Five months ago, Brenda embarked on a perilous underground journey from Cal Anderson Park downhill to the Paramount Theater. The purpose? To build the tunnel that will one day house the Capitol Hill light rail line. Now, that journey is almost over; Brenda the Huge Drill (a.k.a., Boring Machine, in more ways than one) is expected to emerge victorious next to the Paramount today, marking one leg of light rail tunnel off the checklist. more ›

From Deadmau5's pulsing beats, to Les Miz's rousing musical story, with the Off Hours prose and poetry reading in between, Thursday truly has something for everybody. more ›

Widespread Panic (WP) visited our fair city on Tuesday to a plethora of half-baked, super-excited fans. They were clustered outside the Paramount Theater and in nearby parking lots tailgating with fellow WP enthusiasts. more ›

On The Boards today announced their lineup for the 2011/2012 season and it looks impressive. It promises to be even more eclectic and, with two bonus special events, including a farewell performance of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, more extensive than years past. more ›

Last night at the Paramount Theater, Seattle Weekly held its annual Voracious Tasting & Food Awards. The sold out event attracted over 1,000 attendees who chowed down on delicious tastings from over 40 local restaurants and mixologists, with all proceeds going to benefit the non-profit Neighborhood Farmer's Market Alliance. more ›

He warned that we might not like him. Fortunately, he was wrong. more ›

Seattle’s first musical of the spring, Billy Elliot, opened at the Paramount Theatre last night to an enthusiastic crowd. Not only is the score done by Sir Elton John, and the words written by Lee Hall, but the sweeping choreography and joyous cast performances tell an inspiring story that makes Billy Elliot one of the greatest musicals in recent memory. more ›

One of Broadway's funniest, most heartwarming musicals is making its way to Seattle, and you absolutely won't want to miss it. As you most likely already know, Billy Elliot is a comedy musical based on the same-titled film about a boy who decides to take up ballet rather than boxing. With music by Sir Elton John, and lyrics by Lee Hall, this is a musical with a stellar soundtrack, witty dialogue and some impressive dancing. Since Billy Elliot the Musical debuted in London in 2005, it has been running strong in performances by various productions worldwide. more ›

Sarah McLachlan wowed a sold out crowd at the Paramount on Friday night. They even had to bring in a few extra chairs to make sure everyone had a place to enjoy the show. It seemed that Butterfly Boucher was to be the opener, but the format of the show was a little different. All the special guests (which included Butterfly and Melissa McClelland) were mixed into the evening with Sarah singing throughout the show. She also allowed fans to write questions and drop them in a box in the lobby for an interactive element during a break in the music. We grabbed some nice shots at the beginning of her show. You can check out the rest of the photo set here. more ›

Of Montreal performed at the beautiful Paramount Theater on October. Little did I know, their set would not be the highlight of my evening. Janelle Monae has a gorgeous sense of entertainment and showmanship. I was told by some friends that I have to get there early, not only to get shots of Miss Monae, but simply to see her perform. I'm glad I took their advice, it was so much fun. At one point she pulled out a canvas on a stand and began painting while she danced around and sang in a cape. If I might be so bold, I feel like she is the James Brown of our time. Not only does she have the pipes, but even at such a young age knows how to engage her audience. more ›

Last night was the first of three where the magical duo of Penn and Teller mystified an all ages audience. When they aren't on the road, their act goes on in Vegas most nights of the week to much larger venue than our humble Paramount Theater. Having been to one of these shows and sitting way back in the cheap seats, the Paramount was an upgrade to the tenth degree. This time we were able to see the tricks up close and enjoy the magic that much more. It's a lot more powerful to see slight of hand from ten feet away when you think you'll be able to figure out how they did it, but are fooled again anyway. more ›

What can we say about the Saturday Sufjan Stevens show at the Paramount? Beautiful. Gorgeous. Magical. Sufjan (pronounced suhf-yan) has an amazing voice and the visuals that inundated our senses throughout the show made the whole experience bigger than life and unforgettable. Anyone attending that show just accompanying a friend or significant other has to be a convert and undeniable fan now; there's no two ways about it. For a couple more shots from the evening you can check out the Flickr set. If only we could truly capture the feeling of that night in pictures. more ›

Mr. Neil Percival Young is a treat and a treasure, a behemoth of musical influence and accomplishment. The Canada native's 33 studio albums explore all ends of the musical rainbow, from his popular acoustic folk and country rock, to swing, electronic, alternative rock, and amplified hard rock. He's pretty much done it all, having been a member of Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, collaborated with Crazy Horse, and had a wildly successful solo career. more ›

Hide your soft rock CDs and research all the news you can, Henry Rollins is in Seattle. The former Black Flag frontman, book publisher, incessant writer, and spoken word master, hits the Paramount Theater tonight as part of his Frequent Flyer tour, and he's bringing his latest observations with him. What can we expect from a man who spends most of his free time visiting the places most of us would ignore like the plague and pondering the pop/political world? He spoke with us about the freedom of speech, Everyone Draw Mohammed Day, BP’s oil disaster, immigration, and pissing in the Everglades. And that was just a short interview. more ›

