We could just tell you to go to Bumbershoot, with good reason, but if you're looking for something different than the norm, you could do far worse than these three options. more ›

What's on tap this Wednesday evening? You could get megalomaniacal at El Corazon; partake of enjoyable cheese at the Central Cinema; or cheer on our Sounders past the challengers from Panama. And before that all gets going, take a long lunch and march yourself down to South Lake Union for cupcakes and creole. more ›

There is just too much to choose from this week—and because I don’t want my head to explode, I’m piling on the listings for Seattle’s literary events. You lucky folks get to choose from ex-boyfriends and headless bodies, to Spring reading and boozing, to “homemade” (and pizza-filled) lives. Let the good times, vivacious speakers, and full bars roll. more ›

We had no idea what to expect as we walked up to El Corazon on Tuesday for the "Love is All Around Us" tour. It was around 6pm which is when the doors were opening (what the hell?). As we neared the entrance, a line of teenagers had already formed halfway down the block. After picking up our jaws, we added ourselves to the queue... more ›

He is We caught our attention a little while ago. We've been using bandcamp.com as a sort of jumping off point to find new bands in Seattle that may not have made a splash in our music scene yet. Being one of the most popular groups when you search for Seattle bands, we figured they might be worth a listen. They definitely veer off the beaten path a bit when it comes to typical music from this area. However, they stick to the popular singer/songwriter style with acoustic guitar and back-to-basics feel. Featuring a female on lead vocals for the most part, the lyrics tend to be more touchy-feely, rather than story-teller, but enjoyable none the less. more ›

We miss Rock and Roll. It's not that we don't like our newer friends. Baroque pop is nice. Dubstep is fun to hang out with. Shoegaze is sweet in its dark way, and no one complains when compositional-avant-electro-dance-pop is in the room. Still. Call us old fashioned, but we're drawn to good ol' sludgy and grungy, blues based guitar rock. It moves us, and we know how to sing along. more ›

NYC’s fun. plays the type of music that you might expect from a band with such a name. Much to our delight and our mothers’ collective dismay, the band won’t be performing covers of “Celebration” or other dreaded party tunes. Instead fun.’s songs consistently marry thoughtful optimism, playful self awareness and undeniable pop hooks without the cheese of yesteryear’s “good times” melodies. more ›

EVERYBODY HAVE FUN TONIGHT bet you didn't know Wang Chung was still together, and better yet...still touring. But rejoice, they're here tonight. You hear that? WANG CHUNG TONIGHT!! Love Vigilantes opens. more ›

IT'S THE END OF THE ROAD: for band Copeland, they're shortly breaking up after 10 years together. Be a part of their history tonight, before it's too late! The piano heavy lo-fi band performs at El Corazon tonight, in support of their last album, You Are My Sunshine. There's something cool about a farewell tour; a subtle 'don't give a shit' vibe. more ›

• Tonight we expect it to be all-out airness in Eastlake at El Corazon for the Seattle Regional Air Guitar Championships. We also hear one of the judges has a thing for the keytar.
• A homemade float plane (who does that?) had a splash landing this morning into Lake Sammamish. Its pilot, an 82-year-old Redmond man, was left unscathed.

Are you ready to rawk? Right on the heels of last Friday's Air Sex competition, El Corazon is set to host Seattle's regional finals in the US Air Guitar Championship. more ›

LOSE YOUR AIR VIRGINITY: A first for Seattle, tonight you can get pointers (or even perform) at the Air Sex Championships. Yes, you read that correctly. Think Air Guitar sans the guitar solo, but instead swapping it with two minutes of sexy, saucy, or pure naaasty love-making moves with an imaginary sex partner. All to love-makin' tunes sure to put the audience at El Corazon in the mood. And just so you don't start flashing dollar bills, there is no nakedness at this dry humping festival, however creative costumes are encouraged. more ›

Pretty much everyone describes long-running Canadian metal band Anvil as "the real-life Spinal Tap." They went virtually unnoticed for most of their thirty-year existence until the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil became an audience favorite on the festival circuit last year. The film will start its Seattle run at the Varsity this Friday, but you can see it first at El Corazon tonight (7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show), at what's being dubbed "The Anvil Experience," an all-ages screening of the film followed by a live performance by the band themselves. Tix are $15. more ›

Break out the hackysack and butterfly wings, because former Phish bassist Mike Gordon is at the Tractor tonight in support of his new solo record, The Green Sparrow. more ›

Yes, there's other shows this weekend besides the Capitol Hill Block Party. more ›

