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Archives for 04/01/2007 - 04/01/2007

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Like TISP?

Posted by on April 1 at 6:04 PM

Check out Google’s two other new products, just launched today:

Gmail Paper and Google Writer.

Via my dad.

Slow Ride’s Solid Gold Dancers

Posted by on April 1 at 3:37 PM

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Tonight at War Room: Slow Ride, a laid back night that features, according to a trusted source, “the best goddamn FM rock from the ’70s and ’80s.”

I went to check it out last Sunday night and five minutes after we arrived a group of Cornish dance students and teachers—including everybody’s favorite 80s girl dance duo, Fankick!—walked in and took over. It was like being in the middle of the “Hot Lunch Jam” scene from Fame. The spirit of Debbie Allen was definitely in the house. Here’s hoping Slow Ride’s Solid Gold Dancers turn up again tonight.

What Do All These Quotes Have in Common?

Posted by on April 1 at 1:28 PM

“Unabashed aesthetes… “

“We just want to be.”

“Neither squeamishness nor prurience… “

“If someone can go there physically, I can go there mentally.”

They are all in the story about Mr. Charles Mudede’s new movie in today’s (Sunday’s!) New York Times.

Congratulations, Charles.

Democratic State Senator Calls Democratic House Speaker Chopp a “Dictator.”

Posted by on April 1 at 12:53 PM

On March 8, Senator Brian Weinstein (D-41, Mercer Island, Bellevue) passed his homebuyers’ rights bill 30-19 out of the Senate. (The bill would give homebuyers a warranty against shoddy construction.)

Weinstein believed he had his ducks in row to also pass the bill in the House. Last summer, he says, he met with powerhouse House Speaker Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43, Seattle) at Chopp’s de facto office, the Tully’s on 45th in Wallingford. Chopp, Weinstein recalls, said the idea sounded good and handed Weinstein off to House legal staffer Barbara Baker to iron out the details. Weinstein reports that Baker was excited about the bill.

Weinstien also found a House member, Rep. Brendan Williams (D-22, Olympia), who was excited about the legislation. Rep. Williams told Weinstein that faulty housing construction was a big issue in his district. Rep. Williams went on to champion the legislation on the House side.

However, earlier this week, after the House Judiciary Committee passed the bill onto the Rules Committee, Speaker Chopp tabled the bill. As The Olympian reported yesterday, Rep. Williams is pissed and threatened to resign.

Sen. Weinstein, who I talked to this morning, is also pissed. He told me flat out he now believes Rep. Chopp had a deal worked out with the BIAW (the builders lobby) to table the bill all along.

The BIAW doesn’t like the bill because they believe it will spike insurance rates for homebuilders because the bill will empower homeowners legally. Weinstein scoffs at the compliant: “Lawyers can get sued. Doctors can get sued. Anybody can get sued. Homebuilders are the only people in this state that can’t get sued. Aren’t they willing to stand by their work?”

Senator Weinstein, however, reserves his harshest words for House Speaker Chopp. Here’s what he just told me:

This is democracy at its worst. Here is one guy that overruled 30 Democratic Senators and the Democratic House Judiciary Committee. What’s the point of working hard on a bill? There’s no point in doing the fact finding, holding eight hours of hearings, of doing the right thing, if a dicatator can just pull the rug out from under you. I feel helpless.

Weinstein says Chopp doesn’t want to alienate the BIAW so the Democrats can keep their majority … “and” he added derisively, “not do anything with it.”

Your Bird Flu

Posted by on April 1 at 12:38 PM

For those who are preparing/stockpiling for the bird flu pandemic, please read this and, by connection, think about what you are really doing.

A taste of reality (not hysteria):

The world’s richest countries, which have contributed by far the most to the atmospheric changes linked to global warming, are already spending billions of dollars to limit their own risks from its worst consequences, like drought and rising seas.

