Recent Stories with tag columbia city theater

The still relatively new Columbia City Theater played host to some exciting bands on Saturday. It was Youth Rescue Mission's CD release show, and they shared the stage with the eclectic Heatwarmer and the emotional Grand Hallway.

Youth Rescue Mission are a new group formed chiefly of four siblings. They brought the whole family with them Saturday, with their parents on cello and electric bass and their cousin on drums. The siblings had wonderful four-part harmonies, which the crowd enthusiastically welcomed. There was even a little singing and stomping along from those at the front.

Heatwarmer followed with an astounding set, prompting Grand Hallway's Tomo Nakayama to declare them his favorite band in Seattle. Heatwarmer takes the standard rock lineup, adds keyboards and an electric wind instrument, and then proceed to play Frank Zappa jams. It's almost as if they took a look at the joke combinations of genres bands use on MySpace (like easy listening/zydeco/eclectic) and actually formed a band around it. Influences from all over the place could be heard and the musicians are ridiculously talented. For the last few songs, they brought in a saxophone quartet dubbed the "Seattle Sax Murderers." If anyone was making an '80s-style superhero show, they would be required to employ the services of Heatwarmer for the soundtrack.... (more)

Our annual social hour and fundraiser for Northwest Harvest is tonight, November 15! Visit our Facebook invitation page for more details and to RSVP.

Join the writers and readers of such blogs as Rainier Valley Post, SouthendSeattle, CD News, Capitol Hill Seattle, and Seattlest for some fun with YouTube, a beer tasting courtesy of Newcastle Brown Ale*, and a limited supply of complimentary pizza from Tutta Bella.

This year we're going to be meeting up in Columbia City, at the Bourbon Bar (4916 Rainier Ave. S.) from 6 to 9 p.m.

If pizza and beer isn't enough, know that the Bourbon Bar also has a new bar menu of small plates and, you guessed it, a wonderful selection of bourbon.

We're also hooking the bar's TV up to the internets for the evening, so help us build a YouTube playlist by posting your favorite(s) in the comments.

All of this for just a $5 suggested donation at the door, or two cans of food. See you there!

*Please enjoy the one and only Newcastle Brown Ale responsibly.

Friday night the Columbia City Theater hosted an evening of music curated by our good friends at Sound on the Sound, bringing together Portland's Jared Mees and the Grown Children and local headliners Black Whales, who somehow had to try and follow the middle act, Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan.

As you can see above, for his final song, Dan made his way through the crowd to do a mid-audience acoustic sing-along version of "Robots." (SotS also captured a charming version of "The Indie Queens are Waiting," featuring "gender-bending backing vocals from the band.") Mangan put on a charismatic show of quick-witted folk pop with sharp observations of the everyday, which included a song where his band eschewed drums in favor of just stomping out the beats on the stage. His whole set had an easy energy that was hard to resist. Do yourself a favor and stream new album, Nice Nice Very Nice, at Dan's website.

If you haven't been to the refurbished Columbia City Theater yet, what the hell are you waiting for? The venue hosts great shows in a cushy club, delivers tasty libations care of the bar, and the light rail can get you there on the cheap in no time. 

If you need another reason, Columbia City Theater has a big (and diverse) Halloweekend lined up, with Mash Hall's final (ever? or at least for a while) show on Friday, the orchestral pop of Hey Marseilles and the heavily tattooed, tiny dog-loving singer-songwriter Fences on Saturday (both of whom recorded Doe Bay Sessions with Sound on the Sound earlier this year), and the Cabaret Macabre on Sunday, with Bad Things, Baby Gramps, burlesque (natch), and more. COSTUMES HIGHLY ENCOURAGED--caps not mine, but I appreciate the sentiment, plus it gets you in for $2 cheaper on Saturday and Sunday.

The SunBreak has a pair of tickets to give away to Saturday night's show with Hey Marseilles and Fences.  The show is 21+, so you be that old too. We'll be drawing a winner on Friday at noon. Enter below for your chance to win.... (more)

After taking a tour of Columbia City Theater I was itching to hear a band in there, and Abbey told me something called Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives [Facebook] would be more than worth the trip. They're the eponymous Drew Grow (lead vocals, guitar), Cookie (percussion), Kris Doty (upright bass), and Seth Schaper (keyboards), from Portland, Oregon.

Sound on the Sound has been singing their praises locally, and Seattle Weekly has joined the choir--describing a performance as one of those "rare, game-changing live music experiences, the kind when you're watching a band and your chest swells up big and red and raw like a great frigatebird during mating season...."

I can hardly make my balky fingers type the description of their music, which is: indie folk-rock fired up by gospel and soul. (Try to imagine a Decemberists air floating out of an AME church, I dare you.) It's unusual, is all. But "It All Comes Right" (off their latest album) comes complete with a soul chorus that the 200-odd souls at Columbia City Theater on Saturday night joined into with uninhibited fervency.... (more)