This is the very last post I'll be writing for Seattlest. It's bittersweet, but a good time to move on to new things. The final photo in my countdown is Drew Grow and the Pastor's Wives at Musicfest Northwest. There's a good reason I chose this band as my last photo, check out why. more ›

Morgen takes us once again down to Portland for MusicFest Northwest. This time she goes with a more artistic photo of a killer Canadian band, The Handsome Furs. She recounts one of her favorite shows of the entire festival that occurred on her birthday no less. more ›

Looking for a way to give back this holiday season but still feel like you're getting something other than a good feeling? Head out to Gigs4Good show with Drew Grow and the Pastor's Wives, Lower Lights Burning and Chris Cunningham (of Ravenna Woods) at the Tractor tomorrow. It's going to be a great time and will help satiate your charitable side. more ›

Day eleven in the photo countdown heads south once again to MusicFest Northwest. It held so many great moments for Morgen that she can't help but choose more than a few shots from this event. Today is a lesser known Portland-based group dubbed The Quiet Life, but they made quite an impression on our photographer. more ›

Day nine of our countdown in photos is a sexy one. Musicfest Northwest was an incredible experience with new music surrounding us at every turn. Morgen ended her third night there at Mississippi Studios with swoon-worthy Rhett Miller. more ›

Over the next month, our Music Editor, Morgen Schuler, is planning to delight you with tales of her adventures as a concert photographer in 2011. A glimpse into the most memorable music events of the last year. This feature will be running throughout the month of December more ›

It's Monday and many of you have just gotten back from weekend getaways. We were stuck in rainy Seattle which had us reminiscing about a beautiful fall visit to Portland. If there are travel plans to the Rose City in your future here are a few digs you might want to consider resting your weary bones more ›

Yesterday we took a look at a hand full of food trucks in Seattle and Portland to see how the two city's 'meals on wheels' stacked up against one another. Now, fully satiated, we turn our attention to a little adult liquid refreshment. more ›

There have been more than enough articles comparing Seattle to Portland -- or Portland to Seattle depending on your perspective. Sometimes the scales lean toward Seattle - sometimes they tip toward Portland and sometimes the scales balance out somewhere in the middle. So forgive us if we forgo crowning anyone the champ in this tale of two cities. more ›

Sometimes, you've just got to pack your bags and open up shop down the road. Seattle's Via Tribunali is taking their show down the I-5 corridor to open Portland's first Verace Pizza Napoletana-certified Pizzeria. more ›

As Sunday arrived, we were torn between exhaustion and not wanting to leave Portland and the musical magic we had been involved in for the past five days. Exhaustion was winning, but only by a hair. more ›

Several weeks, ago we recommended you get in your car (or book a train ticket) and head south to the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time Based Arts Festival, or TBA, an exposition of contemporary and visual arts. As in years prior, we took our own suggestion, and by midafternoon we were glad we did. more ›

Day four of MFNW (Saturday) rolled around, and we were having trouble getting our butts out of bed. Then we realized what the day had in store and we perked up and headed over to the Doug Fir. more ›

Having been the first time we headed down to the Rose City for their practically week-long music festival, we weren't sure what to expect. Mostly we didn't know if the distance between venues would be walkable or if, like City Arts Fest, it would basically be impossible to get from one show to another and catch the entirety (or at least most) of each set. What we found was magical. more ›

As I headed to Portland yesterday I was leaving stress and most responsibilities behind. The day was gorgeous (a warm 83 degrees), traffic was light and I was on my way to see a ton of incredible musicians for the next five days at MusicFest Northwest. Really, I couldn't imagine a better way to spend my time. more ›

Seattle-based Mars Hill church is expanding. Pastor Mark Driscoll's style is modern, and appealing to the irreligious, but new converts might be buying in to more than they bargained for. more ›

Thanks goes out to Weezer for reminding us of the good times in high school and forgetting the pimples, broken hearts and harsh curfews. more ›

Don't worry, we won't be bowing to Lebanese overlords anytime soon. The band Beirut is actually based out of New Mexico and headed to Vancouver, BC tonight and Portland, OR tomorrow. Led by singer Zach Condon, whom also tinkers on the trumpet and ukulele, Beirut creates an off-kilter sound which on first listen seems like it shouldn't work but it just does. There's some kind of special something that pulls together the unique instrumentals, vocals and electronic sounds the band shells out into a loosely cohesive bubble. That may not sound like your idea of enjoyable music or even make sense--but once you've heard it you'll know what we mean. more ›

