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Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Thu, 23 May 2013 20:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed Paul Constant <p>The news is blasting across Twitter right now:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">BREAKING: The I-5 Bridge over the Skagit River has collapsed. Cars are in the water. Avoid the area. More soon.<br />&#8212; KOMO News (@komonews) <a href="https://twitter.com/komonews/status/337754001640681472">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Looks like both the northbound and the southbound lanes are out. The best person to follow for up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter at the moment is <a href="https://twitter.com/Lynsi_SVH">is Lynsi Burton, a reporter for the<em> Skagit Valley Herald</em></a>. KOMO radio is taking calls from witnesses. You can <a href="http://www.komonews.com/radio/">listen in on their website</a>. One witness says a 50-foot portion of the bridge is gone and rescuers are on the scene. More updates as they come.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:32 PM</strong>: Here's a picture from the scene:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Via @<a href="https://twitter.com/gina_svh">gina_svh</a> - the I-5 bridge over Skagit River between Burlington &amp; Mt. Vernon WA. Cars and people in the water. <a href="https://t.co/JmFjnE6jhO" title="https://twitter.com/Gina_SVH/status/337756116719136768/photo/1">twitter.com/Gina_SVH/statu&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; Bobby (@BobbyRobertsPDX) <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyRobertsPDX/status/337757231669985280">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:34 PM</strong>: Based on witness reports and the above photo, it sounds like they're talking about <a href="http://bridgehunter.com/wa/skagit/4794A0000000/">this bridge</a>, which was built in 1955 and which <a href="http://bridgehunter.com/wa/skagit/4794A0000000/">Bridgehunter.com</a> says got a satisfactory rating back in 2010:</p> <blockquote><p>Inspection (as of 08/2010)<br /><strong>Deck condition rating</strong>: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)<br /><strong>Superstructure condition rating</strong>: Fair (5 out of 9)<br /><strong>Substructure condition rating</strong>: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)<br /><strong>Appraisal</strong>: Functionally obsolete<br /><strong>Sufficiency rating</strong>: 57.4 (out of 100)</p> <p><strong>Average daily traffic</strong> (as of 2010)<br />70,925 </p></blockquote> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:40 PM</strong>: KING 5 has <a href="http://www.king5.com/news/local/Report-I-5-bridge-collapses-over-Skagit-River-cars-in-water-208758631.html">another photograph of the scene</a>. At least two cars are in the water, and all north-south traffic is stopped.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:48 PM</strong>: Holy shit, these pictures are incredible:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pic of<a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Skagitbridgecollapse">#Skagitbridgecollapse</a> taken by friend of @<a href="https://twitter.com/annakxly4">annakxly4</a> NB lanes collapsed into river. Several cars submerged <a href="http://t.co/nTJBmzPfY8" title="http://twitter.com/kxly4news/status/337759089515982848/photo/1">twitter.com/kxly4news/stat&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; kxly(@kxly4news) <a href="https://twitter.com/kxly4news/status/337759089515982848">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:58 PM</strong>: I'm depositing more on-the-scene tweets after the jump, so this post will load in a timely fashion.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:01 PM</strong>: K<a href="http://www.king5.com/live-stream/pop-up-no-ads/KING-Live-Stream-205421141.html">ING 5 is streaming live from the scene </a>right now.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:22 PM</strong>: <a href="https://twitter.com/MDeyerin">Marcus Deyerin on Twitter</a> is saying that two people are being extracted from a truck that's in the water at the moment. Authorities are asking people to stop coming to the scene, as they're getting in the way. Also, they're asking residents of Skagit to stay off the phone if they can, as lines are getting tied up.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:28 PM</strong>: Rescuers in boats are at the scene. I've put another photo after the jump.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:30 PM</strong>: On Twitter, <em>Skagit Valley Herald</em> reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/Gina_SVH/status/337772019821199360">Gina Cole says</a>: "Stretcher with second person pulled from river. Unsure if person is alive, but no applause from onlookers this time when they reached land." KOMO says one person has been pulled from a car and two have been rescued from a truck. <a href="http://live.producermatthew.com/p/live-channel-1.html">Here's a KOMO live feed</a>.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:35 PM</strong>: I've heard from multiple eyewitnesses on different news livestreams that the collapse appeared to happen because a wide load truck struck a beam on the bridge.</p> <p><strong>7:58 PM</strong>: </p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I-5 Bridge over <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Skagit">#Skagit</a> river. <a href="http://t.co/VjWuOosJSF" title="http://twitter.com/oneactlife/status/337760275941957633/photo/1">twitter.com/oneactlife/sta&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; Dustin Moore (@oneactlife) <a href="https://twitter.com/oneactlife/status/337760275941957633">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW PHOTO: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23BREAKING">#BREAKING</a> I-5 bridge collapse in Skagit Valley &#8212; there are cars and people in the water. <a href="http://t.co/HvcbNvN1jU" title="http://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056/photo/1">twitter.com/NWCN/status/33&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; NorthWest Cable News (@NWCN) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW PHOTO: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23BREAKING">#BREAKING</a> I-5 bridge collapse in Skagit Valley &#8212; there are cars and people in the water. <a href="http://t.co/HvcbNvN1jU" title="http://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056/photo/1">twitter.com/NWCN/status/33&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; NorthWest Cable News (@NWCN) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><strong>8:28 PM</strong>:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">KOMO-TV: Emergency responder boats in the water attempting to rescue people in Skagit river <a href="http://t.co/jqB7vskeyt" title="http://twitter.com/passantino/status/337771308387553281/photo/1">twitter.com/passantino/sta&#8230;</a> (@<a href="https://twitter.com/passantino">passantino</a>)<br />&#8212; BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/337771518157271040">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16859637&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Transportation Breaking News http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16859637&id=comments 36 Thu, 23 May 2013 19:25:21 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/songs-about-moving http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/songs-about-moving Anna Minard <p>I've been moving for the last week or so, and after all the boxes had been lugged away, I remembered this little song by the Weakerthans about moving. I played it quietly to myself in the empty room (song starts at about 0:50):</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u75nHvSvxO8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <blockquote><p><em>Now that the furniture's returning to its Goodwill home<br />With dishes and last week's paper<br />Rumors and elections<br />Crosswords, our unending wars<br />The black on our fingers smeared the ink on every door pulled shut<br />Now that the last month's rent is scheming with the damage deposit...</em></p></blockquote> <p>There are so many songs about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVp-atyiVA">moving on</a>, about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSnCtZ3zDnI">moving on up</a>, about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DqMl0shEtw">looking for a home</a>, about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwViQxSJJQ">kicking your cheating boyfriend out of the house</a>, about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7goifK_2qY">one's house</a>, about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8">coming home</a>.</p> <p>But are there any others about the mundaneness of packing, about boxes and tape and <strong>the solemn emptiness of rooms</strong>, about the bareness of walls and ghosts of posters, the wistful sagging venetian blinds, the loneliness/hopefulness combo, the end-of-an-era feeling? The internet isn't finding any for me.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><em>Sun in an empty room:</em></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dfc9/1369348102-emptyroom.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dfc9/1369348102-emptyroom.png" alt="emptyroom.png" title="" width="400" height="524" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">AM</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><em>We don't live here anymore.</em></div></p> <p>Hey, does anyone else always helplessly weep as they shut the door for the last time and walk away?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/songs-about-moving#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16850938&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Life Lists http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/songs-about-moving?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16850938&id=comments 2 Songs About Moving AM Thu, 23 May 2013 16:50:48 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/will-danny-brown-get-another-on-stage-blowjob-sasquatch http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/will-danny-brown-get-another-on-stage-blowjob-sasquatch Kelly O <p><strong>What in THE F*CK!