Can you say you've been rocking crowds for over twenty years? No? Then you've got nothing on Widespread Panic. more ›

For our second installment of This or That, Radjaw from Mad Rad told us what he thinks of this fair city and its eccentricities. more ›

With a goal of supplying some of the poorest countries with clean water, strong health education, and water irrigation, Water 1st strives to help those less fortunate. However, the organization recognizes that we are a society that craves something unique, which is why they are organizing a festival of sorts. more ›

This weekend, we’re happy to recommend two events that may just enhance your mental and physical health, while helping to connect you with your neighbors one last time before the rain-induced hibernation officially begins. These two events combine three of the city's strengths: local music, community and the great outdoors. more ›

Our own Bill Gates signed a pair of cowboy boots for a silent auction Nebraska's Cattleman's Ball, an annual fundraiser for cancer research. Unfortunately, not much cancer research will get done with the amount Bill's boots are going for at the moment: a measly $1. more ›

SPELL OUT CHARITY: The Jewel Box Theater, located at Belltown mainstay the Rendezvous, will be hosting Buzzword, their first annual spelling bee for adults. Not an actual bee that spells, of course, but the good old-fashioned kind, and it's for charity! All proceeds will benefit Pike Place Market's Medical Clinic, Senior Center, Child Care & Preschool, and the Downtown Food Bank. They will be picking ten teams of three to compete for great prizes and the title of Killer Bee Spelling Champion, which will be decided in the final round on July 28. Who doesn't love to spell, and who doesn't love to give a little back? We know we do. more ›

There may be a scary economic recession, but the Gates Foundation won't be slowing down on their philanthropy this year, according to Bill Gates' first annual nine-page letter to the Foundation supporters at large. "The goal of our foundation is to make investments whose payback to society is very high rather than to pay out the minimum to make the endowment last as long as possible," he writes.

I am impressed by individuals who continue to give generously even in these difficult times. I believe that the wealthy have a responsibility to invest in addressing inequity. This is especially true when the constraints on others are so great. Otherwise, we will come out of the economic downturn in a world that is even more unequal, with greater inequities in health and education, and fewer opportunities for people to improve their lives. There is no reason to accept that, when we know how to make huge gains over the long term.

Sultry indie/alt-country chanteuse Neko Case is debuting "People Got a Lot of Nerve" [mp3], the first single from her forthcoming album Middle Cyclone (out March 3), and as an added bonus, she's raising money for puppies and kitties. (See above PSA.) more ›

Warning: First-person singular follows. more ›

FLEXIBLE MIND, FLEXIBLE BODY: Why not practice some venue-sanctioned yoga in the Northwest Film Forum's lobby before you hit the bars on Saturday? The 1.5 hour class is for all skill levels and ages, and is being held as a fundraiser for the arts center. We think this sounds like a great chance for you to limber up with your neighbors, center your energies at the beginning of the holiday season, and do something supportive for the arts community. more ›

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook by preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks' opponent. more ›

Somehow we missed this on Friday, but better late than never: the P-I published an AP article about college students on food stamps, centering around the UW and Washington's food banks. The gist of the article is that food costs more these days, and tuition certainly hasn't gotten any cheaper, so students are turning to charities and food banks for help with getting enough to eat. more ›

TODAY IS WORLD REFUGEE DAY! The International Rescue Committee is hosting a benefit night of poetry, music, dance and crafts from our local refugee community at the Seattle Center, and John Hilde's Made In China (a documentary about his father's childhood in pre-WWII China) is screening at the NWFF with proceeds going to Mercy Corps' work in the devastated Sichuan province of China. Be a good neighbor and enjoy these artsy celebrations of diversity and tradition! more ›

"What’s exciting about sitting at a resort somewhere? Where’s the living in that?” Travis Arket asks, and sets down his pho chopsticks. Matt Crabtree nods. “Not exciting.” Travis and Matt (pictured) are two of the three members of Team Robot House, a non-profit adventure philanthropy corporation based here in the Seattle area that takes on a few extreme challenges each year to raise money for charities such as Mercy Corps. more ›

If you weren't lucky enough to nab a pair of tickets to an April Eddie Vedder show via Pearl Jam's fan club presale or Ticketmaster's sale last Friday, you're only screwed if you aren't extremely wealthy—and charitable. more ›

This is pretty heartwarming stuff. The NBA asks teams who play against New Orleans to do a little community service while they're there. Teams do, often haphazardly, sending a couple of players along to some pre-selected site. more ›

