"Brittney" by pdgibson, via our Flickr pool. Thanks!A couple of weeks ago, we realized that we've lived in Seattle longer than any other city. By far. We were born in Wisconsin, and spent a lot of our formative years in Milwaukee (we still call drinking fountains "bubblers," and we're going to be a little sad when our daughter doesn't pick that one up from her peers), but when we moved to Seattle 15 years ago......

We've been remiss in cultivating our Flickr moving images pool. Thankfully, the purity and essence of Flickr hasn't been diminished by a flood of YouTube-style video. On the other hand, it seems like relatively few people are posting video to Flickr. And we've been inexcusably lazy. But when reader RedRaspus posted a link to his spectacular lightning video last week and dropped it into our pool, our attention was jolted. Upon looking around, we found......

Looks like tonight's long-awaited Radiohead show at White River Amphitheater in Auburn is going to be a wet one. Reports from Auburn have included hail and a continuous downpour. While Radiohead is one of our favorite rainy-day bands, we were very much hoping not to experience that weather live tonight. But whatever. It is Thom Yorke and Radiohead, and whatever that other local blog says, Radiohead is possibly the greatest band performing today; and......

Just after our heat-induced smog watch got dropped--Seattle broke the Clean Air Act and now has to perform an act of contrition--the weather has decided to juke to the left. The forecast is for over an inch of rain the next three days. We were just over at AccuWeather watching a caravan of animated clouds inching from Portland to Seattle. Kinda weird seeing water flow uphill like that. AccuWeather also tells us the chances are......

"The Rhythm of the Falling Rain by Grundlepuck This story reminds us of a line from The Beatles' "Taxman". The fact that it's illegal to collect too much rain that falls on your property because of state water laws seems just as ridiculous as the idea of the government taxing your feet to walk. But these are strange times, friends, because in Washington, the rain that falls is property of the state and up to......

The weather, it just gets worse. Hoping for summer? Keep hope alive! Remember spring? Surely, we must have had one. (Missed it last year; we were in the bathroom.) Wait, a dim memory: a vague recollection of a spring-like afternoon last week. It comes back to us now. We were on upper Queen Anne. A whole street of yellow blossoms catches our eye. Goldenchain, they call those trees, don't they? Laburnum, in the garden store.......

Sitting here, looking out our window at the torturous rain and gray skies, thinking about killing ourselves--you know, the usual thing to do when it's June but still feels like February. But what is this? Yet another story about scantily-clad baristas! Joy! Boobs and joy and boobs and joy. This latest assault on our provocative purveyors of coffee, comes from the City of Bonney Lake and their efforts to put a stop to the girls......

This is what the sun looks like, and that blue stuff behind it, that is called the sky. Sunday and Monday should be nice, so get outside while you can, because the rest of the week looks like the last twenty days.......

The following is a contest from our sponsor, Joe Jackson's Rain. Recorded with the rhythm section that accompanied him on the classics Look Sharp and I’m the Man, Joe Jackson returns with Rain. In classic Jackson style, Rain is full of humor, swing, sophistication, barbed social commentary...and those perfect songs. Rain is already seeing acclaim from everyone from Paste to Stereogum to USA Today. Catch Joe Jackson’s tour as it lands in Seattle on Sunday,......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Seattlest. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, which introduces three new designs a week. If you're interested in advertising on Seattlest or any other site in our network, check out our online mediakit.......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Seattlest. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, which introduces three new designs a week. If you're interested in advertising on Seattlest or any other site in our network, check out our online mediakit.......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Seattlest. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, selling a special shirt to honor the New England Patriots. If you're interested in advertising on Seattlest or any other site in our network, check out our online mediakit.......

When the Croc closed last December, Black Mountain was already scheduled to play the venue in early February. Luckily, Neumo's knew better than to leave the druggy psychedelic rock five-piece high and dry - they added Black Mountain to the bill of tomorrow night's show, creating a truly awesome (and diverse) bill. Along with BM's Zep-meets-Sabbath-meets-heavy, acid-laced spacerock, Thursday's lineup also includes the groovy, '70s folk-twinged Americana of Howlin Rain, the tongue-in-cheek electro-pop of......

For Drought and Rain, Vol. 2, Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola follows up her dance exploration of life during wartime with war's effects on the next generation. Sola was only twelve when she left Vietnam in 1974, so she has a foot in both worlds. There's more preview video, if you're into that kind of thing. There are thirteen dancers and, happily, six musicians (we get a little tired of canned music and dance). In the......

Has it really been over four years since you've taken a stage in Seattle, Mark? We could be wrong, but your late 2003 Showbox show—a great one, by the way—is the last we heard about. (QOTSA appearances don't count.) Assuming we're right, that's just silly. It's not like you haven't had albums to support. Your 2006 pairing with Isobel Campbell was a gorgeous, syrup-and-sour-mash treat—but did you two share any live love outside of Europe?......

"Azalea Way" by B.K. Dewey from the Seattlest Flickr Pool. A pleasant reminder of a fun snowy day, before the rain came and ruined everything.......