</strong> I was just looking for a newish Danny Brown music nugget, to say something about how all the acts I'm most excited to see at Sasquatch this weekend (Danny Brown + Nacho Picasso + Earl Sweatshirt + P.O.S + Macklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis + Brothers From Another) were all rap... And then I was even gonna say something about the new article out, just today in <br /><em>XXL Magazine</em>: "The New New: <a href="http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2013/05/the-new-new-15-seattle-rappers-you-should-know/">15 Seattle Rappers You Should Know</a>"</p> <p>But can I talk about either of these? NO! NOT ANYMORE! I just watched a video of Danny Brown getting a freaking BLOW JOB, knob-bob, and/or a "STAGE DOME" at a show in Minneapolis. </p> <p>Post beej (<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/05/09/why-are-we-not-calling-the-danny-brown-oral-sex-assault-rape.html">or is it rape?!</a>), wrote Danny Brown, to Kendrick Lamar, on Twitter: "I didn't miss one bar bruh bruh." <a href="http://youtu.be/03uI3kyTvLk">See for yourself.</a></p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yA7zu_6N89A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/will-danny-brown-get-another-on-stage-blowjob-sasquatch#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857289&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Sex Sasquatch http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/will-danny-brown-get-another-on-stage-blowjob-sasquatch?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857289&id=comments 1 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:45:47 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy Goldy <p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2329670/Maggie-Hollifield-Pastor-s-daughter-10-shot-killed-outside-home-horrific-accident-14-year-old-boy.html">Ten-year-old Maggie Hollifield</a> was shot and killed by a 14-year-old boy outside her Virginia home, a horrific accident that should not be confused with <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/20/5432723/10-year-old-north-highlands-girl.html">10-year-old Elvira Campos</a> who was shot dead in her Sacramento County living while watching TV, or <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/14-year-old-girl-shot-killed-riding-bus-queens-article-1.1348236">14-year-old Daja Robinson</a> who was shot and killed on a bus in Queens. Can't tell the players without a scorecard.</p> <p>FYI, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/kids-shoot-the-darndest-things/Content?oid=16837331">my recent gun rant here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858344&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Guns http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858344&id=comments 14 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:37:16 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/its-may-23nd-2013-and-youre-in-a-rad-garage-band-the-saints http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/its-may-23nd-2013-and-youre-in-a-rad-garage-band-the-saints Mike Nipper <p>HOLY SHIT, the <strong>SAINTS</strong>? Yes, <em>but</em> <strong>not </strong>the Oz '70s punk band, rather this<strong> Saints</strong> is from the Bronx!!!</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BtFDCwW3DuM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>What a pleading and pitchy slice of heartbroken garage, some nice organ also.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/its-may-23nd-2013-and-youre-in-a-rad-garage-band-the-saints#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857181&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> GFY I'm Still a Virgin Shit Talk http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/its-may-23nd-2013-and-youre-in-a-rad-garage-band-the-saints?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857181&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:36:13 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed Paul Constant <p><a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/there-are-no-atheists-in-foxholes">Yesterday, Dan showed you</a> the awkward footage that ensued when CNN news-idiot Wolf Blitzer accidentally asked an atheist if she thanked the Lord for delivering her from the tornado. </p> <p>Today, <a href="http://christiannightmares.tumblr.com/post/51164159357/glenn-beck-wolf-blitzer-interview-with-atheist">Christian Nightmares notices</a> that Glenn Beck thinks the whole scenario smacks of a conspiracy. He begins, "I really like Wolf Blitzer, and I think he's a good man," but "that questioning was peculiar, even for Wolf, who I think is a religious man." Beck concludes that Blitzer was set up by a producer who is "<strong>sympathetic to the atheist plight</strong>" or "just doesn't like Christians." That producer knew the woman was an atheist but hid the information and told Blitzer to ask the question about God in order to raise awareness of atheism. "That was there for a reason," Beck says, knowingly.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U1t48BB1H9E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858337&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media Religion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858337&id=comments 10 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:34:39 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window Anna Minard <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/368f/1369351170-whg.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/368f/1369351170-whg.png" alt="WHG.png" title="" width="500" height="367" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Anna Minard</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858311&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Two-Block Radius http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858311&id=comments 9 Spotted on a Window Anna Minard Thu, 23 May 2013 16:26:57 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails Paul Constant <p><a href="http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/23/18451142-holder-okd-search-warrant-for-fox-news-reporters-private-emails-official-says?lite">This is a big deal</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Attorney General <strong>Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant</strong> that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a &#8220;possible co-conspirator&#8221; in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.</p> <p>The disclosure of the attorney general&#8217;s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists.</p> <p>"I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs."</p></blockquote> <p>Yeah, well, that horse is already out of the barn, isn't it, President Obama? Ryan Lizza succinctly explains why this news matters:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>How can Holder conduct a fair review of DOJ media policies when he personally approved warrant calling reporter a criminal and flight risk?</p>&#8212; Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanLizza/status/337700272744824832">May 23, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857193&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Politics http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857193&id=comments 16 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:01:10 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise Goldy <p>A New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control investigation has found that 29 bars and restaurants, including 13 TGI Fridays, allegedly <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nj-investigators-bar-mixed-dye-with-rubbing-alcohol-and-served-it-as-scotch/2013/05/23/cd26c0a2-c3c4-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html">substituted cheap booze (or worse!)</a> while charging for premium drinks:</p> <blockquote><p>At one bar, <strong>a mixture that included rubbing alcohol and caramel coloring</strong> was sold as scotch. In another, premium liquor bottles were refilled with water &#8212; and apparently not even clean water at that.</p> <p>In January and February, investigators went to 63 establishments they suspected were scamming liquor customers. They ordered drinks neat &#8212; that is, without ice or mixers &#8212; and then covertly took samples for testing.</p> <p><strong>Of 150 samples collected, 30 were not the brand</strong> as which they were being sold.</p></blockquote> <p>Why can't government regulators leave the market to sort this out for itself? Nanny-statism at its worst!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857177&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Crime Booze http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857177&id=comments 21 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:56:55 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/king-crimson-guiartist-robert-fripp-quits-music-now-hangs-out-with-lawyers http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/king-crimson-guiartist-robert-fripp-quits-music-now-hangs-out-with-lawyers Mike Nipper <p><a href="http://ultimateclassicrock.com/king-crimson-robert-fripp-quits-music-business/?trackback=fbshare">&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t concentrate on music, so I made the choice to give up my career as a musician in the front line to deal with the business.&#8221;</a></p> <blockquote><p>Apparently, this all stems from a recent altercation with music giant the <strong>Universal Group</strong>, who recently bought up a series of independent labels that own parts of his back catalog. Fripp believes this action has led to the release of unauthorized releases under his name.</p></blockquote> <p>Shitty labels issuing "unauthorized" releases has been happening since the beginning of the industry, it sucks, but if you don't own your the rights to your jams you gotta hire a better lawyer, Mr. Fripp. And then there is the "<strong>Kanye</strong>" problem...