Seattle Weekly, November 27, 2013

NOVEMBER 27-DECEMBER 3, 2013 I VOLUME 38 I NUMBER 48

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inside» November 27–December 3, 2013 VOLUME 38 | NUMBER 48

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news&comment 5

TRANSFER GAMES

How to cadge a bus ride, with help from Facebook. Also: Smith Tower’s rebirth and Seattle Police’s continuing PR problem.

THE FOOD MAZE

BY PATRICK HUTCHISON | Options are

available for the homeless and hungry— but how do you find out about them?

food&drink 35 MKT. RESEARCH

BY NICOLE SPRINKLE | Checking out

Ethan Stowell’s seventh restaurant.

35 | FOOD NEWS 35 | TEMPERATURE CHECK 37 | THE BAR CODE

arts&culture 39 XMAS SALES

BY JOHN LONGENBAUGH | How (not)

to write a holiday play.

39 | THE PICK LIST 40 | OPENING NIGHTS | Seattle Rep’s

The Hound of the Baskervilles.

41 | PERFORMANCE 42 | THE FUSSY EYE

43 FILM

OPENING THIS WEEK | The fall of

Lance Armstrong, Jason Statham versus James Franco, Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake, and a miracle in Rome.

46 | FILM CALENDAR

48 MUSIC

Nacho Picasso: Rapper, burger chef, future president. Also: Cat Power, a Hendrix tribute, and more.

48 | SEVEN NIGHTS 52 | ALBUM REVIEWS

odds&ends 15 | GIFT GUIDE #2 53 | TOKE SIGNALS 54 | CLASSIFIEDS

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Editor-in-Chief Mark Baumgarten EDITORIAL Managing Editor in Charge of News Daniel Person Senior Editor Nina Shapiro Food Editor Nicole Sprinkle Arts Editor Brian Miller Entertainment Editor Gwendolyn Elliott Editorial Operations Manager Gavin Borchert Staff Writers Ellis E. Conklin, Matt Driscoll, Kelton Sears

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news&comment Riding the Orange Horse

The Cost of Disrespect

How an online community has banded together to game Metro.

BY ASHLEY NERBOVIG

transfers in two years.

For those starting from scratch, transfer collections can be purchased on the Facebook group, usually from someone moving out of Seattle. They typically cost a little more than a buck a ticket.

King County Metro is fairly oblivious to the problem. Public-relations coordinator Rochelle Ogershok says that while they are aware of transfer books being stolen, it doesn’t happen all that often and it’s not widespread. “To prevent fraud, transfers are individually numbered, color-coded, and receive a ‘letter of the day,’ ” Ogershok says. She adds that most riders use the ORCA card now anyway, and that while the transfers date back 40 years to when Metro began, their only function now is to provide an option for those who cannot afford an ORCA card or who ride the bus infrequently.

Ogershok says that riders caught using an expired or unissued transfer are charged with an infraction the first time. A second offense constitutes a misdemeanor and is subject to arrest.

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paying in cash, he could get on the bus for free: “I usually only pay for two bus rides a month now.”

Tobias says he started doing this when he wasn’t making a ton of money, but still had to travel to his job. Collecting transfers cut his transportation cost to nearly zero. “The people who are riding the bus usually don’t have another mode of transportation,” he says. “How can they be charging people that much money? Why

“I think it’s a justifiable scam,” DeBeau says. “It’s not just a group where people post stupid pictures, it’s actually a page people use.” doesn’t it come out of taxes?” He says he got involved in the transfer group after he began to get frustrated at having to see what the transfer color/letter was each day. “I just Googled ‘Bus transfers each day’ and the Facebook group popped up,” says Tobias, who uses the group just about every day and has collected around 160

In that petty criminal spirit, the group of trans-

fer players has developed a sort of code for their enterprise. “Green Drinks” means a green transfer with a letter D on it; “Orange Horse” stands for an orange transfer marked with an H. If the growing popularity of the Facebook page means more people are actually riding for free, it couldn’t come at a worse time for Metro. It’s facing a $75 million budget shortfall next year, and is warning that it will have to reduce or eliminate 80 percent of its routes if more funding can’t be secured.

DeBeau says that while he doesn’t have anything against Metro, he doesn’t see the point of paying when there is a way to ride for free.

Plus, he says he feels like he helps people.

“I think it’s a justifiable scam,” DeBeau says.

“It’s not just a group where people post stupid pictures, it’s actually a page people use. It saves them money, all that money.” E

news@seattleweekly.com

THE WEEKLY BRIEFING | What’s going on at seattleweekly.com: The new leader of the state Senate’s Democrats assured

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us her caucus would fail in its efforts to extend college financial aid to undocumented immigrants and require health plans to cover abortions if they cover maternity care Business leaders upset over Tim Eyman’s attempt to allow signature-gatherers to enter private property with impunity are vowing never to support the tax crusader again A BBC study showed that working in an Amazon warehouse can drive you insane Our video-game reviewer thought the Xbox One was meh, but the Microsoft console broke opening-day sales records nevertheless Macklemore filmed a cut for Sesame Street, playing “a sort of street urchin/Mad Hatter character.”

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SEATTLELAND

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

fter JR DuBeau moved to Seattle in 2007, he noticed something peculiar: His girlfriend at the time hoarded bus transfers, carrying a stack of the pieces of paper in her purse whenever she went out.

Transfer tickets across the Metro bus system feature a single color and letter that change each day, which is intended to prove that their holders paid a fare earlier that day. But as DuBeau’s girlfriend showed, with enough of a collection, the system could be played. As she approached a bus’s payment kiosk, trying to hang toward the back of the line, she would quickly determine what color and letter the driver was taking that day, reach into her purse, and produce what looked like a legitimate stub.

“I thought it was interesting they didn’t have a more secure system than just a color and a letter,” DeBeau says.

“Even in Spokane they have the date printed on it.”

Suspecting she wasn’t the only person who’d figured out this trick, DeBeau created a Facebook group called “Today’s Seattle Bus Transfer,” where members who commute early in the morning can post the day’s transfer color and letter for other passengers.

DuBeau created the group in 2009, and for a while, he says, it was just himself and “this guy named Josh and another woman named Dorothy.” But the page slowly caught on.

“When it started hitting the thousands, that’s when I knew it was getting huge,” DeBeau says. “I’m not one for gaming the system, but it was exciting. I’d never been a part of something this big.”

The page had more than 7,600 members by mid-November, and continues to grow by around 300 members a week.

Several people who use the service say they were driven to it by increasing bus fares, which have accounted for a larger and larger percentage of Metro revenue as funding hasn’t kept up with costs. “I use the bus-transfer site because I don’t have a job and I can’t afford to pay for the bus,” Laurel Snyder says. “It used to be 50 cents a ride.

I don’t want to pay $2.25 that I don’t even have.”

Robert Tobias travels from South Seattle to downtown, and says that after a period of

eattle Police officer Ben Kelly and convicted felon Charles Shateek Smith had apparently never met until a night in January 2009, when Kelly sized up Smith to be a “fucking asshole.” When the cop confronted the 28-year-old for impeding traffic while ambling across Rainier Avenue South, then patted

BY RICK ANDERSON him down for weapons, he found two: a pellet gun that looked like a handgun, and a loaded revolver—a “little fuckin’ 22,” in Kelly’s words.

As a six-time felon, Smith was illegally armed.

A judge would later rule that Kelly’s search was illegal, and suppress the gun as evidence.

Smith, facing up to 15 years in prison for being an armed offender, was released.

But as some cops and citizens might see it, it was street justice. Kelly got a convicted robber and burglar off the streets, and Smith was held eight months behind bars awaiting the court’s decision. As some might have suspected, he went on to re-offend, convicted six months later of breaking into the apartment of his baby mama and choking her. He’s now doing 10 years in prison.

Kelly went on to earn accolades from his fellow cops that year for shooting and killing fugitive Maurice Clemmons two days after Clemmons slew four Lakewood police officers. Kelly was honored nationally and locally, becoming SPD’s Officer of the Year.

But today Kelly’s faulty jaywalk arrest of Smith has cost taxpayers thousands in legal fees and a $15,000 settlement won by Smith, who filed a lawsuit from his prison cell. He claimed the cop’s disrespectful attitude and wrongful search led Smith to lose his job and family.

In the civil case officially concluded last week, U.S. Judge Richard Jones thought the felon had a point. “Officer Kelly violated the Fourth Amendment when he first arrested Mr. Smith, and violated it again when he searched Mr. Smith incident to that arrest,” Jones said.

He thus was not immune to a lawsuit, and “the only question remaining for trial is the amount of Mr. Smith’s damages.”

The city bargained that down to $5,000 for Smith’s attorneys and $10,000 for Smith, to be held in a trust until his 2020 release. News about the settlement sparked considerable comment last week, and most seemed to line up with Cop of the Year Kelly. OK, he swore a lot. But he nabbed an armed felon. “Civil rights my ass!” said one commenter.

News stories left out some details, however, such as what exactly Kelly said to Smith as he rolled up and singled out the suspect from a crowd of jaywalkers. “Come here!” he barked, and when Smith didn’t immediately oblige, Kelly exited his car and exclaimed: “Fucking

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 5

news&comment»

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Smith Tower Redux As Pioneer Square sees rebirth, its iconic cornerstone leads the way.

BY GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

wasn’t a good archive left,” noting that the building has changed owners more than 20 times in its century as part of the city skyline. “There are a lot of legends about the building.”

Perhaps most emblematic of the Smith Tower’s

new currency have been its arts and music events, which can be taken in with the right connections.

Last year Gibbard performed for an intimate crowd of 99 in the Chinese Room. In October, a Sam Shepard play was staged there, using the room’s iconic “Wishing Chair” as a prop. (According to the “History & Facts” page at smithtower. com, legend says that any “wishful unmarried woman who sits in it would be married within a year.” I can attest that it worked for me.)

And I would return, just days after my pint with Franklin, to Projectline’s offices for an inti-

Smith Tower has changed owners more than 20 times in its century as part of the city skyline. “There are a lot of legends about the building.”

More offices are keeping their lights on in Pioneer Square these days.

faith, however. After moving in, he says, “We were unsure. It was quite dead in here, and most of the building was empty.”

But now, after just over a year? “The new energy and the life in the building is awesome. . . . Pioneer Square is having a real resurgence. And the Smith Tower is its crown jewel.

It’s iconic.”

Even during the Tower’s hardest times, that has never been up for debate. In an effort to

DANIEL PERSON

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

B

uilt in boast, as the tallest on the coast/He was once the city’s only toast,” sings Ben Gibbard in his song “Teardrop Windows.” The tune, released last year, was about the Smith Tower. At the time, the 42-story building— which will observe its 100th anniversary next July 4—was 85 percent unoccupied. As Gibbard puts it, “There’s too many vacancies/He’s been feeling all so empty.”

It’s now a year since Gibbard’s ode was released, and I’m having a pint at Smith Tower’s Shawn O’Donnell’s, a new Irish pub in a ground-level space that hasn’t been occupied for more than a decade. I’m accompanied by Petra Franklin, an artist and longtime Pioneer Square resident who’s walking me through the ups and downs of the skyscraper she calls home. She and her two girls, Simone and Naomi, aged 9 and 6, are the building’s sole residents. Franklin has called 506 Second Avenue home for 16 years, living in the pyramid-shaped penthouse at the top.

Yes, those are her teardrop windows.

In her tenure at Smith Tower, Franklin has attended lavish parties hosted by the Sisters of Providence—who used to keep offices in the building—and shared a tense moment with a longtime security guard during the Nisqually earthquake. And she was there during the fastand-loose days of the mid-’00s, when out-of-town developers with grand designs for the building came along and “caused a lot of problems.”

Walton Street Capital, a Chicago-based realestate investment firm, bought Smith Tower in 2006 and had plans to convert the building into condos. But then the real-estate market collapsed, and things went south. Many tenants moved out, and the remaining rent couldn’t cover operating expenses. In 2011, Walton Street Capital defaulted on its loan—in excess of $42 million—and the building was put up for auction.

Cate Chase, who handles marketing and relations for the building’s new managing company, Goodman Real Estate, says the tower was in a sad state when the firm took over in December 2011. “There were just floors of offices sitting empty,” she says. “It was deserted.” Cue Ben Gibbard.

But Chase, the building’s unofficial historian, cites a quick turnaround. She says the tower is now 72 percent occupied, and rattles off a roll call of new tenants who now call it home: offices for Pixar, Uber, shoe company Dolce Vita, and Projectline, a marketing consulting group housed in suites once occupied by Microsoft. Then there are Shawn O’Donnell’s and Diva Espresso, slated to move into the former Starbucks space in the foyer.

“Pioneer Square is growing again,” she says.

“We’re providing affordable space compared to some of the places up north. I think Seattleites appreciate unique office spaces. And the Smith Tower has the coolest history.”

Steve Gahler, president of internet marketing group Portent, agrees. In June 2012, his company was the first to sign on as new tenants after the building’s change in ownership. His company now occupies the entire 17th floor, a space of about 11,000 square feet.

“I had never been in before, but it was such a cool experience,” says Gahler, whose company was formerly located in Tukwila. “I honestly felt like it was the right thing as soon as I saw the space.”

Committing to the tower did take a leap of

attract tenants and restore the building to its original grandeur, Goodman renovated its famous Chinese Room, which, according to legend, was furnished by the last Empress of China as a gift to Mr. Lyman Cornelius Smith, the tower’s builder (and half of the Smith-Corona typewriter empire).

“That myth is not validated,” says Chase, “though it is known Smith traveled to China with typewriters and shotguns.” She adds, “There

mate acoustic performance by another Seattle fixture, singer/songwriter John Roderick. The show was the third installment of the Mill Street Sessions, a new online music series similar to NPR’s beloved Tiny Desk Concerts, hosted by Seattle musician and Projectline employee Kris Orlowski.

“The identity of Seattle has changed and evolved since its lumberjack roots, but it has continued to be a pioneer, not only in industry and architecture but also in music,” the Sessions’ website explains. Mill Street was the former name of Yesler Way, it says, where the Tower shares a corner with 2nd Ave. “As tribute to our city’s groundbreaking roots, we bring you the Mill Street Sessions — stripped down songs by Northwest artists recorded in the iconic Smith Tower.”

In turn, Franklin, who met Orlowski in a Smith Tower stairwell, has hosted parties in her home featuring Orlowski as the entertainment.

“Kris is remarkable,” says Franklin. “If you see him perform, I recommend seeing him play an acoustic set.”

As the Smith Tower nears its 100th birthday, the opportunities for doing so appear to be multiplying.

“The Smith Tower has always just been used,” says Chase, pointing out that it’s still the famous gathering place, workspace, and attraction it once was.

Gibbard would be pleased that his rueful lyrics—“In 1962 the Needle made its big debut/ And everybody forgot what it outgrew”—have lost some of their sting. E

gelliott@seattleweekly.com

CORRECTION Due to an editing error, a photo caption misstated the year in which Al Rosellini was photographed with John F. Kennedy. It was 1960, not 1961. The same caption also misidentified the woman who was with Kennedy and Rosellini.

She was JFK’s sister, Patricia Lawford.

news&comment» Seattleland » FROM PAGE 5 asshole! When I tell you to fucking get over here, get the fuck over here. I’m going to be fucking cool with you and then what the fuck?

He starts walking away from me. What the hell are you doing?”

Hunter Abell, Smith’s attorney, saw this as “yet another instance of SPD engaging in egregiously unconstitutional behavior towards minorities,” his client being black and the cop white. Thankfully, he said, “this case did not result in Mr. Smith being killed or seriously injured,” a reference to, among others, the fatal police shooting of Native American John Williams, tragically shot down by SPD Officer Ian Birk in 2010 seconds after the woodcarver was told to drop his knife.

In a deposition, Kelly insisted the shakedown was justified because he arrested Smith for “pedestrian interference” with traffic, a misdemeanor. But, ruled Jones, “The evidence, taken in the light most favorable to Officer Kelly . . . permits only one reasonable conclusion: Mr. Smith was no different than the typical jaywalker.”

Kelly had also claimed he saw Smith “completely stop [and] stare down” a driver, forcing his

“What Mr. Smith was doing, apparently, was violating Officer Kelly’s personal rule against not responding in three seconds or fewer to police commands.”

randerson@seattleweekly.com

Journalist and author Rick Anderson writes about crime, money, and politics, which tend to be the same thing.

I

t’s one of those little-known things about Seattle that never makes the tourism brochures: We have some of the best highschool basketball in the country.

The 14 high schools that make up Seattle’s Metro League have more alumni playing in the NBA than New York City’s high schools—all 799 of them.

More than all the high

BY SETH KOLLOEN schools in Dallas, Houston, and Philadelphia, too.

Shall we discuss what socioeconomic and cultural forces sowed the seeds of Seattle’s NBA fecundity? . . . Good, that stuff bores me too. I’d rather just go to a game.

I see a high-school game almost every Tuesday during hoops season. I’ve gotten to scout future NBA players like Spencer Hawes and Peyton Siva from courtside seats that cost me seven bucks. You can’t beat that for value.

Rainier Beach High School drives Seattle’s dominance. Beach—with an enrollment that hovers around 500—is to hoops what McKinley High is to glee club. NBAers Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford both went to Beach. Head coach Mike Bethea’s latest NBA prospect is 6´7˝ wing Shaqquan Aaron. Rated the 27th-best high-school senior in the country by Rivals.com, Aaron is pledged to play for Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville next season.

Franklin and Seattle Prep also both have alums in the NBA. And O’Dea is coached by two former Sonics, head man Al Hairston and assistant Steve Hawes. Lakeside is on the rise; they finished second in the state last year, and get major support from the owner of the Portland Trailblazers—the Paul G. Allen Athletics Center opens this fall.

I love Seattle high-school hoops not just for how good the competition is, but for the fact that every game is a window into the city.

O’Dea—an all-boys Catholic school—plays in a tiny, musty gym festooned with championship banners. It wouldn’t look out of place as a location for Hoosiers. Rainier Beach games are a community event; the coaches dress to the nines.

Seattle Prep’s student section is a miniature version of Duke’s Cameron Crazies, with face painting and chants of “AIIIIR-BALLLLL” usually part of the show.

Boys’ games are played Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. and Friday at 8 p.m. I’ve taken the liberty of suggesting what I think is the best Metro League game for each Tuesday of the season. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Dec. 3: Lakeside @ O’Dea Dec. 10: Rainier Beach @ Ingraham Dec. 17: Chief Sealth @ Rainier Beach Jan. 7: Franklin @ O’Dea Jan. 14: O’Dea @ Chief Sealth Jan. 21: Beach @ Lakeside Jan. 28: Chief Sealth @ West Seattle Feb. 4: Franklin @ Seattle Prep E

SPORTSBALL

sportsball@seattleweekly.com

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

car to halt. But under questioning, he admitted to being 40 to 50 feet away at the time.

Jones did give the cop a break, saying Smith could recover damages for the arrest but not for the long jailing afterwards. But Jones also wanted to say something about the cost of disrespect.

“What Mr. Smith was doing, apparently, was violating Officer Kelly’s personal rule against not responding in three seconds or fewer to police commands. What Officer Kelly was doing was engendering disrespect for law enforcement and, by extension, the criminal justice system.”

A community judges its police by their conduct, Jones noted, and “When an officer verbally abuses a suspect for no reason whatsoever, he discredits everyone in the system.” Yes, cops on the street sometimes have to use abusive language. But “the circumstances that confronted Officer Kelly do not remotely qualify. . . .

“His conduct promotes disrespect and disdain for every police officer, even those who treat suspects with respect, integrity, and professionalism. The court is not in the habit of addressing conduct that does not bear on the liability of the parties before it, but it would be a disservice to the justice system to permit Officer Kelly’s conduct to pass without mention.” E

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hunger pains This is a test... of the Emergency Food Services System.

It is only a test.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

By Patrick Hutchison Illustrations by Jose Trujillo

8

I started with ham, dressed with a light but tangy mustard sauce. Next was the fresh spinach salad, outfitted with thinly sliced Asian pears and green peppers. The couple dining with me was enjoying vibrant Southwestern-style turkey soup and orzo pasta, with onions, peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini. I turned to the boyfriend: “Where are you guys sleeping tonight?” “Not sure; we might My meal was not at one of Seattle’s newest restaurants, be in our friend’s car.” but at the Recovery Café, a community center for people recovering from addiction. I was undercover—visiting the meal programs and food services that make up our city’s emergency food services in an attempt to see the faces, hear the stories, and taste the dishes obscured by the almost-unfathomable numbers. According to David Takami of the city’s Human Services Department, the City of Seattle spends $3.3 million helping to fund 17 food banks, 11 congregate meal programs, and nine food home-delivery programs.

Our food banks alone dole out more than two million pounds of food to 80,000 people each But numbers don’t tell you whether it’s easy to find year, and that number is growing. food—or if when you do find it, after walking all day trying to get to the right location, it will be delicious or horrible. Or how limited your options are if, say, you’re a vegetarian and homeless. Using statistics to understand the challenges that face those who rely on these programs is like reading just the box scores in the sports section. NumI wanted bers indicate only mathematical results, not physical experiences. real people, tastes, emotions, and frustrations to accompany the figures being thrown at me. I wanted to actually know what it was like to survive on donated meals, sack lunches, and city-funded food resources, even for a brief moment. I wanted a tiny, but honest, snapshot of that life to give those statistics some meaning.

So I started the experiment.

T

hese were the ground rules I set for myself: I wouldn’t use a cell phone, personal computer, or the help of friends, and I did no research before I set out. (My only knowledge of the system came from a few hundred volunteer hours at a youth homeless shelter in the U District, but that was years ago—and besides, I was now too old to use that shelter as a guest.) I would use only services free and available to the public—mimicking, essentially, a person who’s just been kicked into the system, who has no insider information, no one in the community to give him tips or tricks for helping suss it all out.

To help me fit in: a XXXL SuperSonics sweatshirt, track pants, and some old Vans. I imagined such an outfit would make me appear more destitute. I later realized how idiotic and bigoted that mind-set was. Though I saw people with more derelict clothing than mine, I also came across meal-site guests dressed far better than I ever am. When I interviewed program directors in the days and weeks following my meals, I avoided telling them that I’d utilized their programs, to avoid as much bias as possible. Lastly, to offset the benefits I received, after research and reporting were complete, I donated $20 to each organization where I’d eaten.

And there were plenty to choose from. The number of coalitions, organizations, associations, task forces, programs, volunteer groups, churches, scout troops, and clubs that exist to feed Seattle’s homeless and low-income population is mindboggling. Around the holidays, that already massively chaotic, saturated work force gets even larger as more people dig deep and throw a few coins into their karma meter. Kim Jones of Operation Sack Lunch, which manages the Outdoor Meal Site (OMS), informed me that volunteer requests for the holiday season, November and December, are 55.4 percent higher than they are the rest of the year. Of their 3,700 annual volunteers, approximately a third work these two months.

