Long before you even start calling your friends to find out what’s happening, lining up your coke, and picking out the perfect outfit for the night, local DJs are flipping through their records, picking out the music they hope can entertain you later. ...MORE

I sat down with Eric Reynolds at a pub in the U-District recently to discuss the unrivaled role Fantagraphics plays in the comics publishing world while we swatted fruit flies off our beers. A very apropos handful of older regulars swilled brews at the bar and shot pool in the corner of the room as we chatted about an industry that represents its fair share of losers, drunks and degenerates. (Whether there are more behind the pages or within them is anyone’s guess.) ...MORE

Discussing Seattle’s film community with Northwest Film Forum’s Executive Director Michael Seiwerath is much easier than getting him to talk about himself. During my interview, Siewerath spoke a lot about the programs at NWFF, the staff there, and a series of firsts that the organization has experienced in the last year. ...MORE

Walking into the restaurant, Allena Gabosch met me from across the room with an enormous smile. It was a smile that told me she was excited to talk, to have a chance to speak her mind. Her personality was just as charming as the smile foretold and, instantly, I was at ease about the conversation that was to ensue—a conversation based almost solely on sex. ...MORE

Seattle isn’t really known as a hotbed of true-school graffiti or street-styled art. There’s plenty of geeky murals and half-assed throw-ups, but this town isn’t exactly in the limelight when it comes to the urban art vibe. That said, a show like “Beyond Fresh,” curated by Cut Kulture for last year’s Bumbershoot, might come as a surprise. The show featured work by artists like Parskid, Peekaboo Monster and Christoph, among dozens of others, and all but a few were Northwest area residents. Most importantly, everyone had ample skills on display. ...MORE

At ten in the morning, a flurry of men and women make their way to the Real Change office in Belltown, finding temporary warmth and modest snacks waiting for them at the front counter. From there they pick up stacks of a burgeoning alternative newspaper to be sold at various locales on the streets of Seattle. While most of us commute between home and work, the office for these workers is one of the closest places resembling a home that they have. ...MORE

“Fear creates danger. Courage dispels it.” It only takes one look under the pop cap and a saying like this to realize that there’s more to Jones Soda than meets the eye. Though flavor names such as Fufu Berry and Blue Bubblegum might imply otherwise, Peter Van Stolk, President and CEO, has created a serious carbonated empire that is not only quenching the thirst of, but giving a platform to the voice of the alternative community. ...MORE

Ed Chalfa is proof that persistence, imagination and commitment to your instincts are still a viable route to professional success. Owner of the West Coast’s largest resale clothing store, Portland’s über-popular Red Light Clothing Exchange, his stores have helped define counterculture style in Seattle and Portland for more than two decades. And not a single one was opened with the help of private investors or a major bank loan. ...MORE