I've been looking forward to Bumbershoot all year, it's the first festival I budget for: buy the Bumbershoot tickets, then think about what (if anything) else I want to see and can afford. I've been going since I was a teenager in the seventies and it was free for 4 days. I especially loved it because I got to see all of the bands that normally only played bars and were thus usually unavailable. I take my kids as much as they can stand it, and they're good sports so the girsl go all 3 days with me. Ben just hit 13 (teenager!) so he went one day with us this year too.
Logistics always have to be dealt with. Get your supplies, sun block (if you're lucky and the weather calls for it) or rain gear as needed, some food and water, and make sure all of the cameras are charged and cleared of old pictures or videos. I always try to get there at 11AM so I can check out the arts and so on, but always run late so I'm lucky if I get there at 12 when the bands start.
Once again we arranged to pick up my daughter early and get to Bumbershoot as it opened so we could check out the visual arts for an hour before the bands start - always the optimists! I ran late enough getting out of the house that we were down to 30 minutes before the bands if things went well. Things did not go well.
As we got my daughter we noticed that I failed to get all of the correct tickets for the festival (I inadvertently swapped a Sunday ticket in for a Saturday. Doh!) We headed back towards home, losing more time, only to find that my car wasn't going to be able to complete the trip. We had to get a ride back to my daughters after picking up the correct ticket so that we could have her drive us, losing even more time. Sigh. Ended up missing the first few bands. Rats.
On the other hand, the weather was gorgeous and there were lots of bands! We made it to the Key Arena to see Brite Futures, kicking off this years Bumbershoot with fun dancy party music, nice way to start!
The girls and I saw Brite Futures perform as Natalie Portman's Shaved Head four and a half years ago at the EMP Sound Off and I've seen them several times since and each time is a bigger party. Hair is a recurring Brite Futures subject:
We stopped in and listened to a bit of the Great Mundane, the Sky Church is an excellent venue for any kind of music.
We didn't stay to dance much since there were more bands to see like Kris Orlofski and the Passenger String Quartet:
The strings and rich deep multipart vocals give the music an almost orchestral feeling, much more layered than typical rock or pop, very nice:
Back outside for an excellent Champagne Champagne set
Champagne Champagne puts on reliably fun shows, they're getting to be one of my favorite local hip hop groups.
Wagon put on a fun set of guitar oriented classic rock to western influenced sounding numbers that had a good chunk of the early crowd dancing, the song "Keep It On the Down Low" builds to a nice climax that had the audience moving and applauding:
Next it was back to the Key Arena for a family favorite: The Presidents of the USA!
We've all seen the Presidents multiple times at Bumbershoot, Presidents Day shows, even a secret Microsoft show and they always deliver. Speaking of delivering, here's a mailman themed song in honor (sort of) of my dad:
So many Presidents songs are silly and insane and just fun as hell to rock out to. Spiders driving dune buggies gets me very time:
Spiders fat ass abdomen stuck in the bucket seat - who else but the PUSA could've written that?
The Presidents also have an excellent sense of movement and their rocking out transitions kick ass. A song about peaches that gets us all jumping then singing along, then moving to the harder guitar in the verse repeatedly, classic Presidents and really nobody else does anything quite like this:
I got several other good songs by the Presidents like Love Everybody, Old Man On the Back Porch, I Will Survive and Kick Out The Jams/Shout was killer, you can track those down on my youtube channel.
They ended like they usually do with "Video Killed the Radio Star" and nailed it:
It's always interesting coming out of a dim indoor venue to the bright sunlight, somehow it feels like coming back to reality; maybe I'm just flashing back to the seventies concert experience. I was able to catch Yuni In Taxco even though I had missed their set earlier, since they did a YR Radio tent interview and performance I was able to catch - kind of a make-up, which was cool!
I only managed to catch a bit of The Nortec Collective: Bostich and Fussible on video:
The sun washes it out, and it's too short to do them justice. Describing them doesn't really do them justice either but I'll try. They had a tuba player and an accordian player playing against some sequenced tracks, quite different but quick and uptempo, talented musicians having a good time, definitely fun.
We also caught Vasen, they use an instrument I'm unfamiliar with, it's a string instrument played with a bow and it has keys that change the pitch of the string, quite different. Fascinating classical sound to my ear with the way the melodies, themes, and timing intertwine.
Valient Thorr in the Exhibition Hall with lasers! Fun show, amusing band name and the facial hair seemed to follow Brite Future's theme of the day.
P.S. I Love You put on a great set on the Fountain Stage, I saw P.S. I Love You earlier this year at the Vera with Diamond Rings and they get a very full sound for just 2 people. The drummer plays a loud thrashy fast style and the guitarist plays a bass pedal and sings with the result being surprisingly musical and full sounding, not what i would've anticipated, but they put on consistently excellent shows with fun fast songs every time.
I only managed to catch a bit of Shabazz Palaces, I've heard they've played some shows with Thee Satisfaction lately but there was no sign of Thee Satisfaction in the bit I saw:
We caught the MarchFourth Marching Band, not a great angle visually but the music is amazing for a marching band. The dudes dancing on stilts were fun too!
