Daily Find
Nicole Miller takes pride in fulfilling Ballard's needs. She opened Blackbird, a men's clothier, on a Ballard Avenue filled with boutiques that served only women. She stocked Scandinavian black licorice in Blackbird's candy-shop annex when Olsen's Scandinavian Foods went out of business. Now, she's making an effort to ensure the neighborhood's future with a notion that's nearly as old as America itself.
November 15, 2009
Daily Find
I have a pair of quad roller
skates, Riedell's model number R3. They're big and they're heavy and when I put
them on I feel as if I've strapped a Camaro to each foot. I love my Riedells,
but you may roll a different way.
K2's Eco inline skates sport a unique bamboo frame and are made with a host of natural and recyclable materials, making them a fashionable and environmentally friendly choice for when you join the eight-wheeled traffic circling Green Lake.
July 23, 2009
Daily Find
Springtime in Seattle
comes with two certainties. One is that there is no way to predict what kind of day it's going to be. It could rain or snow; it could be cold or less
cold; you might even get the fabled "sun break." (Good luck with that.) That
leads to the other certainty: You need a T-shirt and a hoodie to deal with
those unexpected changes in atmosphere, and Choke Shirt Co. will clothe you in one
of each for a price that won't break you.
April 13, 2009
Gentle Snark
Greenwood Mail & Dispatch is much bigger than its Ballard parent. It has more PO boxes, a bigger coffee counter, more table seating, and their "laptop bar" is nonpareil. I'd even swear that it's got a better stereo.
July 11, 2008
Gentle Snark
Full Throttle Bottles has everything you could want to pour down your gullet, affordably-priced and ready to move. And it also has a rideable elephant such as the kind one used to find grazing in front of supermarkets. Rides on "Tusko" costs only a dime, and if you leave the premises without springing for a ride on this possibly bibulous pachyderm you're missing the point of Full Throttle, of Georgetown and very possibly of life itself.
June 25, 2008
Daily Find
The big stack of vinyl records that Connon Price keeps at Tune - Hi-Fi for Humans
isn't just for show. While the owner of the Belltown audio boutique
likes CD players and iPods (and owns both), they simply deliver music,
and he believes that there is something to be said for the ritual of
pulling a record out of its sleeve, putting it on the turntable and
soaking up its deep, warm sound. Surely, there must be a word for it. "We want to put the humanity back into hi-fi," says the affable, soft-spoken Price. "Music needs to be tuneful." Meaning: You need to feel it.
June 12, 2008
Gentle Snark
What do you get when you mix the star of "Juno," two bands with brothers in them, a brainy rollerderby team, a bunch of music critics, a Brazilian DJ, a great spiritual leader and Dave Matthews? I'll tell you: Either you get what's happening this week in Seattle, or the most audacious remake of "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" yet attempted.
April 3, 2008
Gentle Snark
Monday: Local singer-songwriters Jean Mann, Jill Cohn
and Willow are among this town's most talented performers. Normally you'd
have to pay to see each of these mighty folksingers in separate clubs ... but
tonight, at Ballard's amazing Tractor Tavern, you can enjoy sets by all three
for the low, low price of $12. That's only four dollars per genius, a savings of
more than 80 percent of what you'd pay to see any one of these future superstars
on stage at the Paramount. Act now!
March 3, 2008
Convergence Zone
Independent bookseller M. Coy Books will close its doors at the end of February. It's always sad to see a local business fail, but it's a true bummer to see a bookstore close, especially with the residents of America's third most literate city -- St. Paul, Minn. -- breathing down our necks. C'mon, guys! There's a TV writers' strike going on! Let's read some more books and give those Grain Belt-swilling chumps what for!
January 4, 2008
Daily Find
Larry Israel points me to the chair. Near the back of Resolution Audio and Video sits a pair of very expensive Proclaim Audioworks DMT-100s -- audiophile speakers with three sphere-shaped drivers that can be positioned as you see fit. They look like little Death Stars, and Larry has them pointed at a deep leather chair.
January 3, 2008
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