Culture Fiend

Met Pick: Sarah Vowell at Neptune Theatre

The NPR wit has uncovered the feisty side of Puritans; with her latest book, she takes on Hawaii’s bloody past.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Mar 06, 2012 at 10:30AM 1 Comments

Photo courtesy Bennett Mil.

This American Life regular Sarah Vowell is the queen of North Americana, penning quirky essays and detailed histories that read like Daily Show segments. (They’re funny ‘cause they’re true!) Her latest, Unfamiliar Fishes, recounts bizarre and bloody moments from Hawaii’s past. Who knew Hawaii has America’s only royal palace? The country’s last queen, Liliuokalani, was locked in a room there when the U.S. annexed Hawaii. It’s Manifest Destiny meets medieval fairy tale.

Sarah Vowell
Mar 10 at 8, Neptune Theatre, U District, $21–$32.50

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Tags: Books & Talks, Neptune Theatre, Sarah Vowell

Four Concerts to Catch This Weekend

Two CD release parties, one rock orchestra, and the return of G. Love and Special Sauce.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 29, 2012 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

The Lonely Forest

Despite being a bit bummed that all three nights of the Cold War Kids at Columbia City Theater have sold out, there are other ways to get a live music fix this weekend.

G. Love and Special Sauce
Mar 2, Showbox at the Market, 8pm
The bluesy hip-hop band provided the soundtrack to many lazy days—a commitment to “just sitting around strummin’ guitar/wasting time.” But on their 11th album, they drop the hop and retreat to covers of time-honored blues. $25.

Vagabond Opera CD Release Party
Mar 2, The Triple Door, 7 & 10pm
Portland’s “bohemian steampunk operatic cabaret” delivers comedy, Balkan belly dancing, and gypsy-jazz odes to Marlene Dietrich—complete with an accordion solo by a man with the slickest of ’staches. $18-$28.

Grynch: Perspective Album Release
Mar 2, Neumos, doors at 8pm
Seattle hip hop is one of the strongest scenes in the city thanks to acts like Macklemore, Blue Scholars, Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, and rising star Grynch, a 21-year-old MC whose new album of party tracks drops Friday. $10, all ages.

The Lonely Forest with Seattle Rock Orchestra
Mar 3, Neptune Theatre. Special guest: Black Whales, 9pm
The Anacortes-born indie rockers play behind 2011’s Arrows, their debut on Trans Records (the label imprint of Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla); they’re backed by the city’s only orchestra that prefers Beck to Bach. $15–$17.

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Tags: Concert, Triple Door, Neptune Theatre, Neumos, Showbox at the Market

A Fiendish Conversation with Damien Jurado

In our new Q&A series, we chat with local artists and performers about their craft. Up next: Seattle’s “folk-boom godfather.”

Posted by: Seth Sommerfeld on Feb 15, 2012 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Damien Jurado moves into psychedelic territory with new album Maraqopa.

In many ways, Seattle’s indie folk boom started with Damien Jurado. Since the mid-’90s, he’s been turning out record after record of delicate, understated folk ballads. But he’s done with that sonic realm now. His latest album, Maraqopa, acts both as a farewell to his singer-songwriter past and a step toward psychedelic fare and a fuller rock sound.

We talked to Jurado as he prepares for the Maraqopa record release show on Friday at the Neptune Theatre.

Maraqopa’s opening track (“Nothing is the News”) has such a massive sound—with psychedelic guitar reminiscent of Pink Floyd—compared to your typical work. Where did it come from?
I think the new record is progression. The first song definitely makes that known. It’s sort of a signal for a new direction I’ll be taking from here on out. I think side B is my goodbye to the whole singer-songwriter genre. I’m done with it now… [I’m] never looking back.

For years I was being lumped in with so many other singer-songwriter types. I don’t even listen to that kind of music, so why in the hell am I making records like that? It’s not that those records weren’t heartfelt, it just wasn’t really who I was. There’s no telling what kind of record I’ll make next; I think it will just surprise people. I think it’s gonna surprise me.

What’s the significance behind the album title?
Maraqopa is the name of a fictional town. I had a dream where I was seeing someone else who came upon a town in the middle of nowhere; the terrain looked like anywhere between northern Arizona and Wyoming. It’s a fictitious setting.

Do you have any pre-show routines?
The only routine I really have is to find my wife, give her a kiss, take two deep breaths and I walk on stage. Anything else would just be overthinking.

