Photo by SFist's James Passey SFist reported on this week's California State Supreme Court's ruling that overturned the ban on same-sex marriage.Londonist noted that Boris Johnson – the city's brand-new mayor – continues to polarize opinion, even when announcing obviously good news. Is he a genuine change for the better, or is he just taking credit for his predecessor's ground-work?Philllyist did some celebrity stalking on the set of Owen Wilson's latest, Marley and Me.LAist......

Employee number 53, Charlie Ayers was hired in 1999 to run the lunchroom at Google. Before that, he'd been catering for musicians (including the Grateful Dead) around San Francisco. By the time he left six years later, still a hippie at heart, he had a staff of 150 and was feeding 4,000 googlers a day at 10 locations. ("Well, wouldn't you know it, some people got fat.") In a new cookbook, Food 2.0, Ayers wraps......

Sports fans around the city are saying goodbye to Shaun Alexander. The former NFL MVP was released by the Seahawks following eight seasons. Now, we may be saying good-bye to Safeco Field. Liberty Mutual’s purchase of Safeco might mean a new name for the city’s baseball stadium. San Francisco’s baseball stadium opened up a few months after Safeco, and was originally named Pac Bell for the phone company Pacific Bell, a few years late......

Just Monday we were writing about how much we love farce, and here today, San Francisco plays host to a farce of global scale as the Olympic torch--a flash-point for anti-China rallies--arrives in the Bay city. (Follow all the news at SFist.) Regardless of what you think of the hosts of this year's Summer Olympic games, your position on Tibet or Uighur ethnic autonomy, or whether Western nations should symbolically protest Chinese crackdowns by......

This morning, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a proposed ban on foam food containers and a fee for disposable bags at grocery stores. The ban on polystyrene foam products would outlaw common items like plates, meat trays, eggshell containers, and cups from both restaurants and grocery stores. The so-called "green fee" would apply to both paper and plastic bags at your local grocery store. The fee would impose a 20-cent charge for each disposable......

It was recently brought to our attention that Top Chef Zoi—one half of this season's lesbian couple, both of whom made it on the show—is the daughter of one of our former roommate's friends. We don't know her, but we recall her mom as being super cool. Zoi was born and raised in Seattle, but now lives in San Francisco with her fellow contestant/girlfriend Jen. She's a restaurant consultant who, according to her bio, has......

Not too long ago, we were attempting a trip to San Francisco. As soon as we got to SeaTac, we found that our flight was somehow already an hour and a half late. The employees at the ticket counter, civil without being friendly, couldn't get us on another flight, so we got some food and a drink and watched our delay get longer. Eventually, it was time to board (on what was now the......

NOON JAZZ: Cornish's music department is putting on a noon concert featuring the Jazz Composers Ensemble with Jovino Santos Neto, the Brazilian pianist, flutist, and composer. We don't have a lot of information on this, but come on, it's free. Grab something at Joe Bar and head on over. noon // Kerry Hall, 710 E Roy St // FREE DHARMA MEDITATION: Are you a continuing dharma student? Don't be fronting your sense of refuge:......

Photograph of investigation at Times Square recruiting center by kerfuffle & zeitgeist on Flickr Gothamist found that an explosive set off outside the Times Square army recruiting center may be similar to five past bombings in New York City.Seattlest worried when severed right feet and bottles of rat poison started washing up on local beaches.Shanghaiist was surprised by Bjork's rooting for Tibetan independence at her concert (see video), and the political fallout has only......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliot Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

Friday Theatre: The Solo Performance Festival, SPF2: Sweatproof!, returns to the Theatre Off Jackson with a terrific lineup of uni-personned shows. In fact, tonight has a terrific lineup all on its own, thanks to the Unicycle Collective. Their MonoLodge 4 is an evening of solo shorts from Seattle veterans and up-and-coming talents: Keith Hitchcock, Jennifer Jasper, Troy Mink, K. Brian Neel, Becky Poole, Mary Purdy, Seth Rosenbloom, Mark Siano, and Jenna Bean Veatch. (Saturday......

We have gathered some of the top political writers in the country and asked them to discuss the presidential race throughout the year. Today they will discuss the Democratic race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Seattlest-- How do you feel Senator Clinton's recent attacks on Senator Obama are shaping the upcoming Texas and Ohio primaries? Jeff (San Francisco Chronicle)-- I've got to come clean with my dirty secret-- I'm starting to get cold feet......

Forbes Magazine must have gotten tired of making the same "Richest People in the World" list, because the magazine has moved on to ranking the "Nation's Most Sinful Cities." In order to do so, Forbes came up with measurable methods to rank the proclivity for each of the seven deadly sins in America's urban populations. (For example to measure the sin of "wrath" the magazine used murder rates for cities.) Of course, you're curious, just......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

To many beer lovers in the Northwest, this time of year means one thing: It's barley wine season. This style of beer can be very flexible, but it usually signifies high alcohol and a big flavor profile. The Alaskan Barley Wine has been a local favorite since 2003, but this was the first year that it was released in bottles (about $8.50 for a 22-ounce bottle). This barley wine is ready to enjoy now......

