Martin + Osa at Bellevue Square is hosting an event on July 30th, 6pm-8pm, with Paul Dillinger (denim designer). This brand is apparently targeted to 20-40 year olds, not the teen set, and they are offering “tips on how to get the perfect fit with style”…with demonstrations for “how you can customize your M+O denim using a unique customization kit developed over the years including a deck of cards, tea, needle and thread and other household items.” Interesting concept, especially to people who can’t quite get the best fit. Maybe worth checking out if you’re into fashion.

The first 30 guests to purchase denim will walk away with a Dillinger customizations kit. (URL)

Thai Tom, the uberpopular, tiny, and always crowded restaurant and main reason for venturing into the northern reaches of the Ave in the U-District has been closed for a variety of hygiene and safety reasons by the County.

snapshot from kingcounty.gov

(via @andypixel)

capitol hill block party; scene from last year, photo by me. [flickr].

Lucky us! This weekend is looking sunny, precipitation-free, and we have a big music festival called the Capitol Hill Block Party commandeering one of our city’s best few intersections. What better way to spend a weekend than melting on the surface of the pavement-covered sun while listening to a great mix of local and national bands? To cope with the climate, keep an eye out for free popsicles from the Washington Bus, dunk tanks featuring music personalities, creamsicles, mainstage water canons [wtf?], and innovative new ice cream flavors.

Logistics:

There are two ways to get into the block party. If you already have a ticket that you’re able to hold in your eager little paws, then you can can slide in on Pine & 10th Avenue by passing through the culinary temptations of Rancho Bravo and Molly Moon (their mojito sorbet, btw, just might save your life when the temperature spikes). The rest of you, ticket buyers, will callers, and guestlisted will go to the main entrance on 12th Avenue and Pike Street.

Tickets haven’t sold out yet, but buy in advance, arrive early, or face a sold-out event and fall upon the mercy of scalpers and spareholders. Daily tickets cost $23 and a two-day pass goes for $42. You can get them at the doors, online, or at Urban Outfitters (where you’ll only be charged a $1 service fee) If you’re under 21, be aware in advance that 1/3 of the acts will inaccessible to your underage ears because the Neumo’s stage is 21+. But, hey, two out of three isn’t half bad.

Once you’re inside, you can enter and exit as long as you keep your ticket stub and get your hand stamped on the way out. Good to know if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the teeming mess of humanity, need to lounge in the park, require a caffeinated pick-me-up, or feel the need to slip away for food and drinks not served on plastic.

The block party’s website has many other frequently answered questions about sunscreened dogs carrying weapons; so check it out for all the technicalities of attending. [chbp]

the Block Party itself:

Let’s be honest here and say that you’d be a fool not to consult the Stranger’s guide. They’re presenting the Block Party and have prepped a tabloid book to tell you all about all of the bands in generally glowing terms. [thestranger] Cross-reference that with the official lineup [chbp] and choose wisely or wander aimlessly. If you love spreadsheets, I put the whole thing into a Google Document [xls] for your organizational delight.

Instead, then, a brief overview of the three categories of bands I’m planning to see this weekend. First, are those that I’m spine-tinglingly thrilled to be seeing very soon even though the heat might kill me (it won’t, I made it through Coachella with nary a fainting spell, but you know how pre-complaining about beautifu weather is an essential talisman in these parts.). On Friday, the top of this list is Deerhunter , mainly because I can’t figure out exactly where Bradford Cox is taking the band but I can’t wait to find out and see how it all works live. On Saturday, I’m nearly sick with anticipation for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart , (whose Song of the Spring “Young Adult Friction” has bled over into a Son of the Summer and threatens to stick around well into Autumn) though I worry slightly that they’re so fuzzy and introverted that they’ll melt into puddles when faced with the late afternoon sun. I have no such concerns for Gossip and the Thermals , both of whom seem to exist for the sole purpose of causing you to overheat in different ways. If you’re not having a good time while they’re playing, you must be doing something wrong. In London this spring, it was difficult to find a time of day or magazine rack not celebrating either Kings of Leon or [the] Gossip, their appreciation for the southern-tinged rock scene somehow less unabashed than our own. I haven’t seen them for a few years, but their latest album leans a bit more into pop territory with an energy that never lets up. As for the Thermals, I have yet to leave one of their shows not feeling exhausted, elated, maybe slightly bruised, and carrying a bit of sweat from my neighbors. Both groups make political music where the politics never gets in the way. Seeing them back-to-back might kill you in the best way possible.