Are there any up-and-coming Seattle musicians you’re taking note of?
Bryan John Appleby, who is opening up the show for me, is a great songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Pickwick is a great band I think you’re gonna hear a lot from this year. Obviously the Head and the Heart. Kaylee Cole is another really talented songwriter. Kevin Long, he writes these lyrics that I feel are just like hurled daggers being shoved into your chest.

That’s kind of what I mean when I say I’m over the whole singer-songwriter thing. In some ways I feel like I’m passing the torch. If anything, I want to set an example. It’s not money or fame, but having a chance to inspire somebody—that’s priceless.

Damien Jurado’s Album Release Show
Special guests Gold Leaves and Bryan John Appleby
Feb 17 @ 9pm, Neptune Theatre, $15

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Tags: Concert, Neptune Theatre, Seattle Music, Fiendish Conversation

Met Picks: Allen Stone and Seattle Rock Orchestra, The Callers, David Lynch Retrospective

The top 10 things to see or do this weekend.

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on Jan 12, 2012 at 04:30PM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy WET.

The Callers: yet another reason to get out of the house.

THEATER

Thru Jan 15
West Side Story
Here come the Jets: The Broadway revival of West Side Story snaps, kicks, and Krupkes its way into Seattle, now with 10 percent of the songs and dialogue in Spanish. Paramount Theatre, $25–$80.

Jan 13–Feb 6
The Callers
WET playwrights Ali el-Gasseir and Ella Dorband examine the voices on the other end of a psychic hotline or phone sex chat in this world premiere, directed by Intiman’s new artistic director Andrew Russell. It’s a world of dial tones and busy signals (what, no call waiting?), with over 150 phones covering the walls in the black box theater. Washington Ensemble Theatre, $10–$25.

Jan 13–Feb 5
How to Write a New Book for the Bible
Bill Cain, who penned the 2009 Shakespearean drama Equivocation, borrows from his own life for his latest play. When the Jesuit priest goes home to care for his dying mother, he copes by writing the story of his family in Biblical style. Seattle Repertory Theatre, $12–$64.

CONCERTS

Jan 12
Craig Robinson and the Nasty Delicious
Fans of NBC’s The Office know Robinson, aka warehouse manager Darryl, plays a mean keyboard. When he’s not taping, the former elementary school music teacher tours with his jazz-funk group the Nasty Delicious. Paramount Theatre, $29.

Jan 14 & 15
Allen Stone and Seattle Rock Orchestra
Chewelah, Washington native Stone bears more of a resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite than Raphael Saadiq, but you won’t find a finer new soul act in town. He’s backed here by members of the 50-piece orchestra. Neptune Theatre, both shows have sold out.

CLASSICAL & MORE

Jan 14–28
Seattle Opera’s Attila
He can sing, he can sack countries. John Relyea stars as the King of the Huns in Seattle Opera’s debut performance of Verdi’s Attila. McCaw Hall, from $25.

FILM

Jan 13–19
In Dreams: The Films of David Lynch
SIFF Cinema samples from the oeuvre of director David Lynch for two weeks of twisted flicks, including Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Mulholland Dr., Dune, and a Twin Peaks screening. SIFF Cinema at the Uptown, $5–$10.

VISUAL ART

Thru Jan 22
Videowatercolors: Carel Balth Among His Contemporaries
Just a little over a week left to see Videowatercolors (video stills printed on watercolor paper or canvas) by Dutch artist Carel Balth. Examine his new media approach to landscape imagery in relation to more traditional photography and painting by contemporaries Gerhard Richter, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Luisa Lambri (also on display). Henry Art Gallery, admission $6–$10.

EAT & DRINK

Jan 14
Chef’s Tour of the Market
Starting now, and continuing for the next month, a different Seattle chef will host a weekly tour of Pike Place Market. Simon Zatyrka of Cutters Bayhouse hosts the first tour. All tours are limited to 14 participants, and end with a cooking demo and light meal at kitchen showroom SieMatic Seattle. The next tour is led by Franz Junga of Il Fornaio. Pike Place Market, $75.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Jan 17
30th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Rally and March
Before Occupy Wall Street, we celebrated equality and economic justice for all on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Recapture the spirit of MLK with a march from Garfield High, through the Central District, and to the Federal Building. Free.

