Chad Goller-Sojourner's Sitting in Circles With Rich White Girls: Memoirs of a Bulimic Black Boy opens tonight at the BrownBox Theatre @ the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, and runs through Sunday, July 20. Tix available online. In terms of identity, Chad Goller-Sojourner either hit the jackpot or got the short end of the stick, depending on one's perspective: a gay black man raised by a white family with a "girl's" eating disorder. "I thought it......

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor and friend, gave a widely criticized speech yesterday on Black Liberation Theology, patriotism, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Obama gave a press conference of his own today, saying he's "outraged" at Rev. Wright's "appalling" comments. He emphasized that Rev. Wright was never his "spiritual advisor," though the pastor married the Senator and his wife and prayed with them the day Obama announced his presidential candidacy. Some......

Last weekend, two men were shot at an afterparty for a book-signing of an unauthorized account of Dr. Dre and West Coast hiphop down in Tukwila. One of the men died from multiple gunshot wounds and was identified to the press late last night as a 24-year-old from Renton named Deon T. Guidry. We've been following the story via the P-I, wincing at the familiar knee-jerk comments (Socially Inept writes, "People tend to get......

The past few months have seen Mr. “Wes C. Addle”—Eddie Vedder—looking more like Mr. Tinseltown than just another (incredibly talented) Easy Street customer. Times don’t look like they’ll be a-changin’ in 2008. Vedder recorded a song for the Cate Blanchett Bob Dylan study I’m Not There, penned two for the documentary Body of War, then a whole soundtrack for Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. He’ll appear in the upcoming singer-biopic spoof Walk Hard. He’s just......

Is a new front opening up in the Culture Wars? Seattle school officials say no, but King 5's producers not-so-subtly imply yes. "A letter from the Seattle School District is raising some eyebrows about Thanksgiving and how it should be handled in the classroom," writes King 5 News' Eric Wilkinson. "The letter tells school district staff that the holiday is seen by many Native Americans as a 'time of mourning.'" Specifically, the letter cites this......

Well, it's been a month, and that can only mean one thing: time for the next free edgy youth culture documentary, care of Scion. Last time around, the topic was blood diamonds in hip hop; this time it's all about nightclubbing in the late '80s NYC queer community. Paris is Burning is all about New York fashion houses, but not the ones you may think you know. African American and Latino gay men and......

Andrew Le, known further and wider as Nam, is one of those artists Seattlest's been seeing over and over again at most of the local hip-hop shows we attend; sometimes he even ends up on stage, making the performance bang that much harder. We emailed him questions, he emailed back answers. Why hip-hop? Why Hip Hop? Why not? Hip Hop is the one of the best ways for people to express themselves. I got into......

City Council candidate Venus Velazquez was charged with a DUI the other night, which is odd because Bruce Harell was the athlete [slide-whistle], and with that we start our Seattlest General Election Civic Election Coverage 2007. We’ve been ignoring the city council races over here, mainly because they’re really f-ing dull. We understand why there aren’t better candidates out there, spending eight months begging for money and pandering to NIMBYs look like terrible way to......

A few weeks ago, Nobel Prize Laureate and co-discoverer of DNA Dr. James Watson blew through town, reflecting on how he's stayed away from stupid people, then delving into his now-customary slurry of sexist patois. Apparently he waited until he got across the pond to London to pull out the big guns:The 79-year-old geneticist said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that......

City Council candidate Venus Velázquez was arrested for a DUI last night which can't be good for her campaign for Peter Steinbrueck's seat. Apparently, she had "two drinks with her meal" and then hung around for a while to ensure she wasn't impaired. If that's what really happened, bummer. It sounds like she made a better effort than the guys we see "sobering up" at the end of the night by switching to light beer......

In a well-paced one-hour lecture, Matthew Brzezinski provided a summary of Red Moon Rising, his new book about the Sputnik launch and its explosive political aftermath. Brzezinski admitted up front that this wasn't so much a science lecture as it was a political one. He explained the circumstances that led to the Sputnik launch--it was the side project of a few rocket scientists who had survived Siberian exile during Stalin's purges. And he described the......

"Keep in mind the name Matthew Brzezinski. This book feels like a practice run from a young author destined for big things." So says author Brian Burrough, upon reviewing Brzezinski's Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age. Brzezinski, says Burrough, is a born storyteller, and his narrative reads like a movie. Brzezinski is also, as you can see, dreamy. The book is about the early days of the space......

Well Dan, I guess you don't even need a bike and a mountain anymore. Here is a RedBull biking event in Budapest--I guess if we can build mountain bike trails under the freeway, they can race their bikes in the subway.......

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.) Pierogies are so common in Pittsburgh that they race them for sport. In fact they......

