Mudhoney plays the KEXP Friday in August Mural Amphitheater show

I managed to wander by and catch Mudhoney rocking out at the Mural Amphitheater. Awesome set, mosh pits breaking out here and there; the Clark bar samples were good too.

Mudhoney was in great form with powerful guitar riffs using distorted sustain to ring and growl, and the rhythm section more than keeping up their end of the sound with the bass frequently anchoring the melodic core of the song and always driving the tempo and the drums consistently playing hard, loud, fast and tight. Mark Arm's vocal's were somewhere between sung and screamed, plenty of attitude and power. Loud thrashy obnoxious feedback filled rock and roll on the Mural lawn on a nice Friday evening in Seattle - buy yourself a few microbrews in the beer garden and you've got the "it doesn't get any better than this" beer commercial. As I wandered off to catch the bus and looked at the sunset over Elliot Bay and the Olympics on the way home, it actually was a little hard to imagine life getting all that much better.

Jeremy Serwer at the Lake Trail Taproom

I saw Jeremy Serwer last year at the Musiquarium Lounge with Abi Grace and Chris Mathews. The Musiquarium is the lounge upstairs from the Triple Door's auditorium.

I ended up friending him on Facebook so I noticed that he was playing the Lake Trail Taproom regularly. I get there every week or two for a nice local/regional micro-brew or to split a hard cherry cider with my daughter, but I never managed to catch his sets there.

This weekend I finally managed to pay enough attention and got down to see him on Saturday. Well, my wife Dana actually paid attention. She looked it up and told me I'd heave to head over if I wanted to see him, otherwise I probably would have gone too late. Thanks, Dana!

The Taproom was busy and pleasant, sunny and nice, and live music is always a bonus. Everything is better with live music!
We walked over from the house and I only brought the flip and my cell phone, so I didn't get any great pictures. Just a couple of videos of Jeremy Serwer playing and singing, entertaining the crowd at the Trailside Taproom. The beer was good as usual, too.
It's nice to see a local business that includes live music doing well. The Trailside Taproom has live music every Friday and Saturday, I believe. It's well worth checking out, especially if you live near the Burke-Gilman trail and like to bike, or live nearby in Kenmore. It's very dog and kid friendly too, and few live venues can say that.

Tiny Bit of Folklife

I still get out and see shows now and then, but not at anywhere near the intensity I used to. Things get busy, I get lazy and depressed and just don't get out as much. I almost skipped Northwest Folklife Fest this year, even though Shelby Earl (one of my favorites!) and many other excellent acts were performing there. Luckily Dana got interested which helped motivate me, so we headed down and checked it out for a bit.
It was raining so we didn't stay long for the outdoor stages even though the bands were good. There was music all over and a light sprinkle of rain.
For the dancing enthusiasts they had live music in the Armory, I'd guess this is salsa dancing but I have no clue. Normal Folklife - buskers all over, you could hear some excellent musicians and performers and often have no idea who they were, they just set up in various nooks and crannies around the Seattle Center and let there muse flow. Some bluegrass with a couple of very young musicians: The marimbas by the key were fun, never seen that many in one place before. We stopped in and listened to an ambient performance at the Vera Project too. It was a busy weekend so we didn't get to see all that much of Folklife, but what we did see certainly covered a wide spectrum.