Results tagged “harrynilsson”

For one night only—Friday at Town Hall—Sean Nelson made a sizable dent in prolific yet forgotten 60s/70s singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson's extensive discography. Oh, but he didn't engage in such a lofty task alone. Instead, he ended up having somewhere around nine hundred other musicians assembled as a rock orchestra, which included theater-pop troupe "Awesome," three violinists, a brass section (including tuba), a trio of back-up chick singers, and a pajama-clad group of kids known as the Cougar Choir, all of whom were led by Nelson and producer-composer-pianist extraordinaire Mark Nichols (who also had a hand in the songs' arrangements). Now that's a lot of talent on one stage. Nelson covered a great deal of Nilsson's repertoire, from the poppy-sad songs about his bad relationship with his father to the poppy-sad songs about his bad relationships with women.

Tuesday, December 5

SIFF runs a tight ship. Even though their Face the Music party at Neumo's last night had a bajillion bands on the bill---all of whom were doing ~20 minute sets chockful of covers, as a tribute to musicians featured in films at the festival--- somehow they were actually running ahead of schedule. How often does that happen at a regular rock show, let alone one with eleven musical acts? Somebody must've been cracking the whip. Truly, this slavedriver should be commended.

Oh Walkmen. Sure, with the release of your latest album, you're not quite the critical darlings you once were, but you certainly don't deserve to play to a venue that's only a third full. When Seattlest got to the Showbox on Friday night, we were shocked (shocked!) at how empty it was: one of the bars was closed, the other bar area was far from packed, and the floor held groups of people scattered about in pockets here and there. Yes, everyone's precious Mountain Goats were playing across town, but surely the Venn diagram isn't that overlapped, right?

The final full week of SIFF is upon us. It's time to get some last few films before the sun sets on this year's fest. This week's got a couple great music events as well: Friday night, Portastatic will be on hand to perform a specially-commissioned live score accompanying circus freakshow-themed silent film The Unknown (more about that in a few days).