Rock Shows in Kent, Washington at Tiffany's Skate-In

I went to see my earliest rock shows (after seeing The Beatles at Seattle's Coliseum) at Tiffany's Skate-inn in Kent, Washington. Barney Armstrong, a local Kent boy, always seemed totally cool, since he was fronting rock bands like Aftermath, and Ralph. I think I saw them both at Tiffany's. I also saw Fragile Lime there, as well as Merilee Rush and the Turnabouts (who had a national hit later with "Angel of the morning"), who Barney had also played with. Around this time I also saw Them with Van Morrison (Gloria, Mystic Eyes, Brown Eyed Girl), but I can't remember if it was at Tiffany's or elsewhere.

According to PNWbands.com, "The Barney Armstrong Aftermath played the club circuit in the Pacific Northwest. This was the first band Barney formed after leaving Merrilee. Barney and the band gained notoriety with a "Mister Bojangles" tap dance routine that Barney would do. Adding to their uniqueness was a pedal steel guitar and a five-foot grand piano in a rock band. Bob "Boom Boom" Bennett, formerly with the Sonics banged the skins for the Barney Armstrong Aftermath."

Some other bands that played at Tiffany's:

The Archies

The Bards

Borrowed Time

City Zu

The Box Tops (Alex Chilton's first band...Soul Deep, etc.)

Fragile Lime

The Pied Pipers

Sundae Funnies

The Sunn

Merrilee and the Turnabouts

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Video: Seattle's Band of Horses play "No One's Gonna Love You"

Band of Horses are one of my favorite bands to emerge from Seattle recently, they're indy, hirsute, and have something of a pop sheen. I saw them in September at Bumbershoot and had a great time. They even managed to sound good in Memorial Stadium.



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Down With People Rock Again!

My friend Scott Boggan singing with Down With People.
Click to enlarge.

We went to the Sunset Tavern in Ballard once again last week to see Down With People--one of my favorite local bands these days. They played last on a triple bill with The Republic of Chuck (one of the most bizarre musical acts I have ever seen in my life. He made Wesley Willis seem pretty normal). The other act (whose name I am blanking on and cannot find) included Ballard resident Dan Peters, who was/is the drummer for Mudhoney and who was also the drummer for Nirvana in its early years. They played a good set. Their singer was fun to watch, and they cranked out a yeomen's set. Down With People played an rousing set of their mind-expanding psychedelic pop rock (with theremin!).

Down With People are Ron Nine, the former member of the highly-regarded Love Battery, (guitar, theremin, vox), my old workmate and pal, Scott Boggan (bass, vox), and Scott Vanderpool (drums, vox). And. . .Michael Laton who projects an amazing and wonderful light show over and behind the band (and who also happens to be the father of my neighbor Cassady, who is in the band Dear John Letters). Alas, no go go dancers this time! If you ever get the chance, go out to see these guys play. In my booklet, they are one of the most interesting bands in Seattle.
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Young Fresh Fellows Videos: Still There's Hope-Picture Book-Barkley's Spiritual Store

One of the beloved Seattle bands (1980s-now). Young Fresh Fellows is lead by Scott McCaughey (McCoy), who is also a member of Minus 5 with Peter Buck, Ken Stringfellow, et al). He is also (like Stringdfellow) in the REM touring group). I have seen them play before, at the Horiuchi Mural, in the 90s.









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The Posies: Solar Sister Video

A live, acoustic version of Solar Sister. They look so young. . .they look about 20. I also include a 1994 Phoenix live Solar Sister with the full band. The Posies were in their hair band mode.





The Posies' misfire (e.g., not becoming rich and famous) is one of the great puzzlers of rock for me. They put out a passel of exciting, melodic, moving, harmonic power pop albums:

Failure (1988) [a wonderful, chiming, exuberant, youthful album]

Dear 23 (1990) [ a college hit: beautiful, rapidly maturing]

Frosting On The Beater (1993) [their near-hit that got a lot of MTV and college airplay, with many of their greatest tunes]

Amazing Disgrace (1996) [Probably their greatest. A stunning record, and the greatest mystery of all...why this didn't soar to the top of the charts]

Success (1998) [possibly my least favorite album, 'though it is not without merit either]

In Case You Didn't Feel Like Plugging In (2000) [a wonderful and charming live album: great tunes and banter, and The Posies at the height of their power]

Alive Before The Iceberg (2000) [a middling live album, maybe my least listen to Posies CD]

Last, At Least (Box Set) (2000) [rarities etc. for fans. If you love The Posies, you'll love this.]

Dream All Day(Best Of The Posies) (2000) [as with all Best ofs, puzzling for the omissions]

Nice Cheekbones And A PhD(2001) [A knockout EP with two heartbreakingly great songs: Ken's Matinee, and their gorgeous cover of David Crosby/The Byrd's Lady Friend. When The Posies played my birthday party in 2003, the only song I even requested was Matinee. They kncked it out 0f the park.]

Every Kind Of Light (2005) [the revival album...totally respectable, with several songs as good as anything they ever did. Of course, it stiffed].

And then, there is their great work with Big Star:

Columbia - Live At Missouri University 4/25/93 (1993)
Big Star Story (2003)
Big Star In Space (2005)
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The Divorce throws in the towel

The Seattle rock band, The Divorce, is throwing in the towel after two CDs, seven years, and hundreds of shows. I have their two CDs (there will be blood tonight, and The Gifted Program) and an EP. I have seen them play at least six times over the last few years (Crocodile 2x, Capitol Hill street party, Easy Street, Mars Hill, Sonic Boom). They will have two final shows on June 30th, at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. From The Divorce website:

Friday, May 04, 2007

the final countdown



Friends,


After nearly seven years of glorious ups and grievous downs, we have decided to lay The Divorce to rest. We cannot thank all of you enough for the years of support and encouragement and we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors. Of course, each of us have plans for subsequent projects, so do keep an ear peeled for those as they are sure to be entertaining and thought-provoking. In the meantime, it would behoove you to mark your calendars for June 30th, as we will be playing two final shows that day at the Crocodile Cafe in downtown Seattle; one will be all-ages and the other, 21+. It goes without saying that these are Not To Be Missed! We sincerely hope you can join is in this terminal blowout celebration of life, and the future. Until then...

Love Always,

The Divorce
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The Elvis Costello Benefit—Seattle Does Elvis For David Egger's 826 Seattle

It's taken me two weeks to get around to writing about this benefit. On May 4th, we went to the Sunset Tavern—a few blocks from where I live--to see an Elvis Costello tribute/benefit for the 826 Seattle.

Seattle loves Elvis (and why wouldn't we?). Now that he is a northwesterner (Vancouver division), I was secretly hoping he might actually show up! But no. . .

However, about 19 bands did show up and play. Every band was supposed to play two songs, although a few snuck in an extra song. It was great! If a band sucked, you knew it would only be six or seven minutes until the next one came on. It made it hard to leave, because you suspected the mother lode was just minutes away. It was a lot of fun, and once again drove home the reality that most bands play their instruments better than they sing.

The benefit was held for 826 Seattle, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

The lineup included the Dept. of Energy, Downpilot, Graig Markel, Shorthand for Epic, Red Jacket Mine, Zera Marvel, Whiting Tennis, Levi Fuller... and a bunch more bands and solo acts. The poster to your right lists some of the other bands.

I only regret the lineup did not include my personal five favorite friends'/local bands: The Divorce, Down With People, The Posies, The Drunks of Hazzard, and The Greenwood All-Stars.
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