If you're a local artist with a project in the works, listen up: Sprout is your chance to share your concept with the community and possibly score some funding to boot. The locally-sourced community dinner, which funds an emerging artist project by audience vote, is back for round three. more ›

Last night there was a drive-by shooting in Pioneer Square (at James and 2nd Ave.) in what appears to be another outbreak of gang violence. No one appeared to be hurt, as it was 3 a.m. on the snowiest day of the year and the streets were all but deserted; the only two witnesses are saying the car might have been a VW Passat, which is not very gangsta. We're just saying. Four businesses were hit and the ever-competent SPD gang unit is investigating. As a commenter on the P-I article points out, it's kind of ironic that the mayor starts talking about banning guns from public places while gang violence simultaneously intensifies. Then the commenter starts talking about citizen deputies and vigilantism, thereby losing our initial support. That's not the kind of civilian involvement we need here. more ›

From the Rainier Valley Post: "In less than a week, 75 people have donated more than $3,500 to the children of Rainier Valley neighbor Noemi Lopez, who was stabbed to death by her ex-husband and high-school sweetheart exactly one week ago today." more ›

• West Seattle Blog reports that former Garfield Bulldog, Washington Husky, and current Portland Trailblazer Brandon Roy, will be dedicating a new basketball court at the Delridge Community Center next Wednesday. We remember Roy as one of the tallest kids walking the halls of GHS and it's great to see him succeeding and giving back to the local community.
• Capitol Hill Seattle reports what we noticed aghast yesterday--Dick's on Broadway is closed for construction. Thankfully, there's nothing major to panic about, as they will reopen this Thursday.
• Local blogger Sable, of The Sable Verity is on fire! She posted 25 separate posts yesterday, many of which were about the presidential election and Sarah Palin. Tucked amongst the politics posts, was an insightful personal piece on race, cultural competency, and intentions. Sable seems to be equal parts smart and sassy. Her blog's tag-line reads: "You can disagree, but I’ll still be right." And, for today, we don't have a single word of disagreement.

Tomorrow, Thursday 20th March, would have been Fred Rogers' 80th birthday. In his honor, Family Communications, the non-profit he founded, is asking you to wear your favorite sweater: more ›

This folk-music-related post is about participation, not performance. Shapenote singing (aka Sacred Harp) has been part of American life for well over 250 years, and has been sung in Seattle for 30 or 40. A sizeable group of people will gather in Ballard this weekend, at the Pacific Northwest Sacred Harp Convention, to sing it again. more ›

As an alumnus of Centralia Community College (out of boredom, we took a Latin class there one fall) and former southwest Washington resident, we've been following the flooding thataway with interest. A friend of ours just passed along two emails from K. in Centralia, and they can't be beat for a you-are-there feel that balances some of the apocalyptic news coverage -- let's face it, if nothing terrible happened to you, you aren't news. On... more ›

Seattlest has found a reason for everyone to welcome bicycles on the city's streets. The origins lie in Virgin Vacations' (has anyone asked The Name Inspector to do a write up on Richard Branson's desire to cater to virgins?) naming of the world's 11 most bike-friendly cities. Unfortunately, Seattle didn't make the list (Portland came in at number 2), which uses five criteria created by The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign to judge a community's bike... more ›

True story! The other afternoon we were IMing about some important work-related stuff with our friend Scott G. and he asked if we'd seen Spamalot at the Paramount yet, and and we said, "Nope, you?" and it turned out he had, so he started to tell us about it and we said -- in a flash of brilliance -- "Hey, would you mind if this ended up on Seattlest?" more ›

Actually, there's a little Friday night music from 5-6:30pm in Westlake Plaza, the Latin jazz sound of Sonando. Saturday the music runs from 11am-4:30pm, which is when the results of the sculpture competition get announced. more ›

The Community Theatre is staging performances of three Raymond Carver short stories, What's in Alaska?, Fat and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Centre in West Seattle. Seattlest attended the Friday night performance and can attest that the actors all did a serviceable job of capturing the dramatic awkwardness and tension that fascinated Carver so much. His minimalistic work about shy ordinary people feeling passive and acquiescent doesn't offer aspiring Al Pacino types many opportunities for projectile scene chewing, which is generally a good thing, except for the generally depressing and underwhelming afterglow of wimpy victimhood that envelops you like a bad after taste. more ›

No longer do harried Capitol Hill denizens have to brave the typically non-working escalator to get to Bartell's above the QFC, a block south. A Walgreens is the "Now Open" tenant of the first-floor retail space in the 44-unit apartment complex Broadway Crossing at Broadway and Pine, across the street from Seattle Central Community College. more ›

