Slightly belated news: Local ad agency Publicis in the West has won the 2008 ADDY Awards Best in Show for “Birds,” a commercial produced for the Washington State Lottery. Normally, I don’t care who wins what, unless it’s a book prize, but I admit to a deep, abiding, possibly unhealthy, love for “Birds.” Totes awesome.

Watch it HERE.

Publicis also won Silver ADDY awards for ads created for T-Mobile and UNICEF. The awards were presented at the 2009 AAF National Conference in Washington, DC.

12:00 PM – Phillip Margolin: Fugitive
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
“12 years ago, Charlie Marsh, a low-level criminal, achieved fame for saving the warden during a prison riot. Soon after, out of prison, he was accused of killing a US Congressman. In the years since, he’s been hiding out in Africa, safeguarded by the country’s despotic ruler. But an affair with the tyrant’s wife means Charlie must leave and he heads back to Oregon to face the music. Amanda Jaffee will be for the defense.”–SMB
[LINK]

6:00 PM – Miz Floes & the Carmel Latte Duo: Smokin’ Spoken Wurd
Northwest African American Museum
Open mic night! Howl your hearts out, you angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night… Accompaniment provided by bass and percussion for that jazz vibe.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Victoria Chang: Salvinia Molesta
Open Books

near the covered ditches, only
an ocean keeps confessing
starfish to shore.

[LINK]

8:00 PM – Ali Sethi: The Wish Maker
Elliott Bay Book Co.
A brilliant debut. Sethi is from Lahore, Pakistan. Readers who enjoy coming-of-age novels, family stories, and books about other cultures will particularly enjoy this sly, complex novel.
[LINK]

8:00 PM – Elissa Washuta: The Kindling Effect
Richard Hugo House Cabaret
The author celebrates completing her MFA with a reading. Visit her website at WWW.WASHUTA.NET
[LINK]

photo by Espressobuzz [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• pizza party! seattle’s getting certified, Neopolitan style. [bigblog]
• wooden boats get a thai infusion by way of Kaosamai. [thesouthlake]
• double trouble! two cute-attack baby jaguars make me feel kind of bad for the baby animals of the Zoo because no matter how wide-eyed and cuddly they will forever pale in comparison to the drop-dead adorableness of the tiger cub. [seattlest]
• Fleet Fox Robin Pecknold with a history of downloading hundreds of albums (over a modem!) argues that “illegal” file sharing has been good for music and musicians. [bbc]
• whatever you do, do not call Elizabeth Becton “Liz”. Unless, that is, you’re in looking to accumulate a series of hilariously offended e-mails in your inbox. [publicola/politico]

Erica’s leaving the Capitol Hill compound to hook up with the suddenly-hot Publicola.

Not only does this effectively halve the number of people who actually do work at the Stranger, it also continues the Slog’s descent into shrill one-note unreadability. (Did I miss the memo where they explained how Slog now stands for “Savage: Loathes Obama, Gay”?)

But best of luck to Erica joining Josh Feit’s merry band of awesome. She’s been nothing less than great to me over the years. The red wine is in the mail. (PS: Can we set up a time where I can bust Sandeep in the chops for being Nickels’ man? I have five days of “stranded in my house because no one dared plow the north end” rage that’s needed to get out since December.)

On Sunday, I bought 6 flats of organic strawberries from Tiny’s Organics, who has a stall at the Broadway Farmer’s Market on Sunday afternoons. When you buy in bulk, most vendors will give you a discount. In this case, they gave me 10% off and they threw in a 7th flat of strawberries for free, bringing the total to an amazing 42 pints of strawberries.

It took 90 minutes to hull all of the strawberries and pack them into bags. Tuesday, I brought them to a friends’ house and taught them how to make jam. It’s easy to do in small batches (so you don’t have to buy 42 pints like I did).

The quick and easy method: hull strawberries. Place 8 cups berries into a large pot and bring to a simmer on the stove for 10 minutes. Add 6 cups sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice. Stirring often, simmer for 15-20 minutes. While berries are simmering, place 8-10 jars in the top rack of your dishwasher and run through the rinse cycle to sanitize (or boil in hot water for 2 minutes). In a small pot with water, boil lids with rubber seals for 2 minutes. Turn burner off and let strawberries sit for 2 minutes. Ladle into jars, leaving 1/4″ room at the top. Wipe down the rims with a paper towel and center lid on top of jar. Screw outer band over lid and place each sealed jar into a big pot of water. Bring to a boil and cover for 10 minutes. Remove jars from pot and as they cool, listen for each “pop” as the seal takes. Now you have jam. Store in a dark cupboard or pantry.

Last note: you can easily make different variations by adding in fresh chopped herbs right before ladling into the jar. We added fresh mint and fresh tarragon to two different batches. You can also add lime zest for a really intense flavor.

