At 8:30 pm tonight I’m dancing in a show at the NW Actors Studio (across 11th Ave and a little northward from the office). Production diva Jalene will be onstage, too. If you know bellydance as flesh and sequins in your face as you’re trying to eat your exotically spiced lamb chop in peace, I invite you to come out tonight and see another side. Doors are at 8 pm; tickets are $10.

…is that they’ve asked Dave Eggers to curate a literary something-or-other, and since they don’t seem to have posted this information anywhere I’m not going to give anything else away, except that I’ve heard who’s in the line-up and it’s a pretty great crowd.

I just got this from one of the best rappers in the Northwest, Jace. Please go and see this show. It is our duty as a city to support anything that involves Silent Lamb Project!

The show will start at 9pm on Saturday June 18, and doors open at 8pm,
$10-ALL AGES!! Level 3@ EMP.

It will be hosted by Silent Lamb Project and Dj Sean Malik
Performing will be Specs One, Aluzjun, E-Dawg, Mind Movers
RAScion, Damian Black and r&b set by Shanice Oitre, Krystal, and Winetime
All-Stars

Just did an interview w/ George Lakoff. He’s the in-guru with the Democratic Party these days. He’s been getting meetings with the likes of Hillary to pontificate about his philosophy of ‘Framing.’ His hit book “don’t think of an elephant!” lays out his theory pretty well. Basically, he says that the Republicans have, over the last 40 years, invested money and time and think tanks in creating subconscious frames (government bad, free markets good) in voters’ minds. This allows Republican candidates to speak in quick soundbites that resonate or plug into these frames, while the Democratsas in the Kerry v. Bush debatesare left long winded and stammering because there are no progressive subconscious frames to lock into. Lakoff suggests a massive mission wherein the Dems I.D. their own frames and start plugging in. There are a lot of flaws and contradictions and lapses in Lakoff’s theory, and I had fun this morning wrangling with him. Anyway, he’s speaking tonight at Town Hall. Pretty stimulating NPR-type junk.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obviously the right person to be in charge of editing Mistress Matisse’s popular column, “Control Tower,” a task I relish as only a true scholar of inhibition can. I know it’s not exactly cricket to be posting excerpts of columns that have not yet been published, but next week’s “Control Tower” contains what may be my favorite sentence ever written in our beautiful language:

“But while it’s not Hallmark-card romantic, piss-play doesn’t have to be done with a you’re-my-toilet attitude.”

Ok, so I take back what I said about Bumbershoot earlier. I’m disappointed with the currently posted lineup except for any bands featuring my coworkers and any bands my coworkers use to cure depression, both of which are essential to my well-being at this place of employment. My apologies. That said, my bet’s still on LA.

when I say “holy shit!”

Someone is defacing piles of dog shit withno, I won’t ruin it. Go and see for yourself.

Come on, you’re not stoked by the promise of a set by Billy Preston? I can die happily if he performs “Outta Space.” This uber-funky instrumental (which was a hit in the early ’70s, amazingly enoughah, we live in fallen times) could wipe out the most hopeless case of depression.

So I can’t say there’s anything about Bumbershoot’s lineup that excites me in the least so far…

What Jennifer doesn’t know is that Harvey Danger is playing at Bumbershoot again this year.

So I can’t say there’s anything about Bumbershoot’s lineup that excites me in the least so far (Ani DiFranco? Digable Planets? Devo? Did someone send us on a time warp?) this year. I say let’s all go to LA for Labor Day Weekend instead for ArthurFest. I mentioned some of the bands playing earlier this week, but Jesus, they’ve got Dead Meadow, Wolfmother, Earth. Vertiver, Sunburned Hand of the Man, T-Model Ford and so many more incredible underground acts. Southwest Airlines anyone?

NASA has been working on “High Tech Skins,” which would sense movement near robots and help them react appropriately. To showcase this technological wonder they’ve created a video. Enjoy.

And for the full story (which is actually quite interesting), go here.

