Skip to content

Arts

Read More ›

Sounders’ Success, Seattle is Only for the Rich & More

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

sounders_0

Happy Birthday, Washington State. You don’t look a day over 100. Leading off today:

It’s also Veteran’s Day today and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (one of Seattle magazine’s Most Influential People of 2014) is a driving force behind a big concert in Washington, D.C. tonight that will air on HBO at 7 p.m. EST. Chances are if you’ve entered a Starbucks lately, you’ve seen his new book For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism, and Sacrifice on display. He’s been a proponent for hiring vets at his company, committing to employing 10,000 over the next five years and according to USA Today, Starbucks has established a network of employees who are veterans to act as mentors.

Microsoft has released a more cost-effective Lumia smartphone and notably, it has dropped the Nokia moniker. Get all the details on the latest model here. Also out from Microsoft today is its Halo: The Master Chief Collection featuring a whole lotta’ Halo including the remastered Halo 2: Anniversary, along with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 4, the new Halo: Nightfall, and access to the beta for Halo 5: Guardians. It’s selling for $60, but is experiencing matchmaking glitches on its first day.

While the Sounders didn’t need to score a goal in last night’s playoff game against FC Dallas to win (I’ll never understand soccer), Crosscut’s Art Thiel says “it’s a shame the league has no category for style points. Monday night at CenturyLink Field, the Sounders were all Astaire and Rogers, Torvill and Dean, and Clooney and Roberts floating in space.”

Is Seattle a city best suited only for its well-heeled citizens? That’s what radio host Jason Rantz says in his latest piece, which you can read here. Our taxes are getting higher, while at the same time our mayor and city council are pushing for more affordable housing and free classes and services at community centers. Rantz writes: “The way it is now, the city is relying on primarily upper middle class and those oft-vilified One Percenters) to fund these progressive ideas — and even though the theory is that all these policies will help make Seattle more livable, costs continue to increase. And their plan is to continue to rely on the wealthier residents to fund everything in this city without keeping their costs under control. That’s not a very good plan.”

And since we shouldn’t end a news post without some mention of coffee, check out this fun graphic that highlights the 6 Coffee Questions You Are Too Afraid to Ask at a Coffee Shop. Also: Stop pronouncing it “expresso.”

 

Rearview Mirror: Spinasse at Home, a New Spa Experience, and Seattle Mag’s Reader’s Choice Awards 

Rearview Mirror: Spinasse at Home, a New Spa Experience, and Seattle Mag’s Reader’s Choice Awards 

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

YOUR VOTE MATTERS Everyone has a favorite restaurant, coffee shop, or local boutique. Call me old-school, but I will die on the hill that Caffe Vita has the best coffee in town. Disagree with me? Now’s your moment to speak up. Each year, we survey Seattle magazine readers, asking them to weigh in on everything…

Studio Sessions: Ling Chun

Studio Sessions: Ling Chun

The Seattle-based artist brings playful color to ceramics and neon while exploring memory, transformation, and life between cultures.

For Ling Chun, creating begins with something sensed before it can be named. Working with clay, glass, light, and sometimes synthetic hair, the Hong Kong-born artist gives physical form to things that words cannot always hold. “For me, the magnitude of making goes far beyond the object that is eventually produced,” Chun says. “The object…

The Magic of PAX Is Stronger Than Ever

The Magic of PAX Is Stronger Than Ever

PAX West draws more than 100,000 people to Seattle each year. Co-founder Jerry Holkins reflects on what the gaming convention set out to change, how its community has grown and why gathering face to face still matters.

Access to game news as it was happening was difficult back in the day. Even with the advent of the internet, communication between game publishers and journalists was still a very elite affair.  I used to fake credentials—via fax machine!—to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo, mostly just known as E3. It was simultaneously as loud…

Your Guide to Bumbershoot 2026

Your Guide to Bumbershoot 2026

Navigate Seattle’s wildest end-of-summer weekend with 20 picks spanning Death Cab for Cutie, Blood Orange, wrestling, skateboarding and—obviously—movies made in 48 hours.

Four years after Bumbershoot returned with its quirkiness revivified, Seattleites broadly acknowledge the two-day multimedia extravaganza as a welcome finale to the summer festival season. Fests like Bumbershoot are designed around a choose-your-own-adventure model, but if you’re the kind of person who looked at this year’s sprawling lineup—featuring multiple bands, artists, and exhibits happening at…