AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 1, 2015 I VOLUME 40 I NUMBER 34
SEATTLEWEEKLY.COM I FREE
»
»
FOOD THE INDUSTRY’S ETHNIC BIZ WIZ PAGE 17 ARTS FROM INTERNMENT TO OPERA PAGE 19
y l e n o L & ch
Ri
st e weirde e. h t e ’r y e , and th eet Thraxxhous t a e m d t re .M don’t ea le since grunge y e h t , lt t the occu me out of Seat e v lo y o e Page 13 c Th o h t t o e r R u l e lt i subcu By Dan musical
Hack Job
The titillating e-mail addresses we found in the Ashley Madison data dump. By Rick Anderson Page 8
Over-Booked
Are house-sharing services jacking up Seattle rents? By Peter Johnson Page 5
2
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
NINKASIBREWING.COM
#TOTALDOMINATION
inside» August 26-Sept. 1, 2015 VOLUME 40 | NUMBER 34 » SEATTLEWEEKLY.COM
news&comment 5
RENT OUT OF SHAPE BY PETER JOHNSON | Is Airbnb exacerbating the housing crunch? A backlash is growing. Plus: what it’s like to rent an infamous Cap Hill house; local fallout from the Ashley Madison dump.
13 HOUSE PARTY
Editor-in-Chief Mark Baumgarten EDITORIAL News Editor Daniel Person Food Editor Nicole Sprinkle Arts Editor Brian Miller
BY DANIEL ROTH | Meet Thraxxhouse,
Music Editor Kelton Sears
the West Seattle arts collective that’s spreading Egyptian esotericism, occult imagery, veganism, and their own take on hip-hop across the country.
Editorial Operations Manager Gavin Borchert
food&drink
17 LAW-SCHOOLED
BY JACOB UITTI | Helping immigrant restaurateurs negotiate minimum-wage and other complex regulations. 17 | FOOD NEWS/THE WEEKLY DISH 18 | THE BAR CODE/SLUSHIES
arts&culture
19 LOCAL HISTORY
BY GAVIN BORCHERT | A new opera
19 | THE PICK LIST 21 | OPENING NIGHTS | Discrimination
on the softball field, revolution in the classroom. 22 | PERFORMANCE & BOOKS 22 | VISUAL ARTS & THE FUSSY EYE
23 FILM
OPENING THIS WEEK | Greta Gerwig
and Jason Schwartzman are our kind of movie stars. Plus: Chinese rail travel and a Thai coup.
27 MUSIC
BY DANIEL ROTH | Kung Foo Grip goes
Cronenberg. Plus: Stasia Irons on drugs, alcohol, and rap; August’s local releases. 29 | THE WEEK AHEAD
odds&ends
4 | CHATTERBOX 9 | EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT 30 | HIGHER GROUND 31 | CLASSIFIEDS
»cover credits
PHOTO OF KEY NYATA AND MACKNED BY ALLYCE ANDREW
Staff Writers Sara Bernard, Ellis E. Conklin, Casey Jaywork Editorial Interns Alana Al-Hatlani, Jennifer Karami, Daniel Roth Contributing Writers Rick Anderson, Sean Axmaker, James Ballinger, Michael Berry, Alyssa Dyksterhouse, Jay Friedman, Margaret Friedman, Zach Geballe, Chason Gordon, Dusty Henry, Rhiannon Fionn, Marcus Harrison Green, Robert Horton, Patrick Hutchison, Seth Kolloen, Sandra Kurtz, Dave Lake, Terra Clarke Olsen, Jason Price, Keegan Prosser, Mark Rahner, Tiffany Ran, Michael A. Stusser, Jacob Uitti PRODUCTION Production Manager Sharon Adjiri Art Director Jose Trujillo Graphic Designers Nate Bullis, Brennan Moring Photo Intern Christopher Zeuthen ADVERTISING Marketing/Promotions Coordinator Zsanelle Edelman
UPCOMING CONCERTS Industrial Revelation Thurs, August 27 | City Hall Plaza
Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme
Fri, August 28 | Lake Union Park
Sarah Christine
Tues, Sept 1 | IBM Building
Senior Multimedia Consultant Krickette Wozniak Multimedia Consultants Julia Cook, Rose Monahan, Peter Muller, Matt Silvie DISTRIBUTION Distribution Manager Jay Kraus OPERATIONS Administrative Coordinator Amy Niedrich Publisher Bob Baranski
Co-Produced By
Media Partners
206-623-0500 COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY SOUND PUBLISHING, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. ISSN 0898 0845 / USPS 306730 • SEATTLE WEEKLY IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SOUND PUBLISHING, INC., 307 THIRD AVE. S., SEATTLE, WA 98104 SEATTLE WEEKLY® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK. PERI ODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT SEATTLE, WA POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO SEATTLE WEEKLY, 307 THIRD AVE. S., SEATTLE, WA 98104 • FOUNDED 1976.
The Space Needle image is a registered trademark of Space Needle LLC and is used under license.
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
about the forced relocation of JapaneseAmericans during WWII.
TED BARRON
»19
»5
3
7a – 9p Daily
“As a woman rider at a male-dominated event I don’t always feel welcome, but not at Backfire.”
TODD WERNY
BALLARD NOW OPEN
chatterbox the
NOT YOUR AVERAGE BIKER GANG
Dog Daycare • Dog Boarding Dog Grooming • Dog Shop
Downtown Seattle 206/623-5395
Ballard 206/789-1290
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
citydogclub.com
4
Last week, Trevor Keaton Pogue took us to Ballard for the Backfire Motorcycle Night, a monthly gettogether with a special focus on “cafe racer” bikes whose riders defy pop-culture stereotypes—though these days participants are liable to show up on Harleys and “three-wheeled creations” as well. Backfire is believed to be the biggest such monthly event in the country. Readers wrote to tell us why.
As a builder and rider of one of the aforementioned “custom three-wheeled creations,” I love Backfire. As a woman rider at a male-dominated event I don’t always feel welcome, but not at Backfire. I built my chopper with the help of friends to give me something positive to help battle depression over an increasing disability. Backfire makes me feel part of something bigger than myself. If you’re curious about bike culture, or looking to buy a bike of your own, I encourage you to check out this event. Rebecca Pazdral, via seattleweekly.com
You cannot overturn decisions—such as under zoning law, enacted by lawful authority of your city—on emotion. You can’t get standing on emotion in court on things like this. At all. If you can’t win on legal, procedural, or technical grounds, you won’t win, and no, you do not deserve to. That’s how America works. Your only other alternative is to change the system, and that’s how social change works . . . This case is a prime example of the crazy that is overtaking discussions in this city. IT’S A PARKING GARAGE. The rotted old wooden storm drain from the 1970s on my block is as historic. Joe Szilagyi, via seattleweekly.com HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY
With tourist season in full swing, Alyssa Dyksterhouse penned a manifesto on why Seattle should learn to love its summer visitors.
I love this! There’s a lot of us complaining (me included) about the Seattle sourpuss attitude in general. I really like how the writer went from smug Seattleite to genuine delight as she saw Trevor, thanks for nailing this and thanks to your her city through the eyes of editors for letting you do it! a tourist. I took a look at my I rode out here two years Send your thoughts on own crap attitude. Our city is ago from Providence, R.I., this week’s issue to gloomy a lot . . . it’s also incredheard about Backfire, and letters@seattleweekly.com ible because of where we are, started documenting what the way we care for our region, I saw at almost every event and what has been created here. Plus, these damn because I knew there was just nothing like this clouds and the incessant moisture they “provide” anywhere else. Cheers to Todd [Werny], Sean make for a breathtakingly gorgeous landscape. [Dunlap], and Sean [Westlake] for starting the Just ask California! whole thing. KingCaster, via seattleweekly.com Randi, via seattleweekly.com A SQUARE DEAL
In our August 12 issue, Ellis E. Conklin noted the curious case of a proposed Pioneer Square high-rise that would be built where a parking garage now sits. The building was denied by the neighborhood’s preservation board because it was out of scale with the neighborhood, but was OK’d anyway by the city. Readers weighed in. Why isn’t the discussion about saving Pioneer Square and its tiny portion of the waterfront as a national monument? A monument to the men and women who settled and came through here during the Gold Rush. It shouldn’t be only an emotional discussion; it is a moral and ethical issue. Our city is chasing dollars for no community payback. If this doesn’t reach the core of everyone that reads this, nothing will. This is a very sad loss. Shame on you, the mayor, the developers, the old owner. All of you have stolen from the future generations a national treasure. Concerned in Pioneer Square, via seattleweekly.com
ROAD DIETS
And in our food section two weeks ago, we broke down the dollars and cents of running your own food truck, and found street food to be a tough “road” to hoe. It’s even worse: The numbers don’t include truck rental (or depreciation) and/or amortizing that initial $50K. Though the advertising number seems high, at least based on what I know of the L.A. market . . . Fortunately, we don’t have “pod rental” here, though lots/events/festivals/street fairs do charge—usually less than the $100 cited, and most trucks will only do those a few times a week, choosing free locations other times. Still, a wise truck owner once told me that he viewed street vending as a loss leader for advertising his catering business. Jon Reeves, via seattleweekly.com E Comments have been edited for length, clarity, and pouring it on a little thick with the Ed-Murray-isselling-Seattle-out-to-developers argument.
news&comment Over-Booked
SeattleBriefly
Fast takes from the news desk
Airbnb is soaring in Seattle. Is it causing rents to do the same?
Hugh Sisley Settles Up
The sun didn’t rise in the West, and pigs aren’t flying yet. But by God, Hugh Sisley paid his slumlord tab. Forget the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 or Edgar Martinez’s legendary double that sent the Mariners to their first pennant playoffs. Everyone will remember where they were when they heard this news: Hugh settled up! After lengthy negotiations over housing and land-code violations that go back to the 1980s, the man who stiffed City Hall and turned the Roosevelt neighborhood into a showplace of eyesores has forked over $3.4 million in fines and interest. Mayor Ed Murray last week called it a “new beginning” for Roosevelt, noting that for “years, if not decades, neighbors have had to endure this blight.” City Attorney Pete Holmes said in a statement that ending the reign of “this long-term scofflaw” required some special legal maneuvers. “We adjusted our enforcement strategy to break the Sisleys’ economic model and show that the rules apply to everyone.” A Sisley business partner, the Roosevelt Development Group (RDG), paid the settlement amount with two checks covering four separate legal judgments, Holmes’ office says. The mayor’s office says that all city liens on Sisley properties will be removed, and RDG, in an agreement with Sisley, can develop them. The company plans to develop almost five acres within minutes of the planned Sound Transit light-rail station. “What’s happening now is that progress is being made,” Sisley’s attorney told us. “A revitalization of that neighborhood is under way, with light rail and new, attractive residential buildings. That’s really the story of Hugh and the Roosevelt neighborhood today. Progress.” RICK ANDERSON
BY PETER JOHNSON
A
Activists see Airbnbs reducing the number of apartment vacancies in Seattle.
Jon Grant, the affordable-housing advocate and City Council candidate, argues that “Airbnb tends to crowd out folks who are in need of affordable housing in favor of short-term rentals.” In July, Grant released an affordablehousing plan meant to compete against the one compiled by Mayor Ed Murray’s affordablehousing task force (on which Grant sat). Grant’s plan, which earned endorsements from several City Council members and candidates, specifically calls for tighter regulation of services like Airbnb. Grant argues that when apartments are used strictly for Airbnb, they become units no longer available to residential renters—instead, they’re used as hotel rooms by travelers. Under this line of reasoning, the scarcity of residential units increases, which in turn creates upward pressure on rental price. It’s hard to say if Grant is right about this, at least at the current moment.
Airbnbs are becoming very common, but it’s not clear that the service has the impact on the market that affordable-housing advocates claim. “I can’t believe when you look at the total housing stock [used as short-term rentals] that those kind of transactions have a material effect on housing supply,” says Peter Orser of the UW’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies. Meanwhile, Airbnb has argued it encourages affordable housing and was founded as a way to help people pay high San Francisco rents. The company’s 33-year-old founder, Brian Chesky, told USA Today last Wednesday that people who criticize Airbnb over affordable housing “fundamentally misunderstand” the business. “They see all these empty homes on Airbnb and think those are homes where a permanent resident could live. But a permanent resident does live in those homes. They just rent it out when they’re not there. . . . We’re fundamentally on the right side of the issue.”
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
GENNA MARTIN / THE HERALD
JOSHUA BOULET
Cons on the Fire Line
Washington state is burning up. As of Monday, groups of wildfires in Okanogan, east of the Cascade Mountains, grew to cover more than 400 square miles, making them collectively the biggest wildfire in state history. Over a thousand firefighters have spent countless hours toiling in smoke and heat—including about 240 prisoners doing both front-line work and food preparation for the front lines, from Chelan to Okanogan to Spokane. In California, where 4,000 inmates have been put to work battling blazes this year, the practice of sending prisoners onto the fireline has drawn some scrutiny due to the long hours and low wages offered. Washington state’s program is smaller and less controversial. But that’s not to say it hasn’t gone off without a hitch. Last week, a 16-year-old prisoner escaped from his camp, then shot himself in the head when found by deputies. The teen is recovering in Harborview Hospital. CASEY JAYWORK E
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
lice doesn’t have a job—not in the traditional sense, anyway. She’s selfemployed. Instead of working nine to five, Alice is a host for Airbnb. Alice (who asked to be identified by a pseudonym) operates two apartments as full-time Airbnbs. The popular home-sharing website claims that most of its hosts make their homes available occasionally and for short periods. That was how Alice ran her business at first, starting in 2013. But she was amazed by how much money she started to make—enough to enable her to quit her well-paying job at a well-established Seattle-based tech company. “I started to realize that there was a huge number of people coming into Seattle, and realized I could pay off my student debts a lot faster if I could host more than just a couple times a month,” Alice explains. “And now I have two [apartments] in the city that I do full-time for Airbnb.” Alice rents a third apartment for herself, and works as housekeeper, booker, and concierge for the Airbnb units. Occasionally, if she’s out of town, Alice will pay a friend to maintain the business—particularly the housekeeping. Her business is not like a traditional bed and breakfast; Alice doesn’t provide meals or check in her customers herself. “I rarely meet my guests,” Alice says. “Getting into the building is pretty automated. Everyone just kind of helps themselves.” This kind of experience is common for Airbnb users. While the site’s crafted an image of a family renting its guest room to a tourist to help pay the mortgage, or a young professional covering the rent with a booking while she’s gone a few days for work, these aren’t the only ones operating on the website. According to data compiled by Murray Cox, a journalist who operates the website Inside Airbnb, around 40 percent of Seattle’s Airbnb units are high-frequency vacation rentals— meaning they’re occupied an estimated 172 nights a year by Airbnb guests. As of August 16, 1,090 of the 2,711 units in the city limits fit that description. Through collaboration with Seattle Weekly, Cox’s data is available to the public: The site maps and creates income and vacancy estimates for each Airbnb unit. (See seattleweekly. com to explore the data.) Airbnb, like Uber and other services billed as part of the Internet-based “sharing economy,” is changing the housing and vacation rental markets in ways that couldn’t have been predicted when the service was launched in 2008. Also like Uber, the service is beginning to draw a great deal of scrutiny from regulators and businesses against which it competes. Activists across the country have begun to criticize the service harshly, arguing that it displaces poor city residents in favor of bourgie tourists. As a result of those sentiments, affordable-housing activists have called for extensive regulation of the service—even for shutting it down or decimating it.
news@seattleweekly.com
5
A firefighter on the line near Chelan.
news&comment»
Get your dot on the
map!
Over-Booked » FROM PAGE 5 It’s a fairly new debate in Seattle; things have gotten more heated in San Francisco, where Airbnb is based and has seen wide use. A city report estimates that somewhere between 11 and 20 percent of the city’s vacant rental units are being used for full-time short-term rentals run by professional operators like Alice. Demonstrators there have picketed in front of well-known Airbnb units—from some of which, allegedly, longtime residents have been evicted to allow the landlord to operate the units as full-time short-term rentals. Photos of one demonstration showed one protester setting up Google Maps-style pins reading “Evicted” in front of short-term rental units. Activists in San Francisco have gathered signatures to put initiatives regulating Airbnb rentals on the ballot this fall. Similar scenes could become the norm here. After all, as Orser says, “[Airbnb] is growing [in Seattle], there’s no doubt about it.” Plus, Seattle has a penchant for copycatting San Francisco’s tech backlash. Housing advocates hope that strong regulation and taxation could be a tool to prevent growth of Airbnb to Bay Area levels here, while also raising more money for the city’s own
with
Businesses prefer our Omni Channel Marketing Solutions! • We understand the customer experience and their technology • Brand integrity is a core value behind every successful business • It’s not only what you say, but how and where you say it • To be a competitor in this world takes an investment
Invest in your business today!
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
www.soundmediabds.com
6
“I realized I could pay off my student debts a lot faster if I could host more than just a couple times a month.”
| 425.339.3062
affordable-housing efforts. “One hope is that [short-term rental regulation] raises revenue [for affordable housing], and the other is that it discourages the use of our affordable-housing stock for tourism,” Grant said. Chris Rugh, who operates a vacation-rental business, is leery of increased tax collection. While his business pays all the taxes it’s supposed to, he claims that if further taxes were levied, “I would probably stop doing vacation rentals. At some point it becomes not profitable, and I can make more money doing regular rentals in the hot area of the city.” That’s exactly the outcome activists like Grant hope for. However, it’s unclear whether regulation of Airbnb would be effective overall. San Francisco passed a law in February that requires hosts to register their apartments with the city. It produced laughably low numbers. The same goes for Portland, which expanded regulation of short-term rentals in January 2015. Housing prices are not the only issue surround-
1393467
ing Airbnb rentals. Airbnbs run in apartments often violate rental agreements, which typically bar subletting or the operation of a business on the premises. Alice found that out the hard way. She was more or less evicted from one unit because of her Airbnb business. She was operating the unit full-time as a vacation rental without the knowledge of the building’s manager, who wasn’t happy to find that out. “They gave me [a choice]: either comply and stop using Airbnb or get out,” Alice says. She opted to move her Airbnb operation to another apartment—one of the two she operates now.
The other legal problem is that Alice and many other Airbnb operators often don’t pay the taxes they owe under existing short-term rental regulations. According to Seattle officials, Washington state requires vacation renters to pay B&O and sales tax to the state and city if they rent at least three times a year for periods of fewer than 30 days. That means that small-time operators who are unlikely to get audited or who hire professional accountants don’t pay taxes on their Airbnb income. Alice certainly doesn’t. In fact, she wasn’t aware that she was supposed to pay local taxes until I asked her about it, though she does write off supplies like toilet paper on the 1099 Miscellaneous Income form Airbnb provides for her federal income taxes. (The company says it asks hosts to follow local regulations, but can’t police every rental in every market.) Those unpaid local taxes are a problem for more legitimate vacation-rental operators like Rugh and Darik Eaton, who operate insured and taxed vacation rentals in properties that explicitly allow short-term rentals. Eaton is frustrated that users like Alice can operate thanks to Airbnb. He claims that Airbnb makes his business, which predates the website, harder to operate. Eaton advertises on Airbnb (he estimates he gets around 20 percent of his business there), but complies with existing laws. “A lot of Airbnbs are illegal sublets,” he says. “We want to differentiate ourselves there. We often pay a premium for that—we pay higher than market rents to do that in certain apartments.” Eaton’s issues with the service are similar to the complaints taxi operators have against Uber: The old businesses (taxis, vacation rentals) are forced to comply with expensive city regulations while the new businesses (Uber, Airbnb) aren’t; as a result, the argument goes, the latter have an unfair advantage in pricing. Airbnb is just beginning to draw scrutiny on a
national level—and it’s not clear what its impact is, whatever the rhetoric. What is clear is that the business will draw more and more attention from regulators and the public over time. Seattle, as a significant tourism, business, and medical travel destination, is likely to see the company continue to expand its operations in the city. And there’s no telling how big Airbnb might get. No local government has shown it can even regulate the service, let alone cap its operations. The company has no reason to slow its expansion: The more bookings run through the website, the more commissions the company makes. According to Forbes, the company is valued at $25.5 billion and is rumored to be organizing an IPO. It’s likely to be an appealing investment: unlike most tech startups, the site gets cash every day from those commissions. Plus, Airbnb’s overhead is minimal because the company doesn’t incur any expenses from running the units it advertises. Hosts pay the costs of operations (apart from web hosting and the glossy photos, which Airbnb takes, that accompany each listing) and, if they’re clever like Alice, write them off as business expenses. Hell, operators even write the copy for the places they rent out. Seattle is already fired up about the tech boom and surging rents. Airbnb could combine those two fears to stoke an almighty backlash. But in the meantime, you might consider renting out your apartment a couple of days a month for some spare cash, seeing as rent is getting so damn high. E news@seattleweekly.com
‘The House of Burning Love’
his girlfriend, and her three kids had found this mega-deal. “We were like, ‘Hey, guys, we scored! We got a house on the Hill and it’s great!’ And everybody’s jaw just, like, slowly dropped. They were like, ‘Uhh, you know what that house is?’ ”
Renting a beautiful house with an infamous history. BY WARREN LANGFORD
The revelation stunned and confused them.