Thanksgiving 2013 is already full—and is booking up for 2014. Jones sent an e-mail on November 18 turning down requests to help on Turkey Day this year. I ask her if she’s able to convert many of those people into volunteers for other times of the year.

Unfortunately, she’s not. One reason she cites is people’s lack of time off outside the major holidays.

It’s too bad, because help may be needed now more than ever. In late October, a $5 billion reduction in the federal food-stamp program took effect, cutting each individual’s allocation by 5.5 percent. The cut is a result of the expiration of extra money that had been placed in the program by the 2009 stimulus bill. According to the USDA, Washington’s food-stamp program currently serves 1.1 million residents. While a 5.5 percent cut may not seem like much, it equals a loss of $36 a month (from $668 to $632) for the average family of four—which translates to entire meals taken away. The cuts only reduce each person’s individual allocation, and don’t kick anyone out of the program . . . yet. At press time, the proposed Republican-backed farm bill would cut a whopping $40 billion from the program and throw out nearly three million people.

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started on a Saturday, on Capitol Hill.

At 8 a.m., I got to the library to research resources—and suffered my first setback.

The library was closed. I hadn’t even considered that. So I found myself doing what I assume a lot of our homeless population is forced to do: wait. Two hours later I was inside.

It didn’t take me long to find a comprehensive list of programs on the city’s website. Entitled “Emergency Food Services”—which made me imagine a high-intensity ER and a surgeon screaming “I NEED A BLT, STAT!”—it had information on food banks, hot-meal programs, and meal-delivery services. But sifting through that list to find a suitable place to eat was not as easy. By “suitable,” I don’t mean favorable Yelp reviews; I mean that getting in would be possible.

Looking at each meal site’s restrictions, I realized I’d have to consider my age, ZIP code, religion, sobriety—in some cases, even my ethnicity.

But the most difficult things to figure out were where and when. The document was several pages long, including everything from shelters to churches to community meal programs, but only a very few offered food with any regularity. “Lunch is served the 3rd Sunday of every month at 2pm.” “Dinner is served at 5pm the second and third Tuesday of every month.”

And on and on. You’d need a personal assistant just to keep all the dates straight.

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Number of Volunteer Requests Per Year 3,700 Requests during Holiday Season

DecembeR 31, 2013

$200/Person (inclusive)

At Operation Sack Lunch

1,233 (or 1/3 of total)

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Ring in the New Year at Chihuly Garden and Glass!

Tour the Galleries and Garden while dining on delicious appetizers and dance to the music of a live band. Toast the New Year while watching the iconic Space Needle fireworks under the artwork in the Glasshouse.

9

10

A 5.5% cut

Dozen eggs $2.50

on food

dollars a month worth of groceries

staff, who strive to always provide “nutritionally dense” meals. Taran worries about being able to do that. When I ask about the food-stamp cut, he told me, “We’re definitely anticipating an increase, and already saw a boost at the beginning of the month.”

The food-stamp cut, a blow to any emergency food service, comes at a bad time for the Meals Partnership Coalition (MPC), which helps support meal programs throughout the city, including the OMS. In 2011 MPC lost a bid for city funding that had previously paid for an all-important coordinator position—someone to organize the chaos of providing hundreds of thousands of meals throughout the city each year. Instead, the money went to Solid Ground, the organization that runs most of Seattle’s food banks. Now OMS is trying to convince the city to provide $40,000 annually to pay for the support coordinator they used to have, to help manage the various contractors and volunteers and ensure that they can continue to offer food of the same quality. It’s a position that has always been funded for city food banks, which derive a majority of their funding from the city, but only periodically funded for meal programs. The discrepancy seems unreasonable, especially when you consider the service that OMS is still able to provide.

Then last week, a proposal was accepted by the City Council to invest an extra $480,000—this time to go to meal programs like the OMS. But at the last minute, food banks were added as possible recipients. The council vote was scheduled for November 19, and advocates thought it would pass easily. But at the last minute, the proposal was simply wiped from the agenda. No vote, no money—and no one is really sure why.

Graham called it “bizarre.” The Human Services Department’s Takami doesn’t know what hap-

Bananas $.65 Broccoli $2.00

Dsfer dgdg ruytye dfg

36

RICE

stamps is the equivalent of

bread $1.00

5 lbs.

If services seem random and chaotic, it’s because they are. As Reverend Bill KirlinHackett of the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness would later tell me, “Food deserts are a real issue. There’s some [meal programs] around, but part of the problem is that they’re not all offered regularly.” By “food deserts” he means areas, geographic or temporal, where no food resources—like grocery stores, food banks, or meal programs—are available. Look at a map of the city’s meal programs, and you’ll see that most are downtown, with few or none in places like West Seattle or Rainier Valley.

In some areas, like Magnolia or Mercer Island, this makes sense: The wealthy don’t typically need a free lunch. But in other areas, where emergency food services could greatly benefit a large percentage of low-income families (rather than only those without housing), there appears to be a severe lack of regular attention.

During my 30-minute guest pass at the library (because I had no I.D. and no library card), I managed to create a rudimentary game plan—a breakfast, two lunches, and a dinner—and got addresses and times from a list on the city website. That Saturday, the only place I could conceivably walk to in time for lunch was the OMS, or Outdoor Meal Site, at Sixth Avenue and Columbia Street. I jotted down some notes on where I could get other meals and left the library quickly. I didn’t want to be late.

The OMS has been in operation, unofficially, since 1994, when founder Beverly Graham took it upon herself to start feeding the city’s homeless directly, one person at a time. “I would walk around the city handing out sandwiches, or set up in the park and do the same,” she later told me. Graham’s service caught the attention of more than just people living on the street. “The city had an issue because I was giving out food without any sort of food-handler’s permit or licensing.”

But instead of quitting, Graham used the city’s complaints and threats of fines as an opportunity to start a real meal program, Operation Sack Lunch, and a site for other providers to serve from, first located in the city’s Downtown Public Health Center and moving to multiple locations before ultimately finding the Sixth and Columbia spot underneath I-5. It’s a location some critics say is inhumane, because clients are served outdoors.

But Graham says exposure isn’t always a problem.

“Some of our guests are uncomfortable going into any buildings for any reason, often because of PTSD or other mental-health reasons. Our site allows them a place to eat.” In the nearly two decades since she started, the OMS’s impact has exploded; it’s now responsible for serving more than 170,000 of Operation Sack Lunch’s 400,000 meals a year, two of which were now in my lap.

The contents of both bags were the same. Part of me felt excited to see what was inside, like an expectant child hoping for something decent in their packed school lunch. Maybe I’d get a Snack Pack I could trade with someone. But there was no Snack Pack. Each bag contained one plain croissant in plastic wrap, a chocolate cereal bar, a small bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, and a Capri Sun. The only item whose quality I could really judge was the croissant, which was mildly stale. I ate through one of the bags, and looked around to see how other people were reacting to their lunches. The couple to my left was feeding their

pened either. Dana Robinson Slote, communications director for the city council, says, “Council had limited funds with which to work, and had to choose among competing priorities.” If navigating the maps and schedules for meal services is challenging, trying to understand the inside machinations of money distribution for programs is even more daunting.

One of the guests on my follow-up visit, a 41-year-old Forest Whitaker look-alike named Billy, backed up my impression of the OMS quality. “The food here is really good. It always is. It’s a lot better than some places, like Union Gospel. They’ll just throw anything into a pot and serve it to you.” I smiled. Six days and a few

caro Ma & n Cheese

2 lbs. of Cheese Gallon $6.00 of Milk 5 lb. Bag of rice $2.50 $5.79

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

» FROM PAGE 9

croissant to an army of seagulls. No one seemed ecstatic about the food.

When I went back to the site a week later to interview guests and the site coordinator, the scene was far different. (They also knew I was coming.) Fusilli pasta, fresh salad, and garlic bread was being dished up by a cheery line of fresh-faced volunteers. The difference in quality was likely due to scheduling. The site coordinator, Graham’s son Taran, explained: “We do three meals a day five days a week, and then subcontract out the weekend meals to various groups.” My Saturday sack lunch had come from one of their understudies. The best meals, it seemed, were served by Taran and Graham’s own

D I N N E R

Mac and Cheese $2.00 six Pork chops $15.00

hours earlier, I had been at the Union Gospel Mission for breakfast.

You’ve probably driven by the Mission dozens of times. At the corner of Second Avenue Extension South and South Washington Street near Pioneer Square, it’s not the sort of place many people want to find themselves late at night. Its appearance is more stereotypical, more like the way many imagine a homeless shelter: Urban Robinson Crusoes line up outside among shopping carts, bearded lifetime backpackers jostle from foot to foot, and job-searching hopefuls fidget with their ties and hair.

The fluorescent-lit foyer was humming during my undercover visit. To my left, in the hallway leading to the chapel, I saw the line for breakfast and joined it. To be honest, I was intimidated and a bit nervous. I knew almost nothing of that culture—what was acceptable, what behavior might irritate a population that had every right to be in a very shitty mood. Furthermore, I was worried that someone would question my place there. The thought of their reaction to my faking their very real lives was enough to make me keep my gaze on the floor and mind my own business.

I felt safer inside, but there still seemed to be a tension—not helped by the hallway’s size, barely wide enough for two people to stand side by side. An older, Santa Claus–like gentleman came in and joined the line carrying five or six bursting bags of clothes and miscellaneous items, which blocked the doorway. With perfect timing, a grizzly 40-something in a denim jacket came down the hallway. “Get your fucking shit out of the fucking hallway, you piece of shit! Jesus fucking Christ, you’re blocking the whole fucking place!” Santa moved. Four days later, before a lunch catered by El Gaucho was served, another disturbance in that hallway—

supposedly an argument between two clients about money owed—resulted in the first-ever shooting at the Mission, luckily ending with no fatalities. Breakfast was announced and we filed into the cafeteria.

It felt like a prison mess hall, crowded with long Formica picnic tables placed end to end.

Each of us received a plastic tray of food from a silent staff. No choices, no smiles. I grabbed a glass of water and a banana, served by whom I assumed was a mother/daughter volunteer combo who stood rigidly behind the safety of their table. I sat down and examined my tray. A portion of what might have been at one time oatmeal was now merely a sticky carbohydratelike substance. “Gruel” may be an exaggeration, but not by much. Adjacent the “oatmeal” was an egg so dry I could have used it as my napkin, and . . . a sausage? Maybe it was a hot dog. All I can be sure of is that it was tube-shaped and emitted grease. My only salvation was the water and the banana, which was covered in black spots. Despite several efforts, I could not finish the meal. When I got up, it appeared several other guests were having similar reactions. I handed my tray to a staff member, who robotically banged it against the inside of a trash can and stacked it with the others. I walked out into the street, glad for the fresh air.

F

ood quality is one of the primary focuses of Seattle’s army of emergency food leaders. To be more specific, food safety is a central concern. During another talk with Rev. Kirlin-Hackett, he told me, “A big problem is safe food. With so many people preparing food without food-handler’s permits, we often worry about food spoiling.”

He mentioned a scenario in which someone in Woodinville baked a potato and wrapped it in foil, then served it in Pioneer Square hours later.

Graham told me the same, as did Taran. It was apparently a true story; a little research led me to the organization, Food Not Bombs, that had served the notorious potatoes.

The problem is that after a few hours, foilwrapped baked potatoes are like Cancún on spring break, if Mexico was a potato and sorority girls were botulism. The consequences are graphic: Imagine a large population, living on the street, with food in their stomach that feels more and more like an actual bomb every second, ultimately contracting dysentery and diarrhea with few if any accessible public restrooms. KirlinHackett concluded, “It’s a problem.” I agreed.

To avoid this kind of issue, the Human Services Department requires any organization that receives general funds for meal programs to employ staff members who have had food training. But sometimes—and more often around the holidays—good-Samaritan groups that have watched Pay It Forward too many times feel the need to pitch in and pass out food, health codes be damned. While their hearts are in the right place, many don’t realize that spontaneous, unsupervised meal handouts aren’t necessarily safe.

Those not funded by the city are often protected by the 1996 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which holds donors non-liable for donating food. Still, Graham tells me, “The best thing for people to do is work within the system that already exists. That way we can help monitor food safety and have the benefit of additional support.”

Union Gospel Mission, clearly the low point, made Recovery Café an easy choice for best meal of my weekend. It’s housed in the triangular building bordered by Denny Way, Boren Avenue,

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

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These restrictions, meant with good intentions, often determine who can get food in the city. Many meals require sobriety or some amount of participation in a faith-based activ» FROM PAGE 10 ity—Bible study, going to church. For those who don’t want any restrictions, options are far more limited.

Ironically, my final meal, at Immanuel and Fairview Avenue North, amid office comLutheran Church on Thomas Street in South plexes and sprawling parking lots that make up a Lake Union, didn’t involve any proselytizing. This bit of a no-man’s-land where Downtown, South church is one of many that offer sporadic comLake Union, and Eastlake meet. When I stepped munity meals throughout the month, helping to inside, the difference between it and the OMS fill the gaps in communities where there may not was immediately apparent. It was warm, clean, be a wealth of meal programs. After finding the new, and bright. A handful of staff laughed and right door, I walked into the packed lower floor conversed with guests. People were drinking cofdirectly below the church itself. fee, relaxing on couches reading the newspaper, or It was taco day and the line was massive, listening to music on their phones. Compared to everyone else, I looked the most in need of a meal. wrapping in a U around the room’s perimeter.

I got in line and scanned the crowd: men and I approached the desk where a cheery middlewomen of all ages; aged brunette sat families with kids; the answering questions. elderly; Americans of “What can I do for African, European, you?” she asked. and Asian extrac“I’m looking for tion as well as a large something to eat?” contingent of Native “OK, are you a Americans. The line member?” moved slowly, and as I immediately got I peered at the service nervous. “No,” I said. window, I could see The woman, who why. First, the porintroduced herself as tions were massive: Nancy, explained how heaps of taco meat Recovery Café funcloaded on tortillas, tions. It’s a faith-based with a dinosaur pile community center for of salad. Secondly, people recovering from there was dessert. A addiction to drugs, fleet of cake and pie alcohol, or both. To slices awaited those be eligible for a meal who had just gotten here, you have to meet TURKEY their plate of tacos, two conditions: be a and many were having member, and be sober a hard time choosing when you arrive. I met just one piece. Lastly, only one of these, but the food was being Nancy said that if I served by kind older agreed to return and ladies, who moved become a member, at an understandably she could offer me a slow pace and obvimeal this one time. ously enjoyed chatting I wouldn’t be able to with every person in come back until my line as if they were all introduction meeting, related and this was which was scheduled just a good ol’ fun for more than three family dinner. weeks later. “We’re not *Rescued annually by food banks I got my own taco a straight meal promountain and sat gram,” she said, “but down to eat. It had we can arrange somebeen hours since my experience at Union Gosthing for you tonight.” I had gotten lucky. pel and I had regained my appetite, partly from I grabbed a hot cup of coffee and sat down at the walk between Pioneer Square and South one of the two dozen or so wooden tables that Lake Union. By the time I reached Immanuel make up the majority of the cafeteria area. The Lutheran, I’d walked six miles, crisscrossing buffet dinner was served shortly thereafter, and the city center in search of food. Large, cold it was fantastic. Ham, salads, soups, fresh bread, corn tortillas served as the foundation for a coffee, tea, and more important intangibles like mixed pile of rice, beans, and chicken, which conversation, smiles, and a sincere sense of concompeted for space alongside a spring-mix cern were all on the menu. salad with a light vinaigrette. It was bland and The difference in quality between places like not terribly hot, but the portions were large Recovery Café and Union Gospel Mission is due and I finished the entire plate. I saw very little to the fact that they are very, very different orgafood wasted at Immanuel Lutheran. I learned nizations. Union Gospel is open to all, for just later that most of the food was probably only about anything: It’s a place to stay, to eat, to get a step or two from being tossed out in resclean, to be warm for a few moments. Recovery Café is specifically for those suffering from addic- taurants, grocery stores, farms, and backyards, intercepted by one of thousands of volunteers tion, and thus involves a completely different set and advocates who see far too much food going of donors, supporters, programs, and initiatives. unused and proactively save it for those who Its goal is not to feed every hungry person in need it most.

Seattle; rather, it’s one of many meal programs that base entry on factors other than hunger. » CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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Repurposing, recycling, and utilizing food that would otherwise be tossed is easily one of the most incredible feats of our city’s emergency food system. The OMS rescues 434,000 pounds of food a year. Last year City Fruit, an organization that harvests plums, apples, and pears from the private yards and gardens of city residents, rescued over 20,000 pounds of fruit that otherwise merely would have dropped to the ground and rotted. But perhaps no feat is more impressive than those achieved by our food banks, which process millions of pounds every year, much of it from an army of private donors, grocery stores like QFC and Trader Joe’s, farms, and churches. The food is everywhere. How it all gets distributed is too much for one person to comprehend, and no one really seems to.

Alison Pence, who runs the oldest food bank in Seattle, St. Mary’s in the Central District, says “There’s a lot of organized chaos, but it somehow works. I’ve learned not to ask how or why, it just works.”

Part of what makes food banks work is their funding. Over a third of the city’s emergency food fund ($1,167,299 in 2013) goes to them.

They’re also easier to contribute to. Most people have dropped a can of soup in a donation bin at the grocery store, but the number of people who have volunteered at a soup kitchen, much less made a pot of soup, is far smaller.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

I

14

n the end, I was able to eat fairly easily, despite what seemed to me a largely disconnected system. But learning how to navigate that system without resources, according to the clients I spoke with, is as obvious and simple as talking to people in the community. Billy from the OMS told me, “It’s easy.

People talk and find the spots that they like. If you’re hungry in Seattle, something is wrong with you.” Now that I’d gotten the lay of the land and talked to so many people who use the services, I understood his point.

But another client, a middle-aged man named Tom, overheard him and stepped in to clarify. “It’s easy for some people, but that’s not always the case. There are those that can’t make it here because of physical disabilities, those that are mentally ill, women, young people, and homosexuals that don’t feel comfortable in the lines because they get harassed sometimes. It’s not easy for everyone.”

Just when I thought I was starting to get how it works, I realized how complex the entire system is. For those in decent physical shape and mentally sound, getting food is as easy as asking a buddy. But for the rest, and those new to the area or the system, it can be a logistical nightmare.

“The weird thing is that we’re in a business where the ultimate goal is to go out of business,” says Graham. Right now, though, it appears that while clients seem happy, while the food seems decent overall, while the need appears to be met, the numbers clearly indicate that business is booming. And as budget cuts slash more food-stamp funding nationwide and emergency food services across Seattle prepare to try to win the support of a new mayor, it seems that Graham and her colleagues have no worries about losing their jobs. E

food@seattleweekly.com

I

n this day and age, it becomes increasingly necessary to be deliberate about the purchases we make. As the manufacturing of goods continues to hurdle in the direction of cost

savings, we’re left with cheaply made mass-produced goods from corporations who

put profit over people.

disciplined in always supporting our local economies, especially during the holidays when both time and money can be in short supply. The impact of shopping locally, though, results in benefits that everyone can get behind and should. Simply put, buying local whenever

you can is an all around good thing--it stimulates the economy and creates jobs, and the

goods you purchase are often times better quality than those from a big box corporate store.

Designs are more unique and the things that you purchase are less commodified. Locally

made products have a background, they tell a story. To the conscientious consumer who believes you can vote with your dollars, vote local on Black Friday. Put your money where your home is, as they say, and BUY LOCAL.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

The convenience aspect of imported products can sometimes make it difficult to be

15

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

BELLEVUE SQUARE

16 Bellevue Square 11-27-13.indd 1

11/21/13 3:08 PM

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Mini Art from Ghost Gallery This small, cozy shop on Capitol Hill is brimming with elegantly designed jewelry, but they also have an area entirely devoted to affordable miniature art pieces from emerging artists, both local and nonnative. Pick out one of the shop’s handmade cards and complete the package.

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For a stunning present for those with a love of the earth, Seattle based designer, Chloe Touran, has a collection of striking crystals with Tillandsia (commonly known as air plants) attached to them. The plants need nothing but a bit of water misted on them sporadically to stay alive, and the raw gemstones will never die.

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Ombre Tights from Craft & Culture Online only and locally owned, Craft & Culture has been making a splash since they opened shop in 2010 with their interesting items made exclusively by independent designers. These tights by BZR make a fabulous gift for fashion-forward females, and you don’t even really have to know their size.

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

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17

PIKE PLACE MARKET

it’s time to get acquainted – and during the holidays, kids are king.

Next door you’ll find Conscious Wear for cool eco-friendly clothing.

Even Seattle natives can discover something new in the labyrinthine pathways of Pike Place Market. But as we know, the crowds here can sometimes be a bit daunting.

So we’ll start low and work our way up to the full monty.

We begin by heading straight down to the bottom floor. Get your first sampling of the shops with Lionheart Books & Records for books and journals, and Hands of the World -- one of the many import shops in the marketplace dealing in jewelry, textiles, toys and masks from around the world. Old Seattle Paperworks is a must for small, special, and affordable gifts with their vast selection of vintage posters, prints, and magazines. For kids and kids at heart, the Magic Shop across the way has kits to assist in the mastering of slight of hand. Down the way, you can hit Merry Tails for pet-themed novelty products that are purrrfect for crazy cat ladies. Gem Heaven is a goldmine of gorgeous stones and crystals, both raw and polished. If you don’t already know about Golden Age Collectibles,

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Find us down under in Pike Place Market

18

Up one floor on the corner of the stairs, is Ventures, a locally owned business whose entire inventory is made by local artists.

And for that Martha Stewart type on your list, pop over to Polish Pottery Place, a store full of dishes and plates of all shapes and sizes, painted with ornate cultural designs. Nearby, The Miniature Car Dealer is great for any gearhead with their massive collection of model cars lining the walls from floor to ceiling.

Up another floor and you’re at street level in the Main Arcade outside of Market Spice and no market trip is complete without a stop here -- their teas and cocoa are famous for a reason. And then, if you are feeling the crowds, the rotating and habitual vendors dotting the rows of Pike Place’s Main Arcade are great for finding specialty food gifts and one-of-a-kind items totally worth crowd-surfing to find. Across the cobblestone street, you can be extra subversive on Black Friday and get yourself into the decidedly radical Left Bank Books, who, beyond being locally owned are also a worker-owned business. Here you will find books on a wide range of topics including anarchism, politics, parenting, and prisons along with poetry, graphic novels and zines.

