Seattlest

"SINGER" by DAVE HESTON from the Seattlest Flickr pool.

Chris Hughes, Hypnotist
Hey, everybody, someone wants to manipulate the minds of people across the world using the internet, and it's not a multi-national corporation or crazed super villain for once! To the best of our knowledge, anyway.

British hypnotist cum James Bond antagonist Chris Hughes is threatening to put thousands of people in a trance at 12:30 PST, performing the world's largest ever mass hypnotism session via the internet, utilizing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

In other words, the mentalist is going to take credit for the fact that, on the first Monday afternoon following a long weekend, cubicle employees across the planet are not qualified for much activity beyond staring lifelessly at their Facebook profiles, breathing with the shallow, helpless gasps of the coma patient and drooling slightly on their keyboards. Though Hughes' website is currently down, no doubt suffering from the technical difficulties inherent in...Internet hypnosis, I guess... you can learn more about the project via Twitter by checking out #socialtrance.

If this whole thing sounds profoundly silly, or at the very least like shooting heavily sedated fish in a digital barrel, it's because it is just that. But Hughes is due some plaudits, if for nothing else than making hypnotism seem more ludicrous. This is a truly epic feat, something akin to somehow making fire hotter, and not undertaken by the faint of heart. For this, Chris Hughes', we salute you.

DON'T BE A SQUARE: But be a square dancer! Who doesn't like a good old fashioned hoedown with an old-time string band? Check out The Tallboys for their weekly Monday night square dance at Tractor Tavern.

7:30 p.m. // Tractor Tavern // $5

NOT SQUARE DANCING, BUT STILL MUSIC AND ALCOHOL: The Popular Monsters, The Hoot Hoots, Canon Canyon, and Paul Vega perform at the Comet Tavern. Check 'em out, even if "Canon Canyon" is incredibly annoying to pronounce. Chase away your Monday blues at one of the oldest bars in Seattle.

8:00 p.m. // Comet Tavern // $6

THE BEST...AROUND: Nothing's gonna ever keep you down! Ohh...JOHN Esposito, not Joe. Glad that's cleared up. JOHN Esposito, Professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, is in town to discuss his book The Future of Islam.

7:30 p.m. // Town Hall // $5