Artist Jason Salavon is doing strange things.

Take this, for example—every Playboy centerfold from 1960 to 1999, grouped by decade and digitally averaged into one composite photo for each decade.

We can clearly see that the models have become whiter, blonder, and skinnier. And the background has blued. Click through for closer views of each image.

And then there’s Flayed Figure, Male, a self-portrait best described by the artist:

The entire surface area of the artist’s body is printed to scale in this photograph. It consists of over 13,000 half-inch squares of skin and hair rearranged vertically by luminosity from dark to light. The resulting self-portrait is reconfigured so as to reveal the most intimate physical detail while obliterating individual identity.

The result looks like this:

But you have to see the detail to get the full effect.

There are more, like the 76 Blowjobs, or The Grand Unification Theory (one frame per second from Star Wars, arranged by luminosity).

Celebrate FIVE YEARS of Vera tonight with:

ZINES!
Zine Station where you can paste, tape, collage, or type memories from the past 5 years at Vera. All things created and dropped off will be made into a Anniversary Zine to be distributed in February.

CAKE!
5 Cakes! One for each year. Vietnamese tofu sandwiches and crème puffs will be available for consumption. Eat up!!

SLIDESHOW!
Justin Shear and James Nixon have slaved over a retrospective slideshow of the last 5 years. Slides of volunteers, members, bands and staff from the early years until very recently! Don’t miss it, James has mixed live cuts from groups that have performed at Vera. Oooohhh fancy.

GUESTS!
The rumors are confirmed. Super Secret Special Guest is…?
Here are a couple clues:
They played one of their first shows at Local 46.
They’re all over the radio and local newspapers.
They love vampires.
Not to mention DJ Mac busting some dance music and possible dance moves!

SILKSCREEN!
A silkscreen station set up so everyone can screen “Celebrating 5 Years” onto any article of clothing you bring. Possibly a Vera shirt that could use a little spunk or just maybe that umbrella you‚ve been meaning to decorate. Or purchase a limited edition 5 year anniversary t-shirt with a redesigned old school Vera logo!

It all starts at 7 pm (you have just under and hour to get there!) at the Fourth Ave space. And it’s FREE!

And tomorrow night, the Showbox hosts a sold-out show with the Blood Brothers, Minus the Bear, These Arms Are Snakes, and Crystal Skulls. Yay!

Happy birthday, Vera!!

A fond farewell to The Stranger and Seattle…it’s been a great 4 years and I’ll miss it here dearly. I’m off to SF come Monday (sniff). xo Jennifer

It’s true. Grandaddy broke up.

Ari, from Music for America, passed along the news…

Grandaddy Call It Quits.

Musty bones are creaking this way: Sisters of Mercy are coming to the Premier on March 25. Tickets go on sale tomorrow through TicketsWest. I’m sorry I don’t have a recording of Mudede’s hilarious, affectionate rendition of “This Corrosion” to share with you.

From The The Carpetbagger Report:

In the 2004 presidential race, John Kerry offered a very clear approach as to how the United States should deal with Iran: have the international community offer Iran nuclear fuel to be used in a peaceful nuclear energy program. As Kerry put it at the time, “We should call their bluff and organize a group of states that will offer the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they can’t divert it to build a weapon.”

Nonsense, said the Bush gang, which argued such an approach would effectively be “appeasement.” Condi Rice dismissed Kerry’s approach, telling Fox News, “This regime has to be isolated in its bad behavior, not quote-unquote ‘engaged.’” Frank Gaffney Jr., a former Pentagon official and Bush ally, knocked Kerry’s plan in an op-ed entitled, “Kerry’s Nuclear Nonsense.” Gaffney boasted, “Mr. Bush understands the folly of going that route.” National Review ran an item calling Kerry’s proposal “ignorant” and “dangerously wrong.”

Even in an election year our Dear Leader Bush wouldn’t play politics over something as important as diplomacy with a country ruled by radical Islamists. Surely he wouldn’t do something as petty, misguided, and quite possibly dangerous just to make his opponent look weak. No, not our man Dubya!

