The choreographic genius of Spectrum's Donald Byrd makes God-fearing folk swear and the irreligious cry, "Oh my god!" Partly that's because his dancers present as solid, sweating people, rather than mysteriously gesturing messengers. He consistently brings ideas back to the body--his pas de deux can have an X-rated quality--so you feel the argument he's making. Last night he was perched on the Moore's stage pre-show, mic in hand, "Okay, so it's not a full house......

POETRY: This is a bit of a hike, but former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins is down in Tacoma at the Pantages Theatre. Collins is admired and reviled because people "get" his poetry, which is written largely in the key of sardonic. He sees his poetry as “a form of travel writing” and considers humor “a door into the serious.” Friday 7:30 p.m. // Pantages Theatre, 901 Broadway, Tacoma // Tickets: $24-$46 FILM: This......

[Seattlest apologizes for the lateness of this post. We've been fighting off illness. And dragons.] The encore defined the relevance of Sunday night's Subtle/TV on the Radio show at the Moore. By then both bands had come out and done their thing, with Subtle blending their Anticon experimental hiphop leanings with rock, and TV on the Radio pushing the boundaries of the rock form. The encore started with TVotR frontman Tunde Adebimpe bringing Subtle out......

On Friday, December 29th at 10am, KEXP will begin counting down the top 90.3 albums of 2006 (does that mean 90 good albums plus one only a third of which is any good? We don't know). In the meantime, until December 26th you and everyone you know can vote for your own top five albums of the year. Seattlest Jack voted and as difficult as it was, here's his top five: 1. Neko Case -......

Ah, so now we know where the festive audiences are: seeing the Scissor Sisters or Kinky. Because they were certainly not at the sold-out Showbox Wednesday night for the Brooklyn band double feature of Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio. Kicking things off, Grizzly Bear was less grizzly than bearish, and not at all what we expected from the talented foursome. We had heard their Pitchfork-acclaimed Warp release and weren't sure exactly how they'd......

Memo to the Showbox: If you are going to open your doors two hours before any music, please let us know that in advance. Otherwise, we will assume you're following standard operating procedure (doors an hour before opening acts) and will arrive accordingly. And then you end up with a grumpy crowd on your hands who have just been given an unexpected extra hour to drink. No one wants that. Such was the scene......

Saturday night offered quite the dilemma for indie rock fans: Should one buy tickets for the KEXP Benefit show at Neumo's or Franz Ferdinand at the Paramount? Luckily, Franz was also playing the following night, which allowed Seattlest to attend both shows and not miss a thing. The KEXP Benefit show featured six acts, so it started early---doors at 5, first act at 6:30pm early. Had that first act been anybody but Math and Physics......