Tonight I attended opening night of Anne Bogart/SITI Co’s “Death & The Ploughman” at On the Boards.

After 45 of its 90 minutes, I had to leave. It was an indelicate exit, which I regret, but when you stage a 90-minute performance-art tone poem about mortality without an intermission, it’s a risk you run.

I don’t know if I like theater anymore.

Well, it’s nice to know that a reader noticed.

Is it me, or are John Nichols and the Nation ripping off your story from last year without attribution?

http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050620&s=nichols

Trevor Griffey.

No, it’s not just you, John. The Nation did rip us off - I spoke with John Nichols, the authors of The Nation’s Urban Archipelago, and he told me it was an accident, an oversight. We were mentioned and credited in an early draft and then, you know, with all the cutting and pasting, the credit got dropped. They’re going to run a correction.

Whoever left the 17 magazine in the bathroom: Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I’ve been looking to mine a teen mag for some good Q&As. Things have gotten too heavy/history lessony over at my personal blog (check it out, you protest kids) & this month’s 17 seems to have some good stuff. I’ll return it when I’m done.

Africa is the last place where an animal can still be an animal. Nowhere in America could a beast like a hyena terrorize a community for several days and kill 9 humans! But in Malawi, a Southern African country, the hyena, the animal, still has its teeth; it still presents a real danger to the primate that has all the brains and technology. Can you imagine being devoured by a laughing dog?

We’ve got a story about this coming out in today’s news section, but here’s some in-depth analysis (below) that people should check out!

Continue reading "South Lake Union Streetcar Scam" »

I’m in heaven…it was just announced that Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age are not only touring together, but they’re coming to Seattle 9/23 at the Key Arena. Autolux open. Amazing lineup. Yay!

For those who care about such things, the latest Zoetrope All-Story has an exquisite story by Mary Gaitskill. It’s called “The Bridge”. The opening is classic Gaitskill: “In St. Petersburg, Russia, I got hit in the head with a bridge.” I read through it once. Then turned around and read it again. This was partly because I absolutely love her and partly because I drank three cups of coffee after dinner last night. This latest story should tide me over until this fall when her next book comes out.

For those who observe such things, Father’s Day is this Sunday.

So if you’re planning on mailing anything anywhere, do it soon, or bear the wrath of a crybaby dad.

Paul Ankahe’s still living?has a new album out. It’s called Rock Swings (Verve), and it’s destined to rank up there with Pat Boone’s heavy-metal album as a timeless artifact of Western Culture.

The concept: Have a washed-up lounge singer emote over a random collection of rock hits, done in schmaltzy big-band style. Who the hell is the target demo for this album?!

Continue reading "A Fascinatingly Awful Concept" »

Another festival entry…I just got back from a very eclectic, really exciting festival of Scandinavian music called Spot in Aarhus, Denmark. It was a whirlwind trip and whirlwind festival (including everything from hiphop to dancehall to punk rock) but to help expose some of the gems I discovered over there, I’m posting URLs of bands I like. I didn’t see Under Byen, but a musician I met in a bar sent me a link to their website and I like the music. Very cinematic electronica, with vocals not unlike Bjork on sedatives…scroll down to the “downloads” section to hear them. An understanding of Danish not necessary.

In tomorrow’s issue of the paper, you’ll see that we interviewed the White House. And after some additional reporting, we found that (heavens, no!) the White House lied to us. We then bust them for it. Check out tomorrow’s City section!

My pal Jesse Locks just passed along some great news. Arthur magazine, the free, fabulous music newspaper-with, in my mind, some of the best music coverage in the country—is hosting a music festival this fall. Jesse writes, “We are hosting our first Arthurfest over Labor Day weekend in LA. Sleater-Kinney and the Black Keys are headlining, along with Cat Power, Julian Cope, Dead Meadow, Comets on Fire, T-Model Ford, Vetiver, Six Organs, Radar Bros, Wolfmother and ton of others.” While I can’t say the headliners excite me, I’m wiping the drool off my chin as I type over the rest of the lineup. Holy crap, it’s a good one!

