Friday's show at Nectar Lounge was a great showcase for both classic and fresh, emerging talents in local hiphop. Alpha P, a gratifyingly professional, unflaggingly high-spirited crew of twelve headlining the show, were working NW underground hiphop in the 90s; the other acts on the bill included Tacoma-based Jay Barz (a raucus party act, himself), pissed-off Neema of Unexpected Arrival, fast-talking Premonition and the bulging vein on his neck, and charismatic story-teller Kublakai--interviewed by......

Pearl Jam’s singer and most frequent songwriter will be releasing a solo album bunch of songs later this year. Without the four guys who, surrounding him, comprise the one band that survived the grunge explosion/implosion and still rocks today. It seems he and Sean Penn think so much alike (politically? Madonna-ly?) that Vedder recorded a near-recordful of songs for Penn’s latest directorial effort, Into the Wild. (Eddie contributed to previous Penn projects I Am Sam......

Yes, yes, the new Seattle Art Museum is a vast architectural improvement over its predecessor. No question. But let's not lose sight of another change that's proved another vast improvement: Pentagram's reworking of SAM's brand identity. Remember the old SAM logo? We didn't. We had to Google it. As soon as we saw it, we a) recognized it, and b) realized why it was completely forgettable. It couldn't scream "refugee from the mid-'80s" any......

This just in: Seattle Rep’s 2007-2008 season in the Bagley Wright Theatre begins with Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, Twelfth Night, followed by a powerful play about the Cuban revolution, The Cook by Eduardo Machado. A new play, The Breach about Hurricane Katrina comes next, then the classic Molière comedy, The Imaginary Invalid, and finally Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney brings his skills to a classic Greek adventure in The Cure at Troy. In the Leo......

A good rule of thumb for playing trivia: When in doubt, go with your first answer. It saves arguing and cuts right through potentially endless cycles of self-doubt. Unfortunately, Tuesday night at the Hopvine, that rule of thumb failed us. Twice. And left our team, I Am Anna Nicole's Babydaddy, in second place. "What philosopher is associated with deconstructionism?" Our gut answered quickly: Baudrillard. Wait a second, said our brain, I think it's Derrida. Our......

Before we get started, a question: the Old Pequliar wants to know if people are interested in a quiz on the day after Christmas. If you'd be likely to show up, or if you usually show up but wouldn't, let us know in the commments so we can report back. Seventeen teams played Seattlest's pub quiz at the Old Pequliar last night. The top three teams took home cash, and the last place team......

Tuesday 17th >>> Beirut at The Croc. This 20-year-old wunderkind from Albuquerque is the latest entrant into Who Wants To Be a Gypsy Rock Star Millionaire? 9pm;$10 >>> The Secret Machines at The Showbox. The sonically huge psych rockers will be performing tonight in the round, each member of the trio on an elevated platform on the venue floor. If nothing else, it's something different. 8pm doors; $14adv/$16dos. All ages Wednesday 18th >>> The......

Tuesday 10th >>> Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at The Showbox, with Architecture in Helsinki and Takka Takka. A KEXP benefit show, playing Tuesday and Wednesday. 8pm; All ages Tuesday, 21+ Wednesday; Sold Out! (Craig's List has some for sale or trade) >>> Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez at The Tractor. alt.country would just be whiney cowboys without Chip Taylor, and the fiddle would just be a pansy cello without Carrie Rodriguez. 8pm; $12......

If the forbidden love of Brokeback Mountain and that innuendo-laden Oscar montage whetted your appetite for homoerotic Westerns, you're in luck. For the next three Thursdays, Three Dollar Bill Cinema proudly presents Tough Love, "a film series on queer desire in the Wild West" at the Northwest Film Forum. The lineup is as follows: Thursday, May 4th, 7 pm: JOHNNY GUITAR (1954)A sell-out when we showed this film years ago. Not surprising when you remember......

When Seattlest arrived at the Crocodile Wednesday night, there were a bunch of people standing outside the venue, desperate for a miracle. A member of our party asked one of the hopeful how much he was willing to spend to get into the show. "I'd pay up to $30," Joe Clueless replied. Laughing, our friend informed this dumb dude that the ticket he had to sell had been purchased off of Craig's List for......

Obviously the streets of the Emerald City will be empty between 1-5pm on Saturday, when the Seahawks play, but what are people doing the rest of the weekend? Seth is going to a UW gymnastics meet tonight, then possibly to lesbian night at the War Room (don't ask--there are wheels within wheels, as Jeeves would say) and to the King Classic high school basketball jamboree at Key Arena Saturday night. Matt Silvie will be checking......

Here they are--our plans for the weekend. Can you do better than this? Oh...you're..you're doing what? Inside the dryer? Ok, you win. Still, check these out. Matt: Wine tasting at Tarragona again, then watching the work of the Bard of Avon (ed.: not sure what this means). Michael V.B.:: Friday evening Michael is off to Greenwood's jolly German bar Prost for happy hour, then back to Capitol Hill for the late show of Terry Gilliam's......

We'd like to alert you to a couple gay-centric blogs out there, and no, we're not talking about the Slog. Seattlest has long considered the Queen City Cruise News' blog to be the authoritative faggy blog in the city and we're sure that they'll continue their great work, but yesterday they posted on the launching of a Seattle Gay News affiliated blog. Our soggy little heart warms just a few degrees every time we see......