Back in the early '00s, Seattlest spent some time freelancing at Macy's Northwest's corporate offices, coming up with exciting new ways to talk about 30% off flatware and learning more than we ever cared to about thread count. The corporate offices are downtown on the top floor in the former Bon building. It's a windowless floor -- a cave in the sky -- and, atmosphere-wise, one of the most depressing places we ever worked.......

We've already mentioned the lovely and talented Jesse Sykes appearing tonight at the Tractor with bandmate Phil Wandscher. Also tonight (and also in Ballard) is San Francisco's Citay at the Sunset. Think Sabbath and Zep meets the light pop touches of Big Star. Here's some footage of them from a previous visit to Seattle: Saturday night, besides Kultur Shock at Chop Suey, there's LA's Spindrift at the Comet, who play peyote-twinged cosmic cowboy jams. As......

Billionaire balloonist Richard Branson is finally doing something to get us closer to the Sun. His Virgin America airline begins cut-rate service to San Francisco starting March 18, and Los Angeles starting April 8, reports the Times' Carol Pucci. In an effort to beat Virgin to the punch, Alaska Air is adding more, cheaper flights to the Bay Area. Other airlines are matching Virgin's fares: weekend round trips of $175 to San Fran and......

The latest session of the state legislature is now in full swing and most people are watching the big-ticket items under discussion. The supplemental budget and what to do with our $1.5 billion surplus are at the top of the list. Also high on the agenda are transportation issues like a new vote on light rail and a toll on 520. But there are always niche issues under consideration. They probably won't get the......

This weekend's highlight for Geoff will be a Brewer's Dinner at The Collins Pub held by Hair of the Dog Brewery from Portland. 6 courses paired with 6 beers, plus a few special releases to boot. As a Bears and now semi-Seahawks fan, he'll be hoping that Brett Favre breaks a hip during Saturday's Seahawks game at Lambeau Field. Aside from the glamorous task of replacing the gutters on his house, Jack's weekend pretty much......

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?......

Could we be any vaguer? No, but that doesn't mean there's still not any reason to get excited. With In Rainbows making its formal debut atop the Billboard charts, Radiohead is set to cover North America in two tour legs, one prior to and one following their recently announced European summer tour (June 6 in Dublin through July 8 in Berlin). There's no exact dates or venues just yet, but the band has confirmed......

Over at Ballhype, Jason created a Google Maps mashup that shows the birthplace of every NBA player. Is Seattle represented? Yes, oh yes. Seven players are born in Seattle. That, ladies and gentleman, is more than any single city north of Los Angeles (14) or west of Dallas (9). San Francisco proper has as many NBAers (1--Jason Kidd) as Edmonds (Martell Webster). Ha! Eat our dust, Golden Gaters! Overall, 10 NBAers were born in Washington......

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.) Seahawks vs Artery Clogging Fiesta Preview Bad ideas often disguise themselves as good ideas. How......

After September's win over San Francisco, in which the Niners managed only nine first downs, we did a little capsule history over on our all-sports blog of the other times in Seahawk history when they'd held an opponent to less than ten first downs. It had only happened seven times before that game--the September game made it eight--and never twice in once season. Now the Hawks have done it twice in once season to the......

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"......

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.) We are still on injured reserve with a pulled out of town. Last Sunday Seattlest......

Last night, Seattlest hit up the Red Bull Big Tune 2007 Championship at Neumos just like we said we would. The idea of the competition was to showcase U.S. hip-hop producers in the form of a beat battle, tournament-style; in between rounds we were treated to the skills of DV-One and Just Blaze, and also to a mini-concert from giants De La Soul. We were not expecting this last, and it was kinda fun. Our......

It's Seattle Shakespeare Company's version of the wandering prince Pericles on Friday night for MvB, followed Saturday night by Britain's accordion-driven, Brechtian street opera trio with neo-castrati Martyn Jacques, the Tiger Lilies at the Moore, ladies and gentlemen. Having been invited down to San Francisco for a friend’s bachelorette bacchanalia with only one directive ("Bring a wig"), Courtney is hoping she doesn’t end up in the clink this weekend. While laughing at Charles for attending......

It's an art. Not as rehearsed or precise as a 5-man funky white band fronted by two energetic, percussive rappers, but not without technique lest you look a fool. No better environment than a feel-good southern-flavored party with room to move: a collage of hippies, frat boys, glittery waifs in floor-length skirts, and a whole lotta saxophone. No more respectable way to transition from dance floor to back-of-the-room bar than: the pass-through. It starts with......