Four years ago, George W. Bush had a crappy approval rating, the Democrats and youth of our country promised vote-inducing change, and Pearl Jam took part in a swing state tour to encourage people to act democratic. Four years later, there's no Bush on the ticket and no tour. But there is a documentary of Pearl Jam's unfortunately futile 2004 efforts; the band has released the first three parts on their official site, and will post the finale, fittingly, on Election Day. And those of you with tickets to tonight's Showbox-hosted, sold-out Get Out the Vote event will be treated to the full-length premiere of Pearl Jam: Vote for Change? 2004. Watch. Listen. Get thee to a polling place. more ›

POLITICS JUNKIE: The jury's still out on whether or not McCain is going to display how capable he is of handling politics and governing at the same time (i.e. the job of the president) by showing up for tonight's debate in Mississippi. But, the Presidential Debate Commission will be there, a giant pool of reporters will be there, and his opponent Barack Obama will be there ready and willing to turn the whole thing into a town hall meeting if that's what has to happen. Oh, the drama of the whole thing! Tune in at your own home, at your friends' houses, or at a number of locations around town that will be holding watch parties. (UPDATE: McCain has decided to show up, after all. We'll refrain from commenting and leave that all up to you.) more ›

The thing that can make improv comedy so fun is that you never know what you're going to get, and neither do the artists performing in the show. There was enough funny in Election Show that we're willing to imagine that some nights are far better than others. Clearly these folks are good at what they do—they never committed the cardinal sin of breaking character, among other things—but, when all was said and done, our overall feeling about the whole thing was "Eh." more ›

It ain't easy being Scott McClellan. He's considered a traitor, snitch, and turncoat by the right, while the left decries him for not blowing the whistle sooner—either way, he's not getting many Christmas cards this year. more ›

The House gave final approval to the bill last month. It designates 167 square miles in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest north of Sultan, Wash., as federal wilderness, the government's highest level of protection. more ›

Last month, four-fifths of Pearl Jam touted their own Obama-song, unofficially signaling the band's endorsement of the (delegate) leading Democrat. Unofficially, because Eddie Vedder wasn't involved. Then Ralph Nader—Eddie's favorite former candidate—joined the presidential race. Would the frontman split from his bandmates or maintain political solidarity? more ›

There are a lot of things we can see being seized at the border between Canada and the United States: handguns with the serial number filed off, bricks of heroin, briefcases with the radioactivity sign on the side. Hard drives we'd expect to make it through, but unfortunately we'd be wrong. The guy bringing the masters of the songs Chris Walla recorded in Vancouver back down to Seattle had the drive containing them yanked by Homeland Security. more ›

We'd be there, but the man's keepin us down. Damn him. The man, that is. Damn the man. more ›

Pearl Jam capped off this year’s three-day Lollapalooza blowout on August 5, and as anyone who knows much about the band might expect, singer Eddie Vedder badmouthed Big Government (Mr. Bush) and Big Business (BP Amoco) on stage. If you weren’t lucky enough to be there (as we weren’t), but caught AT&T’s “live” Blue Room webcast of the band’s performance, you missed some of Eddie’s poli-sci jabs because they were strategically removed. more ›

involved with this competition. But no, Seattle. You had to flash those bedroom eyes of yours, do your best (a.k.a. worst) James Brown-ish dancing. You had to beatbox and reach your hand out at the camera like you're beckoning one of those teenage girls to come hither. more ›

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Remember last week when it was sunny and crystal clear outside? The skies were blue, and we could make out mountain trails on the Cascades. In the evening when the sun set behind the Olympics and Mt. Rainer was glowing in the pink light, we wondered if there was a more beautiful place to live. more ›

that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. more ›

Hip-hop is ruled by ego. Whether it's the ego of an MC, that of a DJ, or a combination of the two, hip-hop is dominated by superlatives. Descriptions of being the biggest, baddest, and richest are the typical trappings of mainstream hip-hop, which is nothing new. The underground scene has its own failings, focused instead on being "realest," clamoring to fit as many syllables as possible into every bar. In both cases, the result is staid, tired output, dominated more by formula than feeling. After the lackluster Boot Camp Clik show a few weeks ago, Seattlest has been lucky enough to see the more desired portion of Sturgeon's Revelation the last few days, with MCs unafraid to be more than lyrical automata. more ›

Sixteen years ago today Randy Johnson threw the first no-hitter in Mariners history. The 6'10'' lefthander scattered 6 walks in the 2-0 victory over Detroit. more ›

All of the attention this weekend is on the Super Bowl, but really, who cares? There's a feigned hometown pride, but really, for most of the players in the professional ranks, they're going to play for whoever pays them the big bucks. George Bush may claim to care about black people, and the Seahawks may claim to care about Seattle, but let's wait and see what happens when it's time for contract negotiations. more ›

When accounts of George Bush's apparent endorsement of "Intelligent Design" hit the media a while back Seattlest saw it as the president's way of boosting the result count for a google search of "bush intelligent". Soon after, though, our jaw slackened and we began staring through a poster on the wall and into the middle distance. Our tools have been getting progressively cruder since then, and ooooOO! OOoo-Oooo Ahhhh! more ›