Seattle is a city rife with holiday theatrical alternatives. Seattle also boasts another genre of holiday entertainment, in a class all on its own: Burlesque. And, for the sixth year in a row, Lily Verlaine and Jasper McCann are back at Seattle's illustrious Triple Door theater to present their holiday treat, Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker. more ›

With only three weeks to go before Halloween, it's only natural that two of our choices for this evening have a strong spooky or horrific angle. The third heralds the arrival of a cult synth pop legend who will be speaking at the Triple Door this evening. Really, you can't lose. more ›

Comedy for charity, poetry for the kids, and one ring to rule them all are on tap for your Tuesday night. more ›

To be honest, we hadn't heard a whole lot about Girlyman, though they have quite a following. As we began getting to know this band, we understood why so many people are absorbed in this music. It's sweet and kind, with a memorable melody you find yourself singing long after removing the headphones. more ›

By our (highly unscientific but we argue still valid) assessment, Grand Hallway is the local group whose press writeups by area music writers are most likely to contain the words "brilliant," "genius" or "masterpiece." more ›

HITCHCOCK DOUBLE FEATURE: As a part of Revenge of All Monsters Attack!, the Grand Illusion will be showing a Hitchcock double feature with the all-time favorite horror films, The Birds and Frenzy tonight. Though many are familiar with The Birds, Frenzy is one of Hitchcock's later films; promising more explicit sex and violence as it details the "Necktie Murderer," who brutally kills and rapes women using--you guessed it-- a necktie. What would Halloween be with a little Hitchcock to get you warmed up? more ›

As we gushed objectively noted on Thursday, John Roderick of The Long Winters is one of our favorite lyricists and frontmen around today. His ability to entertain an audience with his quick-wit and obvious comfort being the center of attention make him a captivating entertainer who seems to never be at loss for words. more ›

L.A. by way of Nashville musician Ferraby Lionheart is one of the rare artists who is able to effectively portray blissful experiences and at the same time avoid any cheesiness that all too often accompanies such attempts to capture positive sentiments. To steal a line from Sean Nelson, all too often artists find "happiness writes white" but somehow Ferraby has gotten happiness to write in colors that are a bit more apparent. That being said, Ferraby’s music isn’t all “like a swimming hole in Malibu canyon or something like that.” We caught up with Ferraby in advance of his set tomorrow night opening for The Watson Twins and he gave us some insight in what to expect from his catalogue of optimistic, yet sometimes brutally honest tunes. Ferraby tells tomorrow night he will “be playing as a duo, me and a buddy from Nashville on the piano-- both of us singing. It should be a nice intimate interpretation of the tunes." The Triple Door // 216 Union Street // 7:00 p.m. // $13 // all ages more ›

The assignment: a “l’edition francaise” burlesque show, with three choreographers combining to present their take on sexuality, with a french twist. Presented by burlesque madame Lily Verlaine, herself one of the choreographers, l’Edition Francaise ran for two shows last Wednesday (Bastille Day) on the Triple Door’s main stage. more ›

Exactly two hundred and twenty one years ago today, hundreds of Parisians, brewing with freedom-loving fervor and revolution, stormed the Bastille prison and military fortress—France’s symbol of monarchical tyranny and oppression. The fall of the Bastille marks the advent of the French Revolution, secularism, citizenship, inalienable rights, and the “modern era”. Nowadays the French celebrate their freedom with fireworks, feasting, parades and parties, and the party continues 5,000 miles away. more ›

PROP 8 = HATE: The Egyptian Theatre will be showing the SIFF standout 8: The Mormon Proposition today, a documentary that reveals just how involved the Mormon Church was with California's infamous Proposition 8. Director Reed Cowan, a former Mormon missionary, and Steven Greenstreet unravel the Mormon's orchestration and involvement with the political movement to stop gay rights while following a Californian gay couple, Spencer Jones and Tyler Barric--who just so happens to be a direct descendant of an early, prominent Mormon Church leader. Greenstreet, Jones, and Barric are as well all scheduled to attend today's screening. more ›

SEXY NUTCRACKER: Wow, saying those two words together kind of makes us feel like we're playing Apples to Apples, but in this case there is such a thing as a sexy nutcracker and it's going to be gone after Wednesday, so instead of doing last minute shopping, get down with some last minute burlesque watching! Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker is finishing up its fourth year featuring some of Seattle's favorite burlesque dancers such as Lily Verlaine, Jasper McCann, Kitten LaRue, Miss Indigo Blue, and the much-loved Aerialistas. Tickets are no longer being sold online but can be bought at the door, so we'd recommend getting there early--this show has been previously sold out on many occasions. more ›

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC: Screw New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox is finally here and that's enough to make us completely forget about all of this crazy vampire nonsense. As Wes Anderson's first attempt in animation--and stop-motion animation at that--Fantastic Mr. Fox, written by the fantastic Roald Dahl, was our all-time favorite book circa sixth grade, and we couldn't be more excited about it being on the big screen. Expect to hear all of your favorite Anderson castmates, such as Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, the blonde one Owen Wilson, and new additions such as Jarvis Cocker (whoa!), George Clooney, and Meryl Streep, along with Anderson, himself, voicing a weasel. Wow. We only go to the movies about once or twice a year, but after watching the trailer back in September, we've been anticipating this week for quite some time. So instead of waiting in the long vampire lines (you know they won't have sex), come see adorable foxes, weasels, and badgers fight against the mean farmers for those tasty chickens and their fantastic lives. more ›

