Results tagged “hiphop”

John Vanderslice is such a nice guy that his niceness sometimes overshadows his skill as a songwriter. Vanderslice tours tirelessly, gives interview time to anyone who wants to talk to him, and promotes fellow musicians with the selfless dedication of a sidekick in a romantic comedy. That level of nice makes it easy to forget that he’s also one of the most interesting songwriters touring today.

CHILEAN NIGHT FEVER: It's Santiago in 1978, and even in the suffocating midst of the oppressive Pinochet regime, all that Raul wants to do is dance. Despite being middle-aged, the main character of Pablo Larraín's second film fantasizes that he's John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and performs his disco dance moves at the local bar. But soon Raul's fantasy becomes an obsession, especially after it's announced that there will be a Tony Manero impersonation contest throughout all of Chile. Tony Manero plays at the NWFF through Thursday.

GET STIMULATED: All this week, through Saturday July 18th, it's the second annual Seattle City Stimulus, which encourages residents to spend money at small local businesses. Fill out the form to get your membership card, which affords you discounts at all kinds of establishments. Eat, drink, and shop your way around town--IT'S FOR THE ECONOMY! All week long // Participating businesses // prices vary

HIPHOP THEATRE: Described as a "hip-hop renaissance man," Marc Bamuthi Joseph brings his hiphop theater multimedia production, the break/s, to Seattle (runs through July 12). David Schmader seems to like it, and after reading more about it, we can totally understand why. Joseph, a dancer, award-winning poet, and educator, makes what is described as a "mixtape for the stage" with turntables and djs, visual imagery, dance, and spoken word (story and poetry) from personal interviews and documentary footage. 7:30 p.m. // ACT Theatre, 700 Union Street// Tickets: $10/ $15 (students w/ ID), $37.50/ $50 (adults)

• West Seattle's Alki beachgoers have suspected that an algae bloom is to blame for the "scungy yellow stuff" mucking-up the local waters. Until an official report is in, our toes are staying on land.
• The hiphop concert series Rock the Bells opted out of making a repeat Washington stop during the 2009 tour. After pissing and moaning about Seattle getting the shaft, Rock the Bells is back on for an intimate--not really affiliated, just didn't want to hear bitching anymore--show come August at the Showbox.

Yesterday, On the Boards announced their next season of shows, and we're excited. OtB is the company we most often recommend to friends, particularly if they're , classic tragedy and issue plays about people coming to terms with things are right up your alley. But a lot of people aren't like that, and for them, the whipsmart contemporary performance at OtB, visually interesting and intellectually stimulating, is going to be a more enjoyable night out, so long as they can get over the initial "it's performance art" thing.

"Booty is booty!" declares Seattle's very own Sir Mix-A-Lot towards the end of this profoundly hilarious "Baby Got Back"-inspired Burger King commercial advertising a SpongeBob SquarePants kids' meal. Phonebook implants are too cheap not to consider; it's almost enough to make us love this recession. Local rappers trying to be the next Mix, are you sure this is where you want to end up? Peep:

At last year's Decibel Festival, one of the big disappointments was the fact that the duo CLP (Chris de Luca of Funkstorung and electro producer Phon.o) were unable to perform due to de Luca's inability to get through customs at the Canadian border. Sure, Phon.o performed, but for those looking for the full CLP experience it was a let-down. Well, tonight's the chance to alleaviate that disappointment, and without the frenzy of the festival setting. Decibel's brought CLP back to Seattle to play Nectar tonight, and will hopefully draw out a nice mix of techno nerds, hip hop beat freaks, and those looking for nothing more than a good time on the dance floor. For the latter group the video above should help you pick up a few moves.

MvB is off to SIFF Cinema for Preston Sturges' Depression-era fable, Sullivan's Travels, and then there's a going-away party for a friend on pilgrimage, held in the medieval pageantry of Canterbury's.

IF RAP GETS JEALOUS: Somalian-American hiphop artist K'naan brings his passionate, political flavor of hiphop to the city tonight, and you should be there to experience it if that sounds up your alley. He's phenomenal, you should know, if that helps to sway you towards heading to Neumos tonight. Opening for him is Ethiopian-American local emcee Gabriel Teodros, who never ever fails to convincingly call us towards a better life with his sincere and listenable rhyme, and the gorgeous and talented YZE. Get there.

