The man accused of opening fire at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival, wounding three people, had obtained a concealed-weapon permit from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office even though federal and state laws should have prevented him from having one.

Clinton Chad Grainger, 22, has been on a methadone program for drug addiction since he was 18 and also has a “history of anxiety and mental illness,” according to King County Superior Court booking documents. Federal and state law prohibits people with mental illness or drug addiction from obtaining a concealed-weapon permit.

(Article)

Grainger is accused of firing his gun during a fight during the popular Memorial Day Weekend festival. A single bullet passed through one man’s nasal passage, another man’s forearm, and finally lodged in a woman’s thigh.

Last year there was a flurry of media coverage of young Semaj Booker’s attempt to run away from home. Lots of kids run away from home but Mr. Booker was a special case since he managed to get himself through the TSA screening at SeaTac and onto a Southwest Airlines flight to Texas. There was much wringing of hands and pointing of fingers in response to the then-nine-year old’s ability to get himself through the security checkpoint and onto the plane without a ticket and everyone involved insisted that it was a freak incident and couldn’t possibly happen again.

Well, it has. Semaj Booker is 10 now and just got caught “a short stroll away from” another SWA flight, says the P-I in a well-written story [P-I] that neatly details his trip last year and his attempted trip this week. It is worth noting that the little boy made it through the security checkpoint and was stopped by the ticket agent. (Like Semaj Booker, I really like flying Southwest, too, so I’m glad to see that they, at least, learned from the experience.) The Port of Seattle spokesman emphasized that the boy was actually screened but insists that an unaccompanied minor without a boarding pass making it through the screening process is not a “security breach” since he “might have” told the screeners that he was with an adult.

“Babes in arms” can fly free on many airlines but a 10 year old boy isn’t sitting in anyone’s lap, he’s having his own seat. And therefore his own boarding pass. Wouldn’t the adult he was supposedly with have a boarding pass for him? Wouldn’t the screener wonder why a boarding pass wasn’t presented for the child? Wouldn’t anyone think to wonder why the two were walking through security separately? Obviously this kid is rather bright but shouldn’t the same agency that makes me take off my shoes and pack my shampoo in my checked baggage be able to outwit a ten-year-old?

I had the good fortune of catching Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter Thompson last night at the Egyptian as part of SIFF. Being a lifelong fan of the Good Doctor, I had high expectations; especially since I’ve seen pretty much every documentary or biopic related to him. I also couldn’t help but have relatively high standards going in when I heard Gonzo was directed by Alex Gibney, the same guy behind the impressive Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

And I was not let down.

For 122 minutes, Gibney treats Hunter’s life with respect and playful admiration, but also isn’t afraid to stay objective in the process. He interviews everyone from Hunter’s first wife to his last editor at “Rolling Stone,” and the viewer truly gets a taste of what each of them thought of the man – both regarding the way he lived his life and the way he ended it.

What struck me the most about the movie was the rare (and previously unseen) footage that Gibney was able to get his hands on. We’re shown home movies shot by Anita, Hunter’s second wife, a few incredibly rare shots of Oscar Zeta Acosta (Hunter’s lawyer and the character played by Benicio Del Toro in the “Fear & Loathing” movie), and the actual tape conversation between Hunter and Oscar that ended up at the very end of the book of the same name. For whatever reason, Terry Gilliam left it out of the movie, but it doesn’t matter anymore – the discourse is pure gold for gonzo freaks such as myself.

The rest of the film paints an equally vivid picture of who this crazy bastard Hunter Thompson really was; further beyond what many other portrayals of him have shown. The crowd laughed heartily every time we were treated to Hunter’s trademark frantic howling gibberish and stop-start rhetoric. This was even more hilarious when retold and at times re-enacted by his friends, including 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern, Jimmy Buffett and longtime artist Ralph Steadman. I caught myself smiling fondly more than once – almost as if I was remembering an old friend myself.

And even though I did have the good fortune of meeting and briefly conversing with Hunter one time in Los Angeles during a book signing about four years ago, he’s always been a huge inspiration for me. And when a biopic like this is done so well that it makes you feel like you’ve just watched something about one of your own friends, it deserves high marks. Gonzo is sure to rank in the top echelon of SIFF films in 2008.

