From the desk of Kat, VP of content…

Ahoy, Seattle! It’s good to blog with you once again.

I’m back from Pittsburgh for a mini-vacation here in Seattle, and of course, I had to drop in on the old haunts to see my favorite MD.

Upon arrival, I ventured with Shawn to a special new upstart here in the city… it’s Swink, Seattle’s first style bar. Now, I thought I was going to tip back a few mango margaritas with Ms. Stewart, but NO! Swink is a trendy new hair salon that features quick styling that is sure to make you look sassy!

Not to sound too much like an ad, I’ll leave it at this… I got a great curl from Cass, Shawn got a cute braid-curl from Danielle, and we both received compliments throughout the rest of the day.

Here are the details:

Swink Style Bar
611 Stewart St
Seattle, WA 98101
206-682-7070
 http://swinkstylebar.com/

And of course, you HAVE to see the back. It makes me want to curl my hair every day. It’s the perfect way to go see Ghostland Observatory at the Showbox tonight!

- Kat

Radio stations typically don’t have Green Rooms or Chill Rooms, or any place for artists to hang out, even though a lot of artists hang out in them. The Mountain space is devoted to CD storage, run of the mill office cubicles, a huge outdoor grill a listener won but hasn’t picked up yet, and broadcast equipment. So when David Gray needed a place to change into one of his dandy suits, my office had to suffice. I’m in the studio all day so it’s pretty quiet in there and *bonus*, I have a solid door that locks!

As the following photo essay demonstrates, Brittany and I felt positively school-girlish at the thought of DG stripping down to his boxers in the place we call home.

David’s suits…nice haberdashery!

Neill’s boots

Jack Bauer protecting David’s beverages

So David didn’t actually put on a suit, as this photo illustrates.

But he still put on a gorgeous and RAW performance in the lounge. Check out this amazing version of Babylon.

- Shawn

Mat Kearney visited the lounge yesterday, and we chatted about the lost art of letter writing.

He wears a stamp, like a family crest used to seal letters around his neck. I mentioned that I’d just heard that Lord Byron had some letters up for sale and that word on the street was he had pretty cool handwriting.

You might think this conversation would have led to Mat and I becoming penpals and reviving the lost art so I could see Mat’s handwriting and Mat could use his seal. But come on, son, it’s 2009! We did immediatley follow each other on Twitter : )

Here’s Mat being amazing in the lounge:

Mat and I, after the lounge:

Mat and our brand new intern after the lounge:

You can follow us all on Twitter: @askthemd, @matkearney, @brittanyann00

Or you can write me a letter… I’d love that!

- Shawn

What the ____?

The “other” Shawn, Sean Demery (our Morning Guy) is more generous than me. I’m sharing my photos and movies from the last night of U2’s 360 Tour, he’s sharing ACTUAL U2 tickets!

Starting Monday 11/9, he’ll be sharing U2-Seattle-June 20th tix with Mountain listeners… just for listening. I guess we always knew that, when it comes to U2, I am greedy. You be greedy too, and win your way into one of the coolest shows you’ll ever see… see?

- Shawn

*You just turned the clocks back an extra hour, right? You definitely have time to follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/askthemd *

U2 fans, I know, by now you’ve seen U2 in 3d and 360 and on YouTube, so why would you want to see my little videos??

Because that’s what we U2 fans do!

Here are the first of a few movies/photos/musings about 360 in Vancouver. More to come as the weekend rolls on. Check back!

- Shawn

This was in my inbox today from my friend Moby.

this is why the internet was invented.

the best music video (and song) ever ever ever.

watch this if you want your life to be instantly better. oh, i’m touring til… february? how are you doing?

moby

I heart Moby. He’s my potato.

- Shawn

Check out this personal letter I receieved from the lads : )

——————————————————–

Dear Shawn,

Hope you caught U2 360° live from Rosebowl on YouTube. And now we can reveal U2 360° is coming back to North America in 2010.

