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Japandroids playing the Capitol Hill Block Party this summer, care of everybody's favorite photog, joshc.

Chop Suey last night was a major dude fest.  Not that most rock shows aren't--it's a simple fact that your basic concert tends to have more men than women in attendance (and no, John Mayer doesn't qualify as a "rock show").  But for Tuesday night's Surfer Blood and Japandroids show, it was as if every dude in town had brought his best dude on a dude date.  I mean this in a good way.  There was not a single douchebag in attendance, but there was plenty of bromance in the air.

The man-on-man camaraderie was onstage as well.   Both Surfer Blood and Japandroids consist of guys who have been long-time friends and formed a band.  (Sadly, we missed World's Greatest Ghosts, but from what we've heard of them, we'll be sure to make their next show.)  There's something about seeing a group of guys together just getting off from the thrill of making music.  With Surfer Blood, the up-and-coming West Palm Beach band put on a solid, energetic opening set true to their California-leaning album Astro Coast, out in January. 

And with Japandroids, the Vancouver duo's had a hell of a year:  accolades up the wazoo, the occasional emergency surgery, and tons o' touring.  This was their last show before a brief respite from the road (to record, of course) and the dudes gave it all they got.  Let's just say that there was lots of air guitar antics (while actually playing a real guitar), and the fan perpetually blowing Brian King was in full effect.  They played a couple songs that they'll be recording soon, including one epic that ventured into Black Mountain territory.  I'm glad to hear they're working on a follow-up to Post-Nothing, but after such a busy year, Japandroids should probably take a little breather.  You've earned it, dudes.

You ever do that thing where you go the video store and then can't remember what's new you were going to rent? Scarecrow Video, a SunBreak sponsor, knows your pain. So they have helpfully put together a post about what's coming out this week on DVD. Which is a lot. But let me start you off with Paper Heart, because I meant to see that in the theater and then missed my chance.

Also, you might want to pick up the first season of Better Off Ted, which is hilarious. It's not Arrested Development hilarious (yet), but it's got promise.

The SunBreak opened its doors back in September. Since then, over 26,000 people have made 40,000 visits to The SunBreak, with over 80,000 page views served. Who's our typical reader? Quantcast says you're most likely an affluent, older man with a graduate degree and no kids at home, who may also be Asian. (Hello, Volvo and Subaru! You can start running ads in 3...2...) That's what we get for writing long. The kids, they won't scroll down that far.

As an online magazine, we have focused mainly on writing our own stories. We have spoken with the guys suing the Sonics, CEO Garrison Bliss of Seattle's innovative healthcare provider Qliance, King County Metro's Kevin Desmond, Redfin's Matt Goyer on iPhone real estate apps, author Derek Johnson about the 2000 Huskies, documentarian Jen Marlowe about Sudan, Jordin Kare about space elevators, weather forecaster and cold-caser Parella Lewis, Michael McCarthy about online health journalism, and researcher George Divoky about global warming and the black guillemot.

On the arts and culture beat, we had conversations with photographer Jenny Jimenez, filmmaker Melvin Peebles, ex-footballer and current one-man-shower Bo Eason, set designer Etta Lillienthal on working in theatre and film, jazz composer Andrew Boscardin, the Satori Group's Andrew Lazarow, Argentine choreographer Diana Szeinblum, Jason Hortin of Hubbard Street Dance, Reggie Watts and Tommy Smith, The Purrs, Mikeah Ernest Jennings on racial comfort zones, Paris Hurley, Norman Bell on subprime theatre, Greg Lundgren, Marissa Niederhauser, and singer-songwriters Kristen Ward and Ali Marcus.

We also went to the Elwha River, Forks, Montesano, Alaska, and (sort of) Iceland.

And now, for the stats geeks, 40 percent of our visits involved a Firefox browser versus 34 percent Internet Explorer. Almost twenty percent were Safari, and almost five percent were Chrome. But don't take it so hard, Microsoft: 65 percent of those visits were on a Windows machine, while 30 percent were Macs. (Over three percent were iPhone visits!) Cable, at 40 percent of visits, had a commanding lead over DSL, at twenty percent.

Here's to the next three months. Come back soon!

