Vote like your life depends on it

Music

Inbox Jukebox Track of the Day: The Joe Walsh-fronted "Six Strings from Hell" by the Late Paul Allen and the Underthinkers

by Dave Segal • Tuesday at 1:13 pm

Paul Allen could shred, for a billionaire.
Paul Allen could shred, for an oligarch. Julien Michel/Legacy Recordings

Paul Allen and the Underthinkers, "Six Strings from Hell" (Legacy)

[Today's Inbox Jukebox is deviating from its usual reviewing of new releases for a special memorial edition dedicated to Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen—who died yesterday from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 65.]

In 2013, Paul Allen and the Underthinkers released an album titled Everywhere at Once. It features top-tier rockers such as Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders), Joe Walsh (James Gang, Eagles), Ann and Nancy Wilson (Heart), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Ivan Neville (Keith Richards, Dumpstaphunk), and others running through some perfectly adequate blues-rock songs. While no less a personage than Quincy Jones compared Allen's guitar playing to Jimi Hendrix's (oh, Q), I'm not hearing it, frankly. Nevertheless, the billionaire could finesse some impressive riffs and conjure some wrenching tones. The album answers the question, "Can an oligarch play the blues?" in the affirmative, shockingly. (As a bonus, the album's proceeds have gone to fund educational programs at the EMP Museum [now MoPOP], which Allen founded.)

Continue reading »
Film/TV • Animals

Seattle's Rising Dog Population Reveals What the 2006 Sci-Fi Movie Children of Men Got Wrong

by Charles Mudede • Tuesday at 12:45 pm

Children-of-Men.jpg
Children of Men

While scouting for a film I'm soon to shoot, I discovered two things about the new Seattle. One, it's whiter than I initially thought. (Either that or people of color have a weird aversion to the city's many marvelous parks.) Two, Seattle's population of dogs has really exploded. The humans—mostly white, mostly young—here are big into this "man's best friend" business. What is behind this trend? My best guess is that the dogs are filling the growing absence of children. Dogs—and pets in general—are a tech city's children. And this fact reveals something that Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 dystopian sci-fi film Children of Men missed, not only about humans but also about what would happen if our kind of animal became catastrophically infertile.

To better explain the flaw in this otherwise amazing movie, I must introduce you to a baboon, Ahla, who died many years ago in Nambia. Her memory is preserved in the book Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind. Back in the early 1960s, Ahla had a job on a farm. She was a goatherd, and apparently was very good at it. She never failed to direct all of the goats back and forth from the fields, and she rode the larger goats with the pride of a cowboy. (Let us take a moment to picture this goatgirl at dusk.)

Continue reading »
Sponsored

Ghosts, planets and cacti come into alignment at McCaw Hall with PNB’s dark and stormy November program.

The birth of a solar system, featuring a choir of 50+? Got it. Giant platforms used as drums? Got those too. Indie guitar and piano music that – when combined with Alejandro Cerrudo's choreography – is almost guaranteed to make you cry? Got it. Potted succulents as props? You bet. ALL PREMIERE features three new-to-Seattle works from choreographers the world is watching. November 2 – 11 at McCaw Hall.

Buy Tickets!

News

Members of Patriot Prayer Brought Loaded Firearms to Roof Before August Protest

by Alex Zielinski • Tuesday at 12:10 pm

Members of Patriot Prayer at the August 4, 2018 protest.
Members of Patriot Prayer at the August 4, 2018 protest. Kenton Waltz

Originally reported by our sister paper, the Portland Mercury.

Members of Patriot Prayer, a group of right-wing provocateurs from Vancouver, brought a cache of loaded firearms to the top of a parking garage in downtown Portland prior to the group's August 4th protest.

Yesterday, in an afternoon press conference regarding the latest's Patriot Prayer rally, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) Assistant Chief Ryan Lee explained that before the August protest kicked off, officers found a number of people standing on the roof of a parking garage above with loaded guns. The garage was directly above where the afternoon protest was expected to take place.

