For 80's, Neighbours on Thursdays for their 80's (with a bit of 90's thrown in) Rock Lobster night is the place to be. Longest running 80's night in the US apparently, been going solidly for about 15 years...

Also worth checking out are the various 80's nights at Noc Noc downtown (Lesser-known 80s on Tues, industrial on fri, more commercial on Sat).

Hi Caroline!

Can't wait to see your mushroom/toadstool delight!

The tutorial you're talking about is down because it was eventually published in the print version of Craft, volume 4.

Here's a link to the online copy of the magazine. You may have to register/subscribe or something, but here's where it can be found:
http://www.make-digital.com/craft/vol04#pg1

Felt on!

If you are into classic soul & funk, i would go to talcum at chop suey (last saturdays, i think). If you are okay with being off the hill, lo-fi has great dance nights without out the meat-market vibe. Dug (first fridays) and Emerald City Soul Club (second saturdays) are both excellent for music and dancing.

its the main theme from (the Oscar-winning musical score for) The Social Network.

You're thinking of Fimo, or plastic/polymer modelling clay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimo

And yes, it does get baked.

I would love to go if you haven't given them to anyone else already.

Have you seen this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=715pE23NIm8

I don't think this is a problem. It describes the stitch for you right there.

I try to stick to the methods in the pattern (I'm not expert enough to pick my own styles of decreasing/increasing). (I've used that stitch before myself too!) The knitter may have personal preferences, or thinks a particular method looks good. So I just trust the pattern and learn new stuff :)

That all said! Check this out:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases

My first answer said they're the same, but reading more carefully, the SKP entry says k1, not k2. Your decrease is for 2 stitches, not 1, yes?

This is the one you want -- Long-tail cast-on:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/cast-on

It's a nicely stretchy cast on, and is easy and quick. The trick with this cast on is that you need to leave a significant tail before you start -- I usually do a few test cast-ons before I start for real.

If you're just getting into knitting, I recommend the Vogue Book of Knitting (or whatever it's called) -- it's an encycopedia of knitting stitches, and has fantastic diagrams. There are also TONS of great knitting websites out there that should help you. For this cast on method in particular, I recommend watching a video.

I'm partial to Colum Sands. He's Irish, and he's from this huge family of musicians, all of whom write folk music. Highlights of Colum's include "The Night is Young", "Going Down to the Well with Maggie" and "The Note That Lingers On". Most of his stuff is traveling music - it's quaint and lovely.

And I don't know if this qualifies as a folk song or not, but the Left Banke's "Sing Little Bird Sing" is a gorgeous folks-y lullaby of a song. It's been around forever. Give that one a shot.

Heart attack precipitated by an OD of demon cocaine according to Wikipedia.

One of the greatest rock tenors ever. Much of his singing on You Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - particularly those high PLEASEs - were ad-libbed. A great artist.

Bill Medley made enough dough to retire very comfortably after all the RB hits and especially after the duet with Jennifer Warnes. Besides, who'd want to try and fill Bobby Hatfield's shoes. Not I.

I'm thinking that he just got too old for it and didn't want to try being a solo act on the Vegas/club circuit.

I think you've tapped into an undercurrent of Bee Gees hate with this question :). I dig some Bee Gees (the Odessa album? "If I Can't Have You"? Classics, all), and from what little I've read about it, the surviving members are still doing their singer/songwriter thing. All three of the original Bee Gees wrote their own music, as well as music for other artists, and apparently, that's what the remaining brothers have been doing since Maurice died.

Then again, with the kind of crap, er, popular music that proliferates on the radio today, I don't think a new song by one of the Gibbs is going to make a huge impact. Or an impact at all, really. It's like Robert Plant's new stuff. It's floating around, and some people are into it, but it will never be in heavy rotation. I mean, how can music like that compete with lyrics such as "we at the party, gettin' slizzard?" Sigh.

9 years ago they were sticklers about checking student ID. Haven't been a student since, so unsure of the current climate. Their promotional fliers make mention of $25 tickets (no student ID required). I'm guessing they're in the top side, but honestly, the upper balcony has gorgeous acoustics, so don't let that deter you. If you call the box office, you could ask about the $25 deal...that might be a safer way to go.

There are highly-insured companies who specialize in moving art and installing it.

