Results tagged “paramount”

Brian Miller over at the Weekly is covering the contretemps between organist Dennis James and the Seattle Theatre Group over who'll be helming the Mighty Wurlitzer during silent movie nights. STG has told James they won't need his services to fill out the rest of the current series; they're bringing in a San Francisco ringer named Jim Riggs to accompany 1927's Seventh Heaven on Monday, June 29.

SILENT SCREEN: Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount is back and focusing on the speechless girls of black-and-white. Words fail you when discussing Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl anyway--Judith and Bob are young atheists who naturally end up in a reform school run by sadists. This is an ur-Girls Gone Wild visual text and will count for credit if you are a student of this kind of counter-history. The important thing is, Judith and Bob learn that those fires of hell are real and they burn, thus making Christianity something more than an academic choice.

It seems almost too perfect that technology is what ultimately derailed our interview with the famously technologically-wary Jason Lytle. With nothing but spotty cell phone reception as he traveled through Wyoming, the former frontman of Grandaddy was unable to find a signal that would last long enough to allow for a successful interview.

This Friday and Saturday (7:30 and 2:30 p.m., respectively; tix $25-$105), Shen Yun/Divine Performing Arts brings their Chinese spectacular to the Paramount Theatre, a show billed as "five millennia in the making." But there's a twist: while Shen Yun and their sponsors note the group "is independent of China's political regime and proud to include artists who practice the Falun Gong meditation," it turns out, the family-friendly stage show is loaded with Falun Gong philosophy, the savvy group having hijacked the cause of Chinese culture to push their own beliefs.

We didn't mention the atrocious sound in our review of Frost/Nixon because it was opening night and we were sure they'd fix it--on her way out, one woman shouted at a guy near a soundboard, "Fix the sound!" Unfortunately, he was a lighting technician. Throughout the evening, the play sounded like a shitty VoIP conference call--you really had to strain to hear around the tinny echoes. But we just noticed Michael Upchurch complaining about the same thing in his review of the Flight of the Conchords show. Acoustics are famously tricky in the Paramount--only the organ ever really sounds at home there--but what we heard sounded like bad tech.

"I don't know that you can make him too sympathetic. I don't think that that's possible."

We have to start here by jumping in and saying that this is easily one of the most exciting weekends of theatre we've seen in town in months--two festivals running, genre-breaking opera, ballet crossing over into Broadway show tune territory, two shows that have had their runs extended (, you've lost your bloody mind. It doesn't get better than this!

OH THE HORROR: Every Monday in January is a different silent movie, complete with Dennis James on The Paramount's mighty Wurlitzer organ. This time around, Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays features scary silent classics from the '20s, kicking off with tonight's showing of Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

MvB can't decide if he's heading out early or late, but at some point he'll be at Uber Tavern drinking an assortment of "very rare" beers and snacking on Swedish meatballs.

• Just in time for the holidays, Delicious Baby blog--sorry, extreme foodies, it's not what you think--has 10 tips for surviving flight delays while traveling with kids.
• Gay Seattle Blogspot dares to say it: the Kathy Griffin show at the Paramount was not as funny as last year's, and also offers suggestions for a gay Thanksgiving.
• Following on that, Out & Equal Washington invite you to their happy hour on December 11 at Purr; they're accepting gifts for the Lambert House.

Tera will be catching the Saturday evening premiere of Spring Awakening at the Paramount. Saturday evening will be followed with a leisurely plane ride to Orlando where she’ll be trying out for the Mickey Mouse Club, or riding rollercoasters--however you want to look at it.

Tonight, if you're not already at a SIFF film or checking out "Awesome" with side projects Jose Bold and the Half Brothers at the Sunset, head to the Comet to see local Mazzy Star-on-psychedelics Half Light. They're touring off their new album Sleep More, Take More Drugs, Do Whatever We Want.

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

The 4th Annual Care for the Market luncheon, held yesterday at The Paramount Theatre, was a wake-up call for us. When we think of Pike Place Market, we picture ourselves gorging on Beecher's macaroni and cheese. We envision ourselves carrying bundles of ginormous dahlias, sampling oh-my-god-these-are-good peaches, and listening to the funky sounds of street musicians. We don't necessarily think of meals and housing for low-income senior citizens, childcare for those who can't otherwise afford it, and a food bank that gives a quarter of a million bags of groceries to neighbors in need each year. But yesterday, were asked to think of the historical and social importance of the market.