Next are the near mandatory mainstage closers. Here, I admit that I’m embarrassingly unexcited about the Jesus Lizard and Sonic Youth. Obviously, these are strong headliners and I take my own under-enthusiasm as personal musical failings and a source of dull nagging shame. During the howling scrotum-baring height of the Jesus Lizard’s reign, I was too young and/or too saturated by mass market commercial radio to even know of their existence, leaving me unable to even conjure an idea of one of their songs from memory. For Saturday’s stars, I’ve always wondered if Sonic Youth missed their chance to get fantastically wealthy by not breaking up briefly instead of working hard, building a career over thirty years, and putting out record after record instead of following the Pixies model of dramatically self-destructing until the clamor for a reunion was so great that they were able to spin a few one-offs into a seeming never-ending arena tour followed by a Doolittle revival. Anyway, I’m planning to take the closing hours of the Block Party’s mainstage as a way to polish some of the tarnish from my music landscape.

Finally, the best part of a festival setting are the vast possibilities for discovering your new favorite bands. On this note, I’m most looking forward to this weekend as a remedy to having missed too often so many of the bands that I’ve heard millions of glowing buzz. At the top of this category on the local side are Hey Marseilles , the Moondoggies , the Maldives , the Pica Beats, and New Faces (all Saturday). On the national side, my curiosity about Micachu & the Shapes is peaking thanks to their clangy and noisy and just so oddly compelling album; Starfucker have such a good band name that they require at least a few songs of attention (both Friday); as do apparently croony rockers Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and screamy emos Japandroids. That said, suggestions for other overlooked unmissables are gladly considered.

the Parties inside the Block Party:
As if the official lineup isn’t enough, the Comet and the Cha Cha are both hosting their own slates of live music, too. Both bars are inside the grounds; so your ticket gets you in to these for free where you can get drinks away from the gloating sun’s ruthless glare.

The Cha Cha has the Get Off (5:45); Toy Soldiers (6:45), Fun Fun Fun (7:45), Loving Thunder (8:45), & Born Anchors (9:45) on FRIDAY and the Absolute Monarchs (3:45), Spinning Wheels (4:45), Thorstone (5:45), Moonrats (6:45), Champagne Champagne (7:45), Constant Lovers (8:45), and Book of Black Earth (9:45) on SATURDAY.

The Comet has the Oswald Effect and the Girls starting at 11 on Friday. (NOTE that “Girls” play the mainstage on Saturday and are a different band from “The Girls” playing on Friday, neither of which have any female members. Both of these bands being in town nearly compels a Girl-Off of some sort). On Saturday at 11 you’ll find Hallways, The Curious Mystery.

the Parties after the Block Party:
If by some feat of superhuman strength you aren’t dead from exhaustion on Saturday night there are afterparties to attend. The biggest one being at Chop Suey, where Mad Rad, Macklemore, DJs Darwin & Recess, and Whiskey Whiskey start their quest to leave you a bubbling pile of happy goo at 9 pm. Advance tickets cost $5, and a block party bracelet at the door gets you in for $3. That is, if they aren’t already at spectacle-craving capacity by that point.

In closing:

With that, some parting advice: wear sunscreen, be nice to your neighbors, eat something fried or on a stick, see a bunch of music, and have fun! If you see something great, snap a picture and send it to our photopool [flickr]. Find your way to a rooftop or VIP party and send us the password! See you there.