But despite longstanding treaty commitments to help poor countries deal with warming, these industrial powers are spending just tens of millions of dollars on ways to limit climate and coastal hazards in the world’s most vulnerable regions — most of them close to the equator and overwhelmingly poor.

Today the Stranger Didn’t Suggest

Posted by on April 1 at 11:26 AM

Because sometimes there just isn’t room for everything:


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The French Project

(LA MUSIQUE ROMANTIQUE)
The French Project is a little bit Serge Gainsbourg, a little bit Hank Williams (if Hank Williams was not just a cowboy but an opium-smoking French cowboy). It’s a sleazy, romantic night of songs (from Dolly Parton to Prince) sung en français, featuring Erin Jorgensen (marimba, accordion), Charles Smith (autoharp, dulcimer, etc.), Basil Harris (bass), Sara Edwards (guitar), and guest musician Kirk Anderson (of “Awesome,” drums, mellifluous crooning). The Rendezvous cabaret, with its old bordello wood-and-red-velvet feel is just right venue. (Rendezvous Jewelbox Theater, 2320 Second Ave, 800-838-3006, Sun–Mon at 8 pm, $10.) BRENDAN KILEY

The Morning News

Posted by on April 1 at 9:21 AM

Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Violence spreads: Baghdad crackdown pushes violence to outlying areas

Contradiction: Tuskegee Airmen awarded Congressional Medals as Air Force attempts to debunk their legend

”The language of living in the Ghetto”: Gingrich mocks bilingual education

Vulnerable: Poor countries face the greatest risks from global warming

Permanent record: University of Washington proposes tracking, disciplining students for off-campus behavior

Timmmberrr: Chinese lumber trade falls victim to corruption

Conflict of interest: No Child Left Behind contractor hired to evaluate own program

“I am the reliable conservative” Tommy Thompson enters the ‘08 presidential race

Pop music promotes violence: Shots fired at Nickelodeon awards after party

The future of the internet Google introduces new DIY ISP

Today the Stranger Suggests

Posted by on April 1 at 7:00 AM

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The Locust
(LOUD, HECTIC, COSTUME-HEAVY MUSIC)
Of all the bands to rise out of the fertile San Diego hardcore scene, none have had anywhere near the longevity or bizarre widespread appeal of the Locust. Bizarre, because the Locust make fast, loud, difficult music. But unlike the many hardcore bands that stagnate in a hermetic world of increasingly fast riffs, predictably chugging rhythmic breakdowns, and macho bullshit, the Locust are uncontainable experimentalists and constantly mutating musicians. Despite their roots in hardcore, the Locust more accurately belong amidst avante garde sound and noise pioneers such as John Zorn and Boredoms. Their live shows are hectic, costume-heavy, often short, and punctuated by some of the snappiest banter/heckler retorts in punk rock. With Daughters, Cattle Decapitation. (Neumo’s, 925 E Pike Street, 709-9467, 7 pm, $12/$15, all-ages, bar w/ID.) ERIC GRANDY

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Leslie & the Lys
(Musical Performance Art) After bursting into humanity’s consciousness as that chick on the internet with all the gem sweaters, artist Leslie Hall got busy with her true calling: rocking the fucking mic. Citing L’Trimm and Apple’s GarageBand as key influences, Leslie & the Lys create a honky hiphop hoedown you won’t forget. (Think Dina Martina as a rap act, with an actual vagina.) With Scream Club and Team Gina. (El Corazón, 109 Eastlake Ave E, 381-3094. 10 pm, $8, 21+.) DAVID SCHMADER
Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter
(Musical) With its husky androgyny and deeply resonant, hard-won soul, Jesse Sykes’s voice calls to mind a more rockin’ Nina Simone. The connection is especially evident in the sultry, hushed ballads on Sykes’s latest album, which she is celebrating with a pair of shows this weekend. Her wounded-but-empowered persona shines when she’s under the spotlight, buoyed along by her band like a dry leaf in the wind. (Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave NW, 789-3599. 7 pm, $10, 21+.) JONATHAN ZWICKEL