WARREN LANGFORD
2112 E. Republican has long been a haven for creatives.
N
Last September the six-bedroom was going for $3,600 a month, or $600 per bedroom. Anyone who’s had the extreme misfortune to be rental-house hunting on the Hill recently will tell you that’s a steal. My curiosity about the rent is actually the predominant reason I’m here. Say you have a rental property, one where something famously heinous occurred. How, if at all, would that affect the rent—especially in a neighborhood like Capitol Hill where housing prices are soaring? Pinzon, an event promoter prominent in the local goth scene who was living in Seattle in 2006, says he didn’t make the connection with that terrible night when first saw the house on Craigslist. But encouraged by the price, he met with the landlord, D. Gregg Doyle, who said the house had a long history of being a home for creatives. “He called it ‘The House of Burning Love,’ ” Pinzon recalls. “We just had no clue . . . we didn’t really think about it.” Pinzon began to spread the word that he,
At the end of my visit, I reiterate to Pinzon my original curiosity about the rent. He says, “It wasn’t a conscious ‘This is a murder house so you’re getting a discount.’ It just was suspiciously, slightly under market.” Doyle declines to say how the incident has affected the house’s asking price. Pinzon speaks very highly of his landlord. “[Doyle] is cool . . . This was a rave afterparty house, so there was probably lots of drugs and noise. And we’re just occasional pot-smokers and beer-drinkers, so it’s nice to know the landlord has seen way crazier than us. That’s kinda a luxury in landlords.” That’s just like Pinzon: For a goth, he’s always had a knack for looking on the brightside. He’s “goth-timistic,” and that just might be the exact portmanteau for the kind of tenants this house needs.E
adidas
TENT SALE Huge Savings on Footwear, Apparel and Accessories. Best prices of the year!
August 27–30, 2015
Alderwood Mall 3000 184th St. SW, Lynnwood, WA 98037 Thurs–Sat 10a–7p, Sun 10a–6p
news@seattleweekly.com
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
athaniel Pinzon is one of nine current residents of 2112 E. Republican St. on Capitol Hill, better known as the house where, in the early hours of March 25, 2006, Kyle Aaron Huff took the lives of six people and then himself during an afterparty for a nearby rave. Prior to knocking on the door, I didn’t realize that Pinzon, a friend I’d lost touch with, lived there. When he hears what I’ve come to talk about—the experience of living where the atrocity that came to be known as the Capitol Hill Massacre occurred—we go to the porch to talk in private. He, his girlfriend, and her three children started living in the house last fall, along with four other friends. They’re waiting until the youngest, 12, grows up a little before telling the kids about the house’s macabre history. “What was funny was we saw this house in an ad, and it was like, ‘Vintage 1920s house,’ and we’re like, ‘This is too good to be true. It’s Capitol Hill and it’s affordable?’ ” he says after we move outside.
Why wouldn’t the landlord mention that? But after some soul-searching, they ultimately concluded that it didn’t bother them much. “I’m such a hardcore atheist . . . I ain’t afraid! The house inside is fine, and totally doesn’t seem haunted, it’s just this porch,” he says pointing to the baseboards below our feet. “Seems a little creepy, ’cause this is where he . . . Poosh! ” That’s Pinzon’s way of saying he’s standing on the exact spot where Huff shot himself during the final confrontation with police. The porch’s serenity level suddenly drops a few notches. “We e-mailed [Doyle] and we were like, ‘Hey, we just want you know we know what happened, and we’re totally cool with it. You don’t have to feel, like, weird or anything.’ He was like, ‘That was 10 minutes out of 20 years this house has been a harmonious space for creatives.’ ” Reached by e-mail, Doyle says the house’s name is inspired by the song “Burning House of Love” by the American punk band X. “[The name] represented both the passion and relationship roller-coasters of the first group of housemates there . . . and maybe everyone since,” he says. Doyle says he co-owned the home from 1996 to 2001, when he became the sole owner. He used to tell potential tenants what had happened, but over time, he’s felt it less relevant. “For the first few sets of tenants,” he says, “I disclosed it immediately . . . and this did not seem to deter most; I always found good tenants anyway, because it’s a beautiful house. Now that it’s more in the past, I don’t mention it, but usually tenants are aware of it.”
The 10th anniversary of the massacre is next March, and the house is still debating what to do. “We actually thought about hosting a party, but at the same time we didn’t want to be disrespectful or exploitative, especially because we’re so active in the goth scene; people will think we’re just doing it for image,” Pinzon says. Over the years, Pinzon says, many people have brought small offerings to the house, little things left on the steps. “Somebody had poured offerings of wine for each person that had died, including the shooter. We also had flowers and tiny disposable notes that just said ‘We miss you.’ and stuff.” Doyle also speaks of the offerings. “Each March, people bring small remembrances of the event and those who were lost and traumatized; I hope that it helps them process the pain. I’m particularly glad when they place seven flowers or candles, as I think Mr. Huff was also traumatized and in pain . . . I’m glad the community spirit of the house has won out over those few terrible minutes.” Matt Lingerhous, who was friends with a few of the victims, says the house “is the closest thing a lot of [the victims] have to a gravesite.” “Jeremy [Martin] and Jason [Schwartz] were both cremated . . . They both had lots of friends who couldn’t attend their funerals or spread their ashes,” he says over e-mail.
7
Where the best businesses find the best employees.
news&comment» ‘Bill Gates’ and City E-Mails Among Cheating Site’s Hacked Data
TULALIP RESORT CASINO
Moving careers in the right direction!
Sponsored by VISIT THE WEBSITE AND FIND OUT HOW TO RECEIVE
Brought to you by
FREE
www.heraldnet.com
Check daily for updated exhibitor list!
Mariner Tickets!
www.SnoCoCareerFair.com
COME CELEBRATE PORT ORCHARD! SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2015
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
125 YEARS OF PORT ORCHARD
8
Pancake Breakfast • Farmers Market Antique Car Show • Peter Storeth Mural Show Historical Display • Weavers and Spinners • Tour of City Hall • Tour of Carlisle II Square Dance Demonstration • Art Walk MegaMarbles Tournament “Patriotic Music Tribute” Family Friendly & Fun Street Dance
Lots of Exhibits by many local organizations! Please bring a can of food for the SK Helpline Foodbank
Free Shuttle Service with Kitsap Airporter from Kitsap County Court House to DeKalb Pier and Port Orchard Armory to Mitchell at the corner High School Entrance then onto Peninsula Feed 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Go to PO125.com for more information
ASHLEY MADISON
Tulalip Resort Casino offers complimentary shuttle service from the following locations: Quil Ceda Creek Casino (www.QuilCedaCreekCasino.com) Seattle Premium Outlets (www.PremiumOutlets.com) Local businesses within Quil Ceda Village
with Meet + local 50 over pective pros ers and f loy emp he best o t ! find est jobs the b
Shhhhit.
I
f Bill Gates were to seek a little extramarital action, how might his suggestive personal ad read? “Calculating female wanted, proficient with joystick; hard-drive experience a plus,” perhaps? I wondered about that after finding two e-mail addresses with his name among the data from that recent breach of the spousal-cheating website, Ashley Madison, which claims to have almost 40 million anonymous married members looking for lust. The Gates e-mails were among many from Seattleland found in the roughly 30-some-million stolen IDs and addresses BY RICK ANDERSON dumped on the web by hackers last week. The data revealed so far includes partial addresses—domain names—of e-mail sent from such government sites as Seattle City Hall, Metro King County, the state, and Northwest military bases. Statistically, we’re apparently proficient cheaters. A chart done by businessinsider.com, based on the data, ranks Washington as the 14th Most Unfaithful State in the U.S. The scale may have been tipped, however, due to our large military population, the chart indicates. A July computer break-in by a hacktivist group, The Impact Team, led to last week’s data exposures. The first 10-gigabyte dump contained some first and last names, addresses, chat logs, pictures, and credit-card payments. Days later, the hacktivists—who claim the adultery site is a scam—posted almost 20 gigs of company internal data. More is to come. Among those outed by the illegal hack was family-values guru Josh Duggar, who had a paid account at the site and quickly confessed to being unfaithful. Sam Rader, a Christian video blogger known for posting endearing YouTube clips with his wife, also confirmed membership in the site. He said his wife and God forgave him. Media reports claim that a Hollywood actor, an NFL star, and a top politician—all unnamed so far—are among dozens of celebrities worried about exposure and are seeking the advice of damage-control experts. (No Seahawks e-mails have showed up in searches. But there was an
SEATTLELAND
odd domain name: seahawks.gov.) The hackers’ data dumps were made on the dark web, the portion of the Internet requiring special software and access authorization, providing untraceable anonymity for hackers. But researchers who’ve accessed the data are moving portions to searchable sites on the open web. That’s where I found Gates, and he was in good company: Besides billgates@microsoft.com, the pirated addresses included a former Brit PM (tblaire@labour.gov.uk) and the leader of the free world (barack.obama@whitehouse.gov). Not that any of them actually went looking for assignations on the Ashley Madison (AM) site, which bills itself as “the most famous name in infidelity and married dating.” If the president was found to have been cruising the web for dates, the first lady would likely have him walking funny by now. Same for Gates. The e-mail he actually used at Microsoft—billg@microsoft.com—was also used by an Ashley Madison visitor. But the addresses were lifted by fakers, right? A Microsoft spokesperson tells me that since Gates is no longer the company CEO, I should contact the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a response. Foundation spokesperson Naomi Zeitlin was adamant in her reply: “I can confirm that you are absolutely correct in presuming that Bill isn’t involved and those e-mail addresses must have been entered by someone else.” It’s unclear whether any local government workers actually used the cheating site to arrange meet-ups. The data dumps show domain names such as seattle.gov, metrokc.gov, kentwa.gov, bellevuewa.gov, wa.gov., tacoma.army.mil, and whidbey-island.navy.mil were used. KUOW reports it found 44 e-mail domains from Northwest government offices. But data searchers should beware: As one domain name used to register on Ashley Madison—fuck.gov—suggests, anything goes at this site. Visitors can easily create false identities—the site doesn’t pre-screen members and declares it can’t “guarantee the authenticity of any profile.” According to one former employee, AM even makes up its own fake customer lists (which AM denies). U. S. security researcher Rob Graham thinks this is a mostly male hunting ground. “The Ashley Madison website advertises adultery,” he writes, “but that’s a lie. I’ve talked to a lot of users of the site, and none of them used it to cheat on their spouse . . . According to several users, prostitutes are really the only females they’d consistently meet on Ashley Madison.” The first of likely several lawsuits over the breach has been filed in Canada, a class action seeking $578 million. Some are worried that not only their identities but their fetishes, fantasies, and other sexual preferences will be revealed. In a statement, AM says “if it is your private pictures or your personal thoughts that have slipped into public distribution, no one has the right to pilfer and reveal that information to audiences in search of the lurid, the titillating, and the embarrassing.” No, for that you’ll have to become a member. E
randerson@seattleweekly.com
Rick Anderson writes about sex, crime, money, and politics, which tend to be the same thing. His latest book is Floating Feet: Irregular Dispatches From the Emerald City.
Class Notes FROM HAT FACTORY TO JAGUAR DEALERSHIP.
JOVELLE TAMAYO FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY / JOVELLE.PHOTO
ARTISTS WHO CREATE IN INSPIRING loft spaces know it. So do writers who have carved out a particular corner of the world for their craft, or designers who work in open-plan office spaces that spark collaboration. Environment is key to creativity. The folks at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts know it too. For 44 years SVC made its home at the former J.T. Hardeman Hat Company’s factory on Aurora Avenue. J.T Hardeman’s Hat Company was internationally known, with extensive domestic and export markets. SVC continued to export, but instead of sending hats, it sent its students out into the world. In December, SVC upgraded its home, heading four blocks south to the intersection of Dexter and Denny, where it now occupies a building originally built as Seattle’s first Jaguar dealership. “It’s fitting that we moved from the world of Smokey the Bear hats to a place where 150-mph Jaguar E-Type convertibles
Find LevelUp at seattleweekly.com
months—at tuition prices that top out at $10,000 to $12,000, instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars. With 14 schools spread across four continents, General Assembly—and a handful of similar institutions like Dev
The bottom line is that programming is not just for programmers anymore.
Bootcamp, the Flatiron School, and RocketU—are proof that tech jobs are continuing to rise in Seattle and beyond. And it’s hard to imagine that the growth of tech jobs might slow down anytime soon. Over the next seven years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics antic-
ipates a 22 percent growth in jobs for software engineers, who make on average a little over $93,000 a year. The outlook for other information and communications technology (ICT) jobs is similar. UX designers, web developers, and product managers all look to be in high demand in the coming years. For Seattle, easily one of the most attractive tech cities in the country, that job growth is hyper-realized. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Tableau, and Facebook are erecting sprawling new office spaces and gobbling up tech workers like marbles in Hungry Hungry Hippos. With plenty of money to be made and no shortage of jobs, the trend is convincing many in non-tech roles to jump ship, signing on for a three-month course and a career change. “We had one student who was a professional dancer, and now she’s a front-end designer at Expedia,” says Edward Farraye, a local marketing lead at General Assembly. “She wanted to completely change her career, and it worked for her. At least for half of our courses, people are coming from non-tech. People are coming from all different backgrounds looking to make a full transition, or
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
ADVERTORIAL
Dallas Jasper CEO, Connect2Classes
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
I
t’s just past 4 o’clock and school is still in session. Sitting at long bench-style tables in two small classrooms at a collaborative work space downtown, students look on intently from behind their MacBooks as instructors lead them through projectbased tutorials focusing on everything from software engineering to UX design and from product management to digital marketing. Each of them is enrolled at General Assembly, a rapidly growing institution that teaches today’s top tech skills through immersive full-time programs that last anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks, depending on the subject. While a few months might not seem like enough time to turn a computer rookie into a successful—and employable—coder, the numbers speak for themselves. Since its inception in 2011 in New York, General Assembly has created a community of alumni that enjoys a 99 percent employment rate after graduating, often earning them salaries that average near six figures. While fresh-faced college students spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of their lives getting degrees from four-year universities, students at places like General Assembly are getting similar jobs after three
DEJA VIEW PHOTOGRAPHY
Code for All
INNOVATIVE EDUCATION COMPANIES MAKE PROGRAMMING AVAILABLE TO ARTISTS, MARKETERS, AND YOU.
flew out of the building,” says SVC co-director Larry Asher. “Everyone is moving so much faster these days—especially in the design, digital, and marketing communications fields we serve. In response, we’ve redesigned both our physical space and our curriculum to work for information—and time-starved people.” More than the location is new at SVC. The school has upgraded the space with gigabit broadband, 80-inch flat screens, and a new computer lab for teaching in the digital age. In this environment, students are able to tackle graphic design, UX, and web design at the highest levels. And some of the school’s previous five-evening workshops are now offered in one-day and half-day versions. Clearly, in its new location SVC offers an environment where students can get in, get what they need, and get back to work. And while SVC is smack in the middle of the digital age, its minders are quick to point out that their courses are not offered online. They believe that there is no online substitute for being in the room with well-connected industry leaders and peers. It is this attitude that makes SVC a perfect provider for Connect2Classes and LevelUp. What I have learned most since I started this company is that we have a plethora of fabulous schools and businesses offering an unbelievable number of unique, high-quality, and engaging classes, all taught by locals who have so much to share. Go ahead, take advantage of it! One of our providers says that Connect2Classes makes her feel like a kid in a candy shop. We think you’ll feel that way too.
9
WITH THE SEASON...
Improve your home and habitat Become an accomplished photographer
Make a transformation with North Seattle College Continuing Education.
FALL QUARTER begins Sept. 28th!
(Classes start throughout the quarter)
From Calligraphy to Computer Skills, Film Noir to Fused Glass, the possibilities are as plentiful as falling leaves. 206.934.3705 | www.learnatnorth.org | conted@seattlecolleges.edu
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
Explore the World with Continuing Education in West Seattle
10
Spirited Discussion CRAFT DISTILLING INSTITUTE DIRECTOR LISA BABINEC SHARES THE ESSENCE OF HER NEW PROGRAM.
H
ing? We’re designing programs to appeal to a mix of both types. The Fundamentals of Distilling class in September is for people in the distilling industry who really want to explore the science and theory behind distilling. We’ll also offer a number of hands-on workshops which are one-day or two-day, and those will be for people looking to get into the industry and will focus on one type of spirit. Has it been at all difficult to find distilleries to partner with? Not at all. The whole distilling community in Seattle has been extremely supportive and helpful. Every distillery we Why did Seattle Central get involved in disspoke to was really happy to hear about our tilling? The craft-distilling industry in Seattle new programs, and many of those we’re not and across the U.S. has taken off in recent partnering with at this moment want to be years, and because of that we saw that formal involved down the road. education was needed. We found that the How about for mere enthusiasts? Are there Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London ways for members of the public who love was the gold standard worldwide, and we’re distilled spirits to participate? Absolutely! Our proud to say that they’ve accredited us as the one-day “aficionado” workshops are perfect only place in the U.S. currently able to offer for spirit lovers. If you’re really interested in their Fundamentals of Distilling course. doing your own single-run or single-barrel, Beyond that course, what else will you offer we can arrange for you to do that with a speto students? We’ll be offering a number of cific distillery. When you’re done, you’ll have practical distilling courses, so students can try a handmade spirit out distilling gin, that you can then vodka, whiskey, and label and give away other spirits. To do as gifts! so, we have created When do all these partnerships with classes happen? Well, local distilleries. we first started offerWhat are some ing the practicals this of the local disJune, and we have our tilleries you’ll be first Fundamentals of working with? At Distilling class in Septhe moment, we tember. Because we have partnerships are the only school in place with Copin the U.S. licensed perworks Distillery, to teach this class, we Oola Distillery, 2bar have people coming Spirits, Batch 206, in from as far away as Captive Spirits, and A still from Copperworks, one of CDI’s partner distilleries. Nebraska. Fremont Mischief. See all classes offered by Who do you envithe Craft Distilling Institute at LevelUp, sion enrolling in these classes? Industry vetervia seattleweekly.com. Search “distill”. ans, or more those looking to break into distillow, exactly, do you learn how to distill? It’s not as though we have a long tradition of family distilleries here in Seattle, passed down from generation to generation. Into that vacuum has stepped Seattle Central Community College. The school’s Craft Distilling Institute aims both to train those new to the industry and to offer enrichment to the experienced. We spoke to interim director Lisa Babinec to learn more about this exciting new program.
COURTESY OF COPPERWORKS DISTILLING COMPANY
CHANGE
Draft a new career blueprint
CODE FOR ALL » FROM PAGE 9
Acquire language skills (in-person and online). Sample International cooking. Gain helpful travel tips. Experience varieties of wines and hard cider. Choose from over 300 classes.
206-934-5339 | www.LearnAtSouth.org
looking to add skills that will be valuable to them in the future at their current jobs.” In addition to those making the decision to switch jobs, there’s also increasing pressure on non-tech workers to adapt in order to fulfill new functions in their roles or to take on new roles within a company. Part-time courses and workshops that last just a few hours are ideal for these people. Marketers who might have cut their teeth designing ads for billboards now have to figure out how to compose and execute a proper tweet. Artists typically tasked with presenting only in galleries need to figure out how to display their immersive exhibits when people visit their websites. Even companies like Patagonia are instituting required online training courses for their
employees to ensure that each person has the technical skills needed to collaborate effectively with other departments. “ICT literacy is to today’s world what literacy in terms of reading and writing was in the notso-distant past,” says General Assembly instructor Ashley Karr. It is nearly impossible for professionals to exist in a professional environment and not interact with their customers and clients through varying technologies. Developers aren’t marketers and engineers aren’t salesmen, but the ability for them to collaborate in the same language is essential for them to succeed. The bottom line is that programming is simply not just for programmers anymore. It’s for anyone who wants to communicate. Take the first step toward a more programmingliterate life at LevelUp, via seattleweekly.com. Search “assembly”.
Fresh Classes
produced 18 short films and three feature films with budgets of all shapes and sizes. October 5–7, 6:30–9:30 p.m., $95
Sign up for all these and more at LevelUp, via seattleweekly.com.
Indie-rock poster-design legend, author, and former art director of The Rocket, Art Chantry shares his iconoclastic view during Art Chantry Speaks: A Heretic’s History of 20th-Century Graphic Design. Pulling from his experience creating logos, posters, and album art for numerous punk, grunge, and rock bands and their labels, Chantry will offer the unique point of view gained by an outsider who has shown at the Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Louvre. September 14, September 14, 8:30–9:30 p.m., FULL
Northwest Film Forum will be hosting Producing Fundamentals for Indie Filmmaking by local filmmaker Lindy Boustedt. Participants will gain an understanding of the creative producer’s process. Boustedt will share how, through her awardwinning company First Sight Productions, she has This Chantry original was distributed by the Washington State Department of Health and Social Services in 1997.
COURTESY OF SVC
UW’s Foster School for Business has launched a brand-new two-day seminar called Communication for the Senior Leader®. This powerful program focuses on the strong links between leadership and communication at the highest organizational levels. September 22–23, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., $2,220
Ballard Healing Arts owner Terry Sandusky has just finished training in Advanced Sound Healing with Suren Shrestha, and will be offering Tibetan Gong Baths in the spa’s Reiki Circles this fall. Students say they sleep better than ever after a Gong Bath. September 18, 5:30–7:30 p.m.; October 16, 5:30–7:30 p.m., $15
Free Events
Seattle Tilth Harvest Fair is a fun celebration of harvest season during which people can participate in hands-on activities, workshops, and cooking demonstrations. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Sat., Sept. 12 at Meridian Park, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. The 14th Annual Letterpress Wayzgoose, SVC’s celebration of letterpress, will include a swap-meet, a letterpress-ephemera marketplace, and free keepsake-poster printing. Noon–6 p.m. Sat., Sept. 19, School of Visual Concepts, 2300 Seventh Ave., Suite B.