12:00 PM – Brett Battles: Shadow of Betrayal
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Third in the Jonathan Quinn series; Quinn is a freelance ‘cleaner’ who solves crime.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Howard Dean: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer
Town Hall Seattle
A timely presentation by Town Hall and the Town Hall Center for Civic Life. The title says it all.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Jay Lake: Green
UW Bookstore U District
Okay, I love the publisher’s description. Writing jacket copy is more difficult than you might think. “She was born in poverty, in a dusty village under the equatorial sun. She does not remember her mother, she does not remember her own name—her earliest clear memory is of the day her father sold her to the tall pale man. In the Court of the Pomegranate Tree, where she was taught the ways of a courtesan…and the skills of an assassin…she was named Emerald, the precious jewel of the Undying Duke’s collection of beauties.
She calls herself Green.”
[LINK]

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

• Jeff Bezos apologizes for the de-Orwelling of so many Kindles. [amazon]
• Harvey Dangerite and Stranger Art Director Aaron Huffman submits to the Adventurer Questionnaire, reveals affinity for sushi and margaritas. [adventureschool]
• Another mayoral face-off, this time in at Rainer Square. Read along with the burgeoning sparks. [publicola]
• The question isn’t why Nordstrom is at Comic-Con, it should be what possessed them to launch a Twilight clothing line. [bigblog]
• SuttonBeresCuller are trying to turn an environmental mess into a public pocket park by 2010. [anotherbouncingball]
• the Seattle Green Bag Campaign will shake its tiny fists against the insane million dollar out-of-state big-chemicals campaign against the perfectly reasonable plastic bag fee at the Block Party. Stop by and give them a hug. [capitolhillseattle]

Filmmaker and teacher Richard Rogers devoted decades of his life to making a film about himself, an autobiographical undertaking that allowed him to explore his mixed feelings about his career, his family and his life. It wasn’t an easy project: “Why is it so hard to make a film about yourself?” he wondered aloud, convinced of the camera’s utility as a tool for self-examination but unable to find the meaning he sought in his own story. Rogers died in 2001 with his film still incomplete until his widow, photographer Susan Meiselas asked his former student Alexander Olch to make a film out of the great amount of film that Rogers left behind.

In his director’s statement for The Windmill Movie, Olch metaphorically connects the film footage Rogers left behind (including old Super 8 footage his father shot) to the bits of past lives that can be found at a flea market. It’s an apt analogy as Olch stitches together a quilt that binds together his mentor’s images with new scenes shot with actors to pay homage to Rogers’ interest in fiction film making as well as to illustrate the challenges of telling a true story when that story is your own and you’re not quite sure what the truth in it is. Between his own experience in semi-autobiographical film in My Dinner with Andre and his friendships with both Rogers (who was often teased about his physical resemblance to the actor) and Meiselas, Wallace Shawn is a perfectly-cast surrogate for Rogers, his scenes adding an extra layer of other-worldliness to the film.

The Windmill Movie artfully captures Rogers’ lifelong quest to find meaning, aware of the privilege given to him simply by the luck of having been born into a family with plenty of means but unsure of how to move beyond that, if it was even possible. His upbringing is a key piece in the puzzle that was his life: his mother’s discouragement clearly affects Rogers but though he laments his inability to fit into the family as a banker or to make up for it by becoming as well-known and financially successful as someone like Steven Spielberg, the choices he makes intentionally move him away from any chance of falling into either of those sorts of roles. We may not all make films about ourselves, but who hasn’t spent at least some time fixating on the things we aren’t?

Olch’s tremendous respect for his former teacher informs every frame that makes it to screen, but The Windmill Movie isn’t meant to be a direct biography. Instead it’s an intriguing experiment in personal storytelling that’s sometimes softly dreamy and sometimes startlingly direct. The Windmill Movie opens at Northwest Film Forum on Friday, July 24; director Olchs will be in attendance on Friday and Saturday and Warren Etheridge will host a conversation after the 7pm Friday show. The Windmill Movie is accompanied by a screening of Rogers’ black and white short Quarry.