Oh wait…

President Bush’s endorsement of a plan to end the nuclear standoff with Iran by giving the Islamic republic nuclear fuel for civilian use under close monitoring has left some of his supporters baffled.

One cause for the chagrin is that the proposal, which is backed by Russia, essentially adopts a strategy advocated by Mr. Bush’s Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts.

“I have made it clear that I believe that the Iranians should have a civilian nuclear power program under these conditions: that the material used to power the plant would be manufactured in Russia, delivered under IAEA inspectors to Iran to be used in that plant, the waste of which will be picked up by the Russians and returned to Russia,” Mr. Bush said at a news conference yesterday. “I think that is a good plan. The Russians came up with the idea and I support it,” he added.

What an eeediot.

I ran across this delicious looking bag of crabs—dried, spiced crabs—at Shoreline Community College today, where I gave a speech about gay marriage and made a woman cry by using the word “fuck.” I bought the bag of crabs because I felt compelled to share my discovery with Slog readers:

I particularly love the crab-eating slogans—”Let’s Party” and “Party Time”—that are written on the bag. But I wonder what the Japanese characters say?

This week I caught an early glimpse of the Denzil Hurley painting show opening at Francine Seders on Sunday (the reception is 2-4 pm), and it’s a gathering of sophisticated oils on canvas that are quietly obsessed with the lost action of their own making. Hurley, a UW professor, repeatedly paints in layers, then sands down the paint, producing fields of inflected color that contain mysterious marks. Some of the marks appear to emerge from behind the fields of color, while others lay on top. The field keeps shifting, and so does the desire to look at the marks versus the field. It’s hard to take these in all at once, to reconcile the attraction of the details with the rhythm of the overall picture. I didn’t have enough time with them to decide whether the activity they generate overcomes the dry, methodical approach, but go and see for yourself.

FYI, this is Hurley’s first showing at the veteran gallery (which represents several abstractionists, including Lauri Chambers and Michael Dailey), and it’s titled Variant/Glyphic/Negation/Redact.

Defying expectations (and, in several cases, council members’ own predictions) that the city council would choose a woman of color to replace Jim Compton, the council went with former Tina Podlodowski aide and current Lifelong AIDS Alliance community resources director Sally Clark, one of six finalists for the position.

Council members said they were swayed by Clark’s impressive performance at her interview, and by the unequivocally positive reviews she received from colleagues and former employers. Several also said they were impressed by the “mature, responsible” way Clark responded to news that the five minority candidates for the position (all of them, in other words, but her) had banded together in an informal social group they called the “sisterhood”. Clark told the Times: “I think it’s great and I would love to have dinner with them. But I feel I’ve amassed my own support group and I’ve been busy enough doing my due diligence and studying issues.”

Clark received the largest number of points in the initial round of voting, and was one of four finalists to receive nominations. (Venus Velazquez and Ven Knox didn’t make the cut). The council deadlocked 4-4 on Sharon Maeda and Stella Chao, and finally voted 6-2 for Clark,, with David Della and Richard McIver voting no. Then, as a gesture of confidence, they took another vote to make it unanimous.

After the vote, council president Nick Licata said Clark was the only finalist who didn’t “raise red flags” with at least one council member. “Every other candidate had a myriad of concerns, most of them really minor,” Licata said. Jan Drago said that when she checked Clark’s references, “it was just astonishing - all of her former bosses were just profusely positive.”

Council members and staff seemed surprised but mostly pleased at the council’s choice. (Because it wasn’t a straight up-or-down vote, a straightforward count of council members’ top choices wouldn’t necessarily indicate who would get the position.) Drago said she had expected the job to go to Dolores Sibonga, who served on the council throughout the ’80s. Meanwhile, a bleary-eyed Tom Rasmussen, who had been up all night at the One-Night Count of the homeless, said he “never would have predicted it. Never, never, never.”

Clark is the first out lesbian member of the council since Podlodowski, who served on the council from 1996 to 1999. And she is the first young woman on the council since Judy Nicastro and Heidi Wills, who both lost their seats in 2003.

