The halls of the packed Paramount Theatre were filled with the meandering, sporadically explosive sounds of Sigur Rós Tuesday night, bringing the packed house to an eerie standstill.
Read More
The man who wrote “Baby Got Back” is most definitely a foodie.
“I love trying new stuff,” says Anthony Ray, aka Sir Mix A Lot. “[Cooking] is a craft, man, it’s an art.”
Which, of course, inspires the question: would Sir Mix A Lot ever put aside the one’s-and-two’s and microphone for a chef’s hat and measuring cup?
Read More
For any fan of National Public Radio, the names “Fresh Air,” “This American Life” and “Prairie Home Companion” are quite familiar. But there’s another program quickly rising up the NPR listener ranks: the Pacific Northwest-based variety hour “Live Wire!,” which will host a live show Saturday (Sept. 10) at the Neptune Theatre.
Read More
I open my front door and find a square cardboard box with the words PeachDish emblazoned on the side. With a sense of anticipation, I pick up the heavier-than-expected delivery and take it to my kitchen to see what tonight’s dinner is going to be. Atlanta-based PeachDish, which offers recipes with a southern flavor, is among the dozens of companies contributing to one of the hottest trends in dining today: meal-kit home deliveries. While the services vary greatly, many of the bands allow you to choose savory dishes from an online menu for generally about $10 to $12.50 per serving.
Read More
In the male-dominated world of hip-hop, it’s not easy to be a woman. It’s even harder if you’re a woman of color who identifies as queer.
But that’s exactly the position Christy Karefa-Johnson — aka Seattle-based hip-hop artist DoNormaal — finds herself in.
Read More
“It was a long time coming,” says musician Chris Ballew, swirling on a stool in his West Seattle home studio.
Ballew is speaking, of course, about his second act in music: Caspar Babypants.
Co-founder and frontman of the rock band The Presidents of the United States of America, Ballew says the lifestyle of a stadium rock group wore him down. But a new voice — one he’d always been looking for — struck him one day in the car thanks to a tantrum by his 2-year-old son, Augie.
His wife at the time, Mary-lynn (the two are now divorced), soothed their young son, singing the refrain, “Run, baby, run. Run, run, run.” Augie was calmed.
“I saw it work and I was amazed by it,” Ballew says.
Read More
The Old Fashioned is, well, old-fashioned. But it’s also a drink experiencing a resurgence, in part thanks to its role in the dearly departed television series Mad Men. The drink, in a way, is a perfect metaphor for star character Don Draper: Its appearance is handsome, even bright. And it drinks with that edge that only rye whiskey offers, with a touch of well-worn sweetness.
Hollis Wong-Wear, the silky-voiced singer on the 2012 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit, “White Walls,” and front person for the band, The Flavr Blue, says when it comes to food: “I eat everything.”
Read More
It was a cold December afternoon when my grandmother, followed by her hobbling collie Tina, pushed the front door open. She put her bags down and looked at me standing there in the middle of the dining room. “Still fat are you?” she asked in her bitter, 80-year-old French accent. “Hmm.”
Read More
New York Times Bestselling author, Chuck Klosterman, who we wrote a Monarch Drinks With feature about in 2012, has written a new book called, But What If We’re Wrong? It’s a close examination of concepts that society holds to be obvious but maybe aren’t quite as clear as they seem. And in the spirit of the question, we caught up with Klosterman to ask him a few quick ones of our own.
Read More
I’ve kissed a few men in my life. There was the time a few years ago, at about 3 a.m., when my close friend and neighbor, drunk as all hell, kissed me on the lips before running inside his apartment. And there was that other time, in high school, playing spin the bottle with three guys and three girls.
Read More
Of the many heart-wrenching moments on Beyoncé’s new visual album, “Lemonade,” perhaps the one that resonates most comes on the 10th track, “Freedom.” In this song, the musical giant — who plays CenturyLink Field on Wednesday (May 18) — sings, “Freedom, freedom I can’t move. Freedom cut me loose!”
For the psychedelic soul singer and producer SassyBlack, who will release her first solo record, “No More Weak Dates,” on Tuesday (May 17) at Barboza, much of what shapes her aesthetic has roots in things odd and uneven.
Read More
Bands are often described as creating “driving” songs — as if their melodies and rhythms propelled the listener forward. But with Seattle hip-hop duo Sleep Steady — at the Central Saloon on Wednesday (May 11) for the next BAD DAD Collective showcase — that descriptor is especially apt. These guys make music they want to listen to in the car.
Read More
When Andrew Bird, the warm-voiced singer and musician (famous for his whistling and violin playing), picked up the phone after I dialed the 14-digit number to reach him in Ireland where he was to play at the U.S. Embassy, he told me he’d been up for two days straight. “I left my house yesterday at noon,” Bird says, “and got to Dublin a couple of hours ago. I’m here in a very strange place. I’m technically on U.S. soil in the middle of a massive park surrounded by green fields.”
Read More