While speaking to a group of Pierce County Republicans in February of this year, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert declared that "marriage is between a man and a woman," expressing a stance on gay marriage we haven't seen from him since he proved himself as an anti-gay bigot in Congress. 

What's a little bit wild here is that Reichert went out of his way to provide this homophobic answer, as he delivered the line in the context of a larger transphobic rant spurred by a series of questions from Dawn Land, who ran an unsuccessful campaign to gather signatures to repeal a law that helps stabilize homeless youth and connect them with the care they need to survive.

At the meeting, Land asked how Reichert defines "a woman," and then she asked whether he supports gender-affirming care and allowing trans kids to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity, though she didn't quite use that language. Here's the full video of his chat with the Pierce County Republicans: 

It was kind of by accident that Taha Ebrahimi wrote a book. Especially an illustrated one about trees.

“This is a kismet, happenstance COVID project,” she told me. “Basically, during COVID, I had all this extra time, and I was always interested in trees, but I don’t have any background in illustration or horticulture. I always thought people who knew stuff about plants and trees, those were the people who had authority. I don’t know why! Those Latin names, they just give you this impostorism.”

Pro-Palestine protesters block Sea-Tac airport: At around 3 pm Monday, a group protesting the US-funded genocide in Gaza parked cars along the airport's expressway. Some locked their arms together and sat on the pavement. In response, the airport closed the road, cops hopped on bikes to confront the protesters, and trucks towed away the vehicle blockade as some travelers exited their conveyances to approach the airport on foot, according to footage from KOMO. The road to the airport reopened about three hours later, and police arrested 46 people at the peaceful protest. 

The airport protest happened in concert with demonstrations across the country, including in San Francisco (where they shut down the Golden Gate Bridge) and Chicago (where they blocked a terminal at O'Hare). In a statement, the Seattle group called out politicians for ignoring calls for a "permanent ceasefire" and approving weapons sales to Israel. The Seattle action aimed to hit companies such as Boeing (which builds weapons) and Alaska Airlines (which works with Boeing) in their pocketbooks. "While the full economic important of today's action is yet to be quantified, the blockade will cost the airport money in delayed flights as well as reduced commerce inside the airport," they wrote. An airport spokesperson described flight disruptions as "pretty minimal," according to the Seattle Times, thanks to the slow time of day and to Sea-Tac's rapid response plan. 

TUESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe with Tayi Tibble — 'Thunder Song: Essays'
With just a handful of pages to go in Thunder Song, a series of essays from award-winning Coast Salish author Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe, LaPointe asks her reader, “Are you listening yet?” She breaks the fourth wall, but she isn’t speaking for just herself. With poignant essays that center her own experiences, the Coast Salish landscapes, livelihoods, and people who were lost to colonialism—while unapologetically celebrating those who survive—LaPointe sees herself preventing Indigenous erasure in multigenerational company. She traces the ongoing struggle from Chief Seattle, to her great-grandmother and namesake, Upper Skagit elder Vi taqwšəblu Hilbert, to herself. Read more in our interview with LaPointe here and then see her Tuesday night at Third Place Books Lake Forest Park in conversation with poet Tayi Tibble. STRANGER CONTRIBUTOR ADAM WILLEMS
(Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, free)

Let’s begin with The Six Million Dollar Man. The TV show ran from 1973 to 1978. The star, Lee Majors, played an astronaut who, after his body is damaged in the crash of a test plane/spaceship, is transformed, with the top technology of the day, into a cyborg: part human but mostly wires, circuits, metal gears, and synthetic skin. The operation cost $6 million (roughly equal to $40 million in today’s money). The opening for the show is just mesmerizing.

After the test craft hits the ground and explodes, an off-camera narrator, Oscar Goldman, speaks to the members of a secret government agency with the deepest pockets. He says: “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better… stronger… faster.” At the last word, the show’s theme erupts into accelerating bongos, whirling and blasting horns, and a hard-funk bass line. By the end of the sequence, you are sold. Indeed, the show could never be as good as that opening: Lee Majors’s fast-motion running to a funky beat. It has to be downhill from there. But no matter. All of the garbage in the show had nothing on the music, which was written and produced by one of jazz’s greatest intellectuals, Oliver Nelson.

SPD hired cop knowing his "checkered past:" The cop, Kevin Dave, who struck and killed 23-year-old pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula last year while going 74 miles per hour, had a history of bad behavior and reckless driving when he worked at the Tucson Police Department. The agency fired Dave in 2013. According to PubliCola, Dave was the subject of six investigations while at TPD, including two collisions (one deemed "preventable"), two regarding firearm use, one about filing a police report incorrectly, and one for violating code of conduct standards.

Even more disturbing: Eight months after TPD fired him, officers had a run-in with a likely intoxicated Dave. When he encountered the officers, he sped away in his truck and then stashed it away in an alley. When cops confronted him, he said he hadn't been driving the truck. TPD officers described Dave as "belligerent" during their interaction, and "Dave blamed TPD for his inability to get a job at other police departments," PubliCola reports. The Seattle Police Department later hired Dave with a $15,000 signing bonus contingent upon him staying with the department for three years. Dave killed Kandula "less than two and a half years" into his role. He is still employed with SPD. 

