Results tagged “postalservice”

The post office is a storefront that we'd never expect to see shut down, but because of recent hard times the U.S. Postal Service is dealing with a $7 billion potential loss this fiscal year. Not even the 2-cent price increase for stamps can save the day. Curse you, online bill pay (shaking fist!). Thousands of post offices nationwide are getting the once over, even Seattle's Federal Station, which is one of six Washington offices on the list of 700 expected to close.

We remember when it cost 29 cents to mail a letter. Bless online bill pay, because starting today the USPS is jacking up (albeit by only two cents) the price of a first-class stamp to 44 cents. Is it in poor taste to have mailed holiday cards a wee bit early?

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie tells SPIN.com that the next album will be a lot "softer" than Narrow Stairs, which he says was a dark and exhausting album to create. In return, SPIN calls him a 'broken-hearted bard,' which sounds like an exhausting way to live--even before taking on an ambitiously epic musical project. Maybe it's time to make another electronic indie pop record. (Note to Gibbard: Please reconsider your hesitancy and give the people what they want!)

In a few seasons, Seattle indie stalwart Sub Pop will shed its adolescent husk and turn 20. Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, the dudes who put Soundgarden and Nirvana in bins before major label reps stormed Seattle, will, according to this bio, celebrate "as conspicuously as they can manage."

Unbeknownst to us, producers of CBS's glossy detective series, Cold Case have been using all sorts of pop music from Toby Keith to The Postal Service to elevate the cool factor of each episode. Their website even has a page listing the "Music of Cold Case" -- some episodes of which showcase a single recording artist (such as the 2/18/07 "Blood on the Tracks" episode featuring music from Bob Dylan).

But then Earlimart [MySpace] takes over, sounding like Grandaddy's Postal Service, with lush orchestration. And what's when we saw god, or Jesus, specifically. It was just one of those nights where you're feeling it, and you look around and everyone else has that same bright-eyed look, and then you see Jesus working on a plate of perfectly crispy Sichuan green beans, giving his server an A-OK sign. "7.2 on Pitchfork!" Jesus says. "I loves me my rainy-day pop!" Earlimart plays the romantic swoon "Answers and Questions" [over here], they play the uptempo "Everybody Knows Everybody," they make us all sigh miserably with "Don't Think About Me" -- they've got the knack down of kicking a song off with a quiet verse, then bringing in the drums. They're backed by the Dream String Team, giving them a big 9-piece sound. It's our companion's first time at the Triple Door, and she loves it -- "This is so fabulous," she says, bouncing a little on her seat. "Normally you're at a show and you're standing and you're mildly uncomfortable -- and that's not even counting this incredible freaking banana split!" (The secret is the gelato from Gelatiamo.) Earlimart nears the last song and Jesus hops up on his chair: "You're all coming with, come the Rapture! Anybody who missed tonight -- fuck 'em!" Which, as we thought about it, was no more arbitrary than other religious proclamations, but the waitstaff makes him get back down and we notice they won't refill his wine glass, even after he waves it upside down conspicuously. Still, the announcement makes the encore particularly sweet -- Earlimart don't even make us wait that long before trooping back out.

...in which we pit two bands against each other, to better determine how you should spend your Tuesday night.

Thanksgiving came a couple days early at the Croc last night, when +/- halted their set to don band insignia-clad aprons and invite the audience onstage for rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Seattlest didn't partake, as we had just eaten a great meal, but we did appreciate the gesture. At the same time, though, we couldn't help but feel that perhaps we would have been better served with less food and more music. Just like a carving knife, it cuts both ways.

Danielson took the stage around 11:30. The crowd steadily filed in from their twenty-minute smoke breaks. Ben Gibbard of Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie fame showed up following the opening band.

Continue reading "Danielson at Chop Suey A Few Nights Ago"

Seattlest serves up musical jambalaya for the masses… Delicious!

Apparently Republicans don't like the U.S. Postal Service since liberals are able to perpetrate voter fraud by mail much more easily than conservatives. Naturally, the Sound Politics blog is all fired up about King County Executive Ron Sims' plan to make mail-in voting official for elections, maybe by next year.

Bombs Away: We've always been pretty impressed with the huge starling clouds that appear from time to time downtown, but apparently they piss some people off. Haters.

Romeo and Juliet is one of those tales everybody knows, whether or not they've read it, seen it performed live, or watched one of the many film adaptations. So Seattlest kinda knew what to expect when we descended deep into the bowels of Center House for the play's opening night performance by the Seattle Shakespeare Company. We got the standard star-crossed lovers stuff, but director John Langs included a few modern updates, some of which we liked, and some...not so much.

This Thursday the Red Hook brewery kicks off its Moonlight Cinema series with Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There's so many one-liners we could throw at you right now, our brain just came out our ears.

There's only one thing we love more than new TV shows, and that's new TV shows set in Seattle. Well, except for that whole Kelly Osbourne thing. Which is why we're so psyched about ABC's new medical show, Grey's Anatomy. Sure, it's got that chick from Sideways, countless references to Starbucks and the ultimate in geek-chic, Ronald Miller. But most importantly? It's set in Seattlest's hometown.