What MJ did to his skin in the 90s, OJ did to his soul in the 70s.

This is beautiful and brilliant and completely disturbing. Make sure to keep clicking on the tea cups.

So The Nation ripped us off. What did we do about it? Well, their offices are too far away to storm, so we wrote them an angry letter. I’m sure they’re trembling in their sensible shoes.

Here’s the text of the letter we just sent to the dickweeds at The Nation about “their” Urban Archipelago issue:

Continue reading "The Stranger vs. The Nation" »

Equal Rights Washington is asking for help choosing which ad they should run in Eastside papers, denouncing two state senators’ votes against the anti-discrimination bill this year. Head to their site and vote:

Make Your Voice Heard by Voting for the Ad You Think Sends the Right Message

VOTE HERE

This is your chance to help ERW choose the ad that will adorn the pages of the Eastside Journal, hometown paper to State Senators Bill Finkbeiner and Luke Esser. Both of these Senators voted against the 2005 Anti-Discrimination Bill. The bill lost by one vote in the Senate, so either one of their votes could have been the vote that created a Washington State free from LGBT workplace discrimination.

But both men voted against it. It’s time to let them know how wrong they were. And it’s time to let the good people of Eastern King County know what their Senators’ records state.

Send a message to these Senators by helping ERW choose an ad design to run in their districts. You have until June 26, 2005 to vote. We can not let this issue die between legislative sessions. ERW will keep the heat turned up, if you will help!

Also, give ERW money to help run the chosen ad. Hopefully the senators will either wise up and vote for equality next year (the anti-discrimination bill should be up again next legislative session), or their constituents will get smart and kick the two out of office in 2006.

With Jackson safely behind barser, fully acquittedand the cable-killer scheduled to arrive sometime this week, I’m on the brink of some freezing cold turkey.

Wish me luck, and if you see me jonesing in the gutter, be kind.

Dave - I have cable, and I live a block away from you. Come over any time you need a fix.

Amy asks a vital question, but she doesn’t know the half of it.

For the past couple months, as both Jake and I spent countless hours gaping at every possible bit of media coverage on the Jackson trial (with both of us falling deeply in maternal love with Court TV queen Nancy Grace, whose wise heart pumps spunk), we swore that when this whole thing was over, we’d cancel our cable and rejoin the living.

With Jackson safely behind barser, fully acquittedand the cable-killer scheduled to arrive sometime this week, I’m on the brink of some freezing cold turkey.

Wish me luck, and if you see me jonesing in the gutter, be kind.

What’s David Schmader going to do now? He so diligently followed the trial, and did a remarkable job of providing up-to-the-minute reports on the verdict today, to those of us otherwise stuck writing on deadline. Now what? Is there a support group for the media who camped out by the courthouse, that Dave could join? I fear he will go into post-trial withdrawal, once the 24-hour news coverage subsides.

If MJ had stayed black (if hadn’t become a white man and sharpened his negriod nose) then he surely would’ve been seen as (and found to be) guilty on all accounts.

Like O.J. Simpson?

(Just click on that line right above this one that says “I want to read/make a comment. Take me to the Forums.”)

The Jacko joke I just posted is a groaner. Surely someone can do better.

“Hey, I think it’s fine that Michael Jackson got off.”

Michael Jackson not guilty?

This is conclusive proof that America’s judicial system is still flagrantly slanted in favor of white people.

So Michael Jackson has been acquitted of every single criminal charge he’d been facing.

Well, good for him. I feel like he got away with something, but he’s innocent of all crimes.

My theory: Michael Jackson is a genius at almost everything he attempts, from singing to dancing to songwriting to selecting his alleged victims (another ten years of effing “alleged”!), as today’s verdicta complete slap at the believability of the victim and his conveniently insane and pathologically untrustworthy motherhas proven.

Now I must go suffer some well-earned gloating.

There is the proof! If MJ had stayed black (if hadn’t become a white man and sharpened his negriod nose) then he surely would’ve been seen as (and found to be) guilty on all accounts.