Continue reading »
Food & Drink • Politics

Soda Companies Donate Another $7.2 Million to Anti-Tax Campaign

by Lester Black • Tuesday at 11:33 am

Soda companies are spending over $20 million trying to stop soda taxes.
Soda companies are spending over $20 million trying to stop soda taxes. Getty Images

Four soda companies dumped another $7.2 million into their anti-soda tax campaign last week, bringing their total investment in the campaign to over $20.2 million.

The corporations made their latest donations last Thursday, after their campaign for I-1634 was dealt a series of major blows. Six of Washington's major newspapers, including the only one that matters, came out in opposition to the initiative.

A new statewide poll released by Crosscut/Elway on Monday, after the soda companies already made their latest donations, showed that only 31 percent of voters supported the initiative, with 51 percent against and 18 percent of voters still undecided.

Continue reading »
Sponsored

A Celebration of Diversity: GeekGirlCon 2018

Join us October 27th & 28th at the Conference Center at the WSCC for GeekGirlCon 2018. Listen, learn, and grow during panels by our Featured Contributors and other spectacular guests from this diverse community.

Passes available now at geekgirlcon.com/passes.

I, Anonymous

Kid-Free? Too Bad For You.

by Anonymous • Tuesday at 10:41 am

anon100318.jpg
STEVEN WEISSMAN

If you don’t want to have kids, that’s cool. I don’t really care how you choose to live your life. I have so many friends who say they don’t want kids because “they like their freedom.” Honestly, I think that’s just sad. Some of you are over 40. Going to bars, eating out, trips whenever—these things probably seem like the pinnacle of your life. But the deep belly laughs my children give me every day and the simple joys I experience through them make all those things you love seem boring and futile. Kids are 100 percent better than adults. I would rather be with them than any sad sack drunks closing down a bar on a Tuesday night. So don’t have kids if you don’t want to, and tell me how much you enjoy your “freedom” in 20 years when you’re officially too old to hit up that dive bar that fills your loneliness right now.

Continue reading »
Savage Love

New Savage Lovecast: A Bipolar Deep Dive With Ellen Forney

by The Stranger • Tuesday at 10:10 am

1532453141-1200x630bb.jpg

New Savage Lovecast! A couple adopted a disturbed dog, hell-bent on destroying their sex life! It jumps on the bed, and barks when they try to get busy, and whimpers, barks and whines when left outside the door. Dan "Dog Whisperer" Savage leaps to the rescue. Speaking of mental illness, Ellen Forney, the brilliant cartoonist behind "Marbles" is back to discuss dating with bipolar disorder, and her new book "Rock Steady." If you are or love someone with bipolar, this is the show for you. Also, you should buy her books immediately.

On the Magnum, Dan chats with a man whose girlfriend suddenly left him with no warning. He came home to discover her packed and gone. Now she wants him back. Should he take her? And, hear the nasty, nasty tale of the pervvy building contractor with a terrible sense of humor and boundary issues!

A snippet:

Continue reading »
Food & Drink

Seattle's Favorite Bartenders Winner: Darci Carlson

by Leilani Polk • Tuesday at 9:40 am

darci.jpg
Kingmon Creative

We had thousands of readers weigh in about their favorite Seattle bartenders in a survey we conducted back in September. Darci Carlson of White Center's Drunky Two Shoes BBQ and Dottie's Double Wide was among the five winners. Find out who else claimed victory—and who came close—in the 2018 edition of The Stranger's Happy Hour guide.

How long have you been bartending?
About 10 years, although I've been working in the restaurant industry in the West Seattle area since I was 17 years old.

What do you love most about your job?
The people—you have to be a people person—and the family you create in the industry. Also, being a performer, being a country singer, I love being onstage, so every night behind the bar, I get to be onstage.

