It seems every time we check a local news site, which is pretty regularly...okay hourly, there's a report of another malfunctioning ferry. According to our unscientific, educated guesstimate, The Washington State Ferry Service has only had a few days of normal running schedules in the past month. Today's affected ferry route: the Point Defiance/Tahlequa service. The Rhododendron--a 48-car-capacity ferry which serving the route from Vashon Island--is suffering from mechanical problems. The boat will be......

Two eastside teens have been arrested for the false bomb threat that shut down Mercer Island High School on Tuesday. The teens, a 15 year old female student from Mercer Island High School and a 16 year old boy from Renton. The arrests were made around noon on Wednesday. The teens were booked into a juvenile detention center, upon suspicion of phoning in the bomb threats. On Tuesday morning, shortly after 8am, someone called in......

Saigon descended upon Neumos Wednesday night in true East Coast style, backed by three hype-men, two photographers, one DJ, and for awhile two dancing "homegirls". (Yes, his shirt did come off for a brief moment, and we did get to see those famous bulging arm muscles.) A sparse but expectant crowd watched as the New York rapper and his posse blew through an aggressive set that included the extra-tight club favorite "C'mon Baby" dropped......

Mike Doughty (yeah, he used to be in some other band) has a new album out this week, Golden Delicious. We saw him at the Triple Door in December for his Question Jar tour; he sat on stage and played songs (even one from that other band), occasionally drawing questions written by the audience from a large glass jar and answering them with charming humor and candor. Most felicitously, we didn't even have to ask......

U-N-I, the L.A. headliners at last night's show at Chop Suey, is the profoundly West Coast hiphop equivalent of human superficial fascia: loosely, intricately webbed, sticky, and pliable. Tricky, surprising beats backed Thurzday and Y-O's tight rap in a dizzying but relaxed kind of way. The night was solid for such an unsung show, with performances from some of 2008's most promising local acts: J. Pinder (his ballsy, impeccable timing meshing perfectly with high-power......

We googled this guy to see if there's any more information about him available, but all we can find are reprints of this same missing persons poster, which has been emailed to Seattlest several times today. It sounds like he's a father of two, a member of Mars Hill Church, and he works on Queen Anne. He apparently called his wife to let her know he was on his way home, but then he......

Tonight, Noir City, a seven-day festival of classic film noir, starts at SIFF. The shows are being introduced by "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller. Schedule The Prowler & Gun Crazy, Friday, Feb 15, 7pm [get tix] High Sierra & The Hard Way, Saturday, Feb 16, 1pm, 7pm [get tix] Moonrise & Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Sunday, Feb 17, 1pm, 7pm [get tix] Woman in Hiding & Jeopardy, Monday, Feb 18, 1pm, 6pm [get tix]......

SIFF Cinema's Rialto film series continues through February 7, with a double-feature each night.Pepe le Moki / Quai des Orfevres Monday, Feb 4, 7pm Umberto D. / The Fallen Idol Tuesday, Feb 5, 7pm The Milky Way / Murderous Maids Wednesday, Feb 6, 7pm Mouchette / Au Hasard Balthazar Thursday, Feb 7, 7:30pmTonight is gritty French gangsters, tomorrow, a feast for any Italo-Anglophiles out there: Scorsese says Umberto D. is as good as it gets,......

Photo by Mike Siegel from the Seattle Times Seattlest Seth's cousin wasn't the only one stranded by the recent snow onslaught in our beloved Cascades. Anticipating the re-opening of I-90, we took Wednesday off from work and then bored a hole into our computer waiting for the DOT site to tell us the pass was finally open. 11am rolls around, our friends swing by to pick us up and we were off. The trip......

George Zimmer would not have liked what went down at the Tukwila Men's Wearhouse Wednesday evening. We guarantee it. Seattlest walked in with our fiancée. We knew we'd be accosted by a sales clerk, but our plan was to rebuff them and browse. Maybe ask about fit and fabrics. (We don't know suits from fine china.) Our plan fell apart when a female clerk—we'll call her Bitchy—pounced before the door closed behind us. (Reading......

It felt like a veritable love fest inside the elegant Triple Door Wednesday night. Petals of adoration rained down upon the boys of Nada Surf and even with the sold out crowd, it seemed like we recognized more people than not. Bloggers, photographers, local musicians (The Long Winters were in attendance) -- all were there to show love. The first half of the set was largely focused on new material from the band's fifth LP,......

In another effort by Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz to "get back to the roots and the core of our heritage, which is the leading roaster of specialty coffee in the world," it's been reported that Starbucks will remove those tasty breakfast sammiches from their stores. The AP reports that, "The sandwiches, which will disappear by this fall, boost a typical store's annual revenue by $35,000, so pulling them off the menu will cost......

A day wasted, spent refreshing the same web page over and over. At least we weren't sitting in a big rig stuck up there waiting for the pass to re-open. That must be miserable. And they're still there. In fact, they might be spending the night:Update I-90 Snoqualmie Pass remains closed until avalanche control work is complete. WSDOT crews continue working through heavy snow to make I-90 safe for travel. Best case scenario: If......

It's only playing for one week, so be sure to check out Nanking, a moving documentary about the 1937 Japanese invasion of the titular Chinese town. The film begins its theatrical run in Seattle this Friday, February 1st. The story is told through emotional interviews with Chinese survivors, archival footage, and chilling testimonies by Japanese soldiers, interwoven with readings of Westerners’ letters and diaries as performed by Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Jurgen Prochnow, and......

