* 2:00 PM: Elliott Bay Book Company hosts Christina Pratt, author of An Encyclopedia of Shamanism. [LINK]

* 2:00 PM: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes,” is something Seattle-ites say a lot. Why? Why is our weather so messed up? Cliff Mass, UW atmospheric scientist and radio personality explains it all in his book The Weather of the Pacific Northwest. Finally! He’ll be at SPL Central Library, Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium, to answer our burning, freezing, and rain-drenched questions. Mass says, “The weekend looks generally dry (a few light showers perhaps in the north half of the state) and cloudy. Highs in the mid 50s.” Shocking. [LINK]

* 2:00 PM: The Ballard Branch Library hosts local author Michael Schein. He’ll be reading and signing Just Deceits: a Historical Courtroom Mystery. Strangely, I can’t find any holdings at SPL, so don’t expect to be able to check out the book from the Library. Schein is director of LitFuse Poets’ Workshop. Sponsored by Secret Garden Bookshop. [LINK]

* 3:00 PM: Local science fiction/fantasy author David Page will be at the Northgate B&N to talk about his latest novel, Mithras Court: A Novel of the Mists. [LINK]

* 4:00 PM: Travel writer Rolf Potts has travelled back in time from the future to talk about his book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer, at Elliot Bay Book Company. Ask him how! [LINK]

* 5:30 PM: Michael Eric Dyson, author of a ton of books on race and class, is hosted at Mount Zion Baptist Church (1634 19th Ave, Seattle) by the Bush School and Seattle King County NAACP for a lecture entitled “Power, Justice, Freedom: Vote!” The election may be over, but the topic lives on. And can I just take a moment to say, “Yes, we can!” WOOT! I’m finally recovered from the almost debilitating relief. [LINK]

* 7:30 PM: Leslie Walker Williams, author of The Prudent Mariner, yet another novel of the American South, will read and sign at Elliott Bay Books. How many gripping, wise, lucid, inventive, evocative novels of the American South have been written and published to date? Way, way too many. [LINK]

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On Monday, I had the privilege of interviewing Stuart McLean, creator and host of popular CBC variety radio program the Vinyl Café. Since 1998, McLean has been taking the show on the road, visiting cities throughout Canada. Last year, the Vinyl Café visited the US for the first time, bringing the Christmas concert to a sold out Moore Theatre. The Vinyl Café returns to Seattle this year, with a show at the Paramount on Friday, October 10th. Tickets are still available, through the Paramount [LINK], Ticketmaster, or by pledging to KUOW [LINK]. You can listen to the Vinyl Café every Sunday at noon on KUOW.

In addition to his work in radio, McLean is a prolific and bestselling author; professor emeritus at Ryerson University in Toronto and former director of the broadcast division of the School of Journalism; and three time winner of Canada’s Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour . His most recent books feature stories about the fictional couple Dave and Morley, and their family, friends, and neighbors; the Dave and Morley stories are a highlight of the radio program. You can listen to excerpts from the Vinyl Café by following the “HOW TO LISTEN” link at the website, http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/home.php

[A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend: I'd intended to record this interview, but due to technical difficulties (i.e. operator ineptitude) I fell back on good old-fashioned note-taking. Any omissions, misstatements, or errors are entirely due to my horrific handwriting and obscure abbreviations, and should not reflect upon Mr. McLean, who was patient, thoughtful, and intelligent.]

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Seattle MetBlogs: First and foremost, do you consider yourself a radio personality, a humorist, a writer… a professional Canadian?

