Kurt Cobain on the organ

Kurt Cobain on the organ, circa mid 70's.

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Titanium Sporkestra's Big F***ing Show on East Marginal Way

By Jack Brummet, NW music editor

Kee-Kee and Daryle at the show

We went to a great show last night near Georgetown.  Titanium Sporkestra had a fund-raiser to fund their trip to HonkFest in Austin.  The benefit was in an old warehouse building in which they set up several performance spaces.  There were three or four bands in the various rooms and bars, and then Titanium Sporkestrta played two sets in a covered area outside, which I think is essentially a staging/loading dock area.  A barrel bonfire was roaring.  These are two video clips from Sporkestra's first set at midnight.

One of the tubas was illuminated inside the bell (you can see it in the vids), and on a couple of songs, several of the trumpets had gas jets just inside the bell, so the 'bones were shooting out flames as they played and marched around.   And to top that, they also had two teams creating DIY fireworks, using grinders and pieces of iron.  These grinders shot sparks and cinders about fifteen feet in the air, which *mostly* cooled off before they scattered over the crowd.  It was a little spooky, but fantastic to see these two streams of sparks cross-crossing over the floor as they band played and moved among the crowd.

It was a great show, with a fascinating crowd in a cool venue.  As part of the VIP admission we also got swag bags with a Sporkestra beer cozy, a sweet t-shirt, and a copy of their new album which they just released last night.  The pass also included free drinks from a rag-tag and hilarious bar.  The first drinks we had were probably triples or quadruples! 'Round about midnight, we saw our bartender clearly in his cups.

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47 years ago today, The Beatles first played Seattle and fished from their hotel room window

Three bucks!

By Jack Brummet
Rock Editor

47 years ago today, The Beatles first appeared in Seattle at the Seattle Center Coliseum (now called The Arena) and fished from their hotel room at The Edgewater Inn.  According to an article by Greg Lange and Alan J. Stein on historylink.org:



"That evening, the opening acts took to the stage beginning at 8:00 p.m. At 9:25 disc jockey Pat O’Day from radio station KJR, Seattle's leading Rock and Roll station, introduced the Beatles. The crowd went wild.

Ringo fishes from his hotel room at The Edgewater Inn on Elliott Bay

"Screaming fans made the noise in the Coliseum deafening and few if any could hear the songs. The Beatles played: "All My Lovin’," "Twist and Shout," "You Can’t Do That," "She Loves You," "Can’t Buy Me Love," "If I Fell In Love With You," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "Boys" (sung solo by Ringo Starr), and "Roll Over Beethoven." They ended the concert with "Long Tall Sally."

"During the concert, hundreds of teenage girls rushed the stage in the hopes of catching the eyes of their idols. Police and firefighters did their best to prevent injuries, but 35 people required first aid treatment, ranging from bumps and bruises to all-out hysteria. One girl was restrained on a stretcher, all the while screaming "Paul! I love you!"

"The Beatles waited an hour before leaving the Coliseum in the rear of an ambulance that returned them to the heavily guarded Edgewater Inn on the waterfront. They earned $34,569 for their performance."

I got to see them there two years later, when I was 13.  That was one of their final shows.  After leaving Seattle, they played two shows in California, and never played in public again except for the famous rooftop concert around their album.

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John Roderick performs "Not Moving To Portland"

John Roderick of The Long Winters performs Not Moving To Portland at The Triple Door in Seattle last summer.  In between songs, he is probably the funniest performer I have ever seen. 

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A Gorgeous "Father's Clothes" recorded at KEXP by Seattle's Grand Hallway

This is a really beautiful song, with a gorgeous arrangement and incredible, delicate work--"Father's Clothes-- by the Seattle band Grand Hallway.  It starts off like a perfect and moving Steven Reich or Phillip Glass song, and then after a couple of minutes, the vocals kick in and you are just. . .wow. . . Clarients, 'cello, three violins, piano, guitar, and, oh yeah...an oboe.   This was like  mindf***er 2010chamber music!

A friend, Jaclyn, is the fiddle player in the grey blouse.  If you get the chance (btw, they're in NYC next week), go to one of their shows.




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The Long Winters and Grand Hallway

Saw a great show at the Crocodile last night.  It's the first time I'd been since the rehab/reopening.  It's so much better now for viewing shows--we were in the balcony...a small bar overlooking the stage.  Nice.

The Long Winters, particularly John Roderick were good, and Roderick, as he always is, was hilarious.  They play a hard driving kind of power pop, and very few downtempo tunes.

Grand Hallway

I was really knocked out by Grand Hallway.  A really interesting, energetic, and different band that;s been getting a lot of buzz, and great notices at South by Southwest.

Young Fresh Fellows Live in Europe: If you believe in Cleveland

The YFF toured Europe in late fall performing tunes from their excellent new album (we were at the release party at The Tractor). One of the strongest new tunes is "If you believe in Cleveland..."


