Get tickets now!

This program is happening all over the US, every first full weekend of the month from now till September 5th. Bring the kids. Make a day of it. Have some arty fun!

With a year to write and produce her hit album, Speak For Yourself, she found a lot of her following over social media. Her folkie voice and soothing beats won over 350,000 friends on MySpace and more than 250,000 Twitter fans.

You can’t see her at the Paramount Theatre until June 14th, but you can get tickets tomorrow (Saturday, April 17th). To learn more, go to STG Presents.

RJD2 surprised me in many ways. Let me count them for you:

1. He started on time. At Neumos, this is almost unheard of (at least when I go). But I was thrilled that Neumos said 10:45 and when I walked in expecting to still hear Busdriver, I got RJ up there on stage already starting song number 1.
2. He doesn’t need to have the kind of fun that Flaming Lips or Girl Talk explodes with. Case in point is when he wore a miner’s costume on and off, and when he played with a Super Mario puppet throughout a song. Simple, yet it made people interested.
3. I totally forgot that he did the Mad Men intro song. Surprises like that one made me smile as much as all the songs he played from The Third Hand. Plus, he didn’t disappoint in mixing it up with his old, not so old and new tunes.
4. I loved that there was an actual band. I actually danced way more to the band then to when he was playing by himself. The drums in particular were right on, especially when an audience member gave the drummer a big mouse (?) head to wear. When a band is willing to participate with the crowd, it’s bound to be a fun show.
5. Busdriver showed up at the end of the show. And boy, can he rap. I have no idea what he said but he sang it with conviction and heart and then he left the stage as soon as he came on.

So there you have it. For those who got to see this final leg of RJD2’s tour, I hope you were as happy with it as I was. For everyone else, you lose ☺

*Picture courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR

A cupcake taste off was had this weekend where the *typical Seattle cupcakeries and one cupcake blogger, Jamie of All Trades, were the contestants. The glasses of milk were passed around and we started piling Red Velvet cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes, Cupcake Royale, Wink Cupcakes and JOAT (as she has nicknamed herself) on our plates. By the end, we were stuffed, hyper and in sugar comas – but in a good way. Here are the results.

Hands down Trophy Cupcakes took the prize for appearances. We all agreed that presentation seems to be their main focus. And while the cake was good and moist, it fell apart for almost every taster. Comments like, “best frosting” and “lovely with a little heart on top” seemed to be the overall verdict. But, not the winner.

Then there was Cupcake Royale. We had high hopes for these guys, yet they received the lowest scores. That doesn’t mean they were bad. Not at all. Comments like “creamy once you get inside” and “nice and light” declared that they were good. But just not the winner.

So we moved on to Wink Cupcakes, who gave us a nice surprise with what tasted like lemon in the frosting and cake. Comments like, “smooth frosting” and “most different taste” put Wink close to taking the cake. But still, not the winner.

That leaves us with – you guessed it – the winner. Jamie of All Trades might’ve been the underdog, but she didn’t disappoint us with her Red Velvet cupcake. Comments included “very red and very good” to “buttery, delicious frosting” to “best cake, fluffy and chocolatey” and thus, gave her the cupcake taste off prize!

But how could we stop at Red Velvets? Our contestants wouldn’t have it. Most of the bakers (except for Wink) gave us their favorite cupcake for another tasting. And man oh man, we needed more milk for the second half.

While Trophy dazzled us with their Tiger Tail (coconut cupcake with raspberry buttercream drizzled with raspberry sauce) and Cupcake Royale gave us a much-needed sweet break with their Salted Caramel, it was Jamie of All Trades who won yet again, with her Key Lime Pie cupcake.

Everyone just loved the Key Lime frosting that smacked you in the face with flavor and we were all pretty impressed that she created a crust on the bottom. Not only did her Key Lime Pie win in the “non Red Velvet” category, it also won overall cupcake!

We’d like to thank Trophy Cupcakes, Cupcake Royale and Wink Cupcakes for giving us their cupcakes to taste. Sure, they didn’t win overall, but we all agreed there wasn’t a bad cupcake in the bunch. They all had their good qualities about them. And to get a group of girls to shut up for 2 hours to eat copious amounts of carbs was an accomplishment in so many ways.