Even as council members were absorbing the news about Clark, the gay-rights bill passed in Olympia, prompting Drago to yell to Podlodowski, to whom she was talking on her cell phone, “Oh my God! What a day!” The council will swear in Clark on February 6.

Last night, seated in the far back of an assembly at Winston Wächter Fine Art, I considered the relationship between artists Susan Dory and Brian Murphy. My wine-soaked conclusion: none. Brian works in watercolor and paper, Susan in acrylic and canvas. Brian’s subject is figurative, Susan’s is abstract. Brian’s is intimate, revealing, uncomfortable, and challenging. Susan’s is, on all counts, the opposite.

Brian described his work as the product of being drawn to subjects both “seductive and irritating.” I thought that pretty accurately described the event. Although he was graceful and sensitive to all the questions, he didn’t seem comfortable in the spotlight, and mentioned that the reason he’s a visual artist is so that he doesn’t have to talk.

I selfishly wished the focus were on him, and we could hear his thoughts on body image, on the celebration of the uncomfortable, on the quiet but confrontational nature of his work. Instead I was bored senseless by the back & forth, the dense verbosity, the circuitous art-speak.

On my way out (mid-lecture) I intentionally caught Brian’s eye, and gave him my best, most meaningful look of conspiratorial support. I tried to make my eyes say “I suspect you’re just as miserable as I am, and you would also leave if you could.”

From the Vancouver Sun:

Canadians are far too “liberal and hedonistic” to change their politics overnight despite their election of Stephen Harper’s Tory government, says a far-right-wing American commentator.
Paul Weyrich examines the result of Monday’s election in an essay posted to the website of the Free Congress Foundation, the Washinton-based think tank that he heads.
“The people of Canada have become so liberal and hedonistic that the public ethic in the country immediately could not reversed,” Weyrich writes.
But shift is possible.
“It will take time. But with leadership it well may be possible to change the public ethic.”

Today, the Washington State Senate seems likely to pass a law that was first introduced in 1977, the year I was born. Commonly known as “the gay civil rights bill,” it would actually protect more than just gay people: It would prohibit discrimination against heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgendered people in housing, employment, and financial transactions.

How would it do this? By expanding the list of protected classes in this state. Right now discrimination is prohibited against people based on race, religion, age, gender, or physical disability. This bill would add sexual orientation and gender identity to that list.

Watch with me here, as the senate debates, then votes on, and then likely passes a bill that has led to so much acrimony for nearly 30 years. Debate has just started, with this reminder to the large crowd that has gathered: “No reponses or outbursts will be allowed in response to any action taking place in the senate.”

Ah, but they can’t keep a blogger quiet! Keep checking back, I’ll be posting outbursts throughout the day’s debate.

10:30 a.m. — AH, THE WISDOM OF THE PEOPLE

Something we’ll be hearing a lot about today is what the people of the great State of Washington think about this bill. A conservative senator just got done telling the chamber that 60 percent of Washingtonians oppose this bill. In fact, according to a recent poll conducted by the group Equal Rights Washington, the opposite is true: 60 percent of Washingtonians support the bill, and most voters believe it is already illegal in this state to discriminate against people based on their sexual identity.

10:45 — “THE HOMOSEXUALLY LIFESTYLE”

For a man who just told the senate that he has a lesbian daughter, Senator Bob Oke (R-Port Orchard) doesn’t seem to know much about homosexuality. He kept referring to it as “the homosexually lifestyle.” And then he told the senate how, as a religious man, he won’t allow his daughter and her partner in his home. No mystery how he’ll be voting. Sen. Oke’s great fear, he said, is that tomorrow’s headlines will read: “Senate approves homosexually lifestyle.” I doubt the good senator from Port Orchard will be a happy man tomorrow, but I don’t think he has to worry about that particular headline.

11:00 — REPUBLICAN SEN. FINKBEINER VOTES YES

His voice thick with emotion, Sen. Bill Finkbeiner (R-Redmond) just made it all but certain the bill will pass. He will likely be the only Republican to break ranks and vote with Democrats in support of the bill. And in explaining to his Republican colleagues why he is choosing to do so, he demolished the conservative argument against the proposed legislation.

