their legal drinking ages in the last few years to curb youth binge drinking—but most to 18 or 19, not 21. Only France succeeded in raising its drinking age from 16 to 18 in 2009.

“The bottom line is, there’s no huge revenue increase for the state unless we drastically increase the amount of liquor we sell,” says Cooper. “We don’t know what it’s going to cost in prevention and treatment when alcohol abuse goes up that much.”

(CNN) — A new fast food sensation has hit the Emirates' culinary scene.

Right now, Dubai diners can't seem to get enough of the "camel burger."

"It's a sensation," Ramesh, restaurant manager at "Local House" the restaurant chain behind the burgers told CNN. "Everyone's bored of beef and chicken. So, as soon as the word got out, we had queues of customers eager to give it a try."

Not only are the exotic burgers a novelty, they are also a healthier alternative to their beefy American cousins, the restaurant claims. The $6 "camel quarter-pounder" is virtually fat and cholesterol-free, according to Ramesh.

The photo is by David Dennis.

Let us know in the comments what "fuck love" anthems you'd like to hear.

Unfortunately, Little Green is the furthest thing from "Essential." The history of absinthe is glossed over in the first twelve pages (with a few info-boxes spread through the book later on), and the rest of the book is just a bunch of recipes for absinthe cocktails. This isn't a problem if you're looking to make, say, a G.W.'s Cherry Tree (absinthe, cherry liqueur, cherry sorbet, and cherries). But if you're reading this book to learn about, say, lore and trivia, you'll come away disappointed. If you're looking to read about the history of absinthe, you'll have to look somewhere else. But if you're looking for sickly sweet-looking absinthe cocktail recipes, this looks like a great start. For bartenders and serious party-throwers only.

Ha HA, Republicans! Good one! Total burn!

Dorks.

h/t xom.

Here's the first five minutes or so of The Coconut Revolution, which documents the BRA and the Bougavillians. It's not on Netfilx, and Scarecrow doesn't have it, but you can watch the whole thing here. You can also apparently buy it here. Not to take away from the first five minutes, but you should watch further in to get to some amazing-type stuff. Maybe wait until your boss takes his two-hour lunch or something. These dudes started out fighting helicopters and guns with bows and arrows, then got trapped with a gunboat blockade around the island, and they still came out on top. Look at how they make fuel. Look at how the leader carries two machine guns even though one of his arms is all fucked up. Look at the shot of a kid carrying a rifle past a long-ago sabotaged earth mover. I want to join these people.

Here is some text quoted from somewhere:

This is an incredible modern-day story of a native people’s victory over Western globalization. Sick of seeing their environment ruined and their people exploited by the Panguna Mine, the Pacific island of Bougainville rose up against the giant mining corporation, Rio Tinto Zinc. The newly formed Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) began fighting with bows and arrows and sticks and stones against a heavily armed adversary. In an attempt to put down the rebellion the Papua New Guinean Army swiftly established a gunboat blockade around the island, backed by Australian Military personnel and equipment. With no shipments allowed in or out of the island, the People of Bougainville learned to become self-dependent and self-sustained.

Take that, Cameron!

h/t: Danny Noonan

Books with Pace, Plot and Setting. Recommendations?

Some of my favorite things to read are true stories of world war II especially submarine patrols, short poetry, Raymond Chandler, mysteries that take place in Nordic countries (Per Wahloo is great, not Henning Mankell for some reason). I've read the Stieg Larsson books (so-so).

I'd like something in that realm. or something completely new with those characteristics so that I branch out a bit.

That's a tall order I know. So thanks.
CB C@L

Howdy CB C@L:

Well, it's not a true World War II story, but you should give Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada a shot. It's a novel written by an author who participated in German underground activities against the Nazis. You can read more about it in my interview with Alan Furst, who has written ten espionage novels set in World War II that you might find interesting, too. (A counterpart novel to Every Man is Irene Némirovsky, whose recently discovered novel Suite Francaise is the French side of the story.)

You might enjoy Fred Vargas's Inspector Adamsberg mysteries, too. They're very French and not Nordic, but there are some similarities to Wahloo's work.

And I think everyone should give Richard Stark's Parker novels a try. They're revenge crime fiction, and they're brutally, brilliantly written novels.

Are you about to go on a long vacation? Have you read everything by your favorite author but you still want more? Do you want to learn about a new subject, but don't know where to start? I can help. Ask me for book recommendations on Questionland

Jason Baxter comes to the Stranger from the UW, where he manages the online, student-run Rainydawg radio station. His show on Rainydawg, "Floating in Space," surveys "shoegaze, slowcore, ambient, dream pop, post-rock, drone, and instrumental," and that's also frequently his focus here.