And to the winner, Jamie of all Trades, we can’t wait to devour more of your yummy cupcakes. If you want to taste them yourself (which you should, immediately) she’s willing and ready to take your orders. You can find her at jamieofalltrades.typepad.com

*We asked Yellow Leaf Cupcakes twice to participate, but they never answered our requests ☹

The answer is yes – to everything. Now, here are the details:

Neumos Presents: RJD2, Busdriver, Happy Chichester
Doors open at 8pm
$15 for advanced tickets
Buy them now
Or purchase tix at Moe Bar
Sorry youngsters, this is for 21+

The “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour kicks off in Eugene and will include longtime sidekick Andy Richter and the former Tonight Show band to at least 20 other states and two Canadian provinces.

You can still get tickets the good ol’ fashion way, with fees and everything, at $79.50 a pop (the cheap tix are all sold out via Ticketwest). So hurry before you have to hit up some sketchy dude on Craigslist. Spokane, Conan and jokes about the year 2000 will be waiting for you.

Details:
INB Performing Arts Center
Spokane, WA
Friday, April 16, 2010
7:30pm
Get tickets now!

Trader Joe’s Silent Movie Mondays: Silent From The South Seas
The Paramount Theatre
Show starts at 7pm, March 29th

To find out more and get your tickets, visit STG Presents.

And so I got myself a cleaning service. A green cleaning service to be exact. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

Meet Homemaid Sustainable Cleaning. They are kinda hippie, but without the patchouli. When they’re not using their own cleaning concoctions to spray down your abode, they use Biokleen, which is also all natural, safe, free of weirdo chemicals and of course, good for the Earth.

The cleaning crew mainly consists of a small team of two – Laurel and Thomas. I only just met Laurel for the first time, and she’s one of those people you can immediately see being friends with. Thomas, with his wide eyes and attention to detail, gets the job done when he’s not biking all around Seattle as a messenger.

And speaking of bikes, that’s their mode of transportation. It doesn’t matter if you live down the hill, around the hill or over the hill, they’ll trek all over Seattle just to make sure your place is clean as day.

Need more ways to save the planet? Homemaid Sustainable Cleaning also sends our invoice via email to save on paper. And they take Paypal so I never have to write a check! They even buy 1-kiloWatt hour of Renewable Energy Certificates to compensate for the carbon emissions created by using the vacuum cleaner in your home. I only really understand half of what this means and that’s only because I’ve seen Back to the Future one too many times.

All that said, for $27 an hour, not only is Homemaid Sustainable Cleaning on the cheaper end of maid services, but I also feel good that my house doesn’t smell like a chemical factory when I come home. To me, that’s invaluable service.

Homemaid Sustainable Cleaning
(206) 420-5571
www.homemaidseattle.com

Did you know that a baby is born colorblind? Or that your body grows 40 yard of hair every day? And that you produce 12,000 gallons of urine in your lifetime?

Well, if you didn’t know or even if you did, you need to check out BODIES…The Exhibition. Why? Because it’s totally creepy, cool. And because I’m gonna give you a discount. But more about that later.

If you’ve been to the BODIES exhibit in Seattle before, I should warn you the new location is a bit smaller. This was great for someone like me, who has an attention span of a fly. It still took a good hour an a half though, and that’s mostly because we couldn’t stop talking to Crystal, the very knowledgeable guide who walks around, in a lab coat, just in case you have a question. And we had lots. We talked to her about the actual bodies (they were never claimed by their families) and how they died (of natural causes) and man, oh man, she knew her stuff. Crystal definitely deserves an employee of the month award, if for anything, dealing with us yapping her ear off.

For the faint at heart, please know that you are seeing actual bodies. You’ll see muscles, veins, bones, skin and yes, private parts. There is one small area where you can touch a REAL brain and bladder. But besides that, there is no touching, picture taking or even gum chewing anywhere near the bodies.

I don’t want to spoil the whole exhibit for you, so just go for yourself. It’s not just educational. It’s highly interesting. We had a blast with the headsets, especially since there’s a child and adult option. I, of course, being 31 years old chose the child option more times than not. And if you’re wondering if you’re the type of person who would like this sort of thing, I can assure you that BODIES is for everyone. So bring the kids. Go by yourself. Or take your grandma who’s still smoking a pack a day, just to show her what her lung looks like.

And besides, it’s worth a go because through the rest of the exhibit – which officially ends March 28th – you can get a 20% discount when you buy tickets online and enter the code: GEN1

BODIES…The Exhibition
Promo code through March 28th: GEN1
1505 5th Avenue // Seattle, WA
Hours of Operation:
Sunday – Thursday – 10 am – 7 pm
Friday – Saturday – 10 am – 10 pm