Just like almost every other weekend has been since we can all remember, it's a little dreary and you aren't sure you feel like going out and doing anything. Then you look around for what shows are going on. If you see a few you're interested in and can't really decide, let us do that for you. Tonight is the veteran musician David Bazan with his semi-new and now fully broken in band. We caught their first show together at Bumbershoot last year and it didn't seem to be their first gig together, but there you have it. Clean and beautiful from the start. The next performance was Head and the Heart (HATH) opening for them at the Showbox last year. It was an incredibly fun show with HATH right in their element with the legendary Seattle rock singer as the headliner. The entire evening meshed into this fantastic fun folk and rock groove. more ›

Time to put on our Smugglie (it's like a Snugglie®, but for smugness)--Sunset thinks we're the cat's pajamas. more ›

The corpse flower, Weiner, the Viaduct, a whole lot of state departments shutting down, an injured baby duck and all the McKenna that's fit to print. more ›

Sarah gets the scoop for your Friday afternoon news break. Why? Because it happened. And because we didn't want to link to a Rebecca Black video. more ›

It was Drew Grow's first show back after his accident and he chose to have it in Seattle at the Columbia City Theater (CCT). It was obvious he and his band mates have gone through a lot in the last couple months, strong emotions were emanating from every band member throughout the set. It put a few people off, confused others, and personally it welled up some strong emotions in us as well. To be honest, it wasn't exactly the typical Drew Grow show, but we're not sure there really is such a thing. He does what he does based on what's inside himself at the time and that's why we love him so much. The new songs they played were fantastic and we can't wait to hear them on an album. As a matter of fact they've been working on some recordings at CCT. more ›

Over the last couple months we've mentioned more than once that Drew Grow of the Portland band Drew Grow and the Pastor's Wives (DGAPW) had gotten in an accident. We also mentioned a couple benefit shows to help him pay for the medical care needed. Well, he's finally back on his feet again and excited for his first show back. Jeremiah, the percussionist for DGAPW, read a note from Drew and he spoke of how incredibly humbled and thankful he is for all the support and love over the last couple months. Now you can witness for yourselves why so many people have such a strong connection to this man, the band and their music. While you may not be religious, spiritual, or even a fan of gospel, their music isn't your typical gospel sound. It's rock with soul and you feel every single note in your heart. That's quite a boast, we know, but if you give it a try we think you'll feel it too. more ›

Don Younger, the owner of the Horse Brass pub in Portland, passed away early Monday morning from complications triggered by slipping and breaking his shoulder at home last week.Younger was part of a group of bar owners, including Matt Bonney and Matt VandenBerghe of Brouwer’s, who called themselves the Publican National Committee. more ›

Unsurprisingly, Portlandia has gained notoriety in the Seattle area, where Portland fetishism is at an all-time high. After all, what do Seattleites want more than to avoid eye contact on the bus? To avoid eye contact on a functional light-rail in a city where strippers are unionized and there's no sales tax. more ›

We first heard of Tu Fawning in a somewhat unusual place. To keep up with musical news we like following several local bands' blogs. One of those we find most interesting comes from the brain of Colin Meloy. A few months ago, he happened to share a link for a video that was posted to Vimeo.com about their lovely merchandise fairy, Corinna. She showed us around their merch warehouse and then talked about how she was in a band and having this job made it easy to leave on tours whilst still having a paying gig when she got back. The name of her band is Tu Fawning. We checked them out after watching the video and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately they'd already made their way up to Seattle a few months earlier opening for another Seattlest Music favorite, the Fruit Bats, at Vera and didn't seem to have plans to visit again soon. more ›

Suckers are a Brooklyn based band that has an odd mixture of synth keyboard, 80's rock, electronica, and a dash of Modest Mouse. From what we've heard, we're looking forward to catching their live show. It promises to be interesting at worst, and wiggle-your-butt fun at best. They toured with Local Natives this summer and have started a modest, but growing, fanbase. It's almost as if Brent Knopf misses his other band, Ramona Falls, so much he's filling the void with Suckers. We're ok with it... for now.
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It was Mobile madhouse once again, a bit saner than the first Chowdown clusterfeed three months ago (more seating, more toilets, Top Pot donuts) but still a sad commentary on the American diet: 20,000 Seattle mouths navigating to an Interbay parking lot to get stuffed with street food. more ›

With the exception of an increasingly gentrified Chinatown, Portland doesn't have, never did have, the traditional enclaves of immigrants (Italians, Jews, Poles, Japanese, Germans, Greeks, etc.) whose cuisine and culture would define a neighborhood. Today's population is increasingly imported from elsewhere, a "creative class" without ethnicity. more ›