True, aerospace reporter Dominic Gates, didn't mention my name in his longish article "Boeing’s long fall, and how it might recover," but he did (fucking finally) mention the negative impact Boeing's decade-long buyback bonanza had on the relationship with labor and, ultimately, the production of planes. Before that article, posted on April 7, there was no mention of buybacks from Gates and other business reporters employed by Seattle Times. The whole matter was, according to their judgment, entirely irrelevant. A lot of hot air. Fanciful even. But five years after the crashes, and during a year (2024) Boeing is facing increasing government and industry-wide scrutiny for a number of high-profile fuck ups, Gates finally got around to saying what I said in 2017:

Boeing’s leaders delivered gushers of cash to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends — $68 billion since 2010, according to Melius Research — rather than investing in future all-new airplanes.

There you have it. And it's coming out because the Seattle Times has nothing to lose. They are kicking a horse that's on the ground. This was not the case in 2017 or 2012. Why? As an industry analyst explained to me in 2019, if the Seattle Times published a negative piece about Boeing, then the then-Chicago-based company would have closed the doors on its reporters. The result? You can find it in this post, which does not mince words: "Seattle Times Systematically Misinformed Readers About Boeing Until It Was Too Late."

A woman’s boyfriend wants her to play with his ass. But she doesn’t know where to begin. Fingers? Tongue? What should she do down there?

A woman keeps getting harassed by men in cars jacking it and watching her creepily. What can she do in these unpleasant moments?

The 2024 election cycle looks very good for Washington State Democrats. 

The party currently boasts sizable majorities in the State Legislature, holding 29 of 49 seats in the state Senate and 58 of 98 seats in the State House. With Donald Trump at the top of the ticket scaring the bejeezus out of normies, and with favorable new political boundaries, Democrats appear poised to increase those majorities. If they defend a few easily defensible seats and win a handful of plausibly winnable seats, they could even secure supermajorities in both chambers. Assuming voters elect a Democratic Governor, which seems probable, Democrats would then have the power to amend the state constitution—provided they all agree on what they’d like to change.

“It’s pretty exciting, heavy stuff to think about what kinds of things might be possible for us,” said state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, who chairs the Washington Senate Democratic Campaign committee. 

Amy Aileen Wood, “Rolling Stops” (Colorfield)

I'm not in the habit of writing about Grammy-winning drummers, but Amy Aileen Wood is a special case. She provided beats and co-production for Fiona Apple's wildly lauded Fetch the Bolt Cutters and has worked with St. Vincent, and now the LA-based musician's branching out as a solo artist with an auspicious debut album, The Heartening (out May 3).

Wood's instrumental arsenal promises interesting results, and she delivers. Besides a drum kit and piano, she plays balafon, kalimba, octobans, many synths (including Buchla and Moog), gamelan strips, gong strips, LinnDrum, and various percussion tools. Her accomplices include Ms. Apple on vocals for three songs, ex-Soul Coughing upright bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and bassist Pete Min, who co-wrote and co-produced The Heartening with Wood.

Morning! Everyone should expect a dreary weather day, with a chance of showers before 10 am, followed by a brief pause, and then another chance of showers after 11 am. On the whole, the National Weather Service says the day will be partly sunny with a high near 53 degrees. No eclipse today, but I hope everyone enjoyed the one yesterday:

TUESDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Laufey
Laufey is single-handedly making vocal jazz cool again. The Icelandic singer-songwriter has garnered the attention of Gen Z with her instrumentally sparse songs about young love in self-discovery. The songs are pithy enough to go viral on TikTok while also traditional enough to play while having dinner with your grandparents. She will stop by to support her sophomore album, Bewitched, alongside singer-songwriter Grace Enger. AV
(Paramount Theatre, Downtown Seattle)

I think there is one thing we can agree on—we love Cherdonna Shinatra. 

If that name escapes you, let me catch you up. Cherdonna is a self-described “movement artist who works in persona.” She’s been a key component of Seattle’s arts and entertainment scene for years—she won a Stranger Genius Award in 2015 and an Artist Trust Fellowship in 2017 and has held successful residencies at the Henry Art Gallery and the Frye Art Museum—and she’s internationally recognized as a profoundly creative solo artist. But over the past year, a health crisis has taken Cherdonna away from the stage. 

Bad eclipse weather: Western Washington may be socked in by clouds when eclipse time rolls around starting at 10:29 am, peaking at 11:29 am, and ending by 12:21 pm, but don't let your FOMO get you down. Cloud-cover is thwarting much of the path of totality's eclipse-viewing, with overcast skies forecasted from "Texas to southern Arkansas and Ohio, northwest Pennsylvania and New York," according to KING 5. The best shot to see the eclipse is in "parts of northern New England and an area from northern Arkansas to central Indiana" where it'll be cloud free. 

Still, you might as well take a peek: I'm going to look toward the sky—or, toward the shadows on the ground—come eclipse time, clouds be damned. If you look at the eclipse, remember to wear eclipse glasses. See? Even the mob wears eclipse glasses:

On Friday, the Seattle police union posted the tentative collective bargaining agreement it struck with the City earlier last week. The agreement, which runs through the end of last year, includes a 23% pay increase for officers and very few changes to accountability measures. Local police accountability advocates have long expected the police union’s new contract to result in a huge payout for cops, but the biggest surprise surrounds how little the City has gotten in return for something that will likely add tens of millions of dollars to its projected $230 million deficit in 2025.

NEW OPENINGS 

Easy Caribbean
This new Caribbean spot, which opened inside the ghost kitchen U District Eats in late March, serves up island favorites like oxtail, jerk pork, fried escovitch, and more.
University District

We go to the movies to watch people get hurt. There is no shame in this; human beings have a built-in urge to witness pain. Whether it’s emotional or physical, we line up at the theater to see our collective trauma made big and loud. 

From Buster Keaton breaking his neck on Sherlock, Jr., to Johnny Knoxville breaking his neck on Jackass Forever, cinema is, down to its bones, an art of violence. Dev Patel seems to know this intuitively. Monkey Man, the British actor’s directorial debut, is a paean to the transformative, spiritual power of cinematic violence. Sopping wet and bathed in crepuscular neon, the film goes hyper-gnarly on human flesh.

I want to make this short. There is no need to make more noise about the matter than is necessary. And you will see why. To begin with, Seattle now has a new right and an old right. Council Member Bob Kettle presents us with an example of the former. Not only does he want more cops, he recently made it clear he wants to keep cars in Pike Place Market. As The Urbanist explained, Kettle wants to “exclude funding for the Pike Place Event Street" from "the next transportation levy." This would basically remove any change (in any direction—pro-car or anti-car) from the table. The result? What already exists (pro-car Pike Place Market) continues as is. Because there is no rational reason to permit cars into the pedestrian-dense street, a street filled with tourists, we must conclude that Kettle's pro-car action is no deeper than the kick one sees when a stimulus is applied to the leg of a dead frog. 

Let's now turn to the Post Alley article, "Is Seattle Growing Too Fast, and Can We Do Anything About That?" It's by David Brewster, one of the most recognizable figures of Seattle's old right.

Here comes Pizza Week!

More than a dozen Seattle-area restaurants are participating in The Stranger's Pizza Week from April 15-21. We've got spots from Northgate to Kirkland to Burien and everywhere in between all slinging slices for just $4 and whole specialty pies for $25!

To name a few: 32 Bar & Grill is offering a lobster pizza, Big Mario's has the OG Ranch (with both ranch and buffalo sauce!), Kobo's serving up a Yuzu Smoked Salmon pie, and Stevie's Famous is slinging slices of CHEESE! with a naturally leavened sourdough crust. Yum!

FRIDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg with Wendy Elisheva Somerson (wes) and Dean Spade
This mask-required reading will center Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg's latest book, For Times Such As These, which "provides a guide for creative ritual, an exploration of anti-Zionist Judaism, and an invitation to embody decolonial, anti-racist, queer practice." Head to Elliott Bay for a reading, discussion, and Shabbat ritual with Rabbi Rosenberg, who will be joined by local word-slingers Wendy Elisheva Somerson, who has written extensively on Palestinian solidarity, Jewish ritual, and somatic trauma healing, and Dean Spade, author of Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law and Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the next). LC
(Elliott Bay Book Company, Capitol Hill, free)