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Tags: Paramount Theatre, Met Picks, Weekend, Neptune Theatre, McCaw Hall

Win Two Tickets to Jane Birkin’s Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg

The British chanteuse honors her late lover—and rallies on behalf of Japan.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Nov 08, 2011 at 03:30PM 2 Comments

Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, circa the 1970s.

Over the past month we’ve handed out tickets to see Friendly Fires and the Posies, St. Vincent and Visqueen’s final concert. I have one more pair of tickets sitting on my desk. Enter to win a chance to see Jane Birkin in a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg at the Neptune Theatre on November 29.

It’s been 20 years since the passing of French iconoclast Serge Gainsbourg, a prolific songwriter and provocateur whose 550 songs and 30+ albums earned him bipolar praise (he was called everything from “debauched” to a “modern-day Baudelaire”). The Vatican banned his breathy duet “Je T’Aime … Moi Non Plus” (“I love you, me neither”), featuring orgasmic panting by Gainsbourg’s longtime lover Birkin, but that only encouraged him. He was a fervent drinker, smoker, poet, and paramour who bedded Brigitte Bardot—but it was Birkin he adored, who was mother to his daughter Charlotte, and who now owns a portion of Serge’s song catalog.

The British actress and chanteuse—a talented solo artist in her own right—is still going strong at 64. As for why now, why more Serge? She responds on her website:

I too wondered why I was singing Serge again, even if it was celibrating the 20 years after Serge’s death, even if it was a very personal 40 years since “Melody Nelson” but what did I have to offer … i’d done it all before, Serge in pop, arabesque, classic quator, 14 musiciens, 6 musiciens, a harp, a squeeze box, violins … this year others have started, their “Serge” was a new point of view, their interpretations… so I started contemplating, putting it all off …

Then there was the Japanese disaster … of unbelievable horror, earthquake, tsunami, and then the ghasly news of the nuclear horror, the like of which we had never witnessed … the images…

What to do ? I have known these people for forty years… “go there” I thought… tell them that back home folk are thinking of them, but get there, “and do what ?” what can I do ?….the only thing i can do… a concert …

Birkin is joined by Japanese musicians for her “Serge Gainsbourg and Jane via Japan” performance in Seattle. To enter to win tickets, email SeattleMetTix@gmail.com with “Jane Birkin” as the subject, and a reason why you want to see the show, by Monday, November 14, at 10am. The winner will be notified by email shortly after the deadline.

Jane Birkin performs at the Neptune Theatre on November 29 at 8.

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Tags: Concert, Neptune Theatre, Ticket Giveaways

Win Two Tickets to Visqueen’s Final Performance

They’re wrapping it up after 10 years of shredding.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Nov 01, 2011 at 04:05PM 0 Comments

Seattle’s Rachel Flotard and Ben Hooker have been rocking together as Visqueen for a decade—but sometimes rock stars have children, touring gets tough, and the tough have to call it quits. So it’s bittersweet that we’re offering a chance to win two tickets to Visqueen’s final performance at the Neptune Theatre on Saturday, November 26, at 8.

Visqueen’s current crew—Flotard, Hooker, bassist Cristina Bautista, and (with luck) Barb Hunter on electric cello—will cover hits from the band’s entire catalog: their energetic punk-pop debut King Me (2003), 2004’s cymbal-clashing, guitar-shredding Sunset on Dateland, and 2009’s love letter to Flotard’s late father, Message to Garcia. And in honor of the occasion, one of Visqueen’s favorite bands, local punk trio Broadcast Oblivion (Drew Church, Dave Hernandez of the Shins, and Coady Willis of Murder City Devils), will reunite for the evening to open.

To enter to win tickets, email SeattleMetTix@gmail.com with “Visqueen” as the subject, and a reason why you want to see the show, by Monday, November 7, at 10am. The winner will be notified by email shortly after the deadline.

Visqueen’s Thanksgiving Fare-Thee-Well Performance is at the Neptune Theatre on Nov 26.

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Tags: Concert, Neptune Theatre, Ticket Giveaways, Visqueen

Win Two Tickets to See Friendly Fires

The British dance-punk trio lights up the Neptune next week.

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on Oct 13, 2011 at 10:30AM 4 Comments

The free fun continues. Yes, we said we would give away a pair of concert tickets every Tuesday for the next month or so, but we just got these and felt impatient. You could win two tickets to see Friendly Fires at the Neptune Theatre on Wednesday, October 19, at 8pm.