Also at NWFF: Lake Tahoe, director Fernando Eimbcke’s understated tale of a young man’s misadventures on a day that begins with him crashing his car into a tree. Accompanied by Taco Truck, a short documentary of a Westside Olympia taco truck.

The Grand Illusion continues their celebration of the Golden Age of Science Fiction with Five Million Years to Earth, the terrifying tale of the evil hidden away in human brains by Martians who’d invaded years ago to implant in human minds a ticking time bomb with the potential to wipe out humanity in favor of the Martian mind hybrid. Very scary and well worth seeing for any sci-fi horror fan.

Boys Don’t Cry presents a real-life horror, the tragedy of Brandon Teena, brutally murdered when the “friends” he clung to discovered that he was a trans person. Hilary Swank may never ge able to top the brilliance of her performance in this film. At Central Cinema.

Midnight at the Egyptian: Dazed and Confused, a surprisingly sweet-natured comedy about a group of high school kids in 1976 featuring new names for ’93 that include the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich, Rory Cochrane, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey and Joey Lauren Adams.

inside 15th Ave Coffee & Tea. More in the photoset [flickr].

Hot off the CF card, a whole bunch of pictures from the interior of the new 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea store, “inspired by” Starbucks and located in the former 15th Avenue shop on Capitol Hill (website: streetlevelcoffee.com). Almost everything from the old store was gutted and recycled; so during this afternoon’s preview we heard the words “repurposed” and “reimagined” with extreme frequency to describe the new decor and goals. The cupping table came from headquarters, the bar migrated from the recently renovated University Village store, a barn or two were repurposed like crazy, metals were soaked in water and left to rust, movie seats that would put modern audiences into back spasms were dragged in from somewhere, an entire philosophy text was turned into wallpaper, and pieces of a ship were dismantled — mast holes and all — to make a communal reservable table near the window. The effect, while overwhelming when cataloged, is one of a comfortable cafe with bins of small batch beans in the open for scooping and specialty whole leaf teas from Tazo in shiny chalkboard canisters for steeping. If anything, it reads as “typical upscale cafe” rather than a Disnified version that one might have anticipated from a corporate overhaul.

The store opens bright and early tomorrow, staffed by baristas in street clothes playing music over a state of the art sound system without a nearby LCD screen for making immediate purchases. You can get your drip coffee a few ways — through a French Press, a Clover, or dripped through ceramic filters — and shots of espresso will be hand-pulled with no frappucinos or smoothies in sight (though espresso drinks will me a tiny bit more expensive than usual). Snacks come mostly from Essential Bakery in Fremont and since they’ll be touching multiple “daypoints”, bottled beer and wine (one from Oregon represents the Northwest), sandwiches, and hand scooped ice cream are also on the menu.

As to the hypercritical question of the stealthiness of this endeavor, I don’t think that anyone is going to be “fooled”, nor is it clear that is their intent. If so, launching these test balloons (there will be three this year)in Seattle in a neighborhood with some of the most discerning and opinionated coffee consumers in the country wouldn’t have been the best strategy. Instead, everyone involved seems incredibly excited by the prospect of showcasing products they love in a comfortable setting. The “inspired by” in the name seems like a bit of a branding stumble; given the major departures from the look and feel of almost every other store in the massive fleet, it seems like a clean break from the recent past. I’m deeply dedicated (or tragically addicted) to our smaller local stores — my day is pretty much a disaster without at least one serving of Vivace and Victrola is a frequent office — but I don’t begrudge Starbucks for giving this a shot. In many other US cities, I admit that I’d probably be pretty happy to find one of these stores as an oasis in a desert of questionable quality coffee; in Seattle it’s a bit of a different story.

At this point, though, how it will feel beyond the repurposed furniture and decorations when people are actually inside serving and drinking coffee, meeting friends, or hiding behind their computer screens soaking in the free wifi is probably the most important component of this re-imagined experience. That test starts tomorrow; let us know what you think.