SEE! Some of the Strangest, Most Astonishing Films EVER MADE!!

HEAR! Witty Repartee and Patter so Snappy you'll want a stand-up bass to Accompany it!!

FEEL! Your Heart Race as a cavalcade of Terror, adventure, and Shocking sensuality assaults your senses!!

TASTE! A Bonanza of Fresh and Tasty Beverages as the whole Mad Saga plays out before your Astounded eyes!!

Sorry, just getting into the spirit of Bizarro Movie Night.

Starting this Saturday, the Aster Coffee Lounge in Ballard will serve as a screening room for some of the most demented, rip-roaring movies ever committed to posterity, hosted by the SunBreak's resident B-Movie Evangelist/Correspondent, Tony Kay.

This week's presentation is still TBD (Tony says the final selection will likely include muscles, an exotic eastern flavor, or both, but he promises one thing for sure: It'll be gear, Daddy-O.) We're planning on presenting Bizarro Movie Nights at the Aster regularly in the coming months, and all partisan bias aside, it should be a blast.

Tony will spin lively riffs on everything from 50's sci-fi classics to biker flicks to Japanese horror to swinging '60s spy thrillers to Italian Gothic chillers to brain-damaged kiddie matinée fodder and beyond. The movies showcased just might blow the top of your head off (Aster management assumes no responsibility for spontaneous cranial combustion).

The Aster sports a lovely projection-screen TV set-up, and they serve up light fare and snacks, coffees, teas (they brew up a fine Chai), and even beer and wine. The event runs from 8 to 10:30 p.m., so there's even plenty of time to party the rest of the night away after a hearty helping of Bizarre Cinema!...

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This weekend, Urban Craft Uprising--"Seattle's largest indie craft show"--will be taking over Exhibition Hall at Seattle Center. No matter what you're looking for, short of a flat-screen TV, you can probably find it here, handmade by local artists, knitters, potters, jewelers, and other crafty types. One look at the vendor list and one can see the endless gift possibilities.

Personally, I love these shows. It is immeasurably more fun to spend an hour or a whole afternoon around these clever vendors than it is to visit the mall or Bed Bath & Beyond or any other brightly lit chain store coffin. Also many of them are quite foxy.

• December 5 and 6, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Seattle Center Exhibition Hall; free admission.

"dry docks" gives you Renoir's Seattle, courtesy of The SunBreak Flickr pool's Seattle_rainscreen

The UW's Probcast-ometer calls for below-freezing temperatures tonight (30ish) and tomorrow night (upper twenties). We should see a mostly sunny weekend, but temperatures will continue to drop, says UW meteorologist Cliff Mass.

To increase your Mass, drop by Elliott Bay Book Company at noon today for his talk, "Is Rainfall Getting More Extreme?" He's also signing his book, Weather of the Pacific Northwest.

If that's not enough weather for you, KIRO TV's Rebecca Stevenson is hosting a special tonight at 7 p.m. titled "What's Up With Our Weather?" Among other things, she'll be discussing the predicted El Niño effects for 2010, which has been on Cliff Mass's mind, too: He thinks a low snowpack might be in store.

Finally, if you haven't read it yet, Cliff's in the Seattle Weekly. Mike Seely wrote a nice long piece on Mass, his history with Carl Sagan, and the difference between deterministic and probabilistic weather forecasting.

Ah, the chocolate that made Chicago famous ...

Big thanks to Great Beyond for adding this to our Flickr pool.

Well, this is awkward.

As Seattle Prep sealed their win at O'Dea last night, I spotted three girls gathered in the hall connecting the gym to the parking lot. They were all wearing t-shirts with two large letters on them. I saw one girl wearing an "NT," next to one with "ER," next to one with "BA." Each held a white card with a question mark on it.

Friend David and I discussed this in confusion until I pieced it together.

"Winter Ball!" I exclaimed. "The t-shirts combine to say 'Winter Ball.' But what do the cards say?"

"Will you go to winter ball with me," said David.

"Yes," I replied. "Yes, David, I will."

