What a great way to close out the summer: Beer, fried food on stick, irritatingly large crowds, great music, and a slight chance of rain (remember last year?). Seattlest loves us some Bumbershoot though, and we wouldn't let some pesky weather ruin our fun. This year looks to be a good one. A couple things we are digging right off the bat are the addition of good bands on the outdoor stages and ditching the Friday festivities before the weekend (we never went on that day anyway). more ›

Bumbershoot sent out an email this morning announcing a bunch of acts for this year's Smaller, Better Festival. There's even more hiphop on the bill with the addition of local act Blue Scholars and Common Market and Brit chick Lady Sovereign (who we're looking forward to seeing with The Streets soon). Area indie rockers Crystal Skulls and Rocky Votolato will be there and to continue the trend of one Brit band for every couple of local acts Badly Drawn Boy is now scheduled. more ›

Seattlest saw three accomplished bands perform at the Paradox last Friday. Even though we were a little out of it from the usual double-shifts at the multiple day jobs, we can still testify that all the usual stuff you've read about the Silversun Pickups, Crystal Skulls and Helio Sequence remains true as of this writing - except all that stuff you've heard about Brian Aubert sounding like Billy Corgan is not actually true; his voice was more original than that and, let's just say, better. The Crystal Skulls earned the Spoon/Smiths/Stereolab comparisions enjoyed previously and Helio Sequence sounded exactly like their label describes them: "...buoyed by swift pop undercurrents, with this collision of electric and organic elements." It was all very accomplished and good, but we weren't feeling it somehow. more ›

Fresh from his quarter-hour of fame as a food blogger, Ronald is preparing a giant Spanish torta for a neighborhood party in Belltown. He plans to stalk chef Kerry Sear's cooking class at Cascadia on Saturday morning. On Sunday, he'll make is way into SoDo territory where wine writer/wine merchant Rich Kinssies promises to roast a pig and pour samples of Spanish reds at The Wine Outlet . We hope it goes well with the all the uneaten torta. more ›

Saturday night offered quite the dilemma for indie rock fans: Should one buy tickets for the KEXP Benefit show at Neumo's or Franz Ferdinand at the Paramount? Luckily, Franz was also playing the following night, which allowed Seattlest to attend both shows and not miss a thing. more ›