Results tagged “industry”

The other day—which is Seattlest-speak for "about two weeks ago"—the Port of Seattle offered the third in their series of Port 101 tours. This one sailed from Pier 66 down the Duwamish Waterway. The , of course, is that lower portion of the Duwamish River that has been straightened, channelized, and dredged into a human-made representation of its former self. But evidence of the past remains. If you take a close look at the street plat of the Georgetown area, you'll see swaths where, illogically it seems, there are no streets. This is where the river flowed.

It's safe to assume that Sharon Jones is cooler than you. The current queen of neo-funk/soul grew up in Macon, Georgia and Brooklyn, singing in church before ending up doing session work in the '70s as the anonymous vocals on dance and disco records. Without a solo contract of her own, she left the industry and took odd jobs like corrections officer at Rikers Island and Wells Fargo armored car guard.

's lead real estate reporter--writes an article about the state of the national housing market once a month when the industry standard Case-Shiller numbers are released. The Case-Shiller index (from S&P) tracks the changes in home prices for 20 US metropolitan areas each month as compared to a year prior and is the benchmark index for real estate performance.

Despite what you may have heard the past few days--scuttlebutt about the sale of the Showbox Market and subsequent consolidation of venues at the SoDo location--it turns out that the original (and best) Showbox is staying right where it is, thankyouverymuch. Says Chad Queirolo, Talent Buyer/Manager for both Showboxes: It used to be once a year an especially virulent rumor that the Showbox lease would end in March. This has been happening for at...

Braiden Rex-Johnson's new book, Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining, is a fine complement to Kurt Dammeier's Pure Flavor (reviewed by Seattlest back in August). Affectionate portraits of leading players: wine makers Bob Betz Kay Simon, Harry McWatters; unique restaurants, cooking techniques, recipes. Rex-Johnson, a familiar name whose previous books include the iconic Pike Place Market Cookbook, writes a food & wine column for Wine Press Northwest and served as food editor at Seattle Homes & Lifestyles.

Last we talked with Carrie Akre, she was gearing up for the release of her latest CD, Last the Evening. Now, a couple of months later, the CD is officially out, and Akre is buzzing from the aftermath. Indeed, most of us music critic types have had nice things to say about the disc, which showcases her exuberant, imagery-laden lyrics and alt.country sensibilities, and shows off the great musicianship of her backup players. We...

Enough. It's Bacon Salt Backlash time. Seattlest got in our car to drive home last night and Bacon Salt came on the radio. We opened up the newspaper yesterday and Bacon Salt. Bacon Salt, Bacon Salt, Bacon Salt.

Towards the very end of last night's People Talking and Singing, as the clock ticked past 10:00 and John Roderick announced he'd play another song and take a few requests from the audience, our butts chimed in: "Hey, this is starting to go on a little long."

Meanwhile, over on the New York Attorney General's site, Andrew Cuomo is impersonating a pitbull, if pitbulls knew how to file subpoenas:

“In order to fulfill their duty to consumers and investors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must ensure that Washington Mutual’s mortgages have not been corrupted by inflated appraisals,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Our expanding investigation into the mortgage industry has uncovered that Washington Mutual improperly pressured appraisers to provide inflated values that best served the lender’s interest. Knowing this, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cannot afford to continue buying Washington Mutual mortgages unless they are sure these loans are based on reliable and independent appraisals.”

Even that movie voice-over guy will be unemployed. You have heard of this impending strike, have you not? It may seem unrelated to you, the sad inner workings of Hollywood, but in truth, if you are someone who ever turns on their TV, if 8pm every day marks your celebration in the church of Stewart-Colbert, you best care.

Did you know that there's only one credible real-estate industry voice in Seattle? It's a marketing firm in town that works with real estate developers. We've learned this from reading Aubrey Cohen's real estate reporting in the Seattle P-I. Here's a search on articles containing the exact phrase "Williams Marketing" -- they're quoted in at least one article per month since last November. (Who are the schmoes paying the P-I for ads when there's so much free ink available?)

Seattle is now one of the lucky few markets in the US to be getting beer from Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey in southern California. If you have not yet tried any of their beer, you have no idea how lucky we are....If you have tried their beer, there is a good chance you are likely rushing out your door to the nearest bottle shop right now.

Local filmmaker, occasional pub trivia host, and friend of Seattlest Dom Zook blogged on September 19 that he's moving to LA.

I’ve been a stalwart Seattle fan for most of my adult life. I love this town, even though some of the people who govern it are slightly “challenged”. I love making movies in this town… but I think I’ve gone in depth about my issues here. Many have wondered why I’ve stayed so long in a town that’s only moderately supportive of its filmmakers. Why I’ve stayed in a town where actual, paying film gigs are about as scarce as tumbleweeds on Pike St. Why I’ve stayed for nearly five years at a job that’s been both good and bad to me just so I could make movies in this town.

