Here’s the scoop. When I go to see movies, I don’t like to know anything about them. Not the director, the plot, the actors, nada. It’s a much better experience, in my opinion. That is, assuming the movie turns out to be worth it’s Salt in Celluloid (my new band name). If you’re like me in this regard, I suggest you do the following: show up this Saturday at 5:30PM at the International District Link Light Rail Station. Bring $4 for fare. Hop on the train with us. Enjoy the ride. 

On the other hand, I’ve seen some terrible movies thanks to this ridiculous tactic. If you think that whole idea is as silly as I do, here’s some info all up in your grill (slang)…

Meet at 5:30 PM on Saturday at the International District Link Light Rail Station (Jackson St between 4th and 5th Avenues S), bring enough fare to ride ($4), and grab a seat. You will know you’re in the right place because you will hear and see Prawnyxx. Also, for the first time in your life, your heart will tell you that you’ve made a good choice and you’re a good person after all.

On the ride down to SeaTac you’ll enjoy a musical ‘overture’ from your rail tour guide, Jordan O’ Jordan and the Racer Sessions.

At SeaTac, two cars will head back to SODO. One Dark, One Light. Which is which? Nobody knows. In any case, on the ride back you will enjoy/be subject to the sounds of some of/any/but not limited to the following: Tahoe Jackson, Toy Boats, Jamey Braden of Wet Paint,  Led to Sea, Forrest Friends, Walrus Machine, Paul Hoskin, The Beaconettes, and an anti-SeaFair marching band called Movitas.

At this point, although the rail journey has ended, the show is not over. We’ve got it going on (slang term) and the party (an event at which to enjoy oneself, oftentimes with friends, etc.) keeps on kickin’ (more slang) down the road (literally) at Radar Hair and Records at 7:30PM. We’ve lined up DJ In of the Source Family’s Ya Ho Wa 13 to play with a specially curated cast of Seattle Musicians. Opening is locals Hound Dog Taylor’s Hand (Jeffrey Taylor of Climax Golden Twins), Sugar Skulls, and Kaleidosaur. Plus, Rob Walmart is going to play out of an ice cream truck.

That right there is more than anybody deserves and it is enough. So at this point you’ll be free to do whatever you like with the rest of your life, taking into account local customs and any applicable county and city ordinances.

Did you know this already? Apparently the building is being torn down for one reason or another. This place was the first thing I would bring up whenever somebody asked me why I loved Seattle. So now Hollow Earth is in the number one spot. Yep, it was second until now, sorry. Here’s a picture of the person I was intending to buy a needle for when I found out. You can see he could have really used it.

A quote from an interview with Andrew Rieger from Elf Power, about them touring together and collaborating with Vic on Dark Developments. Goddamn, I’ve been laughing out loud for the past 30 minutes… I can picture it.

“We toured all over the world with Vic, and had some great adventures, such as witnessing him get caught for shoplifting a notebook and subsequently talking his way out of getting arrested in Madrid, having him sometimes scream “Help! Help! No!” to confused passers by in crowded parking lots, as we lifted him into the van, to make them think we were kidnapping him, and his legendarily nasty impromptu soundcheck songs sung for our amusement.”

Another one found yesterday…very illuminating.
JMJ

Tonite at 8PM, the Leaky Pipes welcomes local bandish person The Graze! He’s been doting around town for a while now, lending his talents to numerous projects including Rosyvelt, An Invitation to Love, Mississippi Painful, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo, and probably a bunch of other stuff I don’t know about. He is good looking and a great singer. The Graze, as far as I understand it is basically his solo project, although for his CD release show this Friday at the Mars Bar with Mississippi Painful and Seth Howard, he’ll have a fully functioning and rocking rolling backing band. His new album Give/Sell is out now on J-Shirt Records, but one of my favorite tunes from the Graze catalog came from the Ball of Wax, volume 6 comp. It’s called “Sheep” and it’s so good it makes me cry and then throw up because I make myself sick I’m such a loser.

My plan, if well executed, is to treat him like dirt during the interview portions so maybe he’ll think I’m better than him and therefore like me and we’ll end up being best friends sometime down the road and I can get rid of my current best friends who most certainly do not have my best interests in mind and I guess thought it would be hilarious to leave me passed out on the Bremerton ferry on Saturday night and so I had to spend the night at my 2nd cousin once removed’s place who I don’t know that well and who I don’t really like and who only wants me to play the 25% of “Hotel California” that I know on the guitar over and over again all night so he can play the dumb fills on the drums and I had to eat gross brown spaghetti for dinner that tasted like a garden hose but I had to say that it was probably the best spaghetti I’ve ever had and there was no fucking coffee in the morning either which is the worst part of the whole thing.

Like I said, he’s a great singer and is good looking.

Tune in tonight at 8P!