There were all the things a soapbox derby should have at last weekend's Redbull Soapbox derby in Fremont: sleek, high-design vehicles next to totally scrappy, yet hysterically themed clunkers (the pickle seemed to be a crowd favorite). Attitude, bravado, and shenanigans mixed with derring-do. There were kids and old folks, and everyone in between. And ridiculous skits before each run (many requiring the removal of pants), a nice twist. Unexpectedly, there was Sir Mix-A-Lot and......

If only more photos captured a moment like The Amazing Race, by katemoore82. Drop your gems into the Seattlest Flickr pool and watch them sparkle, too.......

Because we know you want to know, it's your weekly look at what is keeping Seattlest engaged this weekend. Sunday, James will try to look like a guy you want to watch question answers on TV for round two of the Jeopardy! audition process. He just might wear a tie. Jack is heading to Fremont to watch superheroes brain themselves via the Red Bull Soapbox Race! Then, it's off to Chop Suey Saturday night for......

Man, if the EU court that stuck it to Microsoft this weekend and Mr. and Mrs. Slowsky were in a race it would probably go off the board for betters. It's. Taking. For. Ever. The crime is Microsoft shutting out competitors by bundling Windows Media Player with Windows, which, to us at least, seems like an ancient issue. What are they going to go after Microsoft for next? Attaching round wheels to an axle? We......

While you're enjoying an unseasonably sunny summer afternoon, we will be at Safeco Field, showing our undying support for the 2007 Seattle Mariners, authors of one of the greatest collapses in baseball history. We're not fairweather fans, not us. We gallantly display our pride for the local nine, those proud lads who...um...ok, fine, we lucked into a free ticket and didn't have other plans. Anyway, misery loves company, so we've fired up the Seattlest History-O-Matic......

Well, that was spectacular. From the heady days of August 25th, when the M's were three up in the wild card and only one back in the division, had won two straight in Texas, when we were all excited about Blue-za-palooza or whatever the fuck it was...to now, after 11 losses in 12 games, when we're all pretty much in wait 'till next year mode. You've all seen the boat sink, here are the numbers.......

The 8th congressional district lost five-term Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn and candidate Rodney Tom in the last twenty-four hours. Dunn, who served from 1993-2005, died of a pulmonary embolism last night. She was 66. We'll always remember how every two years the Democrats would find some young Microsoft millionaire to run against her, claiming that the district's new tech money was shifting the votes their way. They were wrong. Her 2004 announcement that she wasn't running......

Your Seattle Mariners played their biggest series in four seasons this week. With a chance to overtake the first place Angels if they could win three games, the Mariners won zero games. They got outscored 24-8. Ever see that thing they do at the zoo where hippos eat pumpkins? It was like that. Much of the blame is gonna come down on Mariner manager John McLaren, who took the interesting step of using his worst......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Position 3 is the most anticipated city council race. It's an open seat, and that seems to be the only way to get new blood on the council. Bruce Harrell and Venus Velazquez will end up in the general, with Tuesday's primary serving as a chance trim the fat (Al Runte, Scott Feldman, John Manning) and give both sides a platform to claim victory. Before we make our November decision, we'll be voting for Scott......

You may see incumbent councilwoman Sally Clark at a local candidate forum, but you won't see one of her opponents, Bob Brown. Brown doesn't need the hoi polloi telling him what to think, because he formed some pretty strong opinions back in the early 60s and he's sticking to them. He doesn't like all the new fruity town houses, skate parks, and is the only man brave enough to speak out about the city's conspiracy......

Um, we are not so sure this is a good idea.....but, Uber Tavern up on Aurora is hosting a "pub crawl by bike" this Sunday, August 12. Actually, hell yeah it is a good idea. Just WEAR A HELMET, please. If you can make 11 (all awesome) bars in 1 day on a bike, kudos. From Uber's email: Starting time? 1pm at Uber Tavern (we will open 2 hours early for the occasion) How......

And thank god for that. Eighteen teams turned out for Seattlest trivia at the Old Pequliar last night. And in a refreshing change from the last time we hosted (when we're pretty sure someone scored in negative numbers), scores ranged from a high of 70 to a low of 49 -- a tight race. Congratulations to first-place winners For the 17th Time, It's a Vagina, Not a Clown Car, who took home $110. Congratulations to......

Last week we made it out to our first Duck Dodge sailboat race of the year -- there was no theme, but it was hot, the upper-80s, and there was a good breeze which made for an actual race as opposed to beer drinking and chip munching punctuated by the occasional slow-motion tack. Notes on the race from Duck Dodge HQ mention that "Shoot the Moon had a kayak that just couldn't stay away from......

Got an email from a friend the other day: "My boss says he's officially back on the Mariners bandwagon." We were thrilled--the more bosses that join the bandwagon the better, in our view, even if it means it'll be harder to get the company seats. The Mariners finished the first half of the year with the best record of any Mariner team in history that didn't include Mark McLemore, and it's not easy to explain......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......