Cool Bumbershoot moment. During the middle of Death Cab For Cutie's set at the "Bumberclub" on Monday, guitarist Chris Walla took time out to phone Mayor Paul Schell and leave a message on Schell's machine explaining that he is "offended and embarrassed" at Schell's having vetoed the new All-Ages Dance Ordinance (recently passed 7-1 by the City Council). Then, on the count of three, the entire audience--several hundreds strong--screamed "Fuck you, Paul Schell," as Walla held up his cell phone. Ah, simple pleasures. --Eddie Tews

Seattle's taxpayer funded gang, the Seattle Police Department, recently settled a whistle-blower lawsuit with former trainee Paul Vang out of court for $80,000. Vang, the SPD's first Hmong officer, objected to the beating of an 18 year-old African American man while in SPD custody in 1996 and was rewarded in typical fashion by getting hazed out of the department. Vang moved on to a job in that bastion of liberal toleration Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was named Officer of the Year last year. Let's hope that Appleton's finest have higher standards for honoring its best officers than the SPD, which finds shooting a mentally-ill African-American man to death grounds for such an honor. --Rick Giombetti