They Live! is Gatsby from Cancer Rising and DJ Bles One from Mash Hall. Not coincidentally, They Live! is also the bomb. We can vouch for that, having listened a large number of times to the first, sixteen minute episode of the absurdly good, theatrical, hilarious piece of hiphop they're calling the Dro Bots Saga. We've also gone completely bonkers along with the rest of the crowd during their rare live performances. Needless to say, Episode 1 of the Dro Bots Saga is mandatory downloading (here). Our favorite song from that installment is "Weed Murder," which has been getting some play on KEXP; now, there's a snazzy video to go along with the track. View now and become cooler by doing so:

INTERNATIONAL TIPPLE TASTING: As a Pacific Rim port, Seattle should really be more broadly acquainted with saké than it is. Enter tonight's premium sake tasting at Umi Saké House in Belltown, a Saké Nomi event designed to familiarize attendees with thirty of the world's finest (and in some cases, rarest) brands. You and your fellow fermented rice enthusiasts will be able to sample a saké whose brand hails straight from 1505 as well as an igloo-brewed variety called "Divine Droplets." Kampai!

We received the following dispatch an hour ago, regarding electro hiphop group Yo Majesty's upcoming show at Nectar: "Unfortunately, Jwl. B of Yo Majesty will not be attending the tour commencing today due to personal reasons making it impossible for her to travel. Shunda K will continue on with the Yo Majesty show, as she has in the past to great reviews." WHAT? Only one topless Christian lesbian? Where's the fun in that? No word as to whether Mad Rad will still be opening, considering their (typical) douchebag hipster behavior recently got them banned from several clubs in town.

CD News has an update on the Chop Suey shooting that took place over the weekend. They say it was the result of a "long-running dispute" between one of the victims and one of the shooters (a dispute that "included a drive-by shooting" says Seattle 911). "The first of the two suspects, 25-year-old Roger Labranche of Everett, was arrested at the scene of the crime on Sunday morning after he had been grabbed and detained by clubgoers in the aftermath of the shooting. The second, Carlos Bernandez, 18, was arrested by the SWAT team at his parent's residence in Seattle yesterday afternoon following a stakeout. He later confessed his role in the shootings to police." The two suspects are being held on $2 million bail.

MORE POWER TO YOUNG AMERICA: The Nite Owls are performing at the ever-excellent Corner tonight, boosting a strongly-recommended show's status up to "can't miss." The Nite Owls' mash-up of punk, rock n' roll, and hiphop will have you dancing and whooping it up, and at the Rendezvous, that means you'll be warm and in good, funny company while you do it. The group is comprised of members from The Saturday Knights, Cancer Rising, and Grayskul. Hear that? Also rockin' the stage: Orbitron, Ripynt, and Johnnie Storm. Shake off the cabin fever with us in Belltown tonight!

The eerily dusky orange skies never did stop dumping snow on our plans last night. Instead of screaming and ripping out our hair in a cabin-feverish craze, we clicked over to Raindrophustla, a dependable source for entertainment and strange, local-music-oriented Youtube videos, to see what the Hustlas could offer us in terms of musical distraction. The Seattle blog didn't let us down. A downloadable, punk-spirited, indie rock-rinsed, effin' wonderful mix, entitled "Snowed In," is available on Raindrop--you should immediately left click, save as, extract, and play in your favorite media player, for sanity's sake. The Thermals, Velella Vellela, Raphael Saadiq...yessss.

driving unless you have to. Try to use the bus. We know service is highly impacted by the weather, but Metro has a nice page set up that's regularly updated that gives you information on bus service.

THE SECRETS OF CHANGE: According to this website, Rikki Ducornet is "a being unchained, transcendent as a mythical angel." That's probably placing the po-mo writer and poet on bit of a pedestal, but it's true--at least in the sense that Ducornet is more than a little "out there." She reads from her book of short, surrealist stories, The One Marvelous Thing, at the Elliott Bay Book Co. tonight.