And that's how David and I ended up as O'Dea/Holy Names 2009 Winter Ball partners. Not sure what his wife is going to think, but he asked me and how could I say no? Any O'Dea students reading, please let me know where to buy tickets and especially where the afterparty is.

But I've started at the end of the game. Let me get back to the beginning.

This was the first game of O'Dea's season, and thus their first in 18 years without head coach Phil Lumpkin, who died unexpectedly last month at age 57. Commemoration was in order.

Several O'Dea students wore #10 Suns jerseys personalized with Lumpkin's name (Lumpkin played 34 games for the Suns in '75-'76).

Seattle Prep made a nice gesture when they came out for warmups--each player and coach held a white rose, which they deposited on Lumpkin's now-vacant courtside chair.

Among the hundreds of banners in O'Dea's gym, the five state hoops championships Lumpkin won

Fans were asked to observe a moment of silence in Lumpkin's honor before the game. We did so. We were told that the court would soon be named for Lumpkin. We applauded.

No pomp, no ostentation. A few words and then basketball. From what little I knew of the ostentation-less Phil Lumpkin, I think he would've approved.

Then it was time for high-school basketball. HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL!...

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Sez The Daily (via Facebook, of course): 

UW won the Youth in Revolt Contest!  Michael Cera will be at the Landmark Neptune this Thursday for a FREE SCREENING.  Starts at 7PM, first come first served.  21+ after party to follow at MOE BAR.

Youth in Revolt is, of course, the movie based on the book of the same name about geeky teenager Nick Twisp and his bad-boy alter ego.  I recall it being a good read, y'know, when I was sixteen. 

Unfortunately, Thursday's screening is for UW students only, and it will most assuredly be a full house, so if you aren't a UW student willing to wait in line starting at 5 p.m., you can catch the film in theaters January.  Instead, hit up the after-party at Moe Bar (starting 9ish, I guess) if you want the chance to bat your eyelashes at sweetie pie Michael Cera from across the room (hand raise) and/or ask him one million questions about the still-in-the-works Arrested Development movie (double hand raise).

West Palm Beach's Surfer Blood went from being ignored to hot shit virtually overnight.  Coming off a successful run at CMJ, the boys are touring in anticipation of their upcoming debut album, Astro Coast (out in January).  It's full of super-catchy indie rock--though they're from South Florida, the album feels more like California, with Beach Boys harmonies here and a Weezer guitar riff there. 

Meanwhile, Vancouver BC's Japandroids plays Seattle for, like, the nineteenth time this year, continuing to ride the accolades from Post-Nothing, one of the best-reviewed albums of 2009.  They have a big, bombastic, flat-out fun, fuzzed-out sound, all the more impressive, considering it's just a dude on the guitar and a dude on drums.  In doing so, Japandroids throw down the gauntlet:  Who needs a bass when you've got cymbals?

 

• Surfer Blood opens for Japandroids at Chop Suey tonight.  World's Greatest Ghosts plays first.  8 p.m. doors, all ages, $12.

State senator Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) wrote a deep-bore op-ed for the Seattle Times a few days ago, wanting to set the record straight about whether Seattle taxpayers were on the hook for cost overruns on the Viaduct-replacing tunnel.

Despite what you may have heard during the mayoral race, Kastama says, if you're a Seattle property owner who "benefits" from the tunnel, you're still on the hook. In fact: "I am drafting legislation that will clarify Seattle's obligation in no uncertain terms and provide them options for local funding sources."

Kastama makes many sensible points, but I think he and history part ways when he says, "Seattle chose an approach inherent with a history of huge cost overruns." Mayor Greg Nickels went to Olympia with a surface/transit plan to sell; it was Governor Gregoire and the legislature that chose the deep-bore option for us, claiming that SR99 was too "vital" a corridor to be left to the whims of Seattle yokels.

Kastama is united with state House speaker Frank Chopp, against...

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Now that the Apple Cup is mercifully behind us, can we just pretend that football doesn't exist? Basketball is where it's at, people. And our state is holding the banner of West Coast hoops for the entire nation.

Only three schools in states that touch the Pacific Ocean are ranked in the AP basketball poll. Two of those schools--the University of Washington (#12) and Gonzaga University (#17)--are right here in the Evergreen State.