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BUY LOCAL Zak’s Wax Beard Oil from Sideshow Salon Made locally by Zak the Barber, one of the co-owners of Sideshow Salon, this artisan beard oil is completely chemical-free. Instead of chemicals, Zak opts for cold-pressed argan oil, which is naturally beneficial for beards because it’s molecules are the same size and shape of keratin (the stuff hair is made of ).

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Winter Boots from Edie’s Shoes By buying boots from Edie’s this winter, your dollars can have an impact beyond the good of buying local. This store is locally owned, and in addition to carrying high quality US brands, they also offer a number of brands that have philanthropic ambitions. Also in West Seattle at 4310 SW Alaska Street, 206-937-2029.

Edie’s Shoes 500 E Pike St, 206-839-1111 ediesshoes.com $150

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Jewelry from Kimberly Baker With a collection of jewelry made by NW designers, vintage pieces, and selections from the owner’s very own line, Kimberly Baker has a resplendent stock of upscale accessories for a wide range of personal taste. Superior quality and eye-catching design make this item an exceptional gift for someone special.

Blackbird Incense from Prism Prism, Cairo’s posh older sister store, has tons of locally produced products, as well as some gorgeous raw gemstones for sale.The gloriously good-smelling incense made by Ballard-based brand, Blackbird comes in small tins that can make for a lovely stocking stuffer or a little something for a co-worker.

Prism 5208 Ballard Ave NW prismcollectionseattle.blogspot.com $28

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Kimberly Baker 6421 Phinney Ave N, 206-852-1145 kimberlybaker.com $120 and up

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Photo by Mark Kitaoka

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Nov 29 - Dec 31, 2013

(206) 625-1900 WWW.5THAVENUE.ORG GROUPS OF 10 OR MORE CALL 1-888-625-1418 ON 5TH AVENUE IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE 2013/14 SEASON SPONSORS

PRODUCTION SPONSOR

CONTRIBUTING SPONSORS

OFFICIAL AIRLINE

RESTAURANT SPONSOR

BUY LOCAL

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT!

Graffitied Dumpster Art Supply Box from Venue This airy shop has lots of different gifts one could give during the holidays, much of it made by the artists who work in the studios within its walls.

These great lil’ mini “dumpster” supply boxes come either pre-graffitied or plain so the recipient can graffiti it for themselves.

Venue 5408 NW 22nd Ave, 206-789-3335 venueballard.com $175 “untagged”; $250 “tagged”

Art Deco Shades from Atlas Clothing These flamboyant sunnies made by designer Whitney Allison right here in Seattle are choice gifts for any occasion where a bit of frivolity is appropriate. Our hazy overcast make sunglasses necessary pretty much year round, and the bright colors are a breath of fresh air in the drab monotone of winter’s palette.

ance m r o f per ed by ad d ar l popu d! n a de m , 7 pm Jan 3 1:30 pm , Jan 4 4, 7 pm Jan :30 pm ,1 Jan 5

Atlas Clothing 3509 Fremont Ave N, 206-743-6068 atlasclothingseattle.tumblr.com $20

Orchid Hair Flowers from Diva Dolls This retro inspired clothing store in Pioneer Square has got all of the accessories and apparel the vintageloving beauties you know could possibly want. The orchid hair flowers are an inspired standout piece, and affordable enough to get one for all the lovely ladies in your life.

“ONE OF THE

Eye Shadow Palette from Atomic Cosmetics All of the vibrant makeup in the Atomic Cosmetics line is made in-house by mad scientist and turbo babe, Dr. Jen. Realizing that most of the products in her beauty stash were full of nasty toxins, the microbiologist/biochemist whipped up her own line, rejecting the idea that all-natural makeup must come only in earth tones.

Atomic Cosmetics 617 E Pike St, 206-707-3037 xerionskinscience.com $50

FUNNIEST & MOST EXTRAORDINARY

EVENINGS OF MY LIFE!”

-THE INDEPENDENT (206) 625-1900 WWW.5THAVENUE.ORG GROUPS OF 10 OR MORE CALL 1-888-625-1418 2013/14 SEASON SPONSORS

PHOTO: MUSICAL THEATRE WEST

ON 5TH AVENUE IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE OFFICIAL AIRLINE

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Diva Dolls 624 1st Avenue, 206-652-2299 divadollz.com $5 or 2 for $7

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Across the street, Culinary Essentials has high-end cookware.

Here you’ll find a great selection of knives for the turkey or ham carver in your family or give a cooking class gift certificate to the wannabe gourmet chef in your life. Next door to Culinary Essentials is Camelion Designs, offering unique and sparkling ornaments as well as lovely home decor. Lucca is a gift shop with a vintage aesthetic, and if you’re short on wrapping paper, their whole back room is full of supplies.

BALLARD Ballard is so full of awesome boutiques, you may find yourself crying out “uff da!” when trying to narrow it down. Ballard Avenue is the strip to hit if you’re trying to get all of your holiday shopping done in one spot.

Just up the street is The Palm Room, which specializes in cacti and succulents. This humid and sweet smelling shop is lined with rare plants of many varieties, pre-made terrariums, and plenty of plants and crystals available to create your own. Love Love Darling is the full of girly stuff, like polish and jewels for nail art, perfumes, eye shadow pallets, and skin care products.

Start out at Portalis and pick up a few bottles of wine to have on hand for last-minute gifts for company parties or spur-of-the-moment ugly sweater parties. You’ll find a huge array of styles and a wine bar to boot, so you can have yourself a glass or two before you really get going on your holiday shopping.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Just a bit down the way to the north, you’ll find Second Ascent, an outdoor sports store where you can get small items like head lamps and stoves for the avid camper on your list, or for those looking to go-for-the-gold with a big splurge, your giftee will freak when you give them a complete ski or snowboard set up.

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Next door, pick up a gift certificate for a luxurious spa treatment at Duque. Give this to any of the hardworking souls on your list – male or female (guys love a good facial as much as the next chick). For lovers looking to get something sexy for their lady friends, Duque also has a small selection of lingerie for sale.

Get Busy Livin’ 5419 Ballard Ave nW seattle, WA 98107 206.783.0060

EVERYTHING FOR A NORDIC YULETIDE! GREAT GIFTS AND DECORATIONS PLUS GOURMET CUISINE

206-784-7020 // ScanSpecialties.com // 6719 15th Ave. NW

OLD-FASHIONED LUMBERYARD WITH OLD FASHIONED SERVICE SINCE 1930

2600 NW Market St • Seattle, WA 98107

(206) 782 3487

BUY LOCAL Vintage Knits from Moksha Bundle up your loved ones in distinctive style with knitwear from Moksha in the University District.

This boutique was almost shut down earlier this year, but was saved at the eleventh hour and is still around to sling their classy duds throughout the holiday season.

Moksha 4542 University Way NE, 206-632-2622 mokshaseattle.com $20 and up

Stuffed Toy the Size of a 10-year-old This two-story toy store in Pioneer Square has been around since 1977 and is a treasure trove for any child on your gift list. The holidays are a great time to go all out and spring for a massive plush stuffed toy, big enough to act as a jungle gym for your little rascal.

Magic Mouse Toys 603 1st Ave, 206-682-8097 magicmousetoys.com

$35 and up

Kitten Mittens from Endless Knot

Endless Knot 2300 1st Ave, 206-448-0355 endlessknotseattle.com $28

Deck of Tarot Cards from Edge of the Circle Books This Capitol Hill shop specializing in paganism and the occult has a massive assortment of tarot decks for anyone on your list drawn to mysticism.

Or choose a resource on astrology, if that’s more their bag. You’ll find plenty of incense and candles to choose from too.

Edge of the Circle Books 701 E Pike St, 206-726-1999 edgeofthecircle.com $20 and up

U-District: University north of 45th St Ballard: Market St & Ballard Bellingham: State St & Chestnut

BuffaloExchange.com #iFoundThisAtBX

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

These handmade, super soft fingerless mittens made from recycled materials are not only a charming way to thaw your paws, but the woman that produces them donates a portion of the proceeds to PAWS, a no kill shelter and wildlife refuge with locations in the greater Seattle area.

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CIVICS

SCIENCE

ARTS & CULTURE

COMMUNITY

TOWN HALL photo: Steve Dubinsky

TOWN HALL

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

TOWN HALL

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CIVICS

SCIENCE

ARTS & CULTURE

The Bastyr Dispensary

COMMUNITY

TOWN HALL IS SEATTLE With a calendar featuring 400 events annually, drawing together dozens of independent artists, speakers, and organizations, TOWN HALL tells the story of our community—celebrating its creativity and curiosity through diverse, inexpensive programs that are intrinsically timely and relevant.

20% off

TOWN HALL IS ITS MEMBERSHIP.

Free Talk

With a grassroots base of 3,500 members who support TOWN HALL intellectually, socially, and financially, our membership is always the core of what we do.

December 2-7 Enjoy 20% off jewelry, clothing, body care, housewares, books, candles, natural health gifts and more at the Bastyr Center Dispensary!

Saturday, December 7 “How to Make Healthy Holiday Snacks” 10:30 a.m. to noon Come starting at 9 a.m. for free samples of Dispensary products !

ARE YOU A TOWN HALL MEMBER?

WWW.TOWNHALLSEATTLE.ORG

3670 Stone Way N., Seattle (inside Bastyr Center for Natural Health) Lecture.BastyrCenter.com • 206.834.4114

Buy, Sell & Barter

BUY LOCAL

age Stereo

Records, Guitars & Vint

The Northwest Hoodie from Crisis Clothing

op, Fair prices.

sh Good selection, Fun

Available exclusively online since the recent shutdown of their Pioneer Square storefront, Crisis Clothing’s laidback, Northwest vibe is all about Emerald City pride. Their inventory of screen-printed tees, tanks, and hoodies display fresh designs paying tonguein-cheek homage to the city in a way that speaks directly to die-hard locals.

We pay more for your vinyl Lots of punk, wave and alt Closed Monday • Tue-Fri 1-8 • Sat 11-8 • Sun 11-7 9632 16th Ave SW, White Center, WA

Crisis Clothing crisis-clothing.com $18 and up

In beautiful downtown White Center

(206) 432-9537

follow our facebook for New Arrival Updates!

Vintage Fur Stole from Pretty Parlor The vintage and vintage-inspired apparel and accessories within the pink walls of Pretty Parlor make a fantastic present for the girly girls on your list.

The decadence of a sensational stole says “I get a thrill from the finer things in life,” and you don’t have to break the bank to afford it.

Pretty Parlor 199 Summit Ave E, 206-405-CUTE Prettyparlor.com $30 and up

Skate Deck from Alive & Well

Because we love your pet as much as you do!

Alive & Well’s sleek skate deck wall holds design quality that just can’t be matched on the corporate level. If you are not sure about the specs the shredder you’re buying for would want, you can buy up the apparel, much of which is locally sourced and made by talented Seattle designers.

114 North 36th Street Seattle, WA 98103

206.632.4567 M-F 10am - 9pm Sat 10am - 8pm Sun 11am - 6pm

Terrariums from Glasswing Cutting the ribbon on their new storefront at Melrose Market in late November, the stylish clothing and home decor available from Glasswing appeals to our outdoorsy side. Their impeccably groomed terrariums are particularly ravishing, and are versatile enough to fit in with any home design.

Glasswing 1525 Melrose Ave glasswingshop.com $24 and up

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Alive & Well 705 E Pike St, 206-453-4705 aliveandwellsea.com $35 and up

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CAPITOL HILL

On the other side of the street is High Voltage, a music trade shop for the musician on your list. Platinum Records is a good spot to hit for music junkies, but you could also hit Wall of Sound or Zion’s Gate, which are both a short walk further up the hill.

Dipping into 10th Avenue, you’ll find Elliott Bay Books and Everyday Music, both excellent shops for gifts.

Easily the epicenter of cutting-edge arts and culture in Seattle, Capitol Hill holds an impressive host of locally owned shops and boutiques. There are a few concentrated areas to hit if you’re in a hurry to get a lot of people crossed off of your gift list. The corner of Broadway where Olive Way turns into John Street is a great place to begin.

For those on your list with refined fashion sensibilities, you’ll find Totokaelo Man for posh menswear accoutrements or NuBe Green which is all about sustainable production and local craft. And you have to pop into Retrofit Home when shopping for the holidays. The place is full of fun home decor, coffee table books, and accessories.

Start at Cintli, where walls are adorned in Mexican folk art and cases of fun jewelry standing beneath it all. Just up the street are Red Light and Aprie, sister stores owned by a local entrepreneur. And across the street is Mishu, who carry eco-friendly clothing built for creative movement.

Pike Street is the most comprehensive stretch, with the widest variety of goods and services on the hill. Heading east up Pike, you’ll run into Retail Therapy, with apparel and small gifts like soaps, candles, and cute socks.

If you’re shopping for a sports fan, both Officials Vintage and Throwbacks NW have old jerseys and sports memorabilia. No Parking On Pike holds a wonderland of weird trinkets as well as things like fur hats and vintage leather boots. On the corner of 12th and Pike is RAD, a recently opened shop that carries everything from easily decomposing notebooks to nerdy figurines to boxer shorts.

Capitol Hill

• Eat • Shop • Play

612 19th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112 (206) 726-0767

hours m-f, 9-5 Moonjar.com

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Free shipping for November

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1212 E Jefferson St Seattle 98122

‘Tis the season to find things that make you feel good. clothing • gifts • jewelery 905 E Pike St • Seattle • 206-324-4092 www.indeedretailtherapy.com

425-270-8743 Tues-Sat 11am-9pm Sun 4pm-9pm

The best Jamaican food in Seattle PARTY & Banquet rooms COCKTAILS - 17 Beers on Tap FREE DELIVERY

GIFT Gift CERTIFICATES cards available for the holidays!

1401 E Madison St.

Since 1982

206.322.9411

piecoras.com

BUY LOCAL Exclusive & Rare Journals from The Aviary The Aviary is a creative spirit’s personal paradise.

The teensy hole-in-the-wall store deals in neo-retro plastic cameras, notebooks from rare and exclusive dealers from all over the world, and stress-busting items such as their kinetic sand, which is like playing in a non-stick, constantly moving Zen garden.

The Aviary 5410 22nd Ave NW, 206-641-4481 aviary-creative.com $11 and up

Fiesta Ware from Kitchen Basics This family-owned shop has been around for nearly 30 years, and has the largest inventory of genuine Fiesta Dinnerware in the whole PNW. Whether you want to get something simple to add to someone’s collection or are picking out an entire set, Kitchen Basics can help you out.

Kitchen Basics 1514 Pike Place, 206-622-2014 mykitchenbasics.com $30 and up

Presents for Pets from Petapoluza Household companions can join in the holiday fun with treats and toys from Petapaluza. Get your favorite furball something savory to gnaw on that is all-natural and holistic from this locally owned pet supply store. Most of their products are available online, or drop by their storefront located in Fremont.

Books on Radical Politics from Revolution Books Approaching their shop with a firmly rebellious spirit, this alternative bookstore excluseively carries politically subversive literature and media in all genres. Get a bit of brain candy for a progressive, or rabble-rouse a conservative, with one of their provocative publications or DVDs. Revolution Bookstore 89 S Washington St, 206-325-7415 revolutionbookssea.org $10 and up

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Petapoluza 114 36th St N, 206-632-4567 petapoluza.com $5 and up

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TIME FOR A TUNE-UP?

Black Friday Shoe Sale!

20% off Storewide!

4303 University Wy NE Seattle 98105 • 206-632-3254 And remember we always validate parking for all UDPA parking lots.

FULL SERVICE REPAIR AT BOTH LOCATIONS!

Keeping Seattle rolling since 1994.

We specialize in used and reconditioned bicycles + sell new bikes and a full array of both new and used bicycle parts and accessories!

Check out our partnership with Village Bicycle Project.

GREAT SELECTION AT BOTH LOCATIONS!

Bike Rentals • Buy • Sell • Trade • Consign

1007 NE Boat Street • (206) 547-4491 1109 N 35th Street • (206) 397-4286

“Seattle’s Used Bike Shop”

recycledcycles.com

Photo: Geo Rittenmyer, georittenmyer.com

Photo: Adam Thornhill

Thank You for Shopping Local This Holiday!

Melissa Maffei & Melissa Van Flandern

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Scarecrow Video

tottini

Amanda, Felipe, Anna, Renee, Crystal, Kelly

Tall Grass Bakery

5907 24th Ave NW · Ballard · 706-0991 · tallgrassbakery.com

259 Yale Ave N · South Lake Union · 254.0400 · tottini.com Photo: Alex Garland, alexgarlandphotography.com

5030 Roosevelt Way NE · University District · 524-8554 · scarecrow.com Photo: Vagabond Digital Imaging, vagabonddi.com

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Spenser, Marc & Jen

Dan, Erin, Murphy Family & Loft Staff

Ballard Loft

5105 Ballard Ave NW · Ballard · 420-2737 · ballardloft.com

Thanks to our excellent sponsors!

Find these and other great local businesses at thinklocalseattle.org

THINK LOCAL is a program of:

BUY LOCAL Prints from Tasty Art Housing the work of over 60 artists from all over the Northwest, Tasty Art’s prints and paintings are a dazzling addition for any home. They also offer jewelry and other home decor products, so you can knock more than one person off of your gift list with their diversified medley of independent talent.

3 Locations in the Seattle Area Downtown Seattle • Ballard • Bellevue Square

Bu y L oc a l

Tasty Art 7513 Greenwood Ave N, 206-706-3020 shoptastyart.com $25 and up

Silk Sheets from SimoSilk A family-owned, Asian import shop that’s been around since 1996, SimoSilk is awesome for highquality sheets and apparel that will make you feel luxurious.The opulent texture of fine silk is distinctly sensual, making for the sexiest night’s sleep one could ever dream of.

SimoSilk 1411 1st Ave, 800-700-4393 simosilk.com $169 and up

2013 Seasonal Flavors:

• Eggnog Brandy • Peppermint Cocoa • Pumpkin Spice Pecan

www.KuKuRuZa.com

A Winter Poncho from Earth Wind & Fire

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Earth Wind & Fire 1514 Pike Place, 206-448-2529 earthwindandfireboutique.com $138 and up

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Pair of Toms from The Woolly Mammoth Nominated for a Mayor’s Small Business Award in 1997, Woolly Mammoth’s success can be identified in founder Patrick Andre’s philosophy that “you have to do right by the customer.” Outdoor-friendly footwear is a terrific gift for anyone on your list who’s always on the go.

The Woolly Mammoth 4303 University Way NE, 206-547-3192 5doorsup.com $44 and up

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ADVENT Starting 12/1 Collect 12 stamps of the 24 offered & receive a $50 gift card for the New Year! Collect all 24 and receive a $100 gift card!

Calendar!

2332 2nd Ave Seattle, WA 98121 206.956.8423 @robroyseattle

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Both on trend and super cozy, the outerwear available from Earth Wind & Fire is a fine option for the chic ladies on your list. They keep their inventory stocked with sizes up to XXXL, so for big girls that like to look legit, this is the shop to hit.

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FREMONT & PHINNEYWOOD Fremont keeps it weird even when it comes to the geographic layout of their shopping district. When cruising around the Triangle, intoxicated by the sweet smelling fumes emanating from the Theo Chocolate factory on Phinney Avenue N., just make a loop around the three-way intersection and within a few block’s radius, you will find a bunch of top-notch vintage shops, such as Gold Dog, Show Pony, and Atlas Clothing who always carry fabulous, one-of-a-kind winter wear this time of year. You will also find a cluster of contemporary boutiques.

For the ladies, sister-stores Bliss and Dream sit kitty corner to one another, both specializing in modern women’s clothing. Bellefluer has some seriously sassy lingerie and sleepwear. Burnt Sugar on N. 35th St. has Frye boots galore, and even has a giant coffee table book all about the history of Frye. Gigi fuses the vintage and contemporary with their retro-inspired styles. Destee Nation shirt shop has Washington themed silk-screen tees adorned with imagery recalling many an iconic Seattle landmark.

and with a large enough selection to accommodate pretty much anyone on your list. You can find vintage dishes and jars in classic styles that can help Grandma replace ones that have been broken over the years.The jewelry made by local designers is a sure bet for the decadent ladies on your list. They’ve got plenty of gadgets and gizmos for anybody that loves old analog gear. And for the wee ones, the Mall always seems to have dolls from old cartoons like Rainbow Brite and the Care Bears, all in decent enough condition to gift to a new generation.

A quick cruise north on 99 will bring you to Phinney Ridge, with it’s own bevy of retail shops, owned and operated by local entrepreneurs. Sprinkled around the corner of N. 85th St. and Greenwood Ave., you’ll find stores holding something for most anyone. From Top Ten Toys for the kiddos to The Fiber Gallery for crafters, or Greenwood Hardwear Inc. for those who are handy.

There’s also Avanti Art & Design, who has a framing studio to frame up the prints you may be gifting this year. You could even pick up a gift certificate from Two Birds Tattoo (‘cause tattooin’ ain’t cheap). Put in an order for a scrumptious dessert from A La Mode Pies, who will deliver the day that you need it, or just carry one out for a tasty treat after a hard day of holiday shopping.

The Fremont Vintage Mall is a one-stop shop if you are looking for something funky and offbeat,

The giftin’ is good in

PHINNEYWOOD A-1 PIANO

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Our rental rates start as low as

2013 33rd annual PNA

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

SALES RENTALS MOVING

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$

WINTER FESTIVAL and crafts fair

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY DECEMBER 7 & 8 Phinney Center, 6532 Phinney Ave N phinneycenter.org

a month

COME IN TODAY

to see how easy it is to have a piano in your home Showroom: 7020 Greenwood Ave. N. 206.783.7055

Piano Moving/Storage: 7000 Greenwood Ave. N. 206.782.4592

A-1PIANOS.COM Email: Info@a-1pianos.com

Join us on

Spinets • Consoles • Studios • Uprights • Grand Pianos

FUN, EDUCATIONAL & CREATIVE Seattle Weekly winner for Best Toy Store TOPTENTOYS.COM Greenwood: 124 N 85th St (206) 782-0098 •Downtown @ Pacific Place (206) 623-1370

BUY LOCAL A Living Centerpiece from Terra Bella Flowers

Stationery from Paper Hammer

These glorious living arrangements are crafted with love at Terra Bella Flowers, who is committed to naturally preserving the delicate qualities of the plants they work with. Informed by a background in Hazardous Waste Management, harsh chemicals and pesticides are nowhere to be found at this organic florist.

Making everything from calendars to books to gold embossed stationary in their studio located in Tieston, WA, this local letterpress has a storefront in downtown Seattle ready to outfit you in all your paper-based needs. Their letterpress items are nice as tags for your presents, or as a gift in and of themselves.

Terra Bella Flowers 7321 Greenwood Ave N, 206-783-0205 terrabellaflowers.com $54.95 and up

Paper Hammer 1400 2nd Ave, 206-682-3820 paper-hammer.com $20 and up

X-MAS SPECIALS!

