Two years ago, Pearl Jam gig poster artists took over Showbox at the Market one afternoon, showcasing their work for the band’s hardcore fans and typography enthusiasts alike. It was an impressively low-key, friendly affair that put artists face-to-face with the folks who obsess over their work. (It also put lots of cash in the former’s pockets.)
Local PJ/gig art fans still feeling jilted by last year’s two-day PJ20 celebration that took place in Wisconsin—and took the art show with it—will appreciate the news that the free exhibit is returning to the Showbox December 2.
There will be lots of beautiful stuff to admire—and buy. Because renowned artists like Frank Kozik, Ames Bros., Jeff Soto, and Munk One will be present with their works. (Curiously, long-time PJ collaborator Brad Klausen isn’t billed as attending.) And because something called the Pearl Jam Pop Up Shop will also be on hand, “stocked with rare posters and merchandise … never available anywhere other than through the Ten Club store.”
If that doesn’t have you checking your savings account balance, this press release quote from Ten Club head Tim Bierman likely will:
“We’ve got some rare stuff like Vinyl LP box sets from Pearl Jam’s acoustic show at Benaroya Hall that were never sold and we’d love to see some hardcore fans have the opportunity to pick up some of these rare things in person.”
For those not aware, the Benaroya vinyl box is considered by many fans to be the Holy Grail of PJ Memorabilia. It’s a very attractive, very limited release that you basically can’t get without a loaded PayPal account. How much will it cost—and how many will be available—at the Showbox? Good luck guessing.
If you’re a PJ collector, you’re probably also a Ten Club (band fan club) member, in which case you’ll get early entry at 1 p.m. (Yep, you’ll be joining the line of dudes holding cardboard tubes under umbrellas outside Déjà Vu at noon.) Everyone else gets in at 1:30. The event wraps up at 6.
Now, go check your basement walls. Surely there’s some wiggle room.
It’s getting colder and wetter out there: All the better for you to catch some live music this weekend.
Tonight (Friday, October 12):
Reykjavik Calling with Apparat Organ Quartet, Sudden Weather Change, Asgeir Trausti, and the Redwood Plan @ Neumo’s. Free Admission. Doors at 8pm.
This is the third year that Seattle’s hosted a musical summit with its sister city of Reykjavik, Iceland. As we’ve reported once or twice in the past, the shows are customarily wonderful. And like the preceding two, this one should be a kick and three-quarters. The Icelandic contingent includes the wonderful mechanoid pop of Apparat Organ Quartet, an epic blast of jagged guitar rock from Sudden Weather Change, and suave dance pop courtesy of Asgeir Trausti. Super-special bonus: cross-continental songwriting collaborations will pair Apparat Organ Quartet with local writer Ryan Boudinot, and Seattle new wave marvels The Redwood Plan with Icelandic author Sjon. Oh, and it’s totally free, too, so arrive early.
Corin Tucker Band, Houndstooth, Dude York @ The Crocodile. $15 at the door. Show at 8pm.
One of the trilling, thrilling voices that fueled Sleater-Kinney, Tucker’s work with her self-named ensemble augments S-K’s angular post-punk guitar attack with warmer melodies and Tucker’s more romantic melodic sense. The openers represent the yin and yang of the headliners: Local boys Dude York cover the art-punk end, while Portland’s Houndstooth generate dreamy pop with a twist of shoegazer atmosphere.
Rodriguez, Donnie and Joe Emerson, Michael Chapman. $15 advance, SOLD OUT. Doors at 8:00pm.
If you haven’t seen the fabulous rock doc Searching for Sugar Man yet, the very existence of this show provides one spoiler right out of the gate: The doc’s subject–enigmatic singer/songwriter Rodriguez–did not shoot or immolate himself onstage. He’s headlining this Tenth Anniversary Tribute to Light in the Attic Records, the crate-digging label that lovingly reissued his lost-classic records, Cold Fact and Coming from Reality. Also on the bill are grown-up pop-wunderkinds Donnie and Joe Emerson and veteran British folk-guitar wizard Michael Chapman. It should be an amazing night, but if you’re not one of the lucky humans who already holds a ticket to the sold-out gig, Searching for Sugar Man‘s still playing at the Varsity…
Lushy, Summer Aviation @ The Skylark Cafe. $5 at the door. Show at 8pm.