Pick (and purchase) your favorite from more than 500 colorful pumpkins and gourds handcrafted in the Schack Art Center’s glass-blowing studio during Schack-toberfest. Also check out the harvest-themed art and gifts, make-your-own-glasspumpkin classes, activities for kids, and the 21+ Beer & Brat Night. September 24–27, Schack Art Center in Everett, 2921 Hoyt Ave., Everett, WA.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
All at your doorstep
206-934-5448 | WWW.LEARNATCENTRAL.ORG
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
LAUGH…EXPLORE…GROW
11
12
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
Welcome to
Thraxxho By Danie
l Roth •
Photogra
phy By A
use
llyce Andr ew
s. r rank i e h t ng d joini
e worl
w rre ne
l mis
usica has m
a
pers h
p ttle ra a e S ly
a d a biz e t a e r ve c
t re tha u t l u c sub
th round a m o fits fr
o lone
ks Than
to the
et, tw Intern
T
ART CREDIT
he Emerald Tablets of Thoth, a purportedly ancient 13-volume repository of Egyptian wisdom, serves as the foundational text of Hermeticism, one of the key magical and alchemical branches of the Western esoteric tradition. Some centuries after its creation, it’s also a foundational text for Thraxxhouse, a year-and-a-half-old subculture, equal parts brilliant and bizarre, started by two young, talented, lonely rappers in Seattle, Key Nyata and Mackned. Thraxxhouse is often described as a hip-hop collective, but nobody from the crew I talk to seems to accept that title, even rejecting it outright. “I can roam in hip-hop. I’ve made hip-hop songs. But it’s not a thing I deem important to my artistry and my career. It’s never going to be just one thing with Thraxxhouse,” Key says. “Houses usually have more than one room.” He’s not kidding. As of this writing, the Thraxxhouse collective numbers more than 40 members: rappers, producers, singers, fashion designers, artists, videographers, even a couple of skateboarders. Though Seattle is its birthplace and stronghold, Thraxxhouse stretches far beyond the city. There’s a robust outpost in L.A. (the location of a short-lived, literal Thraxxhouse where many members lived), key Thraxx figures on the East Coast and in the Midwest (including gothic crooner Wicca Phase Springs Eternal), and members as distant as the Netherlands (home to visual artist Hidden Behind Leaves). Thraxxhouse’s fan base is growing as well, aided by the members’ strong Internet presence and willingness to play shows across the country. When I first talk to Ned, he’s just returned from playing a few dates in Texas, and a month or so before that he was in L.A., playing warehouse shows to 1,000-person crowds. There are plans for Thraxxhouse to go on a nationwide tour later this year, with as many members as possible. » CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
Welcome to Thraxxhouse » FROM PAGE 13
14
It’s not the first time they’ve tried to travel the country: Last year they attempted a similar tour, albeit on a smaller scale, at a time when Thraxxhouse wasn’t nearly as big as it is now. Warsame Warsame, who manages much of Thraxxhouse’s Seattle talent, admits “We fucked up on that tour, it’s DIY, things happen.” At one point, Key lost his wallet and got stranded in Texas while the rest of the group flew out to New York. As Thraxxhouse’s legions of members and fans swell internationally, so does their acclaim. Mackned’s new album, FEMALE, released earlier this month, scored features on major online music outlets like the UK’s FACT Magazine and Noisey. (Ned excitedly texts me the link to the latter article at four in the morning the day it’s published.) Their small but devoted fanbase eats up everything the crew puts out; many of the songs on the official Thraxxhouse Soundcloud page have upwards of 10,000 or more listens. Thraxxhouse puts out more than just music, however. The long-sleeved T-shirts, hats and basketball shorts that they produce frequently sell out. More often than not, these in-demand items are covered in occult imagery (pentagrams, sigils, and Freemason insignia, especially in Wicca Phase Springs Eternal’s GOTHBOICLIQUE style), almost always black and always proclaiming, in loud, prominent letters, the Thraxxhouse name. Thraxxhouse members wear these clothes with pride, though they’re simply one part of the aesthetic they’ve curated for themselves. Other determining factors include a love for witch house, a short-lived, obscure music genre, that just about every member draws influence from. Elements from Japanese anime and video games surface often. Special reverence is given to Lil B, the self-made internet rap phenomenon, both for his distinct stream-of-consciousness “based” rap style and his relentlessly positive attitude. A number of them even proudly abstain from red meat. This last detail, the group’s Thraxxdiet, is casually referenced in a wide selection of Thraxxhouse-sanctioned songs, though nowhere quite as directly as in the vegan-rap manifesto of Yung Bruh’s “veggies” off his 2014 album, Emocean: Catch me eatin’ apples with a fat-ass spliff I’m a young vegan thug, ain’t no laughin’ bitch Other similarly Lil-B-indebted tracks from Yung Bruh (the son of Digable Planets/Shabazz Palaces star Ishmael Butler) include “goth ritual” and “are you online?”—also key ingredients in Thraxxhouse’s peculiar cultural smoothie. To understand the fascinating, confusing mishmash of occult, goth, hip-hop, punk, anime, pro-vegetable, anti-meat, and Tumblr-core styles that is Thraxxhouse, and why it has attracted such a wide, deeply committed audience, you first need to understand who its founders are and where they come from.
bodycool” in the checkerboard style of the old Cartoon Network logo. When he smiles—something he doesn’t readily do—his face lights up. It’s a stark contrast from his music videos, which often feature him rolling his eyes to the back of his head as if possessed. Key and Ned’s personalities appear to be in opposition to each other. Ned is always in motion, cracking jokes or checking his Twitter, perpetually carefree. In comparison, Key has a quiet seriousness and more than a little ennui. Key was born in the summer, Ned in the winter. Yet, they both understand each other in a way
that others do not. By way of explanation, Key says that they have “a contrast so far apart it brings them together.” That might have something to do with their similar upbringings on opposite sides of the city. As Mackned tells it, there are two sides to West Seattle, his lifelong home: the white and the mixed. The lanky rapper grew up in the latter, attending Chief Sealth High School and running with gangs. It’s a period of his life he is reluctant to revisit at any depth, and one he doesn’t celebrate in his music or personally. But it’s an environment he knows well.
Mackned is tall and slim, his sharp features
framed by a narrow strip of beard. Short frizzy curls crown his face, and when he talks his gold teeth gleam. He proudly wears Gucci flip-flops (as he’s quick to point out when we first meet), joggers, and a tank top that reveals the tattoos that cover his chest and neck and run down his arms all the way to the backs of his hands. A whole story could be written on his tattoos alone—a few choice samples include the Thrasher logo; Pikachu; bubble letters reading “Fresh Prince”; and his most recent piece, a portrait of Nikola Tesla on the left side of his neck. Key Nyata’s skinny dreads, some tipped in bronze, spill out over a visor that reads “aintno-
Top: “White Mountains” producer BroBak (left) and grunge-influenced rapper Tokyo GLD (second from right) watch a Thraxxmember smoke a joint. Middle: Key Nyata beams in for a FaceTime Thraxxchat. Bottom: (L-R) Mackned chills with Thraxxhouse manager Warsame Warsame, The Flavr Blue’s Lace Cadence (who helped originally introduce Ned to Key), and prolific producer Keyboard Kid.
“That shootout that happened in Capitol Hill the other day—I was in that. I was just driving past,” Ned says, referencing the event on Pine and Melrose in the early hours of August 15. “I heard shots, and I seen the nigga drop. But I wasn’t fazed by any of it.” He tells us it’s nothing he hasn’t already seen. On the other side of the city, in Seattle’s Central District, a young Key was exposed to similar circumstances, growing up with a single parent in gang territory, but he managed to avoid gang affiliations. “In my generation, I had the choice to be on that side or not,” he says. “I chose not to. I chose to make music and play sports.” Music became a creative outlet for them both. Mackned’s family has a strong musical legacy: His dad was in Cold, Bold and Together, one of the Northwest’s classic soul and funk bands of the ’70s, featured on Seattle reissue label Light in the Attic’s classic Wheedle’s Groove compilation. (Ned counts famed saxophonist Kenny G as his godfather.) After starting his nascent rap career, Ned was adopted into Seattle’s Moor Gang hip-hop collective thanks to Nacho Picasso, the group’s breakout star. Key, on the other hand, was taken in at the young age of 16 by Raider Klan, the popular cross-country rap collective started by Florida-based Three 6 Mafia-obsessive SpaceGhostPurrp. The experience led to whirlwind tours while the rapper was still in high school. Despite their newfound hip-hop families, Mackned and Key Nyata both recall feeling lonely. Having grown up isolated in tough situations, that loneliness sent them searching for answers. Independently, they started looking for those answers in unusual places. Acquaintances introduced Mackned to West Seattle’s Masonic temples, which led to a few months of intense study on a variety of New Age esoteric topics. Key in the meantime was already exploring cosmic themes in his own music. The two intially started collaborating after playing a show together, but they found a common sense of spirituality that wasn’t present in the Seattle hip-hop community at the time. “I was trying to talk to people about it for a long time, but nobody understood it but Key,” Ned says. Key points to his song “Religion of the Stars” off of Thraxxhouse Mixtape: Independence Day Edition, from July of last year, as an example of the Emerald Tablets’ spiritual influence in their music. Over a dark, brooding instrumental, Ned raps almost mindlessly, as if possessed by some all-knowing being: Thoughts to reality, a life without fantasy, body bound to gravity, above is where the palace be My mind open My thoughts potent I remember different A clear vision Now both men say they feel spiritually content—or “answered,” as they put it. They use Thraxxhouse, at least partially, to encourage those who feel lost to do their own soul-searching. The unending stream of pentagrams, esoteric insignia, and crosses, as well as the crew’s relentless lyrical references to witches, magick, and higher consciousness, makes a sort of spiritual salad they hope the Thraxx-curious might sort through and sample to arrive at their own conclusions. “That’s what we’re here to do. Find yourself completely,” Key says. “I can’t force everybody to do what I think is the right thing. For me it’s just the searching part. Whatever you deem correct in your life is what’s correct. I can’t tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. I can lead you to the river, but you choose what side of it you wanna drink from.”
On a recent Sunday night, just about every “We have a Thraxxchat, which is a group chat member and known local associate of Thraxxwhere we talk to each other all day, every day. house, close to 20 all together, is crammed into That’s how we stay updated. If we got personal Ned’s West Seattle one-bedroom apartment. shit in our lives, we talk to each other about it After leaving their shoes at the door, they pour all. It’s a real big support system,” says Malcolm into Ned’s kitchen, where he in turn pours Byrd, who goes by Tokyo GLD when releasing codeine cough syrup, apparently a Thraxxhouse his more explicitly grunge-influenced rap. favorite, into Styrofoam cups, diluting it with Every single Thraxx member I talk to stresses Sprite. Others retreat to the couch, playing a that Thraxxhouse is, first and foremost, a family. cartoony Xbox baseball game or using a Macbook as a surface to roll joints. Later in the week, the collective hosts a release I notice the microphone at Ned’s kitchen party for Female at a Belltown gallery, in anticicounter, and he tells me that Female, his fifth pation of a rare Thraxxhouse blowout scheduled and most recent LP (see page 29), was recorded for September 2 at the Crocodile. The crew is right there among the cereal boxes and Styroconfident it will sell out. foam cups. Compared to Thraxxhouse Mixtape, The DJ wears a Pink Floyd T-shirt and spins, released little more than a year ago, it’s remarkwithout exception, Mackned and Atlanta hipable to see how far hop auteur Future Mackned has come (a line from a recent on Female. It’s a Future song inspired point of maturation Ned’s Gucci flip-flop for him, and the purchase). Warsame is most fully formed doing his best to make musical vision to the event go well, come out of the —Yung Bruh, “veggies” from 2014’s Emocean stressing about setting Thraxxhouse colup a projector to get lective thus far. visuals going, but no While much of his earlier work played more one else seems too concerned. directly with the infamously weird Lil B and his The Thraxxhouse fans in attendance seem trademark “based” aesthetic and vocal cadence, to lean heavily female and younger, wearing on Female Mackned fully establishes his own revealing outfits in dark colors. One sports a style. It does contain what Key calls “secular septum piercing and gold teeth just like Ned’s. music”—party tracks that lack the spiritual and One young woman tells me she’s been to every emotional undercurrent of Thraxxhouse, tracks Thraxxhouse show since she discovered them intended to reach a wider audience (like the last November. A couple of artists from a show album’s tipsy “100 Oz.”)—but much of it is pure in the neighboring gallery drop in, and they unadultered Thraxx. seem extraordinarily out of place. The record’s breakout track “White MounThe girls ask Ned to pose with them for tains” is a perfect entry point to the sound. photos, predestined for Instagram and Twitter, With distinct notes of sorrow in his voice, and he happily obliges. Key shies away from Ned raps—or, maybe more accurate, sighs— the attention, staying invisible for most of the “I got more pints than bitches, ay/I got more night. plugs than real friends” over a slow, sparse, Warsame tells me he hopes to make this and ambivalent choral beat that sounds a little event a monthly ritual. The crew feels that bit like Enya. It’s not hip-hop, it’s something establishing a relationship with fans is crucial to completely different—a poignant, emotional the foundation of Thraxxhouse. “At shows, most slow-burner equal parts beauty and bleakness. rappers do their shit and leave,” Key says. “We Loneliness, a common theme in Thraxxhouse, is stay around and kick it with people. We talk to front and center in this song. It makes you want our fans, take pictures, smoke with them, talk to cry into your cup of lean. with them.” Lately, Ned has developed an alter ego of Sometimes the Thraxxhouse family even sorts that is reflected on his other recent project, extends to the artists’ fans. Earlier this year, July’s Hurt Cobain EP (to which a follow-up Thraxxhouse played SXSW, where they met one has already been completed). Ned feels a deep of the collective’s newer members. “Warsame connection to the Nirvana front man, sharing and [Thraxxhouse member] Wilt Gameberboth Cobain’s preference for opiates as well as lin found this kid who was in head-to-toe his feelings of isolation despite his group’s rising Thraxxhouse merch at, like, 3 in the morning,” popularity. “It’s this feeling you get when you Key says. “This kid is a Thraxxhouse superfan. know you have gifts and you have to use them,” We were taking care of him this whole week, Ned says. “Your ideology is a little bit different because he had ran away from home to come to than the rest of the world. You sacrifice your our SXSW show. Now he’s in Thraxxhouse. His body, but you become the best at what you do.” name is Ryan Gothling, and he’s like our masAs much as the Thraxx crew might love cot. I don’t think any other group would take in drugs, the members want to make it clear that a fan like that and make him family.” they don’t promote drug use. Just look at “Role It’s this ethic that separates Thraxxhouse Model,” Female’s most brutally honest song. from so many musical subcultures. ThraxxDelving deep into his past, Ned laments the house doesn’t pride itself on exclusionism; even poor role model he’s become for his younger though much of their music may be cold, they’re brother. warm and welcoming even to me, an outsider It might seem strange that loneliness is such just there to document their wild existence. For an ever-present sentiment in Thraxxhouse, since all their sensitivity and loneliness, they’re happy the group is so large. But it’s part of what brings to make you feel like a part of the weird Thraxxall these people together, their desire to scrape family, even if only for a short time. E out a familial connection among likeminded individuals. This West Seattle gathering at THRAXXHOUSE Mackned’s apartment, I’m told, is one of the With Mackned, Key Nyata, Larry June, Yung rare times the crew has been all under one roof. Bruh, Horse Head, and others. The Crocodile, Perhaps that explains the loneliness—they’re 2200 Second Ave., thecrocodile.com. friends who interact primarily on the Internet. $12 adv./$15 DOS. All ages. 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 2.
WANT TO WIN DVDS, CONCERT TICKETS & MORE?
CHECK OUT OUR FREE STUFF PAGE! FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT US AT: seattleweekly.com/promo/freestuff
Catch me eatin’ apples with a fat-ass spliff/I’m a young vegan thug, ain’t no laughin’ bitch
to
ceeds sup pro p
a
SAVE 50%
ll
t or
TAG
8/26 9/2
on items with yellow tags
Be inspired create your own look
7710 SE 34th St., Mercer Island, WA 98040
(206)275-7760
www.miyfs.org
Above the clouds, Naturally.
Tiger Mountain Family Nudist Park www.TigerMtNudists.com A brand name of Fraternity Snoqualmie, Inc.
August 29th, 11-6
Nudestock
Party starts FRIDAY NIGHT ITALIAN DINNER POTLUCK & MUSIC with Mary McPage & Wild Willy Straub and friends. SATURDAY’S LINEUP 11am - 1pm Sister Madame 1:30pm - 3:30pm Jeff Herzog & The Jet City Flyers 4:00pm - 6pm Champagne Sunday
VENDORS Wicked Pies • Mocha Motion • Cheri's Kettlecorn • Fenix Face & Body Art • Nudestroms Store & MORE! Kids welcome with parents | Photo ID required 1st time visitors get voucher for next visit free. Weekend camping and carpooling encouraged.
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
Store hours: Monday - Saturday 10-7, Sunday 12-5
15
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Celebrate!
Washington Organic Week SEPTEMBER 12-19, 2015
Washington organic farms are a vital part of our local economy. Fresh, tasty food. Good for you. Good for the environment. TILTHPRODUCERS.ORG/WOW/
16
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 10am – 4pm – HARVEST FAIR IN MERIDIAN PARK (Wallingford). Co-hosted with Seattle Tilth, the annual Harvest Fair is a fun, lively community festival with workshops, hands-on demonstrations, a raffle, book talks and signings...plus a brand new beer garden. Mark your calendar to spend the day enjoying sustainable food and live music with friends and family. FREE and open to the public, with voluntary donations accepted at the entrances. More information online: bit.ly/2015harvestfair THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 6pm – 9pm. ORGANIC BEER, CIDER & CHOCOLATE TASTING (Lake City). Join us at a brand new location – Elliott Bay Public House & Brewery. Taste delicious beers, ciders and chocolate from Alpenfire Cider, Aslan Brewing Co, Elliot Bay Brewing, Hot Cakes, Pike Place Brewing, Sixknot Cider and Theo Chocolate. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Purchase online: bit.ly/tpbccevent EAT ORGANIC FOR WOW! PLEDGE – We’ll be challenging all participants to spend the week focused on supporting local organic farmers and retailers while sharing tips on how to keep it affordable, healthy and delicious. Pledge now: bit.ly/tpwowpledge
WOW! EVENTS
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
This year’s highlights include:
September 12 - 19, 2015 marks the 6 th annual celebration of Washington Organic Week or WOW! WOW! is an annual campaign that connects consumers to Washington organic growers and products. WOW! offers unique opportunities for consumers to learn about organic foods: the healthiest, freshest and most environmentally friendly food available. This week long campaign is a unique way to highlight the important role of organics in our food system bridging consumers’ health, the land and our community. Join us for Washington Organic Week as we celebrate the amazing variety of organic products available at retailers, co-ops, and farmers markets across the state.
WASHINGTON ORGANIC PRODUCTS AVAILABLE FROM OUR SPONSORS
food&drink
Ethnic Seattle’s Struggles
FoodNews BY JASON PRICE
Pho Cyclo owner Taylor Hoang advocates for immigrant-owned businesses.
How many beer festivals can one region handle? Well, apparently this one can take a lot, as The Washington Beer Commission will host its second annual South Sound Craft Beer Festival from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 29 at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall. The festival will turn the hall into an IPA-lover’s paradise, with at least 90 delicious craft beers served by 31 Washington breweries, plus live music and food. Admission is $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and includes a commemorative tasting cup along with six 5-ounce tastes. Additional tastes will be $2 each, or three for $5.
BY JACOB UITTI
I
The website came about when she saw how hard it was for her mother to promote and market her own restaurant. “Her idea of marketing was to have a banner or poster hanging from the facade,
Motif Seattle has partnered with The Art Institute of Seattle (AiS) to host a Culinary Throwdown at Frolik Kitchen + Cocktails, Wednesday, August 26 at 6 p.m. The Throwdown will feature three AiS culinary students paired with three Seattle chefs to compete in a Choppedstyle cookoff. The winning dish will be featured on Frolik’s menu for the rest of the year. Guests of the free event are encouraged to donate online or at the door to the AiS student scholarship fund. There will be food and drink specials with a DJ on the patio as well. E
Hoang interviews owners of McPherson’s Fruit & Produce for ethnicseattle.com. ethnicseattle.com
window, or an A-sign on the street. The amount of people she was able to reach was basically neighborhood customers or foot traffic. It was frustrating to see her waste money on these without a good return on her investment. She didn’t know how to use social media, and other advertising avenues [were] way too expensive.” The EBC, established in 2014, has a six-member board from different ethnic and business backgrounds, and works hands-on with businesses to support their brick-and-mortar stores. One of the coalition’s aims is to strengthen infrastructure to meet the challenges of increased business after any potential media coverage boom. “If their ambience is not up to par or they need help cleaning, we’ll bring in volunteers to get things right,” Hoang says. “We can provide improvements as well as digital support.” The EBC will also help businesses deal with organizations like the health department, and negotiate new labor laws to “help give a voice” to immigrant businesses. “We’ll sit on subcommittees when the city discusses changes to new rules—whether they relate to health codes, to-go packaging and compost issues, or minimum-wage rule-making—to advocate for changes that mitigate the negative effects for immigrant-owned businesses,” Hoang explains. For example, she said, when Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) wanted to ban all non-compostable food packaging from food establishments last year, Hoang, with the EBC, demonstrated to the department that not all compost products were suitable for ethnic restaurants. Asian restaurants, for instance, serve a plethora of rice and noodle dishes with a lot of sauces; the existing compost products would cause the starches to stick to the
morningfoodnews@gmail.com
bottom of the package, rendering it inedible. “By the time customers get their food home, sauces from the stir fries would have melted through the package, and it’s messy and restaurants would get a lot of complaints. After demonstrating these impacts to SPU, they reversed their decision and allowed restaurants to continue to use clamshell polyethylene products for takeout food.” “I think the minority business owner sometimes doesn’t speak up and talk about their concerns,” says Liu, “so it’s always good to have people like Taylor give our point of view on the issues.” Karina Bull, senior policy analyst for Seattle’s
Office of Labor Standards, says the city is working with employers and workers to explain the changes to the minimum-wage laws and how they will be implemented in the coming years. Methods include radio, newsprint, and bus ads (like the “Promised $11/hour? Get $11/hour” slogan), as well as postcards mailed to immigrant businesses and workers. In addition, she explains, the city will contract with organizations that will conduct outreach programs to immigrant-owned businesses. “We’ve also been answering questions via e-mail and phone—issues ranging from medical benefits and tracking hours worked to service charges, pay rate for minors, and notice and posting requirements,” Bull says. “This year we’ve responded to over 1,000 questions already. Our written materials have been translated into 10 different languages, too. We’ve done a lot of outreach, but we always have more to do.” Thanks to people like Hoang, the city’s load is lightened. E For more information, visit seattle.gov/ civilrights/labor/standards. food@seattleweekly.com
TheWeeklyDish
Stuffed gnocchi at Gnocchi Bar.
