Line-Ups the Wazoo

This has been a busy week, at least in terms of announcements as to who's involved in things taking place sometime in the future. Seattlest breaks it down:

Rock Lottery: This KEXP benefit/rock talent free-for-all involves a whole buncha local musicians divided into randomly-determined groups of five, who are then given twelve hours to write new material together before performing it that night (last year at Con Works, this year at Neumo's April 29th). The participants were announced earlier this week and include Dave Bazan, Heather Duby, and Reggie Watts, along with members of Mon Frere, The Young Sportsmen, The Ruby Doe, Dolour, The Emergency, and Slender Means, amongst others.

Bumbershoot: Not all the acts have been announced just yet (tease!), but the lineup for this year's three-day Labor Day music fest is looking promising: Metric, Deerhoof, A Tribe Called Quest, Jamie Lidell (catch him at Chop Suey this Saturday), Mates of State (playing at Neumo's next Thursday), Nouvelle Vague, Of Montreal, The English Beat, Feist, Atmosphere, and m-fing Kanye! Yes, yes, emotastic AFI, Hawthorne Heights, and Yellowcard will also be there, but let's ignore that for the time being, mmmkay?

SIFF: The full film lineup won't be announced until May 11th, but this week SIFF gave word that 2006's festival will be rather Danish-centric, featuring a whopping fourteen films from Denmark---all of which star the prophet Muhammad. Meanwhile, the festival will make its first commute over the 520 bridge to Bellevue's Lincoln Square Cinema.

The brand new, state-of-the-art, 16-screen theatre complex in Lincoln Square is conveniently located next to Bellevue Square with ample free parking. SIFF will be hosting a special Eastside opening night reception on Thursday, June 1st to kick off the specially curated selection of films from the festival lineup that will screen for 11 days—June 1 through 11—in Bellevue. The Lincoln Square Cinemas are an obvious choice for SIFF as the festival expands its boundaries for the first time ever to the Eastside.

SIFF will also be screening films this year at Pacific Place, the Egyptian, the Northwest Film Forum, the Neptune, Broadway Performance Hall, and the Harvard Exit. It seems as if the Cinerama will opt out yet again, following last year's choice to skip SIFF in favor of the conclusion to a terrible trilogy.