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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017

Just one day before we celebrate two years of these e-missives (and many more years of yr. o’b’t servant’s life on Earth), Thursday evening at the tony Two Bells. Be there or be rhomboid.

WEATHER

One more day of warmth before clouds and showers return Thursday.

THE LAST REEL?

In the middle of SIFF season, and with no advance notice (even to staff), Landmark Theaters closed the Guild 45th in Wallingford and the Seven Gables on Roosevelt Way. A cryptic Tweet® simply asked moviegoers to attend the Crest in Shoreline (Landmark’s last remaining Seattle-area site), and promised to reveal “renovation plans” for the two closed theaters at an unspecified later date. 

No telling when, or whether, they’d reopen as theaters. (One ex-Landmark space, the Harvard Exit, was recently “renovated” into chic offices.)

I could wax nostalgic about all the screen classics I’d seen at the two cinemas; how they were key parts of Randy Finley’s chain (also called Seven Gables) that at one time had 10 different locations. 

But for now, I’ll mention a pre-Finley moment at the Guild 45th in 1959; when it booked Russ Meyer’s first “nudie cutie” feature, “The Immoral Mr. Teas. This one engagement, and its spectacular months-long success, helped to kick-start the (now moribund) American erotic-film milieu. (Slog) (KUOW) (SeaTimes) (image: CinemaTreasures.org)

O GIVE ME A HOME

Home prices in just about every part of Puget Sound country have hit record highs, again. (SeaTimes)

Regional RV parks are essentially banning people who’ve moved into their RVs, by banning vehicles more than 10 years old. (Crosscut)

“How Seattle’s landlord inspection program is failing renters.” (Slog)

CITY HALL FOLLIES

The race to replace at-large City Councilmember Tim Burgess is just getting just as heated as the race for mayor. (Seattle mag)

Councilmember Sawant wants to make landlords provide voting-registration flyers to new tenants. Yep, landlords are against the whole idea. (Slog)

A City Council committee approved a planned “upzone” for the Chinatown International District, allowing new taller buildings in exchange for developers’ contributions to “affordable” housing. (GeekWire) (PubliCola)

POLICING THE POLICE

The City will pay $125,000 to a man who said he’d been choked by a police officer in the back of a patrol car, while he was handcuffed after an arrest for street fighting in Belltown in 2010. The same officer had been named in at least three previous civil-rights suits over the years. (SeaTimes)

OUTRAGE IN PORTLAND

“A right-wing militia member” helped federal officers “chase, pin down, and handcuff a protester” at Sunday’s alt-right rally. The incident is now “under review” with the US Attorney’s office. (Portland Mercury)

IN THE RESISTANCE

Climate activist K.C. Golden says “anyone who’s waiting for federal leadership on climate change isn’t serious about solutions… it’s on us.” (SeaTimes oped)

QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Meet the Seattle climate activist who “turned off the North Dakota Keystone 1 Pipeline,” and may face two decades in prison for his deed. (SeattleMet)

The federal Office of the Inspector General is now investigating Hanford’s workers’ compensation claims process, including allegations of unfair tactics against workers. (KING)

ROLIE POLIE OLY

Walter Hatch at Crosscut explains what “white liberals get wrong” about the Evergreen State College dustup—particularly treating the one white biology prof who cried “reverse racism” as the protagonist/victim in the saga.

Evergreen’s moved its graduation ceremony to Cheney Stadium in Tacoma. (SeaTimes)

SEE THE SEA

An Everett company called OceanGate plans to hold passenger submarine tours to the Titanic wreck site. (Just don’t expect to find DiCaprio’s corpse.) (Everett Herald)

TEK TALK

UW researchers have developed an electronic gadget to detect “fake cell towers that can spy on your phone.” (KOMO)

THE PLANE TRUTH

“Privatizing air traffic control won’t fly.” (Jon Talton)

THE BIG A

“Amazon’s brick-and-mortar bookstores are not built for people who actually read.” (New Yorker)

Amazon’s launching a discounted “Prime” membership for people on gov’t assistance programs, so folks laid up/off at home can also view Prime Video streams. (GeekWire)

REMEMBRANCE

At a London concert Tuesday, Eddie Vedder gave a moving tribute to Chris Cornell (whom he didn’t name but merely called “like my older brother” and “a really close friend of mine”). (Rolling Stone) 

SPORTS

The Storm won 85-76 at San Antonio. At Indiana Friday.

The Mariners’ amazing comeback continued with a 12-3 win over Minnesota, sparked by a seven-run fourth inning. That’s four straight wins; seven of the last eight. Same teams tonight.

TONIGHT

Susan Burton, advocate for women leaving prison. (Central Library)

Hank Williams tribute. (Parliament)

New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, Boys II Men. (KeyArena)

Marian Hill, Opia. (Moore)

“Am I Normal?: Weird French Music.” (Revolver)

Film “Purple Rain” with Prince singalong. (Central Cinema)

Mads Jacobsen, Jon Pontrello (Moondoggies), Tyler Morgan. (Chop Suey)

“Civic Cocktail” panel talk with would-be arena developer Chris Hansen. (Seattle CityClub)

TEDxSeattle Cafe presents Tim Dawes on “the power of compassion.” (World Trade Center Seattle)

Bow Wow Film Festival (“short films for the love of dog!”). (Triple Door)

Something Like Seduction, Resinators. (Ohana)

Goetic Mirror. (LoFi)

Raven Matthews, Zander Yates, Jesse Stout. (Vermillion)

“Leopards break into the temple,” butoh/sound improvisation. (Cal Anderson Park)

Silent reading party. (Sorrento)

Art historian/curator Barbara Johns on Japanese-American artist Takuichi Fujii. (Folio)

“The Leavers” novelist Lisa Ko. (Elliott Bay Book Co.)

“Contagious Exchanges: Queer Writers in Conversation” with Chavisa Woods. (Hugo House First Hill)

“Eruption: The Untold Story of Mt. St. Helens” author Steve Olsen. (West Seattle Library)

Film “Trouble” with Anjelica Huston tribute. (SIFF Egyptian)

QUOTE-O-THE-DAY

(Ansel Elkins, “Autobiography of Eve”):

“Let it be known: I did not fall from grace. I leapt to freedom.”

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© 2017 Clark Humphrey