Seattle isn't necessarily known for its Latin flavor, but La Sirena Design Studio brings a touch of spice to the Pacific Northwest. Though owner Jalene Hernandez is temporarily buried in snow in Brooklyn, she moved to Seattle in 1996 and lives in the Fremont area. Her stylish coasters, necklaces, and magnets feature sleek mermaids, cowboys, devils, skulls, and even flowers that lend vibrant color to gray Seattle days. We talked to Jalene about her crafty origins and how she's brought her other design experience into her crafting work. more ›

Ravens & Chimes [myspace] have been artist of the day on Spin, and you've heard them on John in the Morning. Their new album, Reichenbach Falls, "dropped" last month. They are hot. Two Ravens, Abe Pollack and Brittany Anjou, are Seattle types. Pollack went to U Prep, Anjou's a Roosevelt grad. Word! We emailed Pollack some questions, he emailed back answers. 1) How did you end up in Brooklyn? I moved to New York six... more ›

In January of this year, the Weekly's Brian J. Barr described local trio the Cave Singers as "an updated version of the Anthology of American Folk Music. Not the graduate-student, learned interpretations of folk music circa 1962, but folk music approached by way of punk rock. It's sparse, melodic, and simultaneously creepy and alluring, like the widow mourning graveside in Johnny Cash's 'Long Black Veil'." That was enough to get Matador Records interested, who signed the band in May and released their debut album Invitation Songs last month. more ›

A more dismal Northwest football weekend we can hardly remember. more ›

Tomorrow, the biggest, bestest band to ever emerge from Seattle—there, we said it—releases a new concert DVD. You can buy (or Netflix) Immagine in Cornice (Italian for "Picture in a Frame") and watch it in the privacy of your own condo, or—lucky us—catch it big-screen-style at the Metro. more ›

The Pac-10 media pre-season football poll is out--saw it first on the Husky football wonderland that is Bob Condotta's blog--and the Huskies are ninth. USC is a unanimous pick for first. Only Stanford will suck worse than the Huskies, according to the fourth estate. more ›

We randomly checked out the Walkmen and Kaiser Chiefs show at the Showbox last night, mostly in the dark about their work. Although we had seen the Walkmen live once before, we couldnt remember if they had made much of an impression. During the opening, a friend summed up their sound as "like the Strokes except not irritating." That's a good enough summary although we'd swap out the Strokes with Rod Stewart, who Walkmen lead singer Hamilton Leithauser sounds exactly like and if you don't agree then fuck you. more ›

Vegoose 2006 Confirmed Artists: more ›

After kicking our collective asses for four consecutive days, the heat is finally backing down. So pull yourself together. Go outside again -- especially to Capitol Hill this weekend. more ›

The Cougars play at USC this weekend. Wazzu has some talent on offense, and an experienced defense. more ›

One of the most-anticipated, most-discussed and most-watched sporting events of 2005 will be played today. You probably don't know what we're talking about. That's because this event is a soccer match. more ›

When Starbucks announced they were getting into the CD selling business, we were quite pleased with the idea that the local chain could eventually de-throne 'no explicit content' Walmart as the nation's leading seller of music. We decided that we don't really care anymore after Starbucks decided not to sell Bruce Springsteen's latest 'Devils & Dust' since it contains lyrics describing a night with a hooker in the the song 'Reno.' While we are not encouraging (or even discouraging) spending a night with a Nevada prostitute, we do think the song is not especially offensive and that the CD is clearly labeled as having material inappropriate for minors. We think the company is well within its rights to refuse to sell material it finds offensive (perhaps why our human beat-box album never really got distribution there), we think it does further cement Starbucks' reputation as being not especially cool. more ›

The Washington men's basketball team continued their consistent, poised play with a split of two games in Arizona over the weekend. Even Thursday's 92-81 loss to the Arizona Wildcats demonstrated how good this team is. Despite their worst shooting performance of the season, the Huskies stayed close, in a hostile arena, against the 11th-best team in the country. I don't know if there is a phrase to describe the opposite of a Pyrrhic victory, but this was just that, so for now let's call an encouraging defeat a "Husky special." more ›