Stuart McLean: I very much consider myself a writer, though I’ve worked in radio for 30-odd years. It’s a precious gift for a writer to experience that connection to their audience, a writer is lucky to get that. [Touring,] I am able to stand on stage and be there at the moment of giving and receiving, and it becomes a collaboration. I work with the work. I’ve been a guy who works on the radio, but if you told me I could do only one thing, I would be a writer.
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photo by corey knafelz [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• Congratulations to Kim Ruehl who’s stepping in as the news editor at a soon-to-relaunch No Depression and to Mike Van Baker who’s taking over the reins as Seattlest In Chief. With this, the dance-off situation gets even more interesting. [seattlest]
• Further proof that listicles are batshit crazy: Seattle’s nowhere to be found on Saveur’s top world brews rankings [bigblog], yet we are #3 in terms of sustainable cities. [dotearth]
• Microsoft is taking on debt, buying back stock. [subterfugeseattle]
• The Mayor’s Office of Film and Music and WashingtonFilmWorks’s music–networking–drinking happy hour outgrows its usual digs, moves to Sole Repair tomorrow. [hotsplice]
• Onetime Designing Woman and proud graduate of Ballard High, Jean Smart takes home an Emmy. [myballard]
• Sure, neighborhood blogging is spreading like a bad case of mono at a fine arts camp, but Justin Carder is doing his best to make starting a placeblog even easier. Beta-testers in a ‘hood without a ‘blog are encouraged to apply. [capitolhillseattle]
• Striking scenes from Nickelsville, which sprouted up in “eastern” West Seattle. [westseattleblog]

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I never went to Sea Breeze. Or whatever was there before Sea Breeze. I drove by every day, often kind of wistful at their fireplace and somewhat sad that there never seemed to be more than three or four people inside. So I wasn’t all that surprised when they closed. I was surprised, however, when I found out there was a burger joint going in there.

Did we really need another burger joint? After all, there’s Lunchbox Laboratory, Zak’s, Scooter’s, Zesto’s, Ballard Brothers, and if you are going to or from Ballard, there’s even Red Mill. So another burger joint? Really?

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This weekend, the husband and I were hankering for some outdoor or nearly outdoor eating and weren’t feeling a particular type of food calling us. So we decided to try somewhere new (for us) and ended up at Ballard Loft for lunch at a table inches from the outdoor patio. Their website bills them as a ‘casual neighborhood eatery and bar that embodies the charm and soul of our industrial Ballard location’. How did they measure up? More after the jump.
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photo by Paula Thomas [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• Ladies and gentlemen, the Reader of the Year is from Seattle and she smokes and reads in the street in the rain. [omnivoracious via maudnewton]
• Fleet Foxes = 9.0 [pitchfork]
• Hot, hot, sexy food. [chs]
• the P-I discovers Metro. [seattlest]
• Anthony Bourdain came to Seattle, ate food at the Corson Building. When are the rest of us invited? [citizenrain]
• the Jesus and Mary Chain are coming to town. [tig]
• Closing time means marching band time on Capitol Hill. [hillku]
• Official bootlegs for mobile phones? Pearl Jam tears the fabric of the universe just a bit. [bigblog]

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There’s at least one in every elder home: beaten up, broken down, aged beyond recognition, living to regret a misspent youth, looks like hell. You can count the days of his life just looking at his face. But he refuses to die.

That’s the MV Enchantress, a World War II-era tugboat that was run aground near Anacortes. It was built during the War, served in the military — maybe — and ended up getting bought and sold seven times over the next half-century. For awhile it was one of the green-and-white Foss boats, running up and down the coast.

Its final owner was a shady character named Richard Carnes, a wheeler-dealer out of Sedro-Woolley. In June 2000, Carnes abandoned the MV Enchantress and another boat, the Ronnie S., offshore. Local officials mulled filing charges against Carnes, but before they could do anything about it, a business partner shot Carnes to death. (Sadly, it wasn’t over the boat, as one Flickr user claimed: it was over a busted timberland deal.)

The Ronnie S. was removed early, but officialdom let the Enchantress sit around for awhile. Lots of photographers took many pictures.

Problem is: the tug is crumbling, the lead paint is a hazard, and it’s sitting on some creosote pilings that need to get removed. So, the state is about to haul it off.

