We have a message for 15-year-old us: "You are a fuckface." Because it was 15-year-old us who decided against going to see Dizzy Gillespie at Jazz Alley in February of '92. "I'll just catch him next time around," 15-year-old us thought. There was no next time around. That performance was Gillespie's last--not just in Seattle, but anywhere. Ever since, we're committed to enjoying the elderly legends before they pass. We saw Ray Charles and Cab......

In Slate today, Taylor Clark declared our -Ist-less neighbor to the south "America's indie rock Mecca," then spent several paragraphs dropping names and figuring out why. His conclusion? It's easy to live here. In the words of a friend of mine who used to be the music editor at the local alt-weekly, Portland is like a resort community for indie rockers who spend half the year working themselves ragged on tour. You can venture into......

You know the Earlimart? Seattlest Audrey tells us they're "like Elliott Smith but less dead." Meanwhile, over at the Weekly, Hannah Levin has written this:Alternating vocal duties with songwriting partner Ariana Murray, Espinoza assembles black-hearted, finely drawn melodies, supported grandly by gorgeous swells of orchestral buttressing that mesh beautifully with smart, sometimes painfully insightful lyrics about love, loss, and random acts of human cruelty.See how Audrey says more with less? Ooh, look they have a......

Call Rumsfeld! The United Kingdom is exporting weapons of mass distortion to the U.S.! [Insert laugh-track] Hovering between #7 and #10 on the Sonic Boom Top Seller lists is the debut album, “Everything Is,” by Nine Black Alps. (Easy Street is nearly a week late in posting their list, so who knows what’s going on over there.) Hailing from Manchester, England, Nine Black Alps traveled to Los Angeles to record with producer Rob Schnapf......

We have been spoiled by the decandent amount of sun recently, so we have decided not to go outside until it stops raining. Since we have a cable modem and free time, we would like to point out some free and legal downloads for your listening pleasure. The Bloc Party is a big buzz-y band garnering tons of press, including a blurb in the famed judge of cool, 'Newsweek.' Download a remix of their single......