⢠Who do you like best? Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pearl Jam, or The Stranger's blog Slog? Prove it by being a good fan and a good person at the same time! In an epic battle to help teens in need, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pearl Jam, and Slog are combining forces this holiday season to help raise money for Seattle's Orion Center (a safe haven for homeless teens). The internationally famous musicians or semi-widely-read local blog whose fans raise the most money by December 24 will be declared THE WINNER! Read more about this glorious charity challenge on page 17.
⢠At the Nacho Picasso and Avatar Darko show at the Crocodile on Friday, Picasso wore a Voodoo Loungeâera Rolling Stones shirt, taking it off early in the set to reveal the top of his shark (or fish or fox or something) boxers. Darko's boxers appeared to be marijuana-leaf-themed.
⢠This Saturday, December 7, from 6 to 8 p.m., Fantagraphics in Georgetown will be hosting a reading and book signing for Sub Pop cofounder Bruce Pavitt's new book, Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989. You won't want to miss thisâlegendary photographer Charles Petersen will guest DJ, and who knows who else might show up.
⢠The karaoke host at Ballard's Waterwheel Lounge is absolutely lovelyâshe's kind, she's patient, and she packs an impressive catalog full of hard-to-find karaoke numbers. ("Mama Said Knock You Out" is a rare gem, and Roger Miller's "King of the Road" has been a lifelong aspiration of ours.) And the Waterwheel itself is a terrific barâit's welcoming, like the world's coziest double-wide trailer, and the food is surprisingly good. It's just too bad about the weekend crowd. When the place filled up with totally sloshed bros who wanted to honky their way through Afroman last Saturday, we had to flee. And then take a shower.
⢠Shocker! Last Tuesday and Wednesday, left-of-center electronic-music bills packed out the Crocodile and Neumos. Clark, Jon Hopkins, and Nathan Fake weirded up the Croc on November 26 (Clark's abstract-techno set prompted the following text-message-length review: "Most underrated musician out there. Because he doesn't give a shit. He's like the Grumpy Cat of electronic music"), while Nightmares on Wax laid down some blunted, tropical funk at Neumos the next evening. This goes against all conventional wisdom regarding dead weeknights and the poor-to-middling drawing power of challenging electronic music. Let's hope this trend continues.
⢠Rumor has it that Stranger blogger and Emerald City Soul Club DJ Mike Nipperâowner of more than 15,000 pieces of vinylâsat out Black Friday Record Store Day, choosing instead to meditate and take a 12-hour bubble bath. 
