IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

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Seattle Theater Group (STG, for short) is the non-profit organization that operates The Paramount and The Moore, but they also produce events at venues outside of those theaters. Sometimes literally outside, such at No Depression Festival, an outdoor concert at Marymoor Park over in Redmond on Saturday, July 11. Marymoor is a beautiful park and a great place to see a concert, espeically a concert with such a great line-up as this one, featuring Patterson Hood & the Screwtopians, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Justin Townes Earl, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Seattle Roots-Music All-Star Revue, Zee Avi and headlined by Gillian Welch and Iron & Wine. It’s going to be an excellent show in a beautiful venue and it’s easily worth the $45 (plus service fees) ticket price. What could be better than a great day of music outdoors?

How about seeing it for free? If you’d like the chance to win a pair of tickets to the show all you have to do is send an e-mail to seattle.metblogs @ gmail.com with No Depression in the subject line and your full name in the body no later than Tuesday evening, June 6, and we’ll let you know if you won.

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4:00 PM - S.G. Browne: Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament
Fremont Place Books
Zombies! Summary: “Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Abandoned by his friends and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and meets a few kindred souls.”
Go to the reading, then wander over to Fremont Outdoor Cinema for “Shaun of the Dead.”
[LINK]

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It’s going to be hot this weekend: cool off from your sunny afternoons by taking in a movie.

Travel back in time with Northwest Film Forum to 1966 with the Seattle premiere of a brand new print of Made in the USA, a rarely seen in the US pop culture film noir by Nouvelle Vague auteur Jean-Luc Godard never shown on TV, DVD, or video. Friday night also features Police Beat, the locally produced film about a bike cop who travels the city witnessing the many scenes that involve a call to 911. Screenwriter Charles Mudede of The Stranger and “urban theorist” Thomas Sieverts are joined by writer Matthew Stadler for a talk about “the new shapes of cities and the ways that film can make them legible”.

Grand Illusion screens Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, a sci fi thriller in a future Tokyo after half the population of Earth has been destroyed in a catastophe. A special government agency called NERV fights giant alien creatues known as “Angels” but who is the real enemy and can the world be rescued by the fourteen year old boy in whose hands its fate rests?

Campy creepfest (or is it creepy campfest?) Deathrace 2000 plays at Central Cinema. The 1975 cult classic stars David Carridine and Sylvester Stallone in a vision of the year 2000 as a time when the US economic system has failed and the nation’s most popular event is a transcontinental car race in which drivers are scored not just on their skill but also on how many innocent bystanders they can take out. It’s even more awful than you imagine it to be but fans consider that to be the charm of the film.

Midnight at the Egyptian: Independence Day, the Will Smith sci-fi shoot ‘em up/

The Harvard Exit presents two SIFF ‘09 favorites: Moon, a smart, engaging meditation on the nature of the self presented in the form of a solo space station employee looking forward to going back home to Earth only to discover that strange, strange things are happening around him. Is there really someone else on the moon with him? Is that guy who looks just like him his clone or is Sam losing his mind? And if he is–what can he do about it? (Also playing at Metro Cinemas

Every Little Step explores long-running Broadway hit A Chorus Line from inception to the present, blending archival and contemporary footage of the people both behind the stage and in front of it to tell the remarkable story of this huge production.

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Somehow it’s already time to throw back a few drinks for the kids. Last year, the citywide drink-a-thon to support the excellent work of the Vera Project fell in October, but who are we to complain about a great excuse for summer cocktails or india pale ales and a Fleet Fox headlining a show?

Beginning Sunday as a perfect closer to your Independence Day baccanalia and continuing through the rest of next week, bars and clubs around town will be donating the proceeds from certain beverages to a good cause as part of A Drink for the Kids. Each night, you’ll find a local music luminary or three haunting the bar to keep the party and chatter rolling. On top of that, the opening and closing nights feature live music. In particular, the week of do-good drinking closes with a grand finale at Neumo’s starring Robin Pecknold of the world-conquering Fleet Foxes performing solo as White Antelope and Throw Me the Statue of the soon-to-be [if the rumors about their forthcoming album, Creaturesque, are true, which they probably are] world-charming Throw Me the Statue.