Kevin Diers is also a radio man, hosting "Dead Air" on KGRG, and he's previously written for Seattle Sound. His beat is, roughly, hardcore, metal, punk, whatever loud and heavy isn't getting enough love elsewhere on Line Out.

Bryce Shoemaker is our newest addition; you might better know him from his sass-backs to Dave Segal in his band Bronze Fawn. (Baxter's been on the receiving end of the music section, too.) Not quite sure what Shoemaker will be covering here, but his first post is about a Boyz II Men "love cruise"—so he's off to a fine start.

The McItaly is made with all-Italian ingredients and recommended by the Italian government, and everybody's mad (especially, and very understandably, the Slow Food people).

Now, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, the definitive review:

Rachel Diacono, 17, on holiday from England, told Reuters she wished she'd gone for a pizza instead.

"I love trying out different McDonald's in every country I go to—France is great—but here it's like they couldn't be bothered to make the effort. They should have put mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes in or something," she said.

Note: The McItaly (like every fast-food product known to humankind) resembles its glamour shot above only vaguely. It actually looks like this.

*Can I say that? Or will McDonalds sue me?

Last Tuesday around 8:04 p.m., Seattle cops responded to an assault at the Downtown Emergency Service Center Supportive Housing, which provides housing to homeless individuals with chronic alcohol addiction, on Eastlake Ave. According to a police report, two men were hanging out discussing the Super Bowl when the suspect overheard their conversation and "became angry for an unknown reason, but [the victim] thinks it may have been because they were talking about the Colts and Saints."

The suspect, according to the report, is "a known Seahawks fan." The victim told police that the suspect started yelling at him stating, "I'm going to kill you," while "swinging a small portable stereo by its cord in the direction of [the victim]," the report continues. The victim told police that the stereo almost hit him twice but missed, and that he "did not believe [the suspect] would actually kill him, but was afraid of being hit by the stereo." After a little while, the suspect just walked away.

Police then contacted the suspect, who was "very intoxicated and wearing a Seahawks NFC championship cap." The suspect insisted he didn't do anything, but an on-site manager told police he'd been picking fights all evening, and said, "we tried to keep him distracted." The man was arrested for assault.

Ah, if there's one group that takes me right back to middle school by the mere mention of their name, it’s Boyz II Men. It was the early '90’s, Cooleyhighharmony was the shit, and several of its tracks dominated middle school dances. Many guys my age may remember Boyz II Men’s music playing while we were being forced to slow dance: that awkward puberty exercise where you had to hold your dance partner no less than 3 feet away for fear she might accidentally brush up against the unpredictable boner-popping machine that lived in your adolescent pants. Anyhoo, middle school ended, music tastes changed, and Boyz II Men became a distant memory. But here we are in 2010, and the group is celebrating their 20th anniversary year? Rad? Sure, but I thought these guys had already come to the end of their proverbial road, like, forever ago.

In honor of their 20th year and in suave, loverman observance of Valentine's Day, Boyz II Men are headlining a "Love Cruise,” and tickets just went on sale to the public. The ship sets sail on Feb 11th from Miami to Nassau and back, returning on Valentine's Day. Can someone pleasssssse take one for the team and go take me on this? Please Please PLEASE??? (We could totally slow dance the close and correct way if you like, but no guarantees about the aforementioned machine, even at this stage of my life.)

On a sad note, Michael “Bass” McCrary (the guy with the deep voice, best known for addressing all the ladies with his smooth-talking asides on some choice B2M cuts) will not be a part of the 20 year celebration due to health concerns. Bummer.

Holy cow that Dark Knight scene is amazing.

Thanks for the heads-up, MetaFilter.

Last Tuesday, a Nordstrom employee went out for a smoke break on 6th Avenue; she "lit her cigarette and the suspect approached her and put his face right in front of her face and asked for a light," a Seattle police report says. She said she didn't have a light, so the suspect asked for a cigarette, but she refused to give him one. According to the police report, the man then "became very upset and cocked his hand back as if he was going to hit her," so she pulled her head back so only the man's fingertips hit her. The man started to run southbound, but when he heard her yelling to the "valet guys" to call 911, the woman said he came at her again, calling her a "bitch" and a "cunt".

The woman said she tried to run across the street to the "valet guys," but there were too many cars, so she "stood on the sidewalk and braced herself as the suspect approached her," the report continues. She told police that the suspect "again got right in her face and this time spit in her face." The man, according to the report, escaped southbound on 6th Avenue. The report says, the suspect "had blond hair and was wearing a gray zipper hoodie and green baggy cargo pants" and "had a very noticeable bruise under his left eye."

