Underworld

Friday night, ryuusama, Christie and I took in the Underworld Tour. We'd all been on the plain-vanilla Underground Tour at some point in the past, but we were all curious about the advertised extra sketchiness. So, what did we learn? Well, we already knew that early Seattle was more or less Deadwood: a resource-extraction- and prostition-based economy. Only wetter and smellier than the South Dakota version. And possibly with less gunplay. What distinguished the Underworld version of the tour consisted in a franker discussion of early Seattle's prominent pimps and madams--particularly the remarkable Lou Graham, opium dens, the total lack of sanitation, etc. Also, your ticket buys you a drink, afterward.

Conclusion: If you've never been on the Underground Tour before and you're not overly squeamish, the Underworld Tour is for you. Also, if you haven't been in awhile and you're as big a history geek as I am. :)

After Seeing All the King's Men:

Saturday, ryuusama and I finally went to see Steven Zaillian's All the King's Men, with which we both were duly impressed:

( conceived in sin and born in corruption )

A Housewarming Party on Elm Street

Another aspect of Saturday's--in fact, this weekend's--splendidness derived from attending my friends Pam and Kerri's housewarming party, that evening. Pam's a former coworker with a rock-star swagger and seemingly boundless energy, and she and Kerri form two-thirds of Danielli, a favorite local band. (I knew that Danielli was my kind of band before I ever heard them, when I read that their influences included Neko Case, the Dead Kennedys, and Carson McCullers ...)

Pam and Kerri's house is charming, but with Friday the Thirteenth and Halloween both right around the corner, I suppose that it was inevitable that the party's theme was hell and damnation: ( Helluva Party )

Lost Weekend

I woke up with a beauty of a hangover on Sunday, unsure what--if anything--I'd manage to do with the day.

A 10:00 phone call from my friend Aimee decided the matter, though: apparently, it was to be Indian food, followed by the beach. ( Lazy Sunday Afternoon )

All in all, the weekend went down like a glass of lemonade on the hottest day of the year. Sweet, but ... more please!