Fremont

HOURS: MON. -SAT. 10AM-10PM SUN. 11AM-7PM

Wine & Whiskey Bar Barrel-aged cocktails • Spirits flights Free party room • Weekend brunch

315 N. 36TH ST. • SEATTLE, WA 98103 P: 206-675-0637 • PIECEOFMIND.NET

Feeding the masses since 2011

3417 Evanston Ave. N. (across from the Rocket)

206-402-5492 • bthief.com

Dog photos with SANTA December 18th!

Get your FOOTBALL FIX at Norm’s!

3516 Fremont Pl n | seattle 98103 206-588-2570 11am-2:30am every day

All games in HD Happy Hour Daily: 4pm - 7pm & Late Nite Fri & Sat 11pm-1am Bonus weekend HH: Sat & Sun 10am - 2pm Weekend Breakfast! Open at 8am 206-547-1417 • 460 N 36th St in the Heart of Fremont

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

SANTA

SHOPS HERE!

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WEST SEATTLE West Seattle’s small town feel has attracted a wealth of locally owned business, and this small business culture is especially vibrant on California Ave SW. The two long blocks between SW Oregon and SW Edmunds that make up the West Seattle Junction, are lined with shops and restaurants that keep Seattle dollars swimming in our own economy.

You can tackle a decent chunk in one big U-shape, starting at Curious Kidstuff, a toy store that carries only nonviolent play options. The Sneakery next door is packed with silly socks and colorful laces, as well as casual footwear.

Up the street a bit, you’ll find City Mouse on SW Alaska St, which has adorable kids clothing, as well as a photo studio where you can buy new parents a portrait package for their child. Back on California is Cupcake Royale, where you should probably stop in and treat yourself to a little something, a reward for being such a conscientious local consumer.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Check out

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clementines.com for

Daily Deals starting

Dec. 1st!

4447 California Ave SW • Seattle, WA 98116

206.935.9400

Local Insurance Professionals with National Brokerage Power

6055 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98136 • (206) 932-2500 www.nwinsgroup.com

Heading north up the street, you’ll find Click! Design That Fits, Fleurt, and Caper’s across the street, all carrying modern home decor and small, scented accoutrements. Carmelia’s on the East side of the street and Clementine on the West have all the women’s clothing you could need. And then there’s a whole horde of shops for vintage and antiques, including Antique Mall of Seattle, West Seattle Senior Center’s Stop N Shop, Many Moons Trading Company, Funky Janes, and Wild Roses Antiques & Furnishings dappling the strip on either side.

Dueling jewelers sit across from one another, with Menashe & Sons to the East and Russell’s Fine Jewelry to the West. Zamboanga’s Indonesian-influenced clothing is designed here in Seattle and then sent to Bali where their partners stitch the pieces together.Terjung’s Studio of Gifts has a billion cards to choose from and about a block further south at NW Art and Frame, you’ll find everything from cards and wrapping paper, to art supplies and a framing shop.

Easy Street Records is hard to miss, its neon sign a beacon of locally owned glory. Stop in and pick up CD or DVD stocking stuffers, vinyl, cool logo’d merch and then have yourself a bite and a beer in the cafe.

BUY LOCAL Great Layers from A to Z The soft touch of these all-natural fabrics provides a comfortable yet elegant way to layer up during the winter. Influenced by their Turkish background, the creative team behind A to Z is determined to bring comfortable and classy women’s wear to the streets of Seattle.

A to Z 819 NW 46th St, 206-522-4570 atoztees.com $50 and up

Science and Nature Toys from Dragon’s Toy Box Carrying old standards like Sea Monkeys as well as new staples such as robotics kits and a Make Your Own Lip Balm kit, this downtown toy store has a huge selection to choose from. Their vast assortment of toys makes it easy to find something educational yet fun.

Dragon’s Toy Box 1525 1st Ave, 206-652-2333 dragonstoybox.net $10 and up

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, GIVE YOUR LOVED ONES EXPERIENCES AT ECA! Purchase tickets to 2013–2014 ECA Performances or ECA Gift Certificates through the ECA Box Office!

Call 425.275.9595 or stop by 410 Fourth Avenue North, Edmonds. ec4arts.org | 425.275.9595 410FOURTHAVENUENORTH EDMONDSWA98020

Vintage Silk Robe from Anima Mundi Anima Mundi used to be a pop-up shop, but found a home a few months ago on Ballard Ave for their handmade decor, art, and textiles from around the world. Their silk robes have been handpicked from a variety of cultures, and all are luxurious to the touch.

Chocolates and Lotion from Indi Chocolate This family-owned chocolatier located in Pike Place Market uses ethically-sourced Belizian cocoa beans to create treats that are both edible and spreadable.

Their sample packs make for deliciously indulgent gifts, and won’t make their recipient choose between eating their Indi Chocolate or wearing it.

Indi Chocolate 1501 Pike Place, 425-243-2089 indichocolate.com $20

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Anima Mundi 5465 Leary Ave NW, 206-486-2780 shopanimamundi.com $50 and up

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Check out our new winter 2014 catalog in stores now or online.

fresh fresh

dungeness crab We Ship We Ship WeSeafood Ship Seafood Overnight Seafood Overnight Overnight Anywhere in theAnywhere USAin the Anywhere USA in the USA We Pack for for or WeAir PackTravel for or orWe Pack Air Travel Air Travel

University University University Seafood & Poultry Seafood & Poultry Seafood &NEPoultry 1317 NE 47th,1317 Seattle 47th, Seattle (206) 632-3700 or (206)632-3900 1317(206) NE632-3700 47th, or Seattle (206)632-3900

(206) 632-3700 or (206) 632-3900

DELICIOUS MENU | HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS | CATERING

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food&drink Stowell Goes to Tangletown

FoodNews

It’s a small restaurant in a small neighborhood, yet mkt. feels more thoughtful than the many others opened by the celebrated chef.

Just in time for the holiday rush, Roux is open in North Fremont. The wildly anticipated Cajun & Creole eatery from Where Ya At Matt’s Matthew Lewis officially launched in the former Buckaroo Tavern space on Fremont Avenue North. Expect brunch to start in a few weeks, but hours for now are 5 p.m.–2 a.m.

BY SARA BILLUPS

BY NICOLE SPRINKLE

W

Bodrum Bistro, a Turkish-inspired restaurant launched by Sedat Uysal, opened in the former Golden Olive space in Wallingford. Born and raised in Turkey, Uysal also operates Cafe Paloma in Pioneer Square.

Mighty Ramen will host the first in a series of pop-ups at The Dish’s Green Lake location on Monday, Dec. 9. Housemade noodles and more will be available from 4–11 p.m. Check Facebook for details.

Corretto is slated to open next spring. Tango and Rumba owner Travis Rosenthal is behind the project, destined for a corner space in the new Pine + Minor building near Melrose Market in Capitol Hill. The concept is simple and solid: coffee and baked goods when the sun’s up, cocktails and an Italian-inspired menu featuring antipasti and pizza when the sun’s down.

Seattle-based donut chain Top Pot is following in Vita, Via Tribunali, and Beecher’s footsteps: In 2014 the first Top Pot will open in NYC. But even Seattleites have reason to cheer: According to Zagat, you might soon find cocktails to wash down that cinnamon-sugar old-fashioned at Top Pot’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Seattle. E food@seattleweekly.com

decide how much is needed to fill everyone up.

Also, family-style traditionally translates to “big,” and nearly everything on this menu is smallplate, with only some medium-size dishes (like the scallops).

Speaking of the scallops, they were another feat of bold conception, deliberate composition, and faultless delivery: Three generoussized sea scallops sit atop a stew of white beans with smoked pork shank, punctuated, again, smartly with an herb—this time chervil, a bright, fresh foil for the pork’s smokiness. This was by far our favorite dish, the scallops seared on the outside and ever-so-slightly under, yet warm, on the inside (as they should be)—and at $21 (compared to the $15 hamachi), a very reasonable price point. The grilled wagyu beef with fingerling potatoes and fried onions was a close second. Unfortunately, my 6-year-old daughter ended up eating most of it, since she didn’t like her porcini-ricotta ravioli with mushroom broth, the only thing on the menu that felt remotely kid-friendly.

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

Temperature Check From Kamala Saxton,

owner of Marination Mobile, Marination Station, and Marination Ma Kai

Ethnic breakfasts. Lebanese breakfasts are my new favorite thing—labneh, mannish, hummus—can’t stop, won’t stop.

Coconut water.

Chicken feet. Unless you’re having authentic dim sum in the ID, let’s leave this one alone.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

GEOFFREY SMITH

Top: the hen reviewing a new dominant Ethan Stowell reskitchen. taurant, it’s tempting Bottom left: to make comparisons a seasonal to his six others, or to find a reference heirloompoint among them. I want to avoid that tomato salad. knee-jerk inclination, though I will say Bottom right: this: As a pretty regular patron of Tavozucchini làta (my daughter is gaga for their spicy fritters. rigatoni) and How to Cook a Wolf, I’ve come to expect consistent, good food at both. I don’t necessarily leave blown away or surprised (the menus hardly change), but the quality and execution is rarely off.

After my meals at mkt., however, I left with a sense of excitement—that quiet recognition of having been privy to a very special dining experience. Located in Tangletown, wedged between Elysian Brewing Company’s pub and Mighty-O Donuts, Stowell’s latest restaurant is a teeny 600-square-foot space dominated by a stainless-steel kitchen. The 28 seats run mostly in a single file from the door back to the bathroom, with a few by the front window and bar area.

Claustrophobic or intimate? As a former New Yorker, I enjoyed the small space and the almost-too-close-for-comfort proximity to the neighboring tables.

The space is also minimalist to an extreme: gray walls, pretty white oak throughout, and shelves showcasing bottles of liquor and wine. The only real with is. Stowell has also managed to use the most “decor” is oversized metal words—names of minuscule amounts of herbs to their quintesfood, like “fig” and “leek”— affixed to the walls.

My first thought: gimmicky—and they’re going sential best. In the hamachi, a single piece of coriander permeates without overwhelming and to look dated fast. ties the whole dish together. There’s an impactful The menu, on the other hand, is well-considreserve here that feels new for Stowell. The only ered and innovative in the simplest of ways. The thing that could execution, flawhave improved less. A “snack” of the dish: more of Dinah’s cheese » PRICE GUIDE DINAH’S CHEESE WITH WALNUTS AND it. The three of us (from Kurt TimTOMATO-HONEY PRESERVE ............................................................ $9 sharing each got mermeister’s HAMACHI CEVICHE WITH CITRUS-CUCUMBER ICE, CORIANDER, PICKLED RED ONIONS .............................................$15 barely more than Vashon farm) has SEA SCALLOPS, SMOKED PORK SHANK, WHITE BEANS, CHERVIL.................................................................... $21 a taste. become predictGRILLED WAGYU BEEF, And that’s able on trendy GRILLED FINGERLING POTATOES, FRIED ONIONS ................. $28 ROASTED PORCINI-RICOTTA RAVIOLI, where the menu menus recently, MUSHROOM SAUCE, SHAVED PARMESAN .................................$15 can be misleading. but Stowell’s Besides Snacks, decision to the other categories are Fish, Meat, and Vegserve it with a tomato that’s been preserved in etables—with no indication of the size of anyhoney—seriously, a soft little hunk of heaven—is thing. Our hamachi was clearly an appetizer size, imaginative and delicious, one of those things while the scallops are more of an entrée portion. you can’t help telling your friends about or We were told the menu was meant for sharing— including in a Facebook status update. Likewise, “family-style”—but when you don’t know how while hamachi tuna ceviche isn’t unexpected, the much you’re getting of any one thing, it’s hard to tangy and crisp citrus-cucumber ice it’s served

35

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While I don’t fault Stowell for curating this menu to an adult’s palate, throwing in just one tomato-sauce-based item couldn’t hurt. That porcini ravioli, though, was swell. Interestingly, it was one of the three items listed under Vegetables. The other two were a summer-vegetable tagine and smoked wild mushrooms with duck egg, crispy barley, and thyme. I would have appreciated a lighter choice, something green perhaps, as all these dishes were on the hearty/ heavy side—though that’s likely what he was

A “snack” of Dinah’s cheese has become predictable on trendy menus recently, but Stowell’s decision to serve it with a tomato that’s been preserved in honey is imaginative and delicious. going for on a fall menu. I guess I’ve gotten too used to menus with $6 sides of heaping braised greens for the table to share.

Stowell is going big and bold with his meats, too. Grilled lamb tongue, rabbit, and quail— most of it cooked in a wood-fired oven—are for the more adventurous eater, and are offset with creative accompaniments. While the grilled lamb tongue itself didn’t do much for me (though it was cooked very well), I scarfed down the baby beets with horseradish and grilled bread it came with. And, with prices not exceeding $16 (save for the wagyu beef and pork tenderloin), the Meat section is in keeping with Stowell’s commitment to create low-key, affordable neighborhood restaurants—and to man them with chefs who have cooked within his growing empire. At mkt., chef Joe Ritchie (Herbfarm, Poppy) is joined by Monica Dimas of Stowell’s Olives & Anchovies.

Desserts, of which I tend to be hypercritical and which often leave me deflated, didn’t disap-

GEOFFREY SMITH

» FROM PAGE 35

point me here. Our fig tart was spot-on, and a simple chocolate pudding was exactly as it should be: chocolaty and smooth.

The bar, on the other hand, generates some confusion. Stowell has opted to focus on wine, as well as offering three house barrel-aged cocktails—on my visits, these combos included gin/vodka/Lillet, tequila/vermouth/Fernet, and brandy/Aperol/curaçao. None of these struck my fancy; and, seeing shelves lined with all sorts of liquors, I asked if other cocktails were available. No, just the three on the menu, my server told me. Perplexed, I asked him when he came back to take our orders whether I could get a martini. I could indeed, but not a dirty one, he said, since they don’t have olive juice.

How about olives, I asked? Yes, but only the marinated ones they use in their dishes.

Essentially, you can order drinks besides the three on the cocktail menu, but if the bar is not equipped with all the various condiments that certain drinks require, it’s a bit of a crap shoot as to what they’ll actually be able to make you.

While I get that they’re trying to steer clear of the overwrought craft-cocktail menu, the experience—or the idea of it—needs some clarification. My fellow diners—a restaurant-savvy Seattleite and an expectant out-of-towner— agreed with this assessment.

They also agreed that this was a tremendously satisfying dinner. The only person who perhaps left disappointed was my daughter.

Though after enough chocolate pudding, her desire for spicy rigatoni was fortunately soon forgotten. E

nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com

MKT. 2108 N. 55th St., 812-1580, ethanstowellrestaurants.com/mkt.

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hanksgiving is a holiday that’s both fun and stressful. There’s all the work of getting the family together, the cooking and cleanup. One other potential stressor is what to drink with the meal, as turkey with stuffing doesn’t exactly have a slam-dunk wine pairing. But I’ve come up with some fun, creative, and delicious wine selections for everyone’s favorite 4 p.m. food coma day.

Bubbles! Champagne, and similar-quality sparkling wines from around the world, is often an afterthought at large

BY ZACH GEBALLE events.

Sure, you might crack a bottle or two to start (it’s a party, after all!), but generally the bubbly gets ignored once the food hits the table. This is a mistake! Well-made sparklers are amazingly drinkable and versatile food wines, as their crisp acidity and effervescence enable them to stand up against even relatively rich and robust dishes.

While Champagne is the best known, plenty of great French sparkling wines are almost as good; in particular, look for “méthode traditionelle” wines (those made the same way as Champagne) from the Loire Valley. These Crémants de Loire are often on a par with mid-tier champagne, yet more affordable. The brut rosé from De Chanceny is a beautiful expression of flowers and berries, while the Marcel Martin “Tête de Cuvée” is rich and elegant, with notes of brioche and lemon curd.

White! Again, when it comes to pairing with Turkey Day foods, acidity is your friend. However, I also like to look for a bit more body: a light, crisp pinot grigio will be swallowed by buttery mashed potatoes. Here’s a good opportunity to take a chance on some Washington whites: Syncline’s marsanne has a decent amount of heft while still retaining an acidic tang, while the Eroica riesling (a partnership between Chateau Ste. Michelle and famed German producer Dr. Loosen) combines a velvety mouthfeel with the flavor of crunchy, tart Granny Smith apples.

Red! Hold the expensive bottle of cabernet you’ve been saving for years; rich reds tend to dominate almost any food pairing. Instead, opt for Beaujolais (not Beaujolais Nouveau, unless you love alcoholic grape juice). From southeastern France, Beaujolais tend to have a bright, fruity quality that matches with turkey the same way that cranberry sauce does, while packing a decent tannic punch and a surprising depth of flavor. It’s usually relatively cheap, and reliable if you stick with trusted importers like Kermit Lynch.

Sweet! While most of us shun dessert wines, what better time to break them out than a holiday dedicated (in part) to excessive consumption? With pumpkin or pecan pie, I tend to like a slightly nuttier dessert wine: perhaps an oloroso or amontillado sherry from Spain. If you want to stay local, look for a late-harvest wine like the Kiona gewürztraminer, which will retain enough acidity to avoid seeming cloying. E

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arts&culture

How to Write a Christmas Show ThisWeek’s for Fun and Profit. Especially Profit PickList Sick of holiday shows? So was I, until I wrote one. And so can you.

FRIDAY, NOV. 29

BY JOHN LONGENBAUGH

A Christmas Carol

T

Against that holiday juggernaut, what are other

Seattle theaters supposed to do? There’s a stage version of Clement Moore’s brief poem “The Night Before Christmas,” padded with “a mouse, an elf, and a spunky little girl who just won’t take no for an answer.” No, thanks. And you’ll have no better luck adapting Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer or other weird stop-motion holiday films from the 1960s. The cutesy postwar jingles they’re based on simply run out of story. Even kids get bored after the fourth commercial break.

To summarize: Don’t dip into the shallow end of the holiday canon.

And unless your child’s in the cast, traditional pageants are problematic, too. Amahl and the Night Visitors and other nativity plays can alienate the secular crowd. (Remember: We want every holiday dollar.) Don’t be too churchy.

Up at Taproot, for instance, Le Club Noel mixes the concerns of French Catholics in the ’30s with le jazz hot. Co-creator Sam Vance says of the musical revue, “We’re not shying away from talking about religion during the show.

It’s something that is central to our lives.” But, his wife and creative partner Candace Vance interjects, “This is the Paris of Django Reinhardt, when jazz first met French provincial folk music.”

A-ha! This brings us to another important do: Include music.

That’s why there’s such a slew of Yuletide musicals. The 5th Avenue Theatre profitably embraced that route with its 2010 adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s perennial bitter nostalgiafest A Christmas Story and other film-to-stage reverse-engineered stuff like White Christmas and last season’s Elf. They’ve also tried a few that feel Christmassy, like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, because the Bible + kids = Christmas, right? (Wrong.)

two in my show. (Though what would really sell me is an Oliver!/Annie cage fight: Two winsome orphans go in, only one comes out . . . ) Speaking of orphans, manipulation, and Yuletide clichés: I ask Lisa Koch, whose Ham for the Holidays opens at ACT next week with comic partner Peggy Platt, is it possible to avoid those corny staples?

No way. “That’s our middle name,” she says. So don’t duck the holiday clichés, but do mix them up with non-seasonal elements. For instance, in Koch and Platt’s 13th Ham-stravaganza (subtitled Close Encounters of the Pork Rind), the country-and-western mother/daughter singing duo “the Spudds” present their new Christmas mashup, Meet Me in Mayberry—With a Vengeance, combining Judy Garland, Andy Griffith, and Die Hard II. (Thus another do: Lay into seasonal TV specials with gleeful abandon.)

Ham is comedy cabaret for grown-ups; the material’s satirical and the jokes can get raunchy.

This proves that holiday shows don’t have to be family-oriented. At the same time, says Koch, that doesn’t mean embracing the darkness in what can be a time of the year involving “dealing with loss, the economy, the expectation.” For those who eat Christmas dinner alone, she says, “We’re a nice getaway for people. They get some laughter, some endorphins released.” So don’t feel a need to lay waste to Christmas traditions. No one needs their Yuletide depression made even worse.

Despite all the above advice, I’m not planning

to write another Christmas show. However, I’m currently working on a musical adaptation of Vashon writer Betty MacDonald’s Anybody Can Do Anything.

Here’s a preview of the end of Act I: It’s 1932, the height of the Great Depression, and the power’s just been cut in the U District home of the Bards. It’s going to be a lean, cold Christmas for this houseful of unemployed women, until Betty’s bossy sister Mary decides she knows where to get the family both firewood and a Christmas tree. Armed with a rusty bucksaw and an indomitable nature, she heads off to Ravenna Park, to prep us for our heartwarming holidaydinner finale.

Now if I can just find a way to work in a couple of orphans . . . E

stage@seattleweekly.com

CHRIS BENNION

This brings us to another do: Orphans. I have

Beattie as Scrooge.

managed on the spreadsheet (well, ink-stained ledger). Health insurance is something for others to pay (or don’t get sick). Overtime wages?

There’s always someone in East London willing to do your job for less. Why should he share his wealth with the less fortunate? That sounds like socialism to me! ( John Langs directs the production, running through December 29, with Kurt Beattie and Peter Crook trading the role of Scrooge.) ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., 292-7676, acttheatre.org. $27 and up. 7 p.m. T. BOND

Days of Heaven

Terrence Malick’s second film is renowned for the work of the great Spanish-born cinematographer Néstor Almendros (1930–1992).

He won an Oscar for shooting most of the 1978 Days during “golden hour,” when the sun lay low on the horizon and the fatness of the sky produced a diffuse prairie light the actors almost seemed to touch and handle. (Purists will protest that Almendros shot most but not

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

So what are the dos and don’ts of writing a successful Christmas show? First, let’s get something out of the way. Theater artists, including me, spend a lot of time worrying about manipulating the audience. Maybe we’ve got an inflated sense of our cultural influence, but we want our characters and stories to hold your attention because of their quality, not because of trickery. But when it comes to Christmas plays, the gloves are off.

Thus our first do: Manipulate wherever possible.

Take A Christmas Carol (opening Friday at ACT): Is the story manipulative? Of course it is. It’s Dickens! He was writing at a time when the Scrooges of the upper class were turning the screws so tight that a revolution of the Victorian poor was a real threat. His warning is most explicit when the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge two wretched children, Ignorance and Want, who—if left untended—will lead to the doom of all. Add to that lost love, Tiny Tim, and a tombstone with your name on it, and you’ve got one of the most effective pieces of artistic manipulation ever created.

