Road trip! The seventh annual What the Heck Fest is taking place all weekend at venues in Anacortes. Mt. Eerie is but one of the many bands set to perform. If you're staying here in town, tonight loud-ass two-piece Middle Class Rut plays King Cobra, along with Burning Brides.......

SNEER AND SNEER AGAIN: In 1989, when the rest of the world was listening to New Kids on the Block, those who knew better were listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain. A mix of punk, pop and pure distortion, this Scottish group's shows were often followed by rioting. After breaking up in 1999, the JMC is now back together. Their work has been featured in Sofia Coppela's film, Lost In Translation and popular TV......

You Can't Stop Me Now" by Bobby Digital/RZA, or: why we were excited about the show. Seattlest only caught the second half of RZA's performance on Tuesday, thanks to a confusing and upsetting encounter with Showbox SoDo security regarding someone else's can of PBR on the floor. We heard the strains of "Long Time Coming," our favorite track from the just-dropped Digi Snacks, from outside the barn venue while we argued to clear our......

It's hard to believe, but the Dandy Warhols' sixth studio full-length (and the first on their own label) Earth To The Dandy Warhols will be out this August. The tongue-in-cheek Portland alt-rock band plays the Showbox SoDo tonight. Not sure if it would be a better or worse show if longtime frenemies Brian Jonestown Massacre crashed the gig. As far as we can tell, there's still tix available to tonight's Kultur Shock show at Chop......

If you're not spending this weekend SIFFing or Sasquatching or otherwise out of town for the three-day weekend, there's plenty of live music for those who spend the holiday in Seattle. Tonight, instrumental Chicago rockers Pelican play the Showbox SoDo. No need to stay for headliners Thrice, just these guys: Or if you like your rock with more synthesizers, head to Nectar for the Presets.......

DJ Rare Groove spins for the crowd before Atmosphere's set. Slug's tidy ponytail gleams, silhouetted against changing red, green and aqua lights. He moves his body like he's got something to clarify. "Oh, you know this one too?" he asks the deliriously excited crowd, and of course the answer is yes. In Seattle, Atmosphere's emcee Slug--dark, emotionally tortured, pensive Lothario Slug--is a god. We seem to prefer our rockstars on the brooding but safe......

Nas--NAS, people--is playing Showbox SoDo this Friday, and there are three possible reasons why tickets are still available. (1) No one knows he's coming (an unintentionally secret show?); (2) Word's gotten sufficiently around about Nas' weak live performance (but still... Nas!); or (3) Everyone's blown their ticket budgets on hipster-friendly Atmosphere, playing Tuesday at the same venue (for $20 less a ticket). Needless to say, Atmosphere and Nas don't really bring out the same crowd.......

FOOD: First things first. Before you go rushing off into your weekend, you should eat. Eastlake Italian restaurant Serafina is having a grand reopening Friday night after a kitchen remodel and bar facelift, with a new spring menu. It's their 18th anniversary, too. What more do you need? Friday, 5:30-11 p.m. // Serafina, 2043 Eastlake Avenue East // Entrees $16-$27 MUSIC: The GRAMMY-winning Shelby Lynne is at the Showbox SoDo Friday night. Her new......

If you've come to know Rilo Kiley through recordings, we're here to tell you that they're an even better band live. They open up the studio packaging and let the songs breathe. Sometimes it's bluesy, sometimes it's R&B, sometimes a torchy twang. Jenny Lewis led the Showbox audience through songs off the new album, Under the Blacklight, but everyone already knew all the words to "Close Call" and "The Moneymaker." We'd always thought of Rilo......

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 or the Fool's Gold label showcase at the War Room, featuring label founder/turntablist extraordinaire A-Trak. Here he is in 1997, when he was just a scrawny badass fifteen-year-old world championship wunderkind:......

Apparently, Dethklok are going on tour this summer, playing at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle in June, with pre-sale tickets available now with the secret password "duncanhills." This... could ruin... everything... Their performance will totally subvert all the work we've done over the years to manipulate the world economy and lull the citizens into apathy. General Crozier? General Crozier: My men have the Showbox under surveillance. When Dethklok arrives, I say we move in and......

Along with all the hiphop this weekend and the hella rad Subtle laser show tonight, there's a few more music events of note. First up, tonight State Bird plays an early show (8 p.m.) at the Q Cafe in Ballard. How both the venue and this great group of Ohio tribal-folksters have been under our radar is beyond us. Also tonight: Cat Power plays the Showbox SoDo. We know that Chan Marshall's not half as......

