Recent Stories with tag the maldives

Every year Bumbershoot stirs to life like some shaggy animal slouching toward elephant ears. Some things are always the same: If you're in a hurry to catch a show, don't head down the covered arcade between the Center House and McCaw Hall, jammed with shoppers ambling along a medina's worth of soap, sunglasses, and T-shirt sellers.

And don't try to cut between the Mural Amphitheatre and the food carts, because you'll end up with a plate of spaghetti on you. Spaghetti!

But other elements make every Bumbershoot different. The weather (mostly cloudy so far, but t-shirt friendly except for a mist this morning), the way your personal band list leans toward roots or rock or random, the world you step out of for a day or two (the wars, sputtering economy)--all these combine to make a Bumbershoot unlike the rest. For a weekend, the oncoming fall has to hold up--we're off to the fair.

Of course, not everyone is Bumbershooting this Labor Day weekend. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a personal music festival. Abbey from The Sound on the Sound emailed me about the Doe Bay Sessions, and I would be greedy indeed to keep the news from you. Every Tuesday, from now through October, they're posting a new live session from bands like The Head and the Heart, Hey Marseilles, Ravenna Woods, Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives, and Fences.

It's a new project from SOTS, which begins with music videos of The Maldives somewhere in the woods, filmed during this year's Doe Bay Fest. The initial idea was to invite a few bands to the SOTS yurt for a Vincent-Moon-style "takeaway" shoot...but these things have a way of getting away from you, and now:

Over the next 10 weeks we will be releasing videos featuring a candlelit session from Fences, The Head and the Heart (and the Doe Bay All-Stars) singing down the sun, Ravenna Woods using trees for percussion, a mid-trail serenade from Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, The Maldives on a mossy knoll, picnic table perching with Hey Marseilles and many more.... (more)

It's Bumbershoot this Labor Day weekend, and before we get to the acts, let's recap on strategy.

• Daily tickets are $22 (no mainstage) or $40 (mainstage). Buy in advance, 'cause at the gate it'll go up to $30 and $50, respectively. All adult-accompanied kids 10 and under get free festival admission (doesn't include mainstage).
• Driving anywhere near the Seattle Center will be a pain, slightly less if you get there very early. Any number of buses will drop you there, including special festival shuttles. From Capitol Hill, it's the mighty #8. From downtown, you take the Monorail and arrive in style.
• Check the weather before you go and dress appropriately (or not, what the hell, it's your life). For the pack: water bottle, something blanket-y to sit on, sunscreen, sweater.

Saturday Picks!

You can meticulously plan an electronic schedule ahead of time using this online whirlygig or keep your options open by stocking your pocket with a printed PDF version. But no matter what, there is a knife hidden in every Bumbershoot--an inevitable knife--that stabs the moment you realize two of your favorite things are playing at the exact same time. What to do? Me, I say roll with it and wait until you are there and need to make the call. Often you're in the mood for one or the other by the time the moment of decision rolls around.

That said, for a themed day, there's a couple of tracks you could run. Here's an all alt.folk.country day in music with Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs (1:15 p.m.), Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers (2:45) or The Maldives (3), Justin Townes Earle (4:45), The Decemberists (5:30), Pete Molinari (6:45), Neko Case (7:15), and Bobby D (9, mainstage), if you're into older dudes.... (more)

 

 

Now that SIFF is in full swing, all of us here at The SunBreak weigh in with our picks and pans of the films shown at the festival this week.

MVB: Hidden Diary is the kind of movie Nicole Kidman would kill to be in, a family-secrets mystery with Catherine Deneuve as mom. Poignant, and filled with hot French women, it's also a take on feminism's before and after. (June 3, 4 p.m. @ Neptune; June 5, 11 a.m. @ Egyptian)

Devil's Town is equal parts brutality and black humor. Absurdist, satirical tour of dysfunctional post-war life in Belgrade. With tennis, hookers, and bunnies. (May 31, 4 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

UK comedy Skeletons gives you something like Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern as psychic detectives, but terrifically warm-hearted. Great performances all around--especially by a giant doughy redhead--and a remarkable score. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ Neptune)

Audrey also liked Hidden Diary, for both the general unresolvedness of the film, and the fact that the protagonist shares her name. Meanwhile, ReGENERATION is a good documentary to get the kids fired up and ready to go, to take an interest in politics and current events, and hopefully change the world for the better. Its high energy is sure to get the youngs engaged; however, despite the film's star power (Ryan Gosling, Talib Kwali, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky), for anyone older than college age, it probably won't help overcome political frustration and cynicism-induced apathy. 

