Cover image by Chris Crites.
Economic Survival Guide: How to Stay Alive, Fed, Drunk, and Happy in the New Depression
We know you're freaking out. These are freaking-out times. The nearly volunteer staff of The Stranger is used to living without much money (or, you know, pride), and we're happy to help. For you, a compendium of advice about getting by in the New Economy, helpfully divided into three sections: Your Money (everything you need to know about getting unemployment, living without a car, and becoming a drug dealer); Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food and Drink (how to eat, shop, and have a social life on less than ever); and Your Sanity (coping with the unknown, how to keep it together if you lose your job, and what to do with all that free time you'll have). Plus, a sidebar by Kelly O: How to Get a Sugar Daddy. And: cost-cutting coupons!
Totally Worth It: The Restaurants Where Stranger Writers Would Spend Their Last Dime
"I love meat like I love my own family (I mean, not exactly—I avoid eating humans, most particularly ones I love), but sometimes, through a weird confluence of perfect spices and glutinous magic, fake meat is better than actual meat..."
Lindy West on Movie Theaters that Show Cheap(er) Movies
"How about those movies, eh, people? Those prices! You know, the prices for the movies? Don't even get me started. And what about those snacks? The movie food? What, is that popcorn covered in butter churned from the pope's own sacrosanct Nazi boob-milk? (Fair enough. That would be expensive.)..."
Eli Sanders on the Mood Inside the Newsroom on the P-I's Last Day as a Printed Newspaper
"Inside the P-I newsroom on the afternoon of the announcement, newspaper staffers could be seen sipping beers and jokingly discussing the best locations for Dumpster diving..."
Dave Segal on the 12 Best Sub Pop Releases You (Probably) Ignored
"Any label that's been around as long as Sub Pop has (20 years and counting) will have some overlooked artists in its catalog. Not everyone can be Nirvana, the Postal Service, the Shins, or Fleet Foxes. The music business's law of averages dictates that misses will always outnumber hits, but—news flash—commercial failures often are much more interesting than chart dwellers..."
Brendan Kiley on What Circus Contraption—Which Will Be Committing Suicide This May—Brought to Seattle
"One summer, an old yellow school bus rolled into the performers' camping area and disgorged a younger, more sinister-looking pack of vaudevillians. They were scruffy road dogs in dusty suit vests and battered dress shoes. Instead of red wine and marijuana, they carried a whiff of whiskey and opium... Circus Contraption was at the tip of the new cabaret movement that brought the reincarnation of burlesque, speakeasies, and other cirque noir groups..."
Dominic Holden on the One Thing Ballard's Building Boom Lacks: Tenants
"On a recent Sunday afternoon, I startled sales representative Tamara Hahn at the Hjärta, a condo that began preselling units in December 2005, by opening the door to the quiet showroom. Online tax records from King County show that almost three-quarters of the building sits empty a year after opening its doors..."
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Eric Grandy on the Blue Scholars/Common Market program at Neumo's, a review of a Serge Gainsbourg reissue, and a review of the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, plus this week's noteworthy shows and parties and a ton of other stuff in the music section; Charles Mudede reviews a new book edited by Matthew Stadler called Cities Without Cities (and Matthew Stadler replies at length in the comments); Paul Constant on a new book edited by Rebecca Brown and Mary Jane Knecht of writers writing about art; a review of the new Julia Roberts movie, plus a few other movie reviews and our loving updated and totally searchable movie times; Dan Savage on rape fantasies; Last Days on last week's psychotic surplus of deadly massacres; and all the other columns and calendars.
You know that Greg Stump illustrates one comment from our website every week, right? This week's (referencing this story from last week):