Seattlest wishes it was at a coffee shop on Saturday, when the snow was falling in swift, wet flakes. We imagine sipping a delicious doppio espresso, protected from the cold and watching the snow fall. Instead, we are braving the pouring rain and have ended up here, in Fremont, at Cafe Ladro. We're wet, cold and crabby. Ladro is bustling with the young professionals crowd. An entire table of six is covered in laptops, another......

Just four days ago, white stuff was falling from the sky instead of boring old state-of-emergency-inducing rain. Seattlest Flickr pool contributor goldlionpics caught us pining for the former--we initially mistook some of the W in this B&W shot for snow. Such lovely trickery.......

It's 3:30, and the rain has stopped up here at Seattlest HQ. We even see a little sun shining through. Good news, as we spent the past three hours bailing out our basement, which Green Lake is attempting to claim as a satellite branch. The governor has declared a statewide emergency, and the storm is now officially a killer--two people died in Chehalis when a dike ruptured, reports KOMO. Here are the major road closures:......

This morning's commute is pretty bad, but as this rain is expected to last well into the evening, by then Duck Tour may be the only way to navigate the city. Already (as of 8:35 am): --Amtrak service between Eugene and Vancouver, B.C. is suspended because of mudslides. --Sounder service was also cancelled. --Most highways and roads on the coast are closed. --Stevens Pass is closed. --Westlake Ave. in Seattle is blocked between Galer and......

Conventional wisdom says these days ain't happy ones for pulp-and-print publications. Circulation's down. Ad revenues are down. Everyone wants to read online. So nearly every newspaper, magazine and television news program has a host of blogs these days, to compete with the millions of self-described experts, autodidacts, conspiracy theorists and Chuck Norris-aficionados who propagate the blogosphere with their own brand of citizen journalism (read: poor spelling and poorer grammar). Indeed, it's hard to get noticed......

All mass transit is not created equal; here in Seattle, a city with buses and, well, nothing else, unless you're specifically talking with someone about monorail or lightrail or streetcars (you know, theoretical mass transit), when you're talking about supporting mass transit, you're talking about supporting buses. And buses suck. Last week, Erica C. Barnett had a column in The Stranger that spoke to our experience riding the bus to and from work daily: It's......

It's pouring rain and it's exhausting looking for a new hard drive, so we pull over on Greenwood Avenue, right in front of Herkimer Coffee. It's bustling with people, despite the rain, and we anticipate a long wait. To our surprise, the line moves lightening fast and we're soon faced with two adorable and cheerful baristas. If you want to feel trendy without being surly or "holier than thou," Herkimer Coffee is your place. Although......

Saturday, Tera will give herself a VIP tour at the opening of Aritzia. She will follow this potentially hectic event by introducing a friend to her newest wine obsession - Twisted Cork. Sunday she will trek to Qwest and root for Chicago, uh, eh, oops...Seattle. Yes, root for the Seahawks. Jack's heading to the Showbox proper tonight to see Canadian indie pop band Stars. Sunday, he's hoping to see Rex Grossman slip into old......

Seattlest has found a reason for everyone to welcome bicycles on the city's streets. The origins lie in Virgin Vacations' (has anyone asked The Name Inspector to do a write up on Richard Branson's desire to cater to virgins?) naming of the world's 11 most bike-friendly cities. Unfortunately, Seattle didn't make the list (Portland came in at number 2), which uses five criteria created by The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign to judge a community's bike......

Tonight, the nation's hardcore gamblers' eyes will be on Seattle as our fair burgh hosts Monday Night Football. The Hawks' opponent is the San Francisco 49ers, the team that was everyone's trendy pick to be a darkhorse contender in the NFC, with the eminently predictable result that they've started 2-6. Here's how ESPN's The Sports Guy saw it in his season preview:Call it the Winston Wolf "Let's Not Start Sucking Each Other's Popsicles Yet"......

Ravens & Chimes [myspace] have been artist of the day on Spin, and you've heard them on John in the Morning. Their new album, Reichenbach Falls, "dropped" last month. They are hot. Two Ravens, Abe Pollack and Brittany Anjou, are Seattle types. Pollack went to U Prep, Anjou's a Roosevelt grad. Word! We emailed Pollack some questions, he emailed back answers. 1) How did you end up in Brooklyn? I moved to New York six......

We're sure a lot of people bought tickets to Friday night's Symphony Legacy concert strictly to see Ann and Nancy Wilson or Alice in Chains. We were there primarily to see how the rejuvenated grunge band would sound with a new singer and backing orchestra at Benaroya Hall. But the symphony, written by Mateo Messina, benefited Children's Hospital, and we like to think that by the end of the evening, everyone appreciated the composer's philanthropic......

We gotta admit to being kind of a sci-fi nerd. We own all the Star Wars movies in most of their various formats and edits, have read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and its sequels numerous times (including the atrocious Mostly Harmless), and actively seek out any books and films that depict any kind of a dystopic view of our future. So when we heard that yet another cut of Blade Runner was playing......

Mateo Messina, a Seattle native, has been composing television and film scores and penning symphonies for 10 years. His most recent score is for the upcoming, buzz-magnet comedy Juno. His latest symphony will be heard tonight at Benaroya Hall's (sold out) Symphony Legacy concert. (That's him above, at last year's show.) Messina's Symphony--a benefit for Seattle Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center--features the combined musical talents of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and the Northwest......