Tag Archives: columbia city theater

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Weekending at the VERA Project and Columbia City Theater

You know it’s the weekend when it’s time to leave Capitol Hill. So that’s what I did the last weekend of September.

That Friday night I was off to Seattle Center. I hadn’t been to the Vera Project since the all-ages venue’s Belltown days, and the last show I can remember seeing there is probably The Thermals in 2004. Part of the reason for that long absence is because the Northwest Rooms are not so convenient a location for a rock venue, and part of it is because I am now an Old.

But I couldn’t miss the chance to see uplifting and catchy California quintet Grouplove, along with the bright harmonies of Family of the Year, and so with a little bit of apprehension, I approached the Friday night show. I took the monorail from downtown (because that is a pro-tip 4 life), and arrived at the Center campus early. It was a lovely warm fall night, so I sat around the fountain and listened to the world-salsa-jazz-fusion mix over the mini-Bellagio water show while skateboarders took turns in the fountain’s bowl.

The Vera was a welcoming place and–phew–I wasn’t the only Old there. I saw a few cool parents in the back of the room, though I don’t know how cool they were with the copious amounts of late summer pot smoke during Family of the Year’s opening set. The quirkiest thing about the venue is the gender-neutral bathrooms. I understand we’re all open-minded and not homophobic or transphobic or whatever, but ultimately, all that means is twice the number of toilets covered in piss.

Grouplove was befitting their name. The LA-based band is feel-good orchestral pop, and their debut full-length Never Trust a Happy Song, features sunny sounds and lyrics about naked kids and funny bunny weed. Christian Zucconni and Hannah Hooper are supercute together, and they even let Irish bassist Sean Gadd have a turn with leading vocals.

Saturday night I was down to Columbia City, via bus and light rail. I always enjoy that trip to the Columbia City Theater. It makes me feel oh-so-urban to take a bus from the Hill downtown, then the light rail, and through a residential neighborhood to the venue. Saturday night there was a firetruck outside the CCT, after a guy passed out (or had a seizure, depending on who you ask) during the first couple songs of beloved Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman’s set.

But Jens wasn’t even aware of the EMTs and continued through his show, which was a mixture of old stuff from the back catalogue (“I Saw Her In The Anti War Demonstration”), his big hits (“Black Cab,” “The Opposite of Hallelujah,” “Sipping on Sweet Nectar”), and songs off new EP An Argument With Myself (“I Broke Up A Fight,” “Cowboy Boots”). Check out the setlist here. Jens was as witty and humble and dear as ever, and after his encore cover of Ten City’s “All I Want is Love,” he snapped his way into “Pocketful of Money,” and left the crowd feverishly whispering, “I’ll come running with a heart on fire.”

After the encore, Jens announced: “I want to meet you and dance with you,” and many took advantage of the offer, standing in an orderly Swedish-inspired line for a photo, chat, or autograph. Instead, I took advantage of the Columbia City Theater’s late-night happy hour ($3 wells, $4.50 doubles starting at 11 p.m.) and chatted with folks from as far as away as Missoula, Walla Walla, and Portland who had made the trip just to hear Jens live.

That Saturday was also the night I learned the hard way that while the light rail runs till 1 a.m., the last train to run the full length of the route leaves from SeaTac at 12:05 a.m., which I discovered when the end of the line was Beacon Hill. Luckily, a 36 bus headed downtown showed up quickly, and I took that till I was at 12th and Jackson, a mile and a half straight-shot from home.

So I walked along 12th, peeking into the business establishments along the way: the Ethiopian clubs, Ba Bar, the new sports bar near Seattle University. Canon still hadn’t figured out temperature control, and Eltana’s late-night bagel window was closed the one time I would have considered stopping for one.

Arts & Entertainment, Music, Theatre

Just a Wonderful Summer Weekend in Seattle

Living in a city for a while can get you jaded. I’ve been in Seattle for going on ten years now, so I’ve felt my share of frustrations–but then again, no place is perfect. However, lately I’ve been seeing Seattle with fresh eyes and really appreciating our little burg for what it is. The recent Frank Bruni piece made me realize just how lucky we have it when it comes to amazing locally produced food. The current heatwave over most of the country makes me thankful for a July with temps in the 60s and 70s instead of triple digits. And last weekend made me appreciate the diverse cultural experiences Seattle has to offer. (Block party, this does not mean you.)