</p> <blockquote><p>He cites other examples of his music being used without his consent, notably in the <strong>Kanye West</strong> single "<a href="http://youtu.be/ouwCWDbBskU">Power</a>," which freely sampled the <strong>King Crimson</strong> classic "<a href="http://youtu.be/-6_B6zhENrQ">21st Century Schizoid Man</a>." The video scored <em>one million plays on YouTube before Fripp was reportedly consulted</em>. </blockquote> </p> <p>Oof. The Kanye biz seems like something that shoulda been sorted prior to having to litigate, it's not 1985 and Kanye Inc. should be sussed. I could only imagine the hell that would be unleashed if Kanye's jams were to be exploited. Perhaps the biz now looks at Fripp as having no contemporary relevance, like most musicians, and figured he could be rolled; same shit, different day then. I feel bad for Fripp, I do, but this gaming and gambling by the music biz ain't new and has been documented and debated enough I hesitated to even write this post. I'd hope after a life time as a musician on a major label he would have avoided exploitation, or at least to the point of not having to QUIT making music to control his music. </p> <p>If you wanna read the full text from the <em>The Financial Times</em>, <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f588e100-d7ee-11e1-9980-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2U99VltSl">have some</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/king-crimson-guiartist-robert-fripp-quits-music-now-hangs-out-with-lawyers#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855539&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Business Exit Interview http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/king-crimson-guiartist-robert-fripp-quits-music-now-hangs-out-with-lawyers?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855539&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:45:01 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/us/boy-scouts-sexual-orientation/?hpt=us_c2">CNN says</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>The organization's 1,400-member national council voted for the policy change, which will take effect January 1.</p> <p>"No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," says the approved resolution.</p> <p>The BSA will <strong>maintain its ban on gay adult leaders</strong>.</p></blockquote> <p>Hooray for not excluding gay kids, but boo for the ban on gay leaders, which probably exists to mollify a few idiot bigots who still believe that all gay men are pedophiles. And, <a href="https://twitter.com/fakedansavage/statuses/337693301400555520">as Dan pointed out</a>, atheists are still not invited to the club, so the Boy Scouts have a long way to go yet.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856916&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Breaking News http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856916&id=comments 22 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:35:44 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/showbox-sodo-cracked-farestart-guest-chef-spectacular-tonight-cancelled http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/showbox-sodo-cracked-farestart-guest-chef-spectacular-tonight-cancelled Bethany Jean Clement <p>After seven years, the annual Guest Chef at the Waterfront was set to move inland to Showbox Sodo. The new FareStart Guest Chef Spectacular&#8212;tonight!&#8212;was to include the <strong>profligate eatings and drinkings</strong> of more than 20 restaurants and 20 wineries/breweries, all to benefit <a href="http://farestart.org/">FareStart</a>.</p> <p>Now there's <strong>a big crack in a structural beam at Showbox Sodo</strong>, and the building has been evacuated (everybody's safe), and the Guest Chef Spectacular cannot spectaculate tonight. </p> <p>Ticketholders will receive refunds; full press release after the jump. </p> <p><a href="http://farestart.org/help/donate/index.html">Make a straight-up donation to FareStart over here!</a></p> <p>And, well, here's some <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/EventSearch?eventSection=2520386">other food-related stuff to do</a>.</p> <blockquote><p>FareStart's Guest Chef Spectacular Event Has Been Cancelled<br /> <br />During set-up for FareStart&#8217;s Guest Chef Spectacular event at Showbox SoDo, a structural beam in the ceiling cracked. The building was evacuated safely and there were no injuries. Under the counsel of a structural engineer, the venue has been closed for the evening and FareStart has cancelled the event. We will be issuing full refunds to all ticket holders and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We are happy to report that all food from the evening will be utilized for our shelter meal program and will be delivered to area homeless shelters and will not go to waste. We thank everyone for their understanding and support.<br /> <br />The Guest Chef Spectacular was to be a celebration of the talented chefs and restaurants that support FareStart&#8217;s training programs throughout the year and was slated to feature tastes from more than 40 of the area&#8217;s top restaurants, wineries, breweries and distilleries. There are no details yet as to whether the event will be rescheduled. Again, full refunds will be issued to all ticket holders.</p></blockquote> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/showbox-sodo-cracked-farestart-guest-chef-spectacular-tonight-cancelled#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856782&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Chow http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/showbox-sodo-cracked-farestart-guest-chef-spectacular-tonight-cancelled?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856782&id=comments 9 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:05:56 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/hella-elegiac-boards-of-canadas-reach-for-the-dead http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/hella-elegiac-boards-of-canadas-reach-for-the-dead Dave Segal <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2jTg-q6Drt0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Here's a preview of the second-most-hyped electronic-music album of 2013, <a href="http://www.boardsofcanada.com/">Boards of Canada</a>'s <em>Tomorrow's Harvest</em> (out June 11 on <a href="http://warp.net/">Warp</a>). <strong>"Reach for the Dead"</strong> is one of BOC's darker and starker tracks; it's seriously elegiac yet strangely uplifting. Not a departure for the Scottish duo, really, but more of a refinement of their melancholic-drift mode. Overall, its sublime introversion is the antithesis of the vibe projected on 2013's most-hyped electronic-music album, <em>Random Access Memories</em>&#8212;which I've played twice now and have no desire to listen to again.</p> <p><em>Tomorrow's Harvest</em> tracklist:</p> <blockquote><p>01. Gemini<br />02. Reach For The Dead<br />03. White Cyclosa<br />04. Jacquard Causeway<br />05. Telepath<br />06. Cold Earth<br />07. Transmisiones Ferox<br />08. Sick Times<br />09. Collapse<br />10. Palace Posy<br />11. Split Your Infinities<br />12. Uritual<br />13. Nothing Is Real<br />14. Sundown<br />15. New Seeds<br />16. Come To Dust<br />17. Semena Mertvykh</p></blockquote> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/hella-elegiac-boards-of-canadas-reach-for-the-dead#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856740&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Song Video http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/hella-elegiac-boards-of-canadas-reach-for-the-dead?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856740&id=comments 1 Thu, 23 May 2013 14:59:34 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/whats-it-like-to-get-hit-by-lightning http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/whats-it-like-to-get-hit-by-lightning Paul Constant <p>Turns out, people become<a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/05/i-was-struck-by-lightning-yesterday-and-boy-am-i-sore/"> very concerned with your footwear</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/whats-it-like-to-get-hit-by-lightning#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856118&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Science http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/whats-it-like-to-get-hit-by-lightning?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856118&id=comments 10 Thu, 23 May 2013 14:36:15 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/listen-to-white-hawaiians-eerie-elliott-smith-cover http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/listen-to-white-hawaiians-eerie-elliott-smith-cover Megan Seling <p>It's not easy to cover an Elliott Smith ballad&#8212;his soul-crushing delivery is unmatchable. But White Hawaiian, the new solo project from Jamie Aaron of Eighteen Individual Eyes, brings an eerie element to the song without stepping on Smith's sad toes. Dig: </p> <p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F93570470"></iframe></p> <p>White Hawaiian is <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16697219">playing Chop Suey</a> on May 30th with Maiah Manser, Shebear, and Ephrata.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/listen-to-white-hawaiians-eerie-elliott-smith-cover#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856457&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Song http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/listen-to-white-hawaiians-eerie-elliott-smith-cover?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856457&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 14:22:19 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/how-local-hire-proponents-want-to-turn-the-creed-work-where-you-live-into-law http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/how-local-hire-proponents-want-to-turn-the-creed-work-where-you-live-into-law Anna Minard <p>Yesterday, the Seattle city council hosted a brown bag lunch chat to look at if&#8212;and how&#8212;we should <strong>mandate the hiring of local residents on city-funded construction sites</strong>, otherwise known as a "targeted local hire" ordinance. It's an issue I've <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/should-seattle-mandate-that-construction-companies-hire-locally">had my eye on for a while</a>, and it's likely to be a slow burn at city hall, as they hammer out how, exactly, to institute mandatory hiring practices without pissing off every involved constituency&#8212;labor, contractors, workers.