Graffiti Rock looks like this and like this: Bruce Illest at Graffiti Rock courtesy of Cameron Collins It doesn't look like this, but we wanted to link to it anyway in the Graffiti Rock spirit of debauchery and bad taste. The Nite Owls, Type, and Billy the Fridge are masters of entertainment; see for yourself at the Sunset tomorrow night. 10 p.m., Saturday // The Sunset, 5433 Ballard Ave NW // $5 // 21+......

A free movie, free booze, and DJ Cide spinning while you socialize beforehand? Say yes to Scion's Route 08, an independent movie series showing in Seattle at the Harvard Exit. Audrey discussed the ins and outs of corporate-sponsored lifestyle marketing events in preview of the last film, Heavy Metal In Baghdad; go read that again so you're spiritually prepared for the onslaught of Scionism, and then RSVP on the Scion website by 5 p.m. tonight......

Elysian has recently started to increase their distribution (Adding the NY market earlier this month), and they have smartly found a way to increase their production without much of a capital investment. They just announced a partnership with New Belgium Brewing, which will allow Elysian to brew batches of their standard lineup on New Belgium's larger brewing system. In return, New Belgium will use the Elysian brewing systems to brew small-batch and experimental beers,......

ART FORUM: Art critic Rachel Kushner has written a novel, Telex From Cuba. It starts out like a painting, which only makes sense, considering. You can read the first chapter, or just head to Elliott Bay tonight and let her read it to you. 7:30 p.m. // Elliott Bay Books // Free YOU'RE SUCH A TEASE: Wanna get your burlesque on, but don't know how to get started? Join the Open Tease tonight at the......

This summer is turning out to be a great one for special beer releases. If you're tired of the same old summer beers, give one of these a try. Deschutes recently released the Black Butte XX, an imperial version of their popular Black Butte Porter that was brewed for their 20th anniversary. It is made with coffee, cocoa nibs (from Theo), and was aged in bourbon oak barrels. This was distributed in limited quantities,......

You Can't Stop Me Now" by Bobby Digital/RZA, or: why we were excited about the show. Seattlest only caught the second half of RZA's performance on Tuesday, thanks to a confusing and upsetting encounter with Showbox SoDo security regarding someone else's can of PBR on the floor. We heard the strains of "Long Time Coming," our favorite track from the just-dropped Digi Snacks, from outside the barn venue while we argued to clear our......

If this was politics, we'd be calling spin all over King 5 for their story "Beer and candy booming in struggling economy." According to the piece, while the rest of us may be making less than usual to be taxed more than ever, folks who make and sell beer and candy are doing just fine, thanks. While we drown our woe in a beer (or three) and gorge ourselves on candy, these businesses enjoy......

photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr user kjten22 This just in: the sun is out! In honor of this rare and auspicious occurance, we think you should cut out of work early for a "doctor appointment," and head to the hill to look at some pretty VW buses. According to the press release: Seattle-based advertising agency Creature has created a fleet of hand-painted 1960s Volkswagen buses as part of the marketing campaign for Pacifico Beer,......

Keg tossing, seasonal brews and kids running around with the adults could only mean one thing - the Washington Brewers Festival is here for 2008. Coming up this weekend at Saint Edwards Park, in Kenmore, WA(North side of Lake Washington), almost 200 beers will be available for your tasting pleasure. The full list is here, but we're most looking forward to the Organic Alder Smoked Coffee Stout by Elliott Bay, Scuttlebutt's 12th Anniversary Scotch......

"Colorful Building" by saul_xavier Another dreary day, another vibrant selection from our ever-evolving Flickr Pool.......

Paul Allen's development of South Lake Union, with at least a dozen new buildings devoted to high-tech enterprises and grandiose plans to become a highrise virtual downtown, extends uphill and eastward to encompass the residential neighborhood known as Cascade. REI built its headquarters here and surrounded it with a lovely garden; the grand old St. Spiridon orthodox church stands guard over a street of new construction. One facade of Alley 24 remains untouched; the......

HUGE AMOUNTS OF CHEESE: The Cheese Festival is upon us! This is one of our top three favorite events of the year (#2: our birthday, #3: Christmas). Several reasons: a city block full of cheese, friendly vendors, wholesale prices on bottles in the wine garden (don't buy the red wine that says "bacon" three times in its description, we made that mistake last year), and (it bears repeating) a city block full of cheese. 10......

Looking for a way to get out and enjoy some beer with the nice weather this weekend? You've probably got it all figured out, but here are a few ideas anyways: University District Street Fair - Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Sunday). Nearly 400 craft and food tents to browse, plus live music and other events. The Big Time Brewery beer tent will be the place to be......

Seattle's beloved brewer of Manny's Pale Ale (and now, the wonderful 9LB Hammer) releases Bob's Brown Ale on this day every year to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House and to honor the memory of their old friend, Bob Hirsch, who died of cancer at age 21. More than seventy bars in the Seattle area will have this 6.3% ABV ale pouring today (Bob's bday). Bob's Brown Ale is big and brown with......

For those of you that like a little funk in your beer, the Brouwer's Cafe Sour Beer Festival kicks off tomorrow. Now, sour beer definitely is not for everyone. Okay, sour beer isn't for most people. Even the hardest of beer geeks likely said, "What the hell was THAT?" after having their first taste of a sour treat. One Seattlest recently described the Russian River Deviation (Bottleworks Anniversary beer) as tasting of human sweat,......