The trouble with A Christmas Carol, though, is that ACT grabbed that valuable piece of Yuletide real estate 38 years ago. What’s more, the Greg Falls version delivers pretty much everything you want—carols, kids, comedy, dancing, and a redeemed miser. Of the show, ACT’s John Langs says, “Its focus, and my job as a director, is to tell the story of Scrooge’s transformation. Every scene is about illuminating his heart and transforming it.”

Haters gonna hate. Honestly, why does Ebenezer Scrooge gets such a bad rap in this holiday perennial? (This is ACT’s 38th staging of the show, which helps underwrite the rest of the season.) The man is an entrepreneur. He’s rolling in bling. He’s just trying to reduce expenses, maximize profits, and outsource anything that stands in the way of sound business fundamentals. He’s a Chamber of Commerce sort of Victorian, a Jamie Dimon before his time, a proponent of lean, coal-fired capitalism. If he were working today, he’d have made a fortune securitizing bad home loans during the ’00s; and his company would be chartered in the Caymans to avoid corporate taxes. What about Bob Cratchit and his family of moochers? Costs! Costs to be

But the sweet spot for a musical is to shove a Christmas number into your show regardless of its subject. That’s why Mame suddenly declares “We Need a Little Christmas” right in the middle of Mame, as if having an orphan as a central character weren’t enough. Annie pulls the same stunt, and while there’s no actual Christmas scene in Oliver! (opening Friday at the 5th), it’s about orphans and snow. And again, Dickens.

HERBERT WATKINS/SHARON ADJIRI

he most successful thing I’ve ever written is a Christmas show. I’m proud of that. And my playwright friends are mostly envious, because most new plays, even ones that get a professional production, are lucky to ever get a second showing. Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol has had six in the past three years, breaking box-office records at Taproot and Portland’s Artist’s Rep. This year it’s enjoying three more productions, including an English provincial tour, and has just been published.

Prior to this, my most popular play had four productions, all of which I directed and funded. I also ran the slides.

Sherlock’s productions were top-notch and the critics gave me the best reviews of my life, but the most unusual thing about the show was that it made the companies a lot of money. For years, American Theatre magazine ran a top-10 list of the most produced plays in the country; even excluding A Christmas Carol, holiday plays routinely accounted for anywhere from four to six of the most popular scripts. And those plays are a godsend to financially strapped theater companies, whose Christmas cash cows subsidize those daring Icelandic mime troupes during the next season.

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 40 39

arts&culture» Pick LIst » FROM PAGE 40 A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol

One of Almendros’ golden-hour scenes in Days of Heaven.

50th St., 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org. $5–$8. 7 & 9 p.m. BRIAN MILLER

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Casablanca

Pichette makes for a jolly Fagin in Oliver!

We all know the story of this 1942 Michael Curtiz favorite: a classic love triangle set against the tensions of war. True to its stage origins, the film sets up neat oppositions between selfishness and sacrifice, patriotism and exile, love and duty. Humphrey Bogart gained iconic status as Rick, who balances his lingering attachment to Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa against his long-suppressed sense of idealism. Casablanca is about a lot of things, but one strong theme is forgiveness: Two former lovers must somehow reconcile themselves with the past, mutually absolving each other to clear the way for the future. Their relationship has its parallel as Bogie and Claude Rains also forgive and forget, then famously stride forward together to battle. (Through Wed.) Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 686-6684, central-cinema.com. $6–$8. 7 p.m. BRIAN MILLER

Alley, 587-2414, unexpectedproductions.org. $12–$15. 8:30 p.m. T. BOND

It’s snowing onstage at PNB.

© ANGELA STERLING.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

PARAMOUNT

Charles Dickens is everywhere this holiday season (see A Christmas Carol, above). About a century after Oliver Twist was written, an English songwriter named Lionel Bart had the unlikely idea of making it into a musical. The 1960 smash moved to Broadway, was filmed in 1968, and is regularly revived. Bart (1930–1999) hasn’t got much stature in the U.S., but he was a huge hit-maker in his prime, writing countless pop ditties and even one James Bond song (for From Russia With Love), though he couldn’t read music. His inspiration for tackling the huge Victorian novel was David Lean’s 1948 movie adaptation, which did most of the distillation for him. Bart cut the book even further and made Fagin more a clown and less a dangerously Semitic stereotype. (Bart also happened to be Jewish, and gay, with a ear for the Cockney accents of prewar London.) Oliver! made Bart’s reputation, transforming him into a very rich (he promptly bought a nose job) ’60s celebrity who hobnobbed with John Lennon, the royals, and the Stones. But he never had another such stage hit, and blew his fortune on druggy luxury, dying loveless and alone—rather like one of those sad, secondary characters in a Dickens novel. Fortunately, Oliver! is an entirely more cheerful show, here alternating Jack Fleischmann and Jeffrey Weber as the titular orphan, with Hans Altwies as the evil Bill Sikes and David Pichette as the pitiful Fagin. David Armstrong directs this in-house production. (Previews begin tonight; opens Dec. 5; runs through Dec. 31.) The 5th Avenue Theatre,

MARK KITAOKA

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Oliver!

all of the film, working in tandem with Haskell Wexler, who already had two Oscars by then.)

In all Malick films, as with his recent To the Wonder, nature is as much a character—and a shaper of fate—as the cast speaking the words.

Yet Days is—again, like all Malick’s movies— essentially laconic and interior, so far as the players are concerned. In outline, it’s a simple love triangle (verging on noir) between Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard, the latter playing a wealthy farmer who employs seasonal workers in his Texas wheat fields before World War I. Linda Manz, as Gere’s sister, relates much of the story in voiceover— another Malick hallmark—as the presumably dying Shepard marries Adams, then fails to croak, spoiling the inheritance plot against him. Gere is forced to leave for a while, then returns with a vengeance—like the wind and fire and locusts besieging the farm. Does the love triangle matter? Does the conflict between Gere and Shepard? Not really—they’re like the waving grass in The New World and The Thin Red Line and Badlands. Everyone’s ephemeral, like the crops and the seasons. Yet that doesn’t diminish the emotions on Malick’s broad canvas (Through Thurs.) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E.

Secular, Christian, or Jew, we all have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. Part of that is the family-gathering aspect, and part the oppressive the good cheer—like we’re all obligated to smile and wear Cosby sweaters during the coming month of credit-card debt. For that reason, a welcome reaction against the Yuletide spirit comes in this loosely Dickensian romp, first performed in 1985. Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and company are often kicked forward from the Victorian era to the topical now by a baker’s-dozen performers (most sharing various roles). Who says Tiny Tim has to be tiny, or even a child? Why can’t Bob Cratchit be an asshole? Or Scrooge could possibly be gay, right? (And after all those Paranormal Activity movies, surely we have to reconsider the ghosts.) A full bar should help your enjoyment of the holiday lampoon. Since audience members get to toss out cues for how the story ought to proceed, the shows can range from G to R ratings. But the truth is that many seasonal family gatherings feature drunken tirades and hostile declarations more upsetting than anything you’ll see onstage here. (Through Dec. 28.) Unexpected Productions, 1428 Post

SATURDAY, NOV. 30

Nutcracker

Originally it took some convincing to get Maurice Sendak to commit to designing a new production of Nutcracker for Pacific Northwest Ballet—a work he first called “a snoozer, a holiday turkey.” But when then–artistic director Kent Stowell explained that he wanted to go back to E.T.A. Hoffmann’s original story, which is as menacing as it is sweet, Sendak was hooked. This year the company celebrates the 30th anniversary of its production, in which the avuncular godfather Drosselmeier from Act 1 transforms into a slightly sinister Pasha in Act 2, and Sendak’s mice skitter throughout.

(Through Dec. 29.) McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St.

(Seattle Center), 441-2424, pnb.org. $25-$140.

2 p.m. SANDRA KURTZ E

Opening Nights PThe Hound of the Baskervilles SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE, 155 MERCER ST. (SEATTLE CENTER), 443-2222, SEATTLEREP.ORG. $15–$80. 7:30 P.M. WED.–SUN. PLUS WEEKEND MATINEES. ENDS DEC. 15.

Sherlock Holmes’ famous double-brimmed deerstalker hat is nowhere to be found here, and there’s nary a trace of Robert Downey Jr.’s rake-andrapscallion Holmes or Benedict Cumberbatch’s cerebral introvert as detective. Instead, newly written by beloved local actors David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright, this is Holmes 2.0. In adapting the classic tale of a hellhound stalking the English moors, they’ve invented scenes and dialogue that hew much more closely to the spirit of the material than Hollywood’s recent bare-knuckled fumblings. There’s a bit of Arthur Conan Doyle, a bit of Joss Whedon, and the result is noisy, raucous fun—as English as a box of snuff, as witty as an evening with Oscar Wilde. (Granted, the show runs two hours and 40 minutes, with two intermissions.)

Again we have the fraternal love and endless nattering between Holmes (Darragh Kennan) and Watson (Andrew McGinn, tall for the sidekick role): whodunit plus bromance. Kennan and McGinn don’t so much chew the scenery as make a delectable meal of it; their performances owe as much to vaudeville as Victorian England.

And again our heroes are trying to prevent the murder of American heir Henry (Connor Toms), presumed to be stalked by the same fanged phantom that killed Sir Charles Baskerville (Charles Leggett), seen briefly before his demise.

As actors, Pichette and Wright know what keeps a plot moving and how to keep an audience spellbound. As playwrights, they’ve taken a familiar story and invested it with thrills and chills aplenty; crucially, they’ve also moved Conan Doyle’s early revelation of the culprit’s identity to the play’s climax, which keeps the suspense taut until the unmasking. Director Allison Narver moves her players around in an elaborate display of dominoes, each one glancing off the other until only the survivors remain. Not only has she cast her two principals well, but the supporting cast is uniformly sublime; and for once, all the performers’ dialects seem to derive from actual places on a map of the UK. If Holmes and company have a secret weapon here, it’s surely the clever sets and period projections let loose on the stage by L.B. Morse.

Grainy stock footage and old photos perfectly counterbalance his spartan stage pieces; they add just the right pinch of steampunk to this century-old mystery tale.

Deborah Trout’s costume designs share the ornate beauty of a cameo silhouette, and Paul James Prendergast’s sound design mixes modern sounds with those of the Industrial Revolution.

The bustle, the pollution, the sense of a society hurtling into a new century is everywhere. His soundtrack and the play itself share an undercurrent: the creepy notion that an ancient unnamed evil is about to pounce.

“The game is afoot,” as Dr. Watson likes to say. And this time, the game is all about restoring Sherlock Holmes to his rightful place as the greatest sleuth of his day. KEVIN PHINNEY E

stage@seattleweekly.com

a&c» Performance B Y G AV I N B O R C H E R T

Theater OPENINGS & EVENTS

THE BUCKAROOS A “Thanksgiving Eve Special” from this

Chippendales send-up. The Triple Door, 216 Union St., 8384333, thetripledoor.net. $25–$30. 7 & 10 p.m. Wed., Nov. 27.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 39.

CONEY ISLAND CHRISTMAS Donald Margulies’ comedy about the Jewish holiday culture clash. Burien Little Theater, S.W. 146th St. and Fourth Ave. S.W., Des Moines, 242-5180, burienactorstheatre.org. $7–$20. Opens Nov. 29.

8 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Dec. 22.

THE DINA MARTINA CHRISTMAS SHOW “The Best of the Best!” includes the incomparable, indescribable entertaineress’s greatest hits from her 14 holiday shows.

With stalwart accompanist Chris Jeffries. Re-bar, 1114 Howell St., 800-838-3006. $20–$25. Opens Nov. 29. Runs Fri.–Sun., then daily starting Dec. 18; see brownpaper tickets.com for exact schedule. Ends Dec. 31.

HAM FOR THE HOLIDAYS Peggy Platt and Lisa Koch bring back the Spudds, the Sequim Gay Men’s Chorus, and more in their annual musical sketch show. ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., 292-7676. $15–$33. Preview Dec. 4, opens Dec. 5. Runs Wed.–Sun.; see acttheatre.org for exact schedule. Ends Dec. 22.

THE HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR! Jennifer Jasper hosts this comedy/music revue. Shorecrest Performing Arts Center, 15343 25th Ave. N.E., 800-838-3006, brownpaper tickets.com. $15–$20. 6 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1.

A(N IMPROVISED) CHRISTMAS CAROL SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 40.

LE CLUB NOEL Candace and Sam Vance’s new holiday play is set in a 1930s cabaret in Paris. Taproot Theatre, 204 N. 85th St., 781-9707, taproottheatre.org. $20–$40.

Opens Nov. 29. 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 & 8 p.m. Sat. Ends Dec. 28.

LITTLE WOMEN Jason Howland’s musical version of the classic story. ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave. S.W., 9380339, artswest.org. Opens Nov. 29. 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., plus 3 p.m. Sat., Dec. 14 & 21. Ends Dec. 29.

OLIVER! SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 40.

THANKSKILLING Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann turn the 2009 horror-camp movie about a vengeful turkey into a musical. Presented by Balagan Theatre. Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, balagantheatre.org. Opens Nov. 29. 8 p.m. Thurs. (plus Mon., Dec. 2), 8 & 10 p.m.

Fri.–Sat. Ends Dec. 14.

UNCLE MIKE RUINS CHRISTMAS Your family holiday nightmares become improv theater. Wing-It Productions, 5510 University Way N.E., jetcityimprov.com. $10. Opens Nov. 30. Midnight:30 on Saturday nights. Ends Dec. 21.

WELLS & WOODHEAD: FOOLZ Music, circus arts, and comedy for the whole family. Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland, 425-893-9900, kpcenter.org. $15. 2 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1.

• THE HABIT 13 What do TV cop shows, zombies, the

League of Justice, jumpsuits, and the Founding Fathers have in common? Nothing—that’s the challenge for this fun sketch-comedy show. Its six writer/performers create a rough through-line that brings disparate skits not into harmonic convergence, but a kind of parallel burning of the fuse. The Habit was formed at the UW in the mid-’90s, though the members (Ryan Dobosh, John Osebold, Jeff Schell, Mark Siano, David Swidler, and Luke Thayer) are now scattered around the U.S. What they preserve is a kind of collective muscle memory, the desire to push a gag further than the vaudeville laugh. The topical bits can feel like a concession to headlines and audience sympathies; drafting the Second Amendment, Jefferson scoffs at the notion of “automated muskets.” Yet what The Habit really nails is the everyday slapstick of social misunderstandings and faux pas—how we constantly say and do the wrong things, then desperately try to dig ourselves out. The show never underestimates the power of silliness, but it’s also grounded in hurt feelings and a bit of heart. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse, 7312 W. Green Lake Ave. N., 800-838-3006, thehabitcomedy.com. $19. 8 p.m. Fri.–Sun. Ends Dec. 1.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES SEE REVIEW, PAGE 40.

LES MISÉRABLES Director Steve Tomkins and company have created what has to be the best-ever pocket-size rendering of the 1985 smash musical; you’re not likely to see it done this well—or so intimately—ever again. As

•

Send events to stage@seattleweekly.com, dance@seattleweekly.com, or classical@seattleweekly.com See seattleweekly.com for full listings. = Recommended

•

A Gift Giver’s Guide

SPOTLIGHT ON

SPOTLIGHT ON

Wide World Books & Maps

Third Place Books Ravenna The Book of Jezebel

Earth from Space

ed. Anna Holmes

by Yann ArthusBertrand

"Pretty much the greatest encyclopedia EVER! Same snark, humor, wit and awareness that you've come to know from the website, just in book form. I challenge you to open this, read an entry and not either laugh out loud or be hurled into pensive contemplation. But seriously, I think this book is important. You should too." - Picked by Third Place bookseller Erin B.

In this spectacular follow-up to the 1999 Earth from Above, we get to see the wonders of our planet in full-color photographs taken from space. Including interviews with scientists and analysis of our changing planet, this is a beautiful and insightful view of our fragile world.

A DA’S

Favorite Visual Books of the Season Wide World Books & Maps Lonely Planet's Beautiful World

by Lonely Planet Southern Italian Desserts

by Rosetta Costantino Journey

by Aaron Becker Must-See Birds of the Pacific Northwest

by Sarah Swanson and Max Smith Dream Boats

by Dan Bar-el

TECHNICAL

BOOKS

425 15th Ave E Seattle, WA 98112 (206)322-1058

www.adasbooks.com

We’ve Moved!

Ada’s carries new, used, & rare books on Computers, Electronics, Physics, Math, and Science as well as hand-picked inspirational and leisure reading, puzzles, brain teasers, gadgets, and gifts.

Additional Staff Picks at Third Place Books Ravenna How To Train a Train by Jason Carter Eaton, ill. Mark Rocco. Picked by Patti H. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Picked by Katherine.

The Life and Love of Cats by Lewis Blackwell. Picked by Emily M. Silas Marner by George Eliot.

Picked by Mark B. A Commonplace Book of Pie

by Kate Lebo. Picked by Michael.

Seattle’s Travel Store Since 1976

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MEET THE AUTHOR Octavia Spencer

The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit (Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective #01) (Simon & Schuster) Saturday, December 7 at 4pm Meet Randi Rhodes, the world's first ninja detective! Mystery abounds in this delightful new middle grade series from Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer.

MIND • BODY • SPIRIT • EARTH

Books • Tarot • Goddess Magic • Astrology • Tibetan Statues Sage • Crystals Candles • Incense Oils Aromatherapy • Hemp Global Exchange • Fair-Trade & much, much more!!

Tami Parr

Pacific Northwest Cheese: A History (Oregon State University Press) Friday, December 13 at 6:30pm In this rich and engaging history, Tami Parr shows how regional cheese making found its way back to the farm. It's a lively story that begins with the first fur traders in the Pacific Northwest and ends with modernday small farmers in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

BEST PSYCHIC READINGS DAILY!

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206.634.3400 • ubookstore.com • 1.800.335.READ

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

CURRENT RUNS

GOOD BOOKSTORES

41

in Victor Hugo’s 1862 class-struggle novel of revenge, retribution, and redemption, French parolee Jean Valjean (onetime Seattleite Greg Stone, now a Broadway mainstay) is pursued by inspector Javert (Eric Polani Jensen) while seeking to regain the good name he lost after stealing bread to feed a starving child. Also assisting Valjean’s salvation are Fantine (Beth DeVries), who tasks Valjean on her deathbed to care for her daughter, Cosette (Alexandra Zorn); and would-be revolutionaries Enjolras (Steve Czarnecki) and Marius (Matthew Kacergis), who falls for the adult Cosette at first sight. Not a loose stitch has been left to chance in the three-hour staging (with intermission); this chamber-sized Les Miz aspires to be as great as any production of the show ever mounted, and it’s better than any I’ve ever seen, ever. KEVIN PHINNEY Village Theatre, 303 Front St. N., Issaquah, 425-392-2202. $33–$68. Runs in Issaquah through Jan. 5, then at the Everett Performing Arts Center Jan. 10–Feb. 2; see villagetheatre.org for exact schedule.

TEATRO ZINZANNI: HAIL CAESAR: FORBIDDEN OASIS Frank Ferrante returns as the flamboyant, omni-

sexual chef Caesar; slinky Dreya Weber, equally skilled as an aerialist and singer, plays a resurrected Cleopatra.

Teatro ZinZanni, 222 Mercer St., 802-0015. $108 and up.

Runs Wed.–Sun.; see dreams.zinzanni.org for exact schedule. Ends Jan. 26.

‘TWAS THE NIGHT... Clement C. Moore’s poem gets sent up. Studio East, 11730 118th Ave. N.E. #100, Kirkland, 425820-1800, studio-east.org. $14. 7 p.m. Fri.; 11 a.m., 2 p.m., & 5 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Ends Dec. 15.

WITH EMMETT • WEIRD AND AWESOME “A monthly parade [every first Sunday] MONTGOMERY

of wonder and awkward sharing hosted and curated by mustache wizard Emmett Montgomery.” Annex Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St., 728-0933, annextheatre.org, facebook. com/weirdandawesome. $5–$10. 7:30 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1.

Dance

CARMONA FLAMENCO Traditional music and dance.

Cafe Solstice, 4116 University Way N.E., 932-4067. $15– $20. 8 & 9:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 30.

• PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET: NUTCRACKER

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 40.

42

Classical, Etc. DIETER HENNINGS Spanish music for this guitarist. Frye

Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., fryemuseum.org. Free. 2 p.m.

Sat., Nov. 30.

BYRD ENSEMBLE This choir’s holiday concert welcomes chamber ensemble Parnassus Project. At Trinity Episcopal Church, 609 Eighth Ave., 7:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 30, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 4805 N.E. 45th St., 3 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1. $10–$20. byrdensemble.com.

GALLERY CONCERTS Celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend with soprano Ellen Hargis and baroque vocal chamber music. Queen Anne Christian Church, 1316 Third Ave. W., 726-6088, galleryconcerts.org. $15–$30. 7:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 30, 3 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1.

SEATTLE MEN’S CHORUS For many, the holidays would be bleak and sere without this annual sparklefest. Pianist/ vocalist Levi Kreis is the special guest the opening weekend only. All shows at Benaroya Hall except Dec. 12 in Tacoma and Dec. 14 in Everett; see flyinghouse.org for full info. $28–$78. 388-1400. 8 p.m. Sat., Nov. 30, 2 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1, and seven more performances through Dec. 22.

UW CHAMBER MUSIC Music by Mendelssohn and Brahms, with a look at their lives and work. Brechemin Auditorium, School of Music, UW campus, 685-8384, music.washington.edu. $5. 4:30 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1.

UW JAZZ The Studio Jazz Ensemble and Modern Band perform. Meany Studio Theater, UW campus, 543-4880, music.washington.edu. $10–$15. 7:30 p.m. Mon., Dec. 2.

KEVIN BURKE Irish fiddle music from this visiting artist.

Brechemin Auditorium, School of Music, UW campus, 685-8384, music.washington.edu. $5. 7:30 p.m. Tues., Dec. 3.

UW PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Sizzle, Omphalo Centric Lecture, and other works. Meany Studio Theater, UW campus, 543-4880, music.washington.edu. $10–$15. 7:30 p.m. Tues., Dec. 3.

SEATTLE JEWISH CHORALE Music for Hanukkah.

Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 N.E. Fourth St., Bellevue, 800-838-3006, seattlejewishchorale.org. $5–$12. 7:30 p.m.

Wed., Dec. 4.

UW CAROLFEST Holiday music from many choirs. Meany Hall, UW campus, 543-4880, music.washington.edu. $10–$15. 7:30 p.m. Wed., Dec. 4.

•

Pillows, Paper, and Straw The best kind of conceptual art confounds you, confronts you, and possibly even annoys you before the dawning smile of an idea. Maybe not the idea, not precisely what the artist has in mind, but close. At least in

BY BRIAN MILLER the same room.

Otherwise you feel cheated, or stupid, or both.

