BREAKING: A. Birch Steen returns to the ombudsman / table of contents post at the Stranger in this week’s issue. We’re mildly embarrassed by the amount of joy that this brings, but this is the best news from the paper since the last time he returned from exile. It’s hard to reconcile our general love for the paper with our assertion that the Critical Overview is the strongest column, but we embrace our contradictions because they make us seem more interesting.

Honestly, we’re really way too excited about this to review the rest of the content other to say that almost all of the I SAW U ads are tragic in their own special way. More so than usual, or maybe that’s just the effect of a midnight reading of unrequited personal ads.

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In The Seattle Weekly, the cover story reports on how the times, they are a changin’ in the music industry [#]. Basically, it’s builds on items two and three from last week’s Starbucks post [#], except a much longer format. To their credit, the author does the journalism thing and actually trys one of the Media Bars (thumbs down, glad we didn’t waste our time!). But they have a budget, and we don’t; so we aren’t feeling too much shame.

The article is accompanied by weird fish-eye pictures, which comes across as mildly upsetting and made it harder to read the whole piece without feeling disoriented.

Local indie-rock heroes, Death Cab for Cutie (perhaps you’ve heard their catchy tunes on television’s the o.c.?) are releasing The John Byrd EP [$] through former main-squeeze Barsuk Records. Perhaps following in the footsteps of Dave Eggers’s independent-only [hardcover] release of You Shall Know Our Velocity! [$], the new live album will be sold only online and in “stores … that have been instrumental in our success since the release of something about airplanes way back in ’98.”

Start the lineup at your friendly neighborhood Sonic Boom or Easy Street: the disc arrives in stores on 1 March.

If you’re out of town that day, plan accordingly and consult the national list of DCFC-worthy record shops. [barsuk]

Now that Washington’s Birthday has passed, the minds of wageslaving clockwatchers and serious students are free to wander to thoughts about the next state-sanctioned extended weekend. And just in time to indulge our dreams of sun-drenched hillsides, the lineup for the fourth annual Sasquatch Music Festival is announced:

Mainstage:	Plaza Stage:	Third Stage:
Pixies Modest Mouse Kanye West Wilco The Arcade Fire Ray Lamontagne Jem Bloc Party U.S.E.	Matisyahu The Frames Joanna Newsom Bobby Bare Jr. Be Good Tanyas Benevento Russo Duo A.C. Newman	Visqueen Blue Scholars Smoosh Aqueduct

[hob]

This is excellent news for Pixieheads who couldn’t make it to Coachella, Bumbershoot, or any of the band’s other tour dates last year (which makes us question their dedication, since we saw them twice and aren’t even credible fans). We are just guessing that Black Francis is hungry: for fan love, cash, or the touring life.

Kidding aside (we love the Pixies, really) the lineup is pretty stellar and provides a way for those of us unable to catch the Alaska Air Palm Springs hipster shuttle service for this year’s Coachella to (finally) see The Arcade Fire and get our annual taste of the outdoor desert concert scene.

Tickets officially go onsale Saturday, but wise shoppers will look at the kexp.org homepage for a clue to buy tickets ahead of the crowd. We just hope that the wind is kinder and gentler this time around — elephant ear sugar + canyon wind = danger!

In news from the other side of the Urban Archipelago, people from Eastern Washington have tired of saying tomahto while we say tomayto and are ready to call the whole thing off. Though it’s unlikely to go anywhere, the secessionist movement is once again gaining momentum in Ye Olde State Senate. If by momentum, you mean a slow news day and a committee hearing. [komo]

While this is one way to solve the of the Rossi-Gregoire divide [Ed: but who will get to keep the felonious voters?], we’re just concerned about the effect on the Republic of Cascadia independence campaign [#].

Crocuses (croci?) are a-popping, in little shaded corners around the city.

In case you’ve been casually ignoring all of our previous requests for your company, here’s one final attempt: The highly-anticipated Metroblogging Seattle Meetup and Happy Hour Event [rsvp] drops tonight. We’ll be at Piecora’s at 7:00 pm.

Imagine the possibilities! Beer! Customized pizza slices! Metblog authors away from their laptops! It promises to be an evening to remember.

If you looked at the site today and noticed that things looked a little different — gold star for you! The header is now dynamically-generated from a collection of photos posted to the Seattle Metroblogging group at Flickr.

The good news is that you can be a part of the fun — all you need is a flickr account (free and fun) and some pictures to share. Join the group [flickr.com/groups/mb_seattle/] and images that you post to it will join the random pool of header-eligible graphics.

Neat, eh?

Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles the ongoing South Lake Union action. It’s a decent overview for those who landed in Seattle after the squabbling over Paul Allen’s latest adventures in real estate was well underway:

Allen says he bought some of the property in the mid-1990s as part of a city initiative to create a park modeled on New York’s Central Park. Seattle voters, not keen on spending public money, twice turned down the plan in the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, “we ended up with a core of pretty interesting properties in the area,” Mr. Allen says. “There’s already a core of biotech in the area. What we wanted to do was try to build on that with these other uses to revitalize this whole area of the city. Now we’re seeing some of the fruits of that.” [wsj (via Joe's del.icio.us feed #)]

We’re not surprised by the WSJ‘s pro-business spin on the development (calling the district “decaying” was our first tip-off), but we like the article because it shows what happens when tax payers decline their own version of Central Park. Instead of a place where single-named artists mount pricey fabric installations, we get a biotech hub.

In any case, it’s hard to complain about any effort that brings a Whole Foods to grocery-deprived downtown.

We have Washington’s Birthday off and hope that you can say the same. If you’re stuck at work, or just home and overdosed on the great outdoors — how much beautiful sunny weather can a Seattleite be expected to endure? — we though we’d remind you about the big Presidents’ Day Sale at Value Village. Sure, it’s likely to be picked over by the early evening, but with everything at half price you’re bound to find the perfect piece of kitsch to round out your spring collection.

Tonight I was trying to help a friend find a high-end bottle of Scotch somewhere in Seattle…all without leaving our chairs. I stumbled upon this website… Washington State Liquor Control Board
This site will allow you to search for your favorite liquor by type or brand, and it will give you a listing of where you can find it within Washington State. This is so handy for those hard to find items!