Results tagged “toddbarry”

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."

True confessions time: We've never set foot in 826 Seattle. We think we might have seen the building once, at night, while driving somewhere else.

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.

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.

"You're lucky to have Bumbershoot," remarked comedian Michael Ian Black the other night. "There are a lot of music festivals, but this is an arts and music festival. You get both." He paused. "You get both." Everybody laughed. Why? That is one thing we did not learn at Bumbershoot.

As we were saying, there's a lot more at Bumbershoot besides the music. You've got the comedy, the literature, the theatre, the dance -- and the people-watching, the sideshows, the side sideshows: yesterday we ran into Craig and Victoria doing a violin-and-flamenco act behind a tent; they say they'll be back today, roaming around, so look for a swirl of red.

KARAOKE: Wednesday night is always karaoke night at the Little Red Hen, an outpost of country music that's inexplicably smack dab in the middle of Volvo-driving, NPR-listening, holiday-tree-owning Green Lake. The crowd veers toward the early-20s spectrum, so if you need a break from parties where people discuss mortgages, the new Whole Foods, and their fucking jobs, this is the place to go. Tip: Bring cash so you can buy beer from the guy with the cooler instead of standing in a long line at the bar.

Our day started early at the KEXP Backyard stage where the Mountlake Terrace trio, Mon Frere, woke us up, got us moving, fed us our delicious brunch of new wave keyboard and guitar anthems. We headed straight there – hadn’t even had our coffee yet, still a bit bleary-eyed from the night before. But this seemed the way to go. Jump right in. Don’t tip-toe into the lake like a pussy. Just get in there. It’s the best way.

When we lived in Los Angeles, we would spend our Saturday evenings in a small theatre watching two shows of "Beer, Shark, Mice" with, among others, the janitor on Scrubs and Champ Kind. Yeah, that show was really funny, but nothing compared to what would follow—Asssscat. We'll say it again because we don’t even give a flying fudge, Asssscat.

Since you have undoubtedly already seen 'Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith,' we recommend putting your wookie costume in dry storage and checking out comedy legend (okay, not really a legend, but a funny guy) David Cross performing with Todd Barry and the Thermals at the Showbox. It is really hard for us to quantify our love of David Cross, but we would like to say that if any cast member of 'Arrested Development' were to ask for our spare kidney, we would grab the nearest butter knife and start cutting. The Thermals play punk in the proper old-fashioned three chord way and are described by Amazon.com reviewer 'wicked emo' as kicking "...my ass every day with brutal sonic punishment, and I love it."

The Showbox just added two David Cross dates to its May calendar. May, 20 and 22 Cross will be participating in the Vera Project's fundraiser "A Drink For Kids."