UW and Wazzu are the only two undefeated teams in the Pac-10 conference, and have collectively monopolized the conference's player of the week award thus far.

Wazzu's Thompson, the nation's top scorer

Wazzu guard Klay Thompson leads the nation in scoring, averaging 28.3 points per game. Thompson's excellence has won him the past two Pac-10 Player of the Week awards. The previous one, first of the season, when to Washington's Quincy Pondexter.

Seattle U's Charles Garcia isn't far behind Thompson, ranking 4th in the country. Garcia was named Mid-Majority Baller of the Week after a 41-...

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A wide range of folks descended on the Paramount to see the iconic and enigmatic Morrissey on a Sunday evening. Seattleites from all over the subcultural spectrum showed up to sway along with their favorite British crooner.

Capitol Hill hipsters made sure their hair was perfectly styled, goth girls made sure their makeup was fully applied, tattooed hardcore kids wore their Smiths shirts, new Belltowners wore their suits, and a slew of regular people filled in the empty seats between them. Ages ranged from middle school to 40th-high-school-reunion.

There's something special about a singer that can attract such a variety of fans, especially a singer that is not particularly exciting to watch or listen to. Yet, Morrissey has been steadily adding to his fan base since the early '80s. It's a fan base that, while not quite Beatles-esque, is remarkably dedicated. One gentleman way up in the front even cut his hair to resemble the traditional Morrissey shaved sides and pompadour look that he has sported for the past...

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"Clemmons, 37, was killed about 2:45 a.m. in the 4400 block of South Kenyon Street in South Seattle," reports the Tacoma News Tribune. KOMO has photos of the scene. Clemmons' stomach gunshot wound was dressed with cotton balls and duct tape.

According to the Seattle Times, Clemmons, the prime suspect in the shooting deaths of four Lakewood police officers Sunday, was shot when a Seattle patrolman stopped to run the plates of a stolen car. The patrolman says he saw Clemmons approaching his patrol car from behind, and got out and ordered him to stop, but Clemmons ran.

When he failed to stop or show his hands after a second order, the officer fired. "[Seattle Assistant Police Chief Jim] Pugel said it was unclear whether the man displayed a weapon before he was shot."

Now the police have turned to Clemmons' family and acquaintances, who, they say, helped him avoid capture. In an unusual move, the Pierce County prosecutor's office has said it may file charges against KING 5's news helicopter, which they say hovered so closely over the Lakewood crime scene that officers couldn't hear each other. ...

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It's day 2 of hot legs week here on the SunBreak, courtesy of Matt Mason. Add your photos of sexy gams--or any other body parts, as long as they're in Seattle--to the SunBreak Flickr pool and you could be wishing Seattle a lusty good morning yourself.

Special to The SunBreak by Scott Bernard.

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker kicked off its 26th season last (Black) Friday night (it runs through December 30; tickets are $26 and up). The date was especially fitting, in that a successful Nutcracker production is to most ballet companies what successful holiday sales are to Nordstrom.

If you haven’t seen it, what makes this production different from others done in countless cities--and from the New York City Ballet/George Balanchine version televised on PBS this time of year--is its depth. With sets and costumes by Where the Wild Things Are author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, this production benefits from his tendency to embrace the darker side of childhood.

Napping on Christmas Eve, young Clara dreams of her godfather, Herr Drosselmeier, who conjures a valiant Nutcracker character to protect the lovely Princess Pirlipat from the evil Mouse King. That doesn’t go so well, the Nutcracker is defeated, and the Mouse King bites the Princess. Fail.

Later that evening at a Christmas party hosted by her parents, Clara receives the gift of a Nutcracker doll from the dysfunctional, eye-patch-sporting Drosselmeier. Her little brother Fritz is given a Mouse King doll, and doing what little brothers do when egged on by their bizarre godfathers, chases Clara, breaking the Nutcracker doll. Drosselmeier bandages the Nutcracker with his handkerchief, and dancing ensues. The guests slowly leave, but not before Dosselmeier whispers to Clara something that seriously creeps her out. (Where is Chris Hansen when you need him?)