West Seattle’s best live-music venue (from a programming standpoint, for sure) serves up some serious, chic swankness in the form of Lushy. The long-running lounge-pop act has been proffering their incalculably cool tropicalia for years now, and they always sound smooth as silk live.
Saturday, October 13:
Bananarama @ The Hard Rock Cafe. $15 advance. Show at 9pm.
Just a week after the Psychedelic Furs’ Showbox gig, another fondly-remembered band from the Reagan Years hits the stage at the Hard Rock. It’s anyone’s guess as to how many original members of the chirpy new-wave girl group will be onstage tomorrow night, but you’re damn sure to hear “Cruel Summer,” and 100% of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society’s fight against breast cancer.
Drew Grow and the Pastor’s Wives, Fort Union, Ole Tinder @ The Comet Tavern. $10 day of show. Show at 9pm.
Yeah, Bob Dylan’s playing on this night, but for my money, you’ll get a live singer-songwriter show much closer to the heart at the Comet with Portland’s evangelically-powerful Drew Grow. If there’s a human being who hurtles himself more into live performance than Grow, we’ve yet to locate them. Middle-slotters Fort Union have more than proven their awesomeness as a live act already (and have delivered a sparkling new long-player to boot), so repeat after me: Get there early.
Sunday, October 14:
JEFF the Brotherhood, Diarrhea Planet, Moldy Castle @ The Crocodile. $15 advance. Show at 8pm.
JEFF the Brotherhood have been kicking around for about twelve years now, bashing out a style of rock that somehow combines Camaro-worthy arena riffs with indie-rock raggedness, all without any post-modern irony. Good as their recordings are, though, they pretty much rule live. Plus the opener’s named Diarrhea Planet, for God’s sake.
Woods, Night Beats @ Barboza. $10 advance. Show at 8pm.
I won’t prattle on yet again about the abject awesomeness of Texas expats Night Beats too much, except to say that their unhinged live performances scorch synapses faster than a mug of electric Kool-Aid. Headliners Woods hail from Brooklyn, and their sound normally leans towards a mellower, folk-infused variety of psychedelia–a mild contact high to Night Beats’ acid-induced freak-out.
There’s so much good live music hitting Seattle venues in the next three weeks, it’s scary. That’s as close to a Halloween pun as you’ll get. Carry on.
Tonight (Friday, October 5):
Walking Papers, A Leaf, Dylan Trees @ Barboza. $8 day of show. Show at 7pm.
If you’ve read Clint Brownlee’s exhaustive SunBreak interview with Walking Papers (go here and here, respectively, to catch up), you know that the band’s rock pedigree couldn’t be more solid. Yes, ex-Guns ‘N Roses bassist Duff McKagan and ex-Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin form a rhythm section that grooves as readily as it pummels, but Jeff Angell’s growling vocals and Jimmy Page-flavored guitar licks make for some great frosting on this rock cake. You also know to get there really damned early. Lucky for you, your time waiting for the headliners will be well-served by Tacoma/Seattle quintet A Leaf, whose lush and gorgeous Beatles-cum-Shins pop makes for an incongruous but arresting warm-up.
Kultur Shock, Kinski @ Chop Suey. $12 at the door. Show at 9pm.
Kultur Shock start their sixteenth year as a unit behind a great new EP, Tales of Granpa Guru, Vol. 1. It throws elements of prog-rock conceptual density and dance music into this wonderful punk/metal/gypsy polyglot ‘s potent stew, and as we’ve repeatedly emphasized time and again, they’re an utterly lethal live act. The presence of Seattle avant-rock ensemble Kinski on the bill makes early arrival a necessity: They extract magic, horror, and beauty from a wall of feedback and atmosphere–all without a singer to harsh your head trip.
Piss Drunks, Midnight Idols, Three-Legged Dog @ Slim’s Last Chance Chili Shack and Watering Hole. $12 at the door. Show at 9:00pm.
With a name like Piss Drunks, you know not to expect introspective beardies with mandolins simpering about unrequited love in a forest. Seattle’s hellzapoppin’ hardcore vets (nearly twenty years of active duty) deliver short and to-the-point blasts of punk, and no one in town does it better.