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Video: The Milo Petersen trio live at Jack Straw Studios

A recording of the Milo Petersen Trio at Jack Straw Studios in Seattle, WA 9/20/08.

I've known Milo ,a/k/a Chris, since we were one year old--our parents were friends, and we were sometimes babysat together way back when. His band, The Jazz Disciples, released a CD "Visiting Dignitaries" a few years ago. It even includes a great tune he wrote for me and Keelin ("The Good") that clocks in at eleven minutes. He performed the song at our wedding, with Loch Clark (trumpet), Doug Ostgaard (sax), Cheryl Hardwick (piano), and--I think?--Moise Lucas on drums. I can't remember who played the bass.

Milo Petersen - Guitar
Chuck Kistler - Bass
Brad Boal - Drums
Doug Haire - Production
Brad Boal - Video Edit
Sonarchy Radio is a Jack Straw Production



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YouTube slideo: Band of Horses' Ode To LRC (with lyrics)

Ode to LRC. . .another great song from Band of Horses' second album. This Seattle band not long ago moved back to the Carolinas to be closer to their families. . .BoH have been my recent musical obsession (rock department), along with a couple of other NW bands--Telekinesis!, Throw Me The Statue, and The Thermals.



Ode To LRC

In the lobby of the LRC
Well I knew I'd find something
A hundred stroies sittin there to read
I got my focals out I put 'em on

And all is calm, all is calm

Theres a doggie coming here to eat now
Which dated back to 1993
I don't care what the people say 'cause
That dog he don't come around here anymore

No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone
No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone

The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look you in the eyes
The way that you drive by

The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful...

I see everyone before me, there was birthday sex and sleep
Some weren't getting along
Nobody's outside trying to murder
Nobody's outside, there's no one really at all

What the hell i saw, the hell i saw
The hell i saw, the hell i saw

The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look me in the eyes
The way that I drive by

The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
La di da, La di da, La di da, La di da
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Video: Band of Horses "Is There A Ghost?" (with lyrics)

I have really been excited by some of the music coming out of Seattle these days. Particularly Band of Horses, The Moondoggies, Dusty 45s, and Throw Me The Statue. I saw Band of Horses last summer at Bumbershoot, and they put on a raucous and great show. Their new album Cease To Begin is an amazing leap ahead from their first (very good) album. The video is odd, no question, but this is a great song, and the more I listen to this album, the more I like it.

Lyrically, this song stunned me. As you can see from the lyrics below, it is really just the three lines repeated. Fourteen words! And yet, somehow, it comes across as a narrative. How do they do that?! As for the video. . .how can you not like a video themed around a pillow fight? And all colorful pillows, at that.




Is There A Ghost?
by Band of Horses

I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?

I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
My house...

I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
My house...

I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
My house...
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The Moondoggies tonight at Neumo in Seattle

click to enlarge

If you live in Seattle, you should try to see this show tonight. There seem to be a lot of great rock bands in Seattle right now---like Fleet Foxes, Spook the Horse, Band of Horses, and the MD's are right near the top. They are playing at Neumo Friday night, and the White Eagle Tavern in Portland tomorrow. Check out their tunes on their MySpace page or just go out and buy their record on your lunch break.

The band: Tishiro mifune on jug,caleb quick,kevin murphy,robert terreberry, carl dahlen, and sometimes jon pon(genepool). Rolling Stone loves 'em, and NPR called them one of the top debuts of 2008. I have been playing their album nonstop for the last couple of weeks.

Their record company--Hardly Art--has a great write-up on their website (see below). See you there tomorrow night, where they will be playing right after The Maldives.

"There is a popular chapter of American mythology that pertains to The Highway. It tells of a two-way ribbon of blacktop running endlessly through our past to our future, linking city to country, offering escape and motion and freedom to travel anywhere the imagination might wander. In this chapter, The Highway is both means and end, metaphor and reality.

"And down that mythical Highway there is a Bar. Inside that Bar is a Stage. On that Stage is a Band. That Band is the Moondoggies.

"The Moondoggies are a four-piece band from Seattle that plays timeless American music. Warm three-part harmonies, gothic Rhodes organ, and wanderlust guitar mark a sound rooted in boogie blues and cosmic country; whip-smart songwriting leads to hook-heavy tunes that bristle with originality. Led by 22-year-old singer/guitarist Kevin Murphy, the Moondoggies are intent on artistic balance. They're a serious band with a silly name. They play music that speaks of travel but is strongly connected to its place of origin. They're young musicians continuing a legacy that goes back generations. Songs that unravel over seven sinuous minutes are somehow catchy and compact.