Pentagram put on a hard powerful set in the Exhibition Hall, I caught the laser effect spelling the band name at the beginning of this bit:
As a technical geek I love the laser effects. I got a more complete song by Pentagram too, the sound isn't great (too much volume overwhelms my Flip) but it started out pretty distorted so it isn't changed that much:
Vetiver was quite a contrast, lighter and calmer, well constructed songs, very nice:
I had never heard of Little Dragon (not that unusual, perhaps 1/3 of the acts were unfamiliar to me) but they quickly won me over with their upbeat catchy pop tunes.
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue had a nice horn oriented groove, very fun to listen to:
We caught a little of the Lawnchair Generals, as usual the lights/visual effects in the EMP Sky Church were great:
STRFKR put on a good set too. When I saw them at the Vera Project they were kind of crowded together and some musicians were facing each other rather than the audience. Perhaps the Fountain Stage is larger or maybe they just decided to face the audience, but I aplaud the choice. Facing the audience makes the performance more immediate and engaging.
I saw one song by Craft Spells but I didn't get it recorded.
I'm sad to say that I wimped out by 9PM and ended up missing Minus the Bear and Ray LaMontagne and Mavis Staples, too sore and tired. Dang. I did catch a street musician on the way back to the car,
but that was the end of the evening as far as music went.
One day of Bumbershoot complete, 22 performances watched, 2 more days to go.
Showing posts with label Brite Futures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brite Futures. Show all posts
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Brite Futures Last Show at the Vera Project
The band Brite Futures originally called itself "Natalie Portman's Shaved Head" and I have some history with them as a fan. I saw them at the EMP's Sound Off battle of the bands in 2007 while they were still in high school and enjoyed the heck out of their show.
I saw them several times over the years as they got more comfortable on stage and added more songs to their repertoire and grew their fan base to the point where they could sell out the Vera Project and more.
Eventually they changed their name to "Brite Futures" and posted this video to "explain" the change:
At least I think that's what the video is about. It's petty amusing and a good indication of the band's collective sense of humor. It also ends with a sample of 10CC's "I'm Not In Love" - random, but that was a favorite song from my adolescence.
Last Summer Brite Futures played the main stage at Bumbershoot and kept a crowd of 10,000+ bouncing and sweating and enjoying the heck out of their upbeat bouncey dancey pop music. I enjoyed seeing them doing so well; as a fan you end up feeling like you're somehow along for the ride when a band you've followed for years starts breaking out, so it was fun just watching it happen.
Just recently the band announced they are breaking up and would play one final show at the Vera Project. Obviously I had to go - I was there for some of the early shows and the highlights, I definitely wanted to be there for the last act.
They sold out the Vera Project, and although the intro band didn't make it (I heard they got stuck at the border in Canada, I hate when that happens) they kept the audience happy with a DJ set. They even had Marshal Verdoes (the drummer from the Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, he hangs out at the Vera and does stage lights quite often) hop up on stage to play drums with the recorded music, and the dance party cranked it up a few more notches, nothing like a solid loud beat and live music to put things over the top!
Band members hung out in the lobby visiting with fans and sharing slices of cake, so the fans didn't mind the slow start to the show, they were having a good time.
Finally a bit after 10 the band took the stage for a memorable performance.
They had the audience dancing and singing non-stop. I've never sweated so much at a Vera show, and it was actually a cool late Spring day in Seattle; all the heat was from fanatics who couldn't stop dancing and bouncing and singing and sweating.
I ended up recording all of their songs, and in some cases I got alternative takes: one camera on a tripod in the balcony giving an overview, and an alternate video recorded with a hand held Flip as I bounced around in the audience. You can find many more videos on my YouTube channel, I'm only embedding a few in this post.
Sophisticated Sideways Ponytail was one of my fist NPSH favorites, and it's just getting better with age:
I'm a little sad I won't get to see them do this any more, but at least I have my memories and a bunch of videos.
They have so many good songs that speak to me in various funny ways - "Me + Yr Daugthter" is a personal favorite, I've got young adult daughters so I've always felt this song speaks directly to me:
Midway through the show Bite Futures left the stage for the time machine and out came Natalie Portman's Shaved head to play more of our favorites. Headbands and lots of white, basically it was NPSH from 5 years ago coming back to finish off the show, a wonderful concept.
There are videos of many other great songs like Confections and Black Wedding and their encores. You can check those and others out on YouTube if you're interested.
The show, like the band and all good things, finally came to an end. Great way to go out, but I can't help but hope maybe someday we'll get a reunion show. Oh well, in the meantime I can still see Claire in Dude York.
The show kept going until past Midnight, which is somewhat unusually late for a Vera Project show, many of the volunteers have to catch busses before then, but we had a great crew that stayed until the end. When we cleaned up afterwards the showroom floor was wet with sweat. Not just damp, it was soaking so all of the paper and glitter that was thrown onto the audience and ended up on the floor was sticking, it was quite a mess. Luckily we had a great crew and we made short work of the cleanup. It was a hard partying crowd so we had couple of puke incidents to cleanup after too, and the bathrooms got an additional full mopping before we were done, par for the course at a well attended lively show. Hmm, I don't want to end the blog post on that note, so here's the video of "Sophisticated Sideways Pony Tail" - I love the bright colors and the images, definitely a personal favorite:
I saw them several times over the years as they got more comfortable on stage and added more songs to their repertoire and grew their fan base to the point where they could sell out the Vera Project and more.
