Live at KEXP V4 is available now! This
exclusive compilation features live performances from Vampire Weekend,
Les Savy Fav, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Angelique Kidjo, Pela,
Atmosphere, The Hold Steady, and more. Click here to buy!
You are currently browsing the KEXP Blog weblog archives
for May, 2008.
Feral Children, Audioasis @ High Dive 3/1/08 photo by Rustee Pace
Tonight on Audioasis it’s your chance to show KEXP how much of a local music enthusiast you are. It’s pledge drive time and you the KEXP listener are invited to give your support to your favorite radio station that makes local music a priority!
Audioasis is the longest running local music show with two in-studios each week and DJ’s who live and breathe the NW music scene.
The Audioasis portion of the Summer Membership Drive is pleased offer CD packs, a VIP High Dive Package where you and three of your buddies can enjoy VIP seating the July 5th Audioassis Live Broadcast, and a Vera Project performance package.
Be sure to tune into Audioasis and pledge your support, not only to KEXP, but to the station where local music matters!
This day reminds me of a wedding reception, minus the groomsman getting drunk and making a pass at my cousin’s daughter — well, there is the woman who just called to ask, “Do you guys know where the booty cave is?” We don’t, by the way, but if you find out, let us know.
The courier came early in the morning bringing a feast for our guests… the volunteers ate heartily of bagels and donuts and chocolate and then later of burritos and more chocolates. The coffee guy brought 4 Americanos to the station for John’s morning fuel.
There are party favors. Today’s LICENSE PLATE DAY at KEXP… when you give, today, we’ll send you a license plate frame in addition to any thank you gift you might receive for your donation. Today only! Seems that there’s a movement afoot to show the KEXP love to the motorcycling green movement out there — special KEXP Roughrider pack — we’ll see what we can do!
We get so many wonderful emails, which are reminding me of wedding toasts. A love fest and pretty humbling for all of us. This one is from Hovie from Ballard who is reminiscing about our first date…
“My wife and I went to the KEXP member’s event in Ballard at the Sunset and were treated better than I could have ever imagined. Not knowing anyone else, we figured we’d hang out for awhile and leave. We were pleasantly surprised to be engaged by many of the KEXP staff and made to feel like we belonged. In fact it made my wife, who isn’t a listener, become one simply because of the great KEXP people she met at the event. Thanks again for being real, good, people!”
And then there was this message from Brenda who lives in West Seattle (Go West Seattle, Beat Ballard! — I know, I’m a traitor to my ‘hood, but I REALLY want to go out and have a KEXP party in another area of the city – to see how they do it!) — but I digress… She wrote this truly amazing email that chokes me up just thinking about it, it’s about our long and intimate relationship.
“Hi Guys,
I’m happy to re-up my membership today and take it up a notch from 100 to 180. It’s the least I can do. You don’t even know it but you’re friends who have shared some pretty big moments with me. Driving to work on the viaduct and realizing, after nine years of hoping, that I was pregnant at last. Dancing in the kitchen with my son Chester, now 4. Sitting in the car and letting it sink in after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Training for the 3 Day and rocking it, inspired by great music on the Live at KEXP Volume 2 disc, and grateful for my wonderful life with its awesome soundtrack — courtesy of KEXP. You Rock!”
Right now, I’m feeling that we’re all a bit like virginal newlyweds. Loving the reception, but really anxious to leave so that they can get down to business. It’s a HIT IT AND QUIT IT drive, we want to get back to music 24/7! Let’s consummate our union! Make your gift today, and we’ll sneak out of the party early!
My first week of The 34th SIFF 2008 started with Battle in Seattle on 22nd of May, a movie drama based on the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle that took place between November 29 to December 3, 1999.
I lived in Belltown, a few blocks away from center of downtown Seattle. This was not just another news story I saw on TV. Part of protests ended with violent confrontation in front my apartment building on the night of December 3. Police forced protesters out from the main area of downtown and ended up at my block, historically known for buying drugs & prostitution, where the junkies are smoking crack 24×7. At Third and Bell, “crack park” as we called it is now another dog park but still not much has changed underneath of pretty images of “Welcome to Belltown” put up for the outsiders.
That night, both sides made a dead stop on Bell street between 4th and 3rd avenues: the police in armor with gas mask on one side and protesters on other end. While the police were securing the area, they checked all the windows in my building with flashlights. I felt uneasy when one of them lit up my room and looked at me through his clear helmet facecover. They continued warning the crowd to leave. At this point, I cannot tell who were the protesters and who were just bystanders but the tension between them is built up high. I watched contrast of the motionlessly standing police and crowd that was now getting agitated but still holding its ground. Quietly, gas was lobbed into the crowd but was quickly thrown back at the police. It was very surreal. A handful of people were captured while large portion of protesters started running away from the attack. Suddenly, someone who lived in my building threw a bottle that shattered in front of the police. A Half dozen police rushed through the building door, and it took them only few seconds to bust the door open. The kid was handcuffed and taken out from the building. It took the police no effort and the kid had no chance…
That was the scene I had through my living room window. Battle in Seattle has captured many elements of the 1999 WTO riots in Seattle, certainly shows a balanced view of what it was about to many of us. So, go find this movie; you got fucking see this one.
