[September 4th 5:24pm] MFNW MANIA: Girl Talk's Crazy Show / Todd Berry of Greyday Records on Sonicbids

We're trying to run some MFNW extras not included in our MFNW cover package in the midst of all the other crazy stuff going down this week. So we'll get right to it. First up: Girl Talk (a.k.a. Greg Gillis) talks about his show last year at the Crystal. A chopped-up version of this story appeared in our MFNW cover story, but we thought it was worth running it uncut. Interview conducted by Michael Mannheimer: Your MFNW show last year at the Roseland is pretty fabled round these parts, and...

[September 4th 5:00pm] PUBLISHER'S JUKEBOX: Betty Wright

For the past few Thursdays, we've begun sharing the old-school soul that WW publisher Richard Meeker blasts from his office after hours. This week's video is from Betty Wright and goes out to our fine janitorial staff: Drop a bookmark here to watch all Publisher's Jukebox posts.

[September 4th 3:26pm] P:ear unveils new art center for homeless youth tonight.

On an afternoon last week, before the Old Town reopening of local nonprofit p:ear, local musician and volunteer Sarah Dougher sat in a sawdust-riddled corner waiting for a Nike representative to drop off donated soccer equipment for the kids. The corner she was briefly relaxing in was hugged by books that will soon grow and reproduce to become a library rivaling that of many cash-strapped public schools; so appropriate for an organization that refuses to employ social work lingo, instead...

[September 4th 2:53pm] The Musicfest Diaries: Wednesday

Day one is over! It was loud!
But first, where there are parties, there is Byron Beck. Here are his shots from the Spectre Entertainment MFNW pre-party last night (on the second floor of the Goldsmith building): And now, the MFNW diaries. Contributors are Michael Mannheimer, David Robinson (the new British music intern), Kelly Clarke, Aaron Mesh and Casey Jarman. 9:33 pm, Wednesday, Sept. 3. Outside Berbati’s Pan: Damn, there’s a long-ass line...

[September 4th 11:50am] Birthday (& Help Retire Debt) Boy: Sam Adams Gets "Blitzed"

Sam Adams held his 45-er at Blitz bar smack dab in the middle of the Brewery Blocks (above with former Gang of Four member Dave Allen, who is not Sam's boyfriend). Not only was it a chance for his friends and colleagues to wish him well, it was also a chance to help him retire his campaign debts, which he says are somewhere in the vicinity of $30,000. Below you can watch a lil' film I made full of birthday greetings (make sure to stick around until the end for the request from his...

[September 4th 10:35am] Nobody Works Anymore: Get Festive!

With Burning Man just over and MusicfestNW and TBA just getting underway, we're feeling pretty festive. So here it is: the festival edition. At right: how they do when they do in Kawasaki. FESTIVAL OF LOVING TOO MUCH: No use crying over felled trees. FESTIVAL OF CARING: What the Republicans who couldn't be evacuated from the Twin Cities were doing on Monday. IT'S A FESTIVAL, BABY: Why kids fear heights. FESTIVAL GONE DIGITAL: If you're out of town for MFNW, at least you can catch...

[September 3rd 4:03pm] Nobody Works Any More: Starbucks in Two Thousand Hate

A place where everybody knows you're lame. Five ways Starbucks could stop digging its own grave. Metropolis schmetropolis. Scale model of Shanghai, 2020. Unsurprisingly, he eventually died. The antics of speed climber Dan Osman, a YouTube star ahead of his time. Check out more reasons Nobody Works Anymore here!

[September 3rd 3:05pm] MFNW MANIA: Mark Baumgarten's All-Time MFNW Top Three

Mark Baumgarten, ex-WW music editor (this photo is from that era) and current Seattle Sound editor, was kind enough to share his all-time top three MFNW shows with us. It is the first in a slew of MFNW-related posts to go up this week. To read more on MFNW, see this week's WW cover story. 1. Crackerbash at the Crystal Ballroom, 2005 I spent the better part of two months constructing an oral history of the bands that made the Portland music scene in the early-90s and were reuniting for...

[September 3rd 2:05pm] First Look: Got Milk? We Do Now.

Just in time for the Republican National Convention's speech by Sarah Palin, here is a first look at the trailer for Gus Van Sant's highly anticipated bio-pic Milk. The movie opens Dec. 5. Now, that's what a real trailblazer looks like.

[September 3rd 11:11am] MEET YOUR CITY COUNCIL: Nick Fish on Jobs

Every Wednesday, Adrian Chen comes up with a nugget from his Candidates Gone Wild interviews to show us a new facet of our incoming City Council. Today: Nick Fish on jobs. Watch all Meet Your City Council videos here.