And there is a lot of room in the installation What Have We Done by Jason Dodge. He has the entire big basement gallery at his disposal, and he’s done very little with it. There are just eight little stations to visit, and the most impressive objects are four one-ton rolls of newsprint that will wind up in the presses of The Seattle Times. During his October visit, Dodge said his work explores “the way we do or don’t leave marks with things that exist in the world. What do we leave our breath on? What do we touch?” For instance, three piles of pillows on the floor that were previously used by acrobats and ornithologists. (They look exactly the same, BTW.) So there’s a lingering trace, maybe a smell, but mainly just the implied and specific history of use. The newsprint is going in the other direction: blank now, destined to be used. But

THEFUSSYEYE

what about the paper’s history, I asked Dodge, was it recycled from something or straight from the wood pulp? He didn’t know, curiously indifferent to the provenance of his material. The largest notional installation is called the living: an entirely empty room with some bits of straw and animal hair on the floor. “The other day,” said Dodge, “this gallery was filled with about 20 farm animals.” Really, what kind? Dodge was coy in reply. “The idea is you putting them here.” So we’re supposed to imagine the goats or chickens or whatever creatures breathed the same air and left their droppings on the floor. But the problem here—and this is true of most conceptual art, not unique to Dodge—is that once you get the idea, or are in the same room with it, there has to be something interesting to look at. And pillows, paper, straw, and a few light bulbs are not. (Contrast that with, say, the work of Chris Burden.) All

BRIAN MILLER

arts&culture» Performance

that’s left is the lingering smell of bullshit. Henry Art Gallery, 4100 15th Ave. N.E. (UW campus), 543-2280, henryart.org. $6–$10. 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Wed., Sat., & Sun.; 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Thurs.–Fri. Ends Jan. 26.

The Living Dead: Inca Ancestors in the Visual and Performance Arts Wednesday, December 4, 7 pm Carolyn Dean, Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, discusses the visual and performance arts practiced by the Inca people prior to and following Spanish colonization.

Seattle Art Museum Downtown 1st Avenue & Union Street Buy tickets online at seattleartmuseum.org, by calling 206.654.3210 or at the Ticketing Desk at any of SAM’s three locations.

Presented on the occasion of Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon.

Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Image: Corpus Christi Procession (detail), ca. 1740, Peruvian, Cuzco School, Anonymous, oil on canvas, gold and silver leaves, 34 x 78 13/16 in., Museo Pedro de Osma, Lima, 82.0.494.

arts&culture» Film

Opening ThisWeek The Armstrong Lie

Black Nativity OPENS WED., NOV. 27 AT PACIFIC PLACE AND OTHER THEATERS. RATED PG. 93 MINUTES.

Adapting Langston Hughes’ 50-year-old stage musical, itself based on two-millennia-old Bible stories and favorite gospel themes from the black church, is not an easy task in the year of our Lord 2013. Teens are sexting and on Twitter.

Jep (Servillo) takes a stroll in The Great Bounty.

The old hymns lack a hip-hop beat. How can this movie be sold to pious grandmothers and their saggy-pants grandkids? Writer/director Kasi Lemmons never really solves this dilemma, but so what? There’s enough gospel singing, rap interludes, Scripture, street life, and Biblical dream sequences to satisfy a Sunday matinee audience. If Mary and Joseph and camels are walking through modern-day Times Square, no cabbies rudely honk. The story and dialogue are entirely schematic, but the important notes ring clear and true.

These are: the longing of 15-year-old Langston ( Jacob Latimore) for an intact family; the stinging rejection of his single mother Naima ( Jennifer Hudson) by her preacher father (Forest Whitaker); and the path by which all parties converge on Christmas Eve in Harlem, where Hughes’ Black Nativity is being performed in a small Baptist church. Hudson isn’t much of an actress, and Whitaker certainly can’t sing. (As his smiling wife, Angela Bassett is reduced to a Martha Stewart Living brownstone accoutrement, like an elegant oven mitt.) The new songs don’t match the old Sunday church standards, and Langston’s transformation from punk to prodigal is entirely routine. Still, there’s a distinction between hokum and the acceptably sappy, and this Nativity manages to sit on the right side of the pew. BRIAN MILLER

Camille Claudel 1915 RUNS FRI., NOV. 29–THURS., DEC. 5 AT SIFF FILM CENTER. NOT RATED. 97 MINUTES.

Juliette Binoche turns 50 next year. At an age when actresses are relegated to supporting roles or safe TV duty, this Oscar-winner is distinguishing herself as perhaps the most adventurous movie star alive right now. Not only does she work with the crème de la crème of the international directors’ club (David Cronenberg, Abbas Kiarostami, Michael Haneke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Olivier Assayas—and that’s just in the past decade), she also lends herself to smaller projects with first-time filmmakers and even the occasional Hollywood opus.

As a young actress, Binoche was spontaneous, almost wild. And while her features have refined into a face tautened by experience, she still has that ability to push herself into some truly dangerous places. There’s ample evidence of this in Camille Claudel 1915, a tough-minded film by a difficult director, Bruno Dumont. The story takes place over the course of a few days in the winter

of that year, during the artist’s incarceration in an insane asylum in the south of France. Camille is known both as a talented sculptor in her own right and as the tempestuous mistress of Auguste Rodin; after years of erratic behavior, her family institutionalized her in 1913. In this dramatization, Camille awaits a rare visit from her brother Paul ( Jean-Luc Vincent), a famous poet and devout Catholic.

In Camille’s dispiriting rounds at the asylum, she initially seems the only sane person at the place. (Dumont casts mentally impaired people as inmates, a tactic that sometimes creates fascinating ripples in Binoche’s performance.) Later, as Camille mutters about someone poisoning her food, we might wonder. One sequence picks up Paul’s journey to see his sister, and we peer into the kind of fevered religious devotion that would lead him to write soaring poetry and also keep his sister securely put away. At one point he suspects his own wild streak would be loosed if he hadn’t found Catholicism.

As a woman sidelined in the male-dominated art world, Claudel has frequently been championed as a feminist heroine. The 1988 biopic Camille Claudel took that reading and gave Isabelle Adjani a workout (and an Oscar nomination). Dumont has taken an unsparingly dour look at humankind in his previous movies, including The Life of Jesus, which isn’t about the life of Jesus, and Twentynine Palms. This one’s in a mournful key. Dumont builds to a crucial series of exchanges that can fairly be called devastating; and even where the movie remains opaque, there is Binoche to add humanity.

She also brings—as the character of Claudel requires—genius. Maybe you can’t act that, but she has it. ROBERT HORTON

PThe Great Beauty OPENS FRI., NOV. 29 AT VARSITY. NOT RATED. 142 MINUTES.

Instantly my favorite film thus far this year, Paolo Sorrentino’s account of an aging playboy journalist in Rome casts its eye back to La Dolce Vita (also about a playboy journalist in Rome). As in Fellini’s film, the ossified traditions of the Catholic church also figure in La Grande Bellezza. Yet this movie looks even further back, from the capsized Costa Concordia to the ruins and reproachful marble statues of antiquity.

“I feel old,” says Jep (the sublime Toni Servillo) soon after the debauch of his 65th birthday party. He’s been coasting on the success of his

Homefront OPENS WED., NOV. 27 AT OAK TREE AND OTHER THEATERS. RATED R. 100 MINUTES.

If I tell you that the ever-unpredictable James Franco plays a villain called “Gator” in a movie written by Sylvester Stallone, I would guess whatever’s forming in your mind right now is more fun than Homefront. This film is spirited— even breathless at times—but lacks the edge of craziness we’ve come to expect from the latest Franco escapade. Stallone originally wrote the script (adapted from a novel by Chuck Logan) for himself, but handed the property to his Expendables buddy Jason Statham. It’s about an ex-undercover fed trying to lay low in Louisiana with his 10-year-old daughter (Izabela Vidovic);

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Just as Lance Armstrong once pumped too much EPO into his veins, too much Lance Armstrong has been pumped into media annals to make Alex Gibney’s long-delayed documentary very newsworthy. He started out as a fan when following the 2009 comeback bid at the Tour de France, where Armstrong triumphed seven times from 1999 to 2005. That return was Armstrong’s downfall, though he couldn’t have known it when he granted Gibney backstage access to make some sort of cancer-awareness/human-interest hagiography film.

And that’s hardly consistent with Gibney’s resume, which includes Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room and the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, about the ugly underbelly of the U.S. war on terror. When Gibney came to SIFF last spring with We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, he told me he was in the midst of editing and incorporating new material into his abandoned Armstrong project. He had followed Armstrong to his January confession on Oprah and scored one long sit-down interview with the disgraced athlete, then tried to cut the whole before/after saga into a thorough, coherent tale.

Sorry to say, it doesn’t entirely work. Bicyclists and disappointed fans already know the story, and Armstrong is contrite only to a point. He’s too disciplined, like most elite athletes, to spill his guts on camera. Watching Armstrong before the fall, on stage with Bill Clinton and Mike Bloomberg, you can see why people once said he could be governor of Texas. He’s poised, smart, handsome, and relentlessly on message. Why did he risk it all with the stupid comeback? Hubris makes Armstrong an almost classically tragic hero. He’s most interesting when Gibney (and other journalists) here provoke his anger and peevishness, his self-justification, the chip on the shoulder of this bastard son of a teenage mother from Plano, Texas. Like a Horatio Alger striver or Bernie Madoff, Armstrong is a guy totally committed to achieving fame and fortune, no matter the ethical shortcuts involved.

Gibney interviews Armstrong’s old teammates and critics, but no intimates or family to shed light on his deeper motivations. Armstrong is mostly defiant, deflecting Gibney’s questions yet eloquent on the childhood freedom conferred by a BMX bike. Years later, he adapted to a professional sport that would earn him an estimated $125 million. Was he the exception or the exemplar? “You weren’t trying to beat the system,” says Armstrong’s right-hand rider, George Hincape, of the EPO era. “You were trying to be in the system.” BRIAN MILLER

GIANNI FIORITO/JANUS FILMS

OPENS WED., NOV. 27 AT SUNDANCE CINEMAS. RATED R. 123 MINUTES.

first and only novel, 40 years prior, content with his goal to be king of Rome’s high life. Which he is, with a posh apartment and terrace overlooking the Colosseum, a faithful maid and aristocratic friends, and low-hanging magazine assignments that keep him above the waterline. Again, think of the Costa Concordia, which Jep surveys with silent, morose recognition. The vessel isn’t merely a metaphor for Italy’s stasis and decline, it’s his emblem, too, in the fantastic fourth film by Sorrentino (Il Divo, This Must Be the Place).

Who cares for Rome’s past glories? In Sorrentino’s amazing first sequence, set to choral moans, only a gaggle of Japanese tourists. With its elegantly wandering camerawork, shot in widescreen by Luca Bigazzi, The Great Beauty then careens into the dissolute now—one of the movie’s two extended party scenes, in which the Jep-setters lose themselves in gaudy, dancing abandon. They want nothing to do with history; that’s just for the sightseers.

Yet Jep hasn’t lost his eye for social absurdities and human behavior. He’s a dandy with thinning hair brushed back and a girdle beneath his silk shirt. False appearances are all that count, but it takes intelligence to deceive. In one adroit sequence, he explains to a new stripper girlfriend—while helping her choose a tasteful funeral dress—exactly what to say and where to stand at the service. Then he delivers the perfect performance of mourning for a tortured young guy who hardly mattered to him.

It takes another death, that of his long-lost provincial girlfriend, to jolt Jep out of his gilded complacency. Disgust—and then perhaps selfdisgust—begins to color his perception of a Botox party, the food obsessions of a prominent cardinal, the splatter-art demonstration of a child artist who actually wants to be a veterinarian, and the whole “debauched country.” What’s the Italian term for flâneur? That’s where Jep starts out, calling himself a misanthrope and failed Proustian. Yet his gaze grows ever more cutting, as when he performs a brutal takedown of a fellow writer in whom he sees “a life in tatters, like the rest of us. We’re all on the brink of despair.” Gradually his petty cynicism becomes more profound, even lyrical. We glimpse his youth and lost love, and Jep even sees the sea on his ceiling—a tantalizing vision of escape, possibly salvation.

The brilliant Servillo makes Jep both suave and somber, a guy living parallel lives in hectic ballrooms and in his head. His wry glances are both mocking and wincing, appropriate for a movie that’s simultaneously bursting with life and regret. BRIAN MILLER

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 43

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“SCARY, SuSpENSEfuL AND ShoCkINGLY INTENSE. IT’S quITE A SpECTACLE, WATChING LANCE ARmSTRoNG LIE hIS ASS off.”

Cooke (right) as a promising young player.

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» FROM PAGE 43 as these things will go, his past comes back in a complicated but violent way. Gator is the local meth-lab cooker with dreams of expanding his operation, but his associates keep letting him down—especially his strung-out sister Cassie (Kate Bosworth, getting Christian Bale–skinny) and his anxious biker-chick girlfriend Cheryl (Winona Ryder).

Stallone knows the beats for this kind of action picture: bullying, humiliation, desperation, and zero help from local law enforcement.

(The villains even kidnap the little girl’s cat, which is a “Stand Your Ground” trigger in many states, if I’m not mistaken.) Pushback follows in due order, proving that Statham’s Phil Broker is quicker and more agile than the bayou’s best available henchmen. We also learn how to destroy a meth lab using light bulbs, gasoline, and towels, so there is useful information here.

This blueprint is managed by director Gary Fleder, who has progressed from the exasperating mannerisms of Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) to this film’s anonymous professionalism. Which actually is an improvement.

Statham suffers Stallone’s worst dialogue, though he maintains his action-man focus.

Franco does get something offbeat going: His best line readings capture a certain middlemanagement frustration with the incompetents around him, and he exhibits mother-hen fussing over the two women in his life, both tweakers.

Gator’s a bad guy, but he’s also caught in the food chain; and by taking his shot at the big time, he’s bound to be swallowed by more serious players. Like, you know, specialized biker-gang hit men—a reminder that this movie isn’t Tennessee Williams material, even if Franco plays it that way. ROBERT HORTON

Lenny Cooke RUNS FRI., NOV. 29–THURS., DEC. 5 AT NORTHWEST FILM FORUM. NOT RATED. 90 MINUTES.

The less you remember about Lenny Cooke going into this doc, the faster his tragedy sets in. At the beginning of the film, circa 2001, Cooke seems destined to be an NBA star, ranked nationally as a high schooler above LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. (Yes, such prep rankings exist, and are very competitive.) With a film crew already following his story, it’s Cooke who can beckon Anthony from across the room to join him during national exhibitions, with Melo dutifully complying. Meanwhile, with

more high-school seniors going directly into the NBA, we see Cooke seduced by the draw of skipping college and heading straight toward pro ball.

Cooke would become a poster child for what can go wrong when high-school kids go into the NBA draft, which the league banned in 2006.

However, this documentary is strongest not when probing such rules but when flexing the access filmmakers Ben and Joshua Safdie got to Cooke—both in his promising prime and devastating decline. Fair warning: If you’re suffering from seasonal affective disorder right now, you’d best avoid the brutal footage of Cooke’s 30thbirthday party.

With its sparse narration, the film has a frustrating habit of raising questions the Safdie brothers make no attempt to answer. In high school, Cooke leaves Brooklyn to live with a wealthy white woman in New Jersey who has the means to fly him to basketball exhibitions on a private jet. (“I’ve never had to show ID to get on a plane!” an exasperated Cooke later tells an teammate who’s puzzled by how he got to Las Vegas without a driver’s license.) How this arrangement came to be goes almost completely unexplained. There are also references to agents paying Cooke hundreds of thousands of dollars to pursue the NBA, but once again the details— vital to telling the bigger story of how NBA dreams can ruin young men—remain vague.

Still, Cooke’s story is an important corrective to all the tales of adversity overcome that are common this time of year. Sometimes things don’t work out; sometimes the guy you’re rooting for doesn’t win. And when the lights go out, life goes on. Just make sure you have plenty of antidepressants at the ready. DANIEL PERSON

Oldboy OPENS WED., NOV. 27 AT SUNDANCE AND OTHER THEATERS. RATED R. 104 MINUTES.

Joe Doucett walks into an Asian restaurant and gets distracted by a large fish tank full of soon-to-be menu items. He stops and peers at a small octopus clinging to its side, then moves along on his terrible journey. This moment in the Oldboy remake might suggest Joe’s empathy for an imprisoned creature, but really it’s there as an Easter egg for fans of the original 2003 South Korean revenge drama, a movie with one of the all-time show-stopping moments in the cinema history of seafood.

This nod to the first Oldboy recalls what was startling and shocking about Park Chan-wook’s film: It might do anything and go anywhere—

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Philomena OPENS WED., NOV. 27 AT SEVEN GABLES, SIFF, AND OTHERS. RATED PG-13. 95 MINUTES.

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The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers OPENS FRI., NOV. 29 AT SUNDANCE. NOT RATED. 114 MINUTES.

Wait, so Sandra Bullock made it back safely from space and became . . . Golda Meir? The first of two documentaries based on the 2010 memoirs of Israeli statesman Yehuda Avner, this installment adds some Hollywood voices to enliven the old speeches, newsreels, and photos.

These include Bullock (as Israel’s fourth prime minister), Leonard Nimoy, Michael Douglas, and Christoph Waltz. But mostly what we get is the spry, British-born Avner himself, now 84, who rose from speechwriter to diplomat during his four-decade career.

Maybe your memory suffered a little during those years, but his didn’t. We get a lot of political minutiae from this eyewitness to history, including visits with Presidents Truman and Johnson. But The Prime Minsters is equally an overview of Israel’s difficult birthing process, from the 1948 battle for independence through the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars. (If pitched to the History Channel, I think the network would say, “Could you add more battlefield stuff?

It’s a little dry.”) It’s an insider’s account, mostly a remembrance of heroic deeds and brave politicians, with essentially zero self-criticism. Meir and her cohort (Levi Eshkol, Yitzhak Rabin, and Menachem Begin) are presented at their best, their utterances delivered as if carved in marble.

If there was—as exists in every political arena— treachery, rivalry, corruption, and shady dealmaking, Avner evidently didn’t see it. Or, more likely, he looked the other way. BRIAN MILLER E

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A heartrending true story won’t get you everywhere in movies, but it can really help. And Philomena, based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by journalist and onetime UK government spokesman Martin Sixsmith, has a devastating tale to tell. The film begins with Sixsmith (Steve Coogan, late of The Trip), a brittle Oxbridge type, newly out of a job and lowering himself to write a human-interest story. That’s how he meets Philomena ( Judi Dench), an Irish lady with the kinds of questions that perhaps only a reporter could answer. As a teenager in the 1950s, Philomena got pregnant, was sent to a Catholic convent to hide her sin, and gave birth there. She remained at the convent as unpaid labor, and her little boy was taken at age 3, never to be seen or heard from again.

She’d like to know what happened. And so— despite his initial frostiness—would Sixsmith, whose outrage increases the more he learns. Their discoveries are a matter of record now, but we’ll hold off on the revelations . . . except to say that there are some doozies. The temptation to make this saga an odd-couple pairing has not been entirely resisted; this leads to the film’s soggiest moments, including the caricaturing of Philomena’s naiveté—which of course is shown to be superior to Sixsmith’s worldliness, as you knew it would be. That stuff makes Philomena seem at times like an awards-season offering made under the savvy hand of producer and Oscar-monger Harvey Weinstein. Which, partly, it is.

Maybe it’s Coogan’s acerbic personality (he scripted, with Jeff Pope), or director Stephen Frears’ unpretentious take on the material, but Philomena generally succeeds in distinguishing

itself from the average weepie. The calm roll-out is effective; Coogan’s performance is shrewd; and anytime the camera gets near the convent, the Irish chill is almost palpable. Three supporting performances supply an index of the lingering damage: Sophie Kennedy Clark is touching as the young Philomena; British stage legend Barbara Jefford is monstrous as the severest nun; and Mare Winningham—in maybe five minutes of screen time—absolutely crushes it as an American woman with connections to the case. They keep the movie honest, as it should be. ROBERT HORTON

MORIAH FILMS

nothing was safe. In Spike Lee’s redo, the plot is generally followed, but the edges are smoother.

Still, there’s plenty to be weirded out by: We meet Joe ( Josh Brolin) as a first-class jerk, kidnapped by unseen evildoers and held in a small room without explanation for 20 years. When he re-emerges, his plan is to find his now-adult daughter and get back at the people who locked him up. And, of course, to find out why any of that happened. The story is so wild (it has its roots in a Japanese manga) that realism is the last thing it needs—thus Lee’s characteristically overdone approach is actually not a bad fit here.

Brolin’s casting is also shrewd. The actor isn’t afraid to appear unsympathetic, and his simian features add to the sense of a man reduced to the most stupidly functional parts of his brain. Plus he’s spookily credible as a drunk.

Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) plays a social worker who helps the confused Joe, while Samuel L. Jackson is overqualified for his role as one of Joe’s tormentors. Sharlto Copley—recently a demonic presence in Elysium—is around to supply some extra menace, and his campy performance goes to the heart of why the new Oldboy eventually falls down. Copley’s over the top, but the movie hasn’t been cartoonish until he arrives; are we watching a grim, conventional drama or a movie that can’t take its lunatic plot seriously? Lee hasn’t solved that problem. Where the original Oldboy (seen here in 2005) plunged straight ahead in its full-on commitment to insanity, this remake doesn’t find its proper footing. That’s good news for octopi, not so much for the rest of us. ROBERT HORTON

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BY BRIAN MILLER

Local & Repertory SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 40.

• CASABLANCA DAYS OF HEAVEN SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 40.

• DIFFERENTLY, MOLUSSIA Director Nicolas Rey will

Terrence Malick’s

attend the screening and explain how he came to make a nine-part adaptation of Günther Anders’ The Molussian Catacomb. The novelist and philosopher wrote the book partly during exile, after being chased out Vienna by Hitler. And more, the political-philosophical allegory has its parts screened in random order.

(NR) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 8297863, nwfilmforum.org, $6-$10, Wed., Nov. 27, 7 p.m.

FILMAGE: THE STORY OF DESCENDENTS/ALL Dave Grohl, Mike Watt, and others are among the sources in this new doc about the punk band The Descendents.

(NR) Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 523-3935, $5-$10, Sat., Nov. 30, 3 p.m.