Eventually they changed their name to "Brite Futures" and posted this video to "explain" the change:
At least I think that's what the video is about. It's petty amusing and a good indication of the band's collective sense of humor. It also ends with a sample of 10CC's "I'm Not In Love" - random, but that was a favorite song from my adolescence.
Last Summer Brite Futures played the main stage at Bumbershoot and kept a crowd of 10,000+ bouncing and sweating and enjoying the heck out of their upbeat bouncey dancey pop music. I enjoyed seeing them doing so well; as a fan you end up feeling like you're somehow along for the ride when a band you've followed for years starts breaking out, so it was fun just watching it happen.
Just recently the band announced they are breaking up and would play one final show at the Vera Project. Obviously I had to go - I was there for some of the early shows and the highlights, I definitely wanted to be there for the last act.
They sold out the Vera Project, and although the intro band didn't make it (I heard they got stuck at the border in Canada, I hate when that happens) they kept the audience happy with a DJ set. They even had Marshal Verdoes (the drummer from the Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, he hangs out at the Vera and does stage lights quite often) hop up on stage to play drums with the recorded music, and the dance party cranked it up a few more notches, nothing like a solid loud beat and live music to put things over the top!
Band members hung out in the lobby visiting with fans and sharing slices of cake, so the fans didn't mind the slow start to the show, they were having a good time.
Finally a bit after 10 the band took the stage for a memorable performance.
They had the audience dancing and singing non-stop. I've never sweated so much at a Vera show, and it was actually a cool late Spring day in Seattle; all the heat was from fanatics who couldn't stop dancing and bouncing and singing and sweating.
I ended up recording all of their songs, and in some cases I got alternative takes: one camera on a tripod in the balcony giving an overview, and an alternate video recorded with a hand held Flip as I bounced around in the audience. You can find many more videos on my YouTube channel, I'm only embedding a few in this post.
Sophisticated Sideways Ponytail was one of my fist NPSH favorites, and it's just getting better with age:
I'm a little sad I won't get to see them do this any more, but at least I have my memories and a bunch of videos.
They have so many good songs that speak to me in various funny ways - "Me + Yr Daugthter" is a personal favorite, I've got young adult daughters so I've always felt this song speaks directly to me:
Midway through the show Bite Futures left the stage for the time machine and out came Natalie Portman's Shaved head to play more of our favorites. Headbands and lots of white, basically it was NPSH from 5 years ago coming back to finish off the show, a wonderful concept.
There are videos of many other great songs like Confections and Black Wedding and their encores. You can check those and others out on YouTube if you're interested.
The show, like the band and all good things, finally came to an end. Great way to go out, but I can't help but hope maybe someday we'll get a reunion show. Oh well, in the meantime I can still see Claire in Dude York.
The show kept going until past Midnight, which is somewhat unusually late for a Vera Project show, many of the volunteers have to catch busses before then, but we had a great crew that stayed until the end. When we cleaned up afterwards the showroom floor was wet with sweat. Not just damp, it was soaking so all of the paper and glitter that was thrown onto the audience and ended up on the floor was sticking, it was quite a mess. Luckily we had a great crew and we made short work of the cleanup. It was a hard partying crowd so we had couple of puke incidents to cleanup after too, and the bathrooms got an additional full mopping before we were done, par for the course at a well attended lively show. Hmm, I don't want to end the blog post on that note, so here's the video of "Sophisticated Sideways Pony Tail" - I love the bright colors and the images, definitely a personal favorite:
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
One Night Only
When I video tape and blog about the bands I see I usually friend the band and post links to the content on their wall. As a result I see interesting posts from my "friends" on occasion. Monday night, for example.
Both Brite Futures and Champagne Champagne posted about doing a free show that night at the Crocodile. I've never seen a show at the Crocodile and I love both bands and had no plans for the evening, so I wandered across Belltown, ate dinner, then staked out a nice table in the back room by the stage.
Brite Futures started setting up on the small stage and I wasn't sure they'd fit. It turned out to be a subset, with 3 members of Brite Futures - according to the Stranger's lineout blog we saw Claire England, Mark "Gajamagic" Gajadhar, and David Price. Pearl Dragon was there early, I saw news that he was in a house fire but didn't get the details.
Dana came and joined me at the table shortly after 8 and we had a nice vegetarian pizza and some drinks. Pearl Dragon checked in to tell us that they'd go on at 9. I got up to get Dana a drink and when I got back to the table Dana had invited a nice lady to sit at our table and introduced her to me, it turns out she's Pearl Dragon's mom. She was very nice and she and Dana bonded over kid gossip and parenting and had a great time. We learned many of the details around the show from her.
It's amusing, I got to literally hundreds of shows and I never meet any friends or relatives of the bands - I'm sure I've been right next to them, I'm just to quiet to ever introduce myself. Dana comes with me to one show and we're friends of Pearl Dragon's family. My wife has always been better at networking and making friends, I blame my weaknesses on my nerdiness: too much of my nervous system is wired around math and tech, not leaving enough for the social interaction. Either that or I'm just too bashful.
I only got a little video and a couple of pictures but the show was fun. It was about the best case for a talented group that had rehearsed once 3 hours earlier, raw and fascinating, surprisingly powerful short and fast pieces.