What with his recent Into the Wild success, it's not a huge surprise that Eddie Vedder's embarking on his first solo tour—announced today—up and down the West coast. What is surprising is that he's not playing Seattle.

Quality over quantity, yes? Yes. The weekend isn't bursting with great shows, but there's plenty enough to go around.

For the tour, Ted Neeley is Jesus, as he was in the 1973 film. That means he's been playing Jesus for longer than Jesus did -- and, no disrespect intended, with more of a vocal range. (We don't recall any of the Gospels remarking on Jesus's top notes.) He's matched up against Corey Glover's Judas, who knows all about cults of personality.

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:

Inside the Paramount Theater, we found our seats near the front and we waited. In the weeks and days leading up to this show, we'd scoured the web, made a few calls, looked for hints in recent reviews from other cities. Nothing. We had no idea who the opening performer was. It was to be a mystery. The lights came down, the applause came up and a man entered the stage. He was alone, save...

Ben Harper released his eighth studio album, Lifeline earlier this year to rave reviews. In his first ever seated theatre tour, Ben, along with his Innocent Criminals, will perform songs from the new album, as well as dig deep into the back catalog. He'll be in Seattle at the Paramount next Wednesday and Thursday. Seattlest has a pair of tickets to give away to Wednesday's all-ages show. Enter to win by filling out the...

Earlier this fall, Laura Dern's baby-daddy Ben Harper released his eighth album, Lifeline, the product of a week-long marathon recording session in Paris. The record's been heralded as Harper's best work in years, due to its casual simplicity and laid-back vintage sound, drawing comparisons to Bill Withers, Otis Redding, and Van Morrison. That's almost enough to get us to ignore the fact that he discovered surfer/"musician" Jack Johnson. In his first ever seated theatre...

If you've never had the chance to see Broken Social Scene together, you've at least had, or have, ample opportunity to see current and former members roll through town during October/November. Last month, it was Metric (with BSS alumni Emily Haines and James Shaw), then Mr. BSS himself, Kevin Drew. Next week, Stars (with BSS alumi Millan, Cranley and Campbell ) come to the Showbox.

Tonight would be the night to dominate the jukebox at the Wildrose, because all the ladies (except for us) will be at the Paramount drinking a nice tall glass of alt.country goodness. Brandi Carlile's back in town with her hot twin-powered band and we understand she tends to pull traffic away from the corner of 11th and Pike (at least until 11 PM). We don't really get it, but whatever.

We shouldn't have to say much more about Rodrigo y Gabriela aside from "flamenco version of 'Stairway to Heaven'," but we will. They're young, they're hot, they're Mexican-Irish, and they're extraordinary guitarists. They don't need no stinking genre, as they dabble in everything from flamenco to psychedelia to pop and jazz, pretty much defying musical definition. Plus, they can fly and spit fireworks, have x-ray vision, and can regenerate.

True story! The other afternoon we were IMing about some important work-related stuff with our friend Scott G. and he asked if we'd seen Spamalot at the Paramount yet, and and we said, "Nope, you?" and it turned out he had, so he started to tell us about it and we said -- in a flash of brilliance -- "Hey, would you mind if this ended up on Seattlest?"

This last summer, Josh Homme took Billy Gibbons' advice on how to be "the people's band," and instead of hitting places like NYC, Boston and Seattle, when Queens of the Stone Age launched a tour in support of their latest release, . That's left Queens fans here in Seattle jonesing for a show. And at long last, our prayers have been answered. Just announced: QoTSA takes to the Paramount stage Tuesday, December 18.

We start things off this weekend with a simple two words from Donte: Muthafucking Justice!

Kim is off to see Susan Werner at the Triple Door Sunday night.

We told you we didn’t know much about Earl Greyhound, and after Wednesday night’s Paramount show, we’re still ignorant. (Will call tickets trickle in after the opening band takes the stage? Really?) When we finally made it in, Greyhound was pounding through their last song. We noted that singer/guitarist Matt Whyte had worked himself up quite a sweat. We got this photo. They exited stage right.