Wherein my love affair with my neighborhood just gets more torrid.

A few weeks ago, okay, probably a few months ago, I was waiting at the bus stop in Ballard remarking that I should move there (no, not the bus stop, but Ballard, smarty) so I could be closer to music venues such as the Tractor. “There just aren’t any places to see music in West Seattle,” I lamented. Parking, long bus rides, or expensive taxis were my only real option. Well, there’s the Rocksport, but most of their live music consists of cover bands, which, don’t get me wrong, I totally like, but not as much as bands singing their own original music. Anyway. “Someone,” I whined, “someone should open up a venue out by us.”

I swear I need to find that bug planted on me because guess what? Yep, someone is opening a venue out by us. Skylark Cafe opens next Friday, June 2nd (stretching the meaning of late May a little but who cares) and it looks like they are filling out their calendar for the summer pretty quickly. They will be located just over the West Seattle Bridge on Delridge Avenue (3803 Delridge Way SW).

Here’s what they have to say for themselves:

“Expect a delightful variety of indie rock, power pop, punk, new wave, electronica, alt-country, americana, hard rock, experimental, and more. We are booking original acts Thursday, Friday, and Saturday every week. Check out our calendar.

All musicians welcome for open mic every Wednesday night, and a great karaoke song selection is yours every Tuesday night. Consider coming early to sign up (and catch that 3:00pm to 7:00pm happy hour)!” [skylark]

WooHoo! A live music venue and a happy hour that lasts long enough for me to get to? Hot Damn!

You know what? I’m going to start saying, “C Ro could use a million dollars.” every hour on the hour.

• Ben Lashes is the sort of local rockstar who seems to know everyone. His talent for networking and the band’s legendarily zealous self-promotions eventually earned the Lashes a spot on Columbia’s roster. My first memory of the Lashes was an acoustic rendition of “Kathleen”, a hilarious tribute to the Stranger’s onetime rock / gossip queen. Tonight you can find the band, their power pop, and an often multi-belted singer opening for onetime Get Up Kid-fronted the New Amsterdams. [neumos]
• The Tough and Lovely [myspace], all the way from Columbus, Ohio, give you an excuse to go to Ballard tonight. C. Ro is going based on a history of shared geography and an interesting write-up. Sometimes that’s enough. [sunset]

So, lazypants, it looks like all of your couch-bound excuses for not voting are about to go out the window–or, in fact, into the mailbox. Starting next year all of the ballots will be coming by mail, and they’d like you to cast them in the same way [P-I]. Says the paper:

More than two-thirds of King County voters typically choose to vote by mail already, and the percentage has increased steadily. What would be lost under a full vote-by-mail system are the 520 precinct polling places where one-third of the voters cast their ballots on Election Day. Also eliminated would be the need to hire more than 4,000 temporary workers to staff those polling places.

The main concern people seem to have with voting by mail is that it’s already happening in Oregon, and they’re getting really tired of being behind Oregon for everything. Also, they’re concerned that the postal system is an easy way to increase voter fraud, stating that King County already can’t keep track of the ballots it gets by mail currently. The new system, additionally, will actually be more expensive than the current one.

But whatever, it looks like it’s probably going to happen. There will be touch screen voting spots set up at regional voting centers for disabled voters which anyone will be welcome to use, and if you distrust your mailman there will be drop off boxes set up around town. They’re looking to have this all the way in place by the August 2007 primaries.

All of the rivers on both sides of the Cascades are running very high and fast due to heavy runoff from the snowpack. It’s tempting to jump in your kayak or raft and go for it – but be cautious.

Last weekend one of the most experienced river guides in the state, Jeff Driver, died in a rafting accident on the Klickitat. [via Yakima Herald]

Last week a teenager, Juan Ceballos, went swimming in the Yakima River with a couple of friends. He never made it out. [via Yakima Herald]

Our sympathy goes out to their families and friends. Me, I’m planning on staying out of the water for a little while.

Technorati Tags: news

We first meet Daniel, the hero of Dark Horse [siff], as he’s arriving at a tax office. Over the past four years, he’s logged seven dollars of official income and the thought of determining whether it should count as A or B-level earnings “makes him not want to live anymore.” Daniel lives just a little bit outside the rules, always wearing headphones (a great way to experience the world, as far as I’m concerned), claiming a little bit of dyslexia, and getting by on luck, good looks, incredible charm. For money, he takes under the table payments to paint stylish graffiti around Copenhagen for lovesick clients.

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Alright Seattle, I am opening up ideas for where to go for my graduation dinner to you at large. My requirements are the following:

- able to feed 2 vegetarians and 6 omnivores, 2 of whom are picky eaters
- not strongly ethnic (one of those picky eaters very much prefers simpleness, like steak and not so much with the pad thai)
- less than $20 per person (for the budget of the person paying, eek!)
- accesible parking

Since we have cars, we can go just about anywhere in the greater Seattle area. Just…send me somewhere nice, eh? I even promise pictures and a review after! How often do you, dear reader, get to direct a Metblog author’s subject?

• Per usual, the Irish Emigrant hosts a Monday Night pub quiz. Play trivia bingo, slurp $2 well drinks, and revel in your cultural illiteracy, starting at 8 pm.
• But is that enough to get you to miss the final two hours of this season of 24 [fox]? Have you seen the previews? Submarines! Missles! Jack Bauer making his righteous face and insisting that weasely President Logan will face justice? Yeah, that’s where I thought you’d be.

The first lesson of Twelve and Holding [siff], the latest from L.I.E. director Michael Cuesta, is that pouring piss on your enemies when they attack your treehouse can have some very serious consequences. For instance, being burned alive when those bullies return for a little firebombing payback. Thus, a horrible accidental death leaves a grieving family short a son, a twin split from his brother, and two friends to sort out life after tragedy.

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How many Metblog authors does it take to review a small Eastlake bistro? The original idea to descend upon Sitka & Spruce was Samantha‘s, but Josh and I were recruited to fill out the Vegetarian Michigander and Left-Handed Californian positions on the team, respectively. This seemed to be the magic combination necessary for an accurate assessment of chef Matt Dillon’s home-style cuisine.

Formerly of the Stumbling Goat, Dillon serves up a menu that changes nightly. Reflecting the down-home ambiance of the restaurant’s comfortable interior, each night’s selection is written on a large chalkboard leaning against a wall. It’s a measure of the space’s intimacy that all tables can see the menu with only minimal neck-craning:

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