There was some amusing candid patter like "Don't worry about how we botched the song here, we'll redo it and edit it back together."
They also brought Tyler Wilman of Green Apple Quick Step up for an effective vocal, once again short, sweet and powerful. I didn't manage to get Tyler on video, I only got a couple of bits with Pearl Dragin singing and the drum/guitar/keys or drum/keys/keys played by Brite Futures.
I don't know if the pilot will ever see the light of day but I hope it does, and I'd enjoy the heck out of seeing more shows like this. I hope Pearl recovers completely and comfortably, I hope Brite Futures has a good show at the Crocodile on Thursday at their SXSW kick-off, and I'd love to see Pearl Dragon work with live bands and given a little more time to get additional parts and material mastered, but the raw immediate take with no time for polish and complexity made for an intense and urgent show. Cool idea, what bands would we mash up? We could continue the hip hop + rock/pop band trend, go to the singer songwriter + band mash-ups and so on.
Tom fr/Knowmads + the Globes, THEESatisfaction + Finn Riggins, SOL + Craft Spells, I have no idea which would work well, I'm just randomly picking bands and hip hop performers I like. Would it be compelling TV, or at least interesting? I don't know, but I enjoyed being in the back bar at the Crocodile while they filmed it so I hope they do more, I'd love to see them.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Top 10 in 2011
I went out of my way to see a huge amount of live music in 2011. I've decided to pick my favorites in 3 main categories: favorite national acts, local favorites and new favorites. There aren't always ten winners, I only pick 7 national acts, 11 local favorites and eleven new favorites. I also pick 5 best songs and 4 additional accomplishments.
Best National Acts local favorites who've gone national and my favorite non-local big acts
Presidents of the USA - I saw them twice, at PUSA Fest and at Bumbershoot on the main stage. Both times I had Ben, Carina and Heather with me, and enjoyed the crap out of it. The Prez still rock out and get big crowds bouncing around to the beat and sweating all over each other. Having my kids along puts it over the top, the Presidents kept me and my kids rocking in 2011!
Das Racist played the Sasquatch Preview show, Sasquatch, the Capitol Hill Block Party and Bumbershoot, so they went from unknown to my favorite rappers. All tan everything indeed.
Two of my top national acts - Death Cab For Cutie and Maklemore & Ryan Lewis - get props for best live song (Where Soul Meets Body and Just Dance, respectively) below.
Decembrists added an additional voice, I think the original female vocalist left the band later in 2011 after this show.
Finally caught up with The Reverend Horton Heat live, the kids and I have some fond memories of his hits a decade or so back.
Foo Fighters did their bombastic rock show at the Gorge Friday night at Sasquatch.
Local Favorites
Mad Rad always puts on a great show with standout songs like Life On Party Mountain and You Only Live Once (air keyboards!)
Kimya Dawson is an idiosyncratic performer who brings passion and creativity and thoughtful patter into a show like nobody else does!
The Thermals reliably kick my ass and this year I got multiple ass kickings at the Sasquatch kick-off show, at Sasquatch and Bumbershoot.
PWRFL Power made a rare appearance at Magma Fest doing thrashy guitar work, nice to see him again, it had been way too long.
Brite Futures matures into an arena rocking heavy weight. I remember seeing them as Natalie Portmans Shaved Head at the EMP Sound Off many years ago, they've made it almost to the top.
Land of Pines - saw them at least 3 times: at the Vera, CHBP, and Reverb.
Ryan LaPlante
Kinski always puts on a solid set of great music
Silicon Girls - got to know a nice kid in the band while he was volunteering for the All Ages Movement Project, I enjoy their shows.
Hey Marseilles has consistently brought it - I still remember a cover of Love Insurgent from a few Bumbershoots back that ruled. They were in prime form in 2011.
Bear Cove from Bellingham kicked it out
New Favorites - Bands that I immediately liked that I had never seen before, sometimes I'd never heard them either.
Titus Andronicus
The Globes - listed in best song for "A Stitch Can't Save the World" and here's "Stay Awake" from Sasquatch:
Antlers - one of many excellent Sasquatch performances, need to see them again
The Smith and Westerns - another band I was unfamiliar with that played an excellent set at Sasquatch.
Other Lives were another discovery at Sasquatch
Tokyo Police Club - another unknown to me band that ruled. Sensing a trend?
Champagne Champagne did shows at the Vera Project and CHBP and Bumbershoot, I believe. Hip hop rap duo, excellent material and the two voices are different and play well together; every performance is an instance party, worth checking out if you ever get the opportunity. They've spent a fair amount of time touring with STRFKR recently.
Sol broke out some, I like the live lineup here with a drum set, bass, backing vocals, and a DJ who might have some keyboards.
TacocaT - palindromes and bright punk thrashing, gotta love it!
Sleeper Agent
My Goodness packed quite a punch for a duo.
Best Live Song
I Like Giants by Kimya Dawson
Kimya had another one about a friend dying that had me in tears, and Alphabut is the Stairway to Heaven of little kids songs
And We Danced by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The Town, My Oh My, and Dark Side all hit it out of the park or is it the Key
Where Soul Meets Body by Death Cab For Cutie (I'll Follow You Into the Dark, Title and Registration, that one jealous one "Gotta spend some time love... I will posses your heart")Listening to Where Soul Meets body at Sasquatch as my Mom's soul was losing it's last tenuous hold on her body sure gave it a wallop.
