Mark Farina Might Not Suck Tonight

Tonight Uniting Souls is throwing their first show at Neumos. Seattlest is excited about that, since it marks a pleasant departure from Trinity, which on weekends represents one of the milder circles of hell with the bridge and tunnel crowd seemingly out to do little more than bump into us and step on our shoes. Trinity made for a pretty big barrier for many, including Seattlest, so we're happy to see Uniting Souls back on the Hill.

That said, over the last few years Mark Farina, tonight's headliner, has been a bit bipolar with his performances. When he's on, he's an incredible DJ, more than worthy of all the praise he receives and the higher than normal cover charges. For the last few years he's often been a bit detached from his music and audience in his Seattle appearances, going on DJ-autopilot. Taking phone calls while in the middle of a set? Not cool. Looking entirely wasted and sloppy during a set? Also not cool. A performance a couple of years ago was so bad it prompted us to write "his people" a scathing email we're sure he never saw, insisting that we weren't going to put another dime in Farina's pocket until we heard that he'd cleaned up his act and taken a nice vacation, since he'd managed to disappoint on at least three occasions (the fact that he's in town every four months meant that was only over about the course of a year). A friend had already given up on him, dubbing him "Suckrina."

All of that said, we're giving Farina a chance tonight. It's only partially because we don't have tickets to the Dandy Warhols/Brian Jonestown Massacre show at the Showbox (Anybody have some they're willing to share with their favorite bloggers...in Seattle...in the Gothamist family?). We're willing to support not having to make a trip to Pioneer Square. Plus, the rest of the bill (Raoul Belmans of Swirl People and Carlos Mendoza of Lawnchair Generals) means that at least part of the night should be good. If like us you're shut out of the Showbox tonight, you can make the best of the night and shake what yo' mama gave ya.