In Argentina, Tango is a way of life. Cafe de Los Maestros is a music documentary about the country’s internationally famous Tango players by award-winning composer Gustavo Santaollala (Brokeback Mountain). The film introduces players and their contributions to tango music history through interviews and archival footage. It also includes their 2006 reunion performance at the Colon Theater in Buenos Aires, which shows that the Maestros, proud and grand old men and women from 1940s and 1950s, the golden days of Tango, continued to sound great and even seemed to get better as they age.
I found Cafe de Los Maestros enjoyable regardless of my limited Tango knowledge, especially because the musicianship is so impressive. Watching the Maestros play their instruments somehow brought a series of images into my mind with no musical relation whatsoever. At least, let me try to share them with you. The bandoneonist is like a fast and fierce bicycle messenger that flies through the streets of downtown. The pianist is a man throwing and spinning pizza pie up in the air. The guitarist is a stunt kite that moves like a fish and stalls to float in the air. What triggered these images to me? I don’t know… maybe because they are all skilled performances of different kinds. And the singers? She sings with the love of a mother squeezing grated apple into juice for a sick child, while he sings the sacrifice of his love for her happiness.
Cafe de Los Maestros left me with a desperate feeling of how I wish I could just play something, anything, with even just a tenth of their skill.
As usual, there is a lot of stuff going on here in Seattle this week. SIFF enters its second full week (and John Waters comes along for the ride); lots of great bands are coming through town. Here are a few things that I think are better than staying at home (and they’re all on Friday):
Paul Green’s School of Rock All Stars Perform Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Friday, May 30, 2008 at the Vera Project.
“Hey Teacher, leave those kids alone!” If you’ve seen the movie Rock School you should be intimately familiar with Paul Green and his school. Originally based out of Philadelphia but with a recent chapter opened here in Seattle (as well as other locales across the country), the students learn what it takes to become rock stars. Tonight, some of the school’s best students will perform the epic Pink Floyd album The Wall. I outed myself as a not-so-secret-Pink Floyd fan to some friends over dinner this week, so this is a show I am very anxious to catch and endorse unequivocally (even if I’m more of a Dark Side of the Moon devotee).
Here’s some footage of some of the Seattle kids playing “Comfortably Numb”:
Panda & Angel, with Foals at Neumo’s, Friday, March 30, 2008 at Neumo’s.
My favorite band to come out of the ruins of Carissa’s Weird is not Band of Horses or Grand Archives or Sera Cahoone (although we’re getting warmer) but Panda & Angel. Tonight, the wistful indie pop band with the most Cat-like and Powerful singer in Carrie Murphy finds their way at the Neumo’s stage opening for hot shit, Sub Pop band Foals. They’ve got 6 songs up on their MySpace page, all of which are available for free download. So far “Sirens” and “San Diego” are my favorites but all are well-constructed pop numbers. I know it’s Friday but skip the pre-show dinner and get to Neumo’s early enough to catch Panda & Angel.
The Fucking Eagles with Das Llamas and Black Eyes and Neck Ties, Friday, May 30, 2008 at the Fun House.
The Fucking Eagles rock the way that anyone who uses the f-word as an adjective in their name should. Unpretentious, with loud guitar parts and choruses you want to sing along and drink cheap beer to. One of the best rock bands in the Northwest (they call Tacoma home), they are always one of the most consistent and entertaining rock bands around and never fail to deliver an excellent set. In The Big Lebowski, the Dude hated “the fucking Eagles” but if you like solid garage rock that also rawks, you’ll love the Fucking Eagles.
You also can’t go wrong with Los Campesinos! at Neumo’s on Saturday, May 31 or Mouseheart Factor and the Color Bars at the High Dive on Wednesday, June 4 or Friday Mile and the Dimes at Nectar on Thursday, June 5, or…
See you out and about,
Chris Burlingame
*Three Imaginary Girls*
This year the Sasquatch! Music Festival responded to the ever growing demand for hard and laughs by launching their first comedy stage which coincided nicely with Monday’s main stage act Flight of Conchords. The new programming looked like a complete success. With a combination of local and national alt comedy luminaries gracing its makeshift stage, the tent was packed all weekend long.
