Typically, when Paul and Storm team up with Wil Wheaton to do a concert, a night of mayhem is insured and anything goes. Last night at the Triple Door Presents: Wil Wheaton vs. Paul and Storm (an "unofficial" W00tstock event), no exception was made.
Gallery: A Funkalicious Night of Nerd Rock with Wil Wheaton and Paul and Storm
City Arts Gallery: The Long Winters Back Together Again
The Long Winters with Campfire OK, Cobirds Unite and Cataldo was our most anticipated show of City Arts Festival. Without a doubt, it lived up to, and then surpassed our expectations. What an incredible, surprising, fun and enchanting night we had--check out our photographic evidence.
PM Video: Long Winters at City Arts Fest
The Long Winters has only been John Roderick and some friends to do the backing instrumentals since Sean Nelson split off and formed Harvey Danger. They finally reunited last night for an incredible show with the School of Rock backing them up. Talk about once in a lifetime show! We caught the duo singing "Putting the Day to Bed" for your viewing pleasure.
Drawn In by Badly Drawn Boy @ Triple Door Tonight
Damon Gough is the most important (ok... only) member of Badly Drawn Boy. A Brit that's been around the block in the music world, he seems to have had pretty good luck gaining popularity even though it may have taken a while. His first of many EPs, a limited release of 500 EP1, was given critical acclaim despite its small numbers. Then came string of other EPs that found just as much success as the first. He finally released a full-length in 2000, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, and is widely considered to be his defining album (though who can really say that for sure). Most people really sat up and took notice with the release of the About A Boy soundtrack entirely scored by the British musician. It helped drive the feeling of sincere sweetness found throughout as well as the dismay felt by the main character.
Gallery: Rainn Wilson and Friends Fundraiser Event
Saturday brought an incredible night of talented musicians, comedians, and committed philanthropists to the Paramount Theatre. As we posted yesterday, it was a night that we'll remember for a long time to come and hopefully the MONA foundation will continue to succeed in their worthy cause. Luckily we were able to capture some fantastic moments throughout the night and share them with you here. For more shots from the night, check out the entire flickr set.
It's Rainn-ing Men for MONA
Saturday was pretty stormy. Rain was dripping, reddened leaves were falling, and most people probably chose to stay indoors catching up on household projects or the latest Stieg Larsson novel. We, however, chose to catch up with our new BFF, Rainn Wilson. Okay, okay. "best friend forever" may be pushing it a bit, as our time with him was roughly 4 minutes, squeezed between his signing Dwight Schrute bobbleheads and Dunder Mifflin t-shirts. But, nonetheless, getting to know Rainn Wilson and all he stands for was a pretty sweet way to spend a rainy Saturday.
Quick Take: The Joys of Being at a "Professional Music Show" with John Roderick and Friends
As we gushed objectively noted on Thursday, John Roderick of The Long Winters is one of our favorite lyricists and frontmen around today. His ability to entertain an audience with his quick-wit and obvious comfort being the center of attention make him a captivating entertainer who seems to never be at loss for words.
Tragedy Strikes at the John Hodgman Variety Hour
It was all going so well. The John Hodgman Variety Hour had made a stop at Town Hall, chockful of songs, tales of hobos and molemen, and anecdotes on being a famous minor television personality. Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick guitar-dueled to the death in a feral mountain man-off, while John Hodgman and Sean Nelson cerebrally engaged in a tweedy intellectual-off. Their internal disputes resolved, the foursome were ready to don their matching white bedazzled jumpsuits and perform a well-choreographed ukulele version of "Love Will Keep Us Together."
Get Out Tonight: John Hodgman at Town Hall
We've read enough pub trivia answer sheets to be familiar with this phenomenon: A team doesn't know the answer to a question, so they write something witty instead. ("Your mom" being one of the least witty examples.) While some of those answers are genuinely clever, however, we never would've thought to transform fake, funny trivia into a literary form.
