Photo by SFist's James Passey SFist reported on this week's California State Supreme Court's ruling that overturned the ban on same-sex marriage.Londonist noted that Boris Johnson – the city's brand-new mayor – continues to polarize opinion, even when announcing obviously good news. Is he a genuine change for the better, or is he just taking credit for his predecessor's ground-work?Philllyist did some celebrity stalking on the set of Owen Wilson's latest, Marley and Me.LAist......

Lo-fi indie pop band Say Hi used to be known as Say Hi to Your Mom. It also used to based in Brooklyn and now it's found in Seattle. Regardless, the man behind the band is Eric Elbogen, who records the songs at home, playing all the instruments, providing most of the vocals (except for the occasional guest artist), and even mixing the tracks his own damn self. His last album (pre-name change), Impeccable......

Seattle locals The Hands released a CD unto the world on Friday and a mere four fifths of Neumos could not contain the crowd that turned out to witness the event. No! Midway through the first opening band's set the velvet curtain was lifted to allow the accumulated dirty rocking masses full access to the Neumos floor. The CD title is The Hands and we haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but it......

Theatre: We often short West Seattle because...well, we forget why, just like we forget they're over there, doing whatever they do in West Seattle. At the moment, though, they're doing Rebecca Gilman's The Sweetest Swing in Baseball and it's made critic Joe Adcock a believer:As a play crafter, Gilman is a wonder. Every scene, every character -- every speech, practically -- contains a surprise. The surprises build to neatly engineered climaxes and conclusions. But......

Brooklyn trio A Place to Bury Strangers bills themselves as "the loudest band in New York," but that's not exactly true. A band's loudness is of course the product of several factors, the volume and intensity assuredly a function of the sound system every night they play, or the sound guy, or the venue itself. So perhaps it's more accurate to describe APtBS as "the effects-pedaliest band in New York" or "the My Bloody......

The American steakhouse--that dimly lit, mahogany-paneled, mafia-chic hideout for fat cats and their trophy molls--you'd think it would never fly in laid-back, egalitarian Seattle. You'd be wrong. Yet another high-end steakhouse, from Atlanta's 25-unit Capital Grille chain, is opening an outpost downtown, just steps from chain rivals Ruth's Chris (New Orleans, 92 units) and Morton's (Chicago, 70 stores), not to mention a couple of locally-owned, downtown standbys, the Met and the Brooklyn. We were invited......

We left it up to Jami Attenberg to pick a spot in a not-so-crowded Bauhaus Coffeehouse this morning, and somehow she managed to find the cavelike area behind and below everything that goes on in a not-so-crowded coffeehouse. Overtired, pre-caffeinated and maybe a little bit getting sick, Attenberg seemed comfortable in the cave. An interview she did with Metblogs on her last book tour indicated that Bauhaus is one of her favorite Seattle haunts,......

Hoo-eee, was Chop Suey's stage packed on Friday night! Promised: Macklemore, Gabriel Teodros, Rajnii, Language Arts, Knowmads, Hella Maze, and DJ Marc Sense. Performed: all of the above, plus XPerience, Khingz, and some group called 2012. Sometimes it can be exhilarating and refreshing to have so many artists jumping on and off stage in one night. In this case, it was confusing and overwhelming, and we hardly know where to start when telling you......

It's safe to assume that Sharon Jones is cooler than you. The current queen of neo-funk/soul grew up in Macon, Georgia and Brooklyn, singing in church before ending up doing session work in the '70s as the anonymous vocals on dance and disco records. Without a solo contract of her own, she left the industry and took odd jobs like corrections officer at Rikers Island and Wells Fargo armored car guard. Fate intervened in......

Seattlest was so tired last night, coming down with a cold we've been coming down with for a couple of weeks now, and hearing rumors of snow. All of this honestly made us just want to curl up under a thick blanket and watch the re-runs of Man Versus Wild that have been backing up on our TiVo. But alas, we had agreed to check out some band from Portland called Casey Neill and......

Sometimes we just want a slice of pizza. Not a pie. Not a square. Not a round. We’re talking a slice – one that you can grab with a hand, fold inward, and then tilt downward to watch the grease drip to the paper plate before you take that precious first bite No forks and knives for us, thanks. We’re doing it New York style. And given our East Coast sensibilities, we know not to......

Thanksgiving doesn't allow for us Seattlesters to partake in our usual rock and roll lifestyles. Instead it's friends and family and mellow times about the house. Our drinking's liable to be more restrained and coordinated with a heavy meal of rich food. (Seattlest Geoff offered some choice beer recommendations earlier this week for those who've got a pit-stop planned on the way to grandmother's house tomorrow.) And according to the weather report, it's going to......

It's been a while since we've heard from The Forms. The Brooklyn four-piece put out their debut album Icarus in 2003 to widespread acclaim, with the Steve Albini-produced work earning an 8.5 from Pitchfork for its "wiry, punchy, indie pop with refreshingly un-hackneyed time-signature games and judiciously placed dissonant chords." And then? Nothing. Till this year, when their cover of "Ignoreland" was included in Stereogum’s fifteenth anniversary tribute to R.E.M.’s Automatic For The People,......