The weekend began with The Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh) which is a bi-costal comedy troupe with theaters in New York and L.A. The have been delivering comedy to the masses since their award winning sketch comedy show began in New York in 1996. Though they began as sketch comedians, the UCB’s stages have become homes to all forms of comedy. Their super power is to make large name talent available to all audiences by brining people like Robin Williams and Tina Fey on stage for $8 a seat. They also provide affordable training for up and coming comic geniuses.
UCB was the work horse of the comedy tent. Their shows were an effortless combination of sketch, improv and stand-up comedy and they did four of them on Saturday and two on Sunday.
The Sunday show began with an argument between Matt Walsh and Matt Besser about opening theme songs which lead to them playing “It’s OK to Cry” followed by “Piano Man” and finally something that sounded like it came from the Lion King sound track. Their featured comedians were Sean Conroy, Rich Fulcher (from BBC’s the Mighty Boosh), Jerry Minor and Tim Meadows (of Saturday Night Live fame). Their grand finale was Besser coming out as a vulgar version of Pope Benedict XVI and randomly accusing people of doing everything the church disapproves of from using condoms to being gay. This was followed by Tim Meadows who said he was a little worried about following the Pope. Still, he managed just fine.
Matt Besser does a terrible impersonation of the Pope
Next up was Seattle’s comedy darlings, the Peoples Republic of Komedy. For the last four years PRoK has been connecting audiences to comedians throughout the Seattle area. They produce stand-up, sketch and improv comedy nights all around the Jet City. The crown jewel of which is their weekly showcase Laff Hole which has featured the likes of Shock G and Eugen Merman.
Reggie Reggie Watts introduces PRoK
After an amazing introduction by Reggie Watts, the audience was ready to rock. The PRoK line up did not let them down. Their differing styles created a roller coaster for the audience. They went from the surly pragmatism of Derek Sheen to Andy Peters supercharged goofy energy, Aziza Diaz’s thoughtful awkwardness the awkward thoughtfulness of Kevin Hyder and finally to the oddball charms of Andy Haynes.
Derek Sheen
Andy Peters
Aziza Diaz
Kevin Hyder
Andy Haynes
This was the PRoK’s first time on such a large national stage. The fact that they are going to follow it up with a several performances at Bumbershoot is evidence that Seattle is able to hold its own on the national comedy scene.
Kevin Hyder is completely humbled by the Sasquatch experience
The next performer on the stage was Reggie Watts. Reggie Watts is sort of like a Hip Hop version of Laurie Anderson. He is a musical virtuoso with a sharpwit and a talent for incorporating esoteric ideas into his act. He is also on track to be a legend.
Reggie Watts rocks the audience
Watt’s set was more musical than stand-up. This helped him keep his audiences attention despite the fact that The Cops were playing on the stage next door. Between his beat boxing, tape looping and story telling, he kept the audience more fired up from start to finish. As always, he was a sight to behold.
Morgan Murphy, the next performer was stylistically the polar opposite of Watts. Her jokes were thoughtful, but definitely not esoteric. Her delivery was deliberate. You could even call it sage-like. Though most sages usually don’t spend so much time making you laugh about day-time television. The only thing she had in common with Watts was a huge, laughing audience.
Morgan Murphy is distracted by security
Morgan Murphy makes comedy look deceptively easy. She has the ability to talk through a microphone as if it were her buddy sitting next to her in a bar. Furthermore, she has been on almost every late night show and has even run a few laps in the land of TV pilots. So you might get used to hearing her name.
The main headliner for the night was Brian Posehn. Posehn is the metal comedian. Rob Zombie, who cast Posehn in his movie The Devils Rejects, said that “If George Carlin and Rob Halford had a baby, his name would be Brian Posehn, ‘hellbent for leather’ and hilarity.” Posehn was also on the Comedians of Comedy Tour, the Sarah Silverman Program and numerous Comedy Central things.
Brain talks about life with Kate Beckinsale
From hard rock to his security system in Los Angeles his set was an honest demonstration of his love of metal and his life as a super nerd.
Last week I was offered a rather unique opportunity. This opportunity was to exclusively shoot a show that seemingly no one else knew about. I live in Chicago and think I am pretty up on the bands that come through town, especially those that are based just a few blocks away from where I live. This apparently is not the case. Andrew Bird, never one to shy away from Chicago shows, had his band with him and played an hour plus set on the grounds of the University of Chicago in historic Hyde Park. And here I thought I had to wait until September to see them play! (No, they are not currently booked for Lollapalooza, or Pitchfork fest.) There I was, at the spot of the birthplace of the atomic age (yes, the atom was first split not a few hundred yards from this green, architecturally profound place… but no need to make this a history lesson) surrounded by over a thousand college kids, hands stuffed with free Kraft sandwiches (thankfully the beer was free with admission). The show started off with a concise set by The Cool Kids (Unfortunately, I only have some far away shots of them).