BY NICOLE SPRINKLE
What is one to do on a Sunday afternoon in Capitol Hill, hungry child in tow, as groups of friends huddle outside popular brunch spots for half-hour waits and bars beckon with morning-after-boozing Bloody Marys? Head to Gnocchi Bar. The large space is pretty quiet at 1 p.m., and their menu—mostly gnocchi along with a few salads, a gelato bar, and a plentiful dessert selection—is appealing to young and old. While my daughter went for the pesto gnocchi, I opted for what seems to be a staple signature dish: the stuffed gnocchi with bleu d’Auvergne cheese, caramelized onions, and “a hint” of dried plums. These gnocchi are oversized and round, more like Southern dumplings than Italian ones, which put me off at first. But once I bit into the decadent interior, all was well in the world. The rich funk of the cheese and subtle smoky sweetness from the plum (it truly was just a hint) were so good—though the ratio of it to the supersized dumpling could have been higher. But the bacon-mustard cream sauce it all swam in more than made up for it. E nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com
17
NICOLE SPRINKLE
PHOEBE POON
Meanwhile, Seattle Cider Company is celebrating its second anniversary this Saturday too. Join them at The Woods tasting room from 1–7 p.m. as they celebrate with a special tap lineup of more than 20 ciders, from year-round favorites and seasonal ciders to barrel-aged beauties. There will also be raffles, giveaways, and games, with food from The People’s Burger food truck.
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
n Washington, 15 percent of all business owners are foreign-born, according to the Immigration Policy Center, and in Seattle the figure is even higher. Many of these businesses in the food and beverage arena must regularly cope with cultural and language barriers. This can make growing a business, and learning and adapting to changing laws like the recently approved $15-an-hour minimum-wage mandate, a struggle. But there are ways these businesses can, and do, receive help. Taylor Hoang, owner of Seattle’s Pho Cyclo Café, is on the forefront of that effort. Hoang— the daughter of Vietnamese immigrant Lien Dang, owner of Seattle’s beloved Huong Binh restaurant—is working to grow and educate immigrant-owned businesses via two channels: a new website she’s co-founded, ethnicseattle.com, and the recently established nonprofit Ethnic Business Coalition (EBC), of which she is the executive director. “Ethnic and immigrant communities and cultures are stereotypically drawn as the exotic, different, to be experienced once in a while,” Hoang says. “These stereotypes are usually painted through words such as ‘cheap eats, have to experience, should try.’ While these phrases may be true to a certain extent, ethnic- and immigrant-owned businesses are part of the mainstream business communities.” She’s right. Nationwide, immigrants own 53 percent of the grocery stores, 38 percent of the restaurants, and 43 percent of the liquor stores, according to a recent report by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Fiscal Policy Institute. Ethnicseattle.com, created with funding from the Mayor’s Office and the City of Seattle, aims to market and raise the visibility of immigrant-owned businesses like those in the International District, the Central District, West Seattle, Rainier Valley, and Columbia City. The EBC will distribute city materials that provide an overview of the $15 minimum wage and the rules governing the new laws, and will work with businesses as an advocate to bolster potentially weak infrastructures. “Taylor has been really important for the $15-minimum-wage process,” says I-Miun Liu, owner of Oasis Tea Zone and Eastern Café, “in terms of getting our voices heard regarding how the law can be structured and bringing a voice for minority businesses to the City Council and the Mayor’s Office.” “The goal of ethnicseattle.com,” Hoang explains, “is to fold these communities into the mainstream—connecting the divide so that more people will feel comfortable to engage and frequent these neighborhoods, rather than driving around them or frequenting them as a tourist might.”
WATERVIEW COMMERCIAL RESTAURANT
food&drink» Cocktail Lists Too Cool for School?
T
and cooler options right there in front of you? That’s not to say that those drinks aren’t good, but they often have much narrower appeal. They also ask a lot more of guests. While most of us know what whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters are, modern cocktail lists are full of ingredients that prompt most to reach for their smart phones. I personally enjoy that act of discovery and exploration on occasion, but it’s become an almost-mandatory part of the drinking experience, at least if you want to explore a list fully. It also makes demands on the bar staff (not to mention the server), who have to first hold a ton of practical knowledge in their heads, then figure out how to communicate to a guest what an obscure ingredient tastes like. In modern times, we almost fetishize a vast assortment of choices, yet at the same time those choices don’t actually make us as happy as does finding something we truly love and sticking with it. No, this hasn’t suddenly turned into an online dating column, but the same principle holds true with cocktails. Exploration and experimentation have their place and value, yet to me there’s something a bit sad about people leaving behind cocktails they truly cherish just for a fling with something strange and new. E
here was a time, not so long ago, that one of my favorite experiences was opening a cocktail list and perusing the contents. Some new ingredient I’d never heard of, a novel reinvention of a classic, or even just a witty name: There was always something to make me think, laugh, or at least thirsty. Yet now I’m finding cocktail lists more a hindrance than a help, and I don’t think I’m alone. What’s changed? Well, for one, cocktails BY ZACH GEBALLE have become a far bigger business than most people would have imagined a decade or so ago. If a restaurant even had a cocktail list, it offered little more than a few classic (and not-so-classic) drinks; the few serious cocktail bars in Seattle distinguished themselves in exactly that way, by having a list that went beyond the classics. Yet in 2015 Seattle, with a cocktail bar on seemingly every corner, we’ve gotten to the point where the last thing I want is yet another “take” on the Manhattan or Negroni . . . I just want the drink that earned that degree of fame. Guests often apologize to me for ordering “just” a Martini or a Manhattan, and I can’t help but feel that cocktail lists are one of the main culprits. They suggest that picking a familiar drink is at best boring and at worst unsophisticated: Why drink a lame old Martini when you’ve got dozens of newer
THEBARCODE
BY APPT: 1223 McKenzie Ave., Bremerton.
Offered at MLS #733993
$289,000 •
206-227-3391
Boozy Slushies Seven to slurp now. BY JACOB UITTI
RESTAURANT SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
2207 1st Ave • BELLTOWN 206.956.9329 • OHANABELLTOWN.COM
18
OHANA BELLTOWN’S
SWEET 16 ANNIVERSARY PARTY
& SAM SMITH BENEFIT! THURSDAY AUGUST 27TH STARTING AT 8:30PM!
ALL PROFITS FROM RAFFLE, T SHIRTS & HATS WILL BE DONATED! W DJ ASIA!!
SPONSORED BY HEINEKEN, SAILOR JERRY AND COORS LIGHT! 8/26 - ALOHA WEDNESDAY PAK & DA LOLOZ!! 8/27 - GET RIGHT THURSDAY - DJ CHINKEYE!! 8/28 - FRIDAY - DJ KUSH-KO!! 8/29- SATURDAY- DJ HEAD-ACHE!!
8/30 - SUNDAY - KARAOKE W/ AURY MOORE! $3 LATE NITE HAPPY HOUR 9 - MIDNITE! MONDAY & TUESDAY ABSOLUTE KARAOKE $3 HAPPY HOUR ALL NIGHT W/ ABSOLUT DRINK SPECIALS!! 9/2- ALOHA WEDNESDAY - TBD!
thebarcode@seattleweekly.com
W
hen I was a kid, I would take summer trips to an apple orchard that offered the most amazing apple-cider slushies. It’s been years since I’ve been to that orchard, and just about as long since I’ve had an ice-cold slushy. So imagine my joy when I discovered a handful of shops in town making their own slushies—boozy ones!—to cool down with during this historically hot summer. So where are these frozen nectars of the gods available? Rachel’s Ginger Beer’s Pink Guava Mule is worth the struggle to find parking on Capitol Hill. The effervescent, tangy frozen drink ($8) is served in a tall, thin glass and, like other Moscow Mules, it’s made with lime juice, vodka, and Rachel’s delicious pink guava ginger beer. Italian bistro Artusi’s currently offers a Red Rum Mojito: Campari, Jamaican-style rum, lime juice, and housemade mint syrup ($11). However, they may soon switch to their Mama Said Knock You Out frozen cocktail ($11) made with a big dose of rum plus passion fruit, allspice dram, grenadine, lime and orange juices, and bitters. If you want slushy margaritas, Red Star Taco Bar has you covered with six flavors: strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, mango, peach, and of course lime. The 12-ounce drinks are $6, $5 during their happy hour (4–6 p.m. every day, 10 p.m.–1 a.m. Sun.–Thurs.). Frelard hot spot Drunky’s Two Shoe BBQ serves two boozy slushies, the mai tai and the paloma, both $7 for an 8-ounce glass. The mai tai, on the sweeter side, is made with Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum; the tart, lime-citrus paloma is
COURTESY OF RACHEL’S GINGER BEER
Mixed-Use Commercial Building – Spectacular water views along 6-acre Evergreen Park in Bremerton’s fast-changing community. 2-story restaurant on large lot. Easy walk to Seattle ferry, college, downtown shopping. Commercial kitchen, 2 bthrms, utility room, outdoor dining, parking, storage. 1,400sqft. Poss. owner terms for well-qualified buyer. Current tenant occupied.
made with Dos Lunas Tequila. During happy hour (4–6 p.m. Mon.–Fri.) they’re marked down to $5. TanakaSan offers sake slushies to chill your hot bod. Try their original with lemon juice and simple syrup ($8.50); their Purple Julep, which includes bourbon and a fresh blueberry and ginger purée ($9.50); or their Ruby Red with orange aperol and pink-grapefruit liqueur ($9.50). During happy hour (3–5 p.m. daily) you can buy the original slushy with Yuzu citrus soda or the Umeboshi slushy with sweet and salted plum purée ($6.25). Cantina Lena, Tom Douglas’ downtown Mexican spot, serves a frozen fresh-watermelon margarita that’s a “little bit stronger” than other house cocktails, complete with homemade simple syrup ($9, or $5 during happy hour, 3–6 p.m. Mon.–Fri.). Cantina Lena rotates their frozen margarita flavors every month or two; last month was lime, and they’ll soon be changing to watermelon. Just off Westlake Avenue, the upscale Brave Horse Tavern makes a couple of frozen delights: the refreshingly tart Moscow Mule slushy, made with vodka, ginger, and lime ($9), and the Northern Exposure, made with Bombay Sapphire, mint, yuzu juice, and lime ($9). E food@seattleweekly.com
arts&culture
Homefront History
ThisWeek’s PickList
A new opera soars in its solo flights, sags in its structure. BY GAVIN BORCHERT
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 26
Felicia Day
more damaging, to an overall monotony— despite the attention Perla lavished on beguiling the listener—since the libretto feels as if it’s unspooling at largely the same pace throughout the opera regardless of any given moment’s dramatic need. Two scenes that absolutely cry out for increased urgency, a dialing-up of voltage, are Jim and Eva’s argument (after she discovers the doll) and the climactic confrontation between the couple and Setsuko, returning to her lost home. They drag, and fail to convince. Yes, but who says realism was Perla’s goal?
Well, Seattle Opera does, by promoting so intently, ever since the project’s inception, the opera’s slice-of-history, you-were-there relevance. (From the press kit: “The project aimed to create a new kind of opera, an opera with roots in its community and in the here and now.”) Drawn by the promise of this personal relatability, what the audience gets instead is a sequence of reflective, introspective, expansively unfolding, heart-touching soliloquies separated by scenes depicting the humble yet wrenching experiences so typical of those forcibly relocated and meant to draw their power from that universality—yet which unfold almost as slowly, draining them of juice. How much more emotionally affecting and true those scenes could have been if rendered naturalistically, not stylized in the way that works beautifully for the solo arias; how much more An American Dream as a whole—with so much to offer—would have gained in effect by some basic flexibility in dramatic pacing. E
gborchert@seattleweekly.com
Methodist Church, 1415 N.E. 43rd St., 634-3400, bookstore.washington.edu. $25.99 (includes book). 7 p.m. ALANA AL-HATLANI FRIDAY, AUG. 28
PAX Prime
This annual gaming convention has moved, in more ways than one. It’s no longer poised opposite Bumbershoot on Labor Day weekend, when many gamers and Bumbergoers were torn as to which multiday extravaganza to attend. And here we should admit that, just as Bumbershoot contains more than music, PAX Prime has grown to include so much more than pixels and consoles. The 16th West Coast edition—there’s also one in Boston—also features comics, authors, music, autograph stands, food, sundry contests and competitions (including Omegathon!), swag booths, panel discussions with industry figures, gaming stations, and even traditional oldschool board games. (Remember: Without those gray-bearded D&D elders, there would be no modern gaming. So respect to them, their Tevas, and their kilts.) Additionally, PAX has spread its tentacles to several halls and auditoria beyond the Convention Center. Part of the benefit surely is to get sun-starved young attendees out in the streets to see a bit more of Seattle. So while we strongly suggest you attend three panels featuring PAX Prime founders and Penny Arcade creators Gabe and Tycho (aka Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins), they’d be the first to tell you that the city has more to offer beyond monitors and keyboard. (Through Mon.) Washington State Convention Center and nearby hotels, prime.paxsite. com. $40 (sold out). 10 a.m.–midnight. T. BOND
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
gentle propulsion. Instrumental countermelodies often twine around the vocal lines—which must have been grateful and inspiriting to sing, judging by how good the cast made them sound. (Each of the five characters is given a solo moment; the one for Setsuko’s father grows into an aching father/daughter duet.) It’s all marvelously transparent; you can hear everything, and the music not only enables but warrants and rewards close listening. For a change. Perla knows an opera score’s job is to pull you in, not to be as nondescript as possible out of fear of distracting from the text— a principle not seldom forgotten in the past 50 years, though there are 350 years of prior examples proving it. You’d think it would be obvious: The better the music, the more you’re compelled to pay attention. However, one aspect of the way Perla handled Moo’s libretto drove me nuts. It’s a bugbear I’ve ranted about before: composers who seem unwilling or unable to distinguish between lines that can support being expanded into lyrical flights and those that can’t without distorting their meaning and braking the dramatic momentum. Roughly, it’s the difference between prose and poetry; this braking is exactly what happens when, in a typical example, Perla extends a line as innocuous as “This one was my favorite” (referring to phonograph records) over several bars. Many, many lines of plain dialogue that would have gained point and poignance by being set to naturalistic speech rhythms were stretched to the point of sagging. This led not only to a loss of impact for those lines, but,
© ELISE BAKKETUN
H
eartfelt, lovely, performed with exquisite care, and suffering from the same compositional miscalculation that weighs down so many contemporary operas, An American Dream is Seattle Opera’s first mainstage premiere since 2010’s Amelia. (The opera debuted Friday, with a second performance Sunday.) Jessica Murphy Moo’s libretto, based on actual reminiscences solicited by SO, tells a story of the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II and of a German-Jewish refugee who resettles in the Northwest at the same time, intersecting these experiences movingly. As the opera opens, the teenaged Setsuko (Hae Ji Chang) and her parents (Nina Yoshida Nelsen and Adam Lau), obligated to sell their house under duress, are preparing for internment by destroying every suspect keepsake that might link them to Japan. The one possession Setsuko cannot bear to get rid of is a doll; this she hides under the floorboards. The house goes to Jim (Morgan Smith) and his German wife Eva (D’Ana Lombard), fleeing the Third Reich and longing for word of her parents. A letter for Eva comes; Setsuko keeps it out of spite; and the opera ends as Eva learns the truth and Setsuko is reunited with her doll, symbol of her heritage, and her father. Jack Perla’s expert and delicious music (one act, one hour), conducted by Judith Yan, is set for 15 players: five strings, six winds, trumpet, percussion, harp, and piano. Intricate, often pointillist detail, deftly layered, keeps the ear occupied and delighted. John Adams-like steady-state rhythms low in the mix provide
From left: Smith, Chang, and Lombard enact an American tragedy.
You might recognize her from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Day has since exchanged fangs for writing, comedy, and Internet stardom. Her memoir You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) reflects on her fame, but more interestingly on her life before celebrity. With an acute level of self-awareness, she isn’t ashamed to call herself out for being a weird homeschooled kid or admit that as a 16-year-old violin prodigy and college freshman at UT Austin, she was driven to class every day by her mother. These anecdotes affirm her nerdiness—a comforting feeling to readers that she isn’t just branding herself with the popular “nerd girl” stereotype, but actually is as awkward and weird as she claims, just like the rest of us. For fans of Buffy, her Web series The Guild, or one of the many TV shows where she’s appeared, her memoir will certainly have appeal. Yet even those unfamiliar with Day can laugh along to stories of superfans tattooing her signature (on their bodies, not hers), bad comic-con cosplay, and using the Internet to find your niche. University Temple United
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 21 19
“CAPTIVATING!” -Seattle Times
“A spree of
theatrical invention!”
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
-Seattle Times
20
NOW PLAYING - SEP 6 (206) 625-1900 WWW.5THAVENUE.ORG GROUPS OF 10 OR MORE CALL 1-888-625-1418 2015/16 SEASON SPONSORS
ON 5TH AVENUE IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE OFFICIAL AIRLINE
RESTAURANT SPONSOR
arts&culture» » FROM PAGE 19
Standley’s Lyle never made the majors.
SATURDAY, AUG. 29
Steve Earle
CHRIS BENNION
Steve Earle is one of America’s greatest living troubadours, a Nashville songwriter who never played by Nashville’s rules. At 60, he’s still touring relentlessly and releasing albums every year or two. While most artists his age are trying to find a way to slow down, Earle still has lots to say. His latest album, Terraplane, is an homage to Texas blues, inspired by acts like Canned Heat, ZZ Top, and Robert Johnson. It was made while Earle was going through his seventh divorce, this one from fellow songwriter Allison Moorer, with whom he has an autistic son. “I don’t think there’s a mean moment on the record,” he told Mother Jones. “I think some stuff is just me basically puffing out my chest and trying to make myself feel better, a little less fucked-over.” Single again, Earle is able to take his songs on the road without the second tour bus for his family. “It was the way we had to travel, trying to keep a family together on the road,” he recently told Rolling Stone. “As soon as Allison was gone, I went back to one bus. It’s extended the life of my touring drastically, because it’s half the money.”
Elia Mrak
Mrak slides in and out of town as his peripatetic dance life takes him to different countries, different continents, different hemispheres. His travelling disposition is a good match for his slippery movement style, combining contact improvisation, martial arts, and breakdance with a quirky curiosity about what the human body can do. On this stopover, Mrak is dancing with Nancy López Luna, an award-winning performer from Veracruz, Mexico, in Whimsical, a program of improvisation and risk about being together. Erickson Theatre Off Broad-
way, 1524 Harvard Ave., brownpapertickets. com. $20–$25. 8 p.m. SANDRA KURTZ SUNDAY, AUG. 30
Those who attended—or should I say survived— the U.S. Open Cup match on June 16 at Starfire witnessed the making of Seattle Sounders legend. Since dubbed the “Red Card Wedding,” the match ended, after injuries and ejections, with seven Sounders on the pitch. And as if that evening weren’t traumatic enough—a first-round loss, in a competition we’ve won four of the past seven seasons, at home, to fucking Portland—it also marked the beginning of an equally legendary bottoming-out for the team: From June 16 to August 15, across all competitions, they earned one win, one draw, and nine losses. But then on the 16th we seemed to turn a corner; thanks in large part to some energizing midseason player acquisitions, we stomped on Orlando 4-0. Now this weekend Portland returns for what’s possibly our must-winniest must-win MLS regular-season match ever—not only for revenge, but because it’s going to be all the harder to make the playoffs this season if we don’t. Let me be clear: I don’t just want to beat them. I don’t just want to embarrass them. I want the Timbers to lie awake Sunday night weeping and questioning whether they should continue to play soccer. CenturyLink Field, 800 Occidental Ave. S., soundersfc.com. $30–$135. 2 p.m. GAVIN BORCHERT E
John Baxter Is a Switch Hitter CORNISH PLAYHOUSE, 201 MERCER (SEATTLE CENTER), 315-5838. $20 AND UP. SEE INTIMAN. ORG FOR SCHEDULE. ENDS SEPT. 27.
