Crews hoist a huge replica of one of Kurt Cobain's guitars in place at the new Hard Rock Cafe in Downtown Seattle. Photo by Mat Hayward for Hard Rock Cafe Seattle.

What do New Orleans and Indianapolis have that Seattle doesn’t, aside from Super Bowl victories? The famous Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt with their city on it. There are almost 100 Hard Rock cafe locations around the word, but until now, none were in the birthplace of one of the hardest kinds of rock.

The Hard Rock Cafe Seattle is scheduled to open sometime this month, and crews are already putting the finishing touches on the space. This place will be hard to miss: 116 Pike St. will now be lit up with a huge 15-foot long replica of a Fender Mustang, the guitar Kurt Cobain played in the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video.
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Every year the hype for Superbowl Sunday never fails. People get all hyped up, buy insane and in-consumable amounts of food and of course wait eagerly for the commercial frenzy. It is probably safe to say that a decent amount of the people watching the Superbowl are doing it solely for the commercials and the half time show. Read more…

Here’s some neat stories from the past few days at CapitolHillSeattle.com, our news partners who diligently cover our neighborhood.

• Not so cute response: Police are investigating a gaybashing that took place near campus at 11th Avenue and East Pine Street Saturday.
• Easier parking? It’s nearly impossible to drive down Broadway to go have dinner. So most of us walk. But some changes by the city may make it easier to find a spot.
• World-class cellist: Lauri Goldston played at Vermillion Wednesday.
• Dancing with the law: Ever dance on those metal dance steps along Broadway? We thought so.  A local photographer is in hot water over copyright issues with the public art, reports CHS.

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Beyonce performs during her World Tour 2009. Photo by hassy via Flickr.

I didn’t watch the Grammy’s.

It’s not that I didn’t want to. Even though I disagree with the Grammy’s, sometimes they’ve got some pretty neat-o performances.

Sometimes.

Remember when Kanye and Jamie Foxx did Gold Digger? Epic! Remember Swagga Like Us with the Rap Pack? M.I.A. made pregnancy look cooler than Juno managed to after that one. And then Radiohead played a bunch of drums, which was super neat.

Anyways, I have no idea what happened at the Grammy’s this weekend other than the 2 minutes I saw in passing of Fergie on stage wearing some S & M gear, which she didn’t pee in, unfortunately. The one thing I did hear though, was that Beyoncé swept up, winning a record 6 awards, the most ever to go to a single female performer in one night.

And you know what? She freaking earned all 6 of those Grammys. All of ‘em. She deserves to string up all those Grammys on a necklace and wear it around her home as Jay-Z worships the ground she walks on. Or just sits there on a big upholstered chair smoking a cigar lazily as he is fed gold encrusted grapes from his exotic trained-monkey butlers. Or, you know, whatever he does when not running the world.

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Tuesday, the Armed Services Committee met to discuss the controversial policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT),“which bars gays, lesbians and bisexuals from openly serving in the military. This year, Obama vowed to repeal the policy and instructed his top advisors to look into how to best implement the change.  The meeting demonstrated a marked shift from the Armed Service Committee meetings 17 years ago that instituted the policy under the Clinton administration. 

Pres. Obama meets with Admiral Mullen and Sec. Gates. Photo by Pete Souza, official White House Photo.

At the meeting both the  Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen and Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates endorsed the repeal. Sec. Gates stated that “I fully support the president’s decision. The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it. We have received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly.” Admiral Mullen’s endorsement was even stronger. He stated “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens….For me it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.” Read more…