A Stitch Can't Save the World by the Globes
The River Runs Deep by Knowmads
Special props
At 4,078 views Macklemore & Ryan Lewis playing "And We Danced" is my most popular video. I managed to post it a few weeks before they got the song out which drove traffic; their video came out a little later and it has 652 thousand views.
My blog on the Craft Spells show at the Vera Project was my most viewed blog. Every week multiple people were viewing it; I'm not sure why it had so much more staying power, I have to attribute it to the audience - the fans. I can't see that I did anything special that was different from my other blogs. If it was something I did, I'd do it more!
I saw Knowmads at the Vera Project right before my fiftieth birthday. Shortly after that I took a class in interviewing musicians and had to select somebody to interview so I contacted their agent and set up an interview. They were young and therefore less intimidating, I suppose. My first on camera interview was with Knowmads Tom Wilson and Tom Pepe.
My video of the interview got 567 views, and blackout3842 (who does media, social media and web wangling for the Knowmads) posted excerpts that got more than 2,300 views.
Sea Cats were my son's first local band crush. We saw them at a Veracity show and got an inexpensive CD that Ben enjoyed, then he randomly got to see them do an outdoor show at the Seattle Center when he and Carina were wandering around. They got a nice gig at the Vera Project and I interviewed Josh Davis before it.
Best National Acts local favorites who've gone national and my favorite non-local big acts
Presidents of the USA - I saw them twice, at PUSA Fest and at Bumbershoot on the main stage. Both times I had Ben, Carina and Heather with me, and enjoyed the crap out of it. The Prez still rock out and get big crowds bouncing around to the beat and sweating all over each other. Having my kids along puts it over the top, the Presidents kept me and my kids rocking in 2011!
Das Racist played the Sasquatch Preview show, Sasquatch, the Capitol Hill Block Party and Bumbershoot, so they went from unknown to my favorite rappers. All tan everything indeed.
Two of my top national acts - Death Cab For Cutie and Maklemore & Ryan Lewis - get props for best live song (Where Soul Meets Body and Just Dance, respectively) below.
Decembrists added an additional voice, I think the original female vocalist left the band later in 2011 after this show.
Finally caught up with The Reverend Horton Heat live, the kids and I have some fond memories of his hits a decade or so back.
Foo Fighters did their bombastic rock show at the Gorge Friday night at Sasquatch.
Local Favorites
Mad Rad always puts on a great show with standout songs like Life On Party Mountain and You Only Live Once (air keyboards!)
Kimya Dawson is an idiosyncratic performer who brings passion and creativity and thoughtful patter into a show like nobody else does!
The Thermals reliably kick my ass and this year I got multiple ass kickings at the Sasquatch kick-off show, at Sasquatch and Bumbershoot.
PWRFL Power made a rare appearance at Magma Fest doing thrashy guitar work, nice to see him again, it had been way too long.
Brite Futures matures into an arena rocking heavy weight. I remember seeing them as Natalie Portmans Shaved Head at the EMP Sound Off many years ago, they've made it almost to the top.
Land of Pines - saw them at least 3 times: at the Vera, CHBP, and Reverb.
Ryan LaPlante
Kinski always puts on a solid set of great music
Silicon Girls - got to know a nice kid in the band while he was volunteering for the All Ages Movement Project, I enjoy their shows.
Hey Marseilles has consistently brought it - I still remember a cover of Love Insurgent from a few Bumbershoots back that ruled. They were in prime form in 2011.
Bear Cove from Bellingham kicked it out
New Favorites - Bands that I immediately liked that I had never seen before, sometimes I'd never heard them either.
Titus Andronicus
The Globes - listed in best song for "A Stitch Can't Save the World" and here's "Stay Awake" from Sasquatch:
Antlers - one of many excellent Sasquatch performances, need to see them again
The Smith and Westerns - another band I was unfamiliar with that played an excellent set at Sasquatch.
Other Lives were another discovery at Sasquatch
Tokyo Police Club - another unknown to me band that ruled. Sensing a trend?
Champagne Champagne did shows at the Vera Project and CHBP and Bumbershoot, I believe. Hip hop rap duo, excellent material and the two voices are different and play well together; every performance is an instance party, worth checking out if you ever get the opportunity. They've spent a fair amount of time touring with STRFKR recently.
Sol broke out some, I like the live lineup here with a drum set, bass, backing vocals, and a DJ who might have some keyboards.
TacocaT - palindromes and bright punk thrashing, gotta love it!
Sleeper Agent
My Goodness packed quite a punch for a duo.
Best Live Song
I Like Giants by Kimya Dawson
Kimya had another one about a friend dying that had me in tears, and Alphabut is the Stairway to Heaven of little kids songsAnd We Danced by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The Town, My Oh My, and Dark Side all hit it out of the park or is it the Key
Where Soul Meets Body by Death Cab For Cutie (I'll Follow You Into the Dark, Title and Registration, that one jealous one "Gotta spend some time love... I will posses your heart")Listening to Where Soul Meets body at Sasquatch as my Mom's soul was losing it's last tenuous hold on her body sure gave it a wallop.
