MISC, your slightly-ahead-of-its-time info source, will likely be discombibbelated (no, that's not a real word, thanks for asking) when Daylight Savings Time starts on the 11th of this month, three weeks early. This means, among other things, that we'll have daylight at 6 p.m. a week and a half before the spring equinox.

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IT ALSO MEANS many of us

Belltown residents will be getting home from work in time to see lovely late-winter sunsets on the waterfront, and to wonder what they might look like (1) without the Alaskan Way Viaduct, or (2) with a newer, bigger, bolder replacement viaduct. Speaking of which &

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THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR: So I went to the Feb. 6 opening schmoozefest at the Twist bar for Friends of Seattle, a new group devoted to all the progressive things all good progressive Seattleites like myself tend to like-parks, public transit, affordable middle-class housing, good schools, fewer cars, livable-wage jobs, environmental sustainability. (In keeping with longstanding "progressive" Seattle priorities, the group's manifestos mention nothing about ethnic minorities or poverty.)

The group's concept seems simple enough: Declare an agenda. Round up perky, fun-lovin' grownups. Get em to ring doorbells, make phone calls, and show up at meetings. Make everything lively, entertaining, and engaging. FoS's first prime issue is, as you may know, America's most absurd viaduct debate since the one involving Groucho and Chico. (Though one could easily imagine Nickels with a painted mustache and Gregoire with a floppy black hat.) As I've written at the start of this whole long, slow dispute, I happen to like the Viaduct.

I'd fix it while planning for a more transit-centric future (Peter Sherwin's "repair and prepare" scheme).

However, I'm ready to admit it may not be cost-effective to make the thing more earthquake-resistant. Should a fixup prove too costly, let's not spend another near-decade and umpteen billions on a tunnel road or another raised road. Instead, let's spend those bucks on more transit, and give an EZ-access surface road to the truckers who need one. That's the "surface/transit option" endorsed by FoS. Neither is on the city-only advisory ballot.

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GOING AWAY: We must say goodbye this month to the Capitol Music and RazzMaTazz buildings (the latter having also been the original site of the still-lamented Dog House restaurant), as well as the Commodore Hotel (see page 8). All are making way for the usual big new mixed-use projects etc. etc.

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STAYING HERE: The Sonics will stay in Seattle at least one more season. But they still wanna go to north Renton's former Cirque du Soleil site as quickly as they can get the public to pay for it.

Some critics and bloggers have questioned what a stereotypically "urban" sport like men's basketball should be doing in the outskirts. (The NBA currently only uses two suburban arena sites.) But as Seattle housing continues to hyperinflate, north Renton has become the more-or-less geographic center of the local Af-Am community. Renton's as appropriate an NBA venue as the south side of Chicago.

But I'd still like the team to stay in town, which will require new owners and a privately-financed arena scheme.

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NEWLY ARRIVING: With KeyArena not being expanded any time soon, the original 1962 World's Fair exhibit spaces just north of it are unlikely to be razed any time soon. This includes the ol' Snoqualmie Room, where the Bumbershoot Small Press Book Fair existed for many years.

That's where the new Vera Project has finally opened its fancy new digs for all-ages music, art, and other events. The showroom's big yet intimate, with lotsa acoustic remodeling and the diner booths from Belltown's well-remembered Sit & Spin club. The space also includes a recording studio, an art gallery, a classroom, a small cafe, and a silkscreen poster shop.

The 9,500-square-foot site is the result of $1.45 million in private and public donations (they're still looking to raise another $350,000 for ongoing expenses), plus a lot of adult and teen volunteer labor. It all opened with a big Feb. 20 reception, attended by the mayor, assorted politicians, promoter David Meinert, and Jonathan Poneman of Belltown's own Sub Pop Records.

Will this thick coating of official civic acceptance make the new Vera a less alluring attraction to Seattle's teens? I say no. Teens and young adults these days, as far as I've been able to tell, aren't anymore so much into "rebel" posturing for its own sake. They're more apt to care about making things, getting stuff out, building up rather than tearing down. (Of course, there are always exceptions; but Vera's volunteers have always been great at weeding out the would-be hall trashers.)

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Speaking of them kids: DEPT. OF OVERGENERALIZATION: A Pew Research study claims today's 18-25-year-olds are more tolerant and more Democratic-leaning than their elders, have more casual sex and binge drinking, and are more eager to make tons of money. No, I don't find this ideological combo contradictory or ironic.

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WELL-DUH DEPT. #1: Portland writer Tom D'Antoni (a former supermarket tabloid stringer) wrote a snarky piece for HuffingtonPost.com called "Hey Gen-X, Welcome to Geezerland." In it, he berates his youngers for finally getting old; as evinced by an ad for a Kurt Cobain action figure in a catalog of "nostalgic ephemera."

Yeah, Cobain's image has been on tacky kitsch merchandise. But it has been almost since his death.

Elsewhere in the no-shit-Sherlock realm, David Bowie just turned 60. Debbie Harry already passed that milestone. Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone didn't get the chance to do so. Macauley Culkin's been married and divorced. And the Earth revolves around the sun approximately once per calendar year. "Gen X" never vowed to die before it got old. Rather, it (or some of its more vocal members) vowed not to look ridiculous while doing so.

WELL-DUH DEPT. #2: Author Marybeth Hamilton's new book In Search of the Blues: Black Voices, White Visions claims blues music, from its first appearance on 78 rpm records, has always been a vehicle for white intellectuals and curators to fantasize about the supposed primeval "authenticity" of ethnic folks. And it has continued to be so, on to the recent fad for Paul Simonized "world" music and the thug stereotypes deliberately perpetuated by gangsta rap.

WELL-DUH DEPT. #3: According to a profile in The New Yorker, the TV show 24 is produced and written by pro-war Republicans. Who else would so lovingly depict torture as an act of heroism?

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THE NOT-SO-OLD SOD: As I promised last time, here are some more thots on the Olympic Sculpture Park:

The newly-planted grass is starting to grow in, leaving its status clearer as Belltown's collective front lawn. It's not a back yard, where families can play and tinker about and share jolly BBQ cookouts. It's a lawn. It's meant to be looked at, admired, not to be touched or played on.

It's in some ways as stuffy and uninviting as Denny Park, which neighbors and neighborhood activists want to transform into a more useful, family-friendly space.

Yet the Sculpture Park's also a private monument free and open to the public. I don't really wanna look the proverbial gift horse (or gift eagle) in the proverbial mouth. I'm just hoping the space will continue to evolve, to become more livable and lived-in.

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WHEN-BAD-THINGS-HAPPEN-TO-GOOD-PEOPLE DEPT.: HistoryLink cofounder Walt Crowley had his larynx surgically taken out in mid-February. My best wishes to Walt and his dear companion Marie.

(Get a copy of Clark's Vanishing Seattle today at a store near you or at miscmedia.com.)

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