JMJ

Firstly, we present the unique talents of Arrington de Dionyso! Based in Olympia, but spending most of his time on the road, Arrington’s most recent effort Malaikat dan Singa, out last year on K Records, is a blast of noisy primal rhythms, horns, guitar and voice. Also it is a really great party record to throw on if none of your usual boring friends has shown up and instead a number of wild parrots, alligators, and venus fly-traps overtook your home and started smashing and breathing fire over everything. He is also (to put it lightly) a bit of a multi-instrumentalist, but his music directs most of the focus on his wildly masterful saxophone skills and well-trained vocals, which, strangely enough, he uses as the incredibly expressive instrument it was intended to be. By someone/thing? I don’t know. Also, he’s in this band, of which you may have heard and which you probably already love with an unhealthy fanaticism. Here’s a creepy video from Malaikat dan Singa…

Continuing in the vein of perpetually traveling troubadours, we have rare treat of a performance from Jason Webley, one of our own hometown heroes, punk accordionist extraordinaire. A former busker who decided to make the move from the sidewalks of Seattle to performance stages across the world. Producing what he calls “music that tears itself apart”, Jason’s musical weapon of choice is the accordion, an instrument of which he tells he picked up by happenstance in preparing for a stage production at UW. I’ve read his voice described as gravelly in many places so I’ll just go along with that. His voice is gravelly (like gravel).

His songs remind one (me) of pirates and the long gone days of yore, the times when many people, for some unknown goddamn reason, didn’t have the right to vote. You know, the swaying waltzes and minor ballads and such. He also plays the guitar summu-time. His most recent effort, The Cost of Living, is out on his own Eleven Records, but he’s also a hell of a collaborator, if his currently in-progress series of eleven collaborative projects between him and his songwriter friends is any indication. We’ll have to see what fun things he’s got planned for this Abbey show. It will be a surprise, but it will be one of the good ones. Like a five dollar bill you found in the pocket of your jacket you haven’t worn in a while. Yes, that’s our Jason Webley!

Lastly, but not blah blah blah, we present the honorable Sir Richard Bishop. Long running member of the storied Sun City Girls, Sir Richard Bishop brings his solo repertoire to our Magma Festival, fresh off a solo tour of Europe. Although he’s been based out of Seattle for a while now, he originally hails from the state of Arizona, as do I. This leads me to conclude that we must actually be best friends.

As far as the music goes (that’s what we’re talking about, right?), his most recent effort, The Freak of Araby, was released by Drag City in 2009. This one “features 5 original pieces and 5 traditional Middle Eastern songs all with electric guitar, bass and percussion.” Here’s some of that cool shit…

Then there are his solo efforts. As always, Wikipedia vaguely nails it by saying “his solo recordings and performances are largely improvised and draw on influences from Indian, North African and Gypsy styles, among others.” Here’s a great video for illustration…

They don’t sound improvised to me. They sound like they were imagined by some lesser known but more laid back multi-appendaged deity back in the times when nobody even knew what suffrage was because there were no countries and therefore no centralized democracies. Anyhoo, whether Sir Richard Bishop broke one of Newton’s Laws to obtain these tunes or whether he’s a more modern, extemporaneously inspired guitar-smoking genius I just can’t begin to guess. Maybe he’ll drop us a hint at the Abbey.

Doors are 7:30p and tickets are $12. Alternatively, you could buy a Magma pass here, which would be even better and get you into 10 different shows all throughout March! Actually buy two and give the other one to me so I can go to this awesome show. It will not be a date so don’t get any funny ideas but I will let you buy me dinner at Paseo…

Sorry, JMJ

Is anybody already on this boat? Found today in a newspaper box at 3rd and Pike. There was another copy of this same page there. I don’t recommend doing any “research” unless you’ve got a few mind-boggling hours to kill. Apparently, they come in editions of some sort… see here and here and here.
JMJ

Another chapter in the ongoing war between Hollow Earth and the floating consciousness behind the Myspace:we got this wonderful poem of an error message back from them after trying to upload our new Magma flier…

“Error: The image you have attempted to upload has been rejected for violating our Terms of Use. Common reasons for image rejection include nudity, violent or offensive material, or copyright infringement. To learn more please review our Photo Policy and Terms of Use.”

It was a graceful touch but rest assured, this is not over. Oh, no. Oh, no.

JMJ

Here’s the refrigerator at the place where I drink coffee all day. Somebody just cleaned it out. The tupperware you see labeled in there is full of my lunch. It’s homemade hamburger helper. I don’t know what’s in that bottle.

“I Was Young (Until Fairly Recently)” from Paul Iorio of Berkeley, CA. It’s nice to have something refreshing and surprising like this come along every now and again. He seems to be averse to playing more than one string of the guitar. I’ve listened to the 4 songs he sent over a few times now and they get better with each listen. More songs to stream over at his blog.

-JMJ