When Clara gets out of bed at midnight to find her Nutcracker, she trips over and injures one of the little mice scurrying about. This ignites sectarian tensions between the mice and Nutcracker loyalists. Battle ensues, and the Nutcracker army wins (Mission Accomplished!) thanks to a shoe thrown by Clara. As a reward, the Nutcracker takes the suddenly adult Clara (sorry, Drosselmeier) to what looks to be one of Saddam’s palaces, where dancers from various countries perform for their viewing pleasure.

As young Clara, Eileen Kelly had the right presence and grace. Daniel Bryson-Deane was terrific as her little brother Fritz, bringing a genuine touch to the role without going over the top. As the adult Clara, Carla Körbes danced with technical precision, lyricism and feeling. Stanko Milov was a perfectly fine Nutcracker, although there wasn’t much chemistry between Körbes and Milov. Arianna Lallone danced the role of the Peacock in the way that only she can. (Hers are seriously tough pointe shoes to fill.) The excellent PNB corps was a bit out of sync in the snow scene at the end of Act One, but was tight for the Waltz of the Flowers, led by Mara Vinson....

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First time I got press tix to ACT's A Christmas Carol I took my grandparents. Sunday I took my nieces. Both pairs of relatives thanked me profusely as we left the theater. Not too often will you find a show that's a joy whether you were born under Coolidge or under Clinton. 

I mean, what the hell's not to like? The costumes are fantastic, the acting stellar, the dancing enjoyable, the jokes funny, the child actors impossibly adorable.

Scrooge with "the surplus population" (Photo: Chris Bennion)

You know the story, but that doesn't make it any less affecting. When Scrooge hops out of bed Christmas morning a changed man, your face breaks into a wide grin. If not, you probably require your own three-spirit visit. (And I'm not talkin' about lunch with Don Draper. Wacka wacka wacka!)

(Digression: Dickens! Wow! Can you imagine a world without the story of Ebenezer Scrooge? Without "There's more of gravy than of grave about you?" And yet Dickens wrote it in six weeks. National Novel Writing Month participants now on your last day, take heart!)

ACT's production, an annual treat, is presented in-the-round at the Allen Theater. Being surrounded by the audience forces the actors to stay on the move. This constant motion staves off restlessness from easily-bored young ones. The actors' inventive interpretations of Dickens' familiar lines keeps the older folks entertained.

Two actors alternate shows in the part of Scrooge, a particularly demanding role as you're on stage for all 90 minutes (no intermission). Kurt Beattie, ACT's artistic director, played Scrooge Sunday afternoon, as he will for about half the performances. It's his first turn in the role since 1998. Says Beattie: "Ten years on...I think the ossification of the human soul is something I understand more now than I did then."

The always-excellent R. Hamilton Wright will portray Scrooge for remaining half of the run (here's a schedule of who plays Scrooge when).

Of note in the production: Brandon Whitehead is tremendous fun in Christmas Past as effervescent Mr. Fezziwig, and again in Christmas Present as Nephew Fred's slightly douchey, flirtatious friend Topper. I also thought young Shereen Khatibloo did nice work in her too-brief appearance as Scrooge's beloved sister Fan....

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Overton will check "traffic on the ones" next time

You know the feeling: You're driving to some important event, via the quickest and most obvious route, during a time when traffic shouldn't be an issue, when suddenly you're in a bumper-to-bumper disaster. Last time it happened to me, it was during bike dropoff the day before the Danskin Triathon. Fit ladies, I demand 30 minutes of my life back!

In the case of Washington guard Venoy Overton on Sunday, it was the Seattle Marathon that made him 30 minutes late for shootaround before Washington's basketball game against Montana. As a result, Overton was on the bench at tip-off for the first time this year.

"I knew I probably wasn't going to start," Overton told the Seattle Times' Percy Allen after the game. "If I was like five minutes late then I thought I would be good, but I knew I wasn't going to start tonight."

Overton was one of the first subs off the bench, and deployed his typical mix of aggression and risk-taking. A steal and lay-in early in the first half was nice. An attempted alleyoop to Darnell Gant, not so much.