</p> <p>Not an easy task, but San Francisco and other municipalities <a href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2013/01/san-francisco-s-local-hire-ordinance-could-be-expanded">seem to have done successfully</a>.</p> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/0729/1369333977-got_green_michael_woo.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/0729/1369333977-got_green_michael_woo.png" alt="Got Green director Michael Woo testifies in council chamber." title="Got Green director Michael Woo testifies in council chamber." width="200" height="164" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Anna Minard</li><li class="imageCaption">Got Green director Michael Woo testifies in council chamber.</li></ul></div>The South Seattle nonprofit Got Green, which focuses on issues at the intersection of race and environmental justice, say communities of color have been especially hurt by the recession (watching construction projects go up in the Rainier Valley while residents have remained unemployed has been painful), while enviro lovers like the Sierra Club support local hiring because it would <strong>decrease commute times</strong>.</p> <p>Here are four points that targeted hiring proponents want to see addressed in the legislation:</p> <p>&#8226; While targeted hiring focuses on hiring women and/or people of color, this local hiring would focus on residents of the city&#8212;or even residents of certain zip codes, ones with markedly higher unemployment than the rest of the city.</p> <p>&#8226; A targeted hire ordinance has to include a <strong>robust apprenticeship program</strong>, said a panel of experts, and those apprentices should then be brought onto job sites.</p> <p>&#8226; It should also mean that once a worker qualifies to be on the list of targeted workers, they should <strong>stay on the list for around five years</strong>. The last thing you want is to give people a job that lifts them out of their disadvantaged situation but then immediately disqualifies them from future participation in the program.</p> <p>&#8226; Lastly, there needs to be <strong>a shit ton of data</strong> on how the program's working&#8212;and people checking that data. Sites need to submit their payroll records early and often, so the city knows they're in compliance&#8212;or if they aren't, a solution can be worked out while the site is still active and jobs are still available, as opposed to realizing at the end of a project that it didn't meet targets.</p> <p>Finally, while you might assume that labor unions would be the biggest blocker of policies like this, it won't necessarily be true in Seattle. San Francisco saw some unions oppose and some come out in support. The groundwork for an ordinance here is going to be laid down slowly over the coming months, and its proponents are <strong>working hard to keep labor at the table.</strong></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/how-local-hire-proponents-want-to-turn-the-creed-work-where-you-live-into-law#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16853948&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Economy http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/how-local-hire-proponents-want-to-turn-the-creed-work-where-you-live-into-law?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16853948&id=comments 12 How Local-Hire Proponents Want to Turn the Creed "Work Where You Live" Into Law Got Green director Michael Woo testifies in council chamber. Anna Minard Thu, 23 May 2013 14:14:09 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/seattle-times-lies-to-its-readers-in-advocating-to-fix-a-workers-compensation-crisis-that-doesnt-exist http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/seattle-times-lies-to-its-readers-in-advocating-to-fix-a-workers-compensation-crisis-that-doesnt-exist Goldy <p>You know, perhaps I wouldn't be so <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/if-the-seattle-times-can-afford-7-editorial-board-members-surely-it-can-afford-an-ombudsman">obsessed</a> with the <em>Seattle Times</em> editorial board if they weren't so eager to <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2021037376_edit23industrialinsurancestructuredsettlementsxml.html">lie to their readers</a>: </p> <blockquote><p>The state workers&#8217; compensation reform, Senate Bill 5127, was passed by the Senate 30-19 and hung up in the House. It needs to pass in this session.</p> <p>... Passage of this bill will also offset much, and perhaps all, of the <strong>$1.8 billion extra that the state Department of Labor and Industries says will be needed</strong> over the next 10 years to put the state disability funds on a prudent basis.</p> <p>Without the bill, <strong>the state will have to raise taxes on payrolls</strong>, which raises the price of creating and sustaining jobs.</p></blockquote> <p>These are two factual assertions, neither of which are supported by, you know, actual facts. Instead, the editors' research apparently consists of credulously aping they hyperbolic assertions of an <a href="http://washingtonstatewire.com/blog/state-worker-comp-program-faces-a-3-1-billion-gap-might-require-a-19-percent-tax-increase-for-10-straight-years/">out-of-date year-old post</a> on the Washington Business Alliance run blog, Washington State Wire... assertions that were immediately refuted in the post's comment thread by L&I Director Judy Schurke:</p> <blockquote><p>Erik Smith&#8217;s article <strong>mischaracterizes a number of points</strong> at yesterday&#8217;s Workers&#8217; Compensation Advisory Committee special meeting.</p> <p>First, L&I is NOT contemplating a 19 percent increase <strong>nor did we say we need to &#8220;beef up&#8221; the contingency reserve to $2.3 billion</strong>. Further, L&I does not have a budget gap of $3.1 billion.</p></blockquote> <p>The "$1.8 billion extra" the editorial claims that "[L&I] says will be needed" appears to come from Smith's assertion that "L&I figures it needs to beef that reserve back up to $2.3 billion"&#8212;an assertion that L&I's Schurke explicitly denies. "To hit that target it needs an additional $1.7 billion," writes Smith. But these were "theoretical financial scenarios" put forth as part of a larger discussion about how to rebuild workers compensation reserves, insists Schurke; they were never meant to represent any sort of hard "target."</p> <p>Further, these theoretical financial scenarios were constructed <strong>a year ago</strong>, back when workers' compensation reserves were considerably smaller. As I recently posted, Washington state's workers' compensation system turned a <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/06/state-workers-compensation-reserves-rise-sharply-as-investments-recover">$250 million surplus in 2012</a> while bumping its reserves from $580 million in June 2012 to $953 million by the end of December. Even if L&I was shooting for $2.3 billion in reserves (and it's not), the additional funds necessary to hit that nonexistent target have been shaved by about a half billion dollars since the <em>Seattle Times</em> year-old numbers were first devised.</p> <p>And finally, it is important to note that <strong>this recent surplus came without increasing rates</strong>. At all. Despite all the dire predictions by the business community, L&I imposed zero average rate increases in 2012 and 2013, and thanks to its strong investment returns is unlikely to impose an average rate increase for 2014. The editorial definitively asserts that "Without the bill, the state will have to raise taxes on payrolls." Except that A) barring another recession there is absolutely no evidence to suggest looming rate increases, and B) these are <strong>insurance premiums</strong>, not "taxes." Workers' compensation insurance is a cost of doing business, in the same way that compulsory auto insurance is a cost of driving in Washington State.</p> <p>In asserting that L&I says something it does not say in the service of advocating a fix to a crisis that does not exist, the <em>Seattle Times</em> editorial board is simply <strong>misleading its readers</strong>. Whether this deception is intentional, or the result of being too lazy to fact check the bullshit spewed by the business lobbyist who obviously fed them this editorial, I do not know. But I do know that readers who have relied on our state's largest daily newspaper to inform them about this complicated issue have been poorly served.</p> <p>Just because the <em>Seattle Times</em> chooses not to cover this year's rosier Workers&#8217; Compensation Advisory Committee report does not mean it doesn't exist. Our workers' compensation system is not in crisis. And given the cyclical nature of our economy, the system has arguably never been in crisis. Workers' compensation reserves were drawn down due to the recession&#8212;as they are in every recession&#8212;and the resulting rate increases were modest compared to previous recessions, especially considering how deep and protracted the Great Recession has been. Indeed, the relatively modest rate increases from 2008 through 2011 would not even have been necessary if not for an ill-advised $315 million rebate (equivalent to a 35 percent rate cut) in 2007.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a9b3/1369338337-workerscomp.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a9b3/1369338337-workerscomp.png" alt="workerscomp.png" title="" width="500" height="273" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Source: WA State Department of Labor &amp; Industries</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Furthermore, our workers' compensation rates are not extraordinarily high, with the <a href="http://www.thestand.org/2013/03/4-reasons-to-leave-workers-comp-alone/">employer's share of the premium ranking 22nd nationwide</a> according to a widely cited Oregon study. Meanwhile, year after year, multiple reports rate Washington as having one of the most favorable business climates in the nation. So it's not like we have a screaming competitiveness crisis either.</p> <p>If businesses really want to reduce their workers' compensation premiums they should focus on making their workplaces safer. But to argue that we need to reduce benefits in order to stave off rate increases that are unlikely to come, is simply dishonest.