CHOP SUEY REPORTEDLY BEING EYED FOR PURCHASE BY LA ENTREPRENEURS

Capitol Hill Seattle blog reported on December 8 that Los Angeles club owner Erin Carnes and LA musician Brianna Rettig have designs on buying Capitol Hill club Chop Suey. Carnes currently runs the Escondite in downtown LA with Brian Houck. When contacted to find out what the status of the deal is, Rettig said: "Thank you for your interest. At this moment in time, I have no comment and neither does Erin Carnes or her partner Brian Houck." Chop Suey talent buyer Jodi Ecklund told The Stranger that she's been ordered by her boss "to cease all bookings starting January 20" as well as to cancel all future bookings. "I have no idea if the new owners plan to keep any of the current staff or not," Ecklund said. "My main goal is to get as many people through the doors with our remaining time there. And, additionally, to find work for all of the current staff."

KEXP UNVEILS PLANS FOR NEW HOME, ANNOUNCES OPEN HOUSE AND GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY

Listener-supported Seattle radio station KEXP plans to break ground on its new and bigger Seattle Center location on January 28, with the goal to have it operational by December. The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at the Northwest Rooms of Seattle Center. Also, on January 14, KEXP will host one-hour tours—open to the press and the public from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.—of its current and future premises, dubbed the New Home. (You need to RSVP to ethan@kexp.org to schedule a time.) KEXP's new live room will be able to host 75 standing-room-only spectators, a vast improvement over its current studio. Entry to performances will be free, but KEXP's development communications manager/on-air host Kurt B. Reighley says, "We're still finalizing the ticketing/reservation systems for in-studios, to ensure the smoothest possible experience."

FRENCH PROG LEGENDS MAGMA MAY HIT SEATTLE FOR THEIR 45TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

The Strangerhas learned that plans are afoot for pioneering French prog-rock group Magma to tour North America in 2015 as part of their 45th anniversary celebration. There's talk of both Seattle and Portland dates, most likely in April. Nothing has been confirmed yet, and according to one Seattle talent buyer, Magma's fee is high for a band with a fairly low profile in America. However, as they've never played here, demand would theoretically be strong. Led by powerful, bombastic drummer Christian Vander, Magma essentially created a new genre, Zeuhl, which features an invented language (Kobaïan) and a mythological backstory about humans fleeing Earth for the fictional planet Kobaïa. You can enjoy Magma's music without knowing about any of those elements, especially if you have a high threshold for operatic and steroidal gospel vocals, mad unison chants, complex time signatures, huge and lewd bass throb, late-era–John Coltrane intensity, and a lot more.