He began by going through the list of concerns Republicans usually raise about the bill: That it will hurt small businesses (No, Finkbeiner pointed out, the bill exempts businesses with fewer than eight employees); that it will take away the rights of religious organizations (No, Finkbeiner pointed out, religious organizations are exempted from the proposed law); that it will lead to gay marriage (No, Finkbeiner pointed out, it has nothing to do with gay marriage).

Therefore, Finkbeiner said, “What the debate is about is not what’s in the bill. What the debate is about is what we’ve heard today: Whether or not it’s ok to be gay or homsexual in this state. And whether or not it’s ok to discriminate against someone because of that…

“An earlier speaker said: Would you choose this lifestyle for your children? Parents don’t choose this, you don’t choose who you love. The heart chooses who you love. I don’t believe it would be right for us to say it is acceptable to discriminate against people because of who their heart chooses to love. I cannot stand with that argument.…

“I hope that after the passage of this bill that we’ll see that the world continues to turn. But for some people who struggle with this issue, and who struggle with the messages they’re being sent, it will be a better day.”

11:15 — HARSH JUDGMENT

Sen. Brian Weinstein (D-Bellevue) ticked off a list of the 16 states that already have laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, including: New York, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Nevada. “People have said this bill will tear our state apart,” Weinstein said. “It hasn’t torn any of these states apart.” Good point.

And then Weinstein made another interesting point: “Those who vote against this bill now will be judged very harshly by future generations.”

Sen. Alex Deccio (R-Yakima) immediately rose to object, saying Weinstein had unfairly maligned people who will be voting against the bill, in violation of senate rules.

“Senator,” Weinstein responded, rhetorically outmaneuvering Deccio, “I was merely saying that I think future generations will look quite kindly on the people who voted for this bill.”

11:30 — RECOMMENDED READING

If you’re watching live, and have grown tired of the speechifying, there’s an excellent article in today’s Seattle Times that you should check out. It’s by Lornet Turnbull, who I think is one of the best “straight media” reporters in this state on gay rights issues. Today Turnbull explores what’s happened in municipalities in this state that already outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation—an exploration that seems sensible, given the doomsday scenarios that conservatives are painting for this state if the bill passes. Conservatives say that courts are going to be flooded with flimsy lawsuits as a result of the new law, but Turnbull finds that discrimination lawsuits based on sexual orientation are few and far between in places, such as Seattle and Tacoma, that already outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation. She also finds that such lawsuits are extremely difficult to win anyway. One more conservative talking point demolished.

11:36 — VOTING NOW

The senate is doing a roll call vote right now on the bill. Last thing I heard: “Senator Finkbeiner? Aye.”

11:38 — THE BILL PASSES THE SENATE, 25-23

And the chamber erupts in applause.

11:40 — NOW, BACK TO THE HOUSE

Having finally overcome the years-long Republican blockade in the senate, this bill is going to become law. But it has one more hurdle before it fully clears the legislature and can land on Gov. Christine Gregoire’s desk: It has to go back to the house, where legislators need to reapprove the bill because of some language changes that were made in the senate version. There’s no doubt the house will approve the senate’s version of the bill, and quickly. I’ll let you know as soon as it happens.

11:45 — ED MURRAY REACTS

As I noted at the start, this bill was first introduced in 1977, the year I was born. Beginning in 1987 it was championed for eight straight years by the late Sen. Cal Anderson, the state’s first openly gay legislator. (There’s a beautiful park just across the street from The Stranger’s offices on Capitol Hill that is named for Anderson, and during the debate today one senator asked to cast a vote in his honor.) After Anderson died of AIDS in 1995, Rep. Ed Murray (D-Seattle), who happened to have been appointed to the house of representatives that same year, immediately became the bill’s new champion. Murray, who is openly gay, has since introduced the bill 11 times over his legislative career, and is the state legislator most closely associated with this bill, and with gay rights in general.

