By now, you’ve seen the (RED) cups at Starbucks. Maybe you’ve shopped with the AMEX (RED) card, or get your U2 fix on a (RED) iPod.

Well, now you can lace up with (RED), too.

Today is World AIDS Day, a day of particular significance to Bono, whose (RED) brand launched four years ago to help support the Global Fund in their effort to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa. Since its beginning, (RED) has garnered the support of major retailers like Apple, Dell, Starbucks, Gap, and American Eagle (just to name a few).

Yesterday, Nike announced that they want to join the cause, too.

Nike will be selling special red laces in their “Lace up. Save lives.” campaign to coincide with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Alongside Bono is Didier Drogba, the Chelsea soccer player, whose roots are in Africa.

Reflective of this dual effort of Bono and Drogba, profits from the laces will equally benefit the Global Fund and soccer-based community programs aimed at educating people about AIDS.

Click here for more information about Nike’s red laces and the (RED) campaign.

The (RED) laces are available today in stores. So on your power walk or mighty run around Greenlake, you can lace up to fight AIDS!

- Shawn

I really got in the holiday spirit over the weekend and put some lights up on the front of my house, and on the arbor thingy that goes over the front gate. (They’re energy-saving LED lights, by the way. They’re very white.) When you see them in person, they look kind of free-form and flowing. When you see them in this picture, it looks like I drank too much egg nog before I hung them:

I also took my dog Zoe for several walks, and on one of them we were in Seattle’s Madison Valley, where there’s a sweet little neighborhood retreat called Homer Harris Park. It’s dotted with all kinds of vaguely Eastern-looking sculptures. Here’s Zoe trying to make sense of a bronze elephant:

Big mystery for that ping-pong-ball-sized brain to sort out!

On Wednesday’s Thanksgiving Eve Mountain Morning Show, I heard Sean Demery pull a Mountain comedy classic out of mothballs for yet another airing: TV Boy John Curley’s riveting account of his family’s Thanksgiving dinner many years ago.

Back in the day when I hosted the early show, we eagerly awaited Curley’s annual retelling of this story, which he told completely from memory. His costar in the epic tale was his brother Chuck, a lawyer in Philadelphia who would close the door of his mahogany-walled office, blow off his $400-an-hour practice, and make gurgling noises to recreate the unfortunate demise of the Curley’s beloved aunt.

Let’s just say it’s not for the squeamish — but here it is, for your holiday entertainment: The Curley Family Thanksgiving.

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A lot can happen over a cup of coffee! I met up with Eric Hutchinson yesterday for a quick cuppa before his show at WAMU. Ok, technically I crashed a coffee meeting between Eric and The Mountain Morning Show’s Sean Demery at Starbucks on Capital Hill. But Eric and I have history! We’ve been to a magic show together! So I figured he wouldn’t mind.

As we visited, I got numerous tweets and texts from jealous girlfriends. It turns out all my friends have history with Eric, real or imagined. Ask the Md’s VP of Content texted that she was “jealous.” She booked Eric for a show at her alma matter, Denison University. Whatever, not a magic show. And New Moon soundtrack superstar Anya Marina tweeted and texted that I should keep my mitts of her boyfriend. It turns out, Eric and Anya toured together. Again, not even close to a magic show.

Our text exchange:

Anya: Step off my boyfriend, beeeyotch!!!!!

Shawn: I’m kissing him now. (I wasn’t)

Anya: He likes a lot of tongue. (mental note!)

Now that we’ve established that I have the most “history” with Eric, check this movie where he talks all about… ANYA SHE DEVIL!

Oh, and if you’d like to check out a slice of my history with Anya (seriously, I love this girl) it’s right here.

- Shawn

I was looking forward to Taj Mahal’s annual visit to the Lounge. He’s in Seattle every year for a week around Thanksgiving, and he always comes up to chat and play live.

Funny story about that — I thought the session was Monday November 23, a bunch of Mountain listeners thought it was Monday November 23, but apparently Taj had other ideas. Like, Tuesday November 24. Which is when his appearance will actually happen. As you can see, I’m ready any time . . . .

If you were a Seinfeld fan like I was, and if you watch HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm like I do, you had to love this season of Curb, in which the cast of Seinfeld reunited to do one more episode — a show within a show. Fantastic. The drift of the whole thing is that Larry David (the fictional one) agreed to produce the Seinfeld reunion so he could win back his ex-wife Cheryl by casting her in the role of George’s ex. (And remember that the character of George on Seinfeld was actually based on the real Larry David. ) It’s complicated, but it all kind of makes sense. Here’s the last few minutes of the season finale, containing scenes from the fake Seinfeld reunion show and the sweet ending to a great season of Curb which, like all good Seinfeld episodes, ties together all the loose ends and leaves me wanting more:

Sure you can (and should) go on over to The Mountian Music Lounge Archive Page and hear the full interview and performance by Brandi Carlile. But wouldn’t you also like to know the range of topics discussed while Brandi got settled, sound checked, and collected herself after the performance? That’s the juicy stuff, right?

So, let see: Minneapolis (she’s a fan!), mutual friends (Hi Lisa, we love you), dogs (she’s a closet dog whisperer), contracts between ex-lovers, prison slang, and did I mention DOGS?

I love this girl. She’s an amazing artist and a real, complicated simple country girl. I hope you’ll come see Brandi at Winter Warmth. I’m threatening to bring the World’s Greatest Dog, Charlie Trout, to the show for Brandi to work her magic. So if her Santa costume is covered in dog hair, please forgive her.

Brandi in the lounge:

- Shawn

What’s up, Bob Dylan? First, you decide to put out a Christmas record. That’s kinda weird. Then you put on a wig and cavort around with Santa? And is that John Cusack you chase out of the house?

I like you. You are a genius. But you really do put the original in American Original.

And one more thing…I like this arrangement of Stuck Inside Of Mobile even if you sound like you swallowed Draino:

(Readers who are not Dylan: Apologies for the crap video…this is how far back I was for Dylan at Wamu, but I thought you might enjoy hearing how…er…patina-d his voice has become!)

- Shawn

This is my newest profile photo on Facebook. You’d know that if we were Facebook friends. You should know that I treat my FB friends almost as well as my real friends. (Sadly, I don’t have nearly as many real-life friends as I do on FB.)

Sometimes my Facebook friends (or my Twitter followers) get a secret invitation to join me in the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge — an invitation that you don’t hear about on the air. Since we have quite a few sessions in the weeks ahead, you might want to get in on it by friending me. Sometimes I also tip you off to last-minute giveaways before I do them on the air. I don’t know about you, but to me, concerts just seem a little better when the tickets are free.

So let me hook you up . . . stare into the candle and join me!

Here are my links:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/john.fisher1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/johndfisher

And FYI here’s the schedule for upcoming MML sessions.

So tickets have gone on sale for U2’s June 20 show at Key Arena and you are wondering…what’s it going to be like? Well, if you are a little bitty U2 fan, it might look like this!

…which begs the question: How does one’s child get selected to go on stage? Let’s do some detective work and find out. I want a mini Mountain listener on stage and wearing Bono’s glasses!

- Shawn