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Food & Drink • Things To Do • Food News

A New Location of Jack's BBQ and More Seattle Food News You Can Use: January 18, 2019 Edition

by Stranger Things To Do Staff • Friday at 11:00 am

Acclaimed barbecue joint Jacks BBQ will hit South Lake Union later this month.
Acclaimed barbecue joint Jack's BBQ will hit South Lake Union later this month. Jack's BBQ via Facebook

This week, Seattle gets two more pizza options, as Windy City Pie begins offering online orders and Zeek's Pizza opens its first location on Capitol Hill. Plus, read on for exciting news of restaurants opening this year, including a forthcoming location of Jack's BBQ and a new restaurant from Terra Plata chef Tamara Murphy. For more food and drink ideas, check out our guide to restaurant deals, freebies, and specials to help you through the Seattle Squeeze, our list of food and drink specials to try in January, and our food and drink calendar.

OPENINGS
Windy City Pie
Dave Lichterman's ever-popular Chicago-style pizzeria Windy City Pie, which previously operated out of Interbay's Batch 206 Distillery, has moved into its new home in the former space of Phinney Market Pub and Eatery and will open for business later this month. (Oaky's Tex Mex has moved into its previous space in Batch 206.) Currently, the restaurant, which will be all-ages and allow more space than Windy City's previous location, is accepting orders for pick-up on its website and for delivery via Caviar, starting at 4 pm daily until ingredients run out.
Phinney

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Music

Rising Post-R&B Star Cautious Clay: Dude Can Play the Flute. He Sings Good, Too.

by Leilani Polk • Friday at 10:55 am

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Shervin Lainez

Have we graduated from the PBR&B subgenre, which is a very specific, sort of boring stripped-back style I could never quite get behind? I guess Josh Karpeh, aka Cautious Clay, from Brooklyn, belongs in that class, although his music feels so much more compelling.

He draws on hiphop production qualities and experimentation, his sound hinting at elements of gospel, island, pop, and soul. He has a creamy caressing vocal timbre that can hit falsetto notes (so I forgive his use of Auto-Tune), he mixes digital programming with organic instrumentation, and his sonic arsenal includes the sax and flute. The motherfucking flute. Neither is overused in his music. The obvious highlight of his 2018 Blood Type EP is “Cold War,” built on a low-end that pulses like a deeply beating heart, a stark rhythm of woodblock knocks, subtle synth embellishments, and light perc clatters as his vocals ascend elegantly over the top, referencing modern dating, apps, and Instagram habits without coming off like an annoying millennial. (Heart eyes emoji.)

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News

Police Say Sammamish Man Killed His Parents After They Told Him to Move Out

by Katie Herzog • Friday at 10:30 am

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Evgen_Prozhyrko/Getty Images

Some people really do not want to leave home. According to the King County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes unit, 34-year-old Matthew Ficken killed his mom and dad last week after they told him he would have to move out of the family house. What's more, the police made sure to point out in their press release, "his mother gave Matthew more than enough money to pay for his first and last month deposit on an apartment and additional expenses."

Detectives say that Ficken shot and killed his 68-year-old mother Lorraine Ficken and his 72-year-old father Robert Ficken on January 10 or 11, and then lived with their bodies until the 15th, when police attempted to enter the home on a welfare check. At that point, they say, Ficken shot and killed himself.

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Weed

Why I Put Weed in My Butt

by Sara Peterson • Friday at 9:40 am

There are 11 hidden objects in this drawing. How many can you find?
There are 11 hidden objects in this drawing. How many can you find? AARON BAGLEY

Ever since I was a teenager, I've had really bad, horrendously painful cramps. This year, a doctor told me I probably have endometriosis, which is a condition of the uterine lining that can only be diagnosed for sure through a surgery where they go in and actually check. I don't want to do that right now.

In some cases, a hysterectomy can end up being the recommendation. I don't want to do that right now, either.

Before I found out about pot suppositories, I'd tried everything for my horrible periods—Advil, Tylenol, ibuprofen. Nothing touched the pain. We're talking almost 26 years of these horrible cramps. So much pain that when I was young, I would miss school, and now that I'm an adult, it's hard for me to work on those days. There are literally people on disability because of this condition. It's crippling pain. Especially the first day or two of my period. And the worst, for me, is at night. I just don't sleep. I just lie there wanting to cry.

