Outside Key Arena last night, there were a few religious protesters with big signs urging passersby to repent of their evil ways, but inside the venue was a packed house eager to see The Police for their first tour in twenty years. The crowd definitely skewed older (and drunker), kinda like your parents at Oktoberfest, and the stage was sparsely set for the band's three solitary figures. As always, Sting was in one of his sleeveless t-shirts that rode up in the back, all the better to show off how well he's aged, thanks to approximately nine thousand hours of yoga a day. The show kicked off with "Message in a Bottle," complete with a greeting of "Hey Seattle, how ya doing?" to which the crowd, on its feet, responded enthusiastically: "OH MY GOD, STING IS TALKING TO ME AND HE KNOWS THE NAME OF THE CITY IN WHICH I LIVE!" more ›

Thirty years after the release of their first single (“Fall Out”), The Police are playing live again. And they’re still “unbelievably lame.” Hey, don’t get pissed at us—that’s 54 year-old drummer Stewart Copeland’s opinion. more ›

We were busy recommending you see Stewart Copeland speak at the Egyptian tonight before the screening of his documentary when we heard that his brother Ian died last week. Hmm, we wondered, might this recent event result in Copeland skipping his Seattle appearance? After all, the death of a loved one is a little more important than SIFF. more ›

Now that Memorial Day weekend is past us, and Folklife and Sasquatch have played their last rain-soaked notes, it's time to focus on the things that really matter: SIFF films. Just for fun, go check out the SIFF 2006 profile on Flickr. It's got a lot of great pics, including a bunch of Jessica Biel looking vacuous and a dozen photos of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. Dudes, we understand that you really like his gangster trilogy (Pusher I, II, III), and he's one of your Emerging Masters and all that, but seriously, stop slobbering his knob. A couple photos would've sufficed. more ›

Our first film-going experience at Sundance got off to an inauspicious start. There we were, fresh off our flight, catching a film in Salt Lake before heading to the festival proper in Park City. We stood around in the wait list line for the requisite two-plus hours to guarantee we got a seat (once the actual ticket holders got theirs, of course). At long last, we entered the theater and took our seats. The lights went down, the credits rolled, this was it! And then---the film's sound went out. And it stayed out. For a half hour. During that time, the film kept running, sans dialogue, while the Sundance staff struggled to figure out what was wrong and the audience grew unruly. Trust us, you do not want to be in a crowd of pissed off Mormons. There were shouts of "this is bullshit!", "turn on the lights!", "turn off the lights!", and the ever-popular "start the movie over!" When we were close to ditching out (as many had), the sound came back, the film was rewound, the audience cheered, and our Sundance experience could begin. This time for reals. more ›