Standing outside Neumo's Wednesday night, a friend of ours started ruminating on his recent house-hunting experience in the Central District: All the new places being advertised, he said, were townhouse style units with garages below them. The effect reminded him of frontier forts, with their wooden walls separating them from the wilderness. How exactly our conversation led from Vampire Weekend's concert inside to this is a little hazy, but it nevertheless summarizes the band pretty well: Much like those urban fortresses in the CD that keep their residents safely above street level, Vampire Weekend, notwithstanding their tightness and pop transcultural experimentation, is also about making black people's stuff safe for white people. more ›

Alright, since the debate over Buju Banton won't stop at The Stranger and has in fact infected the P-I as well, and since Seattlest has been named both generally ("other city bloggers") and specifically ("Seattlest") as a contributor to the cancellation of the Buju show at Neumo's, perhaps we should say something. more ›

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This guy, Buju Banton, is going to stand up on the Neumo's stage on Wednesday and play a song called "Boom Bye Bye." "Boom Bye Bye," in the context of the song, is meant to convey the fact that Buju has just shot a fag in the head and is bidding him adieu. It seems like an odd booking choice for Neumo's, because the club is located in the heart of Capitol Hill - a mere block from the Wild Rose, which just a post or so ago was credited for helping make Seattle one of the most lesbian-friendly cities in the world - and this is the year 2006, although the song is from way back in the year 1992, when apparently shooting fags was an ok thing to talk about in a pop song. If you happen to be near Neumo's on Wednesday when people are going in or coming out, remember they're there to hear lyrics like the ones below, and maybe you should say to them, hey, shooting gays in the head is stupid. more ›