A Stitch Can't Save the World by the Globes
The River Runs Deep by Knowmads
Special props
At 4,078 views Macklemore & Ryan Lewis playing "And We Danced" is my most popular video. I managed to post it a few weeks before they got the song out which drove traffic; their video came out a little later and it has 652 thousand views.
My blog on the Craft Spells show at the Vera Project was my most viewed blog. Every week multiple people were viewing it; I'm not sure why it had so much more staying power, I have to attribute it to the audience - the fans. I can't see that I did anything special that was different from my other blogs. If it was something I did, I'd do it more!
I saw Knowmads at the Vera Project right before my fiftieth birthday. Shortly after that I took a class in interviewing musicians and had to select somebody to interview so I contacted their agent and set up an interview. They were young and therefore less intimidating, I suppose. My first on camera interview was with Knowmads Tom Wilson and Tom Pepe.
My video of the interview got 567 views, and blackout3842 (who does media, social media and web wangling for the Knowmads) posted excerpts that got more than 2,300 views.
Sea Cats were my son's first local band crush. We saw them at a Veracity show and got an inexpensive CD that Ben enjoyed, then he randomly got to see them do an outdoor show at the Seattle Center when he and Carina were wandering around. They got a nice gig at the Vera Project and I interviewed Josh Davis before it.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Prepping for Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is next weekend and I've started preparing my devices and planning my strategy. I've got a new 2 hour Flip so I can record 168 minutes of video plus whatever I add with my digital SLR. The SLR does nice HD videos but the sound fails badly when recording anything that's loud so the Flip produces usable video, SLR mostly does photos.
I'll try my new Flip out tonight at the Vera Project with Braille, Theory Hazit and Knowmads. I may borrow or purchase a field recorder too.
I'll do a few Wii Fit yoga and exercise workouts this week to keep my back limber and my strength up, and we'll pay attention to hydration and good food choices at Bumbershoot and hope things go well. No major physical trauma heading in this year, but my neck and shoulders are still out of sorts from my epic unpleasant trip back from India.
Plotting out Bumbershoot bands, why did they have to have Shelby Earl and the Presidents of the USA at the same time? Brite Futures and Craft Spells too, and Nice Nice vs. PS I Love You, tough choices, that plus Shabazz Palaces and it isn't even 6PM on the first day yet. I count 38 bands I wouldn't mind seeing, if I can get to 20 of those that's better than 50%, anyway. Saturday is shaping up to be a good day, both of my daughters and my son will be going with me. This will be the 4th or 5th time I've seen the PUSA, my daughters have seen 3 or 4 I think, and this will be Ben's 3rd at least. They're definitely a family favorite, always put on a hot energetic fun show. STRFKR, Lawnchair Generals, Meklit Hadero, Ray LaMontagne and Mavis Staples and others I've never heard of. Awesome lineup for the first night!
I should be able to get some good videos, here's a favorite from last year's Bumbershoot:
This performance is on the Broad Street stage, they aren't using that stage this year. and they also aren't using Memorial Stadium as the main stage. They are using 2 stages in the EMP, the Key Arena as the main stage, and an additional fountain stage, so the venue lineup is a little different.
Sunday kicks off with Sol, local reggae, Lonely Forest and Whalebones at the same time, Mad Rad and Massey Ferguson at the same time, No Means No overlapping with Broken Social Scene, Thee Oh Sees, DaM FunK + Master Blazter, Atari Teenage Riot, Com Truise, Das Racist, Anti-Flag, Warpaint, Butthole Surfers and Leon Russel at the same time, with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis 30 minutes later, Tori Y Moi, The Kills, Joe Pug, Whiz Khalifa and more. Sunday's lineup looks excellent.
Monday has Motopony and the Horde and the Harem at the same time, a stretch of unfamiliar (to me) bands: Legendary Oaks, Fly Moon Royalty, Quadron, Curtains For You, Kendric Lamar and DJ Introcut. Finally bands I recognize: My Goodness, Head Like A Kire, Grand Hallway, Big Boi, YACHT, WD4D, MASH HALL, Ill Cosby, LAKE, Sharon Van Etten, Vendetta Red, Urge Overkill, Ravenna Woods, Fitz and the Tantrums, Phantogram, Truckasaurus, The Reverend Horton Heat, Hall & Oates, Grant Lee Buffalo. Other new to me bands like Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside, SPLATINUM, Over the Rhine, 214, Eisley,
Charles Bradly, and Greensky Bluegrass. Quite a lineup, I hope I can do it justice!
I'll bring 2 Flips and my digital SLR and (hopefully) a field recorder. I try to get a video of a song and some photos from each band, with favorite bands (PUSA) getting several songs.
Even 168 minutes of Flip will get used up pretty quickly and I can be pretty picture happy with the SLR. I'm trying to arrange a spot for my laptop so I can download videos wile recharging the Flips and download my photos and recharge the SLR batteries too. A 45 minute pause to get downloaded and recharged (overlapped with food and water and cleanup etc.) could double the daily capacity!
I'll try my new Flip out tonight at the Vera Project with Braille, Theory Hazit and Knowmads. I may borrow or purchase a field recorder too.
I'll do a few Wii Fit yoga and exercise workouts this week to keep my back limber and my strength up, and we'll pay attention to hydration and good food choices at Bumbershoot and hope things go well. No major physical trauma heading in this year, but my neck and shoulders are still out of sorts from my epic unpleasant trip back from India.