IN NO GREAT HURRY Certain big names emerged among postwar American street photographers. Saul Leiter wasn’t one of them. He moved to New York in the mid-’40s, began shooting urban scenes in blackand-white, and transitioned in the ’50s to color—then considered the lowly province of Look and LIFE and fashion mags. No serious photographer would be caught dead shooting the stuff. Yet Leiter persisted, and Steidl’s 2008 publication of his Early Color suddenly put him in the pantheon with William Eggleston, Robert Frank, and Gary Winogrand. English filmmaker Tomas Leach became a fan (as did I), and he’s created an intimate documentary portrait of the now-90-year-old artist. The doc includes a generous selection of Leiter’s work, in which awnings, umbrellas, and women’s dresses become smears of color, often shot through damp windows and cropped in-frame by the city’s architecture and street furniture. But, in 13 chapters, what Leiter mainly does is discourse on his patient method. The son of a rabbi, Leiter invests his images with numinous mystery. What’s he trying to capture?

The avuncular artist is vague to the point of Zen. “My photographs are meant to tickle your left ear,” he says, and leaves it at that. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Northwest Film Forum, $6–$10. Wed., Nov. 27, 7 & 9 p.m.

SAVAGE STREETS Linnea Quigley and Linda Blair are among the fading stars in this 1984 teenage revenge flick. (R) Grand Illusion, $5-$8, Fri., Nov. 29, 11 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 30, 11 p.m.

TRASHED What but a sense of shame about the trash each of us produces could account for the relief of disposing of it and the speed at which its memory evaporates? But our garbage never really goes away, as Jeremy Irons and director Candida Brady expend vigorous energy and much jet fuel to illustrate in the quietly livid Trashed. Irons’ high indignation provides a fine, Stradivarian accompaniment to his visits to a seething Lebanon landfill, several Scandinavia incineration plants, a rubbish-choked Indonesia river, and, most grotesquely, a hall of Agent Orange–warped fetuses aligned in giant pickling jars in Vietnam. The form is straightforward, if a little meandering, as is the message: We have to fix this. Discussion follows.

(NR) MICHELLE ORANGE Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place N., 632-6021, keystoneseattle.org, Free, Fri., Nov. 29, 7 p.m.

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Moves to the insistent beat of life.”

Manohla Dargis, THE NEW YORK TIMES A FILM BY PAOLO SORRENTINO

Ongoing

• ALL IS LOST Playing an unnamed solo yachtsman

shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean, the 77-year-old Robert Redford is truly like The Old Man and the Sea—a taciturn, uncomplaining hero in the Hemingway mold. Writer/director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) withholds any personal information about our nearwordless hero, whose sloop is damaged by an errant floating shipping container, somehow lost during its journey from China to the U.S. His radio and electronics are flooded, so he calmly and methodically goes about patching his boat while storm clouds gather in the distance. Like Gravity and Captain Phillips, this is fundamentally a process drama: Character is revealed through action, not words. Here is a small man adrift, stripped of technology, surviving by his wits. Here, too, is Redford without any Hollywood trappings—no chance to smile or charm. And it’s a great performance, possibly his best. All Is Lost pushes backward to the primitive: from GPS technology to sextant to drifting raft. It’s a simple story, but so in a way was that of Odysseus: epic, stoic, and specific. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER Bainbridge, Oak Tree, Meridian

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Seattle Weekly Wednesday, 11/27

• BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR In Abdellatif

Kechiche’s three-hour Cannes prize-winner, our main character is Adèle, played by the splendid Adèle Exarchopoulos. She begins as a high-school student and grows up during a half-dozen years, mostly involving her relationship with Emma (Léa Seydoux).

Emma is a dashing figure, artsy and experienced, with upper-class parents and intellectual friends. It’s a lot to handle for Adèle, who comes from humbler origins and really just wants to teach grade-school kids. As the bedroom scenes suggest, there is a strong physical connection here, but the movie is about much more than that—why any given love affair might thrive and/ or founder. Blue’s length allows the sex scenes to take their proper role in Adèle’s world: Their duration shows us how much they matter, but they don’t actually take up that much time when folded into the larger dish.

Based on a recent graphic novel by Julie Maroh and on Pierre de Marivaux’s 18th-century novel La vie de Marianne), the film repeatedly raises the question of how difficult it is to understand another person. At first, Adèle doesn’t know who she is yet. But her exit from the film’s strong final sequence suggests she is ready to slip the frames others have put around her—including the movie itself. (NC-17) ROBERT HORTON Harvard Exit, Sundance THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN There’s something both melodramatic and archetypical about this affecting, unwieldy tearjerker, which originated as a musical stage show co-written by and also starring Johan Heldenbergh as Didier. The movie begins with a pure, frontal Carter Family blast of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” This isn’t realism, but something heightened by the music, like a church service. Here I’ll note that Heldenbergh does his own singing, most of the band is real, and the astonishing Veerle Baetens lends her real voice to Elise’s singing, too. An impetuous tattoo artist, Elise falls instantly for Didier, moves to his farm (he’s a Flemish “kuu-boy”), and soon joins his band. Baetens has sung in Belgian stage roles, and obviously studied hard to get that Partonesque twang in her voice. This is a band you would pay to see on tour. Director Felix van Groeningen has given a strenuously elliptical edit to the originally straightforward stage tale, also freighting it with camera effects. Since Didier and Elise’s story covers about a half-dozen years, packed with romance, music, and tragedy, the effect is a bit like Once—if that musical couple had stayed together for the long, difficult business of maintaining a marriage. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Varsity CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Tom Hanks is hijacked and held hostage by Somali pirates, as actually happened to Richard Phillips in 2009, upon whose book this film is based. If you read that account or the newspapers, there’s nothing surprising here, though expert director Paul Greengrass—of the Bourne movies and United 93—adds as much tension as he can, chiefly through jittery cameras, screaming pirates, and the late-film addition of lethal Navy SEALs. But if I may jump to the end of the movie first: Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray do make the interesting decision not to treat that ending triumphantly. What we could not guess is that after more than two days of cool thinking, protecting his crew, calm negotiating, and even coaching his captors, Captain Phillips would finally lose his shit.

Before that point, however, he flatters the chief pirate, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), by treating him as an equal. If not quite cogs, they’re bit players in the global nexus of commerce and power. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER Varsity, Meridian, Thornton Place, others DALLAS BUYERS CLUB Making a straight white Texas homophobe the hero of a film about the ’80s AIDS crisis doesn’t seem right. It’s inappropriate, exceptional, possibly even crass. All those qualities are reflected in Matthew McConaughey’s ornery, emaciated portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a rodeo rider and rough liver who contracted HIV in 1985. Fond of strippers, regularly swigging from his pocket flask, doing lines of coke when he can afford them, betting on the bulls he rides, Ron has tons of Texas-sized character. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, the unruly Dallas Buyers Club goes easy on the sinner-to-saint conversion story. McConaughey and the filmmakers know that once Ron gets religion, so to speak, their tale risks tedium. As Ron desperately bribes and steals a path to off-label meds, then drives to Mexico to smuggle them from a sympathetic hippie doctor (good to see you, Griffin Dunne), his allies and adversaries do read like fictional composites. There’s nice Dr. Saks (Jennifer Garner) and her profit-minded, drug-trial-chasing boss (Denis O’Hare), plus a friendly cop (Steve Zahn) and the transvestite who becomes Ron’s right-hand woman (Jared Leto). Rayon is also an addict, sicker than Ron, but they’re fellow gamblers who delight in beating the house. Dallas Buyers Club is ultimately more a caper

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movie than an AIDS story. There are better, more accurate films about the latter subject, but those are called documentaries. (R) BRIAN MILLER Harvard Exit, Sundance, Lincoln Square, Thornton Place ENOUGH SAID Nothing much happens in a Nicole Holofcener film, and that’s OK. Ten years divorced, her daughter soon to leave for college, Eva (Julia LouisDreyfus) wearily lugs her massage table from client to client, hearing their petty complaints without comment, seemingly resigned to a single woman’s slide toward menopause. The large, hairy obstacle in that path is Albert (James Gandolfini), also divorced with a college-bound daughter. Eva has a secret pipeline to confirm her doubts about him: Albert’s ex-wife Marianne (Catherine Keener) is one of her clients.

Yet she continues to knead and befriend the cynical poet while allowing Marianne’s complaints to poison her relationship with Albert. In his last screen role, Gandolfini conveys a lumpy shyness and decency; his Albert is genuinely hurt by the fat-shaming of Eva’s yoga-toned cohort. For the women of Enough Said, too much candor has its risks, but remaining silent can bring disaster. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER Pacific Place GRAVITY George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are stranded in orbit, menaced by regular bombardments of space debris. The oxygen is running out and there’s no prospect of rescue from Earth. Their dilemma is established in an astonishing 12-minute opening sequence, seamlessly rendered via CGI by director Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También).

The camera occupies no fixed position. There is no up or down in the frame as it pushes and swoops among the wreckage and flailing astronauts. (Here let’s note that the 3-D version is essential; don’t even consider seeing the conventional rendering.) Dr. Stone (Bullock) at first can’t get her bearings; and the rest of the film consists of her navigating from one problem to the next. Stone scores her biggest laugh with an exasperated aside: “I hate space.” Thanks to Cuarón’s peerless directing work, we know just the feeling. (PG13) BRIAN MILLER Lincoln Square, Thornton Place, Meridian, Sundance, others NEBRASKA Whether delusional, demented, or duped by a sweepstakes letter promising him $1 million, it really doesn’t matter about the motivations of Woody (the excellent and subdued Bruce Dern). What counts is the willpower of this cotton-haired, ex-alcoholic Montana geezer. His son David (Will Forte, surprisingly tender) becomes the enabler/Sancho Panza figure on their trek to Nebraska, where Woody expects to get his prize. There is a lifetime of regret and bad parenting to reveal in Alexander Payne’s black-whitemovie, which makes it sound more bleak than it is.

There’s both comedy and pathos as Woody makes his triumphant return to Hawthorne, en route to the sweepstakes office in Lincoln, Nebraska. Supposedly a prospective millionaire in his old hometown, he’s a big shot at last, grander than his bullying old business partner Ed (Stacy Keach). If the locals mistakenly gush over Woody’s good fortune, and if his own ridiculous family, the Grants, come begging for riches, he enjoys the acclaim. Also visiting Lincoln is Woody’s wife, the movie’s salty truth-teller. Kate (June Squibb, a hoot) cheerfully defames the dead, ridicules Woody’s lottery dreams, and gives zero fucks about offending anyone.

Nebraska is a little slow for my taste but enormously rewarding in the end, one of the year’s best films. (R) BRIAN MILLER Guild 45th 12 YEARS A SLAVE Made by English director Steve McQueen, this harrowing historical drama is based on a memoir by Solomon Northup (here played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man from Saratoga, New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841.

Solomon passes through the possession of a series of Southern plantation owners. One sensitive owner (Benedict Cumberbatch) gives Solomon—a musician by trade—a fiddle. Then he’s sold to the cruel cotton farmer Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), who also owns the furiously hard-working Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o). Patsey, like Solomon, is caught inside the terror of not knowing how to play this hand. Do they keep their heads down and try to survive, or do they resist? This is no Amistad or Schindler’s List, tackling the big story, but a personal tale. Instead of taking on the history of the “peculiar institution,” the film narrows itself to a single story, Solomon’s daily routine, his few possessions. The film’s and-then-this-happened quality is appropriate for a memoir written in the stunned aftermath of a nightmare. Along the way, McQueen includes idyllic nature shots of Louisiana, as though to contrast that unspoiled world with what men have done in it. The contrast is lacerating. (R) ROBERT HORTON SIFF Cinema Uptown, Guild 45th, Kirkland Parkplace, Bainbridge, Lincoln Square, Ark Lodge, Meridian, Thornton Place, others

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arts&culture» Music

Burgers and Blunts

The high and mighty Nacho Picasso has Twitter followers encouraging a presidential run, but first he’s got to wake up in time for his tattoo appointment.

BY KELTON SEARS

N

48

AVI LOUD

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

acho Picasso almost slept through his tattoo appointment the day I spoke to him. Noon, when it was scheduled, is about three and a half hours earlier than he says he normally wakes up.

He can’t remember how many tattoos he has.

He claims he lost track in high school. At this point, he counts the vacant spaces on his body instead: one calf, the opposite thigh, and his head (which he already has plans to cover). Today he started inking that vacant calf with the beginnings of what he calls a “vampire bitch” sleeve.

This morning’s appointment was for a tattoo of Vampirella, the cult comic-book character who’s sort of like an undead Bettie Page. Her trademark outfit is a thin red leather strip that covers only her nipples and her crotch. Next up is a tattoo of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the busty ’80s kitsch horror queen.

This is Nacho Picasso: the self-described “scumbag” of Seattle’s Moor Gang rap collective, and one of Seattle’s fastest-rising rappers. His latest album, High & Mighty, is a marijuana-smoke cloud of deft wordplay and lurid misadventures that has his notoriously rowdy fans hyped.

“I’ve got a special relationship with my fans where, if you get kicked out of one of my shows, I will tweet you to meet me in the alley, and I’ll still smoke a blunt with you or shake your hand,”

Picasso says. “Kids get carried away at my shows.

Fifty kids will get kicked out at a time. I feel like my fans identify with the rebelliousness and the ‘I don’t give a fuck’ fun attitude.”

On Twitter, fans have taken a special liking to High & Mighty track “Duck Tales” for its chorus “Don’t hold a grudge, hold a dick.” Then there’s “The Lick,” in which he says, “Kiss the tip like my pubes are the mistletoe/She don’t swallow, hold her mouth bro, pinch her nose.”

I ask Picasso if the sole female MC in the Moor Gang, Gift Uh Gab, ever gives the rapper a rough time for his skirt-chasing. Between “Duck Tales” and Picasso’s frequent Twitter updates about what girl (or girls) kept him up last night, it seems he might sometimes rub Gift Uh Gab the wrong way.

“Fuck no. She’s a Moor,” Picasso says. “You gotta have tough skin to hang with the raunchiest group of boys in the city. She holds her own.

She puts us in our place half the damn time.”

Picasso’s High & Mighty track “Black Gypsies” is an ode to the Moor family, a group of roaming friends and MCs who purport to do what they want. “We live like gypsies,” Picasso says. “A lot of us never had fathers, so we became our own family.”

When Picasso was a kid, his father, a poet, died after a long fight with AIDS. His caretaker personally typed out his verse from his deathbed.

Picasso likes to think he’s carrying on his father’s legacy through his music. “When I told his sister, my auntie, that I was doing music, she started crying,” he recalls. “She said I was picking up where he left off.”

While his father struggled with a lack of recognition for his art, Picasso has had quite the opposite experience. His massive fan following treats him like a king, tweeting affirmations daily and starting hashtags like #NachoPforPresident2016. The highest compliment came when Marcus Lalario, owner of local burger shop Lil Woody’s, asked Nacho to design a High & Mighty burger.

“I was like, ‘Hellll yeah. Can I have anything on it?’ So I made this super-fucking burger that had everything on it, and he hit me up and was like, ‘Man, we’re going to have to dumb it down a little bit.’ ” The result is a concoction including bacon, Monterey Jack, American cheese, egg, pineapple, mayonnaise, and custom BBQ sauce.

“Man, the original one had Hawaiian sweet bread buns. It would’ve made you puke,” Nacho says. “Next time I’m just going to stick a patty between two cinnamon buns.” With Avatar Darko.

The Crocodile. 2200 Second Ave, 441-4618, thecroco dile.com. $10. All ages.

8 p.m. Fri., Nov 29. E ksears@seattleweekly.com

SevenNights E D I T E D B Y G W E N D O LY N E L L I O T T

Wednesday, Nov. 27 SWEARIN’ & WAXAHATCHEE Allison Crutchfield

and her twin sister Kate played together in P.S. Eliot before going their separate ways. Allison formed Swearin’; Kate, Waxahatchee. Both bands released sophomore albums this year: Swearin’s Surfing Strange finds Allison testing her musical boundaries, while Waxahatchee’s Cerulean Salt has received welldeserved critical acclaim. With Dead Bars. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005, chopsuey.com. 8 p.m. $10/$12 DOS. MICHAEL F. BERRY SOL AND FRIENDS Sol left Seattle after selling out the Showbox and spent most of 2012 traveling the world.

His third album, Eyes Open, gives us a window seat to his journey of self-discovery. He’ll perform his new material with a live band for the first time in Seattle.

With Sam Lachow, Dave B. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151, showboxonline.com. 8 p.m.

SOLD OUT. MFB CASCADIA ’10 While the Northwest might seem like a strange place to birth an Afrobeat band, Cascadia ’10 is the real deal. Swaggering horn sections and the tightest rhythm section in town have turned both young and old into limber dancers at past Cascadia ’10 shows, and tonight will be no different. With Down North, The Real Don Music. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-4880, sunsettavern.com. 9 p.m. $8. 21 and over. KELTON SEARS

Thursday, Nov. 28

TAJ MAHAL TRIO For eight nights, Seattle will be the

home of legendary blues master Taj Mahal, who’s been visiting Seattle for Thanksgiving for close to 20 years now. To refer to him as strictly a blues artist, however, is a total undersell. Certainly he’s most widely known and regarded for playing the blues, but his music has always been more diverse than that. With Taj Mahal, you get jazz, wild global beats, and rhythms from places like the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America.

You get a musician proficient in over 20 instruments (ukulele, guitar, banjo, piano, etc.). And though it’s been some time since his last studio record, 2008’s Maestro, Mahal, with a back catalog of 25 solo records to draw from, could perform from here to Christmas and not play the same tune twice. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave., 441-9729, jazzalley.com. Through Dec. 1. 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. $32.50. CORBIN REIFF

Friday, Nov. 29

A TRIBUTE TO LOU REED AND THE VELVET UNDERGROUND As has been oft-repeated since

Lou Reed passed away late last month, the prolific songwriter once said, “One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz.”

Those are the words of a poet who understands that feeling can always trump form. Playing Reed’s music, then, shouldn’t be too difficult for the artists gathering tonight to perform the songs that Reed first gave life to as a member of the Velvet Underground and in his uncompromising solo career. What will be difficult is facing the death of an iconic artist. Fortunately, Reed wrote some songs for just such an occasion. With Hounds of the Wild Hunt, Gibraltar, Bigfoot Wallace, Ruler, Invisible Shivers, Kevin Sur, Robert Deeble, Rob Femurs. Columbia City Theater, 4918 Rainier Ave. S., 723-0088, columbiacitytheater.com. 8 p.m. $6 adv./ $8 DOS. MARK S. BAUMGARTEN BLACK JOE LEWIS For its latest album, August’s Electric Slave, this Austin-based musician and his band may have dropped “& the Honeybears” from its name, but it’s kept the bluesy, horn-heavy grooves featured on their debut album, 2009’s Tell ’Em What Your Name Is!, and 2011’s Scandalous and added a bit of punk-rock attitude. With Radkey, Think No Think. The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 682-1414, stgpresents.org/ neptune. 9 p.m. $20 adv./$22 DOS. All ages. AZARIA C. PODPLESKY NO REY As much as Seattle Weekly would love to take credit for its success (frontman Alejandro Garcia was our accommodating cover man a few years back), this multinational group, comprising members originally from Columbia, England, and Detroit, has a sound that speaks for itself. Think Rusted Root with a Latin flair.

The five-piece releases its new LP, Untie Your Arms, tonight. With the Country Lips, the Swearengens, Aaron McDonnell & The Gospel Plow. Sunset Tavern.

10:30 p.m. $8. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

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arts&culture» Music

WED/NOVEMBER 27 • 7PM & 10PM - CAN CAN PRESENTS

buckaroos

FRI/NOVEMBER 29 & SAT/NOVEMBER 30 • 8PM 7TH ANNUAL THANKSGIVING WEEKEND MELTDOWN

the paperboys

w/ danny godinez (11/29) & locarno (11/30) SUN/DECEMBER 1 • 7PM - ABBEY ARTS PRESENTS

the winter round lizzy & jonny gundersen, erin austin, daniel blue & more!

MON/DECEMBER 2 • 7PM - 2ND ANNUAL

dammit liz holiday special the doubleclicks, kyle stevens, super guitar brothers & more!

TUE/DECEMBER 3 • 7:30PM

ed kowalczyk “i alone acoustic” w/ callaghan

omar torrez SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

T

he rock legend, who died in 1970 from an overdose of barbiturates, would have turned 71 today—which may seem ancient by guitarhero standards, but here’s some perspective: Carlos Santana is 66. Eric Clapton is 68. And Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and Jeff Beck are all 69. And by the way, all of them still shred like they were vibrant young men.

Though Jimi’s been gone for more than 40 years, he remains as popular as ever. His music is ubiquitous on rock radio, he still tops virtually every poll of the greatest guitarists ever, and fans are still ravenous for all things Jimi. In recent weeks alone, PBS aired the documentary Hear My Train a Comin’ as part of its American Masters series; a new book, 27, explores the phenomenon of rock stars who died at that age, including Jimi; and it was just announced that 2014 will see the latest edition of The Experience Hendrix tour, in which Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Dweezil Zappa, and others will pay tribute to the Seattle-born guitar god in a series of shows across the country.

All this leads to the annual celebration of Hendrix’s birth, organized by his niece Tina Hendrix

Saturday, Nov. 30 BALL OF WAX Every three months, Levi Fuller tasks a

WED/DECEMBER 4 • 7:30PM

50

Wednesday, November 27

THU/DECEMBER 5 • 7:30PM

david bromberg quintet next • 12/6 vaden todd lewis • 12/7 an evening with joe henry • 12/8 an evening with buika • 12/10 rhett miller • 12/12 - 12/28 land of the sweets: the burlesque nutcracker • 12/31 an evening with storm large • 1/2 seth freeman cd release party with the cody rentas band • 1/4 the brian nova all star big band • 1/8 red molly w/ anne and pete sibley • 1/9 - 1/11 elvis alive w/ vince mira & guests • 1/12 school of rock performs the beatles • 1/14 emily asher’s garden party • 1/16 kelly joe phelps • 1/17 & 1/18 los lobos • 1/22 george kahumoku jr and led kaapana

happy hour every day • 11/27 the true romans • 11/28 closed for the holiday • 11/29 gypsy swing happy hour: the djangomatics / grant schroff trio • 11/30 jelly rollers • 12/1 highway 99 blues club presents: charles mack • 12/2 crossrhythm session • 12/3 singersongwriter showcase featuring: whitney mongé and kurt lindsay • 12/4 supersones TO ENSURE THE BEST EXPERIENCE · PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY DOORS OPEN 1 HOUR PRIOR TO FIRST SHOW · ALL-AGES (BEFORE 9:30PM)

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The Jimi Hendrix Birthday Tribute Concert

cadre of inventive songwriters to compose and perform songs based on a different theme. Often Fuller must dream up the theme, but this go-round the universe delivered it. For the 34th installment of the Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly, he naturally asked musicians to write songs in ¾ time. They obliged, and the result is a stylistically diverse, time-signature-static collection from the likes of Virgin of the Birds, Sun Tunnels, Emiko Blalock, Bret Phillips’s Whole Halves, and Joshua Morrison’s St. Kilda. Some of these artists will join Fuller on stage tonight. Bring your waltzing partner. Conor Byrne, 5140 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-3640, conorbyrnepub.com. 8:30 p.m. $7 (includes copy of Ball of Wax #34). MSB THE DICKIES There wouldn’t be a Blink-182 or Green Day without the Dickies, who formed in 1977 and were one of the first bands to integrate melody, humor, and pop-culture references into punk rock. They were also the first California punk band to sign to a major label. That was 35 years ago, and the Dickies are still at it. With Dreadful Children, Go Like Hell, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S., Poorsport. El Corazon, 109 Eastlake Ave. E., 262-0482, elcorazon.com. 8 p.m. $13 adv./ $15 DOS. DAVE LAKE MOVEMBER BENEFIT Congrats! After a month of dealing with what I imagine to be a very itchy face (or itchy legs, ladies), you’ve survived Movember, the monthlong no-shave movement (and global charity) meant to draw attention to men’s-health issues and raise funds for men’s-health programs. Celebrate the end of a hairy month (and show off that sweet beard) at this Movember event. With Vacant Seas, Oddeven, Sailor Mouth, Cutlass Supreme. The Highline, 210 Broadway Ave. E., 328-7837, highlineseattle.com. 9 p.m. $10 suggested donation. ACP BENEFIT FOR LA LUZ The best thing about the local music community is that it’s just that: a community.