Publius is outraged for many reasons, but here is the first: "Naturally, the people in these crowds are depicted as being filled with nothing but white folks." Um? The only non-whites I've ever seen at Tea Parties, either in my own experience or from watching videos, have been onstage, speaking. An all-white teabagger crowd is probably the most realistic thing going on in that issue of Captain America. And Publius goes on:

So, there you have it, America. Tea Party protesters just “hate the government,” they are racists, they are all white folks, they are angry, and they associate with secretive white supremacist groups that want to over throw the U.S. government...Nice going Marvel Comics. Thanks for making patriotic Americans into your newest super villains.

Captain America has advanced the liberal agenda several times before, of course. Once, he fought Ronald Reagan, who had turned into a snake-man, and once he was in the room when a disgraced Richard Nixon shot himself.

(Thanks to Matt Hickey for the tip.)

Tim "Sole" Holland—one of the founders of the Anticon collective, is going for delf:

Today, with a heavy heart I end 11+ years of working with anticon. In the early days of the label, anticon was a pet project of mine, a life-long dream. We fulfilled the dream of a collectively run record label and put out many great records and stood as an image of defiance against the music industry. Those memories, I will always have and be proud of. Sadly, those times are gone, and I need to live in the present as I prepare for the future.

Running my own website and taking a more hands on approach with my art has always brought me great satisfaction and it is what I am choosing to return to. There are no ill feelings between myself and members of anticon. I will continue to work with many of the artists and will always love them as brothers and consider them allies. This is a decision to change the way my music will be exploited and adapt to shifting paradigms.

Sole - Dear Elpee

El-P - Linda Tripp

Ouch. Still the nerd rap "No Vaseline," and sadly, rap jerks like me will never forget. Anyway, that said- good luck to Sole on his dolo endeavors. The words of Kansas City indie-hop label Black Clover Records on twitter today, however, resonate:

A DIY surge going on in this indie rap game recently. Bout time, the 90's boom ended .... in the 90's. Welcome, we saved you a seat.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are releasing their new record The Brutalist Bricks on March 9th, just 10 days before they play Neumos with the Hive Dwellers (featuring Calvin Johnson), and the Sea Navy.

This is the first single, "Even Heroes Have to Die," and I FUCKING LOVE IT. That's my official review.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Even Heroes Have to Die"

Tickets are still available to the Neumos show—click here to buy.

I'm going to be singing those "Oh whooa, oh whoa!"s for the next two months.

A gathering of same-sex marriage equality proponents for a press conference and rally in the park opposite the bureau; The application—and subsequent rejection—of several same-sex couples hoping to obtain a marriage license inside of the bureau; The application—and subsequent approval—of a lesbian and gay man, whom according to New York State law may legally marry each other, for a marriage license; and a significant act of civil disobedience to rival the lunch-counter sit-ins of the 1960s, in which black Americans asserted their rights of equal treatment by society at large.

If part of that plan sounds familiar—a gay man and a lesbian getting a marriage license?—it's because a co-worker and I did it here back in 2004...

The clerk called over her manager, a nice older white man, who explained that Amy and Sonia couldn't have a marriage license. So I asked if Amy and I could have one—even though I'm gay and live with my boyfriend, and Amy's a lesbian and lives with her girlfriend. We emphasized to the clerk and her manager that Amy and I don't live together, don't love each other, and don't plan to have kids together, and that we're going to go on living and sleeping with our same-sex partners after we get married. So could we still get a marriage license? "Sure," the license-department manager said, "If you've got $54, you can have a marriage license."

...

Amy and Sonia and I didn't show up at the county building last Friday because we were planning to sue. We came to make a point about the absurdity of our marriage laws. Amy can't marry Sonia, I can't marry Terry—why? Because the sanctity of marriage must be protected from the queers! But Amy and I can get a marriage license and enter into a sham marriage, if we care to, a joke marriage, one that I promise you won't produce children. And we can do this with the state's blessing—why? Because one of us is a man and one of us is a woman. Who cares that one of us is a gay man and one of us is a lesbian?

So marriage has to be protected from the homos—unless, of course, the homos marry each other.

The New York activists—a new group called Queer Rising—is also planning acts of civil disobedience for Friday. I'm all for it. I'm all for gay men and lesbians obtaining marriage licenses to demonstrate the absurdity of bans on "gay marriage" and I've already called for acts of civil disobedience. It's time, people.