Continue reading »
Resist Trump

A Message From the President of the United States

by Dan Savage • Tuesday at 9:34 am

This president is the most presidential president we've had since Lincoln was president, according to our current president, and here's what our second most presidential president was tweeting out this morning...

presidenthorseface.jpeg

The intended insult—directed at Stormy Daniels—is by definition presidential behavior. (Call it "Conway's Law.") But to be clear: the president—this president—took to Twitter this morning to insult the looks of a porn star (with a Twitter account of her own) that he paid for sex shortly after the birth of his fifth child by his third wife and then paid an additional $130,000 to that same porn star in order to buy her silence about the unprotected sex they'd had in the weeks before the 2016 election and the evangelical right is just fine with this. And then there's the unintended insult, the self-own there at the end, all thanks to the misuse of a comma. Presidential punctuation is as presidential punctuation does.

And, yes, this tweet, like all his others, is no doubt meant to distract us from the corruption, theft, and self-dealing, as well as the destruction of the planet, and I fell for it.

UPDATE: What he said...

Continue reading »
2018

Washington Congressional Candidates Claim Record-Breaking Fundraising Numbers

by Rich Smith • Tuesday at 9:15 am

Theyre raking in the cash.
(L-R) Lisa Brown, Carolyn Long, and Kim Schrier are raking in the cash. Courtesy of the Campaigns

Hoooooooooooooooooolllllyyyyyyyyy shit we've got some Congressional races here in Washington state. The candidates filed their October numbers with the FEC last night, and things are looking on the up-and-up for the Democrats. In the three most highly contested races every Democrat out-raised her Republican opponent last quarter, and two of the three have gained a fundraising advantage overall.

In Washington's 8th Congressional District, Kim Schrier raised more than three times the amount of money last quarter than Republican Dino Rossi—$3.8 million to $1.2 million. Schrier has now overtaken Rossi for the cycle, out-raising him $5.3 million to $4.2 million. She also has 673,00 more dollars in the bank than he does at the moment.

Continue reading »
Tech • Olympia

Facebook Says It's Immune from Washington State Law

by Eli Sanders • Tuesday at 8:42 am

A lawyer for Mark Zuckerbgers company recently told Washington state officials they cant touch Facebook with state transparency law.
A lawyer for Mark Zuckerbger's company recently argued that Washington state election law can't touch Facebook. Alex Wong / Getty Images

On September 19, I filed a formal complaint against Facebook with Washington state election regulators, pointing out that the company has, over several months, failed to provide me with local political ad data that Facebook must disclose under state law.

In response to my complaint, Facebook lawyer Ben Stafford argued last week to state regulators that Facebook has "broad immunity" from Washington law governing online political ads.

Continue reading »
News • Slog AM/PM

Slog AM: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Smiles, Sits, and Thanks The King; Witches Gather to Cast Hex on Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh

by Michael Bell • Tuesday at 8:29 am

Something wicked this way comes!
Something wicked this way comes! Imgorthand/Getty Images

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Saudi Arabia King Salman sat totally casually together and chatted on Tuesday: In every picture of Pompeo in Riyadh he looks the perfect picture of an uncomfortable American tourist. He thanked the king for his “commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation” into the “disappearance” of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Juxtapose whatever Pompeo appears to be doing with Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’s coverage of this topic from Sunday night. Once you see that, it will be no surprise that Trump appears to still be peddling the “rogue killers” narrative.

White House scraps coal bailout: Who could have seen this coming? According to POLITICO, they’ve “shelved the plan amid opposition from the president’s own advisers.” It’s truly a shame someone as over-qualified as Energy Secretary Rick Perry hasn’t been successful in saving Trump’s “beautiful, clean coal.” Word has it that even the plan to alchemically change water into gold has been scrapped as well. Sad time for magic.

Real witches however, are working on sinister hexes: Firstly, I learned today that “coven” is a word for a regular gathering of witches. Secondly, a coven will be getting together at an occult bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, to place a hex on Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Awesome. Maybe you think this is a joke, but even Fox News is scared as shit of these witches. Just let Tucker Carlson show you. (Spoiler—he calls abortions at Planned Parenthood “human sacrifice ritual.")


