If there's one thing we're sick of, it's the ignorant attitude every pseudo-populist commentator in Seattle has taken on regarding the SLUT. (And yes, we've had more than our fair share of fun at its expense, replete with lame puns, etc.) But Aimee Curl's report in this week's Seattle Weekly on the City Council's discussions for SLUT expansion leaves us just a little ticked. After characterizing service expansion as "daydreams," Curl gives plenty of space......

We want to know where's the scariest place to live or hang out within Seattle city limits. (Sorry, Skyway and White Center. Check again after annexation.) Recent news stories have pushed several neighborhoods into contention: Rainier Beach: The Safeway parking lot is "plagued by thugs", disgruntled patrons firebomb a video store, and gangs patronize the library. Broadway: From Slog today: "Broadway has turned into a 1st Class GHETTO. Why is nothing being done about it?......

For those of you just tuning in, yesterday we wrote a little piece about the steam pipe that burst in New York. Apparently it pissed a bunch of people off, and we have to concur that actual true (non-sensationalist) details have been slow to trickle in over here. Everything we've read the last couple of days focuses on a "geyser of steam and debris," which seemed like an overblown fearmongering catchphrase at first, but......

Howard Schultz is probably enjoying his first relaxing day in a while today after the Starbucks shareholder's meeting yesterday. At least, he finally had a chance to explain to everyone just what the hell he was talking about with that whole memo thing. You remember the memo--we're talking about the one where he complained that Starbucks had lost its way in the name of growth and had become a cookie cutter retail chain that was......

Windermere Real Estate/Kingston, a Windermere branch in Kitsap County, doesn't think you would. A couple of weeks ago, they fired local burlesque performer Ravenna Black because she spends the occasional evening taking off her clothes to the strains of "Keep On Churnin' Til the Butter Comes." On Monday my broker called me up to ask me, "Are you Ravenna Black?" When I said that I was, he told me that was "incongruous with the......

Blue Door is part confessional crisis, part historical saga -- or part Philip Roth's The Human Stain and part Alex Haley's Roots. It's showing in the smaller Leo K Theatre at the Rep, which features continental seating (no center aisle) and jumpy Rep subscribers. We sat down 10 minutes early and stood up 8 times to let people in and out. Holy crap. Don't let anyone tell you older people are all ruled by......

Despite their utterly forgettable name—“Who are we seeing again?” asked our companion for the third time—Scissors for Lefty give good show. We arrived at Chop Suey last night way early* in time to catch some of the soundcheck before the band played their tight-ass set. And what we heard both times was well put-together: sweet synth lines, catchy guitars, and Brit-leaning hooks up the wazoo. Cribbing from the Strokes one moment and verging into......

NE 52nd Street, University District, Seattle Back when we lived in the periodically-frozen tundra, we dutifully shoveled our sidewalks because, personally, we hated walking across others' snowy sidewalks which subsequently froze over to resemble the desert of Arizona a jagged lunar surface. And after shoveling, the procedure called for sprinkling one's walk with automotive-floorboard-eating, soil-poisoning rock salt to melt any ice. Thankfully, these days there are some less harmful alternatives that will not harm......

Seattlest loves coffee. We would never do anything to hurt coffee and we're pretty sure the feeling is mutual. We were raised up in coffee, like Southerners are raised up in the church. Like most Americans, we're also lazy, cheap, and a sucker for novelty. So when the Safeway on Queen Anne was clearing out its merch during the remodel, we purchased a marked-down Wolfgang Puck Self-Heating Latte. Otherwise known as Ghetto Latte Lite. It's......

Another month, another free Scion-sponsored documentary at the Harvard Exit. This time around (tomorrow night), it's Favela Rising. Favela Rising documents a man and a cultural movement, a city divided, and a Brazilian ghetto (or favela) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and friends, Anderson Sa leaves his drug-dealing days behind him, and instead chooses to lead a social revolution in Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous slum. Through his unique Afro Reggae......

The official word from Starbucks is that they're cool with the Ghetto Latte. "Customization is a fundamental attribute of the Starbucks Experience. We provide condiments to our customers so they can make their drinks to their liking and we appreciate their patronage. We trust our customers to make the choices that are right for them," Starbucks Gossip reports. The Seattle Times also saw fit to comment this week in an editiorial, the point of......

Seattlest must have too much money or something. Or, alternately, no wonder Seattlest doesn't have any money. We can't remember the last latte that was served to us, but there was a time when the espresso and milk flowed like wine. When it finally crossed our mind that we were spending all our Oly money on hot milk, we started ordering Americanos. Then drip. We are not far from, "How much for a handful of......

Tonight is a night of hard choices. Sure, it's more on the scale of where to see Snakes on a Plane then how to replace the viaduct, but it's a hard and important decision nonetheless. That decision? Do you attend the ghetto-fabulous debut of Bootylib at the Baltic Room or the 80s fabulous Prince vs. Michael at Rebar? As Seattlest mentioned last week, the Baltic Room has a new Thursday monthly. Entitled Bootylib, emphasis will......

As with any other Winter Olympiad, perennial favorites took most of the focus. Figure skating (at least the falls were funny), speed skating (had its moments), and the skiing events (*yawn*) received the bulk of NBC's melodramatic coverage, but this year could prove to be the breakout year for Seattlest obsession curling, just added to the Olympic roster in 1998. With the help of some nudity (and some unprecedented US success), the sport managed to......

Tomorrow is the Neumos edition of the Bonni Suval benefit concert series. Suval of the NYC band Fear of Dolls was hit by an alleged drunken motorist outside of Chop Suey in early February and has been in a Seattle hospital since with extensive injuries including a fractured skull, shoulder blade, kneecap, and leg. The bane of musicians and artists around the country--the lack of adequate health insurance-- has compounded Suval's bad situation, and......