MvB is going to get his pound of opening night hors d'oeuvres after seeing the The Merchant of Venice at the Seattle Shakespeare Company tonight. Saturday, if rainy, may involve an all-day LOTR-athon at a friend's in LQA.
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HIPHOP EXTRAVAGANZA: My, oh my, Seattle hiphop fans are in luck this weekend: the Blue Scholars are doing a stripped-down version of last year's The Program, with three nights at Neumos. This time, Common Market will join them every night; Truckasaurus and very special guests are playing on Saturday, Macklemore and Dyme Def will play on Monday night. Saturday's already sold out, but the second two nights are equally as awesome. Don't miss it. Really. more ›

EIGHT TRACKS 'N EIGHT TRACKS: Oh wait, that was the predecessor to Tapes 'N Tapes, the band playing at Neumos tonight. Everybody loves a little celebratory Midwestern indie rock on Inauguration Day, right? To prepare, or if you can't make it to the show but still don't want to Miss It, check out this Lollapalooza feature from a year or two ago where you can download the tracks from their set-list. more ›

Seattlest listens to a lot of local hiphop, and after awhile most of it starts to sound the same, save a few favorite groups (The Saturday Knights, Cancer Rising, and Grayskul, to name a few). Enter the latest two albums from Seattle hiphop staples Sabzi and Ra Scion. When their powers combine, they are Common Market; they're fighting on our planet's side to take (mind) pollution down to zero, with intricate, erudite-bordering-on-incomprehensibly thick lyrical miracle projects with the themes of rural Kentucky and the tobacco industry. more ›

WHAT THE...?: Apparently you shouldn't go to Seattle School's Strikethough #7 Jennifer Zwick's performance of . It's at the Rendezvous Jewelbox Theatre. more ›

Friday: Catch Common Market (4:30) and U.S.E. (5:30) at the main stage, then skip over to King Cobra for the second half of Truckasaurus (6:00). Take a dinner break (may we suggest eating something protein-heavy?), then get yerself to Neumo's for Thee Emergency at 7:45. After that, we suggest Das Llamas (it's their last set...THEIR LAST ONE!) at 9:45 at the Cha Cha. To round out the night, buy yourself a fancy rum drink at Havana and party until the wee hours with DJ Curtis. more ›

Common Market released Black Patch War in early May, but it's taken Seattlest awhile to get fully on board with the album. You too are forgiven for sleeping on it this long, but further snoozing is not recommended. Ra Scion has posted the lyrics to three of the seven songs from the album over at his blog, six minutes to sunrise, with footnotes and everything, and it makes for a riveting read if you're so inclined; also, listen to our favorite song here. Below is the title track, performed live from KEXP's Ballard Day at Verite Coffee last month: more ›

10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday // Washington State Convention Center, 800 Convention Pl // Two Day Pass: $30, Saturday Only: $20, Sunday Only: $15 more ›

We love some hiphop with our coffee in the morning, and KEXP's John In The Morning obliged us today with a live set from easy-going, hard-working local stars The Physics! You can stream the set and interview on KEXP's website by clicking here and setting the time to 8:07am. more ›

We usually stay pretty hog-tied to the folk and roots music world, but a year or so ago, we found ourselves volunteering to cover a show at Neumo's featuring Common Market and The Coup. Hot damn! That was a good show. more ›

What have you been up to for the past six months or so? Professionally, artistically, personally? more ›

First of all, we have grown slightly disenchanted with the SyncLive method of experiencing The Program. Though we were most certainly not enamoured with the Swollen Members and Blue Scholars shows on Tuesday, our friends who were actually there say the energy in the room made a weak set from Swollen 100% more bearable. more ›

Katelyn just mentioned Common Market, but there's also hip-hop aplenty at the Showbox this weekend, with Portland's Lifesavas and New Orleans' funk-tastic Galactic (featuring Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 and Boots Riley of The Coup) tonight more ›

Common Market is doing their smart, earnest, appealing thing at Chop Suey this weekend, with J. Pinder and The Physics sweetening the pot for Seattle hiphop fans. more ›