Minnesota-based Owl City comes to Seattle in a sold out show, bringing fans of all ages to listen to the synth-pop wonder! more ›

BAG OF HIPHOP TRICKS: We're told that there's a hiphop happening at the Rendezvous tonight, of epic proportions. A whole bunch of hiphoppers doing their hiphop thing: They Live has members of Cancer Rising and Massive Monkees. Wizdom and Akrish will be there. Seattlest Katelyn, our local hiphop guruess, says of Akrish, "I like his freestyles." We believe Katelyn because we wouldn't dare cross her. She's got those numbchucks. more ›

BAILAMOS: Yes, yes, today is bright and sunny and lovely outside. But, the rains are coming, we're certain of it. And, if you want to beat the winter bummers this year, there are few things that could light up your life more than dancing all about. So, why not take a dance class through the UW's Experimental College? Tonight kicks off a nine-week class at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, where you can learn Cuban folkloric dance. Fun! more ›

Seattlest has a very deep-seated thing for musical theater, so we're a little embarrassed that, until this weekend, we'd never seen Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera on the stage. We have, however, spent hours (nay, months) getting intimate with the original cast recordings, but somehow Phantom never rose to the top of our list of musicals we simply had to see. Still, when the opportunity arose to see it at the Paramount, we leapt at it. We're glad we did. more ›

WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL?: Wow, Seattlest really loved that song when Jewel first came out back in '96. When we went to Lilith Fair, Jewel's set was the one we thought we'd skip and go have dinner during. Then she started, and she was an absolutely captivating performer. We're not totally sure what she's been up to all these years since then, but we can vouch for the truth of the matter that Jewel puts on a great show. If you're looking for some good live music tonight, she may just be the best thing going on. more ›

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TALK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH: Founder of Bastyr University and chief science officer for Metagenetics, Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., thinks we should be focusing on "biochemical individuality derived from genetic and environmental differences." Seems practical enough. He'll be speaking on the matter tonight and, if you're interested in the ongoing debate about how to fix our healthcare system, you should check out his talk, entitled Healthcare Reform 2008: Creating a True Health Care System. more ›

At the point that we realized all 24 dancers from the Mark Morris Dance Group were on stage simultaneously, we were struck by two thoughts. First: holy shit 24 dancers on stage at once in a delirious, joyous romp; and second: thank god dance companies can still exist that can put 24 dancers all on stage at once. Morris' company was celebrating the 20th anniversary of his early-career classic L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato at the Paramount Theater this past weekend. Set to a lesser-known pastoral work by Handel, the already overwhelming treat of seeing this work in person was escalated by full accompaniment from the Seattle Symphony and Chorale members directed by maestro Gerard Schwarz. more ›

Inside the Paramount Theater, we found our seats near the front and we waited. In the weeks and days leading up to this show, we'd scoured the web, made a few calls, looked for hints in recent reviews from other cities. Nothing. We had no idea who the opening performer was. It was to be a mystery. The lights came down, the applause came up and a man entered the stage. He was alone, save... more ›

If you've never had the chance to see Broken Social Scene together, you've at least had, or have, ample opportunity to see current and former members roll through town during October/November. Last month, it was Metric (with BSS alumni Emily Haines and James Shaw), then Mr. BSS himself, Kevin Drew. Next week, Stars (with BSS alumi Millan, Cranley and Campbell ) come to the Showbox. more ›

Tonight would be the night to dominate the jukebox at the Wildrose, because all the ladies (except for us) will be at the Paramount drinking a nice tall glass of alt.country goodness. Brandi Carlile's back in town with her hot twin-powered band and we understand she tends to pull traffic away from the corner of 11th and Pike (at least until 11 PM). We don't really get it, but whatever. more ›

We shouldn't have to say much more about Rodrigo y Gabriela aside from "flamenco version of 'Stairway to Heaven'," but we will. They're young, they're hot, they're Mexican-Irish, and they're extraordinary guitarists. They don't need no stinking genre, as they dabble in everything from flamenco to psychedelia to pop and jazz, pretty much defying musical definition. Plus, they can fly and spit fireworks, have x-ray vision, and can regenerate. more ›

When Seattlest made it to the Paramount last year for what would be an amazing performance from Sufjan Stevens, we were running a little late and needed a drink. Straight to the little bar we went, causing us to miss most of the opening act. We did settle, finally, in our seat for the last couple songs by said act and when it was done, we said to our company, "Wow. We should have gotten here sooner." Then Sufjan came out, handsome devil that he is, and we forgot about everything until we realized that the "cheerleading captain" for Sufjan's band was none other than the woman who'd just finished warming the crowd. more ›

"Patty Griffin" and "Rock This Town" aren't generally two phrases that go together easily. But, as tree-hugger, festival-going folk fans, by "rock," we generally mean "musically woo," or "melodically enthrall." Which is exactly what Patty Griffin does on her latest album, . more ›

MUSIC: Sigh, the Shins. Curses, the Paramount. If tonight doesn't work, you get another shot on Tuesday. more ›

Flickr photo by King Tufu more ›