I know this is the company that many area museums use: http://www.artechseattle.com/

In the event of moving very valuable art (such as the Picasso show), usually a curator or two will accompany the art on its journey, and then stay in the city where the exhibition is up for the duration of the exhibition. I know that when SAM had the Roman statuary show from the Louvre a few years back, that two or three curators accompanied the show AND the contract with SAM required that there be a guard with the pieces 24 hours a day. I would not be surprised if this were the case with the Picasso show, as well.

As for moving the objects themselves, basically it's the same as packing and moving anything: you wrap it really well with protective material, put it in a large box or crate (sometime custom-built), and then you move it very carefully with a very well-trained staff of movers. I remember several years ago I poked my head into a few galleries that were being renovated at the Tate Modern; there were priceless (and very famous) paintings wrapped in bubble wrap, just leaning against the walls. In particular, I remember seeing the famous John Williams Waterhouse painting of the Lady of Shallot wrapped in plastic. It was a little surreal, like seeing someone famous in their pajamas.

I know, this is heresy, but try the Seattle Weekly: http://www.seattleweekly.com/events/concerts/

A quick look at their music listings includes a concert by Joseph Adam (the organist at St. James Cathedral), several pianists, etc. I mean, they even list the Metropolitan Opera's local auditions (which you can go watch).

I just wish that The Stranger, which strives to be the definitive arts newspaper in Seattle, would put some of their budget towards covering this stuff, too.

The Salvage Broker, 13760 Aurora Avenue North, (206) 365-7771, is what you want. No web page. You might want to bring some hand wipes for later; it is, shall we say, a little untidy.

Man, I don't think the thrift stores even take them any more. You used to be able to buy shoeboxes full of the things off eBay for basically the cost of shipping, but now it seems like even those are expensive, especially if it's anything you would actually want to listen to.

I saw one of the coolest things ever at a car show once. They used to make these adapters that were shaped like an 8-track tape, but would accept a cassette. Since the cassettes are so much smaller, the adapter is mostly empty space, so this guy took one apart, hardwired a cassette adapter and stuck an iPod Shuffle in it loaded with Fleetwood Mac-era rock separated into 8-track long albums. So it was like a magic 8-track tape that could be anything you wanted it to be. It didn't quite capture the tempo weirdness of an actual 8-track, but otherwise it sounded just like the genuine article.

maybe,...

The VERA project?

Youth Center ? aka Childhaven / casey family ctr / orion center / PSKS?

Children's Hospital?

Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind? / wtbbl.org?

Robbie Burns wrote the poem and would often use Gaelic terms. Auld Lang Syne roughly translates to old long since or times gone by as we'd say it. So basically the song goes " Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind. Should old acquaintance be forgot, and times gone by? For times gone by, my dear,
for times gone by, we'll take a cup o’ kindness dear,
for times gone by."

I'd take them to Jive Time in Fremont. You never know; most of these records are frankly close to worthless, but there might be some obscure gems in there. Joan Baez's first album sold a trillion copies; but a weird Fred Neil record might be scarce. And jazz, well, early sixties is a big time for jazz LPs, especially if they're on a collectible label like Blue Note, Riverside, or World Pacific.

A shop like Jive Time is going to be straight with you. You're not going to get the price they'll ask for it, and they may reject a fair amount outright. But they're not going to rip you off.

If you can do some research beforehand, you're better off. Look them up on Ebay, see what people are getting for them.

The most likely scenario is, you have a crate of dollar records, but with a few red hot items, and if you're not a collector you'll never guess which ones they are. They might be worth a buck, they might be worth a hundred.

Neptune in the U District is another good shop that should be fair to you. Also Silver platters and Easy Street.

Strings are great. Also, gift cards to a music store, perhaps Bass NW in Pioneer Square or American Music?

I'd also enjoy a new Fender Jazz bass.

Barbra Streisand's version of "Jingle Bells". The horrible jingle scat at the beginning is right up there with a dental drill on the Scale of Unpleasantness.

Yes. It's right in between the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery and The Victory Lounge (They're all in the same building [at the corner of Eastlake and Republican]).

"California Stars" by WIlco and Billy Brag- that one's lovely.
"Brown Eyed Girl"
"Losing my Religion"- REM- perfect for mando
"Maggie May"- Right?
"Keep on the Sunny Side"
"Shady Grove"

There are so many. I hope you have fun.

I'm pretty sure that's God of Carnage, and that was reviewed within the past couple of months.

