A friend of ours -- and Into the Woods connoisseur -- says this is the best of the non-Broadway productions he's seen. We had never seen it before -- we like musicals fine, but for some reason we associate liking Sondheim with, you know, the fun of terrible key parties like in The Ice Storm -- and had only the faintest notion about its fractured fairytale plot: there's a Baker and his Wife who want to have kids but have been cursed by the Witch next door, Jack and mom and his magic beans, a more indecisive Cinderella than you'd expect, and a shiv-wielding Little Red Riding Hood. Having kids can be the moment you finally let go of your toys and stop looking upward for advice -- in a story like this, that means dad and mom have gotta go. In the first act, dads get left behind like nobody's business, in the second act, moms get clubbed to death. more ›

This last summer, Josh Homme took Billy Gibbons' advice on how to be "the people's band," and instead of hitting places like NYC, Boston and Seattle, when Queens of the Stone Age launched a tour in support of their latest release, . That's left Queens fans here in Seattle jonesing for a show. And at long last, our prayers have been answered. Just announced: QoTSA takes to the Paramount stage Tuesday, December 18. more ›

What was the big news of the last week? Crazy lady astronaut stalker, no contest -- three teams riffed on NASA's PR nightmare for their names. more ›

Now, don't let the chicken- and cat-rape, possum-gutting, or deep-frying a sparrow put you off. (Or the hamster, which we don't have time to get into.) There's a lot of tenderness to playwright Kelleen Conway Blanchard's depiction of small-town life. And if former Pork Queen Lucinda is one-eyed, the Sheriff's plastic cranium doesn't seal that well, bemulleted Bud has testicular size-and-quantity issues, and Lucinda's brother Stu Lionel has a too-lively fascination with dead things (and how they get that way), that just says something vital about what it means to be human -- any rich, vibrant tapestry has got to have a few loose ends. more ›