Recent Stories with tag tomo nakayama

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)

The Long Winters at the Crocodile

Never heard of the Newton Girls? How about Rad Snafu? Yes, well, neither had anyone else until about a week ago. The Crocodile quietly disclosed performances by each of these bands, held less than a week apart. Eventually they let it slip that the bands were in disguise, and the craftier among us could figure it out via anagram. Luckily, there were much smarter people than me in my Twitter feed that discovered the bands to be the Long Winters and Nada Surf.

Grand Hallway at the Crocodile

The Long Winters were preceded by Grand Hallway, an amazing group in their own right. They are talented musicians from other bands around town like the Maldives, Shenandoah Davis, and the Head and The Heart. Tomo Nakayama has a subtle power in his voice that commands attention from his audience. The crowd may have been sparse--the large group yet to come was only interested in the main act--but Grand Hallway gave credit to their name, filling every nook and cranny with their lingering melodies.

The Long Winters came on stage to a nearly (if not completely) sold-out crowd of die-hard fans. It had been a long time since they had played in front of a Seattle crowd, or as frontman John Roderick put it: "Way too long."

Half of them were newbies to the group: Eric Corson moved from bass to guitar, they've grabbed a new drummer to fill Nabil Ayers mighty shoes, and a friend of John's stepped in on the bass.

It was a helluva show that started with the entirety of what would turn out be their Sasquatch set, as well as a Crocodile-only bonus set. Roderick hit on most of the favorites from all the Long Winters' albums, including "Carparts," "Cinnamon," "Clouds," and "The Commander Thinks Aloud." I was left breathless and wired for the next couple of days. Hell, even if you weren't a fan, Roderick's tongue-in-cheek charm displayed between songs would have won you over in a second.... (more)

At the Triple Door on Wednesday, four local artists shared their deepest songwriting secret. I can sum it up in one short phrase: Be honest.

City Arts sponsors a concert/documentary series they call The Song Show. This edition was the first for them at the Triple Door (instead of the Can Can), and looked to be nearly sold out. Just before the music began, I settled in at my table with a friendly gentleman named Tom. He was there to see Jesse Sykes, I was there for Damien Jurado and Tomo Nakayama (of Grand Hallway). We were both expecting to learn something about local hip hop from Macklemore's performance. In the end, we got to see an amazing show and learn a whole lot more.

Between songs, Nakayama, Macklemore, Jurado, and Sykes talked about their various philosophies of songwriting. The details varied as much as the songs, but the overarching theme was one of honesty. Whether it was a painfully beautiful orchestral pop song, a "conscious" rap, a depressing folk ballad, or a '60s hippie-tinged tune, the message was the same. Each singer firmly believed in being true to themselves, and through that truth, they found beauty in their own music.... (more)

Seattle had its first mayoral debate, hosted by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. So far as debating goes, Mike McGinn won handily on points; Joe Mallahan tied, I think, with Admiral Stockdale. If you want a deep-bore tunnel like you might just die if you don't get it, McGinn's performance will have mattered little to you. But if you were looking for a hyper-competent business perspective, Mallahan made you wonder what goes on, exactly, over at T-Mobile. Here's the political wonk recap at Publicola. Joel Connelly takes a closer look at Mallahan's bona fides here.

Muggers have been working Green Lake, a story My Green Lake has been covering closely. This reminds me of my post reminding our mayoral candidates about rising crime city-wide.

CHS has an enjoyable profile of local chef-entrepreneur Becky Selengut. West Seattle Blog reminds you that it's harbor seal pup season and to watch for the little bundles of cute when casting for salmon.

We here at The SunBreak had a great first full week of existence. We talked... (more)

Let me just get this out of the way: Grand Hallway are amazing. Every time Tomo Nakayama's voice rings out over a crowd, that crowd is instantly smiling at the beauty of the world. The audience is inspired by the lush and changing instrumentation of the 8 piece band and their lilting and plaintive melodies. It's like Grand Hallway breaks your heart and makes you feel awesome about it at the same time. I know that every time Tomo ends the set with a heartfelt "I spend most every night wondering how you are" that I end up telling my show-going companions that there is something in my eye. I mean, that must be why I'm smiling and crying at the same time, right?

Tomo was gracious enough to take a moment to answer some questions for the curious public. They'll be celebrating the release of their new CD, Promenade, at the Fremont Abbey on September 17th. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be a special show, as Grand Hallway will be accompanied by the Seattle Rock Orchestra and a kid's choir. It will likely be one of those... (more)