Anticipating passage by the senate today, I asked Murray last night how it would feel to see the bill finally become law.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be able to say, ‘Promises kept, mission accomplished,’” Murray told me. “And not just to Cal, but to a lot of people I’ve known, who worked on it and went on to other things in their lives. And to a lot of people who are dead…

“When it passes, no matter what happens, there is no turning back. There is no taking away from this moment. A group of elected legislators, many of whom it’s a tough road for, did the courageous thing and legislated that discrimination against gays and lesbians and transgendered people is wrong. And nothing will take away from that, no matter what they try.”

12:00 — MURRAY SPEAKING NOW IN THE HOUSE

In advance of the final house vote on the bill.

12:06 — THE GAY CIVIL RIGHTS BILL PASSES THE HOUSE, 63 - 37, CLEARING THE LEGISLATURE. NEXT STOP: THE GOVERNOR’S DESK…

Applause, longer and louder than in the senate. And a reminder, from Ed Murray, that in some ways, the legislators in Olympia are behind much of the rest of the state in coming to realize the importance of this issue.

“I want to thank you for recognizing that for some gay and lesbian people, discrimination is a reality,” he told the chamber, just before the vote. “Within the lifetime of everyone in this room, it was for all gay and lesbian people.”

He continued: “You have proved that democracy works… For some of us, and I think for the whole state, it’s a new dawn.”

12:45 — CELEBRATION TIME

From Equal Rights Washington, a list of celebrations being held around the state tonight in honor of the bill’s passage:

Bellingham: 5 PM at Taco Lobo, 117 W Magnolia Street

Kitsap County: 6:30 PM at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Bremerton

Olympia: 5 PM at Plenty’s Restaurant, Downtown Olympia

Seattle: 6 PM at Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine Street

Spokane: 6 PM at Rainbow Regional Community Center, 508 West 2nd Avenue

Tacoma: 5:30 PM at Tempest, 913 MLK

Tri-Cities: 6 PM at Center for Positive Living, 210 East 3rd Avenue, Kennewick

Wenatchee: 7:30 PM Saturday at Cellar Cafe (SHINE Event), 246 N Mission Street

Yakima: 6 PM at Rainbow Cathedral MCC, 225 North 2nd; 7 PM at First Street Conference Center, 223 North 1st Street

12:50 — NATIONAL REACTION

The National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce “hails” Washington’s legislators, and notes:

48% of the nation’s population will now be protected by sexual orientation non- discrimination laws

Over at Americablog, John Aravosis, who last year orchestrated the backlash against Microsoft’s decision not to support the bill, writes:

Amazing. This is truly amazing, and decades in coming. You’ll recall this was the bill that got killed last year after Microsoft pulled its support. Well, this year Microsoft didn’t just support the bill, but the local Republican rep from Redmond (Microsoft’s home) changed his vote from a no to a yes, and the bill passed 25-23 in the state Senate today.

This is really great news. And kudos to all those in Washington state who have fought for so long - decades, really - to get this passed. And thanks to Microsoft and all the other companies who publicly supported the legislation as good for business and good for America.

There’s hope yet for our country.

1:35 — GREGOIRE WILL SIGN THE BILL INTO LAW ON TUESDAY

Lars Erickson, a spokesman for Gov. Christine Gregoire, said she plans to sign the bill into law on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

“She’s very excited about it, and very happy that she’s going to have the opportunity to sign the bill next week,” he said.

I asked what Gregoire thinks about the Tim Eyman initiative that could potentially moot the new law, and Erickson replied:

“She’s fought for these measures, and she will fight against any measure to repeal this great victory.”

Final call for Seattle’s Sexiest: Send your local lust objects to us now (attach a photo and tell us where we can find him or her): sexiest@thestranger.com.
Today’s moment of yum courtesy of last year’s Sexiest Waitress, Roxy. (Let’s see if she generates as much drool as Mike did yesterday…)

I got a chance to interview Mr. Cekwana, the renowned South African dancer/choreographer who will perform at On the Boards next weekend. We discussed “Africanness” in art, dance audiences, and Tom Hanks movies:

“I saw a film long ago—Lost in Seattle, no? No, Sleepless in Seattle. Yes, I enjoyed the film very much so I looked it up on the map to know where Seattle is. And when I saw my tour map and saw we were going to Seattle, I was quite excited: At last! Really, really excited.”