Quilting! Yay! There are a ton of great resources out there for you. Many local fabric stores have classes, and there are also a lot of great websites with fabulous, modern quilt designs that don't look like they came out of your grandmother's guest bedroom in 1973.

My favorite website for quilting, sewing, knitting, and other crafting is the Purl Bee. It's a group blog written by the staff of Purl Soho in NYC. They have a wonderful "modern handmade" aesthetic, but buyer beware: their store is expensive. 

Denyse Schmidt has some beautiful quilt patterns that could look either traditional or very modern, depending on your fabric choice.

As far as books go: the best guide to beginning quilting that I've ever seen is the Fons and Porter Quilter's Complete Guide. It will have all the information you need about the mechanics and basics of quilting, plus some traditional quilting patterns. 

For more modern quilting patterns, City Quilts is a recently published book (available from both Amazon and the SPL) with wonderful patterns designed for solid fabrics rather than prints. It also has a great section at the front about color and fabric selection.

A lot of local fabric stores offer quilting classes. I haven't taken any quilting-specific classes in Seattle, so I can't vouch for the quality of the class, but I do shop at several local stores and generally find the staff to be helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. My favorite local shops are: 

Fabric Crush in the Wallingford Center (during the summer, they have 10% off while the Farmers Market is in session on Wednesday evenings) (class schedule) 

Pacific Fabrics and Crafts, with several locations in the area (class schedule) 

Quiltworks NW in Bellevue - absolutely worth the trip across the bridge. Huge selection, helpful staff, wonderful store. They have an area for kids to play in one corner of the store and another area with couches and sports magazines in the other corner in case you need to bring a (well-behaved) child or adult partner with you. The website is terrible, but the store is fantastic. 

There are also great online fabric stores, which are especially great if you know what you're looking for. I like quilthome.com and Whipstitch Fabrics. 

If I can offer some advice myself, it would be to take a general sewing class first, before you start sewing an intricate project with lots of seams and fiddly bits. Most local fabric stores offer a basic "learn to sew" class with a project like pajama pants or a skirt that will teach you how to use a sewing machine, how to read a pattern, and the general steps to take when you're sewing something. After you're feeling more comfortable at a sewing machine, start with a lap- or crib-size quilt. The smaller size will make it faster to finish and easier to manipulate on the machine as you're sewing the blocks together. 

You can choose to quilt the project yourself or have someone else quilt it for you - there are LOTS of people with longarm quilting machines in their basements who will do it for a moderate fee. 

You didn't ask for it, but here's a list of useful supplies: 

A rotary cutter and mat

pins and a magnetic pin cushion

extra (new) needles for the sewing machine

color-matched thread

an OmniGrid ruler (I bought mine at JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon) - I have one that's 12x12, one that's 6x24, and another that's 1x6. 

a chalk marker (I prefer the Clover brand "chaco" chalk pens)

a GOOD iron and ironing board (ESSENTIAL)

thread snippers (I really like these ones made by Gingher - you can buy them with a coupon at JoAnn's, and they frequently go on sale there as well) 

seam ripper

A good pair of fabric shears (never use these on paper) 

Have fun! If you get stuck, take your project into a local store and ask the staff, or ask on QL! I check questions pretty regularly, and there are other sewers and crafters here to help as well. 

Jamey Johnson is by far the best "mainstream" country act today. Check out his new double album, The Guitar Song. Recommended songs "Heartache" and "Can't Cash My Checks." I also strongly recommend his previous album, That Lonesome Song.

How do your favorite records make you feel? That's what it's all about.

Does it excite you, comfort you, relax you, make you dance, set your hair on fire? What does it? Is it the rhythm, the voices, the melody, the harmony? When you think about the way it gets up inside you, would you say that's the texture of the guitar sound, the power of it, the effortlessness?

Think about what makes up the music you're hearing. There's a beat; what about it? What kind of beat is it? Does it drone, pop, or tippety-tap? Does it drive forward or pull back? Does the drummer just hold it all together, or does s/he fill in too, and play part of the song?

Then, the rhythm instruments -- is there a guitar playing chords? What do they do for you? Do they chime, or do they grind? Would you say they're in the background, or do they carry the whole song forward? Is there a soloist? Does the solo complement the rest, or does it really jump out? What gets to you? Is it the virtuosity, or the emotional voicing of the instrument?

