Careful, dude - you're being profiled

"In some parts of the world, there's wool-sock weather, and then there's sandal weather. And never the twain shall meet." So goes the voice-over for a new TV spot for Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance, which explains that our indecisive weather has produced an ingenious hybrid: "Sandals & Socks Guy, you're one of us."

He's one of 21 Northwest profiles created by Seattle marketing agency DNA Brand Mechanics to promote PEMCO as a local company with the tagline: "We're a lot like you. A little different." (See the profiles at www.werealotlikeyou.com.)

"The sandals and socks guy, everybody knows someone who does that. It's so Northwest," says Alan Brown, managing director of DNA. "My son is 3 years old. He'll put on socks and demand to wear Birkenstocks."

Look for familiar Seattle-types like the Ponytailed Software Geek and Obsessive Compulsive Recycler to appear on TV, billboards and bus sides. But at least one Northwesterner has been deemed too hot for prime time: "Fifty Degrees, Shirt's Off Guy — the client wasn't quite ready to go there in showing that guy." ...

SPEAKING OF NORTHWEST: When Andrea Marcovicci, aka the "Queen of Cabaret," walked into the Emerald Suite at the Sheraton Seattle, she was expecting velvet. Instead, the famed nightclub singer — in town through Oct. 7 while performing at ACT Theatre — got knotty pine. "It's decorated to be a cabin in the woods," she reports. "There are fish everywhere. I'm still laughing about it. I was so surprised!" As a native New Yorker, the rustic surroundings don't make her feel exactly at home — but when in Rome ... "My mother's a fabulous fisherperson. I called her right away and said, 'What a shame, they've given the suite to the wrong Marcovicci!' " ...

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: You've heard of the post-breakup haircut. Patricia Barker did it one better when she chopped 29 inches off her strawberry-blond locks after retiring in June from the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The former principal dancer hadn't had a proper haircut since 1982. "I think I got five haircuts that day [at Suede salon in Ravenna]," she said. "She kept taking it up a little bit at a time and saying, 'Are you OK? Are you OK?' I was like, 'Shorter, shorter!' " Barker, whose waist-length hair was cut into a pageboy style, has no regrets. Well, maybe one: "Now I know what a bad hair day means." ...

IN-N-OUT BURGER: For those who prefer to eat and run, chef John Howie has added a "fast food" menu to Sport Restaurant and Bar. Howie hopes to draw the downtown business crowd to his Fisher Plaza restaurant with a new 40-minute weekday lunch guarantee on selected menu items. And to sweeten the deal, he's negotiated $1 parking at the Fisher Plaza garage on John Street. (Buyer beware: Booths at Sport have built-in flat screen TVs, and time flies when you're watching "Days of Our Lives.") So what happens if you're not in and out in 40 minutes, through no fault of your own? Says Howie, a good Sport: "I suppose we would buy their lunch." Proving there is such a thing as a free lunch. ...

HOLD THE PEPPERONI: It's not on the menu, but Chef Rory at Palomino whipped up a special Quail Pizza at the "Lone Star Love" cast party for musical director Jack Herrick's birthday. And for a musical director, "Happy birthday to you" just won't do. Associate musical director Ken Lundie wrote a special song spoofing lyrics from a show tune called "Quail Bagging" and surprised Jack by singing it as the pizza came out: "It's Jack Herrick's birthday / But he's not old / He stays so young with Skylar / A child that's made from gold. / There is no occupation / A chef will find on the trail / Causes so much anticipation / As a pizza with quail." All together now: "Quail ... Pizza!" ...

CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS ROUNDUP: John Edwards getting into a red minivan outside the Westin Hotel, looking "small, fit and dashing" ... DJ AM having dinner and drinks solo at Joeys on Lake Union ... Seahawks assistant head coach Gil Haskell blowing out candles on his birthday cake at the Met. Quail ... Pizza!

Girl About Town appears every Sunday in Northwest Life. Pamela Sitt: 206-464-2376 or psitt@seattletimes.com