One that celebrates the highs and comforts you through the lows, values that have recently been on display to a heartening degree. When surf-rock group La Luz was in a nasty car accident earlier this month (luckily, none of the four members were too severely injured—although their van and gear is another story), the city’s musicians and fans rallied, showing support any way they could: A donation jar was set up at the Neumos show the band had to cancel;

and featuring performances from his brother Leon Hendrix, among others. The event will help raise money for The Hendrix Music Academy, an organization started by Tina to provide music education to King County’s at-risk youth. In addition to Leon (now 65, he learned to play guitar at age 50), the show will feature Bluemeadows, Godfish, Kayla Steward, and an opening set from Academy students.

Though for many years Leon was embroiled in a bitter legal battle over the rights to his brother’s estate, he has finally come to terms with not owning a piece of it. “I’m not going to let things eat me away,” he told The Independent earlier this year. “I don’t like that feeling and anxiety.”

No hard feelings will be on display tonight—just positive reminders of the power and lasting legacy of Jimi’s music. Vera Project, 305 Warren Ave. N., 956-8372, theveraproject.org. 7:30 p.m. $20. All ages. DAVE LAKE

rapper RA Scion donated all the proceeds from his album-release party to the girls; and Hardly Art, La Luz’s label, set up a PayPal account for them. And DJ Sharlese Metcalf and friends are lending a hand with this benefit show. JewelBox Theater, 2322 Second Ave., 441-5823, jewelboxtheater.com. 8 p.m. $10 suggested donation. 21 and over. ACP Nothing against THE CAVE SINGERS, but opening band POLLENS is the act to see on this bill. If you haven’t heard this band before, it’s a less-pretentious Dirty Projectors: six people clapping, bongoing, and harmonizing their way through songs whose time signatures are wild tangles of prime numbers. And while I’m probably not supposed to say it, the girls are total babes.

The Neptune. 9 p.m. $20. All ages, bar with I.D. DANIEL PERSON When SANDRIDER opened for Ty Segall a couple of months ago, Segall headbanged furiously in the audience and threw up the devil horns more than once. The band’s new album, Godhead, is the most rock-and-roll thing to come out of Seattle in a while, so prepare to get your face melted by the band’s Soundgardenindebted shred. With Constant Lovers, Dust Moth.

Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467, neumos.com. 8 p.m. $10. 21 and over. KS THE REDWOOD PLAN To see Lesli Wood perform with her band, The Redwood Plan, at Bumbershoot this past September was to see a performer in mid-stride. Clad in black beneath the blazing sun, Plan churned out driving, melodic post-punk songs from its latest, Green Light Go, while its leader, with her shock of bright red hair, pumped her knees and arms incessantly, bouncing in time to the beat. Tonight is the final chance to catch the band in this phase before it burrows under and starts working on new material. With The West, Black Swede. Sunset Tavern. 10 p.m. $8. MSB

Sunday, Dec. 1

24-year-old rapper/producer IAMSU! (aka Sudan Williams) has a firm grasp on the culture of his generation. His song “Hipster Girls,” off his latest mixtape, Kilt II, pays homage to the Los Angeles–bound, Urban Outfitters–frequenting girls on Instagram and Tumblr (those who tie flannels around their waist and are friends with promoters all over town), all in Su’s laidback flow. With Sage the Gemini. Showbox at the Market. 8 p.m. $20 adv./$22 DOS. All ages. ACP

KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND This is a proper way

to kick off a celebration of 40 years of American disco.

Started in 1973 as a hybrid of R&B and Junkanoo street music, KC and the Sunshine Band flourished in the mid-’70s with songs like “Get Down Tonight” and “(That’s the Way) I Like It.” But when the disco ball stopped turning, so did the records made by KC and his dance-floor cohorts, including tonight’s other act, the Village People. Their sounds should be wellpreserved. Snoqualmie Casino, 37500 S.E. North Bend Way, Snoqualmie, 425-888-1234, snocasino.com. 7 p.m. $40.55–$83.60 adv. MSB FREEDY JOHNSTON He may make records at a slowish pace these days (his last album of new material came out in 2010), but his touring schedule is far from sluggish. The “Bad Reputation” singer is a tremendous troubadour, and the Tractor is the perfect venue for his intimate tales of complicated characters. With Barton Carroll. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 7893599. tractortavern.com. 7 p.m. $12. 21 and over. DL

Tuesday, Dec. 3

ANNA OXYGEN A product of the early-’00s experimen-

tal-pop boomlet in Olympia that also gave us Tracy and the Plastics, Mirah, Mt. Eerie, and The Blow, Anna Oxygen made her mark with aerobics performances set to her lo-fi synth pop. Since moving to L.A. a few years back, she’s maintained a low profile as a musician (her last release was 2006’s This Is an Exercise).

It’s not clear what she’ll bring to the stage tonight, but it should be memorable. With S, Childbirth. Chop Suey.

8 p.m. $8. MSB DANIELIA COTTON There is such a natural grit to this New Jersey–born singer’s voice; whether she’s singing over pedal-to-the-metal rock riffs or taking things a bit slower on a bluesy tune, the attitude and emotion in it is immediately apparent. Her latest album, 2012’s The Gun in Your Hand, is a solid mix of Cotton’s two sides.

With Jonny Marnell. El Corazon. 8 p.m. $8 adv./$10 DOS. 21 and over. ACP DECK THE HALL BALL In what is perhaps its most globally diverse lineup yet, 107.7 The End is back with another Deck the Hall Ball, now in its 22nd year. Scottish synth-poppers CHVRCHES (filling in for Tame Impala) will kick off the event. The first of three English bands, Foals, an indie-rock quintet from Oxford, will play next; followed by everyone’s favorite

alt-pop princess, New Zealand’s Lorde, playing her second Seattle show this year (following a soldout set at September’s Decibel Festival). Sheffield, England–based indie rockers Arctic Monkeys will play songs from their latest album, September’s AM, before fellow Brits (and Mercury Prize winners) Alt-J take the stage. Hometown heroes The Head and the Heart (whose latest album, Let’s Be Still, has received rave reviews since its October release) and French alt-rock quartet Phoenix will take the stage as well.

New York’s Vampire Weekend round out the night with jams from its latest, Modern Vampires of the City.

Whew! Better bring your dancing shoes. KeyArena, Seattle Center, 684-7200, keyarena.com. 3 p.m. $68 and up. All ages. ACP ESCONDIDO This Nashville-based duo just released its debut, The Ghost of Escondido, in a town known for cranking out music at each end of the sonic spectrum: pop country and indie rock. They land somewhere in between. Escondido’s confluence of shoegazey reverb, singsongy vocals, and vaguely country tones is as much indie-pop as it is Americana. To put it another way, if you like Mazzy Star, Calexico, Bright Black Morning Light, Lana Del Rey, and the films of Sergio Leone, this band’s for you. With James Apollo, Grant Geertsma. Tractor Tavern. 8 p.m. $10. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT ED KOWALCZYK Although his former band members don’t want you to know it, Kowalczyk was the lead singer of Live. They parted ways in 2009, leaving him to pursue his personal vision. Since then, he’s released two solo albums; his second, The Flood and the Mercy, appeared in September. The “I Alone Acoustic” tour obviously recalls the title of one of Live’s big hits—and on this tour, Kowalczyk is performing songs that span his catalog—but his solo material is more introspective and varied (for better or worse) than his work with Live. His voice has lost some of its rasp and is much smoother now, and he’s been collaborating with a wide variety of musicians—most notably R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who played on half of Mercy. It will be interesting to see how some of his grunge anthems translate to a more intimate acoustic setting. With Callaghan. The Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333, thetripledoor.net. 7:30 p.m. $35/$40/$45VIP DOS. MFB

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LOUIS HAYES AND THE CANNONBALL LEGACY MON, DEC 9

For more than 40 years, drummer Louis Hayes has been a catalyst for energetic swing, straight ahead post-bop and modern jazz

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Cat Power

Thursday, November 28

Sun, in fact, three years in the making, finally came to light when she and Ribisi broke up. “I cut my hair off three days later, got on a plane to France, and finished the shit,” she told The Stool Pigeon in an interview. “I’m very proud of it.” Proud, likely, because she wrote, played, recorded, and produced the album mostly herself, citing minimal contributions from collaborators like Philippe Zdar (Phoenix, Beastie Boys), who mixed it, and Iggy Pop, one of the record’s few guests.

“Sun is don’t look back, pick up, and go confidently into your own future, to personal power and fulfillment,” Marshall says. At 41, playing solo for the first time since 2005, it’s sound advice she appears now to be living by. Or, as she succinctly puts it in “Peace and Love”: “I’m a lover, but I’m in it to win.” With Nico Turner.

Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151, showboxonline.com/market. 9 p.m. $35 adv./$40 DOS. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVE MBER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

at Power,” a friend said to me once, “is one of those artists who should never tour. She’s so amazing in the studio. She just can’t do it live.”

Many would agree. Crippling stage anxiety and a tendency to hit the bottle are very good reasons to concentrate efforts at home, so to speak. Yet for Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, her restlessness to perform live for fans—of which she has devoted legions—has, historically, trumped her personal troubles. Tours have been cancelled in the process and performances have been either sublime or disastrous, but nothing— including depression, substance abuse, and breakdowns—has kept Cat Power away from the road for too long.

To wit, over a densely layered piano loop in “Ruin,” the third track from last year’s Sun, the artist rattles off an itinerary of global cities that would make Rick Steves jealous: “Saudi ArabiaDakar-Calcutta-Soweto-Mozambique-IstanbulRio-Rome-Argentina-Chile-Mexico-Taiwan-Great Britain,” she scats in her trademark sultry tone, “All the way back home/To my town.”

Returning home is a strong theme for Marshall. She found it with her longtime backing band, The Dirty Three, who rarely blinked through what some have called the “rambling confessions” and erratic behavior of her live performances. And she thought she’d found it with Giovanni Ribisi, whom she dated for years.

CAMILLE GARMENDIA

C

51

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109 Eastlake Ave East • Seattle, WA 98109 Booking and Info: 206.262.0482

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27

SEATTLE WEEKLY • NOVEM BER 27 — DECEM BER 3, 2013

Musicwerks Seattle & El Corazon Present:

52

EGO LIKENESS

with Servitor, More Machine Than Man, and DJ SAVAK (Mechanismus) Doors at 8 / Show at 9PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $10 ADV / $13 DOS

H APPY H OU R ADESTRIA FRIDAY NOVEMBER 29

with Kingdom Of Giants, Dayseeker, Death Of An Era, Prestige, Confines, and Art Of Shock Doors at 6:30 / Show at 7PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $10 ADV / $12 DOS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30

THE DICKIES with Dreadful Children, Go Like Hell,

P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S., and Poorsport Doors at 7 / Show at 8PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $13 ADV / $15 DOS

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1

BIG B with Dan Valdes (Album Release Show), Just Murph, plus guests Doors at 7 / Show at 7:30PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $10 ADV / $12 DOS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 2

with Cumulus, Blackburn, Hallstrom, and The Jalapenos Doors at 7 / Show at 7:30PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $8 ADV / $10 DOS

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DANIELIA COTTON with Johnny Marnell, Stevie Hall Band, and Mariko Ruhle Doors at 7:30 / Show at 8PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $8 ADV / $10 DOS

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5 Mike Thrasher Presents “Slam City Fall Tour 3013”:

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with Terror, Trash Talk, and The Inspector Cluzo. Doors at 7 / Show at 7:30PM ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $26 ADV / $30 DOS

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AZARIA C. PODPLESKY

Melvins, Tres Cabrones (out now, Ipecac Records, themelvins.net) If April’s Everybody Loves Sausages gave us a window into Melvins’ influences, the band’s most recent release finds it reconnecting with its past in a different way. The 12-song album (their 20-something-th studio release) sees Buzz Osborne, aka King Buzzo, and Dale Crover reunited with Mike Dillard, the original drummer. Crover, who replaced Dillard in 1984, takes up bass duties on this album, but, says Osborne, the lineup is “as close as we’re willing to get to the Melvins’ 1983 lineup.” In fact, a few of the tracks on Cabrones first appeared on the band’s EP Melvins 1983: “Walter’s Lips” and “Stick ‘Em Up Bitch.” Opener “Doctor Mule” begins with a riff that’s more heavy metal than sludge, though the following tracks, “City Dump” and “American Cow,” both retain the down-tuned, distorted, slow tempo and grumbling vocals more characteristic of the band’s earlier output. To that end, many of the songs don’t really end but just disintegrate under their own weight. “Dogs and Cattle Prods” (yes, there’s a livestock theme at work here) is the album’s most interesting track, a nine-minute epic in which Black Sabbath’s influence comes through strongly. Elsewhere, three bits of Americana— “Tie My Pecker to a Tree,” “99 Bottles of Beer,” and “In the Army Now”—are rendered as only the Melvins could. Thirty years on, Tres Cabrones shows that Aberdeen’s original punk rockers are as good as they ever were. MICHAEL BERRY

P R O M O T I O NS

ADINOSAUR R T S A ND ENT ER TA I NM ENT BONES

The Dickies Official Aftershow Party!

Featuring A Live Music Performance By:

JODIE WATTS Music starts immediately after the conclusion of

Mansions, Doom Loop (out now, Clifton Motel Records, thisismansions.com) Since its 2009 debut, New Best Friends, the duo of Christopher Browder and Robin Dove, originally from Louisville, Ky., has evolved from a relatively clean, straightforward indie-rock band to one with a bit of dirt under its nails. Browder, lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist, has never shied away from melodic choruses, and those on Doom Loop are no different. But the entirety of the album is coated in a thin layer of fuzz—not enough to turn everything into a garbled mess, but just enough to wash each song in a little grit. “La Dentista” boasts a sing-along-ready, slightly morbid chorus: “If you won’t talk about it/Then how could I find a way around it/To pull out all your teeth/But you’d still lie to me.” “The Economist” is full of hooks as well, and there’s a nice variety to Browder’s voice we haven’t heard before; whereas album opener “Climbers” features big, poppy vocals, “Flowers in My Teeth” finds Browder whisper-singing over thick guitar riffs.

Bassist Dove doesn’t always sing, but when she does, she provides a nice contrast to Browder’s Ben Gibbard–like voice, especially on “Out for Blood,” “If You’re Leaving,” and “Last One.” Overall, Doom Loop seems like a step in a slightly new direction for Mansions, having renovated its indie-rock foundation with a layer of fuzzy pop.

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The EL CORAZON VIP PROGRAM: see details at www.elcorazon.com/vip.html and for an application email us at info@elcorazonseattle.com

Roaming Herds of Buffalo, Alien Canyons (out now, self-released, roamingherdsofbuffalo.com) With its second record, Roaming Herds of Buffalo has delivered a fresh indie-pop statement that’s equal parts thought-provoking and sonically rewarding. On the whole, the music will inevitably draw comparisons to the school of indie rock (the Shins, the Fruit Bats, Ben Gibbard’s various vehicles), but the

DARIN SHULER

LocaLReLeases

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album itself actually sounds like it could be two different bands. The record’s first half is marked mostly by vast swathes of sparseness, which allow both the music and the listener breathing room to think and reflect. The large amount of reverb laid across the vocals, especially on the album opener “Wild Oats,” goes a long way to enhance this effect. Canyons’ second half is marked by more bombast—ballsout guitar solos and cacophonous background vocals; the shift is quite dramatic, but also a welcome change. “Neutrinos” is a guitar wahinflected, overdriven, doo-wop mindbender, while “Glitter Mastodon” is catchy, galloping pop perfection with a grunge-era guitar solo that’s more fuzzed-out noise than an executed flurry of notes. Nothing is direct about Canyons; it’s all about the sonic imagery—and the journey, perhaps. Overstuffed with lyrics like “Fill a crater with expensive scotch/Tie on an extinction buzz” and “Explosions reach under chassis and tickle out trucks,” Canyons wants you to see with your ears, and the lyrics go a long way toward helping you visualize that strange landscape. Let it swallow you whole.

CORBIN REIFF

Soundgarden, Screaming Life/Fopp (out now, Sub Pop, soundgardenworld.com) The good news about Sub Pop’s reissue of Soundgarden’s first two releases, both EPs, is that they’re finally available as a package (digitally, on CD, and on vinyl to boot) after being out of print for ages.

Jack Endino, who recorded Soundgarden’s debut Screaming Life in 1987 (and who went on to make records for just about every important grunge band of the era), remastered both. The bad news is that the collection isn’t very good, though there are shades of the loud rock powerhouse Soundgarden would eventually become: Chris Cornell’s wailing vocals, Kim Thayil’s psychedelic guitar riffs, and the thick bottom-end groove of drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. “Nothing to Say” is closest to classic Soundgarden, with its monster Sabbathinspired riff and dropped-D tuning. “Little Joe,” on the other hand, is as close to rapping as Chris Cornell has ever come, and features a headscratching Chili Peppers–meets–Iron Maiden instrumental. The reissue also includes “Sub Pop Rock City,” the band’s contribution to the Sub Pop 200 compilation that featured the finest grunge acts of the day. DAVE LAKE

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the solidly thumping bass line to ChemDawg’s lead guitar. They were down to the bottom of the jar, but even the shake was righteous. With the euphoric onset of a sativa and the profound relaxation and pain relief of an indica, this may be the perfect hybrid—with one caveat. The indica portion speaks loud and clear if you keep toking, and you could get quite couchlocked.

Don’t rely on their Weedmaps menu online, as it hadn’t been updated in a month on the day I visited. And make sure you ask the budtender to write strain names on the bags; David didn’t do that when I visited. E

tokesignals@seattleweekly.com

Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals, tokesignals.com, an irreverent, independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.

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kind of impairment that makes it overly difficult to complete needed tasks (such as writing this review). Quite a bit of the berry sweetness of its Blueberry forebears comes through in the taste and smell.

Deadhead OG is very heady, proclaiming the 60-percent-sativa part of its genetic heritage (ChemDawg 91) to your brain cells immediately, producing a high which lends itself to—you guessed it—music. You might find yourself understanding the allure of jam bands if you aren’t careful. Meanwhile, the 40-percent-indica component (San Fernando Valley OG Kush) is

STEVE ELLIOTT

U

p near the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula lies Port Hadlock, a somewhat out-of-the way, bucolic, and relaxing little town with a friendly vibe. Medical-marijuana patients there don’t have to drive to Silverdale, Bremerton, or Seattle for safe access to cannabis, because they have The Alternative Clinic.

The place has a very informal, laid-back feel, partly because budtender David, the only employee on duty the day I visited, has an air of garrulous friendliness. A

BY STEVE ELLIOTT conversational sorta guy, David enjoys talking about cannabis and jazz (he’s a guitarist).

The Alternative Clinic isn’t the most neatly arranged access point I’ve ever visited; in fact, it wouldn’t be in the top 50. The products in their display case—medibles, topicals, and concentrates, the flowers being on top—were jumbled in a disconcertingly disorganized fashion. One got the impression that perhaps only males had any input on shelf organization.

But the Clinic did have an impressive selection of top-shelf flowers for being situated so far out in the sticks. Twenty strains, all priced at $10 a gram, were available for my perusal, with David’s helpful suggestions. (There are also a couple of bargain strains for low-budget patients.)

I picked the hybrid JackBerry ( Jack Herer x Blueberry), the sativa Super Lemon Haze, and the hybrid Deadhead OG, all top-shelf $10 strains.

The Super Lemon Haze, I quickly learned, was done just right. The ringing clarity of its mental zing made the day’s sunshine extra-lovely as pain evaporated, elevating thought processes and banishing nausea with exhilarating efficacy.

If you need to medicate in the morning or midday, you will find no better choice than SLH. The hybrid JackBerry, while often billed as an indica-dominant, is a good long-lasting daytime smoke, unlike some sleepier indica-dominants.

It’s a very chill strain, but doesn’t produce the

S.A.M

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Defendants.

TO: BRUCE ALEXANDER; HEIR OF VINTON F. COLLINS and MARGARET A. COLLINS, any unknown heirs and/or Devisees; JOHN and JANE DOES, 1-10, and any other unknown, heirs, devisees, or owners.

NOTICE: PLAINTIFF, SIMONE HARDIN, HAS FILED A COMPLAINT TO QUIET TITLE TO PROPERTY. THE COURT MAY ENTER JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE UNLESS YOU RESPOND WITHIN TWENTY (20) DAYS. READ THE INFORMATION BELOW. You are hereby notified that in order to defend this lawsuit, an appropriate written response must be filed with the above-designated Court within twenty (20) days after service of this Summons on you. If you fail to so respond, the Court may enter judgment against you as demanded by the Plaintiff in her Complaint.

A copy of the Complaint is served with this Summons. If you wish to seek the advice of or representation by an attorney in this matter, you should do so promptly so that your written response, if any, may be filed in time and other legal rights protected.

An appropriate written response requires compliance with Rule 10(a)(1) and other Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure and shall also include:

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1. The title and number of this case.

2. If your response is an Answer to the Complaint, it must contain admissions or denials of the separate allegations of the Complaint and other defenses you may claim.

3. Your signature, mailing address and telephone number; or the signature, mailing address and telephone number of your attorney.

4. Proof of mailing or delivery of a copy of your response to Plaintiffís attorney, as designated above.

To determine whether you must pay a filing fee with your response, contact the Clerk of the above-named Court.

DATED this ____ day of October, 2013.

CLERK OF THE DISTRICT COURT By: ________________________________ Deputy Clerk

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