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATSY CLINE!: The Triple Door will be hosting Sweet Dreams, an evening celebration tonight on what would have been Patsy Cline's 77th birthday. Featuring local Northwest singer/songwriters such as Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs, and Rachel Flotard of Visqueen, the show will be a great opportunity for longtime fans to hear their favorites and pay tribute to the legendary singer. The earlier showing is all ages, and $2.00 from each ticket sold will go towards the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. more ›

PSYCHEDELIC CULT CLASSIC: Bob Dylan-esque Rodriguez is finally coming to Seattle, and KEXP is surely happy. We say this because anytime we've turned it on lately, he seems to be there, soulfully singing all the songs we love, which makes us happy as well. In the past couple years with Light in the Attic's re-releases of albums such as Cold Fact and Coming From Reality, he has gained a wide array of new fans, which makes it hard to believe that up until the late '90s he was just hanging out in Detroit doing menial labor, with no idea that his music career would ever make a comeback. (He found out only after Cold Fact had gone multi-platinum across the world in South Africa.) 5:30 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show // The Triple Door, 216 Union Street // Tickets: $20/$23, 21+ more ›

FASHION HIGHLIGHTS: Seattle Central Community College's Apparel Design program will be featuring their final line and portfolio show, The Shape of Things, throughout the day at the SCCC campus. The show will also include work by students Becky Sullivan and Maria E. Canada, both of whom had recent big wins in the Seattle fashion world. Canada took second place at the 2009 Project Red Dress fashion show, and Sullivan took home first place for both the Seattle Fashion Week Design Competition and the Seamless in Seattle Best Everyday Collection. We definitely recommend checking out Sullivan's collection, as there are some excellent pieces--we have no doubt that we'll be hearing more about her in the future. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. // 1701 Broadway Room BE 1110, SCCC campus // FREE more ›

AUSSIES IN THE HOUSE: The Waifs are so much fun live. There's just something about families that sing together—you can't get that kind of synchronicity from strangers. The Australian sisters and their male guitarist compatriot are one of the most delightful folk-pop bands around, and their live energy is undeniably infectious. Catch them tonight at that swanky joint, the Triple Door. more ›

Tonight, head to the Sunset for the shoegaze stylings of Film School. more ›

We're as guilty as anyone else when it comes to not knowing that Nada Surf has been living a second life of sorts -- a new life, all their own, long after "Popular," the satirical high-school anthem that ruled MTV circa 1996. more ›

Do dancers hibernate in winter? There's an explosion of dance activity coming up as January draws to a close. Had we but world enough and time, we'd go to all these shows, but time's chariot won't permit us to make up all the stops. Here's the wealth you have to choose from: more ›

That said, while 25-year-old Brazilian Céu [myspace] is what's known in some circles as a "smokin' hottie," the metaphorical orgy we're talking about includes the whole band: Bruno Buarque (percussion), Lucas Martins (bass and guitar), Serginho Machado (percussion), Guilherme Ribeiro (keyboard), and DJ Marco. Yep, whole band, or we just -- well, no need for ultimatums. We walked in expecting Brazilian samba, and we got so much more: soul and R&B, "afrobeat" and "electrojazz," two genres we treat with quotes to indicate: "existence, our shocking ignorance of." They are good words, though, so we'll use them. On ballads, Céu might sound a little like Sade (okay, with more vocal agility); but "Concrete Jungle" [listen at myspace] sounds like Jimmy Cliff singing with a '70s funk back-up band. She kept encouraging the Triple Door audience to get up and dance and if there had been any room to do that, this crowd just might have. We kept coming back to the bass lines the tunes hung on, the physicality of the percussion, that glorious electric organ sound. There was even a sing-along encore. Céu, come back soon. more ›

7:30pm // The Paramount // sold out, but apparently people on Craigslist think it's worth $325 a ticket more ›

CASTING CALL: Local director Garrett Bennett is looking for extras to cast in his independent film The Spy & the Sparrow. more ›

POLITICS: Young Republicans meetup. "Can't be any more boring than Drinking Liberally, can it?" asks Seattlest Seth. "Six of one, half dozen of the other," we reply. more ›

STORIES: Matt "Defective Yeti" Baldwin, one of the 12 funniest people on the Internet, appears with Sean O'Connor at a special A Guide to Visitors event. It's being filmed for the Seattle Channel, it's free, and the organizers point out that the Skylark serves "Tater Tots and mozzarella sticks." more ›

MOVIES: The Grand Illusion is not only showing "It's a Wonderful LIfe" tonight, but it's also providing an opportunity to crash the Illusion's holiday party for the staff and friends. "Food, drink, merriment and presents," will be on hand and the 8pm screening is free. more ›

Here's to the ice melting away because there are some good shows this week. more ›

Tuesday 17th more ›

October is here! That means candy apples, inappropriate costumes, and tons of live music. 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 ›