It’s nice to see that the trusty “head don’t count” defense still means something in an American court of law.

is that somewhere in Santa Barbara, some little boy is getting FUCKED tonight.

Rushing home for a date with Court TV, relishing these last few moments of pre-verdict innocence, I put iPod on shuffle through the collected works of MJ and had my eyes re-opened to a key Jackson quirk: namely, Jacko’s ongoing habit of ignoring the huge freakish elephant in the middle of the roomuntil he seemingly writes a song about it, practically daring fans to read the compositions as evidence, or at least some sort of hint.

Cases in point: At the height of Jackson’s “rotating race” drama, when every new picture brought another new skin tone, MJ releases the song “Black or White.” At the height of his genderfuck femininity and public speculation about his suspiciously chaste adulthood, MJ releases the song “In the Closet.”

Finally, after a $30 million settlement that resolved some criminal sexual allegations but hung an invisible guilty sign around his neck, Jackson returns in 2001 with Invincible, which opens with the track “Unbreakable,” featuring a lovely cameo by the Notorious BIG and practically gloating about his skirting of prosecuting DA Tom Sneddon….This is the track that shuffled on during my walk home, leading me to suspect a possible acquittal. (The song would make a dynamite acquittal anthem.) But next up was “The Lost Children,” an icky power balled in praise of all the world’s children, in all their endearing juiciness….sigh…

Sad and hilarious news from the Jackson trial (Is there any other kind?):

On Friday, Raymone Bain, the Official Spokesperson for Michael Jackson whose praises I sang earlier last week, was relieved of her duties within the Jackson camp and sent packing.

Heartbreakingly apt tidbit: Ms. Bain cemented her rep as the least informed spokesperson in history by learning of her dismissal from a reporter, who directed Bain to the press release about her firing on Jackson’s official website.

RIP, Ms. Bain. You will be missed. (And if you’re interested, I need a new intern.)

Yesterday, June 12, was Anne Frank’s birthday. On June 12, 1942, Anne’s parents gave her a diary for her 13th birthday. On June 14, she started writing. Anyone on staff want to start a diary?

Trips to Sundance and kind words from the likes of Variety and Film Comment are fine and all, but nowadays you know your film has made it when it receives coverage on one of the most popular internet pit-stops in all of movie geekdom.

Just got the word from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Chicago. The Republicans backed down and simply let Mayor Nickels’s Kyoto Protocols resolution go through without a floor fight. The Republicans knewafter Nickels resolution passed out of two committees this weekendthat they had been out-organized by Nickels and the Blue City mayors, and didn’t have the votes to stop Nickels’s resolution from passing. So they figured, why call attention to a losing battle. Red City Mayor Bob Young of Augusta, GA. (chair of the Energy Committee) quietly recommended that the Energy Committee agenda (including Nickels’s resolution) pass the full convention without debate.
This is a giant victory for the Urban Archipelago. Nickels’s resolution which is already being followed by over 160 cities, now carries an official stamp of approval from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. This means more cities are likely to sign on. This isn’t just symbolic. Nickels’s resolution calls for U.S. cities to implement local policies that will reduce greenhouse gasses 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012a key component of the Kyoto Protocols. The resolution is an obvious slap at the Bush administration, which withdrew the U.S. from the treaty in 2001.

The state head of “mainstream” Christian conservative group suggested today that gays should be made to wear “labels.”

And not the labels we already do - not designer labels, not labels that let people know about our sexual identity. No, he means warning. You know, like the Nazis made the Jews wear in Germany before they started roundin up Jews and sending them to camps. Labels that would alert our fellow citizens to avoid and/or shun us. (Well, fellow citizens for now — no doubt the American Taliban have plan to strip homos of our citizenship at some point.)

John Aravosis at Americablog is on the case.

Every day there’s a fresh outrage, another Nuremburg-lite law passed, or Rick Perry, Republican Governor of Texas, advising gays to leave that state. Canada is looking better than ever.