Via our Flickr Pool

1:30 PM – David Montgomery: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
UW Kane Hall, Walker-Ames Room
The UW geomorphology professor talks about soil. This is important stuff, folks.
[LINK]

6:30 PM- Jennifer Hahn: Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage
SPL Ballard Branch
“In a kayak named Yemaya with a cedar wreath lashed to the stern, Jennifer Hahn launched from Ketchikan, Alaska on a solo voyage home to Bellingham, Washington. With 26 years of wilderness kayak travel under her hull, Hahn chronicles more than her intrepid 750-mile solo journey through the Inside Passage over two springs and summers.” –Secret Garden Bookshop
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Literati Parti: Poetry Reading
Richard Hugo House Cabaret
“Come join Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata for a night of poetry readings and all things literary! Coffee and tea will be provided” –RHH
I might be tempted if whiskey and cookies were provided…
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Jim Lynch: Border Songs
Elliott Bay Book Co.
“Meet Brandon Vanderkool, the most fascinating, memorable, and human character in American fiction since Ignatius J. Reilly of A Confederate of Dunces … Border Songs is a masterwork, and Jim Lynch, for my money, is our best new storyteller since Larry McMurtry: deeply in touch with the natural world, the absurdities of our era, and the hearts and minds of his unforgettable and endlessly surprising characters.” – Howard Frank Mosher
[LINK]

The eighth longest-running show in Broadway history, Rent has had a devoted following ever since it was first workshopped in New York back in the mid-90s. The final show at the Nederlander Theater on September 7, 2008, was the 5,124th performance, not counting its 16 previews and all the tours across the country and around the world.

Some of those devoted fans were in attendance Tuesday night at the The Paramount for opening night of its six-day stop in Seattle as part of the Broadway Across American tour. An enthusiastic crowd greeted the return of Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp to the lead roles they originated on Broadway and cheered after every number. Much of the excitement focused on Lexi Lawson and Justin Johnston, who played Mimi Marquez and Angel Schunard, two vital characters in this complex musical drama about the interconnected lives of a group of artists, intellectuals, entertainers and entrepeneurs finding love and themselves while living “la vie Boheme” in a worn NYC neighborhood teetering on the edge of gentrification.

Rent continues at the Paramount through Sunday, June 21 with 7:30 pm performances Wednesday and Thursday, 8:00 pm on Friday, a 2:00 pm Saturday matinee, an 8:00 pm Saturday evening performance, and a Sunday matinee at 1:00 pm before the final show 6:30 pm Sunday. In keeping with a tradition that started when the musical first moved to Broadway, seats in the front two rows of the orchestra will be available for $20 for every show. These tickets go on sale at the box office on the day of performance only, two hours before the show, cash only. All other seats can be purchased through the usual outlets; all seats will go fast.

photo by danny ngan [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Find happiness tonight with chicken, waffles, and a sunny patio of bloggers at Captain Black’s. [seattlest]
• Adrian Ryan will be talking about his big gay book of Seattle tonight at Traveler’s. [ohmygodseattle]
• The Adventure School administers the Proust questionnaire and finds out a whole bunch of interestingness about Buster McLeod Benson and his menagerie of frisky spirit animals. [adventureschool]
• Three Girls are moving to Ballard to bring the sandwiches to the people. [myballard]
• Jack the Stoner Dog is the best excuse you need to dine at Bottleneck Lounge this Saturday. [millerpark]
• When you’re checking in coats at a naked bike ride, you’re liable to end up skirtless and wearing a lion’s head by the end of the night. [publicola]

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels most definitely did not cross a picket line in Providence RI yesterday. No sirree Bob.

Local 799 of the Providence International Association of Firefighters picketed the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Providence, this past weekend, to publicize their grievance with Providence’s Mayor David Cicilline. The firefighters have been working without a contract for four years; Cicilline has publicly referred to the protest as “political extortion,” as opposed to the exercise of the firefighters’ First Amendment rights.

VP Joe Biden, former King County Executive Ron Sims, former Governor Locke, and former Police Chief Gil Kerlikowski (and wow, that list certainly points up how many of our local politicos the Obama administration has taken on-board. I think it’s that “no state income tax” thing) all cancelled their appearances. Nickels, who was sworn in as the 67th president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Monday, ducked the issue by not going outside.

According to Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and Nickels spokesman Alex Fryer, Nickels’ hotel was connected to the Rhode Island Convention Center. Since the demonstration primarily took place across the street, Nickels could give his cap-and-trade speech and be dubbed Conference President without having to see or confront the firefighters. Fryer said in an email that “we are respectful” of the “labor protest across the street from the convention center.” Local 799 president Paul Doughty would probably call that honoring the letter, but not the spirit, of the protest. On Monday, the protesters moved out of the city-designated areas.

The firefighters were not the only people protesting Cicilline’s policies, labor and otherwise. ‘Right to the City’ (a group protesting stimulus spending), the union of local Head Start employees, representatives of the Providence policeman’s union, and a group that were protesting the way the city handles protesters, all made an appearance at one time or another.

This is the first time that Providence has hosted the Conference in 77 years.

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[NOTE: Edited to fix cliche'.]