Head to the Showbox this weekend for Ghostland Observatory tonight and tomorrow night. We've seen the Austin duo thrice before, and we can guarantee their yelpy dance-rock is much better live than in the recorded form (and much better in a packed and sweaty room like the Showbox than a spacious outdoor venue). Also two days in a row: local epic shoegazers Voyager One, who have a free listening party for new album Afterhours In......

Two ambulances pulled up outside the Showbox SoDo on Monday night, just as the doors were opening at 8pm. They attended to a very drunk young lady who no doubt missed out on the all-ages Diplo/Justice bill for that evening. Ah, the youth. Upon entering, we came face to face with a wall of said youth and unavoidable flat-screen monitors plastered everywhere running MySpace videos and ad spam. Up the stairs to the bar,......

Things are pretty dead, what with all the local music folk in Austin. Here's your limited options: Saturday night, everybody's favorite Portland country-blues-punkabilly duo Hillstomp brings their buckets and slide guitar to the Tractor for what's sure to be a rambunctious rainy night in Ballard. Sunday night, Manchester Orchestra (neither from Manchester, nor an orchestra) plays Neumo's. We could not give a good goddamn about the other three bands on the bill (including headliners Say......

Tonight: Style Out in SoDo or Neema/Cool Nutz/Cancer Rising in Fremont? The choice is difficult for local hiphop fans. On the one hand, we've got Alpha P (classic and skilled pros), The Physics (hilarious and enthused), and a host of talented performers working the social movement angle of hiphop. On the other hand, we've got Neema (he's promised a bunch of new material tonight), Cool Nutz (from NE Portland, repping the deliciously dope King......

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. Tonight is also Yoav's show at the High......

Paul Weller may be MIA, but the rest of his first band play the Moore tonight under the moniker From the Jam. Or head to the Showbox to pump your fists with Cinder Road and Tesla. Actually, this show (along with the tour's upcoming dates in Portland, Spokane, and Boise) has just been postponed, due to inclement weather and road closures. Tonight's sold-out show has already been rescheduled to Sunday, March 9th at Showbox SoDo.......

We didn't go to a single concert at the Showbox last year. Ok, so we saw Obama at the SoDo, but that's not nearly the same thing, even though there were bands preceding the politics. It's most unusual for us to have a Showbox-free year, that's for sure. But along with that Gutter Twins show in March, there're a few more events on the Showbox calendar that are worth buying tickets for in advance......

Last night there were tons of Ron Paul's people outside the Showbox Sodo. Before, during, and after Barack Obama's fundraising event/rally, the Paul supporters waved their signs and interacted with anyone who would give them the time of day. Too bad they couldn't afford tickets to the event due to the current tax structure--if only someone would abolish the IRS and the Federal Reserve.... Meanwhile, inside the venue was a crowd of teens, twenty-somethings,......

For a Presidential candidate—especially one who has recently surged in the polls—Barack Obama is kinda a rock star. So it makes sense that he'd host his latest Seattle appearance at a rock club. The Seattle Generation Obama Concert takes place Tuesday night at the Showbox SoDo. Obama will be there, doing his campaigning thing, along with special musical guests the Dusty 45s and (the still-reunited) Brad. Since Obama and company are going after the......

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: Saturday, it's a Brit-pop double-header with Travis and openers Maximo Park at the Moore. There's also The......

It's still raining, but that's not stopping us this weekend. As we get ready to head out the door, the Seattlest staff is once again sharing our weekend plans in the hopes that we'll see you along the way. Kim will be burning up the dance floor tonight for Gay Salsa Night at Century Ballroom after eating piles of sushi at Maneki. If she decides it’s worth breaking the bank, she might attend some silly......

"Oi flimsy castle," said Shane MacGowan, 49, a short stovepipe hat on his head. "Frip limpid turtle song." He stopped to survey Showbox SODO's barnlike interior -- people were still filing in from Hooverville across the street. Outside the bar, a phalanx of women formed around a dazed, jelly-kneed girl with a mouth rimed with spew. Then the banjo pluck and chime, the snare-drum skitter, a missing-leg march's rhythm. One summer evening drunk to hell......

Just this weekend, we were declaring that we would never set foot in the new Showbox SoDo. That the Fenix has always been a terrible venue, regardless of name, owner, or minor renovations. That it would take some big name to get us to attend a show there, say, Bjork, Sufjan, maybe Broken Social Scene.... And then we checked our email this morning. M.I.A.Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WAFriday, November 16, 2007 – all agesOn......

The number of rock clubs in Seattle isn't necessarily dwindling, but the number of rock club bookers is definitely trending down. First the staff at Neumos took over national booking at Chop Suey on the Hill, now the Fenix has gone away and their lease is being picked up by the Showbox. The new venue will be called the Showbox SoDo. The OG Showbox is changing it's name to "The Showbox at the Market." Little......