Okay, so we all saw Hidden Diary, and again, you've got two more chances to do so. Take it away, Josh: A discovered cookbook journal found in an abandoned seaside house conjures ghosts, stirs memories, solves repressed mysteries. Catherine Deneuve turns in another solid performance as a guarded matriarch left fragile by her own mother's abrupt and unexplained disappearance. Her own daughter, another emotional mess played by Marie-Josée Croze, seemed suspiciously more flaky when speaking English.

Air Doll felt like a great concept for a melancholy and whimsical short film, but became painful as it inflated to a feature-length two-hour running time. Just as the light comedy and limited plot wear thin, the whole thing takes a disturbing turn for the outlandish, garnering unintended laughs.

The Maldives were an inspired choice to provide a soundtrack for Riders of the Purple Sage, a 1925 silent Western. Though the challenge didn't take them too far out of their comfort zone, they were the main draw for the double header at the Triple Door. Perhaps the swarming attentive waiters caused me to miss a title card or two, but the plot of the film was so incomprehensible that the enthusiastic live score was the only thing holding my attention through the hour-long film, with dozens of lookalike characters, too many identity swaps, and barely explained plot points.

The French Kissers was a cute comedy whose biggest innovation was that average-looking humans were cast in the role of tongue-obsessed teenagers. It doesn't stray too far beyond the geek-gets-girl formula, but balanced unfortunate hair and bad skin with real heart.... (more)

 SIFF has made it through its first hard-partying weekend. By now your iSIFF skills should be warmed up with festival picks and you should be regaining some of the line zen that will keep you sane throughout the festival.   

With that in mind, let's take a look at some films of note showing over the next two days. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations which cost more. Don't forget, just for water taxiing film fans, SIFF stays in West Seattle at the Admiral Theater through Thursday!

Riders of the Purple Sage  Seattle's nine-piece northwest americana rockers the Maldives perform an original soundtrack for Tom Mix's silent 1925 take on Zane Grey's novel. These live rock performances to archival classics are consistently among the best and most original events presented during the film festival. This one is at the Triple Door; so it includes the benefit of being able to have cocktails delivered while a band of brothers rocks away at dramatic cowboy music. Don't miss it! (May 25, 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m. @ Triple Door)

ReGeneration sees its world premiere in Seattle. Ryan Gosling narrates Phillip Montgomery's documentary that considers the effects of corporate media on youth activism and disaffection. (May 24, 6:30 p.m. @ Egyptian; May 26, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Mount St. Elias  A pair of Austrian adventures scale Alaska's 18,000 foot peak for the thrill of skiing down, capturing a world record and thrilling footage along the way. (May 24, 7:00 p.m. @ Neptune; May 27, 4:00 p.m. @ Neptune; May 31, 8:30 p.m. @ Everett)

The French Kissers  French comic-book-writer-turned-director Riad Sattouf brings us French teens in search of French kisses. (May 24, 7:00 p.m. @ Admiral; May 26, 4:15 p.m. @ Neptune)

The Freebie opens with a dinner party that raises the possibility of seeing Sean Nelson in drag. Unfortunately it never delivers on that promise. Within this same scene, though, you can also predict the unhappy course of the the sexual experiment posed by wide-eyed wishy-washy husband Dax Shepard. It doesn't take much longer to realize that the people in this film get exactly what they deserve. (May 25, 4:30 p.m. @ Egyptian)

How Sex Sold Hollywood  This archival presentation by Seattle U Professor James Forsher covers various aspects of onscreen sexuality, Hays-Code era-style. (May 25, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

The Chef of South Polar  The outpost may be isolating and set in an unforgiving climate, but at least the meals are fancy. Based on Jun Nishimura's autobiographical novel. (May 24, 7:00 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 26, 6:30 p.m. @ Admiral)... (more)

Thursday night at the Crocodile was a bit subdued, but all in all an evening of quality music. The lineup consisted of Friday Mile, Ritchie Young (lead singer of Portland's Loch Lomond) backed up by a string section, and the headliner Grand Hallway.

Friday Mile @ the Crocodile

The local group Friday Mile started the show off. They came together in 2005 and started touring up and down the West Coast. Most recently, they released Good Luck Studio with the help of well-known L.A. producer Dennis McKay.

As their website claims, "the new tracks showcase the band's keen sense of songwriting, lyrical imagery, and gratuitous use of melody and harmony." Friday Mile are a lot of fun to watch, and if the crowd was any indication, they already have quite the following.

Ritchie Young @ the Crocodile

This was Ritchie Young's second show at the Croc, as he sang with Loch Lomond in January, and made an impression. This time he was backed by a talented and well-dressed group of violin, viola, and cello players. His higher range makes for a haunting sound that seems to linger in the air after each verse. The strings fit right in with the soft melodic feel.

My favorite was his cover of the Bee Gees' song "Holiday." I'd remembered it from the January show and was excited he'd made it a regular part of his set.