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/seattle-times-lies-to-its-readers-in-advocating-to-fix-a-workers-compensation-crisis-that-doesnt-exist#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16853928&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Labor Olympia http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/seattle-times-lies-to-its-readers-in-advocating-to-fix-a-workers-compensation-crisis-that-doesnt-exist?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16853928&id=comments 11 <i>Seattle Times</i> Lies to Its Readers in Advocating to Fix a Workers' Compensation Crisis that Doesn't Exist WA State Department of Labor & Industries Thu, 23 May 2013 13:40:16 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/working-on-your-novel-this-might-help-you-get-it-done http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/working-on-your-novel-this-might-help-you-get-it-done Paul Constant <p>Back in February, I told you about the Hugo House's <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-hell-with-grants/Content?oid=15995166">awesome new Made at Hugo</a> program for local writers:</p> <blockquote><p>It's like a more pragmatic version of the classic writer-in-residency: Last year, Hugo House put out a call for writers age 35 or younger, living in King County, to describe a project they'd like to complete. From more than 50 applicants, House program director Brian McGuigan and an anonymous panel of poets and novelists chose six writers. Those writers get access to office space in the House, they have monthly progress meetings and contribute to a private blog on which they can share work, and they can attend any of the Hugo House classes, featuring teachers like Eileen Myles, Peter Mountford, and Sam Lipsyte, for free.</p></blockquote> <p>The application process for this year's Made at Hugo program <a href="https://hugohouse.submittable.com/submit/21216">is now open</a>. If you're a writer younger than 35 and you're working on a project that you need to finish, you should consider <a href="https://hugohouse.submittable.com/submit/21216">entering into this program</a>. It gives you the support and the advice you need to help get it done.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/working-on-your-novel-this-might-help-you-get-it-done#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854535&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/working-on-your-novel-this-might-help-you-get-it-done?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854535&id=comments 2 Thu, 23 May 2013 13:38:45 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/new-weather-like-stereolab-if-they-were-sponsored-by-nasa http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/new-weather-like-stereolab-if-they-were-sponsored-by-nasa Dave Segal <p><a href="http://www.butterscotchrecords.net/new-weather-self-titled/"><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:262px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/24f4/1369337673-weather-records2.jpg" alt="weather-records2.jpg" title="" width="250" height="251" /></div></a>(<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16844501">Comet</a>) Tonight, <strong>New Weather</strong>&#8212;consisting of the Midget's guitarists/keyboardists/vocalists Amber Rossino and Sean Curley, plus Tomory Dodge&#8212;will be road-testing some material from their new self-titled full-length (out October 22 on Brooklyn's Butterscotch Records and mastered by Dave Fridmann). The prevalent mood here is <strong>deep, hypnotic, and exploratory</strong>&#8212;imagine Stereolab if they were sponsored by NASA or Italian horror-film masters Goblin if they were more monomaniacally aerodynamic. <em>New Weather</em>'s destined to be one of the most enthralling releases out of our city this year. The rest of the lineup consists of some of the most inspired local acts working right now. Let's just say that <strong>this bill is stacked</strong> with more goodness than a tower of Moogs.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/new-weather-like-stereolab-if-they-were-sponsored-by-nasa#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845585&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tonight 206 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/new-weather-like-stereolab-if-they-were-sponsored-by-nasa?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845585&id=comments 0 New Weather: Like Stereolab If They Were Sponsored By NASA Thu, 23 May 2013 13:36:00 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/future-fridays-on-mem-day http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/future-fridays-on-mem-day Brendan Kiley <p>On Mem Day, new local band Future Fridays will play its <a href="http://www.chopsuey.com/calendar.html">first show at Chop Suey.</a> Multi-instrumentalists Sari Breznau and Eric Padget are Future Fridays, and between them they've played with Mark Lanegan, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Circus Contraption, Orkestar Zirkonium, Macklemore and others, including a wide spectrum of choirs, from homeless women's choirs to family choirs. (Breznau is a nut for choral conducting.)</p> <p>Here is a taste of what they're bringing to the table, in a track engineered by Steve Fisk.</p> <p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F84133361"></iframe></p> <p>Sounds promising!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/future-fridays-on-mem-day#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856046&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Upcoming http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/future-fridays-on-mem-day?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856046&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 13:16:10 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/underage-rainy-dawg-radio-turns-10-with-pony-time-naomi-punk-and-more http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/underage-rainy-dawg-radio-turns-10-with-pony-time-naomi-punk-and-more Megan Seling <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/eacc/1369337311-underage-570-1.jpg" alt="Pony Time" title="Pony Time" width="300" height="158" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Pony Time</li></ul></div><em>This </em>is how you throw a party. <strong>Rainy Dawg Radio</strong> is celebrating its 10th birthday with a blowout. Seven mostly local acts will descend upon the Sylvan Grove Theater, a secluded outdoor spot on the <strong>University of Washington</strong> campus, and take part in a one-day musical journey that reflects the student-run online station's diversity of programming.</p> <p>Where to begin? If you still haven't checked out rockers <strong>Pony Time</strong> or <strong>Naomi Punk</strong>, you're seriously neglecting your ears. Pony Time's two-person assault is a friendly battering of fuzzed-out garage-rock thrills, and Naomi Punk gouge deep holes into your brain with their <strong>warped sludge-rock</strong>. You'll also find two worthwhile electronic musicians. The most energetic dancing of the day might come during <strong>Futurewife</strong>'s set: I can already see limbs flailing on the lawn, while the house producer's jams sizzle, slink, and <strong>clank into oblivion</strong>. Portland-based <strong>Natasha Kmeto</strong> sings about all the good and bad kinds of loving, melding spacey and lustrous beats with her <strong>splintering, soulful voice</strong>.</p> <p><u><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/underage/Content?oid=16835284">Continue reading &#187;</a></u></p> <p><iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2658094310/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://pony-time.bandcamp.com/album/go-find-your-own">Go Find Your Own by Pony Time</a></iframe></p> Party! Tonight http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/underage-rainy-dawg-radio-turns-10-with-pony-time-naomi-punk-and-more?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855541&id=comments 0 Underage: Rainy Dawg Radio Turns 10 with Pony Time, Naomi Punk, and More Pony Time Thu, 23 May 2013 13:09:42 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/comics-app-pulls-adult-content-from-apple-store http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/comics-app-pulls-adult-content-from-apple-store Paul Constant <p>Here we go again: A couple months after digital comics seller Comixology pulled (<a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/apple-will-sell-saga-12-after-all">and then reinstated</a>) an issue of the popular series <em>Saga</em> <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/apple-bans-comic-book-that-features-gay-sex-scenes">from the Apple App Store </a>for fear that the comic was too racy for Apple's guidelines, they've just announced that they've <strong>pulled 56 titles </strong>from their app's store for the same reason. <a href="http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/comixology-pulls-56-digital-comics-from-ios-app/">Robot 6 says <em>Saga</em> is unaffected </a>this time around, but Comixology pulled titles ranging from local publisher Fantagraphics' <a href="http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/angry-youth-comix-2.html?vmcchk=1"><em>Angry Youth Comix</em></a> to Joe Casey's new Image Comics series<em> Sex</em>, to...</p> <blockquote><p>...Jess Fink&#8217;s <em>Chester 5000</em>, Reed Waller and Kate Worley&#8217;s classic <em>Omaha the Cat Dancer</em>, Johnny Ryan&#8217;s <em>Prison Pit</em> and the gay-comics anthology <em>No Straight Lines</em>, which features the work of Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse and Eric Shanower, among others.</p></blockquote> <p>These books are still available from Comixology's website, but they're not available from Apple's Comixology app. That distinction is probably enough to pacify many people who'd otherwise be angered by this move, but I still think this is bullshit. Apple needs to sell adult content&#8212;not even pornography, I'm talking about comics created for adults by celebrated cartoonists like Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse, for fuck's sake&#8212;and not be <strong>stupid Puritan fucksticks</strong> about it. Those books have been available in Barnes &amp; Nobles around the country for years now, to no great controversy. When the biggest digital storefront for comics in the world restricts the books they sell to all-ages content, they are holding the medium of comics back from what it could become. (And this is especially ridiculous when you acknowledge the fact that you can<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/fifty-shades-of-grey/id509857961?mt=11"> buy <em>50 Shades of Grey </em>in the iBookstore</a> any time you want.)