"Getting Grills and Growing Dreads with Mayor Mike McGinn"

"MCGINN Will sway you on the reggae issue."

Trent Moorman (The Stranger):

Seattle is a deeply musical city, and our mayor, Mike McGinn, is a devout music fan. Originally from Long Island, McGinn spent his teenage years in the context of local star Bruce Springsteen's Greetings from Asbury Park. He also had his ear pinned to the reggae sounds coming out of Queens, where Jamaicans were toasting over their records through sound systems on the streets. Earlier, McGinn's parents had immersed him in folk and big-band music—his mother strumming Woody Guthrie on her guitar. This past Sunday afternoon, the mayor was organizing his CDs and invited me over to hear some tunes. I brought selections from Lesbian, Nacho Picasso, and Tea Cozies to play for him. When I got there, the first McGinn to greet me (by licking me) was black Labrador Midge. There was no security guard, no one patting me down, and no mayoral mansion on a hill; there was Midge, wagging. I went in through the kitchen where McGinn's wife was making cookies, then to the living room where the mayor sat hunched over disarrayed stacks of CDs and CD folders. Pink Floyd wafted out of two speakers. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Are feeling Hizzoner now?