Wherefore Chromeo is art
August 9th, 2010
Something I have learned: No matter how hardcore someone’s musical tastes may run, they always have a soft spot large enough for one sliver of dance music to get through. The biggest Metallica fan I ever knew also loved ABC; the biggest Dead Milkmen fan also owned everything there was to own by the Pet Shop Boys. Using that logic, I will assume that fans of Chromeo, the Montreal-based electrofunk duo that plays the Showbox at the Market this Thursday, August 12 are the headbangers, punks and rivetheads you previously thought to be inflexible. Chromeo’s white-disco beats are too funky and its synth-pop melodies too addictive for the hardcases not to have noticed this silky outfit brushing past them on the street. There’s a fair amount of Hall & Oates in Chromeo’s sound; a goodly amount of Prince; a detectable element of Michael Jackson — and that’s too much good boogie for anyone to resist, let alone someone who’s held out against the disco juggernaut this long. See you on the dance floor, tough guy. Tickets are $21 advance.
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Counting down to Bumbershoot
August 3rd, 2010
Hate to say it, but summer? Done. Finished. Stick a cloudy fork in it. We had two weeks of nice sun and a few odd days of aggressively angry sun, but from here on out, it’s going to be high clouds and cool breezes and wistful looks. Pretty much all we have to look forward to at this point is maybe one more week of blue skies and sun, both nowhere near as intense as what we fleetingly enjoyed in July. And as ever, we’ll have Bumbershoot — that last longing look at the summer that could’ve been. It’s the spinning top from “Inception,” that’s what.
The three-day music, arts and short film festival, happening September 4-6, has locked down its lineup (viewable here), which you can see here. More importantly, festival organizers One Reel have made a significant change to the admission structure: This year, you can purchase a daily ticket that excludes the Mainstage events but gets you everything else, including the English Beat up yonder, for just $22. The regular daily tickets are still a pretty good deal at $40, considering all that you get (and the thing is, you won’t even know what the highlights will be until you go there and discover them; that’s how B-shoot really shines, in the unexpected pleasures department). But $22? That, savage reader, is a steal — and One Reel ought to be commended for offering these tickets. Snap some up before they change their minds.
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Looking for Americana with Band of Heathens
August 2nd, 2010
I have ever struggled with genre labels. In the past, I have used the terms “No Depression” and “alt.country” to describe a wide array of bands, from Slim Cessna’s Auto Club to The Avett Brothers, and until this moment I’ve been okay with painting all those colors with the same two brushes. But that ends now. From today on forward, I’m going to use the word “Americana” to describe those bands whose sound would not — for reasons completely unfathomable — totally agree with the ears of the country music establishment. I’ll begin with Band of Heathens, the excellent Austin band scheduled to play a $10 show at the Tractor this Tuesday, August 3. I have my reasons for doing this. The first reason is that the Americana Music Association nominated BoH a “promising new artist” for 2009, and the band is certainly that: I can detect a spark at the heart of their sound that could cause the band to explode into a giant, like Wilco before them. But mostly, I like using “Americana” to describe Band of Heathens because that’s what they are. The wistful rocker “Don’t Call on Me” and the swaying boogie of “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and could only have been forged in American bars and roadhouses, and I think music like that oughta be labeled accordingly.
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The invincible “Billie Jean” shakes up Cal Anderson Park
July 30th, 2010
The more I think about it, the more I see the debt that “Thelma and Louise” owes to 1985’s underappreciated “The Legend of Billie Jean,” screening for free (!) tonight at sunset at Cal Anderson Park as part of Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s “Blonde But Not Forgotten” series. Somebody gets shot who has it coming; a mousy woman awakens to kick major ass; and the action climaxes in a whiteout. Texas trailer park siblings Helen Slater and Christian Slater (pre-tiresome Jack Nicholson parody) are forced to take it on the lam after an unfortunate accident. Along the way they acquire a ragtag band of misfits, including sexy dork Keith Gordon (Keith, why did your star never rise?) and Yeardley Smith, who provides viewers with the amusing experience of hearing Lisa Simpson’s voice ask “When can I get a diaphragm?” Peter Coyote prefigures “Thelma”’s Harvey Keitel as the soft-hearted cop on a mission to save the fugitives from the mess they’ve made. One could posit oh-so-seriously that “Billie Jean” is more relevant than ever today, when we designate, elevate and devour “celebrities” at a breakneck pace. But mostly, it’s just good-time kids-vs.-grownups fun. - Sheri Quirt
Tags: free Seattle movies, Three Dollar Bill Cinema
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Who has short shorts? Re-bar has short shorts
July 29th, 2010
Forgive the late notice, but there’s a film event happening 7 p.m. tonight at Re-bar that looks intriguing. Tall Beers and Short Shorts, a quarterly screening series featuring new short films by local and regional filmmakers, is the very definition of an entertainment deal: You’ll see 13 films, including Lou Karsen’s “Crops for Clunkers,” Will Bulman’s “Apple Insanity” and “Sandwish” by Erika Valenciana and Kate Reynolds, all for a paltry $10. Plus, you’ll be support local independent film and helping to sustain Seattle’s cultural blah-de-blah blah. The important thing is that you’ll see a lot of great film for very little money — and do you really need an excuse to spend a quality evening in one of Seattle’s most elegant dive bars? Nope. All you need is a base of water and food, and some cab fare.
