Honkfest 2010
April 9-11 in Seattle

I passed up a few chances to see Orkestar Zirkonium, because I got them confused with Dark Star Orchestra. Dark Star Orchestra is a Grateful Dead cover band, which they admit right out front. “Recreating The Grateful Dead Experience” Bold as brass, no shame whatsoever:
 
http://www.darkstarorchestra.net/NEWSITE/HTML/dso.php
 
Orkestar Zirkonium is something that shouldn’t exist in white-belt-fixietown: An Eastern European inspired brass and drum marching band:
 
http://www.orkestarzirkonium.com/index.php

ALive & Kicking
The Spits/Personal & the Pizzas/The Coconut Coolouts
Live @ Chop Suey
Monday, February 22

Monday night pretty much ruled.

Local punk rock legends The Spits played Chop Suey with Seattle virgins Personal and the Pizzas (NJ), party animals the Coconut Coolouts and early bird openers The Pranks. DJ Kurt Bloch spun records between sets keeping things loose.

Coconut Coolouts are always a ton of fun with their double drum party themed jams complete with Banana bass player. Tunes like “(Please Don’t Break Me Out Of) Party Jail” and “I Wanna Come Back From the World of LSD” stirred up a nice little dance party nicely augmented by the girls in local pop-outfit TacoCaT. They even jumped on stage for a song jokingly credited to Bill Cosby and the Pudding Pops.

ALive & Kicking
Justin Townes Earle & Joe Pug Save American Music
February 15, 2010 @ The Tractor Tavern

If one wasn't aware of the tradition of the Grand Ole Opry, of Hank Williams or Gene Autry or Buck Owens, of Showmanship, then one could write off what Justin Townes Earle does as shtick. In an era where the fourth wall, the divider between performer and audience, has been all but dissolved, Earle takes the stage with his band (fiddle and stand-up bass), addresses the audience (often) as "ladies and gentlemen," and performs 90 minutes of blues, honky tonk, western swing and folk music with a Cheshire grin tattooed across his face. To those unversed in the history and tradition of country music, it must seem very, very strange and, perhaps, insincere. For those people, I feel very sorry, for they are missing out on an immense talent.

Earle's birthright as a performer notwithstanding, he has carved himself a niche as a torchbearer for American Roots music, and if Monday's show at the Tractor is any indication, Roots music is in capable hands. Earle gabbed and grinned and jittered his way through 90 minutes of high-octane history, mixing originals with samples from a century's worth of tradition (Woody Guthrie, Lightning Hopkins) for a show that can be described without hyperbole as “timeless.”

2010 Cumulus Festival
Talkdemonic to Close Festivities Saturday @ Cafe Venus / Mars Bar

The short bio on the Cumulus Festival's Website reads:

"The three guys at the core of the festival found a peculiar kind of inspiration in the grey chill and rain that Seattle winters are known for, and in the artists they found their own band sharing bills with. It only made sense to join the grey and fuzzy clouds with the grey and fuzzy sound of like-minded bands; to mimic the delicate drizzle and deluge of hail with guitars and drums; and to celebrate staying indoors, warmed by the tubes of dozens of amplifiers."  

Its a fitting premise for a Northwest music event, and Seattle has no shortage of talented bands making atmospheric post-punk. Boasting 12 bands over three nights, the festival kicked off Thursday at the Mars Bar before heading across town to the Funhouse - a bar known for its love of punk, if usually without the "post."

Said festival organizers Levi Fuller about the first night:

Bumbershoot Review Saturday, September 3

Dyno Jamz

Winners of this year's EMP Sound-off competition, Dyno Jamz, was one of the first announced acts for Bumbershoot. Part of the prize package. Another piece, generally understood and unstated, is confidence in the fact that if you're judged best once, twice is easy. So Dyno Jamz, even in an opening slot on the first day, had what you'd call a casual swagger.

Working a classic melodic tip, the backing band (the Jamz?), I'm prettysure the lead guy is not professionally known as Dyno) reflected oldschool Sly and Stevie with tight grooves and slinky breakdowns.   

MC Zac Millan ably kept pace, flowing underneath bars like pressganged honey. None of them act young—although they are; Sound-off, remember, requires all musicians to be under 21—with stage presence and general poise at a level above their (y)ears. The result was swinging fire, a sweet smoky taste without censor, and an audience response on par.

When I lit out—before their set was over, which was basically my m.o. throughout the weekend since there's a lot to see and schedules are unforgiving—the boogie had infected the crowd, the band, and my step, which had a little half hitch on the 2 and 4, giving my gait a slight bob.

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Which reminds me to remind you that the 2010 Sound-off competition is accepting applicants. If you're under 21 and think you've got what it
takes, click here for entry information.