If you scroll back through the last couple of years’ worth of posts you’ll see the trials and tribulations. I did it all. Cast negotiations, legal paperwork, business plans, investor talks, budget write-ups, etc. And frankly I had a great plan with a fantastic script (written by Faye Hoerauf and Jessica Baxter) and I knew it would be a hit. Modest hit, maybe, but a hit. Unfortunately no one was buying. No one of influence believed the script would go far. Despite at least one major name in the cast and several more just waiting for an investor to come forward, despite several awards for the script alone, despite a rock-solid business plan with proven talent (and I’m not even talking about me, Faye or Jessica here!), we were denied.

Continue reading "Another Local Filmmaker Heads to Los Angeles"

In December 1992, Kurt Cobain and rock journalist Michael Azerrad began a series of interviews that would eventually become the beating heart of Azerrad's band biography, Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. For that project, Azerrad recorded over 25 hours of the rock star's musings and reflections, but until pairing with director AJ Schnack to make Kurt Cobain About a Son, had never released the tapes' contents to the public. This film, then, playing at the Varsity for just one week, is a gift to Nirvana fans, the Kurt-curious and grunge scholars everywhere.

The trio of authors Akashic's showcasing includes the novelists Felicia Luna Lemus and Joe Meno, neither of whom we've read and therefore can't comment on. But trust us--it's worth going for Chris Abani alone. An exiled Nigerian playwright and novelist, Abani was such a thorn in the military regime's side that they even tried to assassinate him in London (prompting his move to the US, where he currently teaches at UCLA).

Rockstar Seattlest commenter (ex; you're dead to us, Jake) 8bitjake had the scoop earlier this week for those that were paying attention. He got an email from a friend at the Eastside game studio Bungie:

We don't mean to steal Mary's thunder; however, her photograph moved us to write down some of the thoughts we've been having about the Ballard Denny's closure. We knew it was coming; however, just like the presence of vampires in Sunnydale, we didn't actually want to think about it. The light, the clouds, the darkness of the trees, and the Shell sign way in the distance all punctuate the loneliness of the now-derelict sign.

With all the great films finally starting to hit the mainstream theaters, it's certainly the most wonderful time of the film year™. But don't forget your local indie moviehouse, as the NWFF kicks off their 10th annual Northwest film fest, Local Sightings:

So, you think you have been to a beer festival before? Maybe you went to Fremont Oktoberfest , or maybe you even went to the Seattle International Beer Fest this summer. If you really want to go to a beer festival, get yourself to Denver in 10 days.

Man, if the EU court that stuck it to Microsoft this weekend and Mr. and Mrs. Slowsky were in a race it would probably go off the board for betters. It's. Taking. For. Ever. The crime is Microsoft shutting out competitors by bundling Windows Media Player with Windows, which, to us at least, seems like an ancient issue. What are they going to go after Microsoft for next? Attaching round wheels to an axle? We were all about this issue when it was browsers that were being shut out of Microsoft operating systems, but for some reason we can't get all that excited about media players. Real Player? QuickTime? Fuck 'em. More troubling to us are the protocols that Microsoft has refused to open. Standards; there is a point to it, after all.

This morning, reported on inaccuracies in its article from a week age today on elements of the sting operation, including the disputed claim that a gun made it into Tommy's on the Ave after a bouncer was offered a $100 bribe. Jush Feit over at the Slog tore them a new one for getting info wrong again, particularly on the point about violence.

Overheard at Seattlest HQ: "I can see how the guy might have a case, but it's pretty common knowledge in the industry that you don't fucking sell AutoCAD on your own -- at least not on obvious places like eBay."

We're living in the town that Microsoft Office built, and all in all it's not too shabby. Every once in a while we're struck by something and think, "wow, someone paid upwards of $300 for a graphical representation of a talking paper clip and we used the money to build this..." But generally it's been a pretty good deal for Seattle. Time marches on, though, and what was once the raison d'etre for personal computers becomes just another bloated piece of virus-propagation ware choking up the system drive and gathering dust. The web browser is now the first thing we open in the morning and the last program to close at night, with fewer and fewer between. Google Apps represent the future where browser is the computer. Good thing there's no such beast as Google Apps Enterprise Edition... Doh!

Last week was a bad one for pioneers and philosophers of our favorite beverages. On Thursday, beer (and liquor) guru Michael Jackson passed away at 65. A day earlier, Alfred Peet, founder of Peet’s Coffee, died in his Ashland, Oregon home. He was 87.

Dogfish Head (DFH) has been a rock for the craft brewing industry for years. Never afraid to go out on a limb and try something different, DFH offers a variety of adventurous beers.

Quick, someone come up with a word for the blog you write in order to get the last word in after quitting a job. We're not even going to attempt it because we suck at that sort of thing and there's no need to burn a stick of embarrassment in here.

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When entertainment giant AEG Live announced plans to create a new and innovative music venue inside Quest Field Events Center, we imagine a big to do with all the local press in a large room packed with music lovers on one side and bankers on the other. Wonder which side was clapping more wildly...

Neither making the NFL Hall of Fame as a fourth-round pick or crushing Mike Harden could've prepared Seahawks legend Steve Largent for the opponent he faces now: Google.

Recently Seattlest developed what we’d thought was a disturbing habit: We started scanning six-pack packaging and pub menus for their brews’ alcohol content. And we usually chose the more potent stuff. We’d kept this habit a secret, but it turns out Pyramid Breweries knew it all along. And they approve.