Category: Arts + Events Articles   1. Pump Up the Jam The Chilly Hilly Named “One of Four Classic Rides” in America by Bicycling magazine, the annual Chilly Hilly bike event on Bainbridge Island—now in its 37th year—should win points for truth in advertising. The 33-mile ride is indeed both chilly and hilly (and also…

Category: Articles   Seattle wrestles with public nudity, but it’s not much of a turn-on Seattle is hardly a “naked city.” It’s cool and rainy, often uptight. We are more often seen bundled in fleece than sunbathing in bikinis. Even our Native American inhabitants of yore wore heavy cloaks, not loincloths. Check out the downtown…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   Local Artist James W. Washington JR. carved a unique path through our city’s past Unless you notice the unassuming sign in the front yard, you wouldn’t suspect that a small bungalow in the Central District was the longtime home and studio of a nationally celebrated African American sculptor. James…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   Temporary art installations are giving Seattle’s empty buildings a last gasp of life before they come tumbling down The economic downturn has brought Seattle’s condo boom if not to a halt, then to a screeching slowdown, leaving many older buildings slated for demolition still standing but empty. Some Seattle…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   For our first annual focus on visual arts, we’re showcasing a slew of Seattle artists making what’s old new again—transforming materials discarded or intended for an entirely different purpose into things of beauty. Like crows drawn to shiny objects, these artists see potential in the ordinary bits and pieces…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles   PostPike Place Market1914 Post Alley206.443.2150 Tasty grub and an impressive beer selection welcome market-goers to PostThe Vibe: Low ceilings and plenty of dark wood make for phenomenal acoustics in this small bar, which opened in September, creating the impression that the place is full even if only a couple…

Category: Eat + Drink Articles   Who knew there was a chef’s compound on First Hill? Melissa Nyffeler, chef/owner of Dinette, lives in a light-filled fifth-floor apartment in the same building as Jim Drohman of Le Pichet/Café Presse and Bo Maisano, formerly of Madison Park Café. I joined Nyffeler at her home for a dress…

Category: Best of Beauty   Andrea Berg Tonic Salon Bryant, 3406 NE 55th St.206.545.2269 Price: Cuts, $50; single-process color, $60; foils, $85 and up  Expertise: Making natural textures work for people to achieve “effortless hair.”   Biggest hair peeve: “People who cut their own bangs.”  Celeb hair I covet: “Giselle [Bundchen]’s hair and Blake Lively on…

Category: Arts + Events Articles   Early in June, I sat down with Seattle author Richard Farr to talk about how to get a children’s book published. He was highly amused by the idea that he would be considered any kind of expert, but I thought there was no better person to ask than someone…

Category: Articles   2/5 • When these Eugene, Oregon, boys burst onto the national music scene in ’97 with their hit “Zoot Suit Riot,” they inspired countless guys and gals to take up swing dancing. If it’s been a while since you hit the dance floor, grab a date and plan for a night of…

Category: Articles   It’s not often you come across a dance theater company that is truly scary—a company that creates such disturbing, lasting images that you are skeeved out and a little jumpy for days afterward, fearing you might encounter one of their surreal tableaus around a real-life corner. Say hello to Portland-based tEEth, whose…

Category: Articles   2/24–6/14 • Doomsayers have been threatening the demise of the book since, well, since the invention of the printing press, and while books have survived (for now), it’s not always in their original form. In Book Borrowers: Contemporary Artists Transforming the Book, the new show at Bellevue Arts Museum, the book becomes…