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Music

The Seattle Symphony Is Now Offering Free Tickets for Furloughed Federal Employees

by Rich Smith • Friday at 9:10 am

The symphony is good.
The symphony is good. Brandon Patoc

Are you one of the 11,000 federal employees in Washington state who isn't getting a paycheck because Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans are cowards? Well then, if you haven't already, you should apply for the state's unemployment program. Looks like it's going to be a minute. But while you're waiting (or working for free), you should head on down to Becky Benaroya's concert hall with a government-issued ID and see a show on the house.

On Thursday the Seattle Symphony announced that it's giving furloughed federal employees "four complimentary tickets for Seattle Symphony performances for the remainder of the 2018–2019 season," which runs through June of this year. You have to reserve the seats—subject to availability—by February 1. So get on it!

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Music

Inbox Jukebox Track of the Day: The No Wave Savagery of "anata watashi daita ato yome no meshi" by Japanese Madwomen Otoboke Beaver

by Dave Segal • Friday at 8:50 am

Otoboke Beaver will melt your banana, punk.
Otoboke Beaver will melt your banana, punk. Damnably Records

Otoboke Beaver, "anata watashi daita ato yome no meshi" (Damnably)

Westerners are used to Japanese women musicians creating cutie-pie songs that are the aural equivalent of Hello Kitty graphics, with a bit of Ramones worship thrown in for spice. Exceptions exist, of course, such as Melt-Banana, Yoshimi of Boredoms and OOIOO, Wata of Boris, and Afrirampo, but by and large, the Shonen Knife template has proved to be durable. So it's refreshing to have one's ears mercilessly scorched by Kyoto up-and-comers Otoboke Beaver, who give zero fucks about decorum—or preconceptions about Japanese women rockers.

Accorinrin (lead vocals, guitar), Yoyoyoshie (guitar, vocals), Hiro-chan (bass, vocals), and Pop (drums, vocals) define themselves as “Japanese girls ‘knock out or pound cake’ band.” Got it? Good. "anata watashi daita ato yome no meshi," the lead single from their new album, Itekomi Hits (out April 26), is a speed-demon thrashatron that spasms with No Wave recklessness. A couple of quirky, quiet breakdowns offer respite and chuckles, but the overall impression is one of breakneck madness.

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News • Slog AM/PM

Slog AM: An I-5 Car Fire, Trump Had Michael Cohen Lie to Congress, Volunteer to Get Drunk with Cops

by Timothy Kenney • Friday at 7:46 am

That car on I-5 or Trumps presidency going up in flames? You decide.
That car on I-5 or Trump's presidency going up in flames? You decide. Eduard Muzhevskyi/Getty Images

I'm back, everyone! Shout-out to Nathalie for taking over Slog AM yesterday as the rightful ruler of the morning news. I'm in Wyoming right now, where cats apparently have the bubonic plague, so who knows if I'll make it back. But here's the news.

Car fire makes squeeze even worse: In case your morning commute wasn’t bad enough, a car burst into flames along I-5 around five this morning. I’ve never had my car catch on fire, but I’ve seen enough action movies to know the respectful thing to do is drive it off a bridge into a body of water (The Stranger does not advise you drive off a bridge).


Can you feel the heat? This is the warmest start to the new year in Seattle’s recorded history, which goes all the way back to the 1890s. It’s almost as though the earth is warming really fucking quickly. Here is resident climate badass Eric Holthaus at Grist to strike some urgency into your morning, “This is the grandest of possible wake-up calls: We are in the emergency phase of climate change.”

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News • Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: Navy Pollutes Puget Sound, Seattle Might Get That Street Car After All, Shutdown Persists

by Nathalie Graham • Thursday at 5:41 pm

You guys should know better :/
You guys should know better :/ zim286/Getty Images

The Navy is polluting Puget Sound: According to Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the Navy fucked up Puget Sound by emptying about 50 truckloads of hazardous toxic waste into it. In 2017, the Navy was cleaning up decommissioned vessels. It scraped all the paint off one of them into Sinclair Inlet. That's a violation of federal and state laws! Coming from a federal agency! We are doomed. Save us, Bob.