You’ve seen the banner [mb], now see the play: Avenue Q, the Tony-winning play about a bright-eyed college grad who heads to NYC with big dreams and a tiny bank balance is coming to Seattle.

If you’ve not heard about the play your first reaction to that description might be something along the lines of “Eh, sounds like a zillion other plays out there” so let me clue you in with two very important words: naughty puppets.

That’s right–the story of young Princeton and his adventures in the low-rent district of NYC is performed on stage by puppets operated onstage by actors. The puppets are in homage to Sesame Street but the show “has not been authorized or approved by The Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content,” a phrase you will see quite often when it comes to this play. Although some of the specific characters are obvious satires of existing Sesame Street characters, the problems they face are a lot more advanced than eating too many cookies or looking for their rubber ducky. The puppet characters address issues like racism, pornography and homosexuality, and “full-puppet nudity”.

Avenue Q plays the Paramount June 10th through 15th.

Remember when you were all like passing notes and going to second base with Bobby? Well, kiss those days good-bye. We’re dealing with a whole new breed of teenagers, complete with way too much texting. And I’m happy to say that we have Nanette Burstein to film it all in her Sundance-approved documentary, American Teen.

I, for one, had some gripes about this movie. But don’t go spreading nasty rumors about me just yet. As a whole, I liked it because:

a) It made me cringe, laugh and not necessarily cry, but feel sorry for the kids.

b) You really saw 4 different groups of people, and not just the cool crowd.

I guess this movie could be compared to the Breakfast Club. But I wouldn’t say any of the kids (oh sorry, teenagers) actually became friends with one another, unless you count a minor character/jock/cute/cool type dipping into the freak pool for about 5 minutes (for more movie time possibly?). This documentary is really more about 4 different teenagers, their clicks (or lack thereof) and their desire to find the perfect mate, the perfect school and the perfect place to get away from everyone in Small Town, Indiana.

As far as the “characters” go, you’ll really hate this one teen. Or at least I did. She is everything you see on The Hills/O.C./90210 times 10. She’s the girl everyone thinks is pretty, only because she’s popular. And she’s only popular because she’s rich (or I should say, because her parents are rich). And she’s mean because of all of this. Apparently these attributes make you way cool in some parts of the world.  

You’ll love the jock and his desire to do it all. He is popular for all the good reasons. Because he’s simply a nice guy.

You’ll applaud the dork for his endless effort in finding a girl. Any girl. Even if that girl doesn’t like him and then cheats on him. I imagine this kid will end up with some S&M type of fetish when he’s older. He’ll never stop trying and it’s just so cute and sad, wrapped up in a nice, little bow.

And you’ll pity the depressed girl, not so much because she’s depressed, but mainly because her parents are as screwed up as she is.

So the only reasons I didn’t care for the movie was because:

a) Even though it was about an hour and 45 minute movie, I felt myself getting antsy towards the end. Like, okay, I get each teen’s story, now tell me where they ended up so I can write this review already.

b) Burstien used different animated/cartoonish/3-d techniques to add something to each teenager’s storyline, but I just didn’t care for it. These animations seemed like they came out of nowhere, and were merely time fillers.

But besides those 2 negative points, I liked (not liked-liked) this movie. Days later, I was still thinking about it. The premature sex, the drunken nights in the basement, the prank calls, the cattiness, the tears and even some good times. You’ll reminiscence and laugh. But most of all, you’ll be glad you never have to go through that part of your life ever again.

American Teen is playing at Egyptian Theatre:

Friday, May 30 at 7:00 pm

and

Saturday, May 31 at 11:00 am

This is the pitcher that Smith (Capitol Hill) served us on Saturday. For a new(ish) business, I was pretty surprised.

Getting your hippie groove on at Folklife? Doing the hipster shuffle at Sasquatch? Or just weeping silently in your closet over how Steven Spielberg could so ruin one of film’s greatest trilogies with a pointless fourth movie, Indiana Jones and the Quest For Incomprehensibly Huge Amounts of Cash?

Well, hope you brought your camera, so you can load your best shots into our photopool. And then we can feature them, like the above picture of an accordian-playing woman looking daggers (or in lust?) at some far off man (or maybe a snowcone) that scovophoto dropped into our pool. In fact, you should check out his entire Folklife set for some great headshots of Folklife buskers in their game.