Results tagged “elliottbaybookcompany”

Ah, how we love Lydia Davis.... We're so excited that she will be here in Seattle next week to speak on the subject of "A Beloved Duck Gets Cooked: The Influence of Innovative Forms." Yes, we know that this premise may sound strange, but if you've read her work, you understand--this woman is quite the odd duck herself, and we absolutely love her for it.

THE RISING SEA: Town Hall hosts Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young, professors and authors of The Rising Sea, tonight as the second installment of a series on sustainability issues titled Soundings From Island Press. The two will be discussing the possible consequences of sea levels rising by as much as seven feet in 2100, and how we can plan ahead for saving lives and communities in coastal cities such as Miami, New York, and New Orleans.

WILD THING: Although it is time for the playoffs, we aren't referring to Mitch Williams or Charlie Sheen's character from Major League. The Wild Things is the novel version of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are,for which Dave Eggers wrote the screenplay. The Spike Jonze movie is in theaters October 16 but Eggers will be speaking about the book today.

BATTLE FOR SEATTLE: Fundraiser sponsored by McGinn for Mayor, Pete Holmes for City Attorney, and Friends of Dow Constantine featuring the Presidents of the United States of America, Krist Novoselic, The Maldives, and DJ Supreme. VIP reception at Via Tribunali.

RESTAURANT CRITIC STRUGGLES WITH EATING DISORDER: A couple of weeks ago, former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni was in town to promote his book documenting his battle with bulimia. This evening another former restaurant critic recounts her fight with the illness, but it's her daughter who struggled with anorexia. Sheila Himmel will be at the Elliott Bay Book Company to read from Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia and discuss her personal experience with the intersection of foodie culture and eating disorders.

Dirty Three play depressing but somehow uplifting songs. The group instrumental music takes elements from jazz, folk, chamber music, and traditional rock. They’re led by Nick Cave’s favorite violinist--fans of Cave’s brand of Australian literary post-punk rock will enjoy this.

LET THEM EAT CAKE: Essential Baking Company is celebrating their 15th birthday, which means a taste of their signature chocolate hazelnut birthday cake is on the house today--for every customer making a purchase and while supplies last, of course--at both the Wallingford and Madison locations. After the free cake has run dry, both locations will be selling $1.50 cupcakes until October 14 in honor of the occasion. Considering the amount of Seattle boutique cupcake shops, we have obviously proven our love for cake and would recommend showing up early before the free cake disappears into everyone else's mouths.

Ryan Boudinot has been quickly climbing the Seattle food chain of well-known literary locals, and there's good reason behind it. Not only has he written for many of the "cool" publications that we--as one of the much-bragged-about smarter cities--absolutely LOVE, but he's quite the down-to-earth gentleman, as well. Along with the recent publication of Misconception and becoming the newest Hugo House Writer-in-Residence, Boudinot has been having a damn good year. And the fact that he wrote most of this novel while working a "day job" in a cubicle for a well-known dot-com in Seattle only makes it that much more awesome.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATSY CLINE!: The Triple Door will be hosting Sweet Dreams, an evening celebration tonight on what would have been Patsy Cline's 77th birthday. Featuring local Northwest singer/songwriters such as Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs, and Rachel Flotard of Visqueen, the show will be a great opportunity for longtime fans to hear their favorites and pay tribute to the legendary singer. The earlier showing is all ages, and $2.00 from each ticket sold will go towards the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk.

IS THAT FUNK I SMELL?: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, objectively speaking the best funk band in the world, play the Showbox SoDo tonight. We can’t think of anything to say about this that hasn’t been said, except that you owe it to yourself to see Clinton perform--after 50 years in the industry, he still brings it.

SHE GOT SOUL: Bettye Lavette, a Detroit native and prolific singer-songwriter well known for her work in the Motown era, is visiting Seattle tonight and tomorrow night. Though Lavette toured in the 1960s with the likes of Otis Redding and Ben E. King and even had a short stint with the James Brown Revue, she always flew under the fame radar until 2005, when she released her album, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. While in Seattle, Lavette will be singing songs from her latest album, The Scene of the Crime, along with old favorites from the '60s.