Get Out Saturday: The Long Winters at the Showbox
When John Roderick isn't writing hilarious lies about other musicians, he's fronting one of Seattle's best indie rock bands, The Long Winters.
John Roderick, Funny MFer
Not that we need to feed his ego or anything, but John Roderick (of The Long Winters) is a funny dude.
Say Hi to Eric Elbogen
Lo-fi indie pop band Say Hi used to be known as Say Hi to Your Mom. It also used to based in Brooklyn and now it's found in Seattle. Regardless, the man behind the band is Eric Elbogen, who records the songs at home, playing all the instruments, providing most of the vocals (except for the occasional guest artist), and even mixing the tracks his own damn self. His last album (pre-name change), Impeccable Blahs, was mostly about vampires, though Star Trek got a shoutout too. Now the band's in version 2.0 with a truncated moniker and new album The Wishes and the Glitch, which has a decidedly (*cringe*) more mature sound. Say Hi plays Chop Suey this Thursday, along with Battle Hymns and Siberian (9pm, all ages, $8). We spoke to Eric about getting older, living and playing in Seattle, and being on the low rung of the Sasquatch ladder.
Hipsters Love Words, Kids, Dave Eggers
Towards the very end of last night's People Talking and Singing, as the clock ticked past 10:00 and John Roderick announced he'd play another song and take a few requests from the audience, our butts chimed in: "Hey, this is starting to go on a little long."
Last Chance for People Talking and Singing Tix
The third annual 826 Seattle benefit People Talking and Singing will fill the seats at Town Hall next Thursday. Comedian Patton Oswalt had to cancel, but the event still features host John Roderick of the Long Winters, Dave Eggers, comedians Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman, New Yorker music critic (and current blogosphere gadfly) Sasha Frere-Jones, local songstress Rosie Thomas, and Geologic of the Blue Scholars.
There Will Be People Talking and Singing
Bumbershoot 2005 hosted the inaugural People Talking and Singing show, where 2,800 festival attendees packed McCaw Hall to see Dave Eggers, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Mike Doughty, Sarah Vowell, and Death Cab for Cutie, all the while raising $18K for 826 Seattle, the youth writing center in Greenwood. Last year's event, also at Bumbershoot, was hosted by Daily Show Resident Expert™ John Hodgman and singer Jonathan Coulton. Eggers, Handler, Gibbard, and Vowell were back for more, along with Decemberist Colin Meloy, Smoosh, and Stephin Merritt. All together, the benefit raised another $10K.
Live at KEXP Volume Three
Rob Gordon once said, "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules."
One Beast of a Show
For once, it was actually nice weather at the Gorge for Sasquatch. Last year was all sturm und drang and the year previous was approximately the temperature of the sun, but the gods smiled down on all gathered in George, Washington yesterday afternoon, as it was a pleasant 80 degrees under partly cloudy skies.
The Long Winters, Full Of Themselves And That's Okay
Saturday night, a cool fifty degrees downtown. Parked on Western. Climbed the stairs to the market. Crossed the street at 1st & Pike. Something special in the air -- we could feel it.
The Long Winters, Putting The Week To Bed
This Saturday, Seattle's own The Long Winters will spread indie rock all over the spacious interior of our favorite venue, The Showbox.
Ghostland, Observed
The fourth annual KEXP BBQ took place on a day that couldn't have been much prettier. Not a cloud in the sky, so Seattlest was diligent about applying tons o' sunblock and sticking to the shade. This year, the event was all ages, meaning that the area in front of the stage was divided into drunk and sober sections, and the audience featured a lot of cute wittle babies. We witnessed a grand total of four breast-feeding sessions, which we found to be unnatural and borderline obscene.
Aural Pleasures
After kicking our collective asses for four consecutive days, the heat is finally backing down. So pull yourself together. Go outside again -- especially to Capitol Hill this weekend.
Just Joshing A-Rouse
If you went to Neumo's on Friday and already loved Josh Rouse's music, you had a great time. If you went and did not love his music, he did not win you over.