Grand Hallway @ the Crocodile

Grand Hallway rounded out the show and then some. They're an eight-piece orchestral pop band that includes members from several other local favorites Voyager One, the Maldives, Sleepy Eyes of Death, Widower, and Shenandoah Davis.... (more)

$5 Cover: Seattle Trailer from MTV New Media on Vimeo.

On Monday, the Seattle version of $5 Cover premiered all twelve episodes to a SIFF Cinema packed with cast, crew, volunteers, MTV producers, and Seattle music fans. The installments, along with short documentaries about each of the bands and B-side films about Seattle, won't start appearing online until June. Since everyone else will have to wait, I won't say too much beyond reporting that the finished product is so much better than the long-circulating trailer (above) suggests. 

When Audrey and I last discussed this matter, a map of band relationships had sparked delight and the preview footage had raised modest skepticism. Seeing the preview, I worried about how uncomfortable it might be to see musicians reading scripted lines to portray slightly more dramatic versions of themselves in service of thinly contrived plot devices. Happily, most of the moments of forced narrative are shown in the trailer itself, and the rest of the project quickly begins to feel more like a gently observed documentary than forced reality programming. ... (more)

My New Year's resolution was to see 50 shows in 2009. I thought this was reasonable for a person with a job that requires me to get up at 6 a.m. Yet, like most people, I did not fulfill my New Year's resolution. I got 39 nights of rock and roll in with 122 bands. Not too shabby, but I'll try to do better in 2010. My five favorites are recounted for you below.

#5. Classics of Love, Mike Park, Dateless, The Damage Done - The Grn Strp House - 3/14/09

As someone who discovered punk rock in the early nineties, it makes sense that Operation Ivy is one of my favorite bands. The Bay Area ska/punk band was an influence to a whole decade of punks and made Lookout Records famous well before Green Day came around. When singer Jesse Michaels disappeared after their first record, punk rock hearts were crushed everywhere. He had a short comeback with Big Rig and then got back into the swing of things with reggae/punk band Common Rider. His new project Classics of Love wanders back into straight punk songs.

I got to see them with Skankin' Pickle and Asian Man Records mastermind Mike Park as well as two local groups in a small punk house near the freeway. There is absolutely no better situation than a hundred and fifty or so people crammed into the living room, their breath condensing on the walls, waiting for their hero to take the stage so they can rock the hell out. When Park started playing "The Crowd" by Op IV and Michaels joined him on vocals, it was like it was 1989 all over again and we were ready to take on the world. When Classics of Love played, we did, in fact, rock the hell out.

#4. Cumulus Festival - Chop Suey/King Cobra/Vera Project - 1/23/09 to 1/25/09

The second I heard about the Cumulus Festival, I bought a three-day pass. While three days of (mostly) instrumental music might not be everyone's cup of tea, I was super excited. Seattle is the perfect place to foster this genre of music. With extraordinarily talented musicians and long, dreary winters, we are primed to create a musical revolution. The wide variety of bands at the show underscores the depth of talent we have here and the wide variation that is prevalent in the instrumental music genre.

I spent several hours that weekend riding on emotional crescendos and decrescendos, shaking my head at ridiculous musicianship, basking in various light shows, and no small amount of rocking out. I discovered a ton of new and awesome bands. I shared a unique experience with a couple hundred like-minded people. I am very much looking forward to Cumulus Festival 2010.

#3. Grand Hallway + Seattle Rock Orchestra, The Maldives - Fremont Abbey - 9/17/09

There are bands that simply break your heart with their beauty. Grand Hallway and The Maldives are two of those bands and they played together on the same night. The Fremont Abbey has amazing acoustics for orchestral pop and alt-country ballads. I wallowed around in the sorrow and beauty and reverb and melodies. I'm man enough to admit I cried a little bit during "Sirens," the saddest Grand Hallway song ever. It was a particularly emotional night for me anyways, but two beautifully melancholy bands put it over the edge. I'll remember this show for quite some time.

#2. Sunny Day Real Estate, The Jealous Sound - Paramount - 10/16/09

Though I discovered punk in the early nineties, I had started to grow up and get all emo by about 1995. It was fortunate, then, that Sunny Day Real Estate released their first record the year before. I played that record so much that I even memorized the gaps between the songs. When the second record came out, I did the same and made up my own lyrics since the liner notes didn't include them. When I went away to college, however, Sunny Day Real Estate and I went on separate paths.

At the Paramount, hundreds of people got to share in the heartfelt reunion of an influential Seattle band. Sunny Day sounded amazing. Their songs were tightened up on a month of touring and they were just as emotional and real as ever. No giant light shows or ridiculous theatrics, just them and us in a huge concert venue. It was a great finale. Meanwhile, the new song they debuted made us think that their story might not be over yet. We'll see what 2010 brings.... (more)