Saturday, October 6:
Seattle Weekly’s Reverb Local Music Festival @ Various Ballard Venues. $5-$15 advance, $15 day of show. Shows begin at 4:30pm.
Nestled between some of this town’s bigger music festivals (late September’s Decibel Fest and the upcoming City Arts Fest, respectively), Reverb can be easy to neglect. But it presents 50 different local bands in 8 Ballard venues, all in one night for one impossibly cheap price. There’s an obscene amount of good stuff at your disposal with your admission, but we’re extra-psyched about the Hilliard’s Brewery line-up (prime horn-fueled vintage funk legislators Soul Senate, space-age hip-hop/ambient wizard OCnotes, and mindfuck drum/synth outfit Brain Fruit, among others); the Tractor Tavern’s alloy of roots (Americana supergroup Cosmic Panther Land Band) and balls-out Seattle rawk (veteran Seattle survivors Sweet Water); and the Sunset’s indie-rock cornucopia capped off by Erik Blood’s sleek shoegazing paeans to porn.
The Psychedelic Furs, The Chevin @ Showbox at the Market. $21.50 advance, $25 day of show. Show at 8pm.
For about three years running in the early 1980s, The Psychedelic Furs were the greatest band of the new wave era. Singer Richard Butler’s magnificant rasp of a voice epitomized wounded romance, and the band’s mixture of scruffy post-punk guitar and sixties melodies led to three incredible records–1980’s eponymous debut, 1981’s Talk Talk Talk, and 1982’s Forever Now. They haven’t recorded a new record since Clinton first took office, but who the hell cares? The band sounded aces at Red Hook Brewery’s 30th Anniversary show last year, and Butler’s sandpaper croon and serpentine cool remain ageless.
Sunday, October 7:
Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps @ The Neptune. $15 advance. Show at 7pm.
Thank you, San Francisco, for unleashing more bat-shit crazy psych-rock/garage rock bands on an unsuspecting world than you can shake a delay pedal at. And thank you especially for Thee Oh Sees, whose shambling and sexy surf-rock-on-heavy-duty-hallucinogens live shows officially make life worth living. Someone make a John Dwyer action figure, stat: I’d buy it.
not an Airplane, Zoe Boekbinder @ Columbia City Theater. $5 day of show. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
not an Airplane (no, that’s not a typo) play solid Americana, largely distinguished by lead singer/songwriter Nick Shattell’s nervy decision to build his band’s latest album, It Could Just Be This Place, out of two fifteen-minute roots operettas (Rolling Stone liked it lots). Zoe Boekbinder, meantime, is a whole ‘nother animal. The Canadian expat possesses a throaty, odd voice that she loops over itself, singing songs that combine folk, cabaret, and electronica in a head-scratching but strangely magical swirl.
The beer will flow freely this weekend, ladies and gents, and it’s more than possible to imbibe in some great live music whilst tippling.
Tonight (Friday, March 16):
KMRIA, The Less Than Equals @ The High Dive. $10 day of show. Show at 9:30pm.
Ain’t no better drinking music than that of The Pogues, so if you can’t have Shane MacGowan’s terrifying grill in person for reals, you can at least enjoy this first-rate Pogues tribute band (comprised of members of The Decemberists and Eels, as well as local rock godfather Scott McCaughey) on the day before all the green beer starts flowing.
The Raincoats, Grass Widow, M. Women@ Chop Suey. $18 at the door. Show at 8pm.
Aside from The Slits, The Raincoats were one of the few all-female outfits who elbowed their way into the boys’ club that was late 1970’s British punk and new wave. In short order they influenced a generation or two of musicians, as much for their willingness to slather dub, funk, and psychedelia over their skewed pop as for their all-girl status. The ladies haven’t cut a proper album in ages, but they’ve got more than enough great material to draw from, not the least of which is the wonderful “No One’s Little Girl,” which blended dance-y rhythms with a sawing violin a good decade before other bands discovered such disparate elements could be fun and cool together.
Head Like a Kite, Daydream Vacation, NighTraiN, Sports @ The Crocodile. $10 at the door. Show at 8pm.
