Jonah Spangenthal-Lee and Dominic Holden Investigate the Circumstances that Led to the Chop Suey Shooting
"Midway through Seattle rapper Young Soprano's performance at Chop Suey on Capitol Hill on January 4, just after midnight, someone started banging on the club's backstage door. The show's host, Avery Turner, opened the door. Instead of another rapper, soundman, or security guard, Turner stood face to face with a young black man, dressed in black, wearing a black bandana..."

Charles Mudede on Hiphop's Inherent Violence (and Whether Chop Suey Should Keep Hosting Hiphop Shows)
"Because the shooting at Chop Suey happened during a hiphop show, it will be impossible for the public to separate the music from the murder..."

Dave Segal on Singers Who Need to STFU
"How many times over the years have you said, 'This band would be so much better without the vocals'? I for one have uttered those words too fucking often..."

Bethany Jean Clement Drinks at the Roanoke
"The potbellied stove glows through the slits of its eyes; firewood is supplied by customers with downed trees or access to job-site scraps. The big heater suspended in one corner—'that hairdryer,' the bartender says—stays quiet, and the place is toasty."

PLUS: Larry Mizell Jr.'s take on the Chop Suey shooting; Jen Graves on rape at the Henry; Dan Savage on getting raped by an ex; Dominic Holden on what he said when some Mormons showed up at his door; Papa Murphy's Pizza versus 'zaw; Lindy West on the year 1969; a rave review of The Wrestler; Brendan Kiley on the theater in the bathroom at the Hideout; an I, Anonymous about someone who's screwing his cousin; a new column by Mayor Greg Nickels; the sexiest Drunk of the Week in ages (NSFW); and lots more.

AND, ONLINE ONLY: Jen Graves responds to Emily White's piece in City Arts about Seattle Times and the state of arts criticism in Seattle; Paul Constant reads a book about FDR because Obama was reading it; and Erica C. Barnett on drunk drivers.