Almost like two plays in one—one works great, one not so much—Ana Brown and Andrew Russell’s dramedy takes off from a real-life incident of pure theatrical gold: the controversy at the 2008 Gay Softball World Series when the San Francisco team was accused of bringing straight ringers. (Rules stated that each player had to declare “gay” or “non-gay” on their roster; a team was allowed three of the latter.) It blows up in a long, complex, masterfully crafted scene in Baxter’s Act 2, a fast and funny witch-hunt that descends to grilling players about losing their virginity and scrutinizing their Facebook pages for clues. While the Seattle players prosecutorially grab any stereotype they can as evidence (oh, so you brunch, do you?!?), the SF players stonewall (so to speak) by refusing to answer how they identify. As labels and segregation—concepts progressive Seattle thought it had evolved beyond—suddenly become vitally important, every question that ought to be raised is raised: Is turnabout fair play? Is it just, or just wrong, to “out” straight men in order to exclude them? (Here, ostracism is the price of being hetero; it’s the comic counterpart to The Children’s Hour, which Intiman opens September 11.) What happens when “It doesn’t matter who you love” clashes with building a community and preserving a safe space, giving gay athletes opportunities elsewhere denied them? Should gays reserve these opportunities for themselves, or can they afford to be generous? In gay/softball, which is more important, the pride or the game? And, truth be told, would the Seattle team have bothered to challenge SF’s roster if they hadn’t lost the final to them?
Our protagonist/guide through all this is Lyle (Adam Standley), a baseball prodigy whose career stalled when he came out at 18. In contrast, Baxter (Riley Shanahan)—on the same track but for one crucial detail—got to go all the way to the San Diego Padres; his career derailed for a relevant reason, medical. It’s a point made poignantly. And in a sly irony, it’s Lyle’s homophobic brother-inlaw who raises the team’s suspicions after he sees Baxter play, skeptical that a guy that good could be that way—and he turns out to be right. But that Act 1: perky, bouncy, campy, and silly in a way that made me wonder if the playwrights and director Rosa Joshi oversugared the pill out of worry—not that straight audiences would be made uncomfortable by the subject, but that gay audiences might bristle at being satirized. (As Chicago lyricist Fred Ebb put it, “How can they see with sequins in their eyes?”) Since Baxter is still a work in progress, maybe some unsolicited advice won’t be unwelcome: No need to fluff up Act 1 because Act 2 asks pointed questions. Better yet, get rid of the filler (all the stuff at Lyle’s workplace, for a start) and boil the play down to a trenchant one-act. And the revelation in the epilogue—I won’t spoil it, but yes, you’ve guessed—undercuts every point the previous two hours had made. Drop it. GAVIN BORCHERT
PMatilda the Musical 5TH AVENUE THEATRE, 1308 FIFTH AVE., 625-1900. $35 AND UP. SEE 5THAVENUE.ORG FOR SCHEDULE. ENDS SEPT. 6.
Pinning an entire Broadway musical on a young character from a beloved children’s book is no small feat—especially when that character is Roald Dahl’s Matilda, a complicated mix of precociousness, loneliness, and quiet ferocity. But in this touring production of the hit musical, Mabel Tyler just about nails it. (Two other young actresses alternate in the part.) Even so, the supporting kid actors—plus some adults playing students—ensure that she’s buoyed by their sheer number and exuberance. They
Tyler and Blood as pupil and teacher.
Though Tim Minchin’s songs are all catchy and fully capitalized by the athletic, spunky choreography, none to my ear emerges as an anthem. Perhaps that’s because I had trouble hearing the lyrics—more likely a fault of acoustics than the cast. Still, this will be a small hindrance for families expecting a smart, fun rendition of a favorite book. (Matthew Warchus directs.) Most important for younger viewers is how the raucous schoolchildren become increasingly emboldened by Matilda’s quiet, supernatural defiance—culminating in a delightful roaring revolt. NICOLE SPRINKLE E
stage@seattleweekly.com
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
Sounders vs. Timbers
Opening Nights
JOAN MARCUS
The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 877-784-4849, stgpresents.org. $34. 8 p.m. DAVE LAKE
soar on swings over the crowd, catapult onto mattresses, and climb the fences of their bleak elementary school, presided over by the fearsome, masochistic Miss Trunchbull (played in drag, to great big-bosomed comedic effect, by Bryce Ryness). A former Olympic hammer-thrower, Miss Trunchball hates children and believes that teaching is only accomplished through bullying. While Dahl’s Trunchbull is a red-faced screamer, Ryness plays a less straightforward kind of mean: steelier, more leering, and ultimately creepier. Matilda’s scornful, indifferent parents are rendered in full-blown caricature. Her mother (Cassie Silva) becomes a crass, fast-talking, voluptuous dancer. In the number “Loud,” she extolls the virtues of “looks over books” in a fantastic Dancing With the Stars-style scene that feels like a thoroughly modern commentary on our Kardashian-entrenched culture. Likewise Matilda’s father (Quinn Mattfeld) ends up with a neon-yellow pompadour rather than a gray one. Matilda meanwhile finds solace in the library, where she not only voraciously reads Dickens and Shakespeare but also, in a clever departure from the book, displays her keen imagination by dreaming up stories for a rapt librarian. One in particular sadly echoes her own life and that of her caring teacher Miss Honey ( Jennifer Blood); this meta plot line also provides more acting opportunity for Matilda. Meanwhile Miss Honey also grows confident enough to stand up to Miss Trunchbull, a shift we sense as she moves from the plaintive, self-deprecating tune “Pathetic” to the more spirited, resolute “This Little Girl.”
21
arts&culture» performance, literary, & visual arts Stage
Classical, Etc.
Openings & Events
OPENINGS & EVENTS
SOUND + FOUND OBJECTS = FOUND • FOUND Sound-art from prerecorded sources and
AROUND THE BLOCK – COLORS OF AUTUMN Fall is
•
•
ACTS OF DESPERATION This revue promises “macabre
magic and mystic mayhem.” Spooked in Seattle, 102 Cherry St., creepymagician.com. $30. 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 27. MS. PAK-MAN: BONUS STAGE! “Comedy, confessions, camp, and quarters” enliven this video-game-themed cabaret starring the iconic sexpot. Re-Bar, 1114 Howell St., strangertickets.com. $20–$75. Opens Aug. 27. 8 p.m. Thurs.–Sat. Ends Sept. 5. RELENTLESS 2015 Flirty Sanchez hosts this “explosive, edge-of-your-seat” burlesque show. Theatre Off Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave. S., brownpapertickets.com. $25–$40. 8 p.m. Fri., Aug. 28–Sat., Aug. 29. SCRATCH MY BACK With singers Jillian Vashro and Christine Longé, storyteller Bret Fetzer presents an evening of dark and humorous fairy tales. West of Lenin, 203 N. 36th St., westoflenin.com. $8–$12. 8 p.m. Fri., Aug. 28.
CURRENT RUNS
CAFÉ NORDO “Summer Nights at the Culinarium”
includes literary and performance events practically every night: Maria Glanz’ solo show Being Naked Mon.; “Out to Eat” on Tues.; “Wine Wednesdays”; “Drinkers & Thinkers” on Thurs.; Chef/Artist dinners Fri.–Sat.; “Readers & Eaters” on Sun.; and more. Nordo’s Culinarium, 109 S. Main St., brownpapertickets.com. Full info at cafenordo.com. THE CIRCUS ANIMAL Circus arts showcased in the form of a nature doc. SANCA, 674 S. Orcas St., 652-4433, sancaseattle.org. $13–$25. 7 p.m. Fri.–Sun. Ends Aug. 30. EATEN VOICES Mythical characters, handmade masks, and original music enliven this fantasia. Camp Long, 5200 35th Ave. S.W., thenewalchemists.org. Donation. 2 p.m. Sat., Aug. 29–Sun., Aug. 30. THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL
A stripper on the run wreaks havoc at Armadillo Acres. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., seattlestageright. org. $17.50–$22. 7:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. & Mon., plus Thurs., Aug. 27. Ends Aug. 29. JET CITY IMPROV SUMMER MADNESS On Aug. 29, it’s Meat Night, with hot dogs onstage and off. Jet City Improv, 5510 University Way N.E., jetcityimprov.org. $12–$15. 8 & 10:30 Sat. Ends Sept. 19. JOHN BAXTER IS A SWITCH HITTER SEE REVIEW, PAGE 21. THE LION IN WINTER It’s 1183 and Henry II has to choose an heir in this political/domestic drama. SecondStory Repertory, 16587 N.E. 74th St., Redmond, 425-881-6777, secondstoryrep.org. $27. 8 p.m. Thurs.– Sat., plus 2 p.m. Sun., Sept. 6. Ends Sept. 6. MATILDA THE MUSICAL SEE REVIEW, PAGE 21. PAPER ANGELS SIS Productions presents Genny Lim’s play about the immigrant experience. INScape Arts Center, 815 Seattle Blvd. S., 323-9443, brownpapertickets. com. $9–$16. 7:30 p.m. Fri., Aug. 28–Mon., Aug. 31. THE PASSION AS TOLD BY ANTÍGONA PÉREZ Luis Rafael Sanchez’s play transposes the ancient Greek tragedy into today’s hypertrophied media environment. 12th Avenue Arts, 1620 12th Ave., thrivingartists.org. $10–$15. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sun. Ends Aug. 30. SPRING AWAKENING Teen angst, 1891-style. Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, chandelier productions.org. $20–$28. 8 p.m. Fri.–Sat. Ends Aug. 29. TEATRO ZINZANNI A show for the Jem generation, “The Return of Chaos” is glitzy, campy, and definitely chaotic. To a soundtrack of mid-’80s glam anthems (“Invincible,” “Holding Out for a Hero”), a clutch of Seattle superheroes battle the Horde of Four, villains in thrall to a robot-puppet-dog. The cirque acts framed by this nutball premise are as exhilarating as ever. Teatro ZinZanni, 222 Mercer St., 802-0015. $99 and up. Runs Thurs.–Sun. plus some Wed.; see zinzanni.com/seattle for exact schedule. Ends Sept. 13. (“Hollywood Nights” opens Sept. 17.) THE TUMBLEWEED ZEPHYR is a train carrying the cast to adventure in Maggie Lee’s steampunk romance. 12th Avenue Arts, 1620 12th Ave., porkfilled.com. $12–$18. 8 p.m. Thurs.–Mon. Ends Aug. 29.
•
22
•
Dance
ELIA MRAK SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 21. • ILVS • STRAUSS In Manifesto, strauss tells an intensely
personal story about childbearing and choice, but without hyperbole or drama. Instead she is more of a tour guide, leading us through a witty narration that combines the reproductive lives of sea cucumbers and family obligations. Manifesto reflects on a life lived outside standard expectations, strauss being a woman who does not want children. Her deft touch, both physical and verbal, makes potentially fraught ideas almost lighthearted. Gay City, 517 E. Pike St., ilvsstrauss.com. $18–$20. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 27–Sun., Aug. 30. SANDRA KURTZ
VANCE GALLOWAY & CHARLES STANYON
Electronic works and electroacoustic improvisations for guitar, modular synthesizer, found sound, and signal processors. Chapel Performance Space, 4649 Sunnyside Ave., waywardmusic.org. $5–$15. 8 p.m. Sat., Aug. 29. OPERA ON TAP A happy-hour performance of happy numbers from Candide, Der Rosenkavalier, Faust, and more. Hula Hula, 106 First Ave. N., operaontap.org/ seattle. Donation. 5 p.m. Sun., Aug. 30.
Author Events
FELICIA DAY SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 20. • JAY RICHARDS Silhouette of Virtue is his 1970s-set
debut mystery. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., 624-6600, elliottbaybook.com. 7 p.m. Wed., Aug. 26. MARGARET BENDET Learning to Eat Along the Way is her memoir of ashram life and bulimia. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., 366-3333, third placebooks.com. 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 27. DIGENE FARRAR Not My Secret to Keep: A Memoir of Healing From Childhood Sexual Abuse is the tale of how 9/11 unlocked her buried memories. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., 634-3400, bookstore.washington.edu, 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 27. JOHN A. MCCOY A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President and a Church is his biography of Seattleite Raymond G. Hunthausen. Elliott Bay. 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 27. PATRICK ROTHFUSS The Slow Regard of Silent Things is the latest in his Kingkiller Chronicles series. University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 N.E. 43rd St., 634-3400, bookstore.washington.edu. 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 27. JACK STRAW WRITERS Ross McMeekin, Matthew Schnirman, and Anca Szilagyi share their latest. University Book Store, 7 p.m. Fri., Aug. 28. SHIN YU PAI Her work Heirloom features poetry written on apples. Carkeek Park, 950 N.W. Carkeek Park Rd., jackstraw.org. 2 p.m. Sat., Aug. 29. RED HEN PRESS Tom Janikowski, Elissa Washuta, Amaranth Borsuk, and Patrick Milan read from their latest. Elliott Bay. 7 p.m. Mon., Aug. 31. JULIE WESTON In Moonshadows, photographer Nellie Burns uncovers a tangled mystery in 1920s Idaho. University Book Store, 7 p.m. Mon., Aug. 31; Third Place Books, 7 p.m. Tues., Sept. 1; Seattle Mystery Bookshop, noon, Sat., Sept. 5. NAOMI JACKSON Chatting with Hedgebrook’s Anastacia Tolbert about Jackson’s Barbados-set The Star Side of Bird Hill. Elliott Bay. 7 p.m. Tues., Sept. 1. SUSAN PASHMAN A tragedy leads to racial rifts in her novel Upper West Side Story. University Book Store, 7 p.m. Tues., Sept. 1. LINO TAGLIAPIETRA Reflections from the Italian glassblowing master, whose work has been seen in many local museums. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., 652-4255, townhallseattle.org. $5. 7:30 p.m. Tues., Sept. 1. RACHEL ALMELEH The local owner of Rachel’s Sephardic Delicacies shares A Legacy of Sephardic, Mediterranean, and American Recipes. University Book Store. 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 2. JAMIE BIANCHINI A Bicycle Built for Two Billion: One Man’s Adventure Around the World in Search of Love, Compassion, and Connection is his memoir of an epic bike tour. Third Place. 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 2. CARRIE SAXIFRAGE She bused across Canada to interview climate activists for her The Big Swim: Coming Ashore in a World Adrift. Elliott Bay. 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 2.
•
•
B Y G AV I N B O R C H E R T
Send events to stage@seattleweekly.com, dance@seattleweekly.com, or classical@seattleweekly.com
the theme for invited local painters. Opens Tues., Sept. 1. (Also on view: works by Lois Haskell and Kimberly Adams.) Parklane Gallery, 130 Park Lane (Kirkland), 425-827-1462, parklanegallery.com. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. Noon-6 p.m. Sun. Ends Oct. 4. ART IN THE GARDEN Over 40 Northwest artists, working in sundry media, are featured in this al fresco group show. Note the Saturday afternoon appearance by Ciscoe Morris (!) and a beer garden. Bellevue Botanical Garden, 12001 Main St., 425-452-2750, bellevuebotanical.org. Free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun. NEPO 5K DON’T RUN This is a very casually paced procession, with art installations and performances along the way from the ID to NEPO House (1723 S. Lander St.). Some two dozen locals will have a hand in the art. The after-party includes food trucks, booze, three live bands (LAKE, Lisa Prank, and The Fabulous Downey Brothers), and mystery performances to be curated by enterprising dance maven (and former SW cover girl) Alice Gosti. Hing Hay Park, 423 Maynard Ave. S., nepohouse.org. $15. Noon start, 1 p.m. walk, 6-10 p.m. party. VEIT STRATMANN Yes, you can walk on the art in The Seattle Floor, which paints bold stripes of color on the floor, something like a game board with visitors as the pieces. The French artists wants gallerygoers to figure out their own rules for engaging the space, with “an awareness zone” conveyed by a network of exchanged glances. Opening reception, 5-7 p.m. Fri. (Artist lecture noon Sat.) Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave., 256-0809, suyamaspace.org. Free. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Ends Dec. 11.
often the way it works, especially for actors and writers, though Berk isn’t re-enacting any primal scenes or revenging himself on his parents for moving the family from England to rural Illinois in 1980. Leo was only 6 then; and as he notes in the wall text to Structure and Ornament, the next six years of living in a leaky, impractical quonset-like cluster of three domed structures (by modernist architect Bruce Goff) ended their marriage. Now based in Seattle, Berk seems haunted by the place, which he revisited in 1999. Goff used odd materials, including cannel coal, rope, and glass cullet, for the round walls of Ford House; and the arched roof rested on trusses, something like a yurt. In his large, titular showpiece sculpture, Berk turns those radial trusses on an axis, rising from the floor like a giant spiky tiara. The old architectural notion of shelter or protection has been forgotten. Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., 622-9250, fryemuseum.org. Free. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun. (Open to 7 p.m. Thursdays.) Ends Sept. 6. CHRISTOPHER BUENING HighSchoolHigh has the artist venturing back to his tortured adolescence. To hide his gay identity, he writes, “I went from liking Madonna and Cyndi Lauper to listening to darker music and became the epitome of teen angst.” SOIL Gallery, 112 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 264-8061, soilart.org. Noon-5 p.m. Thu.-Sun. Ends Aug. 29. ILSE BING An early user of the 35mm Leica hand-held camera, the German Bing (1889-1998) is known as a pioneering woman in European photography. Ilse Bing: Modern Photographer is a selection of her images, spanning the 1920s through 1950s. 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 Oct. 11. GREGORY BLACKSTOCK One of our favorite local artists, the autistic-savant former dishwasher is a cheerful explainer. His mostly tabular, annotated works are didactic in a sense; he’s teaching us something about flags and dogs and donkeys and hydroplanes, organizing and categorizing them for our edification. They’re like the rare color pages you find in an unabridged dictionary, illustrated not for the sake of art, but instruction. Also on view, work by a dozen fellow outsider artists, including Henry Darger and Grandma Moses. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave., 624-0770, gregkucera.com. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Aug. 29.
•
Ongoing
•
•
•
•
CHIHO AOSHIMA The contemporary Japanese artist
creates candy-colored, personal tableaux of animist cosmology and kawaii characters. She’s a constructor of intricate worlds whose denizens we can see in 35 small preliminary drawings—later translated by computer into a half-dozen large, glossy dreamscapes and one enormous, wall-filling animation. Played on a continuous loop, the 7-minute new Takaamanohara depicts the destruction (by volcano and tsunami) and rebirth of a fanciful coastal city. Mischievous Shinto spirits cause the cycle, as ruination leads to regeneration, over and over again. I think kids will love it, too; Takaamanohara is a manageable, almost cheerful way of contemplating mortality. Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 E. Prospect St. (Volunteer Park), 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org. $5-$9. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed., Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs. Ends Oct. 4.
Masked and Found There’s more than a bit of cinema history packed into the four-screen video installation Irma Vep, The Last Breath by New York artist Michelle Handelman. Running on a continuous loop, backed by supporting BY BRIAN MILLER photos in adjacent galleries, the 33-minute piece is inspired by the century-old silent French crime serial Les Vampires. (It’s also the departure point for Olivier Assayas’ 1996 Irma Vep, which the Henry is screening October 8.) Introducing the video last month, Handelman said of Les Vampires’ masked, catsuit-wearing actress Musidora, “She became a superstar,” comparing her WWI-era fame to one of Warhol’s Factory starlets. That fame swiftly ended with the talkies, yet Musidora was a familiar lesbian icon in the Parisian avant garde until her 1957 death. In Handelman’s video, she’s played by two men (Zackary Drucker and Jack Doroshow, the latter a Factory veteran) at different ages in her life. “All of my works deal with traveling through time,” says Handelman. The unhappy screen star becomes a frail old cinema ticket-taker in a glass
THEFUSSYEYE
BY B R IA N M I LLE R
Send events to visualarts@seattleweekly.com See seattleweekly.com for full listings = Recommended
•
booth—as was Musidora’s own life trajectory. The younger Irma Vep—an anagram for vampire, obvs—pours out her discontents to a therapist (“There’s no romance in it,” she says of crime), and we also see a whole squadron of cat burglars crawling about a Brooklyn rooftop. Older Musidora seems more resigned to her place in the world, surrounded by ephemera from her past career. Fame yields to obscurity, and gender lines fade—much like the nitrate prints of Louis Feuillade’s original (now restored and on DVD, thankfully with more action and less talk). 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 Oct. 11.
© MICHELLE HANDELMAN
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
•
MUSIC
miscellaneous objects—plus some piano works, too—by S. Eric Scribner and Keith Eisenbrey. Chapel Performance Space, 4649 Sunnyside Ave., wayward music.org. $5–$15. 8 p.m. Fri., Aug. 28. OLYMPIC MUSIC FESTIVAL Chamber music in a rustic barn (or sit on the lawn outside), each Sat. & Sun. at 2 p.m. through Sept. 13. This weekend, Halvorsen, Franck, and Schubert’s expansive and glorious string quintet. 7360 Center Rd., Quilcene, Wash., 360-732-4800, olympicmusicfestival.org. $20–$32. MOON VIEWING FESTIVAL Stroll the Seattle Japanese Garden to moonlight, lanterns, and live traditional music. 8061 Densmore Ave. N., seattlejapanesegarden. org. $15 in advance. 7–10 p.m. Sat., Aug. 29.
• LEO SAUL BERK From childhood trauma, art? That’s
» film interlopers become an incredulous audience to Brooke’s audacity and “moxie” (the word is uncorked twice, like vintage champagne). Significantly, when it comes time to make her presentation, Brooke is gripped with stage fright; and it’s timid Tracy, her newly emboldened Boswell, who saves the day. Fluttering Brooke has a genius for inspiration, but as her old Greenwich nemesis puts it, “She has no follow-through.” No matter. Mistress America gives us the comedy of catastrophe averted, if not plans realized. In a forgiving but not unrealistic way, the movie is a sunnier, distaff retelling of The Great Gatsby, where failure and self-reinvention are one and the same thing. BRIAN MILLER
Opening ThisWeek Digging for Fire OPENS FRI., AUG. 28 AT NORTHWEST FILM FORUM. RATED R. 83 MINUTES.
