Rachel Flotard is probably best known as the powerful frontwoman for one of Seattle's favorite local rock bands, Visqueen. But she's also the owner of Local 638 records, and a pretty fine solo performer--regardless of what she might tell you. She took some time out of the lead-up to a very busy weekend to tell us about how she connected with this month's Hugo House prompt, and what audience members can expect.
Hugo House and Seattlest: The Lit Series Interview Series with Rachel Flotard
Seattlest Suggests: Boozin' and Ballots with Ghostride the Vote at Moe Bar
We're wonks, but we're also drunks. When we put the two together, you're in for a good time. Join us, won't you?
Comic Enthusiasts Unite: Jet City Comic Show This Weekend Seattle Center
Look, it's another convention for nerds! YAY!
Hole Foods: Get Your Dough On at FROST Doughnut's Open House
Are you a powdered girl, a filling guy, or is cake your thing?
Can't Miss It: Wednesday
Consider this the "civic treasures" edition of our events calendar. All of today's awesome events are brought to you but the fun-makers themselves...the government! But really, with concerts, movies and art, they're actually kind of good at having a good time.
A Lush Porgy and Bess at Seattle Opera
The story of a beggar and a floozy set in a tenement on the South Carolina coast, "Porgy" has been under fire since it was written 75 years ago, with leading African-American actors and singers complaining its use of Gullah dialect and (stereotypical) black low-life characters was racist.
A Different Kind of Block Party: Neighborhood Night Out is Tonight
You don't have to be the President of your Block Watch chapter to enjoy a night in the streets, meeting your neighbors. Come down out of your apartment tonight for a meal among those who live near you.
Can't Miss It: Monday
Our top picks to perk up your Monday? For starters, Architecture in Helsinki is playing at Neumos.
News From the Neighborhood Blogs
- Queen Anne & Magnolia News provide a glimpse into the creepy side of social networking with “Catfish” review.
- Capitol Hill Times shine light on childhood sexual abuse epidemic.
- My Ballard report food bank’s plea to the City Council to prevent proposed budget cuts.
- Fremont Universe want you to “Take Back the Bridge” for suicide prevention.
In Focus: SAM Remix
Remixing SAM! Art, music, drinks, activities, tours, fashion show, variety performances and much more!
In Focus: Washington State BBQ Championship
Beautiful weather and big crowds came down to the market to see some of the area's best dish up BBQ in a cook-off competition!
In Focus: Taste Washington
A look into the two day event with over 200 local wineries and restaurants. Plenty of wine, lots of food, and plenty more wine!
Find Your Weekend Parking Spot...NOW!
SDOT has just sent us a freaking packed list of weekend events that will result in traffic jams, parking space jams, and closed-street jams. Capitol Hill is basically closed to cars starting tonight, and that's not counting the Greenwood Car Show, Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, Children's Ride, or the Sounders game.
Seattle's Tuba Man Killed by Teenage Thugs
In the midst of the Election Day 2008 hullabaloo, we want to take a second to remember Seattle's Tuba Man, Edward McMichael. Robert Jamieson, who did this terrific interview with McMichael last year, brought the horrible news of Tuba Man's death:
On Oct. 25, police say, McMichael, 53, was near a bus stop in the 500 block of Mercer Street when thugs attacked, beating and robbing him after midnight. He was taken to the hospital for head wounds and was home recovering. But he died sometime Sunday or early Monday.Anyone who's been to Qwest Field, KeyArena, Safeco Field, or even McCaw Hall probably had the chance to hear the Tuba Man, who played for the love of it and tips and added an air of festivity to whatever event he was serenading. Hotdog and Friends already misses him, and over on TubeNet people are paying their respects. Even the Slog is choked up.
Hazy Memories of Seattle Urban Golf
By now, you’ve most likely realized that Seattlest loves a little bit of the strange in our daily lives. Between all the off-beat circuses, live movies, and pillow fights, our entertainment tastes obviously run a little bit off center. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that spending a day shooting nine holes of golf around Capitol Hill, in costume, at the bi-annual Seattle Urban Golf was right up our alley.
Can't Miss It: Thursday
ART & TRAUMA: The Center on Contemporary Art in Ballard is kicking off its series of "After Dark" events with Slow Healing—a documentary/multi-media presentation about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have returned from the field with Traumatic Brian Injuri (TBI). There'll be a slideshow at 9 p.m., followed by Butoh dancing and SEA SHOW.
Can't Miss It: Tuesday
RETURN TO THE '80s: The B-52s are playing at the Showbox at the Market tonight. We hope you already have your $50 (!) tickets since the show's sold out. If you're into that kind of '80s thing though, you can get your fill at "I Love the 80s" at Club Noc Noc with DJ Shane. Tonight is sure to be a love-shack bonanza.
