As mentioned here previously, Georgetown Music was recently robbed, losing a large number of musical instruments. Merchants and artists in the neighborhood are organizing an action at next month's Georgetown Art Attack to both raise money to benefit the Music Store, and to get the word out about the stolen goods in hopes of finding them or identifying the thieves.

Larry Reid of Fantagraphics sent out the following appeal:

Fellow Georgetown Business Owners and Artists:

You may have heard the Georgetown Music Store was the victim of a brazen burglary recently. They literally pulled the iron gates from the front of the store and stole thousands of dollars of musical instruments. They had clearly cased the store in advance of their brutal act.

Sure, you can grow a big, smelly beard or mustache anytime of the year. But for the next few months, you’ll be able to tell any complaining significant-others/employers/busybodies that you’re doing it for the kids.

The fourth annual Beard & Stache Festival returns in February. But first, organizers of the fundraiser need willing hirsute gentlemen to come down to the High Dive in Fremont Sunday to get their photo taken.

Those photos will adorn up to 125 cans placed around the city to collect donations for Treehouse, which supports King County foster children. Whoever’s facial hair earns them the most donations will earn prizes and the grudging respect of lesser beards and mustaches.

Photos will be taken from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 29 at the High Dive, located at 513 N. 36th St. If you can’t make it – or need a few more days of facial-hair-growing time – there will be a second photo shoot from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Feb. 9 at Bluebird Ice Cream, located at 1205 E. Pike St. (but only if the 125 spaces aren’t filled up at the first shoot).

A ribbon seal commonly found in the frigid waters off the coasts of Alaska and Russia has been spotted twice in the Seattle area.

It's quite unusual to observe the animals this far south, said Peter Boveng, leader of the polar ecosystem program with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, part of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. "There are not many people who see these regularly."

The ribbon seal, likely a young adult male, appears to be in good shape, though not as fat as expected, said Boveng.

The seal first showed up one morning earlier this month on the dock of a Seattle woman, who lives about a mile up the Duwamish River south of downtown.

Then last Friday, it was spotted on a snow-covered dock in Marysville, about 35 miles north of Seattle. A snow and ice storm had hit the state, leaving snow piled high in many parts of the region.

"It was just resting and it was fairly alert and active. It was responsive. It looked up at me several times," said Kristin Wilkinson, a marine mammal stranding specialist with NOAA Fisheries, who photographed the animal Friday.