MEMORIES OF MLK: Today isn’t Martin Luther King Jr. Day - that’s celebrated on the third Monday in January. It isn’t his birthday either - that’s January 15th. Yet King County’s (our county is named after MLK Jr…sort of) annual Martin Luther King celebration takes place today at Paramount Theatre. The free, (lunch) hour long event, titled Marching the Dream, features U.S. congressman John Lewis. Lewis, a representative of Georgia, was an important leader of the American Civil Rights movement. He helped lead, among other demonstrations, the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. Also speaking will be Dow Constantine, and the Humanitarian Award will be presented to Ron Sims, Washington native and current Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Violinist and music director, Dr. Quinton Morris, will provide music. more ›

Hey, it's 2009 and it's time for our first happy hour of the New Year--cunningly scheduled to coincide with Martin Luther King, Jr., Day so that many of you won't be at work to begin with. Join us at the old stomping grounds, the back of Moe Bar at Neumos on Capitol Hill, for happy hour specials and conversation and The Unforgettable Fire on repeat. We'll be there from 5-8 p.m. (happy hour specials begin at 3 p.m. if you get terribly thirsty early on). There will be nametags and markers, and who knows what-all. Hope to see you there! more ›

Naturally Slavoj Žižek, whose inner cultural critic wins equal time from his inner philosopher, spiced his Town Hall talk last night with cinematic references, in particular, The Dark Knight. After seeing that (and Kung Fu Panda five times, thanks to his "small degenerate son"), he was disturbed by the message that it's noble to lie on behalf of power, to protect it. more ›

A couple of months ago, the PI's Robert Jamieson publicized an issue with some sites using Google Maps data: Seattle's Martin Luther King Jr. Way South was showing up under its pre-1982 name, Empire Way South. "You're not going to say we are being racist," a Google spokeswoman wondered. No, I assured her. The point of this tale is that even the best technology can miss things -- and people with careful eyes can... more ›

CELEBRATE MLK: Take a few minutes out of the day to check out HistoryLink's accounting of Martin Luther King Jr.'s one visit to Seattle and then head to Seattle Center for some of their events. The East West Bookshop on Roosevelt also has a "concert and program of tribute" from 7:30pm-8:30pm more ›

Well, it happened. In a 7-2 vote that was never extended to the public, the King County Council agreed to spending at least $500,000 to change our logo from a crown to the likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. And to add to the surreal ludicrousness of this move, Ron Sims is designing the new logo. The jesters are now running the castle, Seattle. more ›

Keith D. Gilbert, by all accounts the scourge of Roosevelt, was arrested in that neighborhood early Tuesday by federal agents. Gilbert is a famous racist and promotor of some Aryan thing or other who has served time for a previous plot to explode Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but he's better known in Roosevelt for being a thug landlord and neighbor who repeatedly threatens, sues, and intimidates people in the area. more ›