Elvis impersonators, start your engines: it's almost time for the 2009 Seattle Elvis Invitationals. You have a few weeks still to have your chosen gold sparkly jacket dry-cleaned and to grow the appropriate facial hair, but on January 24th, it's all going down. The prizes for this year's extravaganza at Club Motor are provided by Archie McPhee, Not A Number, and Piecora's Pizza. In honor of Elvis and the Seattle Elvis Invitationals, not to mention Elvis' 74th birthday today, head over to Imeem ("Not YouTube") and groove to our favorite Elvis songs. Then, watch this: more ›

You may or may not have seen the most recent InTouch, page 23 of which featured Katy Perry and Gwen Stefani dressed up as fried eggs over easy and Tori Spelling and family in bee costumes. Surreal, right? Our lunch break was much improved by this trippy sighting. more ›

Straight from the owner's mouth, we have word that Archie McPhee's has found a new home in its old neighborhood. Just a couple of weeks ago, the greatest gag gift store announced its lease was up in the Ballard location and it would be looking for new digs. As of this morning, we know that Archie McPhee's will be re-locating to the NE corner of 45th and Stone Way in the old liquor store, at Wallingford's edge. Archie McPhee's original location was just down Stone Way, so this is somewhat of a neighborhood homecoming for the rubber chicken, bacon everything, and boxing nuns store. more ›

• In the circle we run in, the word/topic/obsession du jour is bacon. It seems everywhere we turn, someone is lauding the delicious versatility of this once-breakfast-only meat. Proving that bacon is not just for breakfast anymore, the Food Network visited Archie McPhees last week to discuss this veritable (and in the case of some of their products, literal) meat candy.
• The Central District News is covering the bane of our existence: cable internet service in the Central District. We were shocked when moving in to the neighborhood three years ago that only one company offered cable set-up and service in the CD...the shady one. Three years later nothing has changed, Comcast still won't serve the CD, and our internet service and cable connection is as flickering and inconsistent as ever.
• Seattle is still the best place to have a heart attack, and as our first aid teacher often told us, the worst place to just faint. Ready for some unnecessary, rib-breaking CPR?

• MyBallard has the exclusive: the beloved Archie McPhee's is leaving Ballard.
• While normally a sentence with puppies can be nothing but delightful, Lights & Sirens managed to write one that is the absolute opposite: "Parkland man who was mauled by puppies dies."
• Coyotes are not your cat's friend. Sadly, Capitol Hill Seattle has reported the death of another adored pet by coyotes on the hill to remind us.

• Those fellows from the Deadliest Catch are quite the local celebrities. (Take that, Steve Pool!) Folks lined up to meet Captain Phil from Deadliest Catch in West Seattle on Sunday.
• The Phinney Neighborhood Association has moved up from renters to property owners...tentatively. After 27 years of renting the old John B. Allen Elementary School on Phinney Avenue, they've reached an agreement with the Seattle Public School District to buy the building.
• Capitol Hill Seattle is looking for some new mnemonics for Seattle streets. Since "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest" is only memorable when I don't need to remember it...we'll see how useful the new mnemonics are, but is a fun Monday morning distraction.

Sub Pop wasn't the only iconic local business to celebrate a big anniversary this week. Archie McPhee's—the one-stop shop for all things rubber chicken, bacon, and fun-related—celebrated 25 years of business yesterday. The quintessential Seattle store marked the occasion with a sidewalk sale and a serenade from a few of Seattle's own Rat City Roller Girls. Here's to another 25 years of devil duckies, wind-up librarians, yodeling pickles, and whatever wonderful impish toys those crazy kids come up with next. We hope it's just as successful and fun as the first 25. more ›

FREE BALLARD DAY: It's been over a century, but maybe today's the day that Ballard will finally secede from the city. Stranger things have happened. Anyway, in celebration of Free Ballard Day, the fine folks at Archie McPhee will be giving a free gift to anyone who enters their store saying the secret word: "lutefisk." They'd also like you to know that you'll get a free gift if you spend more than $25. So go get your free remote-controlled yodeling pickle. (We can't guarantee that your free gift will be a remote-controlled yodeling pickle. It's just our favorite thing at Archie McPhee, and we couldn't resist giving it a shout out.) more ›

Seattlest just received a disheartening email from the beloved Seattle toy store and misfit haven, Archie McPhee's. We have to admit, few sentences have struck more fear or sadness in our heart than the following: "If Governor Gregoire allows this bill to become law, Archie McPhee will have to close." more ›

The last time we told you about Bacon Mints, Archie McPhee's attempt to test the notion that everything tastes better with bacon, we quoted someone who worked there. "Disturbingly delicious," they declared. more ›