Get Your Erin On, Laddy
We're exactly one-quarter Irish, which we think means we need to spend at least 25% of today in bright green clothes, sipping Guinness and eating potatoes and hash. Luckily, there's no shortage of events going on in and around town to satisfy part-Irish like us.
Get Out Tonight: John Osebold @ the Rendezvous
If you're awesome, you don't get SAD, we see. You get BOLD! Awesome's John Osebold [MySpace] is filled with the spirit of the season:
Hello! Happy December. I love this month. I wish I could give you all something this holiday season but I'm not very good with cards or throwing parties.So what he's doing is putting on a holiday show, featuring songs from his newest holiday album, Fly the December Skies, which includes guest vocals from Sean Nelson on "The Start and the End." (Follow the link for a free download, all 50MB!)
Our Godson Is A Great Dancer
On Saturday, we took our godson, his mom and his dad to Baby Loves Disco. Since we don't have a kid of our own and don't have any experience with kid-themed events, 17-month-old Eli agreed to let us interview him about the party.
Stalk of the Town: Dec. 14-16, 2007
Making up for weeks of hibernation and workaholism, Kim will hit the parties this weekend. Tonight, she’ll don her Groucho glasses for a lesbian function at Jabu’s celebrating the births of her two favorite Sagitarii. Saturday, it’s to the War Room for a company party with the missus and her workmates. Finally, she’ll ship off to the sub-tropics on Monday, where she’ll spend what remains of 2007.
Get Out: Help Make a Movie
We have to be honest: We were slightly annoyed when we read the email promoting Seattle School's (of Motel fame) latest event. Anything that calls an organization "insanely exuberant" and says that it is putting on one of the "craziest film events in the history of the city" is trying pretty hard to sound zany and exciting.
Get Out and Sew: Tank Tops to Totes
For the first time in Seattlest's life, we're actually bemoaning the fact that we don't have any tank tops in our closet. Heck, this is probably the first time we've ever thought about not owning a tank top. Not having one puts a serious crimp in our plans to go to Sustainable Capitol Hill's Tank Tops to Totes this Saturday at Stitches on Capitol Hill. (We don't think Sustainable Capitol Hill has a Web site. If they do, we can't find it.)
Get Out Thursday: blahblahblahBANG @ OTB
Those crazy kids at WET have put Ibsen's Hedda Gabler on a crash diet -- the subtitle is "A Pistol Fit in One Act" -- and added what they call "dance and circus vocabulary" to the mix. According to the Weekly,
The show is “movement intense,” says director Jennifer Zeyl; actors can and do literally run up the walls.So it won't be your usual neurotic drawing room drama, where people stand there stiffly and occasionally gesture. Directed by Jennifer Zeyl, the adaptation was written by Matt Starritt, a multi-talented fellow whom we sat next to at a WET performance once and whose existence we can vouch for personally.
Get Out Friday & Saturday: Striking 12 @ CHAC
Maybe the first thing we should tell you about Striking 12 at CHAC -- besides the SAD tie-in, the rave reviews, or the fact that only 600 people in Seattle will have the chance to see it -- is that you can win half-off tickets to it. A limited number of $15 tickets are being held for those who correctly answer the following trivia question:
Name at least one of the bands featured the first year Dick Clark hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.Email Ruth with the correct answer and she'll email you back a password to use to order your $15 tickets (on Brown Paper Tickets).
Get Out December: Hiphop
Okay, friends and neighbors. December is a huge month for local hip-hop, and not just because of Blue Scholars' The Program. This week, Chop Suey's got you covered for Monday and Tuesday with the Parker Brothaz tonight (GMK will be there! We love that guy!) and freestyle master Eyedea & DJ Abilities tomorrow night. Over in Fremont, Nectar's offering Waves of the Mind and Gabriel Teodros/Abyssinian Creole on the 13th (there are nine acts on the bill, as a heads up) and an apparently two-night-long extravaganza featuring One Be Lo and Grayskul (along with some big name producers and djs) on the 15th and 16th.
Get Out Tonight: Good For the Jews @ the Triple Door
Have you outgrown Adam Sandler, yet long for foul-mouthed, self-effacing, Jewish-themed humor? It would be too Borscht-belt to make a yarmulke and dreidl joke here, but we'll leave to your imagination to suppose we did. Tonight at the Triple Door, Good for the Jews rocks the house. Or shtetl. If that's what a shtetl is. Oy!
Get Out: War & Peace @ SIFF
We're not sure how to recommend a 7-hour movie, except to agree with Roger Ebert that it does "take the enormous bulk of Leo Tolstoy's novel and somehow transform it into this great chunk of film without losing control along the way," and to point out that the seven hours includes intermissions. SIFF is showing War & Peace at their McCaw Hall theater in two parts (Part 1: almost 4 hours, with intermission; Part 2: 3 hours with intermission).

