Chicken Legs and All

While so many of the responses to my column last week (which, among other things, was critical of Seattle Weekly editor Michaelangelo Matos' behavior toward some of his writers) can't be printed in the letters section due to confidentiality requests, I'll use a bit of this space to answer the common complaint laid out in the tiny (surprised me even!) amount of negative responses I got. Jessica writes: "What happened to Kathleen Wilson's midyear resolution? How quickly it seems to have been forgotten in a haze of summer amnesia. Here's Kathleen in her own words just a few short weeks ago:." Here she begins quoting the column in which It's My Party was put to rest--re: I didn't feel the need to bitch so much about the local music community--so Some Candy Talking could rise in its place--re: I'm pretty damn happy with all the great bands I get to hear.

Jessica continues: "How soon we forget. I'm no fan of the Weekly, and still think The Stranger's music coverage is the best in the city hands-down, but that last column was downright petty and mean and unnecessary. As Kathleen herself wrote: 'I couldn't be happier with the state of Seattle's music scene these days. Tons of great bands and tons of great people help to make my little world a living paradise.'" Yes, I did write that, but Jessica left out the next sentence of the paragraph from which she quoted, so I'll replace it for her. It continued, "So unless you froth up the unisex toilet with your stinky boy-pee and don't flush, or screw over one of my friends (do it and I promise your filthy underwear will be strung from here to the U.K.), I don't need to devote 600 words of space to bitching each week."

And therein lies the rub, Jessica. For the record, I happened to receive a few congratulatory responses all the way from the U.K. on last week's column, so never let it be said I don't remain true to my word.

Now, what else? Andrew W. K. and crew whooped it up at the Cha Cha following his all-ages show last Wednesday at Graceland, proving once again that the Capitol Hill establishment is where the rock stars go to drink. (Unless, of course, it's the Tuesday after Bumbershoot, but we'll talk about that next week.) Saturday night as I sat at the bar popping NyQuil capsules, and reading the best book ever written by a former bartender, Behind Bars, Joe Syverson of the Terror Sheets shouldered in to tell me that Devil in the Woods (a publication/record label whose motto is "Independent Thought on Independent Music") is interested in putting out the band's next album. If that's so, the Terror Sheets (whose full-length debut, Street Corner Fields, was released on Sad Robot earlier this year) would be in good company, as KaitO, Earlimart, and Fiver got their starts on the DIW label. Regretfully, I can't say I've heard most bands associated with the local Sad Robot label singing its praises, but hey, that's what one-album deals are all about, right?

And who threw the most fun CD release party I've ever attended outside of Manhattan? That would be Anna Oxygen, whose blowout at Nellie's Place Cafe last week was an absolute hoot--lots of fashionable people lounging on outdoor furniture or dancing inside as the friendliest staff in Seattle accommodated everyone, even Hint Hint's Jason "crazy chicken legs" Lajuenesse.

kathleen@thestranger.com