RUNS FRI., AUG. 28–THURS., SEPT. 3 AT GRAND ILLUSION. NOT RATED. 83 MINUTES.
And you thought flying was bad. The cramped seats, TSA pat-downs, and other petty humiliations that we endure have got nothing on the hardships of traveling China by rail. Filming over three years, J.P. Sniadecki shows us passengers sleeping on floors and upon each other, meats and produce being cooked and prepared for market, heaps of trash rolling like waves down the aisles, cigarette smoke everywhere, and a complete absence of privacy or personal space. Yet
the amazing thing is that no one complains to the Mandarin-speaking Sniadecki, who’s filming mostly on the sly. This isn’t the booming, bustling coastal China of corrupt oligarchs and high-rise towers; wealth or any kind of news hook seem to be the last things on Sniadecki’s agenda. Rather—and this is a warning—he’s of the immersive new “sensory ethnography” school of documentary filmmakers, which forgoes narration, context, explanatory titles, or any clear thesis. (The commercial-fishing doc Leviathan, seen at Northwest Film Forum two years back, is another such example, though more grueling and ultimately pointless.) The Iron Ministry simply begins with a jolt of noise and blackness; when an image appears, it almost feels random—like a monkey has grabbed the camera and escaped in a train car. Though we never learn how many trains Sniadecki is riding or where they’re headed, a mode of inquiry does finally emerge. Sniadecki is an experienced China hand, having made other documentaries there and learned the language, he says, while riding trains. While the elite may fly, iPhones in hand, China’s rail system is for the masses: It’s the largest such network in the world (or will be soon). In this supposedly classless society, the old colonial imperative of first-, second-, and third-class ticketing obviously still persists. Sniadecki sympathetically spends most of his time with the poor, first observing and later asking a few questions. (There are subtitles.) A sheepish, smiling conductor confesses that the state-run enterprise—semi-privatized after filming—has been ordered to be more customerfriendly. Before, if some peasant was roasting a pig in the aisle, he might get tossed off. Now, both passengers and management are adjusting to the uncertain new freedoms of the marketplace. The film becomes interesting only when Sniadecki asks passengers about these changes, which defeats its initial formal method. One bookish female passenger confides in a hushed tone that China’s high-speed rail incursion into Tibet will destroy what’s left of the indigenous population. “It’s just like the American Indians,” she says. A group of young male workers jokes that China’s real-estate bubble is caused by mothers-in-law who demand their daughters’ suitors buy a home before marriage. There’s an odd mix of patriotism and cynicism. From the latter group, one guy halflaughs, “We’re completely powerless, right?” The class divisions of Snowpiercer come to mind, only no revolution seems near. BRIAN MILLER
PMistress America OPENS FRI., AUG. 28 AT GUILD 45TH, SIFF CINEMA EGYPTIAN, AND LINCOLN SQUARE. RATED R. 84 MINUTES.
I think most of us have known a fraudulent charmer like Brooke, though it helps to be young and susceptible to fall under such sway. Tracy (Lola Kirke) is new to New York, a Barnard freshman whose mother is slated to marry some guy with a daughter living in the city. That would be Brooke (Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote Mistress America with director Noah Baumbach). Now since Brooke subsists mainly on air and optimism—much of it unfounded—we know the filmmakers are thinking of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (plus a splash of Auntie Mame). Yet she’s also a savvy millennial who lives and breathes startup culture—if not a fashion label, then a restaurant or TV show, maybe. She claims to despise social media, yet is fluent in viral marketing. She’s a font of alluring ideas— business is the new sex—who lacks only the capital to implement them. Or, to put it another way, her capital is youth and dreams, which are losing market value as she nears 30. Don’t worry, though: While economic stresses may be raging against Brooke (Tracy meanwhile taking notes for her campus literary journal), this is a blithe, delightful comedy—not some sort of Jamesian downfall. Brooke is both eccentric and unsinkable, and Gerwig plays her just to the edge of being unlikable for such obstinate self-belief. If one boyfriend’s cash abruptly dries up and her loft’s locks are changed, she’ll go back to another beau—no matter that he’s since remarried and living in Greenwich. Her boundless self-confidence is gradually revealed to be self-delusion (or a manic confluence of the two), which is entirely Gerwig’s point as actress and writer. Brooke is the one arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but she does it so well, so artfully, that you want to sit with her and sip martinis and judge those passengers who haven’t dressed properly for the lifeboats. She’s never short of opinions and grudges; they’re strategic assets to her, though forever fired in the wrong direction. Baumbach and Gerwig, a couple who previously collaborated on Frances Ha, are obvious movie lovers, and there are willfully retro traces here of screwball comedy, drawing-room farce, and early Woody Allen. Tracy drags along two college friends to support Brooke’s Greenwich pitch for restaurant funding, and the three young
No Escape OPENS WED., AUG. 26 AT SUNDANCE, PACIFIC PLACE, OAK TREE, LINCOLN SQUARE, BAINBRIDGE, AND OTHERS. RATED R. 103 MINUTES.
The surprising thing, in this very predictable movie about Americans caught in an overseas coup, is how effective the crude old formula is. You know the one: A bloodthirsty mob of dark-skinned savages chases an innocent family (three females among them), who cower in terror, constantly barricading new doors behind them, while the clamoring thugs threaten rape and murder. They’re not Christians, and they don’t even speak English! (Nor are they granted the dignity of subtitles.) D.W. Griffith perfected such fear-mongering a century ago in The Birth of a Nation, which is just fine with filmmakers Drew and John Erick Dowdle. They don’t add anything new or intelligent to the melodrama, and their camera tricks are as fresh as ’80s MTV. The unnamed country here is clearly Thailand, where the Dwyer clan—not racist at all, dude; we’re totally chill—has just arrived from Austin. Dad (Owen Wilson) is a naïve hydro-engineer. Mom (Lake Bell) is just, well, mom to two small girls. The mysterious stranger who befriends them (Pierce Brosnan) bears various scars and tells various lies. What befalls them is an amalgam of ISIS, the Khmer Rouge, Rwandan machete genocide, and the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi. The Dowdles are too lazy to clarify the politics (like the geography), so the rebels might as well be zombies. Or former slaves stalking white Southern women. A plausible couple, Wilson and Bell look credibly scared—but isn’t that really the easiest, cheapest screen emotion? And the two cute little girls, O how they cry! (Why not include a puppy for the rebels to kill? Preferably a golden retriever.) No Escape is a crass, manipulative B-movie, and it works as such. Brosnan gets a few points for his louche Cockney spy (though not so much fun as in The Matador), while Wilson appears just as lost as in his last action movie, 2001’s Behind Enemy Lines (essentially the same situation here). But there is one final contemporary twist: Vietnam turns out to be a friendly border state where they even speak English! BRIAN MILLER
P7 Chinese Brothers OPENS FRI., AUG. 28 AT SIFF CINEMA UPTOWN. NOT RATED. 76 MINUTES.
I wonder whether Jason Schwartzman will have the career vault that Johnny Depp and Robert Downey, Jr., had—whether years of being glorious in non-mainstream roles will suddenly make Hollywood (and the audience) decide that Yes,
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
The Iron Ministry
Kirke’s Tracy (left) worships her mentor (Gerwig), but also mines her for material.
FOX SEARCHLIGHT
The final credit on Digging for Fire is a dedication to the late Paul Mazursky, the director of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and An Unmarried Woman and other bittersweet comedies of manners. It can be presumptuous for a young filmmaker—here mumblecore maven Joe Swanberg—to invoke a predecessor. But in this case, fair enough. Digging for Fire has aspects that do indeed recall Mazursky’s movies: a sunburnt L.A. location, an undercurrent of satire directed at its floundering characters, and close attention to actors. Some pretentiousness, too, although in this case everything goes down pretty easily. While Tim (Jake Johnson) and Lee (Rosemarie DeWitt, of Touchy Feely) house-sit in a rambling mansion far above their pay grade (she’s a yoga instructor to a rich person who’s lent them the place for a while), they decide to spend a weekend apart. Lee takes their toddler son (Jude Swanberg) to stay with her folks (Judith Light and Sam Elliott); Tim stays home to party with buddies (Sam Rockwell and Mike Birbiglia among them). Tim can’t concentrate because he’s found an old bone and a rusted handgun on the property. Surely there’s a story there, and before long he and the ever-growing party—Brie Larson and Anna Kendrick are in the mix, too—are randomly digging up the yard in search of anything interesting. (As a metaphor for Swanberg’s customary improv filmmaking style, this is almost too apt.) Lee, meanwhile, has an adventure when left to her own devices. This material—Swanberg co-wrote the film with Johnson, after they worked together on Drinking Buddies—comes across like a short story written by a first-time author, an effect not helped by improvisation. Most scenes end in middle-ofthe-road insights offered by well-intentioned actors. The film is maybe more L.A. than it thinks it is. If that fumbling style is an acquired taste, Digging for Fire nevertheless hits some surprisingly enjoyable notes. And certain actors thrive in this freewheeling atmosphere; Melanie Lynskey and Ron Livingston, as Lee’s married friends, suggest a whole life together in their limited appearance. Comedian Birbiglia is terrific as Tim’s square pal— you keep wishing the movie would veer toward him, rather than Rockwell’s beer-swilling boor. And Orlando Bloom is more intriguing in 15 minutes of screen time here than he was in the entirety of Elizabethtown (or any other Orlando Bloom movie, for that matter). That alone justifies Swanberg’s actor-oriented approach. ROBERT HORTON
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 23
FRESH FRESH a&c» film
Sh eiipl lae t t Tr
206-504-3592 600 Elliott Ave. W, Seattle Online Booking at:
www.HairbySheilaTriplett.com
Weaving - Extensions Color - Blowouts - Keratin
SOFT SHELL CRABS
» FROM PAGE 23
FRE E PA R K I N G We Ship We Seafood Overnight SeafoodShip Overnight Anywhere in the USA Anywhere in the USA or We Pack for Travel Pack for Air Travel orAirWe University University Seafood & Poultry Seafood & Poultry We Ship Seafood Overnight Anywhere in the USA or We Pack for Air Travel
BRAIDER NEEDED
we always loved this actor and now we want to see more of him because he’s our guy, somehow, right at this moment. Perhaps you’re thinking Schwartzman is too odd and smart and non-traditional for a Pirates of the Caribbean or Iron Man, and he wouldn’t want that kind of thing anyway. Of course, you might have said that about Depp and Downey in the era of Dead Man and Air America. 7 Chinese Brothers is one of those movies that demonstrate Schwartzman’s unique value onscreen. Put another way, what would it be without him? 76 minutes of pleasant doodling, a few postcards from the dropout life in Slackerville, U.S.A.—it might be a first draft for a vintage Bill Murray project that never got out of the development stage. We follow Larry, a minimum-wage employee who does something stupid (stealing money from his job) and does something stupider when he’s fired (keying his manager’s car). Hired at a quick-lube station, Larry gets a crush on his boss, Lupe (Eleanore Pienta), before making the mistake of introducing her to his playboy friend, Major Norwood (Tunde Adebimpe). Larry has a grandma (Olympia Dukakis), and she has money, which might explain his lackadaisical attitude toward planning for the future. Or the present, for that matter.
University Seafood & Poultry 1317 NE 47th, Seattle 1317 NE 47th, Seattle (206) 632-3700 or (206)632-3900 (206) 632-3700 or (206)632-3900
1317 NE 47th, Seattle
(206) 632-3700 or (206) 632-3900
, PETE HAMMOND
*SKY MOVIES
Schwartzman’s bulldog Arrow plays himself.
STARTS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26 Seattle Weekly
24
SE AT TLE
TM
4500 9TH AVE. NE • 206-633-0059
Two Ways To Save At Sundance Seattle Monday is $6 ORCA Day Show Your Orca Card and ALL Seats are $6 ($7.50 for 3D).
Tickets Avail at Box Office Only. Not good on holidays.
Tuesday is Girls Movie Night Out!
2 or more ladies get $5 ($6.50 for 3D) Admission All Day. Tickets Avail at Box Office Only. STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON TRAINWRECK THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL TEN THOUSAND SAINTS THE END OF THE TOUR
NO ESCAPE
WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. RICKI AND THE FLASH AMERICAN ULTRA
HITMAN: AGENT 47
*Tickets available at the box office.
SUNDANCECINEMAS.COM
SCREEN MEDIA
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
#21
WEDNESDAY 08/26 2 COL. (4.83”) X 3.25” ALL.NOE.0826.SW
Writer/director Bob Byington is surely responsible for the hang-loose mood of 7 Chinese Brothers; if the movie were any more driven, it wouldn’t be true to Larry. Or to Schwartzman, whose gestures and line readings are always new and unexpected. His try-anything patter, much of which is directed at his phlegmatic bulldog (guys like this do own bulldogs), is reliably funny, and revealing in the sense that Larry is trying not to reveal anything. “I really look forward to going to work,” he says, “which I don’t usually do.” He repeats this instead of admitting he’s interested in Lupe (Pienta is wonderful at conveying someone who has embraced responsibility without turning into a drag). Schwartzman’s chipper energy fuels this delightful movie, and 76 minutes might be the right amount of time to spend with Larry. Any more than that, and he might be an unwelcome pest—or possibly a friend for life. ROBERT HORTON
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
WANT TO WIN DVDS, CONCERT TICKETS & MORE?
CHECK OUT OUR FREE STUFF PAGE! FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT US AT: seattleweekly.com/promo/freestuff
Bel Powley Alexander SkarsgArd Christopher Meloni
AND
“The best film about China in the twenty-first century.” Artforum “CRITICS’ PICK! It’s a work of art—vivid and mysterious and full of life.” New York Times
THE IRON MINISTRY
BEL POWLEY IS SENSATIONAL.” -Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
Diary of a Teenage Girl
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED By MARIELLE
HELLER
SEATTLE AMC LOEWS OAK TREE 6 10006 Aurora Ave N (888) AMC-4FUN SEATTLE REGAL THORNTON PLACE STADIUM 14 301 NE 103rd St (844) 462-7342 #1311
H
H
WED @ 9:30PM / THURS @ 8:00PM
AUG �8–SEPT 3
SEATTLE SUNDANCE CINEMAS SEATTLE 4500 9th Ave NE, Reserved Seats +21 All Shows www.sundancecinemas.com TUKWILA REGAL PARKWAY PLAZA STADIUM 12 5910 S 180th St (844) 462-7342 #429
GR ANDILLUSIONCINEMA.ORG ���� NE ��TH STREET | ���-����
cinema
VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.THEDIARYOFATEENAGEGIRLMOVIE.COM
4.81" X 3"
WILD AT HEART FRIDAY - TUESDAY @ 9:30PM
HACKERS: IN HECKLEVISION!
WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM
NOW PLAYING BELLEVUE CINEMARK LINCOLN SQUARE CINEMAS 700 Bellevue Way NE (800) CINEMARK LYNWOOD AMC LOEWS ALDERWOOD MALL 16 18733 33rd Ave W (888) AMC-4FUN
H
VALLEY GIRL
FRI - WED @ 7:00PM / SAT & SUN @ 3:00PM
Kristen Wiig
“EXTRAORDINARY! UNIQUE AND UNFORGETTABLE.
The
SHOWTIMES AUG 28th - SEPT3rd
H
NOW PLAYING
FRI AUG 28 - THU SEP 3
WED 8/26
SEATTLE WEEKLY DUE MON 4PM
“IT’S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO FALL IN LOVE WITH ‘MISTRESS AMERICA’.” Joe Neumaier,
greta gerwig lola kirke Artist: Heather Emmett
AE: (circle one:) Angela Maria Josh
(circle one:)
Steve
Staci
Tim
Ronnie
Jane
ART APPROVED AE APPROVED CLIENT APPROVED
Deadline:
Confirmation #:
EGYPTIAN 805 E PINE ST
OPENS FRIDAY ADVANCE SCREENING THURSDAY Director Noah Baumbach re-teams with Greta Gerwig for this madcap comedy about chasing dreams and schemes in the big city.
directed by
noah baumbach written by
noah baumbach & greta gerwig
MIDNIGHT ADRENALINE!
Turbo Kid
FRI & SAT AT 11:30PM See description under Film Center
SIFF EDUCATION Feminist Imaginations Filmmaking Workshop MONDAYS, SEP 14 - OCT 5
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS
START FRIDAY, AUGUST 28
BELLEVUE Cinemark Lincoln Square Cinemas (425) 450-9100
Seattle Weekly
SEATTLE Landmark’s Guild 45th Theatre (206) 547-2127
SEATTLE SIFF Egyptian Theatre (206) 324-9996
How to Make a Great Documentary: Masterclass with Ondi Timoner SEP 21
FILM CENTER
ONE WEEK ONLY | EXCLUSIVE PRESENTATION
ONE WEEK ONLY | EXCLUSIVE PRESENTATION
511 QUEEN ANNE AVE N
7 Chinese Brothers
Jason Schwartzman and his dog star in Bob Byington’s off-beat slacker comedy. Friday 7:00PM show: Bring Your Own Dog screening and Skype Q&A with Jason Schwartzman. HELD OVER!
The Young & Prodigious
T.S. Spivot
“Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s best film after Amélie!” - Charles Mudede, The Stranger EXCLUSIVE PRESENTATION
Phoenix
“Nina Hoss is extraordinary. Her performance is in a class by itself.” - Indiewire
SEATTLE CENTER · NW ROOMS
Call Me Lucky Bobcat Goldthwait directs this portrait of enigmatic comedian Barry Crimmins, who battled childhood demons to mentor a generation of comedy greats.
ONE WEEK ONLY | EXCLUSIVE PRESENTATION
Turbo Kid
Move over Mad Max, here comes The Kid: a BMX-riding bad-ass who saves the world in this blood-splattered love letter to ’80s post-apocalyptic action. HELD OVER!
Listen to Me Marlon
Marlon Brando narrates his incredible life and career in his own words.
NOW AT THE UPTOWN
LINEUP ANNOUNCED!
“I love it...as good as it gets!” - A.O. Scott, New York Times
“WOMAN” IS NOT A GENRE SEP 17 - 24
The End of the Tour
WOMEN IN CINEMA
Check Movie Times and Buy Tickets · SIFF.net · 206.324.9996
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
Mistress America
UPTOWN
25
tractor TIMES
a&c» film
2033 6th Avenue (206) 441-9729 jazzalley.com
DOORS 30-60
OPEN
LISTED ARE
SHOW TIMES.
MIN. BEFORE.
THURS,
EP RELEASE
JAZZ ALLEY IS A SUPPER CLUB
AUGUST 27 TH
ACID TONGUE FRI,
AUGUST 28 TH
BOOTSTOMPING AMERICANA
THE BLACKBERRY BUSHES STRING BAND (ALBUM RELEASE)
THE WARREN G HARDINGS, CASEY RUFF & THE MAYORS OF BALLARD 9PM -$10 SAT,
AUGUST 29 TH
MARDI GRAUGUST
TUBALUBA
THE FABULOUS PARTY BOYS 9PM - $10 TUES,
SEPTEMBER 1
ST
SINGER/SONGWRITER
COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS NICK FOSTER BAND, TOBIAS THE OWL SAT,
8PM - $8
SEPTEMBER 5
TH
NOLA ROADHOUNDS
REBIRTH BRASS BAND 2 SHOWS - 8PM & 10PM $25/$30 OR $40 FOR BOTH!
Up & Coming 9/2 SPECTERS 9/3 PLANES ON PAPER 9/4 JACKRABBIT STARTS 9/9 COUNTRY LIPS 9/10 THE REVIVALISTS 9/12 RED ELVISES 9/13 LOCH LOMOND 9/14 MAC MCCAUGHAN 5213 BALLARD AVE. NW 789-3599
www.tractortavern.com
LEE RITENOUR AND DAVE GRUSIN WED, AUG 26 - SUN, AUG 30
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
Butterfield and Hawke.
» FROM PAGE 24
Grammy-winning genre-melding guitarist and pianist
GRANDMOTHERS OF INVENTION TUES, SEPT 1 - WED, SEPT 2 The only Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention alumni who have been consistently performing the music of the maestro since 2003.
TERENCE BLANCHARD FEATURING THE E-COLLECTIVE THURS, SEPT 3 - SUN, SEPT 6
Multi-Grammy Winning top-tier jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer
ANA POPOVIC TUES, SEPT 8 - WED, SEPT 9
5x Blues Music Awards nominee blends smoking electric funk slide guitar, jazzy instrumentals and tight blues groove with soulful feminine vocals
TOWER OF POWER THURS, SEPT 10 - SUN, SEPT 13
Celebrating five decades of funky soul with a brass backbone!
all ages | free parking | full schedule at jazzalley.com
ON SALE FRIDAY!
26
SCREEN MEDIA
KINGDOM OF THE HOLY SUN, NOSTALGIST, SCOTT YODER 9PM - $8
FRI OCT 16TH • SHOWBOX SODO • 8PM • ALL AGES LA FORTUNA, WAKE UP & DEAD NATION PRESENT
LIVE IN CONCERT
DJ DENVER & DJ EDDIE 1426 1ST AVE. SEATTLE
SEPT 3RD • SHOWBOX SODO • 8PM • ALL AGES
Ten Thousand Saints OPENS FRI., AUG. 28 AT SUNDANCE CINEMAS. RATED R. 113 MINUTES.
