Results tagged “dc”

Barack Obama has just been sworn in at the 44th President of the United States, if you're wondering why you're the only one in the office. For the snow boots-on-the-ground perspective, our sister site DCist has been live blogging the inauguration in the 27 degree weather. "It's not just about what they're wearing," the commentators on PBS observed a few moments ago, and it's true. Obama actually became president about 5 minutes before he took the oath. You know how the government is about getting things done on time. CHS spent the morning canvassing inauguration parties on our Capitol Hill and snapping photos. If you've got photos to share, drop 'em in our Seattlest Flickr pool.

As was noted after we reported on one parade's cancellation due to low turn-out, it looks like everyone headed over to the MLK Jr. rally at Garfield High School instead of going downtown--Central District News has photos to prove it. Via Rainier Valley Post's new Classifieds section, we found a link to Fresh-Picked-Seattle's list of food-related ways to volunteer on the Day of Service. The B-Town Blog re-posts a thoughtful Obama-themed MLK Jr. essay written just before the election. Most blogs were focused on tomorrow's presidential inauguration, and some--including the Big Blog and Tim Burgess' City View, were reporting from the very crowded ground in D.C.

There was a happy commotion on the real Capitol Hill last night at Broadway and Pike. Naturally it involved Journey. (Thanks to Todd for posting the great video above on YouTube. How about an aerial view, you ask?) Over on the other side of the country, DC got down, too. New York took pictures of itself, Chicago understandably took more, Los Angeles was ready for a close-up, Philly got it on video, San Francisco--well of course San Francisco partied, even Toronto celebrated, while London livebloggged.

Idly we wondered, "Move on up where?" as we listened to Velella Velella shake the Sunset Tavern into percussed splinters of funk. But it seemed better not to ask questions. Velella Velella (named for a jellyfish) are Andrew Means, Michael Burton, Jeremy Hadley, Bethany Petersen, and Johanna Kunin, and we'd been meaning to check them out ever since we ran into Andrew at a party and he knew what Zork was. "Gonna move on up," the chant from "Do Not Fold / Do Not Bend," could be a band mantra. Up tempo, upbeat, they took us up where we belong--their enthusiasm is as infectious as the Santa's sack of hooks they're carrying around. They have a whole two albums out now: their Flight Cub EP and Bay of Biscay LP, but they played until they were short on material. The encore was just one song. Imagine a crowd of white Seattle hipsters wanting more dancetime. It could have gotten ugly, but Velella Velella is not about ugly--they are about a profusion of happy non sequiturs and a rock flute and a bunch of piledriving beats on an recalcitrant iPod. (Andrew was fiddling with it, Jeremy said, "iPods! What are ya gonna do?" and either new member Bethany or new member Johanna piped up with, "Buy a Zune!") If you're into it, you can jump down the rabbit hole of musical sources and influences (Curtis Mayfield, DJ Shadow, Timbaland), but the band's appeal is equally the five live people beaming with sweaty pleasure and the keyboards, bass lines, and that classic Fender sound, all producing a (mostly) irony-free, joy-filled groove that you're an equally sweaty party to. Crazy kids.

When Titans Clash! by earinc

Why can't Seattle get a bike-sharing program of our own, a la Washington, D.C.'s new "SmartBike DC"? Our city has a dedicated (at times, frighteningly dedicated) cadre of bicyclists who will shoot down objections that Seattle's just not bike-friendly. If we can embrace Zipcar, as undoubtedly Seattle has, we should be able to get a "SmartBike Seattle" program up and running successfully in no time.