Continue reading »
News • Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: Dating App for Trumpsters Leaks Data, Paul Allen Is Dead, A Rainless Seattle Week in October

by Nathalie Graham • Monday at 5:49 pm

The new lonely hearts club :/
The new lonely hearts club :/ GEORGE FREY/GETTY

Trump dating app prone to data leaks: Donald Daters, an app for the lovelorn Trumpster in your life, is not doing its job of “Making America Date Again” very well. Mostly, according to Motherboard, the app is “barely functional” and was “unable apparently to locate a single user in New York City identifying as a woman.” It also leaks personal data online. Love is pain, though, right?

Paul Allen is dead: We all knew him to some extent. His name was on our computer science buildings, he ran our favorite movie theater, our favorite sports teams, and that music festival he started was just catching on. Paul Allen passed away at 65 today from complications with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Bye Paul, I’m sorry you won’t get to see the next Star Wars movie. But it’ll probably be bad anyway.

Continue reading »
Music

Wayne Kramer Resurrects an MC5 Classic with Help from Soundgarden and Fugazi

by Dave Segal • Monday at 4:44 pm

That’s Wayne Kramer of MC5 in the center, and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden in the hat.
That’s Wayne Kramer of MC5 in the center, and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden in the hat. CHRIS MCKAY

Not all rock-nostalgia tours are created equal. Some of them are actually good.

Take, for example, Kick Out the Jams: The 50th Anniversary Tour headed by the MC5's Wayne Kramer and a band of younger all-stars (coming to the Showbox on Tuesday, October 16). The rambunctious guitarist and his crack pickup squad are resurrecting one of the most influential debut albums of all time, Kick Out the Jams, a Molotov cocktail of Detroit working-class fury and musical detonations that not only blew out John Lee Hooker and Sun Ra songs, it foreshadowed the blitzkrieg maneuvers of metal and punk. These members of John Sinclair's anti-racist White Panther party not only talked a tough revolution game, they also soundtracked it. (Risking bodily harm and arrest, the MC5 were the only band to perform at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.) Many young rockers still emulate their power moves today.

Continue reading »
The Worst President

Weekday Trumpdate: It's All a "Hoax" Until It's Proven True, at Which Point, Well, "Who Cares?"

by Eli Sanders • Monday at 4:23 pm

Climate change? Itll change back, says Trump.
Climate change? "It'll change back," says Trump. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

• Who killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey? Maybe "rogue killers," says the president.

• And maybe, if it was "rogue killers," the president won't have to follow through on the "severe punishment" he promised if it turned out the Saudi leader ordered Khashoggi's killing.

Continue reading »
Visual Art

This Trippy Light Installation Is Like Being Inside Carl Sagan's Brain

by Jasmyne Keimig • Monday at 3:50 pm

image1.jpeg
Amos Morgan Photography

Of her newest installation, We Are All Made of Light, at MadArt Studio, Seattle-based artist Maja Petric tells me, “The immersive experience emulates a constellation in which every person becomes one among the stars. The natural beauty of the universe is evoked to reveal connections between us and the rest of the world that often stay hidden in the plain sight.” And to think my main motivation for going was just to get really high and look at glittering lights in a dark space.

Though this art exhibit is excellent to experience while baked, it’s also a lot more than that. While it’s easy to feel increasingly disconnected from politics, from the country, from our neighbors, from even ourselves, Petric is looking at the ways in which humans can plug back into our OG bio-cosmic fabric. Using a heady combination of interactive light, spatial sound, and artificial intelligence developed by Mihai Jalobeanu, Petric’s installation creates audiovisual trails of each visitor as they move through the space. As the installation goes on, previous visitors’ trails will mix together as part of the constellation of light that new visitors will encounter, connecting everyone with the past, present and future. Trippy shit.

Continue reading »

Next