Plotting out Bumbershoot bands, why did they have to have Shelby Earl and the Presidents of the USA at the same time? Brite Futures and Craft Spells too, and Nice Nice vs. PS I Love You, tough choices, that plus Shabazz Palaces and it isn't even 6PM on the first day yet. I count 38 bands I wouldn't mind seeing, if I can get to 20 of those that's better than 50%, anyway. Saturday is shaping up to be a good day, both of my daughters and my son will be going with me. This will be the 4th or 5th time I've seen the PUSA, my daughters have seen 3 or 4 I think, and this will be Ben's 3rd at least. They're definitely a family favorite, always put on a hot energetic fun show. STRFKR, Lawnchair Generals, Meklit Hadero, Ray LaMontagne and Mavis Staples and others I've never heard of. Awesome lineup for the first night!
I should be able to get some good videos, here's a favorite from last year's Bumbershoot:
This performance is on the Broad Street stage, they aren't using that stage this year. and they also aren't using Memorial Stadium as the main stage. They are using 2 stages in the EMP, the Key Arena as the main stage, and an additional fountain stage, so the venue lineup is a little different.
Sunday kicks off with Sol, local reggae, Lonely Forest and Whalebones at the same time, Mad Rad and Massey Ferguson at the same time, No Means No overlapping with Broken Social Scene, Thee Oh Sees, DaM FunK + Master Blazter, Atari Teenage Riot, Com Truise, Das Racist, Anti-Flag, Warpaint, Butthole Surfers and Leon Russel at the same time, with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis 30 minutes later, Tori Y Moi, The Kills, Joe Pug, Whiz Khalifa and more. Sunday's lineup looks excellent.
Monday has Motopony and the Horde and the Harem at the same time, a stretch of unfamiliar (to me) bands: Legendary Oaks, Fly Moon Royalty, Quadron, Curtains For You, Kendric Lamar and DJ Introcut. Finally bands I recognize: My Goodness, Head Like A Kire, Grand Hallway, Big Boi, YACHT, WD4D, MASH HALL, Ill Cosby, LAKE, Sharon Van Etten, Vendetta Red, Urge Overkill, Ravenna Woods, Fitz and the Tantrums, Phantogram, Truckasaurus, The Reverend Horton Heat, Hall & Oates, Grant Lee Buffalo. Other new to me bands like Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside, SPLATINUM, Over the Rhine, 214, Eisley,
Charles Bradly, and Greensky Bluegrass. Quite a lineup, I hope I can do it justice!
I'll bring 2 Flips and my digital SLR and (hopefully) a field recorder. I try to get a video of a song and some photos from each band, with favorite bands (PUSA) getting several songs.
Even 168 minutes of Flip will get used up pretty quickly and I can be pretty picture happy with the SLR. I'm trying to arrange a spot for my laptop so I can download videos wile recharging the Flips and download my photos and recharge the SLR batteries too. A 45 minute pause to get downloaded and recharged (overlapped with food and water and cleanup etc.) could double the daily capacity!
Monday, May 2, 2011
April Retrospective
Finally had a nice weekend and a really nice Sunday, after taking a car load of teens and working the Knowmads show on the last day of April it was nice to take a few walks with the kids and the dog and get the lawn mowed on Sunday. Coldest April on record, and lots of odd late snow, not too sorry to see the weather go, but I'm a little sorry to see all the good shows I managed to catch fading into the rear view mirror!
I saw 29 bands, interviewed a band, and also attended a dance party with the 2 DJs from Lick spinning disks, 4 DJs or more once you add in the Knowmads show. That's the most bands in a month so far this year. In May I'll see way fewer shows, but one of the shows is Sasquatch Fest, so I'll probably set a new personal best for bands seen in a month, at least for 2011. I never kept all that close count for all those old Bumbershoot weekend passes, so there's some doubt, but I should definitely document more than I ever have before.
Of the 29 bands and acts and 4+ DJs, I'd seen 4 bands (Brite Futures, Silicon Girls, Knowmads and Real Rogers) and 1 DJ (the Knowmad's show DJ, I think he said he's from Trinidad at a prior show).
Highlights of the month:
Hanging out with my son Ben at the Craft Spells show early in the month
The immense variety of musical approaches, from the non-stop party central dancing of Brite Futures
...to the thoughtful offbeat hard rocking Titus Andronicus set
to Danielson and Karl Blau to the multiple sold out shows like Brite Futures and STRFKR with the packed in energetic audiences.
Knowmads coming back for a benefit and also giving me an interview.
The sheer quantity and variety of music has been amazing, so many hard working talented charismatic bands and performers - April was a great month for local music!
I saw 29 bands, interviewed a band, and also attended a dance party with the 2 DJs from Lick spinning disks, 4 DJs or more once you add in the Knowmads show. That's the most bands in a month so far this year. In May I'll see way fewer shows, but one of the shows is Sasquatch Fest, so I'll probably set a new personal best for bands seen in a month, at least for 2011. I never kept all that close count for all those old Bumbershoot weekend passes, so there's some doubt, but I should definitely document more than I ever have before.