WHAT WE NEED: Coffee. Like, right now. These events today don't make any sense, and writing this is proving unusually difficult. And, of course, there's no coffee in the cupboard. Also, we don't live anywhere near a Macrina Bakery. They turn 16 today, and to celebrate you get a free coffee if you buy bread. But bread we do have. It's the coffee we're out of. All this is hard.

THE CHILDREN ARE OUR RALLY: Friends of Children’s Hospital, your friendly neighborhood Fearey Group-promoted advocacy group for Seattle Children's Hospital is taking it the steps of City Hall. The rally is to show support for Children's after Laurelhurst Community Club protested Children's proposed expansion and won the city hearing. Few moments in life offer the moral high ground of this rally, and it should be a great way to meet hot nurses and doctors. noon-1:30 p.m. // City Hall's west side steps, 600 4th Avenue // FREE

JOHN WATERS FANS : Central Cinema is showing one of our favorite '80s movies, Cry-Baby, and there's never a bad excuse to watch this film. Especially right now, in an air-conditioned theatre with stone oven pizza, and beer to wash it down. Ricki Lake? Hatchet Face? That single slow-moving tear drop? It doesn't get much better than that.

CHANNELING BARBRA STREISAND: If you love everything Neil Diamond, Bette Midler, or Barbra Streisand, you are in for a treat. The vocally gifted illusionist Edwards Twins, Anthony and Eddie Edwards (no joke), are in Seattle for a limited time to sing their asses off and impersonate many of the greats. People raves: "The Edwards Twins in many ways are better than watching the real thing." If you don't believe it, you will now. Seating can be hard to come by, so get there early. As a perk, on Tuesdays there's a two-for-one dinner special. Not bad! 6:30 p.m. dinner, 8:30 p.m. show // Julia's on Broadway, 300 Broadway East // Tickets: $25-35

MARYMOOR IT UP: Crazy hot concerts at Marymoor this weekend! Tonight, hyper-literate prog-indie Portland kids the Decemberists with Andrew Bird and Blind Pilot; Saturday and Sunday, Death Cab with Ra Ra Riot and the New Pornographers. 6 p.m. doors all days // Concerts at Marymoor // 6046 W. Lake Sammamish Parkway // tix $35

Having gotten to know Samuel Ligon from working at the Port Townsend Writers' Conference in past years, we were very excited to get a hold of his latest story collection, which took home the 2008 Autumn House Fiction Prize. At the conference, Ligon is known for being one of the most popular writing teachers, and his workshops are usually the most sought-after, quickly filling up. Not having been able to attend one yet ourselves, we were quite curious to find out more about all the fuss. And it's safe to say that after reading Drift and Swerve--we get it, loud and clear.

ONE SINGULAR SENSATION: James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's award-winning documentary Every Little Step is finally in Seattle, and we think musical and film lovers alike will get a kick out of this new hit. The film follows the legacy of A Chorus Line, through four decades of amazing actors, behind-the-scenes dramas, and variations on the international musical favorite. Every Little Step is also the first documentary in Broadway history to be allowed filming privileges throughout the extensive audition process for last year's recent revival, showing anything and everything that is A Chorus Line. (4:15), 7:15, 9:35 p.m. // Harvard Exit, 807 East Roy // Tickets: $7-9.50

PSYCHEDELIC CULT CLASSIC: Bob Dylan-esque Rodriguez is finally coming to Seattle, and KEXP is surely happy. We say this because anytime we've turned it on lately, he seems to be there, soulfully singing all the songs we love, which makes us happy as well. In the past couple years with Light in the Attic's re-releases of albums such as Cold Fact and Coming From Reality, he has gained a wide array of new fans, which makes it hard to believe that up until the late '90s he was just hanging out in Detroit doing menial labor, with no idea that his music career would ever make a comeback. (He found out only after Cold Fact had gone multi-platinum across the world in South Africa.) 5:30 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show // The Triple Door, 216 Union Street // Tickets: $20/$23, 21+