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/comics-app-pulls-adult-content-from-apple-store#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854604&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/comics-app-pulls-adult-content-from-apple-store?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854604&id=comments 11 Thu, 23 May 2013 12:35:35 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/tacos-the-rambunctious-heavy-metal-duo-not-the-delicious-food http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/tacos-the-rambunctious-heavy-metal-duo-not-the-delicious-food Grant Brissey <p><iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=187625856/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://tacosband.bandcamp.com/album/tacos-tour-cd">Tacos! Tour CD by TACOS</a></iframe></p> <p>(<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16697184">Chop Suey</a>) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tacos-Band/411212828919567">Tacos!</a> is the unlikely name of <strong>rambunctious heavy-metal duo</strong> Don Stewart (guitars/vocals) and Lupe Flores (drums). The two just wrapped up four days of recording at Matt Bayles's Red Room studio with Chris Common, who's in town working on the upcoming Helms Alee record. Stewart says they don't yet have solid plans for the release, but judging by the strident sounds of their tour CD (<a href="http://tacosband.bandcamp.com">tacosband.bandcamp.com</a>), we're in for a fun one. Tonight's a good chance to preview the stuff with the band fresh off four days' worth of tightening things up.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/tacos-the-rambunctious-heavy-metal-duo-not-the-delicious-food#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845623&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tonight 206 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/tacos-the-rambunctious-heavy-metal-duo-not-the-delicious-food?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845623&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 12:35:00 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/the-jazz-diaspora-gabes-dirty-blues http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/the-jazz-diaspora-gabes-dirty-blues Jeffery Taylor <p>If you like to go to record shops and leisurely flip through the bins, <strong>and I know you do</strong>, at some point you will encounter a record called <strong><em>Gabe's Dirty Blues</em></strong>. It should be cheap ($5 - $10) and you should buy it. It is a double LP set of sweaty, raunchy, good-time R&B rockers from the late '40s and '50s, with heavy emphasis on the making of the sexy time. Just listen to <strong>Wynonie Harris's</strong> "Churnin'," <strong>Connie Allen</strong> singing "Rocket 69" or <strong>Bull Moose Jackson's</strong> "Big Ten Inch Record" and you'll understand the salacious intentions of the selector. </p> <p>

Gabe McManus bought the Shamrock Tavern sometime in the late '50s (later called Gabe's) and would rock these selections on the house jukebox. His liner notes offer a brief glimpse into the life of a rough and tumble downtown Seattle bar. "It took 6 months for me and my crazy music to win them over&#8212;and then it was standing room only for years. That was it for 17 years. Jazz and blues&#8212;you never had it so good." </p> <p>Gabe seemed to take it all in stride, running a bar and enjoying the soundtrack while the "pimps, hustling broads and chippies&#8212;gamblers and boozers, seamen and sissies, pill heads and addicts" did their thing. He adds: "It was a rough joint and we only had one light in the place&#8212;the jukebox." Whatever questionable slices of humanity Gabe's was serving, <strong>at least they were rocking</strong>!

</p> <p>The <strong>double entendre</strong> song is nothing new in the realm of jazz and blues and there are many compilations available with fine examples of dirty ditties. Country blues guitarist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Carter">Bo Carter</a> is a prime example of a titillating tunesmith with songs like "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_BSHd_rLe8">Please Warm My Weiner</a>" and "<strong>Banana In Your Fruit Basket</strong>." Many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokum">hokum</a> numbers from the late '20s and early '30s by Carter, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_Red">Tampa Red</a>, and others were very popular bawdy songs of the day. But, if you want to get straight to the <strong>filth</strong>, and I know you do, check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Bogan">Lucille Bogan's</a> "Shave 'Em Dry," which is quite possibly the dirtiest song ever put to wax. I'll let you find that one for yourself, you pervert!

</p> <p><em>Gabe's Dirty Blues</em> is a <strong>party waiting to happen</strong>&#8212;four sides of sultry R&B rockers along with the occasional downright dirty blues. The fact that it was compiled by an old-school Seattle bar owner who was a through-and-through lover of jazz and blues makes it all the sweeter. Next time you see a copy, grab one for yourself and you can thank me later!</p> <p>First, let's have a drink:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F_lJMRb12Is" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p><small>[More clips after the jump.]</small></p> <p>Now, break out the records:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Rws_7mLTqj8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>The trip will be fine:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mRuNOmdq6No" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/the-jazz-diaspora-gabes-dirty-blues#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855204&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> History http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/the-jazz-diaspora-gabes-dirty-blues?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855204&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 12:29:54 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/sean-nelson-makes-pop-dreams-come-true http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/sean-nelson-makes-pop-dreams-come-true Megan Seling <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="300" src="http://www.npr.org/templates/event/embeddedVideo.php?storyId=176451337&mediaId=" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></p> <p>(<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16818121">Tractor</a>) I never gave up on you, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Nelson">Sean Nelson</a>! I knew you still had music in your heart, and since <strong>Harvey Danger</strong>'s last show, I have been waiting for some kind of official release&#8212;the time has finally come! Nelson's debut solo record, <em>Make Good Choices</em>, will be out June 4 via Really Records, a newish label cofounded by <strong>Jeff Rosenstock of Bomb the Music Industry</strong>! Guest musicians on the album include <strong>Peter Buck</strong>, <strong>Chris Walla</strong>, <strong>Rachel Blumberg</strong>, and <strong>Dave Depper</strong>, and the wonderful, poppy title track was debuted by way of a very cute stop-motion video made by Your Heart Breaks's <strong>Clyde Petersen</strong>. So, basically, a whole bunch of my favorite musical people have come together to make my pop-loving heart flutter with anticipation, and tonight is the first time we Seattleites get to see the magic happen live. I can hardly wait.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/sean-nelson-makes-pop-dreams-come-true#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845612&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tonight http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/sean-nelson-makes-pop-dreams-come-true?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16845612&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 12:27:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/siff-picks-of-the-day http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/siff-picks-of-the-day David Schmader <p>So much good stuff today, including:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:488px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/23/1369336675-screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_12.17.03_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_12.17.03_PM.png" title="" width="476" height="295" /></div> (<em>Touchy Feely</em> screens at 7 pm tonight at the IKEA Performing Arts Center in Renton, and again on Saturday at 1:30 pm at the Egyptian in Seattle.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:495px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/23/1369336697-screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_12.17.24_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_12.17.24_PM.png" title="" width="483" height="292" /></div> (<em>Barzan</em> screens at 7 pm tonight at the Harvard Exit.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:485px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2588/1369336571-screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_12.15.34_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-23_at_12.15.34_PM.png" title="" width="473" height="303" /></div>(<em>More Than Honey</em> screens at 8:30 pm at SIFF Uptown.)</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Siff">Full guide here</a>!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/siff-picks-of-the-day#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855417&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/siff-picks-of-the-day?