Epicenter has them all shook up

There's an oh-my-gawd new building in Fremont, the Seattle neighborhood that styles itself "the center of the universe." They've dubbed the five-story structure at North 34th and Fremont Avenue North "the Epi," short for "Epicenter Building."

The Epi rose out of the void left when the Red Door Tavern was moved a block away. Above the first floor, the Epi has 128 apartments — no condos. Ground floor is all retail.

But what has passers-by riveted is the colossal steel sculpture that clings to Epi's 65-foot corner tower — 21 gigantic metal fronds, toothy tentacles and amorphous amalgams. It's the work of Fremonster Mark Stevens. He named the artwork for his wife, Mon Sruang, which translates from Thai to "jewelry of heaven."

Developer Suzie Burke (aka "the land goddess of Fremont") reports Stevens took over after the architect, Bumgardner, first tried a San Francisco artist.

"He just didn't understand Fremont," says Burke. "So it was back to the drawing board." A committee then picked Stevens' work.

Some Fremonsters are wild about the "Jewelry of Heaven;" others are just wild.

Fremont artist Tommer Peterson fumes: "Local residents are gagging in the streets. For sale signs are going up by the thousands. Offices across the street quickly empty as employees quit their lucrative high-tech jobs and go to work at bowling alleys in White Center rather than face this visual assault. The Space Needle is hanging its head in shame."

Peterson apparently thinks the epicenter is off center.

Three questions: Who was that couple spotted in the Pike Place Market, trying on glasses at Market Optical last week? Was it really Gov. Gary Locke and first lady Mona Lee Locke? And why are they both in the market for new glasses?

One savvy observer says that five will get you 10 it's because they're getting ready to hit the campaign trail in June.

Tim the Knife: Councilwoman Jan Drago represented the Seattle City Council at a Pioneer Square news conference last week, while Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis (aka "the shark") represented the mayor's office.

Afterward they went shopping; Drago to Hozhoni, a shop featuring Native American art and jewelry, Ceis to Agate to buy a gift for his mother-in-law, a geologist. The gift: a fossilized shark's tooth.

New digs: There's an update on last week's report that a two-block stretch of 43rd Avenue East has become Governor's Row, home to two former governors and two former gubernatorial candidates.

That WAS true, but no longer.

Just days ago, Booth Gardner was spotted moving out of his waterfront condo. Where to? The former governor, who's working on Howard Dean's presidential campaign, told neighbors he's moving to Vashon Island.

Hottest ticket: Last week, tickets to Oprah Winfrey's "Live Your Best Life Seminar," coming to Seattle on May 31, were going for $1,225 a pair on eBay. But that's not the priciest Oprah tickets ever. At the Humane Society's "Tuxes and Tails" auction, auctioneer Mardi Newman sold three sets of Oprah tickets at $10,000 per set.

Jean Godden: 206-464-8300.