Dave Einmo’s glorious indie-hip-hop-techno-disco-rock beast Head Like a Kite has been a rightful cause celebre in town for ages: Einmo’s eccentric brilliance never overshadows his melodic sense, and watching wiry and energetic drummer Trent Moorman in action is worth the cover charge all by itself. But the whole night’s an embarrassment of sonic riches, with Daydream Vacation (Einmo’s nifty pop outfit with Smoosh singer Asya) and the wonderfully mean, sloppy, and choppily-arty NighTraiN.
The Bushwick Book Club presents Fahrenheit 451 @ Columbia City Theater. $12 at the door. Show at 8pm.
Again, The Bushwick Book Club hurtles a literary classic at a gaggle of talented local musicians, all of whom read the book and write songs about it. Tonight’s subject: Ray Bradbury’s still-timely cautionary sci-fi saga. Amongst the artists performing tonight: Youth Rescue Mission’s Hannah Williams, Ravenna Woods’ mad genius Chris Cunningham, and BBC veteran chanteuse Tai Shan.
Saturday, March 17:
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic @ Showbox at the Market. $25 advance, $30 day of show. Show at 8pm.
Do you really need my dorky ass to tell you that George Clinton is God, and that you’re unlikely to find a better way to spend St. Paddy’s Day than getting up on the downstroke with Clinton and his funketeers at the Showbox? Thought not.
GOD, Le Cancer, Loyal Kites @ The Rogue and Peasant. $5 at the door. Show at 9pm.
Fremont doesn’t sport nearly as many prominent live music venues as Capitol Hill or Ballard, so hats off to The Rogue and Peasant for bringing a strong local bill to their ‘hood. GOD are led by ex-Whiskey Tango leader Ian LeSage, a guy whose winning pop songs combine indie-rock snottiness with some imaginative instrumentation and a poetically-skewed lyrical sensibility.
The Staxx Brothers, The Acorn Project @ The Hard Rock Cafe. $12 advance, $15 at the door. Show at 9pm.
Don’t sell The Staxx Brothers short, just because they don’t take themselves seriously. They’re a kick-and-a-half live: a party band par excellence that serves up Memphis soul and southern-fried rock in one goofily-humorous and sonically-tight package.
Sunday, March 18:
The Past Impending, Highway Evangelism, Andrew Norsworthy @ Columbia City Theater. $6 day of show. Show at 8pm.
If you’re out drinking the night before, you’ll likely wake up on Sunday feeling like The Past Impending‘s lead singer E. J. Christopher sounds. It’s a little surreal to hear a Tom Waits croak of a voice emerge from such a fresh-faced (beard notwithstanding) guy. That swallowed-glass croon unites with the melancholy hum of Lara Lenore’s cello to lend distinction to the band’s take on Americana.
Too many great shows in town…Too many great shows in town…
Tonight (Friday, December 16):
Duff McKagan’s Loaded@ Key Arena. $40.00 to $87 at the door. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
Duff McKagan’s earned serious Seattle musical war-hero stripes over the years, having played drums for punk-pop legends The Fastbacks at age 16, and also manning the skins for local old-school punks The Fartz and playing bass for 10 Minute Warning. He’s probably best known as erstwhile bassist for glam-rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, but The Taking, McKagan’s current release as frontman for his combo Loaded, drags its knuckles along the same gloriously filthy path as Green River and Mudhoney, then filters that noise through an epic big-rock filter (the winningly-ugly “Follow Me to Hell” sounds like Dry as a Bone in Cinemascope). Rumor has it that McKagan has some connection with the night’s headliners, a hard-rock band that achieved a modest measure of success during the tail end of the Reagan Years. Dollars to donuts McKagan’s band will mop the floor with ’em.
Thee Emergency, Sugar Sugar Sugar, Last Watch @ The Comet Tavern. $8 at the door. Show at 9pm.