After being shortlisted for the coveted Mercury Prize in 2009 (for the best new album in the UK), the dance-punk trio from St. Albans has been riding the new wave revival to the top. They tour behind their sophomore release, Pala, a poolside party soundtrack that will drag us out of our encroaching seasonal depression.

To enter to win, email SeattleMetTix@gmail.com with “Friendly Fires” as the subject, and a reason why you want to see the show, by Monday, October 17, at 10am. The winner will be notified by email shortly after the deadline.

Friendly Fires is at the Neptune Theatre on October 19 at 8pm.

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Tags: Neptune Theatre, Ticket Giveaways

Win 2 Tickets to See St. Vincent at the Neptune

The great ticket bonanza begins!

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on Oct 11, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Starting today—and every Tuesday for the next five weeks—we’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to an upcoming show at the newly renovated Neptune Theatre in the U District. Best part of the renovations? The new 21+ bar zone with great sight lines to the stage, located behind the seats. Showbox at the Market gets the importance of this feature—Showbox SoDo does not. You have to be 6’6" to see a show properly at SoDo. But we digress.

Today we’re giving away two tickets to see St. Vincent play this Thursday, October 13, at 8pm. (Just got these at the last minute!) The singer-songwriter’s been rolling solo after years with Sufjan Stevens and the Polyphonic Spree, and her new music is gloriously contradictory—a “Black Rainbow” of cheery melodies and unnerving refrains.

To enter to win, email SeattleMetTix@gmail.com with “St. Vincent” as the subject, and a reason why you want to see the show, by Wednesday, October 12, at 11am. The winner will be notified by email shortly after the deadline.

St. Vincent is at the Neptune Theatre on October 13 at 8pm.

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Tags: theater, Neptune Theatre, Showbox SoDo

In Case You Missed Joseph Gordon-Levitt at Neptune Theatre…

I took a few notes.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 25, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Google actor “Joseph Gordon-Levitt” and it’s not his Wiki or iMDB page that comes up first—it’s hitrecord.org, his “open collaborative production company” that I wrote about on Tuesday. Seems he’s hit a nerve with his aggregated-art approach. It defies pride and copyright, but it’s drawn thousands of wannabe writers, filmmakers, cartoonists, and musicians to online multimedia projects that might also attract the likes of Sean Lennon. Yes, you could work on a video with Sean Lennon.

Say you write a story about strawberry bootlaces and submit it to the website; someone might do a voiceover reading of that story. Someone else might add a score to it, and it actually turns out well. Then JGL might feature it during one of his live shows, like Tuesday night’s hitRECord at the Movies at the Neptune Theatre. It was the “biggest fucking show” he’d ever done with his five-year-old company—he sold the place out—but it feels like he’s on the verge of something bigger.

I also learned a bit about Seattle at the Neptune. As residents of the top tech city in the country, we are more than ready to geek out over a multimedia experiment. When JGL asked us to turn our recorders on—not off—out came a couple hundred smartphones, DSL cameras, and iPads. We weren’t scorned for tweeting during the show—we were encouraged. He asked the audience to tweet what makes Seattle a unique city in real time, then picked his four favorite responses and brought those people on stage to talk about their hometown. The winners:

The first time I saw the city at twilight, I felt a small part of something grand.

Baby got back, kung fu legend, computer genius. Need I say more?

It has the largest number of women who look like lesbians but aren’t.

Seattle is a city with the heart of a small town.

(Find more on Twitter #seattlerecords.)

And the night wouldn’t be complete unless we indulged a Hollywood guy’s request to cover Nirvana.

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Tags: Music, Film, Celebrities in Seattle, Neptune Theatre

TONIGHT: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and hitRECord at the Neptune

He’s more than a pretty face. He’s the head of an “open collaborative production company.”

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 23, 2011 at 10:15AM 0 Comments

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has done Disney and prime time, hacked dreams with Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception and played the romantic to Zooey Deschanel’s hardass in (500) Days of Summer. He’s been a triple threat since he was six, so don’t expect him to just step on stage at the Neptune Theatre tonight and talk about what it’s like to host Saturday Night Live. He has something else in mind.

For the past five years, Columbia grad Gordon-Levitt (or “Joe,” as he seems to prefer) has managed an open collaborative production company called hitrecord.org that brings together Hollywood and non-Hollywood types alike to work on multimedia projects, like so:

What is hitRECord?

