This weekend offers a bevy of live music options. Tonight take your parents to see the Kingston Trio at the Moore, or leave mom and dad at home and head to the Comet to see the guaranteed awesome live performance of Monotonix. Sometimes the Tel Aviv punk trio lights the drum kit on fire, sometimes they play their instruments as the crowd lifts them into the air. Tonight is also Yoav's show at the High......

Look up the definition of “hot-to-trot” and you’ll find two sets of meanings: (1) willing and eager and (2) sexually exciting. To us, hot pot is both. All the recent hot pot talk on food message boards and in the local and national newspapers tempted us to do a turkey trot to Seven Stars Pepper (at 12th and Jackson, our favorite food corner in Seattle) on Thanksgiving Day – thankful to the Chinese for having......

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......

Jack has already mentioned Stars at the Showbox, and Katelyn's put the word out about Grayskul and Hangar 18 at Chop Suey. That leaves us to mention M.I.A. and the Cool Kids at Showbox SoDo, or, if you like things a little more old-school, Mudhoney is at El Corazon. Here they are playing "Hate the Police" in Prague: Saturday, it's a Brit-pop double-header with Travis and openers Maximo Park at the Moore. There's also The......

It was four years ago that we'd started falling in love with the woman who would one day be our wife. It was about that same time that she'd lent us an album called Night Songs by a band called Stars. And if memory serves us with any amount of clarity, our devoted attention to that album became one of the many things which cemented our infatuation with this woman. Night Songs (Stars' first LP)......

If you've never had the chance to see Broken Social Scene together, you've at least had, or have, ample opportunity to see current and former members roll through town during October/November. Last month, it was Metric (with BSS alumni Emily Haines and James Shaw), then Mr. BSS himself, Kevin Drew. Next week, Stars (with BSS alumi Millan, Cranley and Campbell ) come to the Showbox. But first, coming to a Paramount Theater near you --......

Last night, in the middle of the movie round, Seattlest officially became old. "What Canadian actor, who died in Mexico, appeared in seven movies directed by John Hughes, more than any other performer?" we asked. "Who's John Hughes?" we heard some people ask in response. The rebellious voice of your parent's youth, said our head. Occasionally we figure Seattlest Trivia should have some Seattle trivia in it, so we did a Seattle round. The......

Or we should have gone to see Brand Upon the Brain. Or stayed home to watch 30 Rock. Even Dancing with the Stars probably would have been more exciting than last night's show at Neumo's. Normally, we'd side with Donte, but we're going to have to go with Eric Grandy over at the Stranger on this one: Project Jenny, Project Jan fucking sucked. Perhaps they were casualties of a nearly empty house, which seemed odd......

Tonight the Elliott Bay Book Co. hosts a trio of writers touring as the "Akashic All-Stars." Akashic is a small literary press based in New York (specifically, Brooklyn--is anything cool left in Manhattan?). Only ten years old, Akashic is a sign of a promising future for American letters. Like the music industry, publishing is being transformed by technology, allowing for smaller firms run by people with both business smarts and passion for what they......

About three lives ago, when we were living in a scientific research station in Ecuador, we watched The Postman (Il Postino) with a group of Westerners. After the movie, which is one of our favorites, we were sitting there, wondering why the room had suddenly gotten all dusty, when a privileged teenage British hipster/tourist named Aelys (pronounced like Alice, but her parents preferred the Welsh spelling) announced that she hadn't liked the movie because it......

Chicken broth-based soups are some of the ultimate comfort foods, and are especially good when sick. We love them all, from matzo ball soup (a.k.a. “Jewish penicillin”) to tortilla soup to good ol’ Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup (or, better yet, Chicken & Stars – our childhood favorite, though we shudder to think about the sodium content). Last week, Dishin’ lamented the lack of good xiao long bao in Seattle. This week, we decided to go......

Back in Emeril's pre-Katrina heyday, chefs and serious foodies used to dismiss it as the Bam! network. Now it's disdained as All-Rachael, All-The-Time. You know, the Food Network, not about cooking so much as lifestyle (travel, glitz), weaponry (knife-wielding, cake-frosting) and tours of candy factories. Deliberate programming choices, made to draw viewers too sedate for Housewives and too chicken for Survivor. But step-by-step instructions on how to boil water can only fill so many......

Ichiro got a bunch of fantastic goodies along with his $90 million Mariner contract, according to the AP, including: --A housing allowance, which will be $32,000 next year. --Either a new Jeep or Mercedes SUV each year. --Four first-class plane tickets to Japan for his family. He also deferred $25 million of the $90 million contract, so the Mariners will be paying Ichiro until 2032, when Francis Bean Cobain is 40 years old. Yowza. Ichiro......

The scene in the basement of Seattlest HQ last night when FOX showed Ichiro rounding third and heading home on his inside-the-park home run was what I imagine an old-time political convention looked like after they nominated the hometown candidate after 86 ballots. There were eight of us packed down there, but we all found room to jump around, wave our arms frantically so we looked like a giant third-base coaches convention, and, eventually, exchange......

Laser Rocket Arms hates it when we call them "the new Husker Don't." Then again, they keep winning, so our motivation to stop doing so is minimal. 16 teams played the quiz, and the mighty Arms overcame a second-place finish at halftime to take the lead in the end. The loudest groan of the night came during the Nudity category, when Seattlest asked this question: Janet Jackson had a famous breast-exposing wardrobe malfunction during......