We’d like at least one of you to have a pair of tickets to this unmissable finale event, if only to preserve dollars in your wallet for purchasing ice cold beverages (or just tossing some cash into the donation buckets). If you want a shot at the tickets, please dash off an e-mail to seattle.metblogs @ gmail.com. Put “ADFTK” in the subject and your full name in the message body. Add in a few fun facts about fireworks for extra credit and we’ll let you know if you’re the winner by Monday.

Don’t want to try your luck? Advance ticket are $15 [neumos]. The rest of the schedule, all 21+ btw (so that you can support the kids without being humbled by their youthful vigor), after the jump.

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12:00 PM - Mike Lawson: House Secrets
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
4th in a series: “When Joe DeMarco is asked by the Speaker of the House to probe the apparent accidental death of a reporter who was trailing presidential hopeful Senator Paul Morelli, dirty secrets and divided loyalties threaten his investigation.”
[LINK]

7:30 PM - Mary Lou Sanelli: Among Friends
Elliott Bay Book Co.
The local (Port Townsend) author presents a book of essays about friendship.
[LINK]

8:00 PM – Cartoonapalooza: An Evening with America’s Top Editorial Cartoonists
Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall
“As part of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists’ annual convention, the group is putting on a show of animation, slides, and discussion featuring leading practitioners of the art, including David Horsey, Mike Peters, Jack Ohman, Ted Rall, Matt Bors, Mark Fiore, and more. There also will be a benefit sale of original cartoons and books, and a reception where the public can meet cartoonists from the United States and Canada.” (THS)
[LINK]

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Oh, what, you still don’t have something to do this weekend? Lucky for you, the Wooden Boat Festival is also happening, at the Center for Wooden Boats in South Lake Union.

This festival really is so much fun. Tons of people with wooden boats tie up to the dock and most of them invite the public to come in and take a look. The kids can build a toy boat or have a treasure hunt, and there will be demonstrations of salty activities like rig tuning and knot tying. People will be building boats and racing boats and the Arthur Foss will be open for exploring.

They also give free boat rides of all kinds around in Lake Union, and it was definitely a highlight of my 4th of July last year to be sailing around among all of the people who had parked their boats to catch a view of the fireworks. Everyone on the water was friendly; it was one big floating party.

If that’s not enough seaworthy excitement for you, there will also be a Chantey Sing happening on the Adventuress from 8:00 to 10:00 on the night of Friday, the 3rd. Chanteys aren’t that hard to learn–you’ll be singing along in no time.

The Chantey Sing is free. So is the Wooden Boat Festival, although the suggested donation is $5/person or $10/family.

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Having too many fun things to do is a nice problem to have; such is the case for this coming weekend. Fireworks, festivals…there’s a lot going on and as an added bonus it’s a three-day weekend for many of us.

I recommend spending at least part of your free time this weekend at the Seattle Center.

Friday, July 3, marks the kick off of the Seattle International Beer Fest. From noon to 10 pm on Friday, noon to 10 pm on Saturday and noon to 7 pm on Sunday, sample beers from all over the world, some well-known, some completely obscure. A mere $20 gets you in the gate with a wristband, a souvenir glass, and 10 drink tickets. Generous samples are served at a cost of 1 - 4 tickets each and should you run out of tickets, you can purchase more at $1 each. (Or you can be like me and the woman I hung out with last festival and just ask departing festgoers if they’ll give you their leftovers. I got to try so many different beers this way, it was a lot of fun.)

Friday night brings the Firecracker 5000, a 5K Run/Walk celebrating Independence weekend with “Seattle’s only Midnight Run”. The run starts and finishes at Memorial Stadium on a course that takes runners and walkers from the Center to downtown and back again; included in the swag, entrants get a t-shirt that partially glows in the dark.

Saturday, July 4, at the Fisher Pavillion more than 500 people who came from over 70 countries will pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America as brand new citizens. The event starts with a concert at 11:00, followed by the noon time ceremony. I go to this ceremony most years and have now witnessed it many, many times and I still find myself moved by it - okay, sure, the speeches are mostly boring recitations of the same old political superficiality by whomever happens to be in the offices of Mayor and Governor and King County Executive at the time but it is always fun and inspiring to see just how happy people are about becoming American citizens. I highly recommend talking to people who are becoming citizens this day and their families because so many of them have such excellent stories to share.

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If this very special Canada Day and its commemoration of confederacy reminds us of anything, it’s that our country’s anniversary of a brutal break-up is a mere few days away. (This change in calendar in the dark hours of this morning prompted me to hastily purchase non-ideal flights to bolster “Pure Michigan” tourism & not miss an somehow neglected annual family function this weekend.) But for the rest of you who will spend the glorious three-day weekend in Seattle, it’s time to let others wage ridiculous battles over bombs bursting in air [colbertnation] and get to the serious business of planning your picnic and barbecue strategies.

Luckily enough for you, Seattle’s most awesome event planners and lifestyle entrepaneurs, the Adventure School, have you covered for Saturday afternoon. They’ll be staging a spectacular picnic in Cal Anderson park, where Molly Moon’s will be serving up “fireworks in your mouth” sundae-style along with root beer floats, Via Tribunali and Wandering Weiners will be cooking up savory treats, and Caffé Vita will keep you caffeinated. On stage, Recess Monkey, Picoso, Katharine Hepburn’s Voice, and Lady A and the Baby Blues Funk Band will take turns keeping your ears happy. While you’re there, you can join in an All-Park Parade, visit a root beer tasting garden, try your hand at the Spin Art Bike, make yourself something patriotic with tie-dye, demonstrate your pie-eating skills, have an Urban Family Portrait made, and prove that you and your pet were separated at birth.

It sounds like a true extravaganza and more than worth the free cost of admission. (Please don’t tell my family that I’m a bit sad to be missing it on their account.) If you’re intrigued and want to get even more involved, they’re looking for a few good volunteers to make sure that everything runs extra smoothly.

// 7th Annual Capitol Hill Independence Day Community Picnic at Cal Anderson runs from noon to 5 pm on Saturday 4 July. Contact aviva @ theadventureschool.com if you can lend a hand.

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7:00 PM - Lance Reynald: Pop Salvation
UW Bookstore, U District
What would a bildungsroman look like if the protagonist had an Andy Warhol fetish? This book. Quirky and interesting.
[LINK]

7:30 PM - Kate Christensen: Trouble
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Women in their 40s take off to Mexico City to find themselves and/or have a mid-life crisis.
[LINK]

7:30 PM - Thomas Sieverts: Reimagining Urban Spaces
Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs
The author of Where We Live Now returns to Seattle to talk about the transformation of space between urban and rural areas.
[LINK]

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this ‘near infrared’ photo of the international fountain during sunday’s pride festivities comes to us by way of Tom Dobrowolsky [flickr] who was nice enough to add it to our reader-powered group pool [#].

• the Seattle P-I is looking for neighborhood bloggers to help Hearst compete with Seattle’s wealth of neighborhood blogs. No payment, but free training. [bigblog]
• Capitol Hill Seattle counters with a call for volunteer ad reps to help spread the word of the virtues of paid advertising on neighborhood blogs. Oh, snaps. [chs]
• Maria Cantwell supports a public plan for health care reform, but no one managed to ask her if that includes co-ops. [slog]
• Congratulations Seattle, we’ve grown our way past 600,000 residents. [seattletransitblog]
• Some of them even play air guitar competitively. [seattlest]
• For the love of all things modest & musical, though, please keep your clothes on at Doe Bay. [soundonthesound]
• This advertisement inadvertently captures how so many people feel about Internet Explorer. [toomuchnick]

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Besides the obvious Art Walk this Thursday, what free things will you be doing this holiday weekend? The reason I ask is because I’ll be entertaining a guest and I’d like to keep our spending to a minimum. Here are some of my thoughts.

-Spend a morning at Wallace Falls
-Stick a piece of gum on the Gum Wall in Pike Place Market
-Go to the 5 spot to see this “glory hole” I’ve been hearing about
-Careek Park
-Ravenna Park
-Discovery Park
-Golden Gardens
-Witness the biggest Zombie walk ever in Fremont, this Friday at 8pm
-Peruse the new Wallingford Archie McPhee’s
-Finally go to the Fisherman Terminal
-Sunday’s Ballard Market
-The Locks
-Walk to Gas Works for fireworks

Anything else? Is there free music, free food, free anything happening this weekend? Holla!

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6:30 PM - Elizabeth Austen: Reading
SPL Northgate Branch
Seattle poet Elizabeth Austen talks about her poetry and the authors who have influenced her work.
[LINK]

7:00 PM - Karen Joy Fowler: Reading
UW Bookstore, U District
Clarion West presents the World Fantasy and two-time Nebula Award winner.
[LINK]

7:00 PM - Ultimate Tuesday!: Reading
Secret Garden Bookshop
Tickle Monster, by Kevin J. Atteberry, winner of a 2009 National Children’s Choice Picture Book award.
[LINK]

7:30 PM - Catherine Whitney: Soldiers Once: My Brother and the Lost Dreams of America’s Veterans
Elliott Bay Book Co.
A moving memoir about why we, as a society, must do better: “Whitney takes her veteran brother’s untimely death—alone at age 53 with just $62 in his bank account—as a starting point for this meditation on what it means to be a veteran in America … Whitney persuasively argues that her brother’s fates is common among veterans of all ages.” -Kirkus Reviews
[LINK]

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photo by william [flickr]; we’d love to see your pride photos in our group pool, too [#]

• Certain people in Wallingford seem to wish that they lived in the placid countryside instead of in the heart of a city where people hold concerts or launch fireworks. [dailyweekly]
• Will you take a look at this beautiful bar? Bastille opened its doors about an hour ago in Ballard. [twitpic]
• Of course Fremont zombie fanatics will include a Thriller re-enactment [bigblog]; it is unlikely to outcharm the one-shot French lipdub. [dailymotion]
• On Saturday, a dance party reclaimed the “people’s parking lot” [ppl], kicking up dust [lineout], and attracting some police officers who shut down the soundsystem and made one arrest. [chs]
• Want to learn how to get rich from the internet for free? Sign-up now for a 9 July seminar in the garden. [pingg]
• Regarding the above, Caveat emptor. Keith Vance calls it quits on his online news experiment for lack of cash. [seattlecourant]

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Do you appreciate a good roasting of American cultural values? Bruno, Sasha Baron Cohen’s new movie about an outrageously gay Austrian fashion designer, is set to land in Seattle theaters on July 10th. There’s been a fair amount of buzz about the movie, and I know a lot of folks in Seattle who are expecting to fall as hard for Bruno as they did for Borat.  But the reviews  trickling in  appear…mixed. From the Hollywood Reporter:

Borat was, despite his cheerful bigotry, somehow a lovable character. His questions sprang from the sweet innocence of a third-world bumpkin wallowing in isolated ignorance. With Bruno, you mostly feel annoyed. A gay Austrian fashionista would be no ignorant rube. He would be sophisticated, savvy and certainly aware of prejudices against gays. Would he really prance semi-naked through Middle Eastern holy sites?

….Consequently, the character’s gayness reads false. Baron Cohen needs to spend more time in certain gay bars if he wants to learn how to do “flamboyant” and “fabulous.” It’s a ghost of the real thing.

Now, I don’t think Sasha needs to go to bars to learn how to ‘act like a gay man’. If Sasha accurately portrayed a gay man in Bruno, it would be a terribly boring movie (gay people, like straight people, can be really boring to watch for an hour and a half). On the other hand, if the portrayal doesn’t contain a germ of truth, it will probably  fall into the trap of being too ridiculous to be funny.

…I guess we’ll all just have to wait until July 10th before passing judgement.

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