What better time to talk about beer and food than with the holidays coming up? We enjoy wine with a good meal just as much as everyone else, but we hate the perception that beer should not be paired with anything except pizza. Unless you are still drinking that macro crap, you can enjoy beer with a wide variety of food. This Seattlest is currently reading "The Brewmaster's Table", written by Garrett Oliver, the......

Ravens & Chimes [myspace] have been artist of the day on Spin, and you've heard them on John in the Morning. Their new album, Reichenbach Falls, "dropped" last month. They are hot. Two Ravens, Abe Pollack and Brittany Anjou, are Seattle types. Pollack went to U Prep, Anjou's a Roosevelt grad. Word! We emailed Pollack some questions, he emailed back answers. 1) How did you end up in Brooklyn? I moved to New York six......

Industrial Brooklyn? No! In fact, this old building sits between Safeco Field and Qwest Field on Occidental Street. On game days, it's fronted by dozens of vendors and throngs of fans. Future Seattle Mural by SlightlyNorth from the Seattlest Flickr Pool.......

Oh, no, we've got the right Eleanor Friedberger, Ms. Friedberger. We were there. We saw what you were up to. You and your brother, Matthew, correct? The man making like an evil genius on a midway organ. Look, we just have a few questions, we understand you wrote this, these, yes, these are your words?And I did not fail to bust off a nail as the dodge door handle dodges my hand -- delicate, delicate,......

Seattlest feels dirty (not in a good way) after reading the Oxford American's article on indie rock and Seattle. Bill Wasik's piece about indie rock and the blogs and radio stations who love them revolves around Seattle and KEXP. He frames us as the first city of indie rock, which, first of all, doesn't seem right. We have a decent amount of indie-type bands and some clubs and Capitol Hill, but... do you think we're......

Tonight the Elliott Bay Book Co. hosts a trio of writers touring as the "Akashic All-Stars." Akashic is a small literary press based in New York (specifically, Brooklyn--is anything cool left in Manhattan?). Only ten years old, Akashic is a sign of a promising future for American letters. Like the music industry, publishing is being transformed by technology, allowing for smaller firms run by people with both business smarts and passion for what they......

Brooklyn duo Project Jenny, Project Jan heat up the dancefloor through frenetic vocalist Jeremy Haines' lyrical kung-fu and Sammy Rubin's full-flavored, bass-heavy beats chockablock with samples galore. The boys are touring the country, bringing the party to promote their debut full-length XOXOXOXOXO. Expect ridiculous rhymes, the occasional cowbell, and some monster dance moves. Project Jenny, Project Jan are the openers for what's sure to be a great show at Neumo's next Wednesday 10/10 with......

We've been anticipating this show for some time now and it's finally here. Tomorrow night at the Showbox, Brooklyn's The National bring their beautiful brand of brooding, soulful rock fronted by the man with the rich, deep voice, Matt Berninger. Whether you're a fan of their fantastic album, Alligator, or the new (also critically praised), Boxer, you're in for a treat Tuesday night as the band will no doubt draw heavily from both beloved albums.......

Jim Riches, Deputy Chief of the FDNY, is one of the producers of the Urban Legends video that questions the supposedly heroic actions of Mayor Giuliani on 9/11. Jen Carlson recently interviewed him for our sister site in New York. How long have you been in the FDNY? 30 years experience in some of the busiest firehouses in NYC. Which firehouse are you working at now? Assigned to Bureau of Operations as Deputy Chief FDNY.......

It's east meets west tomorrow night at the Crocodile. Come for the psychedelic rock of Brooklyn's The Comas, stay for the indie pop goodness of LA's Great Northern. Both bands released a new album only a few months ago. Pitchfork gave The Coma's Spells a not-so-bad 7.4, and Great Northern's Trading Twilight for Daylight is pretty much your classic California rock album, which is a good thing. Crocodile Cafe // Doors at 9pm // $8......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Last night at the Moore, in a “stars – they’re just like us!” moment, we spotted the sisters of Smoosh as well as Martha Plimpton. Of course, they were just part of the sold-out crowd for the strong double-bill of Grizzly Bear and Feist. At this point, we’ve seen Grizzly Bear approximately nine million (ok, four) times, so we kinda know what to expect: the Brooklyn quartet will seem to be wearing the same......

It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by poop. Finally D.C. contemplated taking Vermont's place as a state and marveled at the GOP lessons learned from the "Macaca Moment." Due to some sad shootings......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

We saw it first in this month's Seattle Sound magazine, but then we misplaced it somewhere, so we grabbed the current Stranger and -- ah, there they are: The stage times for all the performers at this weekend's Sasquatch Festival along with the inevitable, unavoidable conflicts that occur at all festivals. They did a pretty good job of staggering the times, but there are still some "What do we do?!" moments. We know we're going......

Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo, so you already know that any vaguely Mexican destination is going to be filled with jackasses drinking margaritas and acting like idiots over what isn't really Mexican independence day. We're fine with the drunkenness, we're fine with the jackassery, but really, there are much better ways to spend your day and night than in some overly adorned restaurant. Here are three of them, and since we know you're going to......