Bird came on in early evening, accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Martin Dosh and bassist/ guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker. The set focused on later material from 2006’s Armchair Apocrypha and last falls tour EP Soldier On. While I didn’t record the set list, I did shoot the whole show. And these are the photos!
Talib Kweli and Cake played after Bird’s set, but unfortunately the show got a little too wet and cold for most of us, but the sun did shine for Bird! The name of the event was Summer Breeze, and I respect their optimism, what with summer being a month away. It was a wonderful precursor to this wonderful summer festival season I know I will be taking complete part in. Hope to see you all out there with me!
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Every Friday the Song of the Day podcast spotlights Northwest musicians. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Midday Show host Cheryl Waters, is “Get It Together” by Seattle band Shake Some Action! available from their second album Sunny Days Ahead on Satellite 451.
Sometimes you just need to hear a good rock song to get you in the mood to go out or to give you the strength to face your long commute home. Beware, Shake Some Action! delivers the goods but may inspire some air guitar riffing, no matter where you are, with their incredible hooks and rockin’ beats. KEXP DJ Cheryl Walters has long been a supporter of local music, especially of bands that rock. At the end of a March 2007, during their in-studio performance, Cheryl predicted there would be sunny days ahead for this band and inadvertently gave them the title of their sophomore album. The tracks for Sunny Days Ahead, released on frontman James Hall’s label, Satellite 451, were recorded late last year, often in just one take, giving the album the raw energy of a live performance. However, Sunny Days Ahead isn’t quite ready for action just yet: it will be available in stores starting June 17th. Keep an eye on the band’s website or Myspace page for upcoming shows. When the band performed in our studio back in March, a friend recorded the session on video. Here’s “Sound of Your Mind” from that performance:
That’s how I think about KEXP’s drives. They’re a party for 3800 of our closest friends, because that’s the number of listeners who typically make gifts during our drives. Think about it: a great party mix of music, some awesome food, party games, and depending on the drive, costumes. And it’s all in the name of helping artists get their music to our ears! That’s what these drives are really all about! We all love the music, the artists love creating and having us hear it… KEXP is like an art museum for music and the DJs are curators of great art. Great cultural institutions like museums and KEXP deserve our support!
We’re putting the finishing touches on the party, right now.
The drive starts in a few hours and the hallway — the important hallway where we keep the cupcakes and pizza during the drive (!) — is filled with a huge CD cataloging project. Some of John Richards’ top intern guns (including Gracie who’s home from an ivy league school back east!) are squeezed into what used to be just a hallway. They’re all on laptops, or using paper choppers, or filling bins with hundreds of CDs. It’s like a fairy tale come to life. They’ve been coming in on the weekends and at night, like the elves who would sneak in to the cobbler’s house to make shoes. But today, they’re revealing themselves to us, and they will have the CD project done before Don Slack and Rachel Ratner take the mic at 6pm!
And that’s good because Kelly needs to put a whole bunch of plastic wrap on the floor in that area. Ahhh, yes, the laying of the plastic wrap. I didn’t even know that there was plastic wrap made for the floor until I started working here. But it’s gotta be done, and Kelly’s just the person for the job. Otherwise it can get pretty skanky, truth be known.
Good news is that the Costco truck just delivered about 400 pounds of party food… Kevin Cole is psyched on the red vines (he just told me that, completely unsolicited, I swear!), chips, soda, gorp that’s heavily influenced by chocolate, oh, and a dozen apples. And someone has delivered bunch of cheesecakes — man they look good! We’re all set with the snacks.
My job is to help the DJs get psyched up for the party. And that means a trip to Archie McPhee’s. This drive, the DJs will be taking doses of Sparkle Ninja and Angry Scotsman bubble gum to prepare for the verbal and mental calisthenics that go into telling you about why the station’s good works are worth supporting. They’ll also get a pep talk and notecards with inspiring messages, and designs such as a shackled Saint Bernadette burning in prison before being martyred, or pulp fiction classic book covers like, I Was a Teeny-Bopper for the CIA, or a colorized photo of a woman riding an alligator. Stuff like that always gets people ready to talk about KEXP.
And of course, there will be presents for you, at this party! We have some really cool thank you gifts this drive, and you can check them out here! And of course, we’d be sincerely grateful if you were to make a gift to support the Summer Drive while you’re browsing the party favors! It’s a hit it and quit drive it that’s also the annual ‘Hood to ‘Hood Challenge! Please make your gift early and help us get the party rolling… I confess, I’m a total party wimp and want to go home early, so your gift NOW will help us end this one before the witching hour!