11:00 AM – Phyllis Yasutake: Storytelling
Northwest African American Museum
“This summer at the Northwest African American Museum, gifted griots—storytellers—will enchant young and old with tales recounted following oral traditions. Children of all ages are invited to experience the art of storytelling and the power of stories…” (NAAM)
[LINK]

12:00 PM – David Morrell: The Shimmer
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
“Santa Fe police officer Dan Page tracks down his missing wife only to witness a bloodbath in Rostov, a remote town in Texas famous for a massive astronomical observatory, a long-abandoned military base, and unexplained nighttime phenomena that draw onlookers from every corner of the globe. Determined to solve the mystery of the Rostov Lights in order to save his wife, he discovers that the decaying military base may not be abandoned at all, and that the government may have known about the lights for decades–and the unimaginable danger behind them.” (SPL Summary)
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Love and Exile: True and Fictional Journeys from Local Writers: Reading & Signing
Richard Hugo House Cabaret
“Two Seattle authors celebrate their recently published books–Midge Raymond’s award-winning short story collection, “Forgetting English” (Eastern Washington University Press) and Janna Cawrse Esarey’s travel memoir, “The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers and a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife” (Touchstone). Readings, Q & A, slideshow, cocktails. This is a party, folks!” (RHH)
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Mahbod Seraji: Rooftops of Tehran
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Debut, bildungsroman, roman a clef… Only the setting, Iran during the Pahlavi regime, distinguishes it from the usual debut, but I’ve been seeing a lot more novels about Iran and Iraq, or by authors with a relationship to the region, over the past three years, so even the locale is beginning to pall. Decent, earnest writing, but not original enough to rise above other novels of the type.
[LINK]

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

• Good morning, Capitol Hill. Your cupcakes have arrived and they’re even free. [capitolhillseattle]
• Sub Pop got fraternal with Male Bonding. [subpop]
• Olive Way continues its hotness right now streak as another microbar begins preparations for taking over the old Anne Bonney space. [voracious , with a good point about "speakeasy" theming, too.]
• Did Nickels use his position to get footage from the tracks (to show how he brought us the gift of light rail all by his lonesome) otherwise unavailable to mere mortals? [publicola]
• While we’re on light rail, let’s complain/explain about why it took so long to get this precious gem. [crosscut, on a ranty roll of late]
• The tide’s hit its all time low, rummage around for natural stuff while there’s still time. [westseattleblog]
• Look out Fremont, the Dude has your keys. [fremontuniverse]

12:00 PM – Julie Kramer & Steve Martini: Signing
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Kramer will sign Missing Mark, the sequel to Stalking Susan. Martini is signing Guardian of Lies, a Paul Madriani novel.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Arzoo Osanloo: Politics of Women’s Rights in Iran
Revolution Books
Osanloo is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Scott Rosenberg: Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It’s Becoming, and Why It Matters
UW Bookstore U District
“The humble blog has gone from a diary of oversharing to a political and cultural phenomenon in a very short time. But as with all things internet, there’s a wild and complex story to be told. Scott Rosenberg, cofounder of Salon.com tells that story in his new book Say Everything.” (UW Bookstore)
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Chris Hedges: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Town Hall Seattle
Hedges addresses education, business, celebrity, and the commodification of the worker with a WASPish hysteria that has burgeoned since 2002′s (brilliant) War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. In Empire…, Hedges is short on facts, long on graphic anecdotes, and ends with a distressing nostalgia for sweet, golden days of yore, when everything was spiffy– as long as you weren’t female, disabled, brown, poor, et cetera.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – J.A. Jance: Fire and Ice
Barnes & Noble University Village
The best-selling local author signs #14 in her Joanna Brady series. No relation to The Brady Bunch.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Jerome Gold: Paranoia & Heartbreak: Fifteen Years in a Juvenile Facility
Elliott Bay Book Co.
The author, publisher (Gold is a founder of Black Heron Press), and former juvenile rehabilitation counselor will speak about how very, very messed up is the US rehabilitation system. Gold has previously written about violence and young people in the excellent Prisoners.
[LINK]