We're as guilty as anyone else when it comes to not knowing that Nada Surf has been living a second life of sorts -- a new life, all their own, long after "Popular," the satirical high-school anthem that ruled MTV circa 1996. Nada Surf has spent the past decade recording, touring and reestablishing themselves with the North American Audience. It's a cool story, we think and not one you often hear. Band gets major label......

Recently, we've been spending a lot of time talking about films not yet (if ever) released, but now it's time to turn our focus back to movies actually playing in theaters. Nanking, a moving documentary about the 1937 Japanese invasion of the titular Chinese town, won an editing award at last year's Sundance and also played SIFF 2007. Now the film begins its theatrical run in Seattle this Friday, February 1st. The story is......

Seattlest rarely ventures into Bellevue because really, who needs it? But the last two nights found us cruising Bellevue Way, looking for dinner while the fiancée’s car got its crevices inspected. On Wednesday night we chose a place called Orexi because a) we had an Entertainment Book coupon and b) we hadn’t eaten Greek in probably over a year. (This Seattlest is no foodie.) First red flag: The place was deserted. The waitress/hostess lady......

This is pretty heartwarming stuff. The NBA asks teams who play against New Orleans to do a little community service while they're there. Teams do, often haphazardly, sending a couple of players along to some pre-selected site. But the Sonics entire staff--coaches, players, security people--showed up to serve food at a New Orleans substance abuse center for 45 minutes, reports the P-I's Gary Washburn. Then, after that, coach P.J. Carlesimo wanted to do more, so......

Two events occurred this weekend that damaged our long and strongly held opinion of Wallingford as a sleepy bedroom suburb-within-the-city this weekend. Yes, Wallingford still tears down 4-unit rentals in lieu of 4500 sq ft single-family monstrosities at a prodigious pace, and can only get riled about an issue if it involves people using Gas Works for anything other than leisurely walks, but this weekend it showed signs of life. First, people used the park.......

Yesterday we were hanging out at the Stumptown Coffee at 12th & Madison-ish when this guy circulates around the cafe, telling people that there's a coffee cupping at 3pm. It'd been almost a year since our last cupping at Victrola, so we perked up and headed downstairs for the show. Stumptown does cuppings (i.e., coffee tastings) daily at 3pm at its 12th Ave location; Victrola, every Wednesday at 11am at its Pike St branch. In......

When we're not blogging about food, wine and opera, Seattlest works as the sommelier at Sorrentino atop Queen Anne. (Keeps us out of the bars, don't you know.) So last night, who comes in but a devoted Seattle Opera volunteer shepherding soprano Nuccia Focile and tenor Antonello Palombi (with wife & adorable kids). Since they weren't drinking anything alcoholic other than a glass of Prosecco, we didn't spend much time at their table. Took a......

How about opening your big yap in person for a change? Join the panel discussion about how to keep a healthy arts community on Capitol Hill. Meet up at CHAC next Wednesday, the 16th, at 5:30pm and plot next moves over a martini. As hosts the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce put it:In 2007, the Urban Land Institute named Seattle the #2 real estate market in the nation (after Manhattan), and Americans for the Arts......

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. On Wednesday we took our special touch friend to see The Kite Runner. She spent......

Details are starting to leak out about the Carnation woman suspected of killing her parents, her brother and her wife, and their two kids Christmas Eve with the help of a boyfriend. The P-I got the scoop from Ben Anderson, the suspected killer's nephew and grandson of the victims.:The violence, Ben Anderson said, stemmed from a dispute over money, and a long-standing fight between Michele Anderson and her parents. He said his aunt had been......

Dennis McLerran, head of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is "pissed." Governor Schwarzenegger is suing federal regulators. According to more than 500 news articles, The Environmental Protection Agency denied California’s bill to place limitations on vehicle emissions, which would have cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 30 percent in the next 10 years. McLerran claims in a Seattle Times article the EPA’s decision is purely political, not factual. Washington was one of the 18 states that......

Don't you want to go outside and gulp huge mouthfuls of this stuff until you collapse and start burping up moose hairs and stray Denali snowflakes? It's supposed to start raining tomorrow and Wednesday, but today and the weekend preceding today we've had the best Seattle winter weather we could possibly hope for. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, however, doesn't share our enthusiasm, grading air quality today Orange; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. What do......

The last time multi-culti multi-genre singer-songwriter Manu Chao hit the Seattle area was at Sasquatch this summer (see above). Singing in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, and Wolof, Chao fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska. So this ain't your grandma's drum circle's world music. There's no word as to when he's headed back to the Northwest, but if you're looking to experience the Spanish political punk......

This summer Manu Chao showed his love to Seattle (and the rest of Washington) with an explosive set at Sasquatch (above). The seriously broadly multilingual and multicultural songwriter—he's French-born and -raised of Galician-Basque origins and sings in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, and Wolof, often mixing languages within the same song—Chao fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska. With his hodgepodge of genres and tongues, he crosses......

Ski season is, thankfully, here and Seattlest couldn't be more excited. In fact, even though our friends are completely lame and won't go with us, we're off to Crystal tomorrow to take advantage of cheap lift-ticket prices (and cause we're jonesing). For a variety of reasons though, we don't own any of our own equipment and are not yet ready to buy our own stuff. So before heading out to catch some early-season slope action,......

Indie underground vets Les Savy Fav manage to be both experimental and catchy. It's a tough balancing act, but the NYC quartet pulls it off with aplomb, especially on latest (and greatest) album Let's Stay Friends. The art-leaning band with academically-inclined lyrics is equally well-known for its intense live shows, with frantic frontman Tim Harrington providing a great deal of the spastic energy and wildman antics, as well as the costumes and gratuitous nudity.......