Between the nonstop DNC coverage and last night’s episode of The Hills, we came to a striking conclusion: Bill and Hillary are the Spencer and Heidi of the Democratic Party. See for yourself: All about the drama? Check. Constant, shameless self-promotion? Check. Apt to turn on close friends/family over any perceived betrayal? Check. Soft spot for boob jobs? Check. We're sure there’s a handful of people who purchase Heidi’s "music", and there’s still a......

Photo by SFist's James Passey SFist reported on this week's California State Supreme Court's ruling that overturned the ban on same-sex marriage.Londonist noted that Boris Johnson – the city's brand-new mayor – continues to polarize opinion, even when announcing obviously good news. Is he a genuine change for the better, or is he just taking credit for his predecessor's ground-work?Philllyist did some celebrity stalking on the set of Owen Wilson's latest, Marley and Me.LAist......

THEATRE: Young Jean Lee's Theater Company presents Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (A Show about White People in Love), which is an aggressively exotic title for someone raised in Pullman, WA.Writer/director Young Jean Lee's worst nightmare was to make a confessional, ethnic identity play with a flowery Asian-sounding title. So, the young NYC-based artist did just that [...] a character named "Korean-American" navigates increasingly disturbing levels of a pseudo-Korean world intercut with......

Think nightlife is getting the short end of the stick in Seattle? Filled with righteous indignation over the way hiphop gets portrayed as Capitol Hill's downfall? We do, and we are, so it was a healthy shock to the system (and yet oddly familiar) to read about this Saudi hiphop group which, to the great chagrin and social shame of the guys' fathers and wives, made it onto MTV Arabia. From the MSNBC story about......

We remember 1998 rather well. We were living in Buffalo, NY, smoking a lot of the ganja, playing a lot of the folk music, and occasionally going to class to discuss contemporary literature. Good times. A year later, we would move to Portland and, eventually (by way of New York, New Orleans and Orlando), make our way to Seattle to live happily ever after. We'd never really thought about Seattle much, but MTV's The Real......

We're as guilty as anyone else when it comes to not knowing that Nada Surf has been living a second life of sorts -- a new life, all their own, long after "Popular," the satirical high-school anthem that ruled MTV circa 1996. Nada Surf has spent the past decade recording, touring and reestablishing themselves with the North American Audience. It's a cool story, we think and not one you often hear. Band gets major label......

Yes, it's actually been 14 years since Unplugged in New York aired the first time, on the TV channel that once stood for Music. Fourteen years since you perched on the edge of the couch, possibly stoned, wearing intentionally crappy clothes, your bleary eyes glued to the set. Since Kurt Cobain had just a few months left of his short, tortured life. Today, you can buy/rent/rip the DVD. If you're like Seattlest, you haven't......

We've already mentioned this weekend's Pyramid Alehouse Snowed In Party, featuring the Presidents of the USA (tonight) and the Dandy Warhols (tomorrow). Tonight, there's also Black Dice bringing their wall o' noise to the Vera Project. A lot of shows tomorrow night, starting with MTV-buzzworthy Minus the Bear, along with Helio Sequence and Grand Archives, at the Showbox. There's also Seattlest's favorite kick-ass female foursome the Trucks at the High Dive, and the lush pop-folk......

We know that the weather has been rainy and overcast and downright crummy these last few days, but never fear: things are looking up! And just in time for this weekend's Capitol Hill Block Party, which over two days features three stages and nearly fifty bands. One of the bands that we're most excited to see is Britain's The Cribs. Comprised of three brothers (twins Ryan and Gary Jarman on guitar, bass, and vocals,......

Meeting Jesca Hoop before a recent opening-slot gig at the Showbox, we weren't entirely sure what to make of her. With her debut LP not out for two months and only a few songs available streaming on the net, we labored--mistakenly--under the impression that this waifish Jack Mormon who'd spent several years homesteading was really just another singer-songwriter strumming an acoustic guitar. And it's true--when she took the stage, she did open with set of......

The NME refers to British five-piece The Horrors as "big-haired, squid-flinging art school ghouls causing goth-garage chaos across the UK." Yes indeed. If you're a mite confused by the "squid-flinging" bit, the reference is to the above video, "Sheena is a Parasite," directed by auteur Chris Cunningham (he of Aphex Twin/Bjork/Squarepusher twisted vid fame), and starring Samantha Morton as the titular intestinal-spewing character. The video ended up being banned by MTV UK, not because......

It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by poop. Finally D.C. contemplated taking Vermont's place as a state and marveled at the GOP lessons learned from the "Macaca Moment." Due to some sad shootings......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Last night on the Discovery Channel there was a Deadliest Catch wrap-up-type episode where Mike Rowe had all the assorted captains gathered at the Lockspot in Ballard for some "why do you do it?" commiseration. It's like in their blood or something. There was no satisfactory answer, actually. Seattlest can understand why people fish crab up in Alaska. You can get hurt, sure, but you make some money and you don't have to put up......

