⢠The Hot Tub Boat is REAL! And it is WONDERFUL! This is relatable to music because... there are little speakers on the Hot Tub Boat! As of right now, there is only one dream vessel available for rent, but word is the inventor is making more ASAP. The rentals will be available year-round so that the people of Seattle can cry a little less about the winter weather, or at least cry their tears into the HOT TUB (boat).
⢠Maura Johnston, music editor at the Village Voice in New York, was let go on September 14 (the same day editor Tony Ortega announced he was also leaving to write a book about Scientology [??!]). Hours after her departure, the VV's music blog regurgitated Seattle Weekly's stupid, racist post "10 Black Pop Stars Who Should Go Country." Johnston later tweeted: "stupid/trolly/ill-informed clickbait is a cancer of this era. you can help stop its spread by not rewarding it for existing." AMEN.
⢠Seattle sound artist, 78 expert, and filmmaker Robert Millis (of experimental-music shape-shifters Climax Golden Twins) will spend nine months in India on a Fulbright scholarship starting in October. His latest film, This World Is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope (out now on DVD via Sublime Frequencies), spotlights Hindu trance ceremonies, street musicians, processions, fireworks, and more from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Millis reportedly is planning to bring back a huge amount of Indian 78s; we don't even want to think about the shipping costs...
⢠Apparently, Chris "Yuck" Brown still has a career, and his fifth album, titled I'm Still Gross (or something like that), was released this summer. An anonymous group in London slapped brilliant stickers on his albums on sale at HMV stores that read "WARNING: Do not buy this album! This man beats women." Fans of Brown, predictably, said things like: "This stuff is so silly 2 me, what r we Rihanna's guardian angel or smthn... She has clearly gotten pass ther ordeal, we r not able 2 judge them so let them live there lives!!!"
⢠The Sunset Electric Building on the corner of 11th and Pine has been a battleground for local artists vs. Poster Giant for years. Things heated up when Grrrl Army (local feminist art collective) and Leigh Stone (Crybaby Studios owner) started painting over Poster Giant's ads as rapidly as they were put up. Last week, the Wolff Company, which owns the property, gave Stone permission to continue "maintaining the poster walls in a responsible manner" during renovations, saying they "appreciate [her] commitment to advancing the local arts/music scene on Capitol Hill." They also said they planned to tell Poster Giant to stop postering there.
⢠Amanda Palmer and her band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, raised $1.2 million with a Kickstarter campaign (how is that even POSSIBLE??) to fund their latest album, Theatre Is Evil. She recently rubbed the internet the wrong way when she announced that during their current tour, they needed horn and string musicians to play with them at every show for the handsome reward of BEER and HUGS. 
