Tonight, Das Llamas celebrate their new album Class Wars: K-12 at the Comet. The local rock fourpiece stomp out a little bit of everything, from synthy no-wave punk to dirty electro rock, offering up "a platypus of sound that is a new noise in a new era." Tonight is also the second of three shows (in three nights) for the CD release of Sounds from the Seattle Underground, care of the good folks at NadaMucho.......

Our lovely neighbors to the north have been having a rough go at it. Locals have been discovering all kinds of unpleasant things you'd rather not find in your back-yard. First five severed feet washed ashore on area beaches, and now a new case of mad cow disease has been confirmed at a B.C. farm. Canadian officials believe this is an isolated case, which has not spread to other animals, much less humans. Still,......

Now that a sixth foot has washed ashore in British Columbia and the mainstream media has picked up the story (because, five severed feet washing ashore—not national news; but half a dozen—now that's a headline!), the theories on the source of the severed feet are coming in. The first theory we heard came from local oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who told the Seattle P-I that he believes: "The feet came along as a result of an......

As the news of a sixth human foot appearing in the waters around Vancouver, B.C. percolates through the Interweb, we're reminded of another troubling and--we can only hope--wholly unrelated story we caught on CBC the other night. Apparently, for the last year, athletically built young men have been mysteriously disappearing around Vancouver, B.C. While the police have yet to suggest any relationship--or even foul play--between the disappearances, family members increasing see links. They've created a......

You're headed to Vancouver for the weekend, excited because Canada is like almost a foreign country. Visions of staring at Belugas and spending your wad of rapidly-depreciating USD's on Robson Street bounce loosely around your head when suddenly a border patrol agent is directing you to a special lane at the Peace Arch. There's a problem and you've got to get out of the car. "Sir, this is aboot your iPod and the copyright infringements......

Before last night's screening of SIFF's opening film Battle in Seattle, amidst all the self-congratulatory speeches, Mayor Nickels remarked that the 1999 WTO riots are "strongly rooted in the fabric of our city" and that every Seattleite would be well-served to have their feelings of the events "validated by an outside perspective." We'd be apt to agree---if only the outside perspective that followed wasn't such ham-handed dreck. Battle in Seattle isn't as bad as......

Maybe we've seen Outbreak too many times, but this does not sound good: Canadian authorities have a train in northern Ontario traveling between Vancouver, B.C. and Toronto, Ontario under quarantine after one person died and several others came down with an undetermined illness. Apparently, 10 people have come down with flu-like symptoms on the train and one woman has already succumbed to the mystery illness. We guess flu-like symptoms are better than ebola-like symptoms,......

Seattlest was in Vancouver this weekend, and, on a whim, made our first foray into a Tim Hortons. We'd heard good things -- "the apex of Canadian cuisine," for example -- and as lifelong doughnut fans we were happy to test that claim. We bought a maple glazed ring and a chocolate longjohn and took them back to our room. The verdict: Canada, you're better than that. The doughnuts were fine, but they're nothing......

Vancouver Police have arrested a 52-year-old man on suspicion of third-degree assault of an officer and malicious mischief, after he terrorized a neighborhood and led police on a slow speed chase on his lawn mower. A very slow speed chase, indeed. Police reported approximate speeds between 3 and 5 mph. The man was found riding his lawn mower through a Vancouver neighborhood when residents began to return home from work. Police were called when he......

When we used to work at the Starbucks in the Bank of America building (nee: Columbia Center), one of our duties was to bring up boxes of cups, napkins and other sundries from the storeroom located in the garage on level E, five stories below ground. According to one urban legend in the building, the lowest level of the parking garage was supposed to be the safest place to be in downtown Seattle during an......

What with his recent Into the Wild success, it's not a huge surprise that Eddie Vedder's embarking on his first solo tour—announced today—up and down the West coast. What is surprising is that he's not playing Seattle. Where Eddie is playing: Apr-02 The Centre Vancouver, BC Apr-05 SC Civic Aud. Santa Cruz, CA Apr-07 Zellerbach Th. Berkeley, CA Apr-10 Arlington Th. Santa Barb, CA Apr-12 Wiltern Th. Los Angeles, CA Apr-13 Wiltern Th. Los......

Unlike our beloved baseball All Star Game, we’ve tended to skip the NBA's version in recent years. However, with our hero Brandon Roy, in Sunday's game we can’t wait to watch our fellow ex-Bulldog cram some FANtastic™ action down the East’s face. However, we’ll be in Vancouver--sorry TNT. Local Connections: Brandon Roy--Played for Garfield High School and the University of Washington. Currently for the Portland Trailblazers. Steve Nash--Native of Victoria. Then U-Dub coach Lynn Nance......

Last night we made up for our dumb-assedness last week and caught episode 2 of Douglas Coupland's JPod, and damn if that weren't a strange beast. Coupland's surreal, self-referential, novelistic discourse on globalism has been transformed into an odd-ball, dry-humored, dramedy miniseries that's strangely addictive. The show centers on Ethan and his fellow programmers in the "J" pod at Vancouver's EA (redubbed Neotronic Arts for the show) campus. Ethan & co. are working on a......

In case you missed it on Monday, British Columbia Liberals announced a $14 billion transit upgrade plan. The Vancouver region already has the 49-kilometre SkyTrain system - the longest automated transit system in the world. But Mr. Campbell yesterday committed to about 30 kilometres of new SkyTrain-style and light-rapid-transit lines, plus bus systems elsewhere in the province, and $1.6-billion for 1,500 new clean-technology buses to increase the provincial fleet by about 60 per cent. B.C.......

