The Tiptons Sax Quartet, the best (and possibly only) all-female jazz band of four sax players and one percussionist, are playing the Tractor Tavern on Sunday, January 29 at 8 PM. Tickets are either $8 or $10 at the door, depending on which sign you read.

They’re playing in support of their newest album, “Drive.” Their compositions are intricate jazz masterworks, they play with energy and precision, and they have a nearly unique sound. Go check them out.

I stopped by The Paramount yesterday (on my way to Ballard to see Mount Eerie) to join in the party for the passing of “the gay civil rights bill” [Times]. The foyer was packed full of people, all hugging and grinning and patting each other on the back. Even the fact that everyone tempered their speech with a warning that there will be a fight to keep this law didn’t seem to dampen the spirits in the room.

I, of course, got all teary every time someone took me by the shoulders and yelled about how long we’ve been fighting for this. As a straight girl, I’ve never personally experienced this sort of discrimination, and I don’t claim to know how terrible it could be. But I have friends in the gay community, here and elsewhere, who have fought it for years. And it was their victory that I was celebrating.

Those without plans for this evening, as well as those with cancelable plans should consider a trip to Ballard tonight. The Paradox lounge will play host to a full slate on lo-fi indie goodness [paradox]. headlining the bill is Mount Eerie, the current title for most musical endeavors of Anacortes’s own Phil Elverum. You may remember Phil from his early intricate and expansive masterpieces recorded as the Microphones. Lately though, his work has taken a turn for the more personal, with more vocals-centric and acoustic-sounding songs.

I’ve been to several Mount Eerie shows and they all manage to be fantastic in their own way. Whether the performance turns out to be a solo show, an collective formed from the other bands on the setlist, or an audience singalong, spectators are likely to sit cross-legged on the floor transfixed by Elverum’s quiet charisma.

Also on the bill are K Records founder Calvin Johnson, Kimya Dawson, and This Busy Monster. All this for only $5! Doors are at 7; the Paradox is at 1401 NW Leary Way in Ballard. Go ahead and cancel those other plans, it will be exciting and there will probably be hard-to-find items for you to buy and take home with you.

Ravenna’s Third Place bookstore, already home to a small cafe and bakery, is making the jump to adult libations with the upcoming (and, let us say, long in coming) opening of a new Pub in the lower level of their building:

Feburary 9th is the projected opening date, and food as well as beer and wine will be served.

On Monday, I wrote that the deadline for catapulting your favorite local weblogger into alt-weekly fame was approaching [mb]. It turns out that the nomination period has been extended to today. If Wedensday came and went and you felt guilty about not sending in a name for consideration, now’s your chance to unburden your conscience by e-mailing sexiest@thestranger.com.

Today in Olympia, senators have been debating the “gay civil rights bill”, which looks like it will pass thanks to Finkbeiner’s decision to break ranks with his party to support the bill. So the drama over the bill was just in the vote counting (25-23 in favor) and speechmaking. But the exciting news came just as the body was being “put at ease”: the president of the Washington state senate suspended the usual rules of decorum to allow senators to wear blue and grey, particularly in the style of the Seattle Seahawks and in the spirit of the Twelfth Man. This order will be in effect throughout the next week and will extend until the Monday following the Super Bowl.

He also noted that donning yellow, white, and black may cause the wearer to be rendered invisible to the chair. As the session closed, the Republicans scurried off to caucus and Olympia clothiers jolted into action to outfit legislators in the most garish Seahawks apparel possible.

–

Over at the Stranger, Eli Sanders has been live-blogging the debate [slog], or you can watch for yourselves at tvw.org as it moves back to the House for final legislative approval.

update: both houses passed the bill, now it goes to Gregoire for a signature. [times]

Endangered

In case you missed it, postage went up two cents a few weeks ago. This seems to have caused a run on two-cent stamps in stamp vending machines, as people are trying to supplement all the 37-cent stamps that they have left over from sending out Christmas cards. This means that until someone restocks them, you’ve got to get to the post office while it’s open and buy your stamps from an actual person [P-I]. (Alternately, if you can wait a few days, you can order them online from the USPS website.)

Here is a list of Seattle post offices, with phone numbers if you want to call and ask them what sort of stamps they have on hand.

via: fluevog

I’m not sure if anyone is as much of a Shoe Whore as I am. If you are this announcement is BIG news, if not, well…not so much. Let’s just assume everyone has their priorities right.