BOMBS BURSTING, ETC: Happy Independence Day! Grill up some zucchini, down a beer or three, and enjoy your day off. Ivars is doing their exploding chemicals thing after sunset, so if you're into that, sedate your dogs/chickens/goldfish and enjoy the 23 minute show over Elliott Bay. Or wherever: check here and here for your options. more ›

Stairwell Sisters have joined the slowly growing community of all-girl old-timey bands, and recently released their third album, Get Off Your Money. They do much better when they tackle the traditional fiddle tunes, but their originals do the genre plenty of justice. They’ll be joined at the Tractor tonight by local old-timey heroes the Tallboys. more ›

Tonight, the dynamic duo of Blitzen Trapper and Fleet Foxes is sold out, so you've got a few completely different options: at El Corazon, Apocalyptica, a Finnish cello quartet who love Metallica more ›

This weekend offers a bevy of live music options. Tonight take your parents to see the Kingston Trio at the Moore, or leave mom and dad at home and head to the Comet to see the guaranteed awesome live performance of Monotonix. Sometimes the Tel Aviv punk trio lights the drum kit on fire, sometimes they play their instruments as the crowd lifts them into the air. more ›

magazine claims, "You can't swing a dead cat this time of year without hitting a Top 10 List." Never one to waste a perfectly good dead cat, we decided to take a swing and create a Top Random-Number Shows Seattlest Saw This Year. And now, without any further ado, here's how your favorite bloggers broke down the year: more ›

Last month, in response to a push to "reconsider" old Mudhoney songs, we said that the band never made it big because they sounded more "rough and fuzzy" than the Big Four (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains). We said that singer Mark Arm's style--as well as the band's--was "not bad, just different." After witnessing Mudhoney's transcendent assault on El Corazon Friday night, we'd like to propose a reconsideration of the band itself. more ›

Saturday, Tera will give herself a VIP tour at the opening of Aritzia. She will follow this potentially hectic event by introducing a friend to her newest wine obsession - Twisted Cork. Sunday she will trek to Qwest and root for Chicago, uh, eh, oops...Seattle. Yes, root for the Seahawks. Jack's heading to the Showbox proper tonight to see Canadian indie pop band Stars. Sunday, he's hoping to see Rex Grossman slip into old... more ›

Jack has already mentioned Stars at the Showbox, and Katelyn's put the word out about Grayskul and Hangar 18 at Chop Suey. That leaves us to mention M.I.A. and the Cool Kids at Showbox SoDo, or, if you like things a little more old-school, Mudhoney is at El Corazon. Here they are playing "Hate the Police" in Prague: more ›

In a few seasons, Seattle indie stalwart Sub Pop will shed its adolescent husk and turn 20. Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, the dudes who put Soundgarden and Nirvana in bins before major label reps stormed Seattle, will, according to this bio, celebrate "as conspicuously as they can manage." more ›

Above is a clip of local band-made-good Schoolyard Heroes, from their video shoot for new single "Plastic Surgery Hall of Fame," the final product of which can be seen here. The song's off their new album Abominations, out this Tuesday. more ›

Allison Krauss and Union Station are at Marymoor Park on Saturday. There was a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth from the Seattlest camp when the Summer Nights concert series was canceled, but Marymoor seems to have picked up a lot of that slack with a decent series. Here's Allison Krauss and Union Station back when they were called Union Station and Allison Krauss. more ›

Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo, so you already know that any vaguely Mexican destination is going to be filled with jackasses drinking margaritas and acting like idiots over what isn't really Mexican independence day. We're fine with the drunkenness, we're fine with the jackassery, but really, there are much better ways to spend your day and night than in some overly adorned restaurant. Here are three of them, and since we know you're going to do the Cinco De Mayo thing anyway, we'll even tell you how to fit this into the more traditional experience: more ›

Wowee wow wow wow. The erstwhile "Japanese Beck" Cornelius really brought it at El Corazon the other night. Keigo Oyamada (as his mama calls him) and the other three members of his fashionable group made sure that the "Sensuous Synchronized Show" lived up to its name. They put on a performance that was multimedia to the extreme, with scrims and colors and lights and videos that were a little more than the venue could handle. Seriously, the last time Cornelius was in town ('01? '02?), he played a sold-out set at the Showbox (which featured some of the same visuals, btw), and this time around he's at an all-ages and not-close-to-being-packed El Corazon? Look, we haven't been to that club since before the name change, and with good reason--it sucks. Anywhere else in town and this show would've been sold out (or at least people would've been aware of it). But we digress.... more ›

...in which we pit two bands against each other, to better determine how you should spend your Tuesday night. more ›

ELECTION NIGHT PARTY: Get happy with Cary Moon and the People's Waterfront Coalition, the prophets of the surface/transit waterfront. more ›