“This would make a great movie,” all of us have sighed while mind-directing a film from the novel we’re reading. But most of the time it wouldn’t really make a great movie, because a movie is a different animal entirely. Ten Thousand Saints conveys a passionate desire to capture a 2011 novel by Eleanor Henderson, but it looks like a quickly sketched version of something much, much larger. You want big canvas, you’ve got big canvas: We follow teenager Jude (Asa Butterfield, the kid from Hugo) from his turbulent life in small-town Vermont to the grungy streets of the East Village in the late 1980s. His drug-dealing adoptive father Les (Ethan Hawke) returns to the boy’s life to insure he has a place to crash in the city. The movie has hardcore music, a tragic death, and that laziest of plot devices, the unexpected pregnancy that changes everything. There’s a lot to pack in, and without the pacing of a novel, the hurly-burly of the story piles up in huge heaps. It’s all utterly sincere, which is part of the problem; you’d expect a little more edge from writer/directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who made their name with the caustic American Splendor. Just as the movie begins to create some sense of atmosphere and character—the chilly Vermont town where Jude and best buddy Teddy (the excellent Avan Jogia) hang out and huff turpentine—the film is off on another tangent. There’s Teddy’s musician brother (a likably earnest performance by Emile Hirsch), Les’ classy girlfriend (Emily Mortimer), and her cheeky daughter (Hailee Steinfeld, of True Grit). Everybody rushes through the paces of the increasingly convoluted plot, and that’s leaving out characters who are curiously under-seen. Jude’s got a sister, Prudence (the parents were big Beatles fans, apparently), who must have an interesting story of her own, but we glimpse her mostly in passing. When the film tries to draw significance from the gentrification of the East Village, it clearly reaches too far. There is one through-line worth noting, however, and that is Hawke’s nimble performance. Maybe the casting is too easy; Hawke has played this kind of good-hearted screw-up before. But he really has mastered the art of portraying well-meaning but hopelessly addled masculinity, and he makes Les a humorous and ultimately very human figure. Only Hawke could make Les’ concern over the quality of his son’s marijuana supply seem like a caring, fatherly gesture. ROBERT HORTON E
film@seattleweekly.com
» music
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
27
SHOWBOX AND CAPITOL HILL BLOCK PARTY PRESENT
RATATAT
SHOWBOX AND KEXP PRESENT
8/28
FAILURE with THE NEW REGIME
9/17
9PM
EAGLES OF DEATH METAL with SINNER SINNERS
9/2
9/8
MACHINE GUN KELLY
9/13
OLD 97’S with
SALIM NOURALLAH
8PM
9PM
8:30 PM
10/10
9PM
DEERHUNTER 8:30 PM
AN EVENING WITH
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.
11/23 – ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM
9PM
ALL YOU CAN EAT TOUR
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
28
MAC MILLER
TOVE LO
with GOLDLINK + DOMO + ALEXANDER SPIT
with ERIK HASSLE
8 PM
NEW POLITICS + ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS 10/13
8PM
SHOWBOX AND REIGNCITY PRESENT
QUEEN OF THE CLOUDS TOUR
10/7
10/22
11/9 – ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM
8PM
REFUSED
with THE GRISWOLDS + LOLO
7PM
11/28 – ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM
8PM
SHOWBOX AND KNITTING FACTORY PRESENT
TECH N9NE UNDEROATH with KRIZZ KALIKO + KNOTHEAD + NEEMA
10/18
8PM
3/30 – ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM
SHOWBOXPRESENTS.COM
7:30 PM
S
eattle artists and drugs—are they synonymous? Two of the most successful musicians to come out of this city, Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix, were known for their addictions just as much as for their brilliant jams. What is it about Seattle that makes us want to go to that next level? Is Seattle boring? Does the rain depress us so much that we have to enhance our surroundings? Local rappers Mackned and Macklemore have been making waves recently, for both their new music and new stories about their drug habits. Mackned, of local hip-hop collecMoor LADIESFIRST tives Gang and THEESatisfaction’s Thraxxhouse, monthly music column released Female, his impressive new LP, this month; and, plain to see, the striking cover art is a drawing of Mackned and four women engaging in a table full of exotic mood-enhancers: cocaine, lean, and pills. Ned told me that his drug use is a medium he uses to communicate with people—to battle his social anxiety. He insisted that he doesn’t need them, and that drugs aren’t for everybody. Macklemore, Seattle’s modern-day hip-hop deity, is praised for his drugless flow. He was featured in a lengthy Complex magazine cover story early this month, where he confesses to ending his abstention from weed and alcohol due to anxiety over his skyrocketing career and everything that comes with it. As he put it, he needed a way out: “I was super-stressed. We weren’t sleeping—doing a show every day, zigzagging all over the country. The pressure and the fame— everything,” he tells Kris Ex in the interview. “All the clichés, man—all of that put into one pie was just . . . I just wanted to escape.” Even before the legalization of marijuana, most rappers from The Town worshipped the tree. Jarv Dee’s “High Expectations” is my favorite locally grown green anthem. The ritual of blowing a couple of blunts before, after, and sometimes during a performance is simply the Seattle way. Weed pairs well with hip-hop, jazz, and, I assume, indie rock. Seattle is a melting pot of those three genres. But to use marijuana as an excuse to escape something is weak. Herb is to be enjoyed. Alcohol is a more destructive but equally prominent staple in the entertainment industry. When you perform at almost any venue, you
get offered drink tickets or even a bottle of your favorite elixir if you list it on your rider. It’s always assumed that alcohol calms the butterflies. Yes, in some ways it does, but after the calm there’s always the storm. When Seattle mixed alcohol, college parties, and increasingly available home studio setups, we gave birth to CollegeBro Frat Rap. You’ve probably heard it—music that could easily be played at any UW basement bash. Red cups and those corny rapper hands are the first things that come to mind. It’s cliché and easily consumed by early 20-somethings who are just looking to have a good time. See Sol’s music video “This Shit” or Macklemore’s “And We Danced” for some key examples. The latest craze in rap drugs is promethezine, better known as “purple drank” or “lean.” “I’m with my niggas blowin trees/I got my lean in my Sprite,” raps the Seattle homie Gifted Gab on her recent Queen La’Chiefah EP. Songs that muse on the beverage tend to clock in at slower BPM’s since the drug acts as a sedative. The style was more popularized by Southern rappers that dwell in Houston or Atlanta, but I see it making its way to Seattle. We have a laid-back vibe here that is unmatched, so it makes sense that lean has infiltrated the scene. And while these syrup raps are on the come-up, coke raps seem to be dying down. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Seattle cocaine use is declining. I believe that correlates with the decline in Seattle cocaine raps as well. Cocaine is rapidly being replaced by MDMA/Molly, a drug that gets you all in your feels and promotes dancing. In Seattle circa 2011, it was Mad Rad and Champagne Champagne who championed those up-tempo blow-and-go jams. Now in 2015, we have Sam Lachow and Nacho Picasso filling that void. Drugs aren’t for everyone. They can be dangerous and fatal. Personally I’ve had a terrible edible trip that caused me to contemplate my whole career and existence. I think sometimes Seattle’s drugs may be too good. We have an abundance of everything, being that we are a port city and politically liberal. Our mayors tend to be ex-Woodstock hippies and grunge dads, which is why our marijuana laws are the way they are. My only concern is that we make sure we are safe. I love the music that is coming from Seattle right now—the honesty is refreshing. I don’t want any of us to end up dead from addiction. If you need help, it’s out there. Find that balance. Like Mackned says, “Use the drugs, don’t let them use you.” E music@seattleweekly.com
PHOTO OF KURT COBAIN BY TRACY MARANDER / PHOTO OF JIMI HENDRIX BY GERED MANKOWITZ / PHOTO OF MACKLEMORE BY JOHN KEATLEY KOPIE
THIEVERY STEEL CORPORATION PANTHER 7:30 PM
BY STASIA IRONS
SHOWBOX AND KEXP PRESENT
SHOWBOX AND DECIBEL FESTIVAL PRESENT
with SHAPRECE
With Macklemore and Mackned’s drug use making headlines, let’s look at how music and meds really do mix in Seattle.
with MATT JAFFE & THE DISTRACTIONS
SHOWBOX SODO
9/27
High, How Are You?
BLUES TRAVELER
10/21 – ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM 8:30 PM
arts&culture» music
Our favorite local releases from this disgustingly sweaty August.
I
BY KELTON SEARS
t’s the last week of the month, and you know what that means, y’all! It’s time for me to rant about all the best records you Washington-based weirdos crapped out your music holes this August. This past month was a great one for strange, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ inducing local hip-hop news. Macklemore released his first new tune since The Heist : “Sloane’s Song,” about his brand-new baby. That’s cool, I guess; I mean, hip-hop/R&B baby songs can be great. Beyoncé’s “Blue” is beautiful and makes me want to cry sweet sweet baby tears. Kanye’s “Only One” is adorable tiny baby gold. The problem with “Sloane’s Song” is that Ed Sheeran sings the chorus from Mackledad’s perspective: “I’ll be patient, one more month, you’ll wrap your fingers round my thumb,” he warbles in his ginger bravado. But it’s like—wait, what? Whose baby is this? A bit creepy, Ed. Meanwhile, local rappers Sol and Raz Simone got into a vague Meek Mill/Drake style rap beef about . . . something? From what I’ve gathered, Sol doesn’t like how Raz Simone raps about social injustice, and Raz doesn’t like how sunshiney and content Sol seems to be in the “Ain’t Gon’ Stop” video. To be fair, Sol is wearing a pastel floral blazer. So who wins this month’s battle for the soul of local hip-hop? Definitely Mackned. Read about that and my other favorite new local records below: Mackned
Health Problems
Winners Ian Kurtis Crist is the hardestworking punk in Seattle. Beyond running and booking his own clandestine DIY space, he operates in not one, not two, but three bands, all of which put out high-quality ear-bleeders on a fairly regular basis. Beyond the blistering rage of his one-man hardcore outfit Bosnia and the screeching experimental noise of Bat, he’s best known for his work as the frontman of Health Problems. Winners, one of the two full-length albums the group released this month, is the most maximal the bass, drum, and vocals trio has sounded thus far. The newfound thickness in Health Problems’ sludge comes thanks to Dan Shaw’s urgent bass lines, more kinetic and menacing than ever on buzzsaw rippers like “Paramount,” “Salary Man,” and “Obligations.” This latter track has Crist howling like a depraved wolf at the emptiness of late capitalism: “Another day, another dollar, there is no way, there is no way, there is no way.” Health Problems stands out in the Seattle punk scene because of its genuine fury—the band has consistently tackled the vapidity and depravity of American culture with their sharp lyrical caricatures of bloated working men stuck in our broken consumer system. That’s why Health Problems’ impending dissolution is so bittersweet—the group plays its last foreseeable show on September 12 because Shaw is moving to the East Coast to pursue a career in permaculture. For a band that spent its career writing screeds against the destruction of America, nothing’s more punk than quitting in order to literally rebuild the country from the ground up. Nice conceptual follow-through, Health Problems. (health problems.bandcamp.com)
Wimps
Super Me Direct, chunky, and more modular than Ikea furniture, power chords and barre chords will never die. They are the people’s chords. The chords of the proletariat. Of all the chords there are, power and barre chords are the ones you’d want to take drinking—they won’t judge you if you get a little sloppy. They love getting sloppy. Seattle’s Wimps masterfully wield these chords not only because they know how to wrangle and rearrange them into unending streams of two-minutes-or-less punk gems, but because their music fully embodies those chords’ everyman spirit. Front woman Rachel Ratner’s relatable portraits of eating leftover mashed potatoes and casseroles (“Leftovers”), falling asleep on the couch only to wake up to your crappy job (“Take It as It Comes”), and how “settling down is unsettling” (“Settling Down”) are the slacker anthems we deserve—what the Buzzcocks might have written if they’d had the Facebook mobile app to stare at all day instead of dirty magazines. The six-track Super Me cassette is Wimps’ first release on the Northwest’s legendary Kill Rock Stars label—a totally deserved boost up to the band’s rightful place among our region’s punk royalty like the Thermals, Gossip, Kathleen Hanna, and Bratmobile. (thesewimps. bandcamp.com) E ksears@seattleweekly.com
Thursday, Aug. 27
They warned you about it in sex-ed class—that it’s a gateway to some shifty stuff you probably shouldn’t be doing at your age—but it turns out HEAVY PETTING isn’t so scary after all! As a matter of fact, it’s a great local post-rock band that will please fans of Russian Circles and Modest Mouse. The swirling, mathy songs this trio hammers out (showcased on If They Are Not Yet Dead, They Are Living Still), start out real slow and sensual, friendly even. And then suddenly they shift and get really, really grungy and beefy and . . . oh God. Maybe the sex-ed teachers were right. With Great Grandpa, Chung Antique, Koda Sequoia. Barboza, 925 E. Pike St., thebarboza. com. 8 p.m. $10. 21 and over. KELTON SEARS
Heavy Petting
Olympia’s C AVERAGE plays the kind of lowdown, dank, and dirty metal that slowly marches its way into your very soul until it completely consumes you from within. The band also has a healthy obsession with works of high fantasy like The Lord of the Rings, and the albums it has featured on Bandcamp are dated six years before the service was created. That’s so metal. With Terminal Fuzz Terror, Shadows and the Vatican. Chop Suey, 1325 Madison Ave. E., chopsuey.com. 8 p.m. $7. 21 and over. DANIEL ROTH The problem with a lot of music festivals is that they’re just too damn clean. Thankfully, the Seattle punk scene being what it is, we have ROACHELLA, a four-night garage/punk/post-punk/metal musical orgy of Dionysian proportions. Be sure to break out your tattered denim vest covered in patches and buttons and tease your hair up into the requisite Mohawk; the grime factor will be high at this one, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. With the Trashies, Shellshag, Murmurs, Same-Sex Dictator, and more. Victory Lounge and Black Lodge, 433 Eastlake Ave. E., daswasupgig.blogspot.com. 7 p.m. Through Sun., Aug. 30. 21 and over. DR
Saturday, Aug. 29
After a five-year absence, Seattle experimental indiepop outfit WESAFARI is re-emerging from the primordial ooze. It’s difficult to describe what Wesafari sounds like, because there’s just so much going on: multipart harmonies, insanely complex drum patterns, dissonant guitar riffing—the list goes on. This event also doubles as a 10th-anniversary celebration of the band’s first LP, Alaska. With Hand of the Hills and Pampa. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave., sunsettavern.com. 9 p.m. $8. 21 and over. DR
Sunday, Aug. 30 Even if you’re not going to PAX, you should check out the STARR MAZER show. The concert, coinciding with the massive video-game expo, is a showcase of all the amazing musical talent that will be soundtracking the upcoming Starr Mazer space adventure/shoot-’em-up game. It’s also almost guaranteed to be a massive chiptune dance party, and God knows Seattle needs more of those. Oh, yeah— Manami Matsumae will be there. You might know her; she happened to compose the music for a little game called Mega Man. With Alex Mauer, Arcade High, and more. Chop Suey, 1325 Madison Ave. E., chopsuey.com. 8 p.m. $12. 21 and over. DR Send events to music@seattleweekly.com. See seattleweekly.com for more listings.
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
Female The “White Mountains” music video is one of the more brilliant, cutting encapsulations of Millennial sadness and dissolution I’ve ever seen. Mackned sighs, “I’m lookin’ like Bowser” in front of a projection of Mario Kart in a dark room, sipping on a 7-Eleven Big Gulp cup of lean— swirling Enya vocals and tinny 808 hi-hats in the background. Even though footage of an adoring crowd at a Mackned show fades in and out, lighters held aloft in devotion, the West Seattle rapper still attests he’s “got more plugs than real friends.” It’s a feeling most young people who grew up on the Internet can relate to—social media’s simultaneous hyperconnectivity and utter isolation. No matter how many “likes” you get, it’s still just you, by yourself, behind that computer screen. Female, Mackned’s incredible new album, is the most fully formed vision yet from Thraxxhouse, the bizarre, blazingly unique 40-member-artist collective, born in Seattle, that’s slowly taking over the country and turning out incredibly invested fans (see our cover story, p. 10, for more). The reason so many people seem to be vibing on the Macknedfounded crew’s unlikely mishmash of esoterica, witch house, hip-hop, grunge, and skate culture is because, as co-founder Key Nyata puts it, Thraxxhouse “is a feeling”—one that web-addled, soul-
searching youth are resonating with. Female zeroes in on that overstimulated loneliness and blows it up into a dark, gorgeous vision, one that could only have happened in 2015 Seattle—a city full of weed, rain, and witches. Mackned sips too much lean and does too much Vicodin, but he knows that. He doesn’t glorify it. “Li’l bro wanna move like me/You don’t wanna be me,” he laments in “Elissa Steamer.” In “Role Model,” he talks about how his indulgent lifestyle has let his siblings and mother down. It’s no wonder Mackned idolizes the late Kurt Cobain as much as he does (his last EP was titled Hurt Cobain): Both forged a new culture in a city that breeds as many open minds as it does addicts and depression. Despite the increasing popularity of grunge, Cobain still felt alone. And maybe Mackned has good reason for feeling lonely, too—nobody sounds like him right now. (soundcloud.com/mackned)
Oasism Attention, all you lazy bands out there that can’t be bothered to make a Facebook page: Seattle dance duo USF made a goddamn video game to go along with its new album. In what amounts to an interactive painting, you control a hooded raider in a pixelated wind-strewn desert full of skulls and lizards. As the record plays in the background, you can take out your laser blaster and shoot away rocks to reveal hidden artifacts like electrical wiring and strange stone carvings. Or you can just let the screen idle until your avatar takes out a pipe to puff on. Listening to Oasism might prompt you to take out your own pipe, too—it’s an atmospheric, shimmering electronic dance record that nails the blissed-out, metronatural, stoneriffic strain of house music that’s been emerging recently in the Pacific Northwest. “Datamoshing” is the easy standout on the six-track EP, a groovy, mutating rump-shaker that blends bird sounds with new-agey pan pipe, forest-fairy synth, and some classic four-on-the-floor propulsion to keep the FernGully funk going. This record is for all you easy, breezy woodland divas out there. (usftheband.bandcamp.com)
TheWeekAhead
TAYLOR ROMOSER
The Heard Herd
USF
29
odds&ends» The Weed Wire NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME
www.elcorazonseattle.com
109 Eastlake Ave East • Seattle, WA 98109 Booking and Info: 206.262.0482
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 26TH FUNHOUSE BRIAN FOSS PRESENTS:
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
THE LUDOVICO TREATMENT
30
w/Sausage Slapper, Ghostblood
Doors at 8:30PM / Show at 9:00. 21+. $7
THURSDAY AUGUST 27TH EL CORAZON KISW (99.9 FM) METAL SHOP & EL CORAZON PRESENT:
NEKROGOBLIKON w/Crimson Shadow,
The Manx, Kill Closet, Abducted By Sharks
Doors 7:00PM / Show 7:30. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $13ADV / $15 DOS
THURSDAY AUGUST 27TH FUNHOUSE
TOARN
w/Kriminals, Stronger Than Yesterday, Prey The Hunter, I Am The Vision
Doors 7:30PM / Show 8:00. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $8 ADV / $10 DOS
FRIDAY AUGUST 28TH EL CORAZON
TOXIC HOLOCAUST
w/Lord Dying, Powerhitter, The Cr,d G,ns
Doors 7:00PM / Show 8:00. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $10 ADV / $12 DOS
FRIDAY AUGUST 28TH FUNHOUSE BRIAN FOSS PRESENTS:
SIOUX CITY PETE AND THE BEGGARS w/The Valley, Sun Giants
Doors at 9:00PM / Show at 9:30. 21+. $6
SATURDAY WEDNESDAY AUGUST JULY 22ND 29TH EL EL CORAZON CORAZON
BRIANANNUAL FOSS PRESENTS: 3RD “EMERALD CITY ROCK PARTY” El Corazon Stage: We The Audience, w/Burlington The Home Team, Cavalier, Coat Never Met A Dead Man, Avoid The Void, Moments Felony, Upwell, Raisers / Funhouse Stage: The Hell Common Names,Doors Grizzly,9:00PM Reanu Keeves And The Funky Falcons, Ars Amor, Nick Tysen, An Old Best Show 9:30. 21+. $7 Friend Doors at 5:00PM / Show at 5:30. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID.
THRASHERS CORNER
$10 ADV / $13 DOS
SUNDAY AUGUST 30TH FUNHOUSE
GRAZ
w/Red Bennies, Mark Dago, J’owl, Kipjaw
Doors at 8:00PM / Show at 8:30. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $10 ADV / $12 DOS ($10 at Door for PAX Badge Holders)
MONDAY AUGUST 31ST EL CORAZON
THE PROTOMEN
w/Bit Brigade, Makeup and Vanity Set, Kirby Krackle, Death*Star
Doors 7:00PM / Show 8:00. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $15 ADV / $18 DOS
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 1ST FUNHOUSE
BITERS w/The Burnz, Loud Eyes,
Piston Ready, Plus Guests
Doors 8:00PM / Show 8:30. 21+. $8 ADV / $10 DOS
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3RD FUNHOUSE
OBSIDIAN
w/Perception, Rhine, Prey The Hunter, Love The Dead
Doors at 7:30PM / Show at 8:00. ALL AGES/BAR W/ID. $8 ADV / $10 DOS
JUST ANNOUNCED 10/22 - BUCKCHERRY 10/27 FUNHOUSE - TYGERRS LAIR 11/3 FUNHOUSE - SWINGIN’ UTTERS 11/10 - THOR 11/17 - EVERCLEAR 11/19 - NORTHLANE / VOLUMES 11/29 FUNHOUSE - BANGOVER: SEATTLE’S FIRST POP/PUNK DRAG ‘CONCERT’ UP & COMING 9/4 FUNHOUSE - MISS ALTERNATIVE SEATTLE 2015 9/5 FUNHOUSE HAPPY HOUR - DJ ELVIS CHRIST 9/5 FUNHOUSE - MILLHOUS 9/6 FUNHOUSE HAPPY HOUR - DJ SPANKY 9/6 FUNHOUSE - DRAG THE RIVER 9/8 FUNHOUSE - MUGEN HOSO 9/9 FUNHOUSE - DARKSWOON 9/10 FUNHOUSE - DARKMYSTICWOODS (RECORD RELEASE) 9/11 - THE MONEY PIT / ROMAN CITIZEN 9/12 - P.O.D. 9/15 - PUNK ROCK KARAOKE THE FUNHOUSE BAR IS OPEN FROM 3:00PM TO 2:00AM DAILY AND HAPPY HOUR IS FROM 3:00PM UNTIL 6:00PM. Tickets now available at cascadetickets.com - No per order fees for online purchases. Our on-site Box Office is open 1pm-5pm weekdays in our office and all nights we are open in the club - $2 service charge per ticket Charge by Phone at 1.800.514.3849. Online at www.cascadetickets.com - Tickets are subject to service charge
The EL CORAZON VIP PROGRAM: details at www.elcorazon.com/vip.html for an application email info@elcorazonseattle.com
CALIFORNIA 2016
The next governor of California, Gavin Newsom, spearheaded a report on legalization in his state, intended to influence the half-dozen groups crafting pro-marijuana ballot proposals for 2016. Before we get to the details, let’s note one important factor: Newsom’s an incredibly handsome bastard! Guy makes Gary Hart look downright hideous! (Sorry, Gary.) The Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy’s report emphasizes child safety, tight regulations on sales, safeguarding access for medical-marijuana users, and preventing the next “Big Tobacco.” God, he’s got great hair! (Sorry.) The 24-member panel, convened by the Brill Boy and American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, lays out 58 recommendations addressing, among other things, training standards, stoned driving, age limits, and taxes for public health programs. “We’re not arguing for a free market,” noted the beautiful Lt. Governor. “We’re arguing for a very regulated market that has real oversight, that is flexible.” (I bet he’s flexible.) The report recommends a flexible tax structure that’s not too high (which would encourage black-market exchanges) or too low (which would encourage teenagers), and that is also union-friendly. (When you’re in Cali, ya gotta kiss up to the unions, even the ones growing ganja.) It also suggests tax revenue go toward drug education, treatment programs, and policing illegal growers who are sucking up water from streams and public parks. One small problem with the group’s report: Though there are a shitload of pot smokers in California (almost 15 percent of all pot smokers in the U.S.), overall it’s an export state! It’s estimated that California grows almost 40 percent of the nation’s marijuana—and exports over 70 percent of that! Makes me wonder if these powerful and rich growers really are interested in a seed-to-sale tracking system that taxes, inspects, licenses, and regulates marijuana. BRIANNA CASHIN
El Corazon E orazon
The first-ever recreational-marijuana ad for television was supposed to air last month during Jimmy Kimmel Live on a Denver-based ABC affiliate. At the last minute, KMGH (Channel 7) got HIGHERGROUND cold feet, BY MICHAEL A. STUSSER pulling the plug after the station’s lawyers freaked out. The ad, for Neos, a vaporizer and cannabis-oil company, was hardly Cheech and Chong—in fact, it didn’t show marijuana at all. Instead, the spot featured young people hiking up mountain trails and enjoying themselves—weed-free. “You lead an adventurous life, always finding new ways to relax,” boomed the REI-looking advert. “Now enjoy the best effects and control with Neos portable vape pen and recreate discreetly this summer.” Blasphemous! The station is owned by E.W. Scripps Company, which yanked the spot due to concerns the feds might revoke their broadcasting license for showcasing a substance on federal airwaves that’s illegal at the national level. “Scripps has decided not to accept marijuana advertising at this time,” said Scripps mouthpiece Valerie Miller. “We are proud to be a company of free speech and open expression, but we have concerns about the lack of clarity around federal regulations that govern broadcast involving such ads.” The same lastminute ditch happened last week in Portland, when ABC affiliate network KATU pulled a marijuana-related commercial that was supposed to run during the six o’clock hour. Again, the ad didn’t feature fat nugs or hipsters firing up—it was for September’s Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference. And we’d hate for anyone to attend that, right!? Ya can’t blame the stations, really; they’re terrified about the possibility of losing their FCC licenses. The Controlled Substances Act is serious and specific about not allowing advertising that promotes Schedule I drugs. In fact, a violation of Section 843 is a felony, kids, with prison time and a roommate who’s probably not nearly as friendly as those featured on ABC shows, including Revenge, Scandal, American Crime, Castle, Rookie Blue, How to Get Away With Murder, et al… Those marijuana ads may have gone up in smoke, but they’re the beginning of a move toward the mainstream. As noted, local and state laws are well and good, but issues like banking, medical coverage, insurance, and taxes—and now advertisements—are eventually going to need to be approved by Uncle Sam. (The FCC has no problem, of course, with the alcohol industry spending $2 billion a year on advertising and over $500 million on TV ads alone, much less Viagra ads galore.) Before you know it, a canna-company could be advertising alongside Bud Light in the Super Bowl. (Emphasis on the Bowl.
OUT OF SIGHT
Gov. Jay Inslee just signed a new open-container law, making it illegal for unwrapped cannabis edibles and other weed products to be visible in the cockpit of a car. House Bill 1276 is an attempt to get marijuana laws in line with those pertaining to drinking and driving. Just as open alcohol containers are illegal inside vehicles (including the glovebox!), now weed is too. So keep your bong, joints, nugs, brownies, and baggies of Blueberry Kush in the trunk. And if you happen to be driving a VW bus that has no trunk (or minivan, Mom), the law states that marijuana items must be stored behind the seat furthest from the steering wheel. Which is probably where the pot smokers are hangin’ out anyway. What a long, strange road trip this has been . . . E For more Higher Ground, visit highergroundtv.com.
ADULT PHONE ENTERTAINMENT Free FORUMS & CHATROOM 206-753-CHAT 253-203-1643 425-405-4388
SAN JUAN ISLAND Furnished 2br home on 7 acres with pond walk to beach, near Roche Harbor, wood / elect. heat, looking for couple, no pets, no smoking, avail. 9/10. FLD, ref. $1250mo lease, send inquries to evvargreen@hotmail.com
Tired of talking to your cat? 206-753-CHAT 253-203-1643 425-405-4388 WebPhone on LiveMatch.com Ladies free to talk w/VIPs!
MAN to MAN Free chatrooms! 206-753-CHAT 253-359-CHAT 425-405-CHAT WebPhone on LiveMatch.com
Real Estate for Rent Island County
FREE TO LISTEN AND REPLY TO ADS Free Code: Seattle Weekly
Chat With America’s Party Crowd! See who’s online now!
“LIVEWIRE CHAT” 1-206-876-2929
(206) 877-0877 Tacoma:
CHECK OUT OUR FREE STUFF PAGE!
www.megamates.com 18+
FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT US AT: seattleweekly.com/freestuff
(253) 882-0882
KING’S MASSAGE Body Shampoo Sauna Expert Massage Come and see us
JESSICA’S
ULTIMATE SPA Sensual Relaxation 425.765.0376 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 10am - 10pm 1084 KIRKLAND AVE NE RENTON, WA 98056
WARNING:
You won’t be disappointed
MASSEUSE NEEDED
You Could Save Thousands On Any Amount You Currently Owe The IRS
Call Toll Free: 844-849-1040 Ext 55 24 hrs, for a FREE Recorded Message To Get a Copy Of The Free Report The IRS Hopes You Never See Call Now! Nunn Better Tax Resolution LLC, Redmond, WA
Toll Free: 844-SOS-1040
@seattleweekly
BUGS? 800 GOT BUGS
206.226.2860 206.778.1304
Auction @ 1780 NW Maple St, Issaquah
Announcements
4HAULING 4EXCAVATION 4BACKHOE & 4BOBCAT WORK 4Lot Clearing HConcrete & Asphalt Removal HStump Removal HSmall Bldg Demolition HNo Job Too Small
Residential/Light Comm
253-261-0438
lic#garricl956cq,bonded,ins
Professional Services Music Lessons
Dogs
Appliances AMANA RANGE Deluxe 30” Glasstop Range self clean, auto clock & timer ExtraLarge oven & storage *UNDER WARRANTY* Over $800. new. Pay off balance of $193 or make payments of $14 per month. Credit Dept. 206-244-6966 KENMORE FREEZER
Repo Sears deluxe 20cu.ft. freezer 4 fast freeze shelves, defrost drain,
interior light *UNDER WARRANTY* Make $15 monthly payments or pay off balance of $293. Credit Dept. 206-244-6966
KENMORE REPO Heavy duty washer & dryer, deluxe, large cap. w/normal, perm-press & gentle cycles. * Under Warranty! * Balance left owing $272 or make payments of $25. Call credit dept. 206-244-6966 NEW APPLIANCES UP TO 70% OFF All Manufacturer Small Ding’s, Dents, Scratches and Factory Imperfections *Under Warranty* For Inquiries, Call or Visit Appliance Distributors @ 14639 Tukwila Intl. Blvd. 206-244-6966
Paratex Fumigation Mention the
for a 5% Discount
www.paratex.com
UNDER WARRANTY!
was over $1200 new, now only payoff bal. of $473 or make pmts of only $15 per mo. Credit Dept. 206-244-6966 STACK LAUNDRY Deluxe front loading washer & dryer. Energy efficient, 8 cycles. Like new condition * Under Warranty * Over $1,200 new, now only $578 or make payments of $25 per month
%206-244-6966%
TODD’S TOWING
Abandoned Vehicle Auction 1410 E North Bend Way North Bend, WA
Public Auction
1 HR before Auction
CHIHUAHUA Puppies, call for pricing. Financing Available. Adult Adoptions Also, $100 Each. Reputable Oregon Kennel. Unique colors, Long and Short Haired. Health Guaranteed. UTD Vaccinations/wormings, litter box trained, socialized. Video, pictures, information/virtual tour, live puppy-cams!! www.chi-pup.net References happily supplied! Easy I-5 access. Drain, Oregon. Vic and Mary Kasser, 541-4595951 Auto Events/ Auctions
ABANDONED VEHICLE AUCTION Wednesday 08/27/15 Preview 8:00 AM Auction 9:00 AM A-Seattle Towing, LLC 13226 1st Ave S. Burien 206-856-1388 www.towseattle.com
AM-PM TOWING INC
Abandoned Vehicle AUCTION!!! 09/04/15 @ 11AM
REPO REFRIGERATOR Custom deluxe 22 cu. ft. sideby-side, ice & water disp., color panels available
Stan’s Mountain View Towing Inc Abandoned Vehicle Auction 9000 Delridge Way SW, Seattle WA Wednesday 09/02/15 Gates Open 9AM, Auction 12 PM 206-767-4848
starts @ 10am on 08/29/15 Viewing Time
Home Services Lawn/Garden Service
206-854-1794 LICENSED. INSURED.
425-392-6000 - Issaquah To view list go to: www.clarktow.com
425-888-3414
GUITAR LESSONS Exp’d, Patient Teacher. BFA/MM Brian Oates (206) 434-1942
6 hr minimum. Geoff;
Preview at 11am
1997 Cadillac DeVille AOC9247 1988 Chevy Celebrity DP21592
Preview 10-11AM 14315 Aurora Ave N. BIG D TOWING Abandoned Vehicle Auction Monday 08/31/15 @ 11AM. 1 Vehicle Preview 10-11am. 1540 Leary Way NW, Seattle 98107
Employment Computer/Technology QA Engineer II (multiple positions) sought by Redfin Corporation to work in our Seattle, WA location. Design and execute comprehensive suites of manual and automated test plans and cases. Design, implement and maintain automation frameworks, as well as tools and software libraries used in the testing and automation of Redfin software products. Bachelor’s (or foreign equivalent) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering or related field + 2 yrs software development exp. Reply to: Job #xw15, 2025 1st Ave, #500, Seattle, WA 98121 or jobpostingxw15@redfin.com. Vendor Operations Business Analyst II sought by Zulily in Seattle, WA. BS in Anlytcs, Engrg or rltd + 3 yrs exp. Exp in prblm slvng w/ ablty to transtion easly bt detaild data & hghlvl conclsion/rcmdtn. Exp in Anlytcl thnkng. Undrstndg of hw to trnslt ownrsp & prodvty into eff info displays. Exp w/ Tableau, MS Excel & SQL. Reqs perm US work auth. Aply @ jobpostingtoday.com Ref# 70722.
Employment General Appointment Setter Help keep trees Safe and Healthy by generating Appointments for Tree & Shrub Maintenance. Set your Own Schedule. Paid orientation, marketing materials and company apparel. -Travel allowance -Monthly Cell phone Allowance -Monthly Medical Allowance Vehicle, DL, Cell Phone & Internet Req. Email resume to recruiting@tlc4homesnw.com 855-720-3102 ext. 3304 Tree Climber/Arborist Full Time- Year Round Work performing tree work! We are Licensed, Bonded & Insured. Must have prior Tree Climbing & Trimming Exp. Company Sponsored Medical Avail. Vehicle and DL Required. Email work experience to recruiting@ treeservicesnw.com. Call 1-800-684-8733 ext. 3434
Classified Ads Get Results! Employment Services WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201
Employment Career Services THE OCEAN Corp. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
SEATTLE WE EKLY • AUG UST 26 — SEP TE MBER 1, 2015
13811 HIGHWAY 99 LYNNWOOD WA 98087 425-743-6183
Do Not Pay The IRS Another Red Cent Until You Get This Free Report
Materials
Multi-Media Advertising Consultant Puget Sound Region, WA Do you have a proven track record of success in sales and enjoy managing your own territory? Are you competitive and thrive in an energetic environment? Do you desire to work for a company that offers uncapped earning opportunities? Are you interested in a fast paced, creative atmosphere where you can use your sales expertise to provide consultative print and digital solutions? If you answered YES then you need to join the largest community news organization in Washington. The Daily Herald/La Raza is looking for a candidate who is selfmotivated, results-driven, and interested in a multi-media sales career. This position will be responsible for print and digital advertising sales to an exciting group of clients from Bellingham to Tacoma. The successful candidate will be engaging and goal oriented, with good organizational skills and will have the ability to grow and maintain strong business relationships through consultative sales and excellent customer service. Every day will be a new adventure! You can be an integral part of our top-notch sales team; helping local business partners succeed in their in print or online branding, marketing and advertising strategies. Professional sales experience necessary; media experience is a definite asset but not mandatory. If you have these skills, and enjoy playing a pro-active part in helping your clients achieve business success, please email your resume and cover letter to: hreast@soundpublishing.com ATTN: LARAZA in the subject line. We offer a competitive compensation (Base plus Commission) and benefits package including health insurance, paid time off (vacation, sick, and holidays), and 401K (currently with an employer match.) Sound Publishing is an Equal Opportunity Employee (EOE) and strongly supports diversity in the workplace. Visit our website to learn more about us! www.soundpublishing.com
BLACKBERRY & BRUSH REMOVEL
Henning Gardening Plant, Prune, Weed, Bark, Mow/Remove Debris
SPAS
Used Building
Clark’s Towing, LLC Public Auto Auction 08/28/15 - 12 PM
Greenlake/WestSeattle $550 & up (1st/last/deposit) Utilities included! busline, some with private bathrooms • Please call Anna between 10am & 8pm • 206-790-5342
Hot Sexy Amateurs Live 1 on 1 1-702-216-8888 LD rates apply 18+
WANT TO WIN DVDS, CONCERT TICKETS & MORE?
Employment General
Yard and Garden
L.D. rate apply 18+
Seattle:
Auto Events/ Auctions
WA Misc. Rentals Rooms for Rent
Club Voice M.A.L.E. (Ultra M4M Chat)1-206-876-6669
FIND REAL GAY MEN NEAR YOU
Miscellaneous
31
Classified Ads in Classified
Call
@ 206-623-6231, to place an ad
$ TOP CASH $
PAID FOR UNWANTED CARS & TRUCKS
$100 TO $1000
7 Days * 24 Hours Licensed + Insured
ALL STAR TOWING
425-870-2899
Temporary, Temporary-to-Hire & Direct Hire Do you have administrative experience? We place: Receptionists
•
Bookkeepers
•
Administrative Assistants
•
Executive Assistants
Department of Medicine
•
Office Support Specialists
•
Legal Assistants
Male Contraceptive Study
•
Office Managers
•
Accounting Assistants
•
Data Entry Personnel
•
Marketing Assistants
NEVER A FEE TO YOU! Apply Online: www.tyiseattle.com Or call today — we’re here for you!
206.386.5400
Temporarily Yours Staffing
SEATTLE WEEKLY • AUGU ST 26 — SEPTEM BER 1, 2015
32
Employment High Tech
Marchex, Inc. seeks Sr. Database Analyst for Seattle, WA to work with database analyst team to establish database standards, monitor and analyze system performance, tune parameters, and automate support solutions. Bachelor’s or equiv. degree in Comp. Sci. or rltd. field and 7 yrs. of exp. with: enterprise production database management and administration of MS SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle; SQL analysis of complex queries; enterprise scale (7x24) production environment, including the design/implementation of high-availability redundant database architectures, backups and recovery; and supporting databases on Linux in a production environment. Must have the ability to administer and manage databases developed primarily for in house applications, development and operations methodology and practice, and have strong diagnostic and problem solving abilities. Full-time employment offered with competitive salary and benefits. Forward resume to employ ment@marchex.com.
Marchex, Inc. seeks Sr. Database Analyst for Seattle, WA to work with database analyst team to establish database standards, monitor and analyze system performance, tune parameters, and automate support solutions. Bachelor’s or equiv. degree in Comp. Sci. or rltd. field and 7 yrs. of exp. with: enterprise production database management and administration of MS SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle; SQL analysis of complex queries; enterprise scale (7x24) production environment, including the design/implementation of high-availability redundant database architectures, backups and recovery; and supporting databases on Linux in a production environment. Must have the ability to administer and manage databases developed primarily for in house applications, development and operations methodology and practice, and have strong diagnostic and problem solving abilities. Full-time employment offered with competitive salary and benefits. Forward resume to employ ment@marchex.com.
Want to stop drinking to numb the pain?
Volunteers are needed for the APT Study examining two different types of treatment for people who have both alcohol problems and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Counseling is provided at no cost. Call the APT Study at
206-543-0584
“The friendliest and preferred agency”
Sexual Problems Business/Career Sickness Spiritual Problems and More...
PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL CONSULTATION Specialized in Removing Black Magic, giving protection and performing prayers for all types of problems FOR APPT CALL
425-524-3576
Kent, WA 98031
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON RESEARCH STUDY
•
720 3rd Ave. Ste. 1420 - Seattle, WA 98104 Employment High Tech
Love/Relationship Marriage Family Problems Childless Couple Financial Problems
206-623-6231 classifieds@seattleweekly.com
ALL RELIGIONS WELCOME
GET ADVICE AND SOLUTIONS IN:
CONTACT
Severe Allergies? Autoimmune Disease? Earn $185 per plasma donation - Your plasma helps advance medical research! plasmalab.com 425-258-3653
FreeTheVoiceWithin.com Janet Kidder 206-781-5062
Astrology, Prediction & Spiritual Healing is God’s Gift passed down generation to generation for my family
(or less if running long term)
Psychic, Palm & Tarot Card Readings $15 Special. 425-789-1974
Singing Lessons
just $9 per line per week
Famous Indian Psychic
Men are needed to participate in an investigational drug study using a hormone pill to help develop a new form of male contraception. This study will be conducted at the University of Washington, Seattle. The study involves 15 visits over a period of 2 ½-3 months, including two 26 hour weekday visits. To be eligible you must be: • 18-50 years of age • In good health • Male • Not taking medications on a daily basis Volunteers will be reimbursed for their time and inconvenience for each study visit completed and may be compensated up to $1,300 – 1,325 If interested, call 206-616-1818 and ask for more information about the DMAU-2 study Stephanie Page, MD, PhD; William Bremner, MD, PhD; Arthi Thirumalai, MD; John Amory, MD, MPH; Mara Roth, MD
CROSSROADS MALL 15600 NE 8TH ST, #0-12 • BELLEVUE, WA 98008 www.GameOverVideogames.com
My one reason? My one reason?
Earn money To II care To show show care about my community while saving lives about my community You only need one reason to donate plasma. by a plasma Youbecoming only need one reason todonor. donate plasma. Find out how becoming a plasma donor can make a difference for patients and Find aa plasma help out you how earnbecoming extra money. Find out how becoming plasma donor donor can can make make aa difference difference for for patients patients and and help help you you earn earn extra extra money. money.
As a new donor you can earn up to $65 this month. Donate today at: You earn $300 your month. today at:today at: As acan new donor you canin earn upfirst toSeattle $65 thisDonate month. Donate Biomat USA - over 7726 15th Ave. N.W., (206) 782-6675 Biomat USA 7726 15th Ave. N.W., Seattle (206) 782-6675 Biomat USA - 7726 15th Ave. N.W., Seattle (206) 782-6675 In addition to meeting the donation criteria, you must provide a valid photo I.D., proof of your current address and your Social or immigration card I.D., to In addition to meeting the donation criteria, youSecurity must provide a valid photo donate. be 18 years of age years of Security age in Alabama) or older to donate. In addition to meeting the donation criteria, you must provide a valid photo I.D., proof of Must your current address and(19 your Social or immigration card to proof of your current address and your Social Security or immigration card to donate. Must be 18 years of age (19 years of age in Alabama) or older to donate. donate. Must be 18 years of age (19 years of age in Alabama) or older to donate.