360° plans to touch down next summer with stops in Anaheim; Denver; Oakland; Seattle; Edmonton; East Lansing; Miami; Philadelphia and Montreal. U2 360° will also return for one night only in Toronto and Chicago before finishing the North American leg in New York at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

The complete list of North American cities, venues and dates has just been published on U2.com and first tickets go on sale next week. (Tickets are also about to go on sale for 2010 European dates in Athens, Greece and Istanbul, Turkey. See below)

U2 360° TOUR 2010 North American Dates

6-June Anaheim, CA
On sale soon

12-June Denver, CO
On sale Nov. 6

16-June Oakland, CA
Presale opens Oct. 27th
On sale Nov. 2

20-June Seattle, WA
On sale soon

23-June Edmonton, AB
Presale opens Oct. 27th
On sale Nov. 2

30-June East Lansing, MI
On sale soon

03-July Toronto, ON
Presale opens Oct 27th
On sale Nov. 2

06-July Chicago, IL
On sale soon

09-July Miami, FL
On sale soon

12-July Philadelphia, PA
On sale soon

16-July Montreal, QC
On sale soon

19-July New York
On sale soon

Best wishes and we’ll see you on the road in 2010
The U2.com Team

——————————————————

Well, they might have sent that to a few more people than just this MD. But as always, I’ve got some exclusives from the road. Check out this personal picture I received from Benson, our Sunday Brunch host, who just got back from seeing them in Vegas!

… and just as exclusive, pictures from the line for bad beer! Can you believe it?

- Shawn

As you can see, Academy Award winners Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova visited The Mountain yesterday. It was all very stealthy… they don’t play in Seattle till November 22nd, which is when you hear this lounge “live” on the air. That John Fisher is so crafty!

Anyhoo, I smuggled out a song – it’s the gorgeous 1st single from their new cd Strict Joy.

Oh, and speaking of U2, because we always are… Glen told an amazing story about Bono asking them to play at Eunice Shriver’s wake. Eunice created the Special Olympics, so you can imagine that there were lots of Olympians at the wake. What those Olympians did to honor Eunice was so touching… not a dry eye in the house when Glen told the story. Hear it November 22nd.

And because I like you (and we all like U2), I can tell you that I have more U2 news and you won’t have to travel very far to hear it. Hint hint hint.

I would say more, but we all remember what happened the last time I leaked U2 news.

- Shawn

Not able to see U2 this time? Or maybe you made it to one of their 360˚ Tour stops and just can’t get enough?

Fear not, you can see U2 again this Sunday!

This week, Bono & Co. are heading to Pasadena for a show at the Rose Bowl, and they have just confirmed that the show will be streaming the sold-out show on YouTube.

It will be streamed in full, it will be free, and yes, it will be epic. The show won’t be epic only because U2 is there: this is the first time that this venue has packed in 96,000 people for any event it has held.

YouTube will be streaming the show live across five continents. It will be available on YouTube and as video-on-demand, on both U2.com and You Tube. You do need to visit U2.com or www.youtube.com/u2official for details about the U2 Pasadena stream, so head on over and check it out.

As for me, I don’t think I can ever beat my experience with Bono in L.A… but this is sure to come close!

- Shawn

Here’s the rest of my pie making lesson with Sarah from Cameron Catering. We’ve broken the steps down to 4 more short movies (just a couple of minutes each). If you missed movie one, “Crust”, it’s on the last blog post. There are great little tips to making the perfect pie all throughout the movies, so take a peak even if you are a master baker!

Don’t forget, all this pie-ority is to support Project Pie, to benefit Seattle’s Lifelong Aids Alliance. Learn more and order your holiday pie at www.projectpie.org

I want to thank Sarah, Cameron Catering, Marsha Reagan (our cameraman!) and everyone at Project Pie for letting me participate in this wonderful event.

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