Pilcrow

I went to a lot of concerts in August 2010; besides the KEXP Concerts at the Mural every Friday and the KEXP BBQ, I went to three other shows. Sadly, I took almost no notes at any of these shows, so I really can do little more than list them.

On Thursday August 19, I went to see my old friends Beehive at the Comet Tavern. I got to the show relatively late, I don't quite recall why, and missed two opening bands. A band called Micheal [sic] Clark and the Alleywalkers played next, and I took no notes about them. Then Beehive finished the evening; I hadn't seen them since their show in January which I reviewed for the KEXP Blog, and I was really happy to see them again. I'm particularly sad that I didn't take notes because I have a vague idea that they debuted a new song, but if they did I have no recollection of it. However, this is as good a place as any to mention that indeed they have been preparing a new set of songs for release; you can hear the first three on their website or MySpace page, and download them as the Game Face EP on CDBaby. 

Unusually, I was back at the Comet Tavern the very next night, but it won't be surprising to learn that the reason was because Hotels were playing a show. I didn't even create a note in my Notes app on my iPhone for this show, so I have no record of it at all besides the calendar entry. So I have no idea who else played that show; I do remember that I hadn't had dinner yet, having gone there straight from that evening's KEXP Concert at the Mural, so I missed at least one set while I went over to Big Mario's for some pizza. Anyhow, it was Hotels, I have no doubt it was a fun time.

Finally, on Friday August 26, I again headed from the KEXP Concert at the Mural straight out to another show, this time at Cafe Venus / Mars Bar to see my friend Tony Sacco filling in on drums for the band Sightseer. Once again, I didn't take any notes, and don't recall who else was on the bill although I'm pretty sure I did make it early enough for all three bands. As I recall, Sightseer weren't quite my style of music but they were still fairly enjoyable. I did take a few photos, and quite by coincidence, as well as quite unusually, Tony's position as drummer in the back corner happened to be the best-lit spot on the stage, so he came out looking the best. 

July and August are going to be busy months for me. My parents arrive on Tuesday for a visit, staying through the 24th; in August, my younger sister and her girlfriend will be visiting from the 13th to the 24th. I have to fit my monthly concerts and gaming nights around those visits, and of course there's the ongoing condo search.

The July concert is going to be difficult. Two Fridays ago, on the first, I did go to Cafe Venus and Mars Bar (who have a pretty cool website, check it out) to see Kanda (again). They were playing the middle of the set, with two bands unknown to me: The Valentines opened, and Stickfigure Strippers headlined. I hadn't eaten and decided rather than try to make something quick, I'd just get food right there at the cafe. Because I was in the cafe side eating dinner, I didn't really see The Valentines; what I heard sounded okay, but I can't really count them. Kanda were quite good this time, they had their act together and didn't have sound problems. Then Stickfigure Strippers came on; I sat through a couple songs, and it seemed like they might have some interesting musical ideas, but basically they were a very loud hard rock band, and I decided I just didn't want to stay for the whole thing.

So, I'm not sure I can count that as my July concert. With my parents