The crowd, startlingly young for a Sunday show, was treated to a decently long set from Grayskul to start things off. JFK's hyperactive hand twisted and grasped and fluttered its way through at least half a dozen tracks from , plus a few from previous records; we'd forgotten how much we like the title track from that release, and this show's live version was light and quick on its feet. There was the cutest introductory sample for "Scarecrow" we've heard yet, inspiring JFK to play a little air guitar, and "Missing" (the track featuring Andrea Zollo from Pretty Girls Make Graves) never fails to give us goosebumps. The snag in the whole concept: our ears can't actually hear and comprehend as fast as JFK and Onry Ozzborn can rap, so we end up just appreciating Grayskul's two-toned morbid aura without catching more than a few phrases here and there. more ›

This weekend Mr. and Mrs. Seattlest drove out to North Bend to cut a Christmas tree down and haul it back to Seattle. No, we didn't hike up Si with an ax and harvest a sapling, although that does sound fun. There's a tree farm out there by the name of Crown Tree Farm. It was our first time getting a tree from anywhere other than those road-side dealies or the enclosures that pop up in big parking lots this time of year, or so we thought until we got on the phone with Dad in Illinois afterwards. "You don't remember when you and I and your brother went to cut down a Christmas tree?" he said. "So much for making childhood memories." We thought this was a Pacific Northwest thing, but apparently you can cut down your own Christmas tree even in the Midwest. more ›

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, mass transit), when you're talking about supporting mass transit, you're talking about supporting buses. more ›

Kim is off to see Susan Werner at the Triple Door Sunday night. more ›

Are full of passionate intensity. The Dems betray us with wimpishness while the radio rethugs rush to attack phony soldiers. more ›

Biodiesel drivers rejoice! There's a new place to fill your French-fry-smelling tanks thanks to Dr. Dan's Alternative Fuelwerks grand opening of a new, and may we say much more accessible, location, in the Ravenna neighborhood on Friday. more ›

Slog posted a link to this rumored deal between the Sonics and the Muckleshoot Indians to build an arena in Seattle. more ›

While our colleagues in Houston wonder "whether the public might actually learn something about early human history from Lucy's exhibition," we're with the Smithsonian on this one. Unlike old, fragile museum pieces of art, Lucy is still an active scientific subject, despite her deadness. As Slate points out, there's still research that can be done with her frail old bones. We thought of a treasure near and dear to our country's heart--the Declaration of Independence--and how, when it has gone on tour, solely copies have been used. (In some cases, "rare original copies" were used, a phrase which will make our brain hurt for at least a few days.) And then we ran across this:

The International Association for the Study of Human Paleontology, a group affiliated with UNESCO, passed a resolution in 1998 saying such fossils shouldn't be moved outside the country of origin. The resolution, unanimously approved by representatives of 20 countries, including Ethiopia and the United States, said replicas should be used for public display.

Bacon Salt? Seattlest first heard of this a few days ago, but the locally produced vegetarian kosher zero-calorie seasoning salt that tastes just like bacon has been igniting the blogosphere. One of Seattlest's foodie friends let us try some Tuesday night when we were playing trivia. more ›

For those of you just tuning in, yesterday we wrote a little piece about the steam pipe that burst in New York. Apparently it pissed a bunch of people off, and we have to concur that actual true (non-sensationalist) details have been slow to trickle in over here. Everything we've read the last couple of days focuses on a "geyser of steam and debris," which seemed like an overblown fearmongering catchphrase at first, but is now starting to sound like that may be exactly what it is. more ›

Oh, snap! That should read "The Big Harry and the Potters News This Week." The authors of songs such as "Save Ginny Weasley" and "Gryffindor Rocks" are touring the Northwest, and Friday they end up in Seattle for a performance we hear will be "AMAZING!" Hear more of their indie-HP geek stylings MySpace, then make plans to catch them live. Seriously. A friend of our says they really do rock. more ›

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Mother Noella Marcellino, who visited Seattle this weekend for the Cheese Festival, knows the secret of life; she's seen it through a microscope. The Cheese Nun, as she's known, started milking cows 30 years ago at a cloistered Benedictine order in Connecticut. A Fulbright Fellowship took her to France to see, touch, smell and taste cheesemaking techniques. Today, having earned a PhD in microbiology, she's considered one of the foremost authorities on the precise details of lactic fermentation. more ›

When we came across an article today about Google moving some people into Fremont we really wanted it to be into this space--the last green space in Fremont--because...well, who knows. Because then we could pretend that it was Google's fault that there's no grass left in Fremont like we pretend that it's Google's fault that we're bad about responding to email or that we too rarely take the time to smell the grass anyway. Fucking productivity... more ›

Our quest to make it from Renton to Ballard for happy hour was nearly dashed yesterday because some drunken idiot craving attention almost jumped off the Aurora Bridge. more ›

There's a classic science fiction short story called The Country of the Kind by Damon Knight that was published in 1955. The narrator of the story walks around a utopia acting like a huge asshole, disrupting lives and smashing up properties. He thinks of himself as the king of the world because everyone around him is too nice--like enlightened and tolerant and kind--to stand up to him. It's a humane and permissive society, completely free of violence and conflict. For some reason it's reminiscent of Seattle, but that's not why we bring it up. more ›

The Washington Huskies have scored their first points in the Fulmer Cup, an annual competition to see which college football team is the lawbreaking-est. more ›

We've heard -- at least 2280 times -- that bacon makes everything better. But seriously: bacon mints? Bacon mints? Archie McPhee's new candy is certainly demented, but is it genius?

Each one of these mints tastes like a delicious slice of crispy bacon with just a hint of mint flavor to give it that extra punch! It may sound weird but once you taste it, you'll see that mint and bacon is a match made in China.

Alright Neumo's, what the hell is up with all the incense? more ›

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We returned to the homeland over the holidays. Lugged skis and snowboards to the land of 3.2 beer, special garments, and the "Greatest Snow on Earth" only to find they had half the snow base compared to what we have here. Everything seemed backwards. more ›

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Local indie comics publisher Fantagraphics Books revealed last week that they'd be opening a brand-new company store in Seattle this Saturday. more ›

Today's PI has an article about a new social networking site founded by a couple of ex-Real employees. Shelfari is a place to show off and discuss your favorite books. Founded by former RealNetworks employees Josh Hug and Kevin Beukelman, the three-person company plans today to unveil a Web site that allows people to list book titles, write reviews, recommend books to friends and find like-minded bibliophiles. Shelfari plans to make money by passing leads... more ›

RSVP is req'd. more ›

Another copious serving of live tunes (not to mention opportunities to leave your smelly apartment), courtesy of Seattlest. You can thank us later. more ›

We never claimed to be good at math. more ›

Call us crazy. Crazy about chicken—especially the organs. more ›

Last week, Seattlest confided that we'd left the confines of this country for places afar. We've got mountain-lust, and are making a vain attempt to trod upon at least a handful of amazing ranges as we see mid-lifeness lurking somewhere around the corner (OK, way the hell around the corner but so be it). And no, we're not talking some misguided "bag all the highest peaks in the world" kind of nonsense, but adventures more of the "get to know the nooks and crannies, don't care how tall they are" variety. So off to the Alps we went. more ›

Last month, Seattlest had Mongolian grill for the first time in years -- Chang's in Renton for lunch. We remembered Mongolian grill as a fun, not-bad meal, but Chang's was, well, kind of gross. The place smells like grease when you walk in, and the meal we concocted was not as satisfying as the stir-fry we make at home. It was mostly just warm and gristly. more ›