If you missed the full page ad in this week’s Stranger – perhaps because you were reading Last Days [stranger] purchased and written by Eric Cozens who happens to co-own the awesome Mission and Blackbird restaurants in West Seattle – here’s another reminder, straight from my Fluevog Newsletter:

…there is not much time left to Renew your Soul at these heavily/heavenly reduced prices. Additionally, some of these styles may be heading to the Flueseum once they’re sold out, never to return, and you don’t want to be part of the FTSSG*.

If you’re planning to do any Fluevoging in the next little while, now’s the time to stock up. The amount of goodness you can accomplish with a renewed soul is just short of infinite. In fact, buy a couple of pairs at these prices and you’re practically making money. Don’t Delay Fluevog Today.

*“Fluevoger’s ‘Too Slow’ Support Group” meets on Tuesday nights at 10:45 in all church basements.

Seattle is one of only 6 US cities to be graced with an actual store, and the people who work in there are awful nice:

205 Pine Street
SEATTLE, WA. 98101
(206) 441-1065
seattle@fluevog.com
Mon-Sat: 11-7 / Sun: 12-6

Ladies and gentlemen. Please, do not be alarmed, but I have some rather startling news. There is a six hundred fifty pound grizzly bear unleashed in Puyallup. This is no trick, not a person in a charming costume singing songs, but a real live animal holding court at this week’s Washington Sportsmen Show [ots].

For most of us, especially those familiar with the Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, one bear would be terrifying enough. But wait . . . there’s more. Several black bears will also be on display to stir the outdoor passions of Washington’s hunters and fishermen:

Brought in by Casey Anderson and Bob Steele, both men will be on hand for questions and answers on bear’s [sic] and how we can better understand them. A one of a kind exhibit you won’t want to miss. Learn about our wildlife neighbors and their place in the wild. [ots]

Does no one else see a problem with this? Aside for the recipe for disaster that is bringing a pack of carnivores into a hunting convention, isn’t there something a little bit off about bringing semi-captive bears into a convention as a way of teaching the sportsmen community about their “place in the wild”?

Perhaps I’m overreacting, and these feelings of overwhelming fear are merely a residual effect of childhood nightmares inspired by tobacco commercials featuring a very frightening Kodiak bear. Still, I think that the wild animal fearing among us should be safe as long as we stay up here through the weekend.

via: Kim Grinolds/Dawgman.com

In the past two weeks, I’ve been experimenting (not like that!) with whether or not I was jinxing the Huskies. Sad to say, I must have been. Evidence: I watched the Arizona and WSU games, both of which were tragic defeats for UW. I declined to watch the next four games, all of which resulted in wins. I’ve decided that I’m just going to have to watch teams I secretly want to lose and try to disperse some of my bad basketball mojo their way. For instance, Arizona…maybe I’ll watch their out of conference game against UNC this weekend. I’m just saying.

Regardless, I’m still keeping up on Husky previews and game recaps, but am studiously NOT watching the marvels of UW’s seniors taking over games and playing the way they know they should. It’s a little sad for me. But a fan’s gotta do what a fan’s gotta do.

That said, here’s the match up info for this week’s trip down to California. Huskies play California tonight at 7:30 and Stanford on Saturday at 5.

California would be a great game to watch. Good thing I won’t be tempted, since it’s not being televised. The historical match up between the two teams is 70-70. In Cal’s favor is that they’re virtually unbeaten at home and that they have their star Leon Powe back (who did not play last year when UW won). In UW’s corner, Cal has been on a losing streak AND our three seniors have finally taken leadership of the team – as evidenced by the current 4 game winning streak.

As for the Stanford game (which will be on FSN), Dan Raley of the P-I is calling it the game of the week:

“Somebody in Seattle might actually watch this game — the Super Bowl is the following Sunday. This Pac-10 matchup is intriguing because the Huskies don’t win on this campus, losing their previous 12 visits, and 18 of the past 19, and the Cardinal (8-7, 4-3) is improving after a dismal start. Last year, the UW closed out the regular season at Maples Pavilion, needing a win to claim its first league title in 20 years. A 77-66 defeat resulted.” [p-i]

Go Huskies! I hope to see you on SportsCenter tonight.