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855417&id=comments 4 SIFF Picks of the Day! Thu, 23 May 2013 12:23:16 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/lunchtime-quickie-but-art-is-about-process-not-product http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/lunchtime-quickie-but-art-is-about-process-not-product Kelly O <p>I love this girl. I always wanted to to this in art-school. She did it though. Good times start at the 1:30 mark. </p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Zy85h4MJQos" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/lunchtime-quickie-but-art-is-about-process-not-product#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855485&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Video of the Day http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/lunchtime-quickie-but-art-is-about-process-not-product?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16855485&id=comments 14 Thu, 23 May 2013 12:15:57 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/todays-music-news-paris-hilton-back-to-ruin-music-djs-take-control-keha-drinks-pee http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/todays-music-news-paris-hilton-back-to-ruin-music-djs-take-control-keha-drinks-pee Kyle Fleck <p><strong>Cash Money + Heiress Money = ???:</strong> I shit you not, Paris Hilton is the latest signing to Birdman's Cash Money empire. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/paris-hilton-cash-money-records_n_3321535.html">Way to stay relevant, guys</a>.</p> <p><strong>DJ Marco Gets His Due:</strong> Seattle DJ Marco Collins, sometimes credited with "breaking" Nirvana and Pearl Jam to the public, is now the star of an <a href="http://mynorthwest.com/871/2276066/New-film-chronicling-rise-fall-and-reemergence-of-iconic-Seattle-DJ-Marco-Collins">upcoming documentary</a>, <em>The Glamour and the Squalor</em>. </p> <p><strong>Boards of Canada's Mysterious, Globe-Spanning Album Rollout Continues:</strong> With a <a href="http://www.factmag.com/2013/05/22/watch-boards-of-canadas-tokyo-surprise-live/">video played at midnight in Tokyo.</a> What's up with these electronic acts and their crazy marketing schemes? It's about the <em>music</em>, man.</p> <p><strong>Ke$ha Goes GG Allin, Drinks Own Urine on Reality Show:</strong> Unsurprisingly <a href="http://w2.parentstv.org/Main/News/Detail.aspx?docID=2807">upsetting people </a>like the Parents Television Council.</p> <p><strong>BASED on the Runway:</strong> A student at Parsons fashion school made a collection inspired by the one and only Lil B. These pictures <a href="http://www.thefader.com/2013/05/23/lil-b-inspires-senior-fashion-thesis-collection/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheFaderMagazine+%28The+FADER+Magazine+Posts%29">may be TBFW </a>(Too Based For Work). </p> <p><strong>The Bucket List of Jazz:</strong> KPLU 88.5's Kevin Kniestedt has compiled a list of the "1,000 Jazz Albums to Hear Before You Die." If you're looking for a starter course on "America's indigenous art form," there are far worse places to start than <a href="http://groovenotes.org/1000-jazz-albums-you-should-hear-before-you-die-on-spotify/">here.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/todays-music-news-paris-hilton-back-to-ruin-music-djs-take-control-keha-drinks-pee#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854531&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Breaking News Lists 206 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/todays-music-news-paris-hilton-back-to-ruin-music-djs-take-control-keha-drinks-pee?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854531&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 12:01:51 -0700 The Stranger http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/rain-fest-2013-is-almost-here http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/rain-fest-2013-is-almost-here Kevin Diers <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/0167/1369300887-trial_dan_gonyea.jpg" alt="Trial - Rain fest 2012" title="Trial - Rain fest 2012 " width="500" height="355" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Dan Gonyea</li><li class="imageCaption">Trial - Rain fest 2012 </li></ul></div></p> <p>If you aren&#8217;t one of the few thousand folks driving out to the Gorge for Sasquatch this weekend and you&#8217;re a fan of err&#8230; <strong>&#8220;aggressive music&#8221;</strong>, then you may just might want to consider heading over to <strong>Rain Fest</strong>, a three-day clusterfuck of punk rock, hardcore and metal held at Neumo&#8217;s. For one weekend a year, Capitol Hill is invaded by hundreds of camo-short clad mosh warriors eager to stage dive all over your face and scream along to anthem after anthem. This is the seventh year for Rain Fest, and with bands like <strong>The Bouncing Souls</strong> and <strong>Comeback Kid</strong> set to play this weekend, it could just be the biggest yet. Full disclosure: in the seven years of Rain Fest&#8217;s existence, I&#8217;ve never missed a single day. <strong>This is my shit.</strong> The vibe, the bands, the venue, the variety of heavy music represented, the sweat, the sing-alongs and the mosh &#8211; I&#8217;ll take all of it. See, while other huge hardcore and metal fests might have the &#8220;OH SHIT&#8221; factor - y&#8217;know, one-off reunions with legendary bands and whatnot &#8211; Rain Fest still maintains the feeling of a D.I.Y hardcore show &#8211; albeit a large, well-attended one with a much better sound system. This is due in part to the fact that the three dudes behind the fest, <strong>Matt Weltner</strong>, <strong>Zack Ellis</strong> and<strong> Brian Skiffington</strong> haven&#8217;t handed the fest over to sponsorship or outside booking agents. Since day one it&#8217;s been strictly for the kids by the kids, the way hardcore should be. Weltner and Skiffington took some time from their busy week of Rain fest preparation to answer some questions for <em>The Stranger </em>...</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/b002/1369301208-1338361472-clarity-by_dan_gonyea.jpg" alt="Clarity - Rain Fest 2012" title="Clarity - Rain Fest 2012" width="500" height="332" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Dan Gonyea</li><li class="imageCaption">Clarity - Rain Fest 2012</li></ul></div></p> <p><strong>What is your personal background in the music scene?</strong></p> <p><strong>SKIFFINGTON:</strong> I have been involved in a number of aspects, but first and foremost I have been a musician. Being in bands and touring has really showed me how different scenes work. I have been promoting shows for 12 years now and a lot of how I operate was learned from terrible experiences with my bands. Like, "I am going to book shows the opposite way of this bullshit." I have worked for club promoters, worked security and stage loading at larger clubs and venues and have been involved in opening venues. So at this point I have played a part in most of the angles.</p> <p><strong>Thinking back to when you first organized Rain Fest &#8211; what was the initial goal?</strong></p> <p><strong>WELTNER:</strong> The idea of Rain Fest first hit me Memorial Day 2005. Champion was playing a last show on the Saturday and we booked raging shows on Friday and Sunday. Hundreds of kids flew in to see Champion. Zack (Ellis) and I were talking in the lobby of the West Seattle Legion Hall before Down to Nothing played and we said to each other, "If this can happen once, this can happen again. Let's put something together."</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a7f2/1369301263-1338360767-outlook-by_dan_gonyea.jpg" alt="Outlook - Rain Fest 2012" title="Outlook - Rain Fest 2012" width="500" height="332" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Dan Gonyea</li><li class="imageCaption">Outlook - Rain Fest 2012</li></ul></div></p> <p><strong>How big did you expect it to become?</strong></p> <p><strong>SKIFFINGTON:</strong> The years at Viaduct (now defunct Tacoma all-ages venue) really, were just about filling that room - something we got good at doing. Moving to Neumo&#8217;s was kind of frightening because we needed to sell it out to even break even. We had to go after 200 extra people that weren&#8217;t necessary the first few years. I don&#8217;t think we could be a bigger fest then Neumos. To go bigger we would have to have bigger bands, bigger budgets, sponsors, more expensive ticket prices and to be honest, that shit doesn&#8217;t matter to us. Neumos sells to 650. That is pretty impressive for the Northwest and I am very comfortable with that.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/23/1369301310-1338360196-rotting_out-by_dan_gonyea.jpg" alt="Rotting Out - Rain Fest 2012" title="Rotting Out - Rain Fest 2012" width="500" height="332" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Dan Gonyea</li><li class="imageCaption">Rotting Out - Rain Fest 2012</li></ul></div></p> <p><strong>What are a few of your favorite memories from the past years of Rain Fest?</strong></p> <p><strong>WELTNER:</strong> Due to some scheduling mishaps, the Saturday of the very first Rain Fest was at some random VFW hall outside of Tacoma. We had never done a show that started at 3 in the afternoon before, so nobody knew what to expect. I rolled up to the venue at around 1 and saw dozens, maybe a hundred kids just HANGING in the parking lot. Skateboarding, tossing a football around, having a great time two hours before the show was even supposed to start. Right then I realized that we were doing something really cool, making memories with a lot of people.</p> <p>Then a few years ago, we had our Sunday headliner cancel late Saturday night. I was a wreck - just really tired and frustrated and disappointed. I'll never forget my friends just rallying around me, keeping my spirits up and helping figure out a way to replace the headliner. We ended up sitting in a hot tub texting the guys in Comeback Kid who were in town to hang for the weekend and all of a sudden it started coming together. CBK.. with their original singer&#8230; was going to play our show! Hot tubs to the rescue!</p> <p><strong>SKIFFINGTON:</strong> I remember closing up Viaduct, getting ready to head home and this punk kid was huddled in a doorway with nowhere to go. He said his friends dropped him off and he had nowhere to stay, so I was like, &#8220;Well you can come crash at my house.&#8221; This kid was like 16 and we roll up to my house and there is this raging dance party going on. People are smoking peyote and there is a naked cowboy running around. I seriously think that kid was so weirded out. No idea what happened to him.