Several years ago I’d heard my friend Jim Compton had formed a band called Mr. Pacman, and that he played the Commodore 64 in it. Nice.
My recent 7-day stay in Denver intersected with a Mr. Pacman date at the Bluebird. Well well well.
So what would you expect from a show billing “Mr. Pacman” and “Girl Talk”?
I expected entertainment galore from the former, and not much from the latter based on what I knew: he/they is/are a DJ (and well, that’s it).
Wednesday morning I woke up knowing I would get a Beastie Boys ticket to the Crocodile for Friday nite. Was it intuition or just determination? Not sure but I could just feel it in my gut. When 4 o’clock turned up — the time the tickets went on sale at ticketmaster.com, I did what thousands of other Seattleites did, kept clicking “refresh” until the screen popped up to buy a ticket in hopes of getting one of the less than 500 tickets available for a rare Beastie Boys appearance at a tiny local venue, The Crocodile Cafe. And then bingo, I got thru! However to my dismay — when I entered in my 2 tickets I wanted to buy — it told me none were available. What? I kept trying and trying but got the same message. I then walked over to my friend’s desk and told him how sad I was that I missed out and he said to keep trying — so I ran back to my desk and did just that. After about 10 more tries, I got my ticket — I felt like Charlie when he found that golden ticket in the chocolate bar. I knew my gut feeling from that morning wouldn’t let me down. I scored one of the hottest tickets in town since I don’t know when…
I took in Lymbyc Systym and Album Leaf and the Bluebird Theatre in Denver two nights ago. Lymbyc Systym was the highlight, playing moody, pretty, driving numbers.
I was lucky enough to catch the 2nd show of Seattle supergroup The Heels.
In a word, they rockedmysocks.
I strongly suggest you see them if you like loud, punky music avec sass.
The stage presence of these women doesn’t so much wash over you as much as wink, kick your ass, and take your wallet. The music is cheeky, fun and fast, and this band will go far.
At 7pm Tuesday night, I was told that Chris Cornell was playing a show at the Fenix, but all available tickets had been distributed through MySpace and other channels.
I wasn’t about to run down to Pioneer Square to be a mouth-breather fanboy and beg entrance because the Seattle Times’ site said that the show would be webcast on MSN at 10pm.
Fancy that! I can be a fanboy at home and rock out to the aging ex-Soundgarden frontman belt out “Billie Jean” while doing physics homework. (I have to confess I am thrilled that someone other than Kevin Ledoux is doing 80’s cover tunes.)
Last night Britt Daniel, of legendary Spoon fame and responsible for 5 of the best albums of the past decade, played to an intimate crowd of about 150 at the Crocodile Cafe as a benefit for Muscular Dystrophy Research. As Spoon is a band that normally sells out venues like the Bowery Ballroom in NYC within 2 hours, it was a surprise to be standing 3 feet from the action and NOT be slammed against everyone else. The intimacy of this setting made for a rather quiet and self conscious start for Britt. Once the crowd showed it’s obvious adoration for him, the colar and guitar strings began to loosen and there was a steady increase in volume and energy as the songs kept pouring forth.
What songs did they nail?
Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed) (from the new album Cassadaga), Four Winds (Cassadaga), Hot Knives (Cassadaga). As part of the Bright Eyes encore they played Road to Joy - the last song on last album I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning - and it was a dream come true.
Reverend Horton Heat, Friday (early show) at El Corazón here in Seattle
Terminology from my source included the words “Excellent” and “it was so good we hugged” (two straight males).
Sigh… another RHH show, another case of singer Jim Heath playing his Gretsch while standing on Jimbo Wallace’s upright base.
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