OK, I get it: environmental responsibility, stewardship of the Sound, yadda yadda. It’s still a shame.

More coverage:

[Times]
[Skagit Valley Herald]

[Skagit Valley Hearld #2]

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• Seth drops the royal “we”, says goodbye. [seattlest]
• In addition to the pseudo-meaningless (unless you’re — gasp! — a Republican) primary, and tomorrow’s get-to-know your neighbors through afternoon banter, there’s also a cupcake version of the caucus being run by Cupcake Royale. [mysterioustraveler]
• An anonymous tip that John “in the morning” Richards is planning to split his time between NYC and Seattle stirs typical comments complaining about his salary. [lineout]
• The New York Times discovers Silicon Valley in the center of the universe. [dailyweekly]
• Saturday agenda: In what seems to be a last minute lineup change Rogue Wave has replaced Cobra “snakes on a plane” Starship as the headliner for KNDD’s Lonely Hearts Valentine’s Party, with support from just emo and synthy enough Metro Station (”the next Boys Like Girls”) and Seattle’s own Barcelona. For those whose appreciation for Rogue Wave’s latest album only came with a second chance, this is definitely great news for those looking for post-caucus entertainment and wanting to make up for missing their criminally underattended show last year. If only there were instructions for getting tickets beyond “listen to 107.7″. [neumos]

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Well, that was wet.

Josh handled a round-up of flooding links yesterday. In addition, here are some more flooding pictures from N 107th and Midvale, 26th SW and Andover, South Park, and Woodinville.

As for the worst coverage of the day, I’m torn. The Stranger’s complete lack of coverage thanks to their scorn for anyone not living on Capitol Hill? Or the Weekly’s incredibly vapid “pro-con umbrella” post, which went up at the same time firefighters with rafts were rescuing people from rising waters?

The prize for knee-jerk idiocy, of course, goes to the P-I commenters. God bless them and the windmills they tilt at.

And one last thing — Seattle’s drainage system is a mess. Remember that picture I had yesterday of my neighbors flooded out? We’re downstream from the 107th/Midvale flooding. The drainage system in this end of town is a cobbled-together set of pipes, culverts, and sewer lines, and since the areas north of 85th were annexed into Seattle over 50 years ago, stormwater flow improvements have been spotty in this area. The Densmore Basin system isn’t working. Something needs to be done.

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No matter the time of year, there seems to be a beer festival going on in Seattle. And what better the season than Winter, when beer bellies can be hidden underneath sweaters, peacoats and other fuzzy layers? This weekend, get out and taste some of Washington’s best winter beers at the 3rd Annual Winter Beer Festival. Much like Oktoberfest in Fremont, a $25 admission gets you six 5-ounce beer tastes, with additional tastes priced at $1.50. The festival will be held at Hale’s Ales Brewery & Pub in Fremont and will feature more than 30 winter beers, in addition to a Vintage Beer Tasting, featuring popular winter beers from years past. (The 2007 beer list included Yulefest from Bigtime Brewery & Alehouse, Cabin Fever from Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro, Sno Cap from Pyramid Ales & Lagers, Bye-Bye Frost from Elysian Brewing Company and more.) Hale’s will be serving food and Samish Bay Cheese will be giving away organic cheese tasting to compliment the beers.

Warning: The Web site says “Many of the beers served at the Winter Beer Festival have high alcohol. Please drink responsibly.” Suhweet. This says to me–more bang for your buck!

Check out the Winter Beer Fest then head to Brouwer’s–essentially down the street–for their Big Wood Fest.

Beery Holidays.

3rd Annual Winter Beer Festival

Hale’s Ales Brewery
4301 Leary Way NW
Seattle, WA 98107

Friday, November 30th, 5-10pm
Saturday December 1st, 1-10pm

$23 advance/$25 at the door (No credit cards! Cash and check only!)

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