Sirbrina Guerrero, a contestant on Tila Tequila’s “A Shot At Love” MTV reality show, was told by an usher at a Seattle Mariners game to stop smooching. Guerrero was at Safeco Park with her date when an usher approached them and told them to stop showing affection because it was making another fan feel uncomfortable. This incident has created quite a debate over PDA in Seattle, a generally gay-friendly city.

The Mariners were playing the Red Sox when the couple received the complaint during the third inning. A parent nearby explained to the usher that she didn’t want to have to explain the situation to her children. The woman felt that there were too many kids in the crowd to have to explain why two women were kissing.

Guerrero feels angered by the situation because heterosexual couples a few rows below them were making out during the game and she just wanted to be able to show some affection. Mariners spokespeople say the complaints were of groping, which is not tolerated if making others uncomfortable. This is measured by what a “reasonable” person would find inappropriate. Guerrero and her date said they were only sharing food and brief kisses.

This may start a “kiss-in” to protest against the Mariners, suggested by sex columnist Dan Savage. This is a move towards eliminating homophobia in sports and activists want to put a stop to the double standard.

Ah, Spring! Blossoms! Bikinis! AND BLOCK PARTIES!!! Here is the lineup for Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party 2008:

Friday July 25
Vampire Weekend
Les Savy Fav
Girl Talk
USE
The Dodos
Jay Reatard
Akimbo
Pwrfl Power
Past Lives
Black Eyes And Neckties
Champagne Champagne
Plus many more!!!

Saturday July 26
Surprise Guest!!
The Hold Steady
Chromeo
Kimya Dawson
Darker My Love
The Builders & The Butchers
The Hands
Velella Velella
The Physics
Man Plus
Little Party And Bad Business
Plus many more!!!

Special presale tickets went on sale yesterday (sorry we’re late!) and the password is BLOCKPARTY. Get a 2-day discounted pass here.

Seattle hip-hop group Blue Scholars sure keeps busy. On April 26th, the group will release its second digital EP since their critically acclaimed 2007 album Bayani dropped. In addition, they’ve also released a pretty sweet clip for the song “Loyalty,” which appears on Bayani as well as the new EP, Butter&Gun$. The EP also includes the title track, “27″ and instrumental versions of all three. Check out the video for “Loyalty,” which is conveniently embedded below, or you could go see a super swanky HD version at Vimeo.com.

Blue Scholars “Loyalty” Music Video from Zia Mohajerjasbi on Vimeo.

As previously mentioned, Sub Pop has been planning a little party for their 20th anniversary. Rumors circulate, but now, Sub Pop has made an official announcement. From their press release:

In unabashedly conspicuous celebration of 20 years of not going out of business (sometimes only barely), Seattle’s Sub Pop Records will gather past and present label-mates for a series of events, including a two-day festival at Marymoor Park on July 12 & 13 and a comedy show on July 11 at Seattle’s Moore Theatre. Proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to support beneficiaries of each participating act’s choosing. Tickets go on sale April 26 at 12 PM Pacific at SubPop.com and all Ticketmaster locations.

Confirmed performers include Iron & Wine, Kiwi comedy/rock duo Flight of the Conchords and influential grunge band Green River will make a reunion. Performers for the comedy show include Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry and surprise guests. Sub Pop promises more performer announcements in the coming months as well as special guests.

Tickets go on sale and noon Pacific, April 26th at Subpop.com, Ticketmaster.com or by calling (206) 628-0888. And they’re not even that expensive. Early discount tickets will cost $30 for a one-day pass, $50 for two days; prices will increase to $35 and $60 respectively after May 10th. Comedy show tickets are $20 and available starting the same day and via the same venues. A full list of confirmed bands performing after the jump.
(more…)

Last week, Team Saucony wrote me a nice little note, telling me about their web site, www.teamsaucony-originals.com. The site focuses on Saucony’s sponsorship of alternative team sports, the ones “that don’t require cleats, pads or helmets.” That’s totally up my alley. The reason why I got into music in the first place was because I could not for the life of me catch a football or shoot a basket. The first day of little league I got a black eye while they were trying me out as a pitcher. No joke. I just really suck at sports.

But Dodgeball? Four-Square? Holy shit! I am awes-…okay, I’m not great at those either, but I can at least hold my own. {side note: personally, for me, playing sports is like holding my own, you know… But as previously documented, I do like to talk about balls…}

Team Saucony is organizing a summer sports league, focusing on the sports you played during recess.

From Team Saucony:

This summer in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, Saucony is going to sponsor some select offices to compete against other offices in sports that you may not have played since you were about 12.

Dodgeball? Kickball? Four Square? FOR REAL!

We’ll provide the equipment, uniforms and, of course, some sweet Saucony Jazz Originals. Win or lose, we’ll hook everyone up with plenty of free suds at the local watering hole (clarification: water = booze, hole = your mouth), where you can re-live your sporting glory, or drown those memories of athletic incompetence.

San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Chicago: the only 4 cities that matter. EAT THAT LA! fuckers. You can read about the stipulations for signing up your office on their site. All interested parties can contact sauconyoriginals@drillteammarketing.com to sign up.

If SF wasn’t a 3 hour drive from the Synthesis office we would be all over that. Besides, most of us are too busy with the Synthesis Softball team:

EAT THAT, OTHER LOCAL MEDIA.

With all the ballyhoo about Sub Pop’s 20th Anniversary, it’s nice to see one of the bands that made Sub Pop SUB POP are still around and doing well. Today, Synthesis Editor Ryan “Daddy” Prado handed me a copy of Mudhoney’s forthcoming album The Lucky Ones, and it’s pretty damn good. In fact, it sounds like something that would’ve been put out by the label 20 years ago. It’s fuzzy and sloppy and probably hasn’t even caught whiff of Pro-Tools.

Mudhoney’s previous two albums for Sub Pop, Since We’ve Become Translucent and Under a Billion Suns were much more expansive in sound and scope with both albums featuring songs that incorporated a horn section. Both albums were nice pieces of psychedelic hard rock, even if they didn’t garner much attention, but you won’t find much of that here. The Lucky Ones is just filthy Seattle grunge done by the guys who’d done it best. The album’s due in stores May 20th.