STAGEright is a young theatre company, both in the sense that the troupe has only been around a couple years (since November 2009) and that most of the actors are fresh out of college. Working out of the Belltown Freehold Theatre space on a sparse window-filled set, they’re mounting an intimate production of Sarah Ruhl’s The Melancholy Play (through July 31). It’s an early work from the Pulitzer-winning playwright, as evident by some of the script’s broader strokes. Ostensibly, it’s the story of a young woman named Tilly who suffers from severe melancholy that somehow makes her look so lovely everyone she meets instantly falls in love with her: tailor Frank, hair stylist Frances, nurse Jane, and even her therapist Lorenzo—until she suddenly gets happy and everyone finds her insufferable. And while the acting at the beginning was a little shaky, the cast quickly found its stride without a dud in the bunch. Special props to Megan Tyrrell, playing Tilly, who is just as charming and lovable as the part requires, and Mike Jones, who in playing the role of suave indeterminately European Lorenzo, has very little room for error. It is refreshing and exhilarating to find a young company able to pull off the work of a playwright as complicatedly playful as Sarah Ruhl.

Meanwhile, it was just a light rail ride from downtown to a whole new world, i.e., Columbia City. And the more I go to Columbia City Theater, the more I appreciate everything about the venue, from the friendly folks who work there to the openness of the space, and of course, the wide range of acts that grace the stage. This night was no exception, with a lineup of Tony Kevin Jr., Kris Orlowski, and Youth Rescue Mission. (Pro tip: If you’re ever trying to figure out who’s in a band, it’s always the guys wearing hats.) Orlowski does the heartfelt singer-songwriter thing capably, and was also gracious enough to bring up members of Tony Kevin Jr. a few times to serve as backup and provide just a few more harmony vocals. Though Orlowski is relatively new to the scene, he had a big established pack of superfans, at the front of the crowd, singing their hearts out with Kris.

There was also a group of superfans who knew every lyric from Youth Rescue Mission, a high-energy versatile four-piece new to town, improbably hailing from Montana (in that I cannot think of a single other band from Montana) with a great debut (stream or buy at their Bandcamp page). They’re a flexible group, with members switching up instruments and each taking their turn providing lead vocals, and in that way–as well as in the range of song types and structures–they’re reminiscent of Broken Social Scene. And/or they’re The Head and the Heart if THatH actually, consistently, lived up to the hype. (ZING?) All Cameras On was also at the show, so let’s hope a whole bunch of mobile phone video footage gets uploaded and edited for our viewing pleasure real soon. For now, here’s a taste of Youth Rescue Mission playing “Thursday After” in their living room.

Never you fear; you too can have a similar night o’ Seattle culture of your very own. The Melancholy Play is at the Freehold till July 31. Another Sarah Ruhl work, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, opens at ACT on July 29. Kris Orlowski plays Bumbershoot this Labor Day weekend. Youth Rescue Mission plays the Triple Door’s Musiquarium on August 4–and they are also playing Doe Bay Fest. And heads up: another awesome new local act, Pickwick, plays Sound on the Sound’s fifth anniversary show at Columbia City Theater on August 5.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

The Art Punks of Virgin Islands Turn it Up to 11 at Columbia City Theater May 13

You’d think Michael Jaworski was busy enough. He books talent for one of Seattle’s best music venues (Ballard’s Sunset Tavern), and almost singlehandedly runs his own thriving indie label, Mt. Fuji Records, an imprint whose roster includes everyone from garage-punk terrors The Whore Moans (aka The Hounds of the Wild Hunt) to indie-country sensations The Maldives. But no. He has to go and put out one of the best full-on rock records of the year as lead singer/guitarist for Virgin Islands, to boot.

Ernie Chambers v. God, the band’s first full length, rocks every bit as hard and lean as Jaworski’s not-quite-dead earlier outfit The Cops, while still managing to explore a wider sonic pallate. Dischord punk vaults straight into the mosh pit with flanged-out garage rock on the spastically-hooky ‘No Doctor;’ ‘Kat Named Katastrophe’ brings to mind a mohawk-topped Cheap Trick; and the band whips up an angular funk groove worthy of Gang of Four on ‘I Come Correct’. All along the way, Jaworski spits out socially-aware lyrics with the sucker-punch accuracy of the best political punks out there. And did I mention that Virgin Islands rocks like holy, catchy hell?

Tonight, Jaworski and company celebrate the release of Ernie Chambers with a set at the Columbia City Theater (doors at 9 p.m.). If The Cops’ history of relentless live shows is any barometer, Virgin Islands should not disappoint. And with Tacoma garage-guttersnipes The Fucking Eagles, Bellingham heavy-groove trio Sugar Sugar Sugar, and the aforementioned Hounds of the Wild Hunt rounding out the bill, you’ll want to get there early enough to get your $8 (!) worth. Be there with bells–and earplugs–on.