Of the 29 bands and acts and 4+ DJs, I'd seen 4 bands (Brite Futures, Silicon Girls, Knowmads and Real Rogers) and 1 DJ (the Knowmad's show DJ, I think he said he's from Trinidad at a prior show).
Highlights of the month:
Hanging out with my son Ben at the Craft Spells show early in the month
The immense variety of musical approaches, from the non-stop party central dancing of Brite Futures
...to the thoughtful offbeat hard rocking Titus Andronicus set
to Danielson and Karl Blau to the multiple sold out shows like Brite Futures and STRFKR with the packed in energetic audiences.
Knowmads coming back for a benefit and also giving me an interview.
The sheer quantity and variety of music has been amazing, so many hard working talented charismatic bands and performers - April was a great month for local music!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Brite Futures, Los Gentlemen and Unibroz at the Vera Project 4-8-11
After yet another Vera Project meeting on Friday (getting ready for next week's member meeting) I stayed late and caught another excellent show headlined by Brite Futures. I saw them perform as Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (love the name!) in 2007 at the EMP's Sound Off battle of the bands contest and they were instantly likeable - bouncy dance pop, cute young kids having a great time on stage, I still remember that show fondly. Here's their video for Sophisticated Side Ponytail - pure pop genius! They did this song back in 2007 an dI swear none of them could've been older than 17. Since then they've renamed themselves Brite Futures and now they're playing SXSW and headlining packed shows at the Vera Project - it's nice to see talent get rewarded!
The first band to take the stage was a hip-hop outfit called Unibroz - a funny play on bros as in brothers and uni-brows as in needing to pluck your eye brows. This photo is pretty good except that I managed to leave one of the members out of the frame:
You can see all three members in this photo, although I don't like the picture as well:
Some day I'll get better at framing my shots, meanwhile you'll just have to muddle along with my best efforts...
I managed to get most of their title song - Unibroz (they were helpful enough to spell it out for me), it opens with "Thought you could pluck it but it just grows back..."
Hilarious overloading of terms and concepts in this one, witty stuff, quite amusing.
Next up was Los Gentlemen, three young dudes in a power trio lineup (guitar, bass and drums). I recognized several covers from the Cure and REM, not sure if they did originals or just some obscure covers mixed in. They obviously liked the material and did a good job with it, I particularly enjoyed the bassist, although maybe that's just because I was closer to him.
They did fun fast covers of alternative songs from the nineties which is a good source from my point of view, so I quite enjoyed it. Here's a cover of REM's Radio Free Europe:
Talented performers, although they'll most likely need to move to either their own material or more obscure covers if they want to get very far in today's music business. Strange how a few bands like the Beattles being so good at writing their own material caused things to change so much that the majority of rock musicians play their own material, and almost every rock performer aspires to doing so. It wasn't always that way!
Finally Brite Futures took the stage and the crowd just ate it up.
Song after song worked well with the crowd dancing and bouncing to the beat, wonderful positive energy and the band clearly getting off on the audience.
Just one big happy rocking out dance party.
Brite Futures is brilliantly fun and they have amazing pop chops. Their song "Sophisticated Side Ponytail" is an all-time classic, and their video for it is wonderful too. The bit with Shamu rising up from a google earth looking back drop to swallow the band - wow!
Unfortunately I had to leave early to catch the last bus home or I would've filmed more of the show. Too bad! A great way to spend a Friday night, Brite Futures always puts on a show worth seeing.
The first band to take the stage was a hip-hop outfit called Unibroz - a funny play on bros as in brothers and uni-brows as in needing to pluck your eye brows. This photo is pretty good except that I managed to leave one of the members out of the frame:
You can see all three members in this photo, although I don't like the picture as well:
Some day I'll get better at framing my shots, meanwhile you'll just have to muddle along with my best efforts...
I managed to get most of their title song - Unibroz (they were helpful enough to spell it out for me), it opens with "Thought you could pluck it but it just grows back..."
Hilarious overloading of terms and concepts in this one, witty stuff, quite amusing.
Next up was Los Gentlemen, three young dudes in a power trio lineup (guitar, bass and drums). I recognized several covers from the Cure and REM, not sure if they did originals or just some obscure covers mixed in. They obviously liked the material and did a good job with it, I particularly enjoyed the bassist, although maybe that's just because I was closer to him.
They did fun fast covers of alternative songs from the nineties which is a good source from my point of view, so I quite enjoyed it. Here's a cover of REM's Radio Free Europe:
Talented performers, although they'll most likely need to move to either their own material or more obscure covers if they want to get very far in today's music business. Strange how a few bands like the Beattles being so good at writing their own material caused things to change so much that the majority of rock musicians play their own material, and almost every rock performer aspires to doing so. It wasn't always that way!
Finally Brite Futures took the stage and the crowd just ate it up.
Song after song worked well with the crowd dancing and bouncing to the beat, wonderful positive energy and the band clearly getting off on the audience.
Just one big happy rocking out dance party.
Brite Futures is brilliantly fun and they have amazing pop chops. Their song "Sophisticated Side Ponytail" is an all-time classic, and their video for it is wonderful too. The bit with Shamu rising up from a google earth looking back drop to swallow the band - wow!
Unfortunately I had to leave early to catch the last bus home or I would've filmed more of the show. Too bad! A great way to spend a Friday night, Brite Futures always puts on a show worth seeing.
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