It’s aggregated art—remember, “remix isn’t theft here”—and Joe encourages everyone to get involved, including the audience at tonight’s hitRECord At the Movies. It’s one of the rare shows where you’re asked to turn your phone/cameras on, because you never know—tonight’s recordings may be next year’s Sundance short film. You can’t be precious about your copyright; on the plus side, director Joe pitches the best films to his industry friends. If your project is sold, company and collaborators split the earnings 50-50.

Given the trippy melange of film and music at the live event, I’ll defer to this intro of one of the first hitRECord at the Movies:

This is the version we played at The Vista Theater, the first time we Hit RECord At The Movies. For our upcoming shows in Seattle and SF, I’d like to keep the audio of this one, but layer on more, different visuals. CUT TO THE BEAT.

HitRECord at the Movies with Joseph Gordon-Levitt is tonight at 8:30 at Neptune Theatre. Call 1-877-STG-4TIX or visit the box office for tickets.

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Tags: Music, Film, Celebrities in Seattle, Neptune Theatre, hitRECord, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Okkervil River Plays the New Neptune in June

The Austin indie band is the first act announced at the University District’s revamped venue.

Posted by: Clancey Denis on Mar 02, 2011 at 03:00PM 0 Comments

Texas trek Austin band Okkervil River heads north to play the new Neptune Theatre in June.

Things have looked bleak lately for the University District’s Neptune Theatre; its windows are dark, its cheeky marquee blank. But there’s a happy ending here: On June 18, Austin indie band Okkervil River arrives to help christen the re-imagined Neptune. Tickets go on sale this week.

The iconic movie house has been through a lot in the last few months—in November it was dumped by Landmark Theatres, who’ve been operating it since 1981, only to be rescued by Seattle Theatre Group in February. Since the space’s final movie screening on January 30, the new lease holders have been cleaning, removing seats, installing sound and lights, and restoring historic details. The biggest change? For the first time in its 90-year history, the Neptune will be dedicated to more than movies. In the style of STG’s Paramount and Moore theater programming, the revamped venue will host a wide variety of arts events, including concerts, speakers, and comedians, while still playing independent films and maintaining ties with the Seattle International Film Festival.

Okkervil River’s summer set is the first show announced at the new Neptune (STG expects programming to start as early as May, with a grand opening in the fall). Tickets ($20-$22) go on sale this Friday, March 4, at 10am at tickets.com or stgpresents.org.

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Tags: University District, Concert, Neptune Theatre

Who Sank King Neptune?

How Dracula and I, plus streaming and multiplexes, doomed the Neptune, and what STG will do with it.

Posted by: Eric Scigliano on Nov 29, 2010 at 04:30PM 0 Comments

I hope I didn’t help kill the Neptune Theatre (see previous post). When I first washed up in Seattle, it was home to Rocky Horror midnight shows and I’d had a sideline painting murals in bars and other exalted venues. The manager wanted Count Dracula in the lobby. I rendered a life-size Bela L. with cape spread, pointing the way to loos guarded by Theda Bara and Charlie Chaplin. I got a year’s pass, a cinemaphagic lifesaver in those pre-streaming, pre-DVD, pre-VHS days.

The murals vanished soon after, in a 1981 renovation, and spiffier mermaid-themed faux stained glass went up. Just as well—a vampire restroom monitor seemed creepy even to me. Maybe he fed the rumor that the theater was haunted, and that drove patrons away?

Nah, the Neptune suffered from the usual ills of vintage single-screen moviehouses competing in turn against multipoxes—er plexes—Blockbuster, and Netflix, now streaming. Nine hundred seats are a lot to fill, even after Landmark installed 3D. The new Regal Cinemas Thornton Place two miles away has that, plus 14 screens and IMAX, and it sucked up the Neptune’s first-run business. Limited parking and the U-District’s persistent seediness didn’t help.

Not that getting chopped into more screens is any guarantee against obsolescence. The 1926-vintage Uptown Theatre did, and it’s still closing. The fact that the Neptune is intact, high ceiling and all, may have saved it. STG wouldn’t want a bland multiplex, but the Neptune seems just grand enough. And it will provide a handy complement to STG’s larger Moore and Paramount theaters, receiving shows that are too small for them.

STG will likely remove some seats, but spokesperson Amanda Bedell promises only “minimal” changes to the décor; the stained glass stays. Contrary to rumor, STG is only renting the theater, not buying the building.

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Tags: Neptune Theatre