For some reason we're more willing to devote an hour of our Friday lunch than an hour of our Tuesday evening to the American Idol cause. Seattlest hasn't seen a whole lot of the show but we decided to run down and check out Blake Lewis just now and we're glad we did. We showed up at noon on the dot and were subjected to 15 minutes of banter from some Q13 chick trying to interview Blake's old bandmates. "You're not giving us any dirt on Blaaaake!" she whined over and over. Kind of a performance art piece, that. He finally showed, fussed with equipment for another 15 and then did a Jamiroquai song and a Sublime song and an orignial which was, of course, full of the beat box. Oddly, B Lewis wasn't the best rythmist on stage as K.J. Sawka was backing him. If a friend hadn't told us that they used to appear at the Seamonster on 45th together we'd have figured Sawka for a straight-up poaching, K.J. remains the only percussionist we can think of who can carry a show on his own, and this was the most subdued we've ever seen him. And then Blake wasn't the best MC on the stage--Common Market showed and Blake rightly groveled at the feet of Scion. And then Mix-a-lot showed up and made Blake beat box for "Baby Got Back." And then Kenny G got on stage. Ok, he didn't, but a city councilwoman did drop his name to muted cheers and confused looks amongst the kinder set. We had to shuffle off through the crowd as Blake, Scion, Mix-a-lot, Sawka and the rest of Blake's band wrapped up an all-hands number. For the entire time Blake Lewis was the best final-3 American Idol contestant in the square. more ›

Last year's Sasquatch line up was good, but not good enough to get us to spend three days at the Gorge. We still prefer the festival in its one-day, all-in-one-fell-swoop form, but with the lineup that's been announced for this year's two-day fest, we may just have to make the trip. Out of the two days, it was Saturday that really made us coo. Bjork *and* Arcade Fire? Consider us sold. There are still bands to be announced, but here's how things stand as of right now: more ›

8pm // Neumo's // $20. 21+ more ›

SEX: Sex-positive retailer Babeland closes out 2006 with their annual three day sale, with even some of their most popular toys marked down 25%. Let's face it, the other gifts you may have received this holiday season won't provide the long-term satisfaction something you pick up here will. more ›

As it should be, it's quiet this week in Seattle, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do -- especially the closer we get to New Year's Eve. So without further ado, Seattlest's belated gift to you -- some shows: more ›

In the spirit of an earlier post in which we asked you to vote for your top-five albums of 2006 via KEXP, Seattlest would now love it if you'd narrow it down to your top-five Northwest albums via Three Imaginary Girls. In addition to letting your voice be heard, the girls are promising that every ballot cast will be entered into a drawing for a "prize pack of fun imaginary goodies." more ›

Tuesday 17th more ›

We hate to sound cynical and old, but my god! Day two at Bumbershoot felt a lot like a tenth grade field trip to white people's rock and roll camp. We ain't dissing the kiddies, but when we head to the overcrowded, sweat-drenched beer gardens just to be amongst people our age, it's worth mentioning. more ›

What a great way to close out the summer: Beer, fried food on stick, irritatingly large crowds, great music, and a slight chance of rain (remember last year?). Seattlest loves us some Bumbershoot though, and we wouldn't let some pesky weather ruin our fun. This year looks to be a good one. A couple things we are digging right off the bat are the addition of good bands on the outdoor stages and ditching the Friday festivities before the weekend (we never went on that day anyway). more ›

You got something better to do? We don't believe you. more ›

Bumbershoot sent out an email this morning announcing a bunch of acts for this year's Smaller, Better Festival. There's even more hiphop on the bill with the addition of local act Blue Scholars and Common Market and Brit chick Lady Sovereign (who we're looking forward to seeing with The Streets soon). Area indie rockers Crystal Skulls and Rocky Votolato will be there and to continue the trend of one Brit band for every couple of local acts Badly Drawn Boy is now scheduled. more ›

About three songs into her set, Neko Case gave up on it. Hail the size of dice had the crowd shouting in excitement and alarmed pain. (Note to self: never wait for the weather you see coming across the plain out here to arrive.) The storm, with lightning, lasted about 45 minutes, sending everyone streaming toward cars and tents. more ›

Another week of Seattlest making all your plans for you. You don’t even have to think! Joy! more ›