What about the singer(s)? Is there harmony? Is s/he singing high or low? Is the melody tightly constrained in a narrow range of a few notes, or does it range widely (in terms of, say, an octave)? Is the vocalist getting to you emotionally, or putting you off? How? With technique, or with style? Does s/he swing, or does s/he rock? Is he or she singing about something you can personally relate to, or is he or she creating more of a picture? What about the lyric? Does it matter? Is it mostly about "I", "you", or "he/she/they"?

Ultimately, though, it all comes down to how you feel. Does it make you want to float away on the ocean, or jump up and down on your bed punching the air?

Are you looking to sell them piece by piece or the collection as a whole?

In general you're probably going to find it hard to get much at all for your stuff. Many people who are into classical music value sonic clarity over a nostalgic slab of vinyl. They'd rather have some piece that was nicely re-issued on CD (and can be listened to straight through for 70+ minutes without having to flip anything over) instead of someone else's used copy of it on vinyl. Most classical music fans don't go on and on about some rare split 7" on yellow marble vinyl that they have in their collection.

There may be certain composers or premiers of works that are more collectible, but you're going to have to take inventory of everything you have and then research it all. Are you looking to do that? (If so, perhaps take note of or separate the audiophile issues.)

Keep in mind that lots of (older) people who had some of the "rare" stuff are dying off, meaning more of their stuff has gotten into the marketplace, making those LPs less rare nowadays.

So perhaps:

- sell the collection as a whole via craigslist, etc.
- research and sell off the valuable ones
- take them to a business that might by them (i.e. this place in Oregon still buys classical LPs: http://irvmusic.com/ ).
- do something crafty/arty with them

This article is from ten years ago but many parts are still relevant:

"Selling your classical LP's":
http://www.recordcollectorsguild.org/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=31&allpages=1&theme=Printer

Myrna's answer is good, and fairly diplomatic.

I have a more pessimistic outlook, based on the reality that a few musical theatres here have closed shop in the last several years and many more theatres have gone volunteer-only. I've got friends who are in the artistic (& sometimes financial) gutter in many ways thanks to these "downsizings", so I'm upset at the way these places are run, and disappointed with how we fund them here in Seattle.

A: So, while tiny resume-item "opportunities" might exist, actual paychecks are terribly hard to grab. And fair paychecks won't be possible until the current MD mini-dynasties literally expire. These good ole boys aren't going to give up their seats willingly.

In answer to your second specific query: yes, the market is painfully flooded. If you are better than all but, say, 4 music directors already here, then you may have a chance.
But you'll also have to do your 'networkin' time - likely years worth (judging from the careers of 2 MD's I know well who are still getting paid work but started as out-of-towners). As an outsider, your work would be cut out for you.
You'd also likely have to bump one of my two good friends out of their job.

First off, congratulations on choosing a stringed ax, the sexiest of the "imperfect instruments." Secondly, I'm gonna assume you're playing a guitar, though you're cute, so you might be playing ukulele, but this advice goes to all stringed guit-boxes. Even their retarded cousin, Bass.
1. You're going to start developing calluses on the tips of your fingers, both on your fretting hand and your strumming hand (if you're not using a pick.) It hurts and gets your skin chewed-up at first, and if it's paining you, that's usually a good time to take a little break. Your calluses will build up with practice and before you know it, you'll be killing hours of precious life learning sinful songs.
2. Be sure that you are pushing the tips of your fingers straight down on the neck and that you are not bending the string up or pulling it down. You can get bluesy with bending once you're better at just playing notes clearly. This phase also sucks because you're learning to arch your fingers and it feels strenuous at first. Make an E chord and then pluck each note individualy, shifting your fingers until everything sounds clear.
3. Make sure your instrument has been professionally tuned, meaning the neck has been squared up and the intonation checked. Cutting past the math: fretted notes will never sound in tune if your intonation is shitty, even if the strings sound right with a tuner. I started typing a paragraph on this and decided you look smart enough to research it yourself. Moving on!
4. It sounds dumb but it's true: with guitar there's no such thing as "can't." If you're getting frustrated with chords, try learning some licks. If you get frustrated with licks, try messing around with chords. Thousands of songs were written while people were screwing around trying to learn an established song. You'll develop muscle memory (us scientists call it "kinetic learning") and soon your fingers will make a C chord without you having to look at a chart. You're just gonna have to trust me on that.