Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger, disagrees with proposed Seattle regulations that would require club owners to prevent patrons from entering the premises while carrying drugs. Naturally, he chose to demonstrate the difficulty of enforcing such a ban by tucking a fake gun into his waistband, packing his bag full of pot cookies, and heading to City Hall. As he describes in the Aug. 31 issue of The Stranger, he not only got in the door and consumed the cookies while on city property, he also offered pot cookies to several mayoral staffers without repurcussions. Photos of the cookies, the gun and Savage can be found on Slog, The Stranger's blog.

Continue ReadingDan Savage Takes Pot Cookies, Gun to City Hall

In an interview with Seattlest, Andrew Wright describes his rocky road from video store clerk to Amazon employee to film critic for The Stranger. The Seattle alt-weekly gives its writers lots of "wiggle room," Wright notes, though he "may be one of the few critics around to have had an editor insert obscenities into a review." One recent perk Wright received was a fan-created DVD of highlights from a German actress' porn career. "I'm not sure if a higher compliment for my work exists," Wright says. "Frankly, I'd be a little frightened to find out."

Continue ReadingStranger Critic on Professional Critics and Porn From Fans

On May 21, Dan Savage wrote a post on Slog, the Stranger's blog, drawing attention to what he believed were misleading tactics used by volunteers for Jamie Pedersen, a candidate for state representative in Seattle's 43rd District. According to Savage, Pedersen's volunteers at a local street fair were "making it sound like Jamie was the only candidate running in the 43rd who supports marriage equality"; Pedersen is the only gay candidate, but all six Democratic candidates support marriage for same-sex couples."You got my attention, Jamie -- and lost my vote. Way to be a weasel, Pedersen," Savage wrote. A subsequent story in the Post-Intelligencer said the rant created a "teapot tempest" that is "a window into the complex world of gay politics in Seattle and reflects the power wielded by a man known as much for his explicit sex advice as for his iconoclastic punditry and journalism." Pedersen denied being deceptive and told the daily that he still hoped to get the Stranger's endorsement. Expressing surprise at the hoopla, Savage said, "If I really wanted to put a knife in Jamie Pedersen, I would have put all this crap in the paper," adding that he wrote the blog post while drunk.

Continue ReadingSavage Stirs Up Gay Marriage Controversy in Wash. House Race

"Police Beat," based on the column of the same name by The Stranger Associate Editor Charles Mudede, opened in New York today and has received glowing reviews. Rob Nelson of the Village Voice said that while the film's concept -- vignettes of unusual crimes -- may sound "merely quirky on paper, its look is uniquely ravishing, its effect hypnotic." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the movie a "delicately funny tale about everyday surrealism." "Police Beat," which Mudede co-wrote with director Robinson Devor, was also shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.

Continue ReadingFilm Based on Stranger Column Gets High Marks From NY Critics

The first two items in Performance Editor Brendan Kiley's Mar. 30 column reported on a couple of incidents in which local theaters in Seattle were victimized by small-time hoods. Determined to maintain the petty-theft theme but "unable to find any outlaws associated with" the third production he covered that week, Kiley took it upon himself to steal a cookie from the concession table. He determined that the play was "so-so" but "the cookie, full of chocolate chips, was pleasantly moist." There is no doubt that someone at the theater read the review, because, according to today's Stranger blog, Kiley received a bill from the theater this week -- $2.50 for one "moist chocolate chip cookie."

Continue ReadingThe Case of the Stranger Critic and the Stolen Cookie

Or perhaps "speculates" would be the proper way to describe Savage's remark, which was made at the beginning of a presentation promoting his most recent book, "The Commitment," at the Tattered Cover book store in Denver. Apparently Mr. Savage Love and the editor of Westword went out for a couple of drinks prior to the speech. Unfortunately, Savage's other slanderous allegations cannot be published on this family-friendly Web site. For the 20-second MP3 version, click here. And if the kids are out of the room, you can listen to the entire speech here.

Continue ReadingDan Savage Claims Patty Calhoun Slipped Him a ‘Roofie’

Earlier this week, the Village Voice confirmed the departure of Doug Simmons by posting a photo of a napkin on which Executive Editor Mike Lacey had scrawled, "Doug Simmons is no longer acting editor." But the story doesn't end there. The Stranger has posted on its blog a new photo of a pair of napkins, on which "Lacey" writes that he "recently discovered that many of the young ladies who advertise in the back pages of the Voice actually have PENISES. They appear to be ladies until it’s too late."

Continue ReadingThe Stranger Unearths Another ‘Lacey Napkin’