Those who headed down to the Showbox for a little Shuggie action last Wednesday got a surprise when they arrived, only to find that the band had canceled. But that's nothing compared to the surprise Shuggie frontman Andrew McKeag got that evening--his beautiful wife, Kim, went into labor, and together they welcomed new daughter Emma into the world. Congratulations!

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Don't you hate stalkers? Loosegroove records is feeling your pain, judging from the incident report filed with the Seattle Police Department on November 8. The report claims that a Berkeley woman--wishing to speak with Eddie Vedder--has been bombarding Loosegroove's voicemail with messages for the Pearl Jam singer and other members of the band, rambling on and on and sounding stinko. Which is exactly why I keep John Doe's private home number safely tucked away at the office, because I just know if I kept it at home, I'd somehow think it was a good idea to call him up some night after I'd had a few too many glasses of wine. I call it Dippy Dialing, and sadly, I've become known for it, as I've never quite gotten it through my head that alcohol and telephones do not mix. But I digress. Anyway, a nice officer contacted the rambling woman (she left her home number on the voicemail, hoping Vedder would find her charming and call her back), and she agreed to stop Dippy Dialing.

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You may have heard about the JAMPAC/ICR/HSUS (Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee, Institute for Consumer Responsibility, Humane Society of the United States, respectively) anti-WTO show, featuring Calvin Johnson, which is taking place on November 28 at Graceland. What you probably don't know is that the show was originally scheduled for the Paramount Theatre, until the FBI demanded the reservation be pulled for "security reasons." This got our man Calvin spitting mad, prompting him to post the following statement on his K Records website: "This little maneuver is a perfect microcosmic example of why the WTO is such a catastrophe. There's no room for debate; those not represented by huge corporate interests are marginalized and overridden, and there is no appeal. The WTO is supra-governmental and international without the humanitarian pretense of an organization like the United Nations. Their goal is the exploitation of the world's labor and resources for the benefit of our corporate overseers. The WTO is dedicated to removing any barriers to that exploitation, purposely undermining any democratic attempts to participate in or control that process, with catastrophic results for our health, the environment, and world labor safety regulations." For those who aren't in the know, Graceland is the new name for the dump that used to be called the Off Ramp, which is a long way to fall from the Paramount.

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Speaking of people getting in other people's beeswax, the town of Redmond is going all Seattle on The Old Firehouse, complaining that the all-ages club and its "smoking teens" are taking a toll on local businesses. Napa Auto Parts owner Howard Berman and his wife complained to an Eastside Journal reporter that they "see cigarette butts thrown all over, and [the smoking teens] double park." Scary!

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Finally, those of you who missed The Stranger's Arena of Brains last week at the Crocodile also missed actor Tim Roth, who was kind enough to introduce the evening's festivities. With Sir Mix-A-Lot and Roth in the house, the star power was so bright I was reaching for my shades.