Could we be any vaguer? No, but that doesn't mean there's still not any reason to get excited. With In Rainbows making its formal debut atop the Billboard charts, Radiohead is set to cover North America in two tour legs, one prior to and one following their recently announced European summer tour (June 6 in Dublin through July 8 in Berlin). There's no exact dates or venues just yet, but the band has confirmed......

Things always die down right around the holidays, so not much is going on tonight, except local noise mavens X-Ray Press will be celebrating their CD release (and the addition of their new keyboardist) at Jules Maes in Georgetown. Meanwhile, on Saturday David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion and Headphones) plays at the Croc unless you want to go to Chop Suey and get rocked (non-threateningly) by Shonen Knife. Here's a video from last night's......

This morning's commute is pretty bad, but as this rain is expected to last well into the evening, by then Duck Tour may be the only way to navigate the city. Already (as of 8:35 am): --Amtrak service between Eugene and Vancouver, B.C. is suspended because of mudslides. --Sounder service was also cancelled. --Most highways and roads on the coast are closed. --Stevens Pass is closed. --Westlake Ave. in Seattle is blocked between Galer and......

The Program (Dec. 18-22) will be way cooler than we initially thought, folks. Not only will some of the biggest names in NW hip-hop be on stage for your entertainment five nights in a row, but the latest news is that there are all kinds of technological tie-ins that will make this event very, very 21st-century. For instance: if you bring your cell phone to the show (haha! Who doesn’t bring their cell phone to......

Thanksgiving doesn't allow for us Seattlesters to partake in our usual rock and roll lifestyles. Instead it's friends and family and mellow times about the house. Our drinking's liable to be more restrained and coordinated with a heavy meal of rich food. (Seattlest Geoff offered some choice beer recommendations earlier this week for those who've got a pit-stop planned on the way to grandmother's house tomorrow.) And according to the weather report, it's going to......

The snow is falling, our dear Seattle friends, it simply isn't falling here. Whistler just announced it is open for business, bagging the ultimate ski resort coup of cutting powder before we cut the turkey. Of course you want to go, but in fondly recalling the days of 1998 when the US-CA exchange rate swung wildly the other way, you fear you can really only afford to stay home and play Ski Resort Extreme Halo......

Seattlest has found a reason for everyone to welcome bicycles on the city's streets. The origins lie in Virgin Vacations' (has anyone asked The Name Inspector to do a write up on Richard Branson's desire to cater to virgins?) naming of the world's 11 most bike-friendly cities. Unfortunately, Seattle didn't make the list (Portland came in at number 2), which uses five criteria created by The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign to judge a community's bike......

You thought your beer was safe left in the back seat of your car? Think again. We got this email from our friend today: So yesterday I was driving home from Vancouver. Per Geoff's recommendation, I stopped at Bounday Bay's taphouse for a few beers. When I left I bought a growler of IPA. I was happy. When I got home, I parked outside and forgot to bring in my bookbag (worthless) and my......

There's nothing like the prospect of a smart hip-hop show to build up our anticipation on a Saturday night. One where we know that the act we're going to see can't fail to deliver, cranks that up a little higher than we can generally handle when we're forced to first stop by a friend's party before the show. To all those in Shoreline that we bored with excited chatter about Lyrics Born and Blackalicious......

There are a lot of things we can see being seized at the border between Canada and the United States: handguns with the serial number filed off, bricks of heroin, briefcases with the radioactivity sign on the side. Hard drives we'd expect to make it through, but unfortunately we'd be wrong. The guy bringing the masters of the songs Chris Walla recorded in Vancouver back down to Seattle had the drive containing them yanked by......

The operative word, of course, is "considering," because by no means is a bike park at Stevens Pass a done deal. But the plans are surprisingly detailed and specific, which gives Seattlest hope. The local biking community is all a-twitter about the prospects. Each year we trek up to Whistler repeatedly for our downhill biking fix (that's a friend pictured on a black diamond Whistler trail at the right), and we'd much rather spend less......

The Seattle Times has a quickie little snippet about some ski resort ownership swapping, namely that Boyne USA has bought the Summit at Snoqualmie from Booth Creek. At first we were a little concerned, namely because Booth Creek has a great track record from a customer service perspective, especially when they extended our season's pass for free after the disastrous winter of 05-06. But after a little more research, we're very excited because this is......

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......

Few foods are more fun – or more perfect – than xiao long bao. Originating in Shanghai, xiao long bao translates to “little basket bun,” but they are more commonly known as soup dumplings. Steamed in bamboo baskets which hold six to eight dumplings, the doughy wrappers serve as pouches for a fantastic filling of meat and meaty broth. Eat them hot, but not too hot, dipped in black vinegar with thin slivers of ginger.......

Some of Seattlest's favorite family members are taking Amtrak to Portland this weekend. Yesterday, they heard through the friend-of-a-friend grapevine that Amtrak wasn't allowing people to check any baggage. Today, Mrs. Seattlest talked to Amtrak directly and confirmed it for herself. She sent us an email: "Why no checked baggage, you ask? Apparently the Cascades trains are being serviced so the substitute trains don't have baggage room." There's more info on the Amtrak Cascades site.......

We've been trying to keep abreast of the latest strike news via the networks as well as our singular Canadian television channel down here but both the quantity and quality of coverage has been most unsatisfying. So we took matters into our own hands. (Confidential to Metroblogging Vancouver: If you don't provide any sort of contact address, we cannot reach you for guest/expert commentary.) We contacted The Vancouverite because we believe in their attractive......