You can read more here.

Greetings! Welcome to this week’s Last Days Spillover Spectacular, wherein all those news items that didn’t make the cut for the print edition of Last Days get a cyber-airing here on the Slog.

As readers of the paper are aware, this week’s column is devoted entirely to Eric Cozens, AKA the man who bought the right to make himself the subject of this week’s column in the 2005 Strangercrombie Holday Gift Auction. Thus I was granted a week’s reprieve from news of weird science and terrifying threats.

But there remains a surplus to share, starting with this eyewitness sighting reported by Hot Tipper Maria, who was driving her son to kindergarten last Thursday morning when, at a Lake City Way stoplight, she witnessed a wondrous collision of multi-taskmastering and medical necessity:

“To my right, I noticed an agitated driver on a cell phone, also waiting for her light to change. Suddenly the door of her dark green Jeep Cherokee flew open, and she vomited, copiously and violently, several times onto the pavement. Her green light arrived and she quickly resumed driving and talking on her phone, swerving past us uphill on 115th.”

Considering the time of day, Last Days initially suspects morning sickness. But considering the woman’s matter-of-fact method of ralphing—not even hanging up her phone!—it’s possible today’s compunction-free puker is a can-do business woman hanging tough through the ravages of chemotherapy. Either way, it’s a sight Hot Tipper Maria won’t soon forget. “My son, secure in his booster seat, was disappointed that he missed seeing the technicolor yawn and hopes he will get to see someone puke publicly soon,” writes Maria. “With all of this Seahawks crap, he will probably get his wish.”

Speaking of people getting their wishes, the aforementioned purchaser of this week’s Last Days, Mr. Eric Cozens, was nice enough to answer a small handful of questions I threw at him, only to have the Q&A segment miss the cut for the final column. But here they are for you now:

What song will play at your funeral?
“‘My Way,’ by Sinatra.”
What’s your astrological sign? Does this question attract or repel you?
“Scorpio. I’ll leave it at that.”
What’s worse—bad art or child abuse?
“Bad art goes away with time, child abuse is repeated over and over.” [Columnist’s note: This is a most impressive answer.]

Speaking of child abuse: I’m sure there was plenty of it this week, but thanks to Eric Cozens, I didn’t have to read about any of it. In lieu of Last Days’ signature spin on tales of diabolical child abuse, please enjoy this. Performed by some very young Olsen twins, it could very well be the Last Days theme song. (Most perversely, listening to this song actually makes me want to start abusing children—two in particular…)

See you next week.

The Seattle King County Coalition for the Homeless (SKCCH) did their annual count last night, with 550 volunteers fanning out across the county to tally the number of people sleeping on the streets.
They found 1946 people—a drop from last year’s 2200. However, last year’s count was done in October—before 200 winter emergency beds were open. Those beds were being used last night. So, SKCCH estimate that the number of homeless people hasn’t changed much since last year.

They also noted a trend that began last year—an uptick in the number of homeless in Ballard.

Another note from last night: A decrease in the numbers in Beacon Hill’s “Jungle”—the forest land homeless turf adjacent to I-5.

Hurrah! Sally Clark has been distinguishing herself as a multi-pupose good egg since I first set foot in this musty burg. (July 10, 1991, to be exact.)

With the selection of Clark and the due-by-noon anti-gay discrimination decision, will January 27 go down in history as gay Seattlites very own Juneteenth? Stay tuned…

The council just voted to make former Tina Podlodowski aide, and currrent Lifelong AIDS Alliance staffer Sally Clark, your new city council member. Defying expectations that the council would choose a women of color, Clark was the only white women among the six finalists (who were all women.) Clark is a minority, though. She’s gay.

On the first pass, David Della and Richard McIver, voted against Clark. However, on a second vote, it was unanimous.

Erica will have more details in a moment.