HAPPY HOUR, ANYONE?: Sound Magazine invites you to join in on the fun at their happy hour extravaganza tonight at the Highway 99 Blues Club in honor of their new June issue. The first 50 people to get in the door will receive free drink tickets compliments of Miller Lite, and your favorite Sound staffers will be on hand. There will be plenty of free copies of the latest issue if you have yet to snag one, and plenty of time to schmooze it up with the writers, photographers, and editors of the Northwest's finest music magazine. So bring your feedback, story ideas, questions, or accusations, and get ready to get down with Sound for some Tuesday night awesomeness. 6-9 p.m. // Highway 99 Blues Club, 1414 Alaskan Way // FREE, 21+

In five years, Aleksandar Hemon will most likely be solidly confirmed as one of America's top authors. Really, he already is, but these things take time to cement, which is perhaps another way of saying that you should go see him tonight at Elliott Bay Book Co. (100 S. Main St, 7:30 p.m.), because a couple years down the road it's going to be at a much bigger venue and not free to see Hemon speak.

'CAUSE HATE IS JUST UGLY: The California Supreme Court announced last Friday that they would be handing down their decision today on the constitutionality of the infamous Prop 8. The court upheld the same-sex marriage ban, but allowed the existing 18,000 unions to stand. Since the news is mixed, it's fitting that there's a rally and/or protest taking place at Westlake Center Park tonight. Get out and show your support either way.

Author Mark Kurlansky doesn’t always write about food, but it has been the subject of two of his bestselling books (Cod, Salt) and his newest book, The Food of a Younger Land (he's reading at Elliott Bay tonight, 7:30 p.m., free admission). But don’t call him a food writer.

LIPS LIKE SUGAR: It's been a long time since we saw it at Sundance last year, but Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's follow-up to Half Nelson is finally in theaters. Sugar follows a young Dominican baseball player as he tries to make it through the farm teams and into the major leagues. Sez us: "This ain't no rag-to-riches sports story, nor is Sugar in the vein of Behind the Music, chronicling a meteoric rise and fall; instead, it's a much more complex and realistic portrayal of the professional athletic system. Once again, Boden and Fleck prove their high level of screenwriting skill and directorial talent. They know how to write a nuanced script and they know where to put the camera." Sugar continues its run at the Harvard Exit through Thursday.

URGENT ASSESSMENT: Tonight at Town Hall, author and Canadian David Suzuki will offer what his blurb calls "an urgent assessment" of environmental issues. We're picturing him lecturing in double-time; after all, the environment might collapse before he finishes with even one of the topics he's planning on urgently assessing. No time to lose. Anyway, the lecture sounds promising, if you can bear to leave the park tonight.

LIKE CHILD SOLDIERS: Everyone knows about the genocidal atrocities committed in Rwanda and Darfur, but folks seem to have forgotten about the ongoing (twenty-plus years now) war in northern Uganda. Peter Eichstaedt, Africa editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, comes to Elliott Bay tonight to talk about the conflict, child soldiers, and the repeated efforts by the Ugandan people to stop the violence or at least survive it. It's all there in his new book, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army. Spoiler alert: There will not be a happy ending.

LUNCH AND POLITICAL POEMS: Nation humorist Calvin Trillin does a special midday Monday event at Elliott Bay, reading from his collection of poems about the 2008 election cycle Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme. The event is free and open to the public, but if you want to go one step further and make a lunch of it, call up the cafe (206-682-6664) to pre-order from your choice of box lunch: roast beef sandwich, albacore tuna sandwich, or egg salad sandwich, all of which are served with chips and a cookie.

Kim is shooting from the hip this weekend (papow!). The only solid plan is her friend's weekly L Word watching party on Sunday. Between now and then, she'll probably go see Shenandoah Davis at 2020 Cycle with Your Heart Breaks and KHV. Maybe there'll be a delicious meal culled from our local farmers markets. Maybe she'll hop on a train and go to Portland. Anything could happen, people. Anything.

Sometimes book readings are news because of the book; sometimes because of the author. With Steven Johnson, you get both. He's in town for a few days on his book tour for The Invention of Air: at Elliott Bay Book Company on Sunday, at 3 p.m.; Town Hall on Monday, 7:30 p.m., and holding court at a "Words & Wine" event at the Pan Pacific Hotel on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.