</p> <p>7 Seconds played a couple years ago and that was a serious milestone for me. Getting to book them, see them and play with them was just a total &#8220;young kid looking up to my idols moment&#8221;. I remember looking around thinking this is the coolest thing we have ever done and 700 other people feeling the same way.<br /><strong><br />What makes Rain Fest different than other types of music fests?</strong></p> <p><strong>SKIFFINGTON: </strong>Rain Fest is sustained by the collective input of the whole hardcore community. And what I mean by that is we do not use sponsors like virtually every other fest in the universe. Sponsors offer money or maybe flight vouchers or something in exchange for advertising. To me this inflates our community&#8217;s sense of what we are worth. It&#8217;s not like just Zack, Matt and I created Rain Fest and it happened. All the bands and people that made themselves available or worked so they could afford to buy tickets have made Rain Fest what it is for 7 years now. We know that we can get this many people to attend our fest, and because of that we can budget accordingly. You always see these fests with the biggest headliners in the world. Here is some simple math -Venue Capacity X Ticket Price- now ask yourself how much money you think all those bands cost. When there is an extra 20k there, that just doesn&#8217;t add up. Look in the fine print for where it says presented by SCION / PABST / REDBULL etc etc etc. So that is why I can say we all built Rain Fest- because every person involved helped to make it happen.</p> <p><strong>What keeps you coming back to book and host this fest year after year?</strong></p> <p><strong>SKIFFINGTON:</strong> I, for one, am a glutton for punishment. As a community, we have been able to create this one crazy weekend every year. It&#8217;s not just a big show. Northwest hardcore is able to take over and consume Capitol Hill. We take over their venue, their restaurants, and their streets. It&#8217;s like hardcore music is crawling out from its cave and saying fuck you.</p> <p><strong>WELTNER</strong>: I love how this is something our community puts together. Zack and Skiff and I facilitate, but I get energized seeing local bands play a huge show and local artists putting together our posters and flyers. It's like a showcase for everything good about Northwest hardcore, and I'm just happy that I get to play a part in it.</p> <p><br />Rain Fest starts this Friday at 6 pm. Both three-day-passes and single day tickets are available <a href="https://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1705618">here</a>. </p> <p>The full lineup is as follows...<br /><u><strong>FRIDAY:</strong></u><br />CLARITY<br />CODEXRED<br />DEVOTION<br />GROWING STRONGER<br />SHOOK ONES<br />THE BOUNCING SOULS<br />THE MONGOLOIDS<br />TWITCHING TONGUES<br />XIBALBA</p> <p><strong>SATURDAY:</strong><br />100 DEMONS<br />ALPHA &amp; OMEGA<br />COWARDICE<br />DAMNATION AD<br />DEAD WEIGHT<br />DEATH THREAT<br />FOCUSEDXMINDS<br />HARNESS<br />HYSTERICS<br />ILL INTENT<br />PEACE<br />RUDE AWAKENING<br />SAFE AND SOUND<br />THE RIVAL MOB<br />YOUNG TURKS</p> <p><u><strong>SUNDAY:</strong></u><br />COMEBACK KID<br />DOWNPRESSER<br />EXPIRE<br />INCENDIARY<br />LOSING SKIN<br />MINDSET<br />OBLIVION<br />PERMANENT RUIN<br />POWER<br />PRAISE<br />ROTTING OUT<br />SIDETRACKED<br />TAKE OFFENSE<br />THE LOSS<br />WRECK</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/rain-fest-2013-is-almost-here#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16851112&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Hardcore Interview http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/05/23/rain-fest-2013-is-almost-here?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16851112&id=comments 0 Rain Fest 2013 is (almost) here Trial - Rain fest 2012 Dan Gonyea Thu, 23 May 2013 11:57:52 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/obama-administration-admits-it-has-used-drones-to-kill-us-citizens http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/obama-administration-admits-it-has-used-drones-to-kill-us-citizens Brendan Kiley <p>This has been all over the news, but I thought Slog might care as well&#8212;yesterday, in advance of Obama's speech on national security today, the administration admitted it has killed US citizens with drones, some on purpose and some accidentally. From <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/23/obama-drone-programme-cia-speech">the <em>Guardian</em>:</a></p> <blockquote><p>Earlier, the White House marked this new effort to draw a line under the controversial drone-strike policy by admitting for the first time that <strong>four American citizens were among those killed by its covert attacks in Yemen and Pakistan</strong> since 2009.</p> <p>In a letter to congressional leaders sent on Wednesday, attorney general Eric Holder Holder claimed one of the US citizens killed, Anwar al-Awlaki, was chief of external operations for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) and had been involved in plots to blow up aircraft over US soil.</p> <p>However, Holder said three others killed by drones &#8211; Samir Khan, Abdul Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki and Jude Kenan &#8211; <strong>were not "specifically targeted".</strong> The second of these victims, Anwar al-Awlaki's son, is said by campaigners to have been 16 when he died in Yemen in 2011.</p></blockquote> <p>The US government carrying out assassinations of its own citizens is obviously a major problem&#8212;especially if they're accidentally killing other American citizens in the process.</p> <p>But Obama did his artful pivot move by releasing this information into the public sphere just before announcing in the speech that he was going to bring the drone program out of the "legal shadows" of the CIA and transfer it to the Pentagon, giving Congress&#8212;and, ostensibly, the rest of us&#8212;more oversight.</p> <p>(That move should go down in the history books as "the Obama": Announce something bad just before you announce that you're going to take strong action against that bad thing, making you the good guy in the situation, <em>even if</em> the bad thing happened under your watch.)</p> <p>And how many non-American citizens have been assassinated&#8212;or accidentally killed&#8212;by our covert drone program?</p> <blockquote><p>The <a href="http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/">Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a> estimates that between <strong>240 and 347</strong> people have been killed in total by confirmed US drone strikes in Yemen since 2002, with <strong>a further 2,541 to 3,533 killed</strong> by CIA drones in Pakistan.</p></blockquote> <p>That, I would venture to guess, has not been winning hearts and minds. But in general, Obama's speech (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/politics/transcript-of-obamas-speech-on-drone-policy.html?pagewanted=all">transcript here</a>) promised to take the US off the "perpetual war-time footing" it has been on since 9/11, and recognized that our national security apparatus may undermining, and not simply defending, the democracy we claim to love:</p> <blockquote><p>All these issues remind us that the choices we make about war can impact &#8211; in sometimes unintended ways &#8211; the openness and freedom on which our way of life depends. And that is why I intend to engage Congress about the existing Authorization to Use Military Force, or AUMF, to determine how we can continue to fight terrorists without keeping America on a perpetual war-time footing.</p></blockquote> <p>We'll see.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p> <p>A protester/heckler tried to interrupt the speech&#8212;to condemn the Guantanamo facility, the drone strikes, etc.&#8212;but Obama handled it very suavely, and the crowd was happy to clap in order to drown her out. You can see <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/video-anti-drone-protestor-takes-over-obamas-counterterroris">video of that here.</a></p> <p>And this part of the speech, in which he discusses closing the Guantanamo facility, is also worth quoting:</p> <blockquote><p>The glaring exception to this time-tested approach is the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. The original premise for opening GTMO &#8211; that detainees would not be able to challenge their detention &#8211; was found unconstitutional five years ago. In the meantime, GTMO has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law. Our allies won&#8217;t cooperate with us if they think a terrorist will end up at GTMO. During a time of budget cuts, we spend $150 million each year to imprison 166 people &#8211;almost $1 million per prisoner. And the Department of Defense estimates that we must spend another $200 million to keep GTMO open at a time when we are cutting investments in education and research here at home.</p> <p>As President, I have tried to close GTMO. I transferred 67 detainees to other countries before Congress imposed restrictions to effectively prevent us from either transferring detainees to other countries, or imprisoning them in the United States. These restrictions make no sense. After all, under President Bush, some 530 detainees were transferred from GTMO with Congress&#8217;s support. When I ran for President the first time, John McCain supported closing GTMO. No person has ever escaped from one of our super-max or military prisons in the United States. Our courts have convicted hundreds of people for terrorism-related offenses, including some who are more dangerous than most GTMO detainees. Given my Administration&#8217;s relentless pursuit of al Qaeda&#8217;s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened.</p> <p>Today, I once again call on Congress to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers from GTMO.</p></blockquote> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/obama-administration-admits-it-has-used-drones-to-kill-us-citizens#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854686&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> News War http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/obama-administration-admits-it-has-used-drones-to-kill-us-citizens?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16854686&id=comments 34 Thu, 23 May 2013 11:45:11 -0700 The Stranger