Even though The Gossip changed their name (dropping the The) and, depending on who you talk to, may be selling out or not, I still like them.  Actually, I only relatively recently like them — I feel like I’m a little late on the bandwagon, but I’m trying to make up for it with enthusiasm.

As part of that enthusiasm, I went up to Seattle to see them play at the Capitol Hill Block Party — their first show in the US in two years!  Well, okay, that’s a lie, I just needed a vacation, but really my decision was made based on these things in order:  a) my friend Alex was going to Seattle and offered a place to stay, b) I have friends there I wanted to see, and c) the Block Party.  Really, it was an issue of timing.

In any event, it was a phenomenal show, and full of younger kids.  Beth Ditto is a phenomenal performer — truly the stuff that legends are made of.  Not only can she belt and scream through an entire set, but she’s charming and flirts with the audience, even when they throw panties at her (which, you know, has its pros and cons).  My friend Blyth says that if she had to be someone who wasn’t herself, she would be into being Beth Ditto for a while.  I concur.  I sort of want to perform some Gossip songs (oops, look, now I’m even dropping the The), but I’m not sure I can do that yet.  Am I ready?  I’m not sure.  But Beth Ditto was ready to cover Aaliyah, Kurt Cobain (whose house we happened to drive by), Whitney, and I think others that I’m forgetting.  You go girl.

Seattle was also super fun and fucking HOT!  It was like East Coast Lite — just a little cooler and less humid than one might expect from my homeland of upstate New York.  (Albany, bitches: the real upstate, not Westchester or Buffalo bullshit.)  Alex and I got to go canoeing and swimming, and thankfully we were able to get artisanal ice cream, without which my trip would not have been complete.  I also got to hang out with Addie at my favorite thrift store in the world, so expect new clothes bitches.  And I got to see Eva and David, and eat brunch galore.  Though I was distraught (yes, I mean it) that Logan no longer lives there.  As always, Seattle is full of cuties (especially in gay bathing suits on gay beach), but we failed to really capture them in our Hot Guys of the Northwest Photo Challenge, a project we started on our last (road)trip where we surreptiously take pictures of hot boys without them knowing it, but the rule is that one of us has to be in the frame.  Creepy?  Yes.  (I realize that as I type.)  Fun?  Yes.  And really, the most fun is fighting over whether someone is hot.  We did take one photo that I’ll try to get to post.

Anyway, that’s the major recap.  The Gossip is coming to San Francisco on October 25th, and I recommend seeing them if you can.  Not that I really want to use my blog for promoting other people.  But seriously, queer fat femmes with decent politics and phenomenal pipes like that deserve it sometimes, you know?  Even if you think they’ve sold out.