July 20, 2011

Shut Up!

Have your own damn block party!

Josh Bis

Tools

It happens every year like clockwork around Block Party o'clock: A buncha yahoos come out of the woodwork and start crying. "Cry, cry, cry," they cry. They cry in the streets, they cry on the blogs, they cry in the Stranger's e-mail: "It is such BULLSHIT," they cry, "that Capitol Hill Block Party is called a 'block party,' because block parties are FREE, but the Capitol Hill Block Party costs MONEY, and at the Capitol Hill Block Party you don't even get Old Man Fitzgibbons's famous macaroni salad like we have at MY block party on MY block! Cryyyyyy, cry, cry! I am the worst person ever!"

Well, worst person ever, I have some questions for you. Do incredibly famous and expensive bands play at your block party? Do you pay them in Old Man Fitzgibbons's famous macaroni salad? Are you familiar with the concept of "an event" having "a name"? When you go to Bumbershoot, are you confused that it is not, in fact, an umbrella festival? When you go to Folklife, are you angry because it is neither folksy nor populated by the living? When you go to Sasquatch!, are you all, "HUUURRRRRRRR!!! WHUR'S THE BIGFOOTS!? I'M ANGRY! DUR DUR DURRR CRYPTOZOOLOGY FART!!!" Do you expect the Seattle Erotic Art Festival to be actually erotic?

Stranger Personals

It's called the Block Party. That's its name. It is not the same as the block party that you have on your block. And if you're that mad that someone is having a big party in the street and listening to music and charging money and calling it a block party—then just HAVE A FUCKING BLOCK PARTY ON YOUR OWN PRECIOUS FUCKING BLOCK.

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Comments (23) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Seriously.

Posted by NaFun

on July 20, 2011 at 9:38 AM · Report

Yes! Thanks for preempting the seasonal block party trolls.

Posted by Chester Copperpot on July 20, 2011 at 10:02 AM · Report

Can you re-write this about Blue Angel's whiners next week?

Posted by SchmuckyTheCat on July 20, 2011 at 10:40 AM · Report

And you can even host one without paying for all those permits you usually need to get!
http://www.seattle.gov/police/Nightout/

Posted by Enigma

on July 20, 2011 at 1:21 PM · Report

"...incredibly famous and expensive bands..." where?!?!

Posted by narwhal on July 20, 2011 at 2:59 PM · Report

It should be free and free of "incredibly famous and expensive bands". How about a free block party with bands that live in the neighborhood?

Posted by UKnowWho on July 20, 2011 at 3:03 PM · Report

love.

Posted by lordbison

on July 20, 2011 at 3:04 PM · Report

@6 That would be nice! How about you organize it!

Posted by Njoy on July 20, 2011 at 3:35 PM · Report

A-goddamn-men.

Posted by xjennersonx

on July 20, 2011 at 3:52 PM · Report

@6: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/shut-…

Posted by Lindy West on July 20, 2011 at 4:07 PM · Report

how cute... someone is butt-hurt and trying to justify their little VIP passes.

Posted by LAME OUT on July 20, 2011 at 4:49 PM · Report

really?? people are mad about this? weird.

Posted by "who gives a shit?" guy on July 20, 2011 at 4:53 PM · Report

I'm not a Block Party hater. I may be a bit old or old-at-heart to really enjoy it however.(I can't do hot sun/crowds/loud noise/waiting in lines all together too well anymore) But I'll say this: You probably get in free, amiright? And have good connections for prime stage-viewing spots i'll bet? While the article brings up an issue of semantics, the heart of the issue the whiners bring up, IMO, is not being able to really ENJOY Block Party because it costs too much/crowds/fences/lines/whatever, not that they call it "Block Party".

Posted by tournant on July 20, 2011 at 4:59 PM · Report

I don't necessarily have a problem with the price so much as a problem with the amenities. Neumo's is the worst venue during summer in the city as far as I'm concerned. The drink options are appallingly bad. The space is way too small for what the Block Party has become. You have to be a VIP or a 22 year old to be able to tolerate it.

Posted by keshmeshi on July 20, 2011 at 6:04 PM · Report

Didn't this love it or leave it shit die around the time Ben Stiller was imitating Tom Cruise in a wheelchair?

Posted by levide on July 21, 2011 at 12:32 AM · Report

@ 13 & 14:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/shut-…

Are you guys not getting this? Shut up and pick a venue/temperature/crowd/sound level/drink list that suits your own niggling tastes. I live 1,000 miles away and even from this distance I'm annoyed that you people can't just make your own selves happy.

Posted by Doug in SC on July 21, 2011 at 5:52 PM · Report

Folklife does confuse me, actually, being that it implies a specific style of music and all.

Posted by virginia mason on July 22, 2011 at 12:20 PM · Report

Hey if you want a block party, come to "Beacon Rocks!" on July 31st and August 28th. Its on the Festival Street (the only Festival Street in Seattle so far) next to the Beacon Hill Light Rail Station. It's free and the festival street is only one block long (and actually a pretty short block) so it is a TRUE "block" party. Hey, maybe in 10 years we can work our way up to a Capitol Hill Block Party kind of thing (I'm no hater of success, good for them!) but for now you can come to Beacon Hill to experience that old school (yea, that DOES mean low budget) block party experience on the last Sunday of July and August 1-5 pm.

Posted by Beacon Rocks on July 22, 2011 at 1:00 PM · Report

i don't complain...i just don't go....i'll leave it to the high school kids from kent or whatever

Posted by green2 on July 22, 2011 at 3:47 PM · Report

This article totally ignores the fact the Cap Hill Block Party WAS FREE for years and years. It was just local music and people hanging out. Now this is just more-trendy Bumbershoot.

Plus....nice conflict of interest here. Stranger writer telling people not to complain about pricing at "The Stranger's Capitol Hill Block Party."

Posted by screwthis on July 23, 2011 at 2:26 AM · Report

"neither folksy nor populated by the living" is gold

Posted by ToddHamm on July 23, 2011 at 11:22 AM · Report

"—then just HAVE A FUCKING BLOCK PARTY ON YOUR OWN PRECIOUS FUCKING BLOCK. " sure let me just OH FUCK! Someone blocked off the streets and is charging money to go through!

Posted by blocked on July 24, 2011 at 12:10 PM · Report

Hey lindy- Do your homework. I realize the block party has gone corporate. That's fine. But at least acknowledge how it began.

Yes, I hate block party. HATE it. You know why? Because people come and trash my neighborhood and at the end of the day, the caphill community/music scene is no better off.

Might I also add, if the Stranger weren't behind this and reaping it's benefits, it too would be condemning what the block party has mutated into.

Posted by piojin on July 25, 2011 at 11:28 AM · Report