We're going to get that streetcar! As long as we get $285 million to fund it! Mayor Jenny Durkan has decided to go forward with the downtown streetcar—the Center City Connector—after months of head scratching and thumb twiddling. The whole problem with this shit show of a project is that the price has changed at least three times. The first estimated cost in 2015 put the tab at $143 million. David Kroman has more here.

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Visual Art

The Coolest Balls in Seattle (They're Not Jeff Bezos's)

by Jasmyne Keimig • Thursday at 5:21 pm

Taiji Miyasakas thirteen-foot mud sphere
Taiji Miyasaka's thirteen-foot mud sphere Jasmyne Keimig
As I stood by Taiji Miyasaka, an architecture professor at Washington State University, in front of a giant mud sphere that he's constructing with his team at MadArt Studio, the mud holding the structure together started to move. If you've ever seen a baby in the womb press its foot against its mother's belly, probing the boundaries of its world, that's what this movement looked like. It was alive. I gasped and jumped back a bit.

Miyasaka assured me that this sphere was not alive, members of his crew were simply smearing more mud on the inside. The sphere is one of three in his show Circum∙ambience, that will officially open on February 24th. Until then, members of the public are invited to come by MadArt for their Open Studio sessions from Tuesday to Friday, 12 pm to 5 pm to see how the show comes together.

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Music

Tonight at Neptune Theatre: Rustic Melodic Beauty and Lyrical Poignancy from One-Time Monkees Singer-Guitarist Michael Nesmith

by Dave Segal • Thursday at 4:45 pm

Michael Nesmith at Paramount Theater last fall.
Michael Nesmith at Paramount Theater last fall. Melodie Akers

Your favorite Monkee is now 76, but he appears to be in good shape after quadruple bypass surgery and ready to share his classics-laden songbook with legions of aging fans who adored the enduringly goofy TV show and diehards who followed his more obscure solo peregrinations in the 1970s.

With the Prefab Four, Nesmith was the most legit musician, a songsmith possessed of rustic melodic beauty and lyrical poignancy. Monkees-era tunes such as “Door into Summer,” “Mary, Mary,” “You Just May Be the One,” and “Sweet Young Thing” could stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the Beatles’ A-minus material. Nesmith’s solo output reaffirmed his status as an important contributor to the country-rock canon, and 1979’s Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma revealed his openness to hard rock and disco-fied dance music.

Nesmith will perform his fifth solo album, And The Hits Just Keep On Comin', in its entirety along with select Monkees classics tonight at Neptune Theatre. Some media below.

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Free Will Astrology: January 16–22

by Rob Brezsny • Thursday at 4:15 pm

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ARIES (March 21–April 19): In 1917, leaders of the Christian sect Jehovah's Witnesses prophesied that all earthly governments would soon disappear and Christianity would perish. In 1924, they predicted that the ancient Hebrew prophet Moses would be resurrected and speak to people everywhere over the radio. In 1938, they advised their followers not to get married or have children, because the end of civilization was nigh. In 1974, they said there was only a "short time remaining before the wicked world's end." I bring these failed predictions to your attention, Aries, so as to get you in the mood for my prediction, which is this: All prophecies that have been made about your life up until now are as wrong as the Jehovah Witnesses' visions. In 2019, your life will be bracingly free of old ideas about who you are and who you are supposed to be. You will have unprecedented opportunities to prove that your future is wide open.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20): Movie critic Roger Ebert defined the term "idiot plot" as "any film plot containing problems that would be solved instantly if all of the characters were not idiots." I bring this to your attention because I suspect there has been a story line affecting you that in some ways fits that description. Fortunately, any temptation you might have had to go along with the delusions of other people will soon fade. I expect that as a result, you will catalyze a surge of creative problem-solving. The idiot plot will transform into a much smarter plot.