Because I’m always late to every party, I’m not going to shrink from slogging about an amazing MP3 Blog that has been captivating me for an embarrassing number of hours lately—even though I’m sure you’ve all known about it for like a hundred years:

Little Hits is the brainchild of Jon Harrison, a man with three adorable kitties, a massive record collection, and an astonishing generosity of spirit. Harrison posts a different Little Hit almost every day, and unlike many a fellow MP3 blogger, leaves them up for a long time. The archive goes back just over a year, and rewards as much attention as you’re willing to pay it. Granted, these songs aren’t going to be to everyone’s taste—Little Hits are a multi-genre subset that contains college rock of the ’80s, ’60s psych-garage pop nuggets, early-to-mid-’90s indie tweeness, Aussie/Kiwi arcana, the odd goth-lite drone, dreamy jangle from any era, and really anything else that is (a) great, and (b) able to fit on one side of a seven-inch single. But for certain people (take me, for example), it will be like discovering the last undiscovered second-hand store, only to find a near-limitless supply of records you’ve never heard but always loved.

In the recent past, I have enjoyed (and downloaded in many cases, i confess) previously unfamiliar music by artists I already knew, like The Turtles, Kirsty MacColl, Chris Knox, Small Factory, The 6ths, Monochrome Set, and The Softies, and been introduced to amazing sounds from bands I’d never even heard of, like Monkey Swallows the Universe, Pet Politics, Larch, The Nelsons (no relation, though i wouldn’t be surprised, frankly), The Orlons, Northern Picture Library, Miller, and literally dozens more. Best of all, each entry is accompanied by quality artwork scans, and concise, clever, informative text about the artists—most of whom are long gone—and often, the circumstances that brought Harrison to the record. Like most collectors, Harrison has a very specific story for every song he loves. Unlike many, however, his stories are a pleasure. And on days with no entries, there’s often something worth reading. Little Hits is an archivists’ archive, dedicated to one of the great near-lost disposable artifacts of the second half of the 20th century, the vinyl single. Over and above the sheer volume of cool music, there is the relief that comes with finding someone taking such care to keep the dream alive.

MP3 blogs are a mixed bag, not only for the music and comment they offer, but for the motivation of their authors/curators/shepherds. The same can be said of anything available on the web. In the best circumstances, they feel like the ultimate extension of being a fan/evangelist: This is the music I love, and I want you to hear it. It’s like a great radio show that you can move around in, a moveable feast of mix tape ingredients. Above all, the best MP3 blogs are generous, utilitarian, and self-perpetuating. They represent progress. Go find some before the RIAA finds a way to make them illegal. (NW writer/international playboy Mike McGonigal has a great one, which I credit/blame for the blog k-hole I’ve been in lately.)

I know there’s a lot of passionate discourse about free music on the internet, but I really can’t imagine a good argument against a project like Little Hits, at least not one that isn’t completely quashed by the following statement from Harrison, posted right at the top:

“Little Hits does not intend to deprive artists and labels of revenue; it is instead hoped that the music presented on this site will contribute to interest that will eventually lead to legitimate re-issue of the works of the artists represented, or wider recognition of already available releases. If you have legal rights to any of the songs presented here, and wish to have them removed, I will attempt to dazzle you with the speed and abject humility of my compliance.”

I don’t know Jon Harrison, but he is my brother.

Also, I am Slogging from France, which I think is a first. Burn on Jacques Chirac!

A plan to hand out 70,000 maps showing highways, rescue beacons and water tanks to Mexicans jumping the border has been suspended. Instead, the maps are only being posted on web sites.
The National Human Rights Commission (a Mexican government-funded agency), put the map distribution on hold after heavy criticism from the US (although the Mexican government is denying a correlation)—although Humane Borders is still posting them.

Miguel Angel Paredes, the spokesman for the federal Human Rights Commission, said the plan would be “rethought” because human rights officials in border states expressed concern that the maps would show anti-immigrant groups — like the Minutemen civilian patrols — where entrants were likely to gather. “This would be practically like telling the Minutemen where the migrants are going to be,” Paredes said. “We are going to rethink this, so that we wouldn’t almost be handing them over to groups that attack migrants.”