At game's end, with Washington up three points, Overton found himself guarding Montana's Anthony Johnson, the leading scorer in the Big Sky conference. The 6'3" Johnson elevated for a three-point attempt above the 5'11" Overton. But Overton timed his leap perfectly and blocked Johnson's attempt. 

It's tremendously rare to block a jump shot, let alone the jump shot of a league-leading scorer, let alone a jump shot by a guy who's four inches taller than you. But Overton managed the feat; not only that, he secured the ball, took a foul, and hit the game-clinching free throws.

Overton's block gives him an early highlight for his Pac 10 defensive player of the year reel. And it secures a win on a night when the Huskies shooting hands were ice cold. Now at 5-0 one of only two undefeated Pac 10 teams (Wazzu is the other), UW moved up in both national basketball polls. Coaches say the Dawgs are the #10 best team in the nation, the media puts them at #12.

UW's next game is their first on the road--they'll play at Texas Tech on Thursday as part of the Pac 10/Big XII Challenge.

Two people watch from the western perimeter of the stand-off at 30th & Yesler. Photo: CHS

UPDATE: Maurice Clemmons was shot and killed in the Rainier Valley early Tuesday morning, December 1.

Sunday night around nine, SWAT rolled to Seattle's Leschi neighborhood on a tip that Maurice Clemmons was hiding in a house there. After negotiating with the house for several hours, sending in a search robot, and tear-gassing it, police entered themselves but Clemmons was gone. (Police say they have evidence he was there, and that he was shot by one of the slain Lakewood police officers.) Reports so far this morning have Clemmons appearing in the University District, and then Beacon Hill.

Overnight, the 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons was upgraded from a "person of interest" to suspect in the slayings of four Lakewood police officers on Sunday morning. The murderer appeared at the Forza coffee shop across the street from the McChord Air Force base, buying a coffee and displaying a handgun to baristas who turned and fled, and then turning on the four police officers there, killing all of them, despite their vests.

Suspect Maurice Clemmons

The story has grown sadly reminiscent of the Shannon Harps murder, as the suspect Clemmons has a long trail of felonies and mental instability in his wake, and should have been in prison. A decade ago, he was released from the remaining 47 years of a sentence in Arizona. Publicola has the plea for clemency that Clemmons submitted to Governor Huckabee, who then commuted his sentence. (Huckabee has released a statement.) Later parole violations were not prosecuted.

In Washington this past May, Clemmons was charged with assaulting police officers who were investigating reports that Clemmons was throwing rocks through his neighbors' windows. He was also out on bail after being charged with child rape.

I have no idea what's going on here, and I think I prefer it that way. Thanks to mangpages for sharing this in the SunBreak Flickr pool.

Annex Theatre has put together a holiday-skewering, comedy triple header (called Annex Triple Header) that is emphatically not for everyone. From now until December 19, Friday and Saturday nights at the Annex bring you a blasphemous puppet show, a comedy competition, and a nunsploitation episode (tickets: $10-$12 each, or $25 for a triple header pass good for multiple nights).

There's a distinct Gong Show vibe to the whole evening, except without the gong. If you know and love the Annex, you will laugh heartily and get raging drunk afterward in their bar as a means of support. If you haven't been, this is an evening of fringe (in so many senses of the word) comedy, so be prepared. In many--if not most--ways it is highly inappropriate for children and pedophiles, because you wouldn't want both in the same room.

[Pause for laughter]

[Wait for it...wait for it]

It Came From Under the Tree begins with three drunken, slutty, under-rehearsed elves with surprisingly good singing voices (Operadisiac, says the program, solving that mystery). They provide burlesque interludes between low-budget puppetry of the Nativity, Black Peter, a Michael Jackson/Grinch mashup, drunken uncles, and of course A Christmas Carol.

Highlights include a casting coup for Herod's baby executioner, a ghost with a foot-odor fetish, and improvisational work with a tree ornament. Inexplicably, Harry S Truman appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Brian Kooser's puppets are magic, even if the jokes are hit-and-miss....

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"Seattle fog" courtesy of The SunBreak Flickr pool's Simple Insomnia

It's cold and blustery outside, but Cliff Mass says we're going to stay dry for a few days, with only the possibility of fog. Personally, I'm all for fog. We don't get enough, in my book. If we do get a pea-souper, I welcome any and all fog photos to our SunBreak Flickr pool. Drop 'em in there--you know it's free to join, right?