Tags: Seattle film
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Put some smart money on Trivariety! The Trivia Variety Show
July 27th, 2010
Via Friend of the Spellout Meg van Huygen: “Trivariety! The Trivia Variety Show,” perhaps the most winning mix of education, entertainment and cheap beer to hit this town since Mary Kay Letourneau began hosting a club night, is now happening at Re-bar on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. This Wednesday, July 28 qualifies as one of those venerated fourth Wednesdays, which means that if you head down to Re-bar at 7 p.m. and slap down $4, you’ll bear witness to the following:
Trivariety! is an interactive game show in which the audience divides itself into teams and competes in a trivia contest, with the questions delivered by live performers. Hosts Simon Astor (The Market Theater’s “Jungle Woman of the Jungle”) and Meg van Huygen (Linda’s Drunken Spelling Bee) have prepared a unique show of original questions and performers designed to amuse and confound, in addition to their own accordion-based bits. It’s a combination of pub quiz and cabaret, with consumable–and other miscellaneous–prizes awarded to the highest-scoring teams.
The format, rules, and hosts are consistent from week to week, with a rotating stable of local talent as the presenters. At each show, it is possible to see dancers, aerialists, musicians, or acrobats using their various talents to pose the questions. It’s an interactive performance appealing to the serious game show enthusiast, the vaudeville aficionado, and, you know, the drinker.
This New York import sounds like our kind of edification: a twain-fisted, booty-shakin’ bibulous shootout. You should go.
Tags: Re-bar, seattle trivia nights, Trivariety
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Help the Grand Illusion by seeing John Waters’ lusty ladies
July 26th, 2010
Via the Kung Fu Grindhouse bl-g: Word is that the Grand Illusion Cinema, that wonderful non-profit boutique cinema in the U District, is straying dangerously close to insolvency … and that cat just won’t fight. The Grand Illusion screens those classic movies you’ve heard about but never seen — and sometimes, the ones you haven’t even heard about. It is Seattle’s most daring revival house, and it needs your love to keep that middle finger proudly raised. Kung Fu Grindhouse encourages all fans of cinema to check out a screening of John Waters’ perfectly grotesque “Female Trouble,” this Tuesday, July 27 at 9 p.m. at the Grand Illusion. For every ticket you buy, KFG will donate another $5 to keeping the Grand Illusion alive. Or, if you don’t want Divine haunting your dreams, contribute directly to the Grand Illusion at the preceding link. A year membership is just $30 — about what you’d spend on two tickets to a crappy 3-D movie, and with infinitely more transvestite opportunities.
Tags: cheap seattle, seattle cheap movies, the grand illusion
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Save big at the Ballard Sidewalk Sale
July 21st, 2010
According to NWsource.com (hi, guys!), the Ballard Sidewalk Sale is Seattle’s oldest and largest. I can’t speak to its historical significance, but I can tell you that NWsource is bang-on about the ambitions and size of the thing; it is ginormous indeed, and loaded silly with great deals. From Thursday, July 22 through Sunday, July 25, you’ll find all manner of great deals splayed across Market St. and Ballard Ave. — swell girlie stuff from Velouria; striking framed art from Annie’s; cheap CDs and vinyl from Sonic Boom; foofoo gifts from Romanza and much, much more. This sale is just one of the thousand reasons I have sworn a blood oath to Ballard, and I’ll see you out there, pushing and shoving others aside to get to the good stuff.
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Spellout Seattle is taking a few days off
July 16th, 2010
The author is going home to Las Vegas for a long weekend of quiet contemplation. With blackjack. And hookers. Spellout Seattle will resume broadcasting next Wednesday, July 21 … but in the meantime, if you really miss me — go figure; I guess you have your reasons — you might want to keep an eye on our anemic sister site, Spellout Las Vegas. The new Emergency Arts space on Fremont opens tonight, and I’ll be there to take pictures and engage in full-body schmooze. Watch the Vegas Spellout for details. But not all the details.
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This weekend in outdoor movies
July 14th, 2010
The temperature is perfect, the skies are clear, and the time is ripe for outdoor movies. In fact, to paraphrase Vonnegut, the time is damn near rotten-ripe. It’s glorious out there, my friends — the stuff that celluloid dreams are made of. I doubt we’ll see a nicer outdoor movie weekend until the next one, so if I were you, I’d get my lawn chair out and stake my place right now.*
On Friday, July 16, Three Dollar Bill Cinema presents “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell — the sun and the moon personified, throwing light and shade on Cal Anderson Park. It’s the opening film of 3DBC’s “Blonde, But Not Forgotten” series, which will include the obvious (“Desperately Seeking Susan”), the family-friendly (“Candleshoe”), and the inexplicably beloved (“The Legend of Billie Jean”). Admission is free, but donations are always appreciated. It takes money to look this good.
The Fremont Outdoor Movies series has been overdoing it lately (a couple of weeks back it was overrun by zombies), so it’s not terribly surprising that this Saturday, July 17, Fremont is getting “The Hangover.” Suggested admission is $5, and as anyone who’s seen the movie is likely to tell you, you’ll find the film unspooling at the corner of Fuck Off & Get a Map. And if “The Hangover” offends your delicate sensibilities, the same night sees the opening of the West Seattle Outdoor Movies series with “Mamma Mia,” a movie about rich people overcoming adversity by huffing their way through the radio hits of ABBA. It opens with a short W.C. Fields comedy, despite the fact that Fields would have probably hated “Dancing Queen” more than children or puppies.
*Regretfully, I won’t be there with you. I’m going back to Vegas this weekend. Watch for long-overdue updates here.
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