Thee Emergency lead singer Dita Vox possesses more charisma in her well-manicured pinkie than most lesser mortals do in their entire bodies, guitar Matt “Sonic” Smith throws a pinch of glam into his garage soul riffing, and the sturdy rhythm section of Nick Detroit and Tom T. Drummer can pretty much push complacent clubgoers’ asses into motion at a hundred paces. Cracka’ Slang, Thee Emergency’s most recent full-length, trades some of that pulsating energy for dollops of candy-coated psychedelic pop and country, but there’s no way they’ll leave the Comet without busting out some beloved rave-ups like “Can You Dig It?”. They’ll have to: Awesome Bellingham heavy-groovers Sugar Sugar Sugar, who precede them, do the dirty dog with the Stooges and T. Rex somethin’ sweet.
Jay-Z, Kanye West @ The Tacoma Dome. $49.50–$99.50 at the door. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
My mom, who doesn’t even own a CD player, knows who Jay-Z is, for God’s sake. She likes Annie some, but it never occurred to me to ask her for her take on the Annie-sample-laden “Hard Knock Life”.
Saturday, December 17:
Scratch Acid, Oxbow@ Neumos. $20 advance. Doors at 8pm, show at 9pm.
Art punks vomited up from the bowels of Austin, Texas, Scratch Acid cracked the skulls of Bad Brains and the Dead Kennedys together to create ungodly, ranting, cacophonous noise that remains as corrosive (and mind-blowing) today as it was thirty-some (!) years ago. They’ve (reportedly) still got the goods. And for just five bucks more, you’re nuts not to take in what’s sure to be a lively Q & A between principal Scratch Acid screamer David Yow and local music scribbler extraordinaire Chris Estey (with spoken word by Oxbow’s Eugene Robinson) across the street at the Comet Tavern two hours prior.
Dinosaur Jr. and Pierced Arrows, with an interview by Henry Rollins @ The Showbox Market. $22.50 advance, $25 at the door. Show at 7pm.
Dinosaur Jr. made Neil Young cool amongst punk rock kids, thanks to J. Mascis’s openly Young-infused whine and broiling axwork. To a lot of ears, they never topped Bug, their 1988 opus and the last Dino full-length to feature original bassist Lou Barlow until 2007’s Beyond. Also stopping by: Punk legend/spoken-word gadabout Henry Rollins, who’ll be grilling Mascis, Barlow, and drummer Murph about Bug and lotsa other stuff.
Sunday, December 18:
Holiday Showdown: Portland Cello Project, Israel and Ryan of Blind Pilot, Emily Wells @ Columbia City Theater. $12 advance, $15 at the door. Shows at 7pm and 10:30pm.
The Portland Cello Project augment well-honed perfectionist chops with puckish humor, in an engaging melange of classical, jazz, and popular music (their cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” kills). Things are sure to take a holiday turn, but wherever they journey sonically, it’ll sound sublime in the immaculately-appointed Columbia City Theater. Blind Pilot purvey a brand of acoustic indie-folk that gracefully transcends all of the folkies-come-lately crawling around these parts with clean and lushly romantic pop hooks. “Go On Say It” is one urgent and gorgeous acoustic love song, so here’s hoping that band members Israel and Ryan bust it out in their opening set(s).
I know you were all at Robyn’s show last night for City Arts Fest, and Ima let you finish, but The Long Winters played the Showbox Market, backed by the School of Rock, and that shit was tight and grin-plastering.
Special guest Sean Nelson (a Long Winters founder-emeritus)–appearing on the occasion, he said, of letting go of long-held resentments–sang harmony and traded off-the-cuff badinage and barbs with John Roderick, the Winters’ prickly-bear lead singer and songwriter. (Sample: Roderick mentions, while tuning, that he’s visiting a Chinese city called Too Ning–Nelson shoots back: “That’s humor rights abuse!”)
The School of Rock, if you haven’t heard them before, is no pat-the-kids-on-the-head outfit–they can play. When someone in the audience yelled out that they were “Cute!” Roderick countered: “They’re badass! I’m cute!” Add in that they’d had time for just four rehearsals, and you wanted to sign them to a label right there and then.
The last song of the set, before Roderick and Nelson came out for an encore, was “The Commander Thinks Aloud.” I have come unaccountably late to The Long Winters. Every time I catch Roderick in concert now, I am kicking myself for not discovering them earlier. What a lyricist the man is, and with voice you’d never suspect could emerge from that bearded cavern-wide mouth. Well, why am I still talking? Here.