A meeting was held today between rival Seattle Pride factions and after last year's fancy, new and successful Downtown Pride we assumed that the result of this meeting would be the announcement of this year's fancy, new-ish and (financially) successful Downtown Pride. Despite the money problems that Seattle Out and Proud, the organizers of last year's events, have run into since then--they own Seattle Center a hundred grand--and despite the on-again, off-again stutter steps of this year's events, we were relatively confident that something would be worked out. more ›

After many on again, off again mis-starts Seattle Out and Proud is abdicating responsibility for Pride festivities this year, as expected. more ›

Finally, someone else sees things our way. Like peanut butter and jelly, there has been one natural combination longing to be put together: having a beer and thinking about your favorite insurance company. Thank God Online providers Esurance have stepped up to the plate. Meshing together insurance needs with scenester whoredom, that's right, this year it's the Esurance Capitol Hill Block Party. more ›

THAT STARBUCKS "I WAS A CHILD SOLDIER" GUY: At twelve, Ishmael Beah found himself fleeing rebels, wandering from village to village. At thirteen, he was a soldier in Sierra Leone, hooked on drugs and capable of things he would never have imagined. Now, rehabilitated and living in the U.S., he tells his story in A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, in an attempt to raise awareness of the child soldier phenomenon. more ›

WOMEN & MONEY: Personal finance expert and author, Suze Orman talks about the complicated and dysfunctional relationship that women have with money in her book, Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny. more ›

Tomorrow is fake Viaduct Vote Day, and your meaningless ballots must be postmarked by then. The election is all mail, so you will not have the option to vote at the polls. more ›

When we found that Gorditos was getting out of the lukewarm kitchen that is Queen Anne hill’s restaurant business, we started keeping tabs, via a biweekly stroll, on the eateries closing (and, less frequently, opening) in the neighborhood. That wasn’t often enough. more ›

AIR SUPPLY: Eric Klinenberg’s new book, Fighting for Air, examines how corporate ownership and control of local media has remade American political and cultural life. Klinenberg, a sociology professor at New York University, is interviewed by Michael Fancher, Seattle Times editor-at-large. more ›

LOCAL AUTHOR, LOCAL AUTHOR: Clear Cut Press presents two of its novelists: Matt Briggs' Shoot The Buffalo is about a boy growing up in Snoqualmie during the '70s. Stacey Levine's Frances Johnson, set in a small town in Florida, details the random choices made by the eponymous Ms. Johnson. more ›

Sullivan, 39, has been swimming in Lake Washington every day since June 24. Today will be day 203. more ›

King County Journal has the rundown of which areas are still without power, and when they're likely to get it. more ›

The weather outside will be frightful, but the hoops will be f-ing delightful at Bellevue Community College Saturday for the Les Schwab Hoops Challenge. more ›

Clarence Trent (at right, via Scout.com) is unstoppable in the high post. This is not the only reason that Gig Harbor is destined for a deep run in the state 4A tourney. There's also their skilled post men, Ryan Stanley and Mathias Ward, and a dangerous long-range shooter, Geoff McIntire. But, mostly, it's because Clarence Trent is unstoppable in the high post. more ›

Editor's Note: Earlier this year, Seattlest Clint's favorite coffee shop was shuttered. What followed was a series of indignities that should chill the heart of any coffee-loving Seattleite. By which we mean, any Seattleite. We present Clint's harrowing story in five parts. Here are Parts I, II, III, and IV. more ›

Amy Goodman, host of independent news program Democracy Now!, spoke at a benefit for KAOS and Thurston Community Television last night in Olympia. Seattlest got stuck on the I-5 but got there five minutes before the scheduled event time; Goodman, coming from SeaTac, was not so lucky, and arrived about half an hour late. more ›

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You can't buy tickets for the next Seattle Erotic Art Festival until January -- the show isn't until March -- but there is one thing you can do to get ready: Paint your horny little heart out. SEAF '07 is officially accepting submissions:

The CALL FOR ART is now open. Artists 18+ are invited to submit work that explores the diversity of erotic art - explicit, subtle, unconventional, beautiful, shameless, and beyond - to SEAF's fifth annual Juried Exhibition, Auction, and Festival Store. All media will be considered; art is selected based on quality of execution, originality of subject, and depth of emotion. more ›

It may be one of the subjects the P-I used to deride the City Council lately, but we're happy to see someone paying attention to a form of recreation in this city that doesn't involve fleece, lycra or gortex. Skateboarding exists in the collective mind of the city government - That's a good thing. more ›