NEW OPENINGS 

M Cozy Fusion Cafe
Lately I've been addicted to the "Tropical Vine" (pandan coconut coffee) from the popular local cafe Coffeeholic House, which has locations in Columbia City, Greenwood, and Bellevue, so I was particularly delighted to hear that the team behind the coffee shop has set their sights on brunch. On Wednesday, co-owners Chen Dien and Trang Cao soft opened M Cozy Fusion Cafe, a new modern Asian fusion brunch spot with comforting dishes like ube mascarpone French toast and pandan waffles with chicken wings. The drink menu includes Vietnamese coffee, espresso, fruity "refreshers," and tea.
University District

Antiquarian Cutie

Talked to you at the 2023 Antiquarian Bookfair, my booth partner gave you my number but you never texted me. I still think about you.

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC

A Night of Latin Music & Art
Did you know that there is a boutique hotel above the Crocodile (cue Lana Del Rey's "Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd")? This week, Hotel Crocodile is back to spotlight Latin artists, performers, and musicians at their monthly art walk showcase. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for music from Gold Chisme, La Mala Noche, Albina Cabrera, Gloomyyy, Bloqueador Solar, Lucia Flores-Wiseman, and ArtnBeats, along with gallery displays, installations, tattooing, and live poetry. Plus, tasty treats will be provided by the Mexican-Italian street food cart That’s-a-Molè! and pop-up panadería Bakescapade. AV
(Hotel Crocodile, Belltown, free)

Last week, the Seattle police union’s tentative collective bargaining agreement showed that the City plans to increase pay by 23% for the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) officers and sergeants. The contract promised no substantial changes to accountability measures for the police department. In fact, rather than adding more accountability measures for officers, the City could even move backwards. 

For instance, to help with morale, Chief of Police Adrian Diaz has started pushing for the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) to allow SPD to investigate its own officers internally on minor complaints through “Supervisor Actions.” The OPA already allows SPD to investigate some policy violations, such as when a cop drove up to 54 miles per hour to a call, hitting speeds the OPA called “likely unreasonable.” We know very little about how the department handled that situation because SPD does not post details about supervisor actions publicly, resulting in less transparent accountability. 

SUV drives over tents: On Tuesday night, an Acura SUV drove onto the sidewalk downtown at Third Avenue and James Street and mowed down the tents pitched there. Luckily, the tents were empty. Police pursued the SUV through downtown but abandoned the chase when they learned no one was in the tents. The SUV returned to the area later and fired a gun multiple times. Police are now looking for the SUV again. What's most disturbing about this incident is the seeming intent to harm unhoused people, which, with several targeted attacks and even a murder of those living on the streets, is seeming like a growing trend in our city. 

Chipotle pays up: The burrito bowl purveyor came under fire for allegedly violating the city's Secure Scheduling and Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinances. Chipotle settled with Seattle's Office of Labor Standards, paying nearly $3 million to more than 1,850 employees over accusations of retaliating against workers who called out sick, not providing the correct sick time accrual rate, retaliating against employees who requested specific schedule changes so as not to conflict with other jobs, and more. 

Unleash the Kraken… Bar & Lounge! (Sorry, had to.)

In March 2023 the beloved pirate-themed punk rock bar closed after more than a decade on the Ave. The building was sold to developers and, at the time, owners Kat Colley, Daniel Colley, and William Knupp were left scrambling to find a new space in a city with increasing rents.

Kat told former Stranger reporter Jas Keimig at the time, “There’s so much development, but they aren’t building things that work for our type of business. Music is supposed to be a big part of Seattle, but there’s no space for it.”

With just a handful of pages to go in Thunder Song, a series of essays from award-winning Coast Salish author Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe, LaPointe asks her reader, “Are you listening yet?”

She breaks the fourth wall, but she isn’t speaking for just herself. With poignant essays that center her own experiences, the Coast Salish landscapes, livelihoods, and people who were lost to colonialism—while unapologetically celebrating those who survive—LaPointe sees herself preventing Indigenous erasure in multigenerational company. She traces the ongoing struggle from Chief Seattle, to her great-grandmother and namesake, Upper Skagit elder Vi taqwšəblu Hilbert, to herself.

Go, get ur freak on—Missy Elliott will embark on her first-ever headline tour this summer with Ciara, Busta Rhymes, and Timbaland. Aerosmith will also walk this way on their Farewell tour and you won’t want to miss a thing! Plus, California-based regional Mexican quintet Fuerza Regida have dropped dates for their Pero No Te Enamores tour. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

Tickets go on sale at 10 am unless otherwise noted.

ON SALE FRIDAY, APRIL 12

MUSIC

49 Winchester
The Showbox (Wed July 31)

Aerosmith: PEACE OUT The Farewell Tour
Climate Pledge Arena (Sun Nov 24)

Air Supply
Marymoor Park (Sun July 14)