Sanjaya, Schmanjaya. There are other Seattle-area residents on reality shows this season. And at least one of them has reached her show's final episode and is in contention for the grand prize: Puyallup's own Miss California, Dustin-Leigh Seltzer (nee Konzelman) on Amazing Race All-Stars. Dustin and her racing partner Kandice (Dustin's the blonde...with the nice teeth...the one who doesn't kinda sorta resemble Maggie Gyllenhaal) achieved All-Stardom by coming in fourth place last season on......

Atlas Clothing at the corner of Pike and Broadway has been having a lot of success with their all-ages music shows recently so they're stepping up to two nights a week. Tonight are the Young Sportsman and tomorrow is Central Services and Shorthand for Epic. If you've been to Atlas for the clothes but not the music and are wondering how it's set up, it looks something like this. Here's the Young Sportsman from last......

Among the Q-List celebrities on the next edition of Dancing With the Stars? Seattle's own Olympic hero, speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, who we can only assume got a lowball offer from Ice Capades. What fun! But what shame he could bring on our city if he can't beat Heather Mills, who will become "the first contestant with an artificial limb to compete on the series." Way to break down those barriers, Heather. Amputees everywhere......

ART: If your bachelor pad is depressingly bare of wall, catch the last day of the Seattle Print Fair. News to Seattlest, there's a variety of different print types and techniques: relief printing, intaglio printing, lithography, screenprinting, and monotypes. 11am-5pm // Seattle Center Pavillion // FREE MUSIC: Barrington Levy is a legend. If you don't follow the reggae/dancehall scene, the name might not mean much, but he's been performing since the seventies, and is considered......

The Fanalyst, that awesome local blog of music fan crit, is hanging up the URL. The Fanalyst signed off this morning with a final post entitled "Tips for Rock Audiences" which comes close on the heels of the "Tips for Rock Stars" post of a week ago. Thank you, Fanalyst, for clinging to the belief that rock stars and rock audiences are not in opposition, are not locked in mortal combat and do not......

Regarding Friday's Amy Millan show at the Triple Door, we draw a parallel between ourselves and Amy Millan's feet. Amy arrived on stage in a cute little black dress, with open toed black and white shoes. She spent much of the show shifting her weight, with the shoes' "cute" apparently not equating to "comfort." Likewise, we spent much of the show getting used to the Triple Door environment and the fact that we were at......

The above is video of Amy Millan (part of that whole Canadian Broken Social Scene, Stars collective), performing Stars' "Look Up" at Washington, DC's Black Cat. Her voice is amazing and we're definitely looking forward to seeing her at what should prove to be a perfect venue. Considering this was taken just a few weeks ago, chances seem good that we'll get to hear this song for ourselves tonight (doesn't appear to be sold......

Here's to the ice melting away because there are some good shows this week. Tuesday 28th >>> Cat Power at the Showbox. Chan Marshall plays the piano and sings. Our heart breaks. That's just how it is. She's on NPR, too. *mp3: The Greatest 8pm doors; tickets $30 at the door. >>> The Lemonheads at The Crocodile. Evan Dando's spent the last few years focusing on drugs solo work, but now he's brought back......

Monday night Seattlest headed to Chop Suey for the Easy Star All-Stars performance of Radiodread, a dub-reggae version of Radiohead's OK Computer. We went in knowing of the group's previous reworking of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, filled with a morbid curiosity of whether this would be a regrettable showgoing decision (but also knowing that horrible shows are easiest to write about). We're happy to report that while the show is most definitely......

Who would you think grows the best syrah in the world? A French guy in the Rhône Valley, no doubt. The celebrated wines of the Côte Rôtie and Hermitage are 100 percent syrah, after all. Or maybe a bloke from Australia, where syrah provides the backbone for the legendary Penfold's Grange Hermitage? Wrong! It's a one-time potato farmer from Pasco! Decanter, the British wine magazine, holds a competition each year to taste wines from......

Man, is there a LOT of Bumbershoot stuff on Seattlest right now. If you're anything like Editor Dan you're hoping for a break in the Bumber action; a contributor's recounting of a trip to Lake Chelan, a reaction to a dunderheaded Seattle Times editorial, or even some lame PR survey naming Seattle 16th Most Fashionable City West of the Rockies. Anything! Well, you can hope for something different, but your hopes will be dashed because......

This week Seattlest invites you to get your hand out of your pants and join us for some shows... Wednesday 12th >>> WIRE presents: Pleasurecraft This is a Blackout cd release; performing live with New Gray Area at The Baltic Room 9pm; Free! Thursday 13th >>> The Clumsy Lovers at St. Edward State Park (Kenmore) >>> "Trapped In The Closet!" at Rebar 7pm doors; 8pm show, $10 >>> Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone......

Seattlest joined a subdued crowd of about 80 at Greenlake's Kiwi and Kangaroo for this morning's US-Ghana game. Though we arrived in a red, white, and blue "Git 'er Done" hat and waving a small, plastic U.S. flag, our fellow fans displayed little national pride. A U.S. jersey there, a red and blue shirt here. Pretty pathetic. Ok, the last six years haven't been our best, but come on--first colony to break away from the......

The final full week of SIFF is upon us. It's time to get some last few films before the sun sets on this year's fest. This week's got a couple great music events as well: Friday night, Portastatic will be on hand to perform a specially-commissioned live score accompanying circus freakshow-themed silent film The Unknown (more about that in a few days). Meanwhile, Thursday night's the Face the Music Rock Party at Neumo's, featuring......

One week of SIFF down, only three more to go. Starting yesterday, the fest moved on up, to the Eastside. Now through next Wednesday, films will be shown in Bellevue at the Lincoln Square Cinemas. From the looks of it, they've got a strong Friday lined up, with the final screenings of The Giant Buddhas, Prairie Home Companion, and Conversations with Other Women. As a SIFF-related resource, it's worth your time to head over......