I know it seems like Black Friday was just yesterday--and it was--but thanks to internet technology, TechFlash can report that Amazon gained significantly on WalMart, so far as Black Friday online traffic goes. Amazon's traffic jumped from a 9.6 percent share in '08 to 12.4 percent in '09. In other online news, the Seattle Public Schools new student assignment maps are up.

In news featuring guns, a Seattle attorney is suing the city for $1 in damages, after being told to leave the Southwest Community Center when he arrived with a permitted Glock. His principled stand suffers from the bad timing of fellow pro-gun Seattleites though.

Last night a man was shot to death near St. James Cathedral on First Hill, just a week after last week's First Hill shooting. And in South Seattle, a motorist had his tire shot out--a group of 10 to 15 teens may have been doing target practice with a .45 caliber handgun.

Here at The SunBreak this week, we talked over the Metro bus service restored by the King County Council, Seattle's parking fine increase, and the likelihood of getting mugged at a bus stop.

Seth NIT-picked Seattle U's basketball team and reviewed Ray Charles singing "Old Man River" (for as yet unknown reasons), and I went downtown to get an enhanced driver's license and shop for booze, which I realize are two things that do not go together. At the movies, Audrey pointed out that "nothing says Thanksgiving like Asian gore."

Less Than Jake have been playing music for over 15 years. Their blend of the punk and ska genres carved them out a unique niche in underground music. So unique that they didn't stay underground. With a couple major label releases under their belts, Less Than Jake have "escaped" their contract and started their own label. They are re-releasing their first record and embarking on a tour to celebrate this achievement and the fifteenth anniversary of the Warped Tour.

Warped Tour has been branching out from its image as "Punk Rock's Summer Camp" by including hip hop and rap groups. In the early years, I saw Jurassic 5 on Pier 30/32 because of Warped tour, for example. More recently, bands like Gym Class Heroes have participated. As a preview of possible upcoming rap acts, Monday's show includes a set from Chris Palko (aka Cage). Fans of intense, nontraditional rap with a rock feel like Eminem will enjoy Cage. Shia LeBeouf directed his latest video.

• Less Than Jake, Cage, and The Swellers visit the Showbox Market, November 30th. Doors at 6:30 PM, tickets are $20 advance, $23 at the door.

Pacific Place's "ultimate shopping experience" is now a little more ultimate, with the addition of a holiday liquor store, "Spirits," on its third level. I stopped in before a movie (Ninja Assassin, a frothy little romantic comedy, with ninjas) to survey the goods.

I had no idea of the number of gift packages that involve liquor, prior to visiting. Just in case you don't get the holiday gift theme, they have built a Christmas tree out of Jim Beam. There's not much to report on prices; it's a Washington State Liquor store, after all, and it's only at the mall because the state is hoping to make a little extra green during the holiday season.

Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The store will be open through December 31, and then it'll vanish.

One thing you'll notice is that the shop doesn't stock much wine, because there's already a wine shop on the third level, Sixth Avenue Wine Seller. They have over 2,000 bottles in stock, with an emphasis on West coast wineries, and...

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Busy weekend for Husky athletics. Three important games, all on campus. Let's get to it.

Friday the #4-ranked Washington volleyball team can assure a share of the Pac-10 title by beating #18 Oregon. The Dawgs are tied with Stanford, who hosts Cal Friday. The game, at 7 p.m., is also Senior Night. A victory would likely assure the Dawgs a coveted #1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Selection Show is Sunday at noon on ESPN News.

Saturday it's the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium. Washington is a 25-point favorite over the hapless Cougars, who once again come into the game winless in Pac-10 play. Of course, the Huskies were favored over the winless Cougars last year in Pullman and somehow pulled out a defeat. You know the line -- in rivalry games, "you can just throw out the records, because these two teams flat-out do not like each other." The game is at 3:30 p.m. on FSN. Tickets are still available. UW is asking $70 for them, but I suspect you could head to the stadium and get a better deal from a scalper.

Sunday...

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