"Murphy and his band mates—Robert Terreberry on bass, Carl Dahlen on drums, and Caleb Quick on keys—started making music together as teenagers (all but Quick graduated from Cascade High in Everett, a Seattle suburb). The Familiars, their first band, was a noisy, garage-rocking outfit that gained minor notoriety locally, but the boys soon realized their passion lied in vocal harmonies, not power chords.

"Seeking the inspiration of new surroundings, Murphy lit out for Ketchikan, Alaska in the summer of 2005. It was there, in a dusty attic with an acoustic guitar and four-track recorder, that he zeroed in on the Moondoggies' sound. Upon his return to Seattle, the band took up residence at the Blue Moon Tavern, a notorious University District dive that for over 70 years has boozed up a rogue's gallery of writers, poets, artists, student radicals, and other drunks. The Moondoggies and the Blue Moon were made for each other. Before long they accrued a dedicated following drawn to the band's woozy, spirited live shows and a new Northwest phenomenon was born.

"That same spirit shows up on Don't Be A Stranger, the Moondoggies' debut. Shades of gospel, blues, rock, and country commingle; wall-of-sound harmonies radiate joy and passion; songs remain in the mind long after the record ends. The influence of the Band, the Byrds, and especially early Grateful Dead is evident, though the Moondoggies’ lyrical economy and compositional sensibility render these 13 tracks fresh and unique. From the hard-charging garage boogie of "’ol Blackbird" to the mournful, hand-clapped spiritual "Jesus on the Mainline" to the anthemic rock 'n' soul of "Changing" to the rollicking, bar-room singalong "Bogachiel Rain Blues," each of these songs earns a slot in the great American jukebox.

"I don’t think sitting down and playing guitar is an old-time thing," Murphy recently told The Seattle Times. "Our sound is what seems to happen when we sit around and sing and play. It's never going to get old. People will always do that."There will always be a Band that sings the song of The Highway. For us, for now, that band is the Moondoggies."
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Band of Horses videos: The Funeral and Is There A Ghost?

We saw Seattle's Band of Horses yesterday at the Bumbershoot Festival (along with two great art exhibitions, the usual collection of amusing buskers, Neko Case, Lucinda Williams and a few other folks). Here is a video from their first national appearance, on David Letterman...




And another video of the song Is There A Ghost?, from a more hirsute, later appearance on Letterman:



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Another Posies Video::::Definite Door:::::::with lyrics, and, of course, with Ken Stringfellow and Jonathan Auer

An oddly dated, but good, music video of The Posies Definite Door...on their "breakout" record, Frosting On The Beater. This song is one of their tunes that sort of bridges the gap aurally and lyrically, instrumentally (is that a word!?) between the more acoustic first two albums and the power pop of Frosting and Amazing Disgrace.

The Posies played at my 50th birthday party and did a great version of Definite Door that night.



Definite Door
(By Ken Stringfellow and Jonathan Auer)

Say goodbye to your friends and family
Pack your promises silently
Leave a note on your kitchen table
This is all you will ever be

So hope for a better place for a better time for a better speed
So hope for a better use for a better word for a better need
And if you listen close enough
You might hear too much
Hard as sharp and razor-rough
You've never seen the such...

It's the definite door
To another dimension
Nothing
No more
(not even a mention...)

Keeping track of the eyesight streaming
Isn't part of the regimen
Many hours of sleepless dreaming
Unaware of the mess you're in
And if you didn't have a clue
You probably never will
And all the things you didn't do
Will inundate you still...

It's the definite door
To another dimension
Nothing
No more
(not even a mention...)

Better cross your heart, make it people-proof try to fight the fright
And have a real good trip, see you when you fall don't forget to
Write yourself back...
And if you fail to see the point
Of doubting all you do
Don't forget to blame yourself
There's nothing else for you...

Say goodbye to your friends and family
Pack your promises silently
Funny how they forget to tell you
This is all you will ever be

This is all you will ever be now
This is all you will ever be
This is all you will ever be now
This is all you will ever be...
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The Dusty 45's perform at Chop Suey in Seattle

I saw the Dusty 45's again last night at King Cobra, a new (and fantastic) rock club in Seattle. Why these guys didn't explode nationally is a mystery to me. They're skilled, their music is infectious, and they're masters of fusing rock with alt country, rockabilly, pop, and good old fashioned western swing. With a touch of surf music ala The Ventures (other local heroes) and a little bit of that wacky mariachi trumpet. Here is a YouTube vid of their performance at Chop Suey.


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The Dusty 45's perform Buddy Holly's "Oh Boy"

Seattle's Duty 45's perform Buddy Holly's classic Oh Boy. I saw the Dusty 45's at The Hideout Thursday night, and had a ball. I regret that I didn't know about them sooner, because I've missed a lot of great shows. For my money, they are one of the most interesting and tuneful bands playing in Seattle today. They are playing this Friday in Seattle, about which, more later.