Renee McMahon

The Moondoggies at Seattle Center, moments after their Bumbershoot set.

​Web editor Zibby Wilder has compiled some of the best music photos that have graces these web pages over the last year. Check out the whole thing, including shots of the Head and the Heart, the Flaming Lips, and the Dead Weather over here.

Did you know Nirvana has a Facebook? And whoever runs it posted this video this morning of the pre-Grohl Nirvana playing "About a Girl" at Bogart's in Long Beach in 1990. Says Nirvana's Facebook:

Rare footage from 1990 - Nirvana at Bogart's, if you were lucky enough to be there, you were probably 1 out of some 250 people. Great small venue.

The sound quality's pretty great, even for 1990. And the same YouTube channel also posted another seasonally appropriate video today of Nirvana ringing in 1994 in Oakland.

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​Hosting an NYE house party this Friday? You can save yourself from the hassle of creating a playlist by tuning into C89.5 FM. The commercial-free dance radio station will be counting down its top 89 dance hits of the year starting at 6 p.m. and ending with the revealing of the year's no. 1 at midnight.

Is it David Guetta? Lady GaGa? Robyn? Tune in and find out. If you're hitting the town on NYE, you can catch the top 89 broadcast again on Saturday. Because nothing soothes a hangover like techno...

While raising capital for art projects isn't always easy, initiatives like Brooklyn-based Kickstarter have connected the like-minded and made giving easier. By using an all-or-nothing funding method and a reward system for donors its format theoretically reduces the risk on both ends--and you can even browse by city and category, which might lead you to projects like trippy local art mag I Want You or an unending list of bands looking for help recording their album.More >>

​As we reported on Tuesday, KWJZ 98.9 has switched formats after 19 years, giving up smooth jazz in favor of the "modern music" of Alien Ant Farm, Linkin Park, and Pink. The Weekly has documented the importance of Smooth Jazz to the city of Seattle numerous times through the years, including in Mike Seely's investigation of Greg Nickels' Quiet Storm, Keegan Hamilton's gonzo reporting in Smooth Sailing, and my conversation with Kenny G.

Here's a look at the 10 best eulogies for the station's smooth jazz format, according to Reveb readers' comments:

1. "Smooth jazz for me was like sniffing the coffee beans at the perfume counter before trying on another fragrance.98.9 gave me a chance to clear my head before diving into one genera to the next. Smooth jazz also settled my anxiety in high stress driving situations." - Smooth Operator

2. "I happen to be a special needs school bus driver and this was the station that was on the bus every day. The kids all liked the music and it was a safe station to have on without having to worry about content. There's a big hole in my heart and actually feel like I'm grieving the death of a dear friend. :(" -- Nancy

3. "My 12 yr old son has autism and LOVED this station. It was calming, fun and he really started understanding this kind of jazz to supplement his 'knowing' more straight forward jazz. He has been fairly distraught since. "- Aly

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In addition to his Thursday column, Duff McKagan answers reader questions throughout the week. Write to him at askduff@seattleweekly.com. Find all of Duff's posts here.

​I have never been real big on New Year's resolutions--maybe because in my "sober life" I have strived for everything in moderation (food, buying too much material crap, or whatever). It goes without saying that I no longer have booze and drugs to swear off. But there are one or two things I am finally going to rectify after the first of the year . . . the things that perhaps plague us all: junk e-mail and sales calls.

I don't have the most public of phone numbers, but I have tried to hang onto the same cell number for quite some time now. I suppose I must have used it at some point when I bought something, because these days--and every business day--I get sales calls at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. You know the ones . . . a robotic voice comes on and says "This call is intended for MICHAEL MCKAGAN. If this is not MICHAEL MCKAGAN, please disregard." I emphasize the "Michael McKagan" part because that is the part of the sentence where the robotic voice inexplicably gets somehow more robotic.

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The ID's Bush Garden: a total comedian KJ and a crazy cast of regulars.

​For my final column of 2010, I will try to answer the question I'm most commonly asked whenever someone learns I'm the KK: "Where is the best place to karaoke in Seattle?" This is never an easy one to answer because, first, I need to take it from the top and explain how there's a difference between the 7-night-a-week spots and everywhere else. Some of the best scenes in town are bars that hire a KJ to draw in a party once or twice a week, but the true karaoke bar is a place that has it every single night. Some of these spots don't have the biggest song selection or most state of the art equipment, but there are millions out there that either despise, or are scared of karaoke, and I have to give it up for any place that's willing to alienate themselves from those people 365 days a year.

That said it's very difficult for me to declare one top 7-night-a-week spot. Seattle has excellent coverage in all areas of town. If you lived in the south end I'd tell you to go to the Bush Garden in the International District. Christopher, the main KJ, is a total comedian and there's a crazy cast of regulars there that deliver great random pop hits from the early 80's.

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Kevin P. Casey

​In this week's cover story, Chris Kornelis documents groundbreaking DJ Marco Collins' personal journey through the last two decades - the good, the bad and the ugly.

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VEVO's created a playlist of their Best Videos of 2010, and Band of Horses' bizarre "Dilly" is among their picks. The clip was shot by Philip Andelman (whose work includes Beyonce's "Halo," John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change," and more videos by the Jonas Brothers, Lenny Kravitz, Jay-Z, and Ryan Adams); the song itself is frivolous and bouncy, but the video pertains to some dramatic matter. In it, a gang of bikers roam the Mojave Desert and harass a small town by performing choreographed dances and shooting off imaginary finger guns. The cops are called, and more choreography and bloodshed ensues.

Violence seems to be a theme here. Also among the honorees? More murderous videos like Delorean's mad dog "Real Love," M.I.A.'s terrifying "Born Free," Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs," and (duh) Lady Gaga's "Telephone," as well as lighter fare from Justin Bieber and Willow Smith, neither of whom knife or shoot anyone in "Baby" or "Whip My Hair."

Click through to see the whole list of 15.

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​Last night Mayor McGinn held a Nightlife Initiative update meeting at the Central District's Washington Hall, announcing tweaks to parking passes, liquor laws, and noise ordinance violations. Noise violations are said to be a problem that needs addressing. But, reports the Daily Weekly's Keegan Hamilton,

According to the Mayor's press release, just six percent of the 2,400 city residents who offered feedback on the nightlife initiative reported having "a significant problem with nightlife-related noise at least once per month." More than 65 percent, meanwhile, said they never had a noise problem.

So what are McGinn's new rules going to entail?Read more about the mayor's take on decibel levels and bass-heavy hip hop on the Daily Weekly.

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