Before she came out, walked to center stage and stole our hearts, we were lucky to have made it to the Moore in time to catch the last couple songs from the ex Moldy Peaches guitarist, Only Son. Actually it was more like two songs and a story. A story put to music, told pretty much off-the-cuff and in the first-person about a guy in a grocery store. He sees a girl. She's cute, but......

Reality show star gets arrested in Seattle over the weekend for allegedly acting like an asshole at a hotel and the P-I reports that he "spewed racial and sexual invective at a police officer." Surprise, surprise. Here's an imaginary Seattlest exclusive transcript from the future: "I'd like to apologize to all of my fans and everyone who took my comments the wrong way. Where I come from calling police officers niggers, faggots and poor motherfuckers......

Last year, at 22, cellist Joshua Roman became the youngest principal player in Seattle Symphony history. What did you accomplish when you were 22? Yeah, we thought so. Now 23, Roman makes his Seattle solo debut at Town Hall Friday night [tickets], playing JS Bach's 6th Suite, modern composer Gyorgy Ligeti's solo Sonata, and the "daunting and virtuosic" solo Sonata, Op. 8 by Zoltan Kodaly. Your bio says you've played cello with some rock bands--anyone......

Sitting in the renovated opulence of the Triple Door, waiting for The Mountain Goats' show to begin, we were a little disturbed that so many teenagers were there with their moms. Don't get us wrong--we dig on all-ages shows (how else would we have wiled away lazy Saturday nights when we were teens?). But it was a bit of a surprise that the esoteric acoustic-alternative of a guy who started releasing albums recorded on......

Ever since Jack Roberts died and Cal Worthington disappeared, there's been a definite lack of goofy commercials on Seattle airwaves. If you, like us, are jonesing for silly ads, this ought to well satisfy your cravings. A Seattle transplant working at MTV dubs it "the best music video I've seen in a long time."......

As the world holds it's breath, teetering precariously on the cusp of the Super Bowl (well, at least in America), the wheels of the -ists keep on turning. Austinist was in a musical frame of mind as they listened to the new Shins album, updated the SXSW band listings and got called "punk rock" for their efforts by MTV. And an ice storm swept through the area. Bostonist said goodbye to John Kerry's plans......

A few weeks ago we noticed something new in the upper reaches of our Comcast Digital Cable guide. Channels 962-984 now play Seattle FM radio stations: KISW (971), KPLU (966), even KUBE (967). This is cool. Now, if we want to pig out on Cheetos and Diet Coke to radio instead of TV, we can. Problem is, we can only endure one local radio station. And that one--KEXP--isn't among the 23 channels offered. We......

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it's 75 degrees F as of this writing)......

Last night, Seattlest was witness to a monumental pop culture event: Ian Bell's Brown Derby Series' interpretation of R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet (Chapters 1-12). Look, if you don't know by now about this epic tale of adultery, berettas, incontinent midgets, and terrible rhyming, we really can't take the time to explain it to you. Just go here, watch all twelve chapters, delight in the so-bad-it's-goodness, and you can thank us later. Once......

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.......

The straight up coolest art installation of the spring that every man, woman and child should have seen will be floating through Elliot Bay today at 10am. It's the Living Barge project from artists Nicole Kistler and Sarah Kavage and they say 10am but we say you should be on the lookout between 10 and 11, optimistically. We've talked about the Living Barge before, but to refresh your MTV-addled memories it's a 50' rusted out......

but did you know Cornel West busts some rhymes? Back in the day, we turned to books for West’s philosophizing. But now we can just download it, in hip-hop form. What a difference a decade makes! Even though we didn’t actually read every single thing on the syllabus (and got our cultural studies degree anyway —suckers!) we did spend some QT with CW. "Race Matters," my brothers and sisters. But does West matter anymore? Apparently,......

This Seattle advice columnist is something and something and not afraid to something something something. No, not Savage - The other one. Dategirl. Dategirl, aka Judy McGuire, did an interview with our parent site Gothamist yesterday which is weird only until you realize that she lives in New York. And then the fact that she lives in New York seems weird. Ok Seattlest reads Dategirl in the Seattle Weekly from time to time, but apparently......

Hey, Seattlest, what are you doing this weekend? Seth is coughing up a lung or two. Michael vB, filing from the Victrola cafe, is delighted for an excuse to spend even more time there tonight: Byron Schenkman, the virtuoso harpsichordist/pianist from Seattle Baroque Orchestra is celebrating Mozart's 250th Birthday by banging out some Mozart numbers on the upright from 8-10pm. Also the film Cache (Hidden) has opened at the Guild 45th and he'd sure like......

Forget whatever event we recommended in The Stranger for Saturday night. “Catch 22”? You’ve got to be kidding. Not when there’s a movie playing at NWFF that captures the very last authentic moment in pop culture history with 80 minutes of footage from the New-No-Now-Wave Festival in 1979. Ok, maybe there have been a few authentic moments since the powers that be decided that “Alternative” was a musical genre. Public Enemy. Bleach. Uh, that’s about......