Photo of The Physics by Ryan Lewis. We love some hiphop with our coffee in the morning, and KEXP's John In The Morning obliged us today with a live set from easy-going, hard-working local stars The Physics! You can stream the set and interview on KEXP's website by clicking here and setting the time to 8:07am. What you'll hear: "Brand New Thang", "I Heart Beer", an interview (including some good-natured ribbing about The Physics'......

We do love us some bar food. French fries, burgers (veggie ones anyway), fish 'n' chips. Man, we could live on that stuff and often think of the Albert Brooks comedy Defending Your Life when we allow ourselves to indulge, because he’s told that, while waiting to defend his life, he can do whatever he wants and not worry about the health consequences. We're pretty sure that’s the reason we're hoping the afterlife mirrors that......

CHARITABLE INDULGENCES: If you're not too hungover from tonight's couture cocktails with Jack Mackenroth at Product Runway, something beautiful involving imported beer and fine Scotch is happening in Fremont both tonight and tomorrow: the HopScotch Spring Beer and Scotch Festival. The festival's a benefit for NW Folklife, so think of your purchase of extra tequila tastings as an act of springtime charity. 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Friday, 1 p.m.-12 a.m. Saturday // Fremont Studios, 155 N.......

Thanks to a Steve Inskeep aside this morning, Seattlest was reminded that "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" turned 100 in 2008. If our short-term memory serves, Mr. NPR said the song was first sung a century ago today. The Mariners open a series against your favorite team to hate tonight, in their soon-to-be-history stadium, so no seventh-inning Safeco Liberty Mutual stretch for local fans. But, hey, have a beer and sing it......

All About Beer Magazine recently came out with this list of their idea of the 125 best places in the world to have a beer. There are many worthy places on there for sure. But lists like these won't make everyone entirely happy. Here are a few things that stuck out: 1) Of course, the lack of Seattle/Washington places. Stumbling Monk is awesome, but to have that included as the only Seattle place (barely......

The big news today in the brewing world is that northwest staple Pyramid Brewing will be bought by a Burlington, VT brewery. The deal should not have much of an effect on the consumer here in Seattle, but we will hopefully start getting Magic Hat brews sometime soon. Magic Hat #9 has been a popular pale ale in the Northeast for quite a few years, and it would be a welcome addition to the......

The East Coast got two new toys this month and Seattle didn't get any. We didn't even get a Microsoft/Yahoo buy-out like we were promised. Why can't Seattle get a bike-sharing program of our own, a la Washington, D.C.'s new "SmartBike DC"? Our city has a dedicated (at times, frighteningly dedicated) cadre of bicyclists who will shoot down objections that Seattle's just not bike-friendly. If we can embrace Zipcar, as undoubtedly Seattle has, we......

Unlike the month of March, there aren't a ton of beer festivals/events going on this month (the break was a welcome one). That should give you time to check out a new spot that recently opened up in Ballard called The Dray. This European-style cafe opens up at 9 a.m. for coffee (from Stumptown), and you can stick around like the booze hound you are until 2 a.m. every day for drinks. They've got......

MUSIC: If you're not taking the ferry Friday night to Bremerton's Admiral Theatre to catch Death Cab for Cutie (we understand if you're not, it's a real schlep) and if you don't have tickets to Blitzen Trapper/Fleet Foxes at Neumo's (it's sold out), then my god, what the hell were you planning on doing? How about a trip up to Everett for the Everett Symphony's Tribute to Burt Bacharach. (We agree, Mrs. Hendy, he......

After an unexpected but brief delay, the new BPP—one door down from its previous location—was open for business Thursday night. And Georgetown Brewing was in the house, along with a cask of Chopper's Red.......

For those of you that are info Top Chef, you can check out the full review of last night's episode on Chicagoist. We were excited to see that beer had the spotlight for part of the show, but it was sad to see it was done in such a sell-out, corporate fashion. Check out the embedded clip for the ten-minute Quickfire Challenge (you can forward to the 3:45 mark). The chefs were challenged to......

If you bought any 12oz Sam Adams bottles recently, you might want to take a closer look at them: The Boston Beer Co. issued the recall following what it called routine quality-control inspections that revealed defects in some bottles used at its Cincinnati brewery. The bottles, manufactured by an unnamed third-party supplier, "might cause small bits of glass to break off and possibly fall into the bottle." The potentially affected bottles are easily identified......

With all the talk of hop shortages, expensive malt, and high utility costs, you'd think that now wouldn't be the best time to start a new brewery. In this town, though, beer has never played by the rules, and brewers aren't going to let these problems get in their way. We've seen one brewery close its doors recently (Pacific Rim), but we've already told you about the good news coming out of their demise:......

What fine times we had within your warm, hop-scented confines, BPP. We hated to see your doors shut—one last time—this past Saturday. How we'll rue the absence of our favorite place in West Seattle. Can't wait to see you reopen across the street later this week.......

The recent demise of Seattle's Pacific Rim Brewing comes with a happy ending, at least for Seattle beer drinkers. Local home brewer Alejandro Brown (known as Big Al) is putting the finishing touches on purchasing what remains of Pacific Rim, and plans to have beer rolling out sometime this summer. While Pacific Rim will be missed by many (mainly Rat City IPA for us), it's great to see an avid homebrewer getting a chance......