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News • Media • Housekeeping • Cops

Lawsuit From The Stranger Forces Federal Court to Be Transparent About Electronic Surveillance

by Lester Black • Thursday at 3:53 pm

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington U.S. Courts

Cops and federal investigators can easily snoop on your digital life. Through the use of surveillance methods, such as pen registers and trap and trace devices, the police can demand that communication providers like Twitter or Google disclose your location data, your call history, and even your e-mail records. Police often do not need a warrant to use these tools, which means cops have a lower burden of proof required to use them during investigations.

Keeping tabs on how our government uses these secret surveillance tools in Seattle has been essentially impossible, until now.

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Weed

State Governors Are Wising up on Cannabis

by Josh Jardine • Thursday at 3:30 pm

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norml.org
Wednesday saw the release of the annual US Governors Scorecard, produced by NORML (National Organization Reform of Marijuana Laws. As NORML describes it, "This extensive database assigns a letter grade 'A' through 'F' to states' governors based upon their comments and voting records specific to matters of marijuana policy."

As the old saying goes, you don't know the players if you don't have a scorecard. So let's break down where our elected leaders stand on the devil's lettuce. (Washington Governor Jay Inslee received an 'A'—a raise since the publication of NORML's 2018 report, from B+.)

NORML determined:

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Film/TV • Things To Do

31 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Jan 17-20, 2019

by Stranger Things To Do Staff • Thursday at 3:15 pm

Check out very original films at the 2018 Sundance Short Film Tour, including The Burden by Niki Lindroth von Bahr.
Check out very original films at the 2018 Sundance Short Film Tour, including "The Burden" by Niki Lindroth von Bahr.

This weekend in Seattle cinemas boasts quirky comedies like Adult Life Skills with Jodie Whittaker, powerfully compelling Eastern European films like Cold War and Solaris, and diverse short films, some of which may soon very well be up for Oscars, in the Sundance Short Film Tour. Plus, the horror film/burlesque floorshow series Nocturnal Emissions kicks off. Follow the links below to see complete showtimes, tickets, and trailers for all of our critics' picks, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Stay in the know! Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app (available for iOS and Android), or delivered to your inbox.

Note: Movies play Thursday to Sunday unless otherwise specified.

Adult Life Skills
Adult Life Skills focuses on Anna, played by Jodie Whittaker, who you might know from that fantastic Black Mirror episode, “The Entire History of You,” or perhaps as the first-ever female Doctor Who. Anna is stuck in a grief rut after the death of her twin brother Billy, and has been living in self-imposed isolation in her mom’s backyard shed for the past 18 months, producing her own existential videos starring her two thumbs. “You look like a homeless teenager, you should have a dog and a piece of string,” her mother complains at one point, and ultimately gives Anna a move-out deadline—her 30th birthday, which is about a week away. The premise of Adult Life Skills isn’t remarkable or ground-breaking, but its execution is near impeccable—excellent casting, believable characters, first-rate script, simple yet elegant cinematography—and the result is a film that is quietly poignant, quirkily endearing, and humorous without seeming to try too hard. LEILANI POLK
Varsity Theatre
Friday–Sunday

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Music

Blevin Blectum and Aquamarine Space Unicorns Serve Up Strange Yet Spellbinding Electronics Tonight at Vermillion

by Dave Segal • Thursday at 2:59 pm

Blevin Blectum, aka Bevin Kelley
Blevin Blectum, aka Bevin Kelley

As I noted in these pages last year, we have a genius in our midst with Seattle transplant Blevin Blectum (aka Bevin Kelley), who works on Alexa sound design by day and sublimely strange electronic music by night. It’s as if some combination of Aphex Twin and Suzanne Ciani arrived unannounced in the 206 and came fully amped to unleash two decades of studio wizardry on an unsuspecting populace. Blevin Blectum has become an IDM icon, both as a member of the delightfully delirious duo Blectum from Blechdom, and as a solo artist creating surreal synth and computer music that makes your brain invent new dance moves inside your skull. Aquamarine Space Unicorns (Joyanna M and Lily Bell) have a memorable name and a slick way with intimate, nocturnal, and insightful downtempo electronic songcraft.

Their co-show tonight at Vermillion Art Gallery is billed as an "an all femme, all electronica show," wherein both Blevin and Unicorns perform. Live overlap and collaboration is likely. Check out some media by both below.

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