LIVING LEGENDS: No, not Twiggy. We're talking about the hiphop crew out of Cali, two members of which will be performing at Neumos tonight. The Grouch and Eligh are touring for the holidays (official tour title: "How The Grouch Stole Christmas"), sharing the evening's bill with Bayliens and 206 Zulu cornerstones Alpha P. The duo will release an album called Say G&E in the spring, so attendees tonight should be getting a sneak peek at the new material; we've also heard The Grouch's solo album Show You The World, which fans of underground and indie hiphop (a la Atmosphere) are encouraged to check out.

Tonight: the Wu-Tang Clan and Fatal Lucciauno are throwing down at the Showbox SoDo. The Wu speaks for itself (hello), but Fatal is a Seattle rapper you need to know about. It might be too late to change your plans and get to this show. It's never too late to watch this video, though.

Amazon has come out with their Top 10 lists for the year, and check out the hiphop picks:

JOHN FUCKING UPDIKE: His gallivanting rabbits may have lost a step, Updike reports: "When, against my better judgment, I glance back at my prose from 20 or 30 years ago, the quality I admire and fear to have lost is its carefree bounce, its snap, its exuberant air of slight excess." But as a critic he's an admirably close, inquisitive reader, and of course he's still John fucking Updike to all of us, so having him in town is a delight. In theory he'll be talking to the Seattle Arts & Lectures audience about small towns and the middle class.

HALF-NAKED BOOTY GIRLS: The 2 Live Crew outta Miami is at Nectar tonight, and you know what that means: half-naked booty girls, according to local emcee Wizdom. "I believe it," he told us with anticipation. The 2 Live Crew has been holding down the sexually explicit end of hiphop since the '80s. Warning: there might be juggalos present. Locals Mad Rad, Champagne Champagne, and Jay Barz open for this promisingly profane and colorful evening.

BAG OF HIPHOP TRICKS: We're told that there's a hiphop happening at the Rendezvous tonight, of epic proportions. A whole bunch of hiphoppers doing their hiphop thing: They Live has members of Cancer Rising and Massive Monkees. Wizdom and Akrish will be there. Seattlest Katelyn, our local hiphop guruess, says of Akrish, "I like his freestyles." We believe Katelyn because we wouldn't dare cross her. She's got those numbchucks.

A great mom is worth celebrating every single day, as Seattlest was reminded when our own good mother fell gravely ill in early 2008. Sometimes you have no idea how great you have it until you think you're losing it, and then--well, then you realize how important it is to appreciate and love on the people nearest and dearest to your heart while they are still around. That's why Yo! MAMA, tonight's benefit show at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre ("Educate. Enrich. Empower."), seems like such a great idea.

Ellen Carpenter over at SPIN.com makes a great point: plaid is so, so in these days. Look at that Robin Pecknold from Fleet Foxes (pictured), Tom Hobden from Noah And The Whale, or J. Tillman! Something about the gentle, guitar-stroking, whiskered man just screams "I'm humble and gruff, yet still empathetic. And I probably smell like cedar, if you get close enough." Riffs Carpenter after a Fleet Foxes show,

I could have overlooked their militantly woodsy ensembles--they are from the Pacific Northwest, after all--if half of the audience hadn’t been rocking the same look. It seemed like a joke, like one of those Improv Everywhere missions. A flash mob: Lumbercon!

Holy crap! Local recording studio the Seattle Boiler Room flooded last night, thanks to a faulty sprinkling system. That means, according to recording engineer Czar's post on 206Proof, the loss of "15-20k in recording/production equipment, thousands of records, and all Dimmak/Boiler Room merchandise."

A CONSCIOUSNESS OF LIMITLESS INQUIRY: The ferocious Naomi Wolf will be at Town Hall on Friday to do a reading and sign copies of her latest manifesto, Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. The introduction alone is worth reading, and it's available online in full at Huffington Post. Ignore the Palin photo montage to the right of the text--or don't, because it adds a chilling sense of urgency to Wolf's words.

Kim is relieved the debate is actually going to happen. She'll be watching with friends tonight before working all weekend. Saturday, she'll take a break for a quiet night out, and then she'll close the weekend off getting funky in the balcony of Jazz Alley with Maceo.