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps denies that it attacks the Mexicans whom they stalk like prey in the desert, but c’mon: A voluntary militia of white nationalists + infrared goggles = Mexican hunting parties.

Thanks for the dispatch from City Hall, Erica.
And while Erica will be bringing us live hits from downtown, Eli Sanders will be updating us from Olympia, where the Senate is set to take up the gay civil rights bill.

Big news day.

Me, I’ll be sitting at my desk, um, delegating!

Most of the front page of the Seattle Times today—above the fold, with a huge photo—is given over to a story about a 16 year-old male ballet dancer who has an important audition on the Sunday of the Superbowl. He’s a Seahawks fan, you see, like so many other 16 year-old boy ballet dancers, and his dance belt is in a bunch about this.

Craig Hall has trained most of his life for this moment — a chance to earn a spot in the School of American Ballet’s summer course. For the 16-year-old who started dancing at 5, it would be a giant step toward his goal of joining the New York City Ballet.

His audition, however, is at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 5 — the same time his beloved Seattle Seahawks will be playing in Super Bowl XL. He has waited a long time for that moment, too.

“It’s awful,” said Hall, of Woodinville.

With a charming innocence, Hall asked his instructor at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School whether he thought it would be OK to write a letter asking if the time for the audition could be moved.

I was a 16 year-old boy ballet dance once—really—and I don’t recall any of my, er, peers being the least bit interested in the Chicago Bears. Or all that charmingly innocent either. Clearly times, and boy ballet dancers, have changed.

If all goes as planned, the city council will choose a new colleague to fill council position #9 this morning at 9:30 am. The voting system chosen by new council president Nick Licata is similar to proportional representation. Council members will each get three weighted votes, and each council member will be required to make three choices. Each council member’s first choice will get three points, or votes; second choice will get two; and third choice will get three. Then all the votes will be tallied and the voting will go into a second round. Of the six finalists, my money is on Sharon Maeda or Venus Velazquez; proportional systems, however, tend to benefit second-tier candidates, which could hand the council position to compromise candidate Stella Chao.

More details after the vote.

The old Patti Summers space has seen a lot over its years—a birthday party for Jackie Hell, a venue for Seattle bands like the Blank Its to play, a watering hole for strays wandering around Pike Place Market. But on Valentine’s Day, the space will reemerge as the Can Can, opening its doors for the first time since the remodel (with a grand opening set for March 11) and from what it sounds like, still offering live music.

Sunday is Chinese New Year - time to bid fond farewell to the Year of the Cock and usher in Year of the Dog. China really knows how to party, and, more importantly, how to plan ahead:

Alongside food and fire crackers, Chinese are adding a new item to their lunar New Year shopping: Adult diapers. Sales have soared ahead of the holiday as travelers prepare for long trips home aboard trains so crowded that even the toilets are jammed with people, newspapers said Tuesday.

So what can we expect from the upcoming year? The Dog is an ethical and idealistic sign, and the year that bears its name will also bring increased social awareness and interest in society’s less powerful members. Any tendencies to take, take, take will be replaced by a widespread sentiment of generosity and selflessness. In general, we will all be imbued with the Dog’s keen sense of right and wrong.

A few months back Target was allowing its pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception if it was against their religious beliefs—and Target claimed, outrageously, the they were acting in accordance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which, according to Target, gave all of their employees the right to discriminate based on their religious beliefs. It was a new and novel—and completely bullshit—interpretation of the Civil Rights Act.

Well, a reader just sent this story in:

Target pharmacist fired for refusing ‘morning-after’ prescription

ST. LOUIS — A suburban St. Louis pharmacist filed a federal complaint after being fired from a Target store for refusing to dispense the so-called “morning-after” birth control pill.

Heather Williams had worked at a Target store in St. Charles, Mo., for five years before being fired last month. Her attorney says that until recently, the company accommodated her objection to dispensing the morning-after pill. Her complaint was filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Calls to Minneapolis-based Target were not returned.

Several states are wrestling with the issue of pharmacists who refuse to dispense emergency contraception pills for moral and religious reasons.