1. There's a regular Seattle School Board meeting at the Stanford Center tonight, and as I mentioned yesterday, there are a couple of interesting items on the docket.

First and foremost, two big votes: One on whether to put a $442.7 million operations levy and a $270 million buildings and technology levy on the February ballot. The other is a vote to approve the district's new attendance area maps—determining which schools each student will attend.

I was also under the impression the board was going to decide how to lease out a couple of their vacant buildings, but not I hear that's not the case. I have a couple of calls out, including to the school district, to figure out what's going on with that.

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Spokesman David Tucker says the board will discuss the statuses of a few vacant buildings at the meeting tonight.

Yesterday, I reported that one of those buildings under discussion would be the Columbia School building, in Columbia City. That's no longer the case--the school district is keeping that building in limbo for the time being.

2. Sound Transit is holding a workshop in Bellevue this evening to discuss exactly how voter-approved light rail is going to run through the Bellevue downtown area. Currently, the plan is to run the trains above ground, at-grade, but anti-rail forces on the Bellevue city council (and in the Bellevue business community) are pushing Sound Transit to consider moving light rail to existing BNSF right-of-way, far away from Bellevue's population and business centers.

Failing that, rail opponents are also pushing Sound Transit to consider burying rail in a tunnel through downtown Bellevue, a dramatically more expensive option.

The meeting tonight is essentially a brainstorming session—the Sound Transit project group will brief attendees on the plans and the budget situation, and then the attendees will bring up their concerns and tell Sound Transit what kind of plan they want to see.



4 pm at Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. NE.

3. Back in the late 60s and early 70s, Leon Russell was ubiquitous. Russell arranged all those hyper-soulful Beatles renditions Joe Cocker sang. He was that sweaty, drugged-out guy banging on the piano behind George Harrison and screeching out "Jumpin' Jack Flash" during the Concert for Bangladesh. He specialized in that raspy-voiced Southern Americana honky-tonk that made Dr. John famous and inspired a couple Rolling Stones albums.

I'm not really sure what Russell's been up to in the intervening years—besides further cultivating his big-old country beard—and Wikipedia doesn't seem to either. Russell's show at the Triple Door might be a good way to find out.

Tonight at 9:30 at the Triple Door. Tickets are $30.

Know about any important meetings, rad shows, weirdo lectures, or other noteworthy events? Please e-mail me at [email protected].