Get Out: No, Not Out to See Rick Steves Tonight--Out of the Country. Travel, Dammit.

Rick Steves. The man lives in a pleasant world. The voice, the haircut, the folksy European dinners with friends one after another after the other. Just once we want to flip to PBS in time to see Steves in Friedrichstraße going berserk on a ticketing agent, but it won't happen because the world is his oyster. A friend of Seattlest's is currently on a 5-week Rick Steves tour of Europe, which we love telling people because it invariably inspires good feelings. Really, any situation can be dealt with by referencing Rick Steves. "Hey, get your arm out of my car, gringo!" "My friend is in Italy right now with Rick Steves!" We all want to live like Rick. In fact we've paid him a ton of money to teach us how to live like him. Furthermore, he's a good ambassador. He's not loud, rude or otherwise obnoxious. He's not going to go berserk in a train station or turn up on the news in relation to some bizarre hooker-stabbing incident. Further-furthermore, he just seems like a genuinely good guy. The man lives in a pleasant world, and wouldn't it be nice to inhabit it for a while?

What you may not know is that Rick's getting his war on. He's on the balustrade singing, "Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons!" in the war against this America, and going places and getting to know people is his bayonet. Tonight at Town Hall he's giving a talk entitled "Travel as a Political Act." 7:30pm, $5 at the door.