[September 3rd 10:55am] Ron Paul's Revolution PLUS The BODY for President

I got the impression last night, at Ron Paul’s “Rally for the Republic,” which drew a crowd of over 10,000 to Minneapolis’ Target Center, that the failed Republican presidential candidate really believes he is leading a revolution. Really. At the rally planned at the same time as the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, he used “revolution” or its variants (i.e. revolutionary) 21 times during his speech to cheers from the sold-out crowd. Paul, who attacked the...

[September 3rd 8:17am] Publisher's Bookshelf: Alafair Burke's Angel's Tip

If there's one thing WW publisher Richard Meeker likes better than giving up the funk, it's settling in with a good police procedural thriller. Here's his WWire review of the latest from hometown author Alafair Burke: It's always better to root for the home team. Which is a roundabout way of introducing Alafair Burke's satisfying new mystery, Angel's Tip (HarperCollins, 352 pages, $23.95). A graduate of Reed College and the Multnomah County District Attorney's office, Burke now has five...

[September 2nd 5:01pm] Computerization, "Local Cut Theme Song," LocalCut Song Cycle (Part 1 of 5)

Some pop stars are bright enough to go by just one name. Cher, Britney, Michael, Rhianna, Derek... Wait, Derek? Who's Derek? Why he's the Brooklyn-based genius behind Computerization. Wait, what's Computerization? I'm glad you asked. From behind his laptop, Derek creates custom songs as Computerization for all those who request them through his site. We're not talking pre-written songs with your name inserted every twenty seconds, but entirely original songs made to your liking. He leaves...

[September 2nd 2:50pm] STREETS OF ST. PAUL: Minnesota Mayhem pt. 2

In my last post I described the city destruction caused by a band of hooded anarchists I followed around St. Paul before the delegate buses began to arrive at the Accel Energy Center for the truncated opening day of the GOP Convention. From piecing together other media reports, it is likely that this group during the time I spent with them caused the majority of the vandalism in St. Paul. It seems that was their motivation. As I reported, most, if not all, of the vandals were able...

[September 2nd 1:42pm] The Return of These Are the Days with Arya Imig: MusicFest NW Preview

Hi. How are you? It's been awhile. I know you've been thinking of me, and I've been meaning to write. I've thought a lot about you too, and I've thought an awful lot about us. Things have been crazy this year. We've all been through a lot. It's been a difficult year in a lot of ways, an interesting year to put it mildly. As always, the one thing we are blessed enough to carry with us is our faith in our friends, and our faith in music. We know there is hope when we see their faces, and when we...

[September 2nd 1:39pm] Oregon State Fair, too big to miss? Maybe the pig's balls.

I’ve lived in the Portland now for two months, and I’ll be honest, I love the place. I love the music, I love the beer and I love the people that keep it weird. Sometimes folks from back in Minnesota ask me if I’m getting homesick at all and the response is pretty simple: No. Occasionally at night I’ll miss my friends and family, but it’s been a beautiful summer and, despite what I’ve heard about the rains, I think I’ll be able to handle the winter seeing as it won’t be as cold...

[September 2nd 11:07am] Nobody Works Any More: The Back-to-School Edition

I spent the night dreaming about being a 47-year-old student. Why? Because it's the first day of school for local kids. In honor of that here's a few links to get schooled on. VOTE, DUDE: I don't remember this in my orientation package. KINKY KINDERGARTEN: Is there really such a thing as sex kindergarten? WANT SMART KIDS? Don't let them know it. NO SNIPS OR PUPPYDOG TAILS: Escargolly! YOU WILL FIND FOR C: Darth Vader teaches math. AND BECAUSE WE...

[September 2nd 8:00am] Even More MusicFest NW Shows to Melt Your Face With, Courtesy of KEXP

As if this Wednesday through Saturday wasn't crazy enough, adorable Seattle FM station KEXP is rolling into town again this year, and the station just finalized its lineup for its special daytime shows at the Doug Fir, which are free and open to the public. This is a great chance to scratch a few people off your list that you can't see during the main fest because there's just too much going on, and it's also a great chance to preview some stuff you've never heard before. But show up early,...

[September 1st 11:15pm] STREETS OF ST. PAUL: Minnesota Mayhem, pt. 1

Some new numbers are in. According to local media, 10,000 people were at the Capitol in St. Paul to protest against the War in Iraq during the Republican National Convention (lower than the 50,000 expected). As I mentioned in an earlier post, the vast majority of those 10,000 were nonviolent and civil. The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting on the “bands of protesters” who splintered off onto side streets shattering windows and blocking delegate buses. Police are saying...

[September 1st 10:04pm] THE BURNING BLOG: Blown Out

Burning Man: The Man Burns (read all Burning Blog posts here) OUTSIDE BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada – In a fitting end to what was another spectacular—but ultimately frustrating and troubling—Burning Man festival, nearly all my equipment fell under the grit of a several-hour dust storm Saturday, and I watched my wi-fi connection pull away Sunday morning. Cameras and laptops need compressed air—which I had—AND a clean workspace—which I didn’t. So I could not complete my final entry...

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