So I go to a lot of shows here in Seattle (and I keep seeing a certain other metroblog author at all of them, ahem) and last night I ventured out in the chilly night to see The Decemberists playing with Okkervil River at the Showbox. That isn’t what this post is about (albeit this was an amazing show even if I didn’t get to take pictures because a man with a flashlight let me know it was wrong to capture people’s souls on film — even if it is digital).

Everytime I go to the Showbox, the policy is different. Yes you can have your camera but you cannot take pictures. No you cannot have your camera at all. You can have your camera and take as many photos as you could possibly want. (I know that sometimes its dependent on the band, but don’t you think they could ask in advance or something and put it on the website . . . I don’t know) Also . . . you never know for sure what line to stand in. There are no signs. Last night we were sent to stand in a line that wrapped around the Australian Pie place and into a dark alley smelling like . . . well anyway. C’mon Showbox . . . get it together.

Whenever we’re feeling unambitious (see also: late afternoons on Fridays), it’s always fun to see what people around town are trying to do. Local webthing of the moment, 43 Things lets you browse the hopes and dreams of your neighbors. As of this moment, the most popular goals of connected Seattleites include:

1. Discover secret coves of wholesome fun in Seattle.
2. start the central district bike pirates
3. Ban smoking in bars and restaurants in Washington State
4. create a list of my favorite restaurants in Seattle, WA
5. Summit Mt. Rainier
6. eat at every restaurant on 1st and 2nd between Bell and Pike (in Seattle)

[see the rest at 43things/seattle]

Looking at the full list is bound to make someone with the top afternoon goal of “making it to happy hour” seem more than a little undermotivated. Sign up to create your own list and start down your own path to personal networked productivity.

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43 things is a product of Seattle’s own Robot Co-op

As much as this announcement from the Vera Project boggles the mind, it might just bear investigation:

Sunday March 20th | 8:30am | PUNK ROCK YOGA JAM
The full-day registration includes admission to 4 workshops (90 minutes each); half-day registration includes admission to 2 workshops (90 minutes each).

Cost: $35 for full day or $20 for half day; registration includes the donation of two personal hygiene items (soap, toothpaste, etc.)

Somehow the idea of being simultaneously “punk rock” and “yogic” seems to require a higher state of enlightenment than I’ve attained. Still, if anyone is willing to wake up before noon on Sunday to brave the early morning adventure please let us know what happens.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

There’s an interesting Irish history here in Seattle.

Can’t claim to be proud to be Irish since I’m not. Though I’m proud my fiance is. I am proud to be-ish, however. It gives me a perfect excuse to forget to wear green to work, and a brilliant excuse to get a Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s. This is the only time of year I’d enter the place (not that I’m advocating McDonald’s as Thee Place to be on St. Patrick’s Day). The last couple years when we lived in Chicago, the nearby McDonald

You guys know I worry about you, right? So if for some strange reason, you’re planning to spend the entire day drinking green beer and then driving yourself home, you should probably know that Seattle, King County, the King County Traffic Safety Coalition, and the Eastside DUI Task Force are on to you. Pedestrians, you are not excused either. Keep an eye out for weaving vehicles.

Don’t forget about the Northwest Women’s show on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 to 6. It’s $12 at the Qwest Field Events Center (i.e. that place where the Football is), or $10 at any Bartell drugstore.

There are five or six stages, but here are some highlights:

Over at the Top Foods/WA Beef Stage, local area chefs hold cooking demonstrations and the Washington Beef Commission offers a nice mix of fun and easy ways to entertain with beef (beef fight, anyone?).

At Discover U Stage, presentations on Home Repair for Women, Websites 101, and Commanding Your Clutter (among others) are being… presented.

On the Be Well Stage, informative lectures about memory loss, varicose veins, laser eye surgery, posture, migraines, MS, and a myriad of other woman-related health issues are planned.

And my personal favourite, the New You Stage, where experts will help you find the right size bra (Nordstrom is convinced that eight out of ten women are wearing the wrong size bra), and give you the latest gossip on plastic surgery and how to make yourself pretty!

The NW Women’s show is also where you’re going to be able to see what seems to be every woman romance author in the northwest, and Carolyn Kepcher, that blonde henchman from The Apprentice. I guarantee if you go, your estrogen level will probably shoot up 5 points. Pass it on!

In this week’s edition, both weeklies fawn over the Decemberists in their own special way with long features. Not that we blame them — the Decemberists won our hearts on Valentine’s Day 2003 when they opened for Carissa’s Wierd at the Crocodile and we’ve loved them ever since.

The Seattle Weekly sits down with Colin Meloy and plays a free association jukebox-inspired interview game [#], in which we learn that the lead singer has grown very tired of being compared to Jeff Mangum. We understand his frustration (and disagree with the unfair comparsion), but there are certainly worse things than being discussed in the same breath as Neutral Milk Hotel.

The stronger entry in the Decemberist Love Fest 2005 is in The Stranger. Sean Nelson asks “How did the band get that way?” and tries to get to the root of what makes the band tick. This is the type of piece where Nelson really shines as a writer. He knows what it’s like to be on the inside of a great band or two and does a great job of communicating the details to those of us on the outside. A particular gem about the band’s progression:

But the difference between earlier Decemberists works and this new record is like the difference between bi-curious and all-the-way-gay; you get the sense of a band emboldened by success to fully commit to its more outlandish characteristics. [thestranger]

It’s passages like this that make the combination artist profile / album preview / philosophical investigation a delight to read. A longer version of the article [#] and an interview [#] is available online but it isn’t there yet.

other highlights, compare and contrast style: the Weekly continues its walk down long-format lane with a gigantic story about African-Americans who live in another city and another about women who had abortions. The Stranger fills its news section with stories about strippers, liquor laws, and credit card debt. Both papers “pick” the Regional Spelling Bee as the place to be on Sudnay afternoon.

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The Decemberists play at the Showbox on Friday, but according to TicketsWest the event is sold out. If you didn’t buy tickets in time, look to craigslist, the box office, or sidewalk scalpers to get inside.

Picaresque [$], the new album, drops 22 March.

As you recall, on Feb 9th, Bonni Suval, singer for Fear of Dolls (http://www.fearofdolls.com/), was hit by a car while walking across the street from the Chop Suey.

Her friends and supporters have scheduled a benefit to help raise funds for her massive medical bills and living expenses.

Chop Suey Presents a Benefit for Bonni Suval w/

Black Noise Cannon
Legion Within
Lullabelle
C’est la Mort
DJ Coldheart
Tues April 5th
$6 / 21+ / 8pm doors
All proceeds go to help with Bonni’s medical expenses

A benefit account has been set up for her to help with medical, legal, and other expenses. Money can be brought or mailed to any West Coast Washington Mutual bank to the account #1003130141 or “In Benefit of Bonni Suval”.

A visiting Fulbright scholar from Poland in my department had a very specific request for his going-away party. No f

Washington may follow Oregon’s lead and switch to a system where all voting is handled by mail. The House approved a bill yesterday [p-i] to bring ballots to everyone’s kitchen tables by 2008. Whether it will be county-by-county depends on who wins the tug-of-war when the bill gets conferenced.

While change is opposed by Republicans (naturally, according to the predictable “integrity > access” party line) and those who get a kick out of working the polls a couple times a year, we’re fans. Somehow everything seems a lot more confusing in a voting booth and bringing a crib sheet (while allowed) feels like cheating.