So that paper Clay Bennett mask didn't score you the costume-contest office pool? Your Lewinsky dress was irredeemably soiled? It's not too early to think Haloween '08. And we've got the coolest outfit idea for you: Jerry Cantrell. The Alice in Chains guitarist/singer will even trade you his threads for a charity donation. more ›

Seattlest confidant/subliterate henchman "Pete the Polak" told us a long stupid story this weekend about how a friend of a friend of his once knew Duff and this credible source claimed that it was he and not Axl who wrote the lyrics for the timeless classic "Paradise City" and that said song was based on Seattle. We immediately called horse shit on this obvious lie, but upon activating a computer we could find no evidence to the contrary. more ›

The first thing Mike Hargrove did after quitting the Mariners? He followed Alan Jackson's advice and bought a Ford truck. Jim Moore of the P-I talked to Hargrove's car salesperson:

Jerry Korum of Korum Ford in Puyallup read that the Hargroves always said when they retired, they would get a red truck, call it "Retired Red," load up their belongings and drive off into the sunset. more ›

What would you do if your salary was suddenly slashed to only $1.1 million??? Fire a bodyguard or two? Heat the pool only to 85? Drink Bollinger instead of Cristal? The mind boggles at the indignity of it all. more ›

No, the Other Theater: The new movies out this weekend are shite, so this is your chance to catch up on the wealth of quality films already in theaters. Babel, Borat, Casino Royale, For Your Consideration, The Fountain, Little Children, Marie Antoinette, The Queen, Stranger Than Fiction, and Volver are all continuing their Seattle runs. Go now before you get back-logged further with the scads of Oscar contenders released later this month. more ›

--Even The Stranger's Brendan Kiley, who knows from killing animals, is surprised that the U.S. Army tortures live pigs as a training exercise. more ›

Fall? No. College football season. We hate it. Specifically, we hate the Cougar/Husky rivalry. Why? Because we don't care. We went to a microscopic liberal arts college in the midwest. But we hear about it anyway. It's easier to avoid Packer-themed jibber-jabber in the shadow of Green Bay than it is to avoid Dawgs and Cougs exchanging antique insults and warmed-over jokes originally told about more interesting teams. We're sick of mass emails sent to... more ›

-20-year-old Mariner Adam Jones makes his major league debut at about 4:07 tonight, batting ninth and playing centerfield. more ›

Torontoist immediately wins our heart by using the word "Jackass" in a headline. In fact, we love their use of it so much that we're going to use it as much as possible throughout this post. For example, it looks like there are Toronto-area jackasses besides those who misuse the sidewalk: look at the crap on sale on Toronto's craigslist. But it looks like Toronto doesn't contain the kind of jackasses who pee in public pools, as the issue never came up when they interviewed the creators of art installations in their public wading pools. more ›

While taking a leisurely stroll through Bellevue’s business district earlier this week, our heads cocked a little to the side when we spotted this strapping young black deer all painted up like the solar system. It seemed like a strange thing to put on the sidewalk outside an abandoned office on 108th Ave NE, but then again, this is Bellevue - a town that has hardly an inkling of the artistic stact of its sister city across the lake (ahem-EMP-cough). more ›

A week ago Friday, Seattlest arrived at work to discover that our '93 Mazda 626's engine was pouring out more white smoke than a '40s film noir. We dropped it off at the nearest repair place and awaited the bad news: we'd sprung a coolant leak and blown a headgasket. At 192,000 miles, the engine had died. more ›

John Bruce "Jack" Thompson is an attorney often cited in the media for his views on the effects of obscenity and violence in popular media. That's cribbed directly out of the Wikipedia entry for him and that same Wikipedia entry contains a large warning that the neutrality of the entry is disputed, which is cool to see in an encyclopedia. Jack Thompson has been hating on popular culture (the neutraility of this post should definitely be disputed) since lawsuits against 2 Live Crew back in the Eighties. Howard Stern, Grand Theft Auto, the list of defendants contains all the usual suspects. more ›

While soccer, hockey and a handful of other second-tier sports have been fighting to get themselves into your living room for over a decade, a few activities have managed to make the jump recently. Witness NASCAR, golf, and poker. Poker! It's on the TV nonstop and while some of us are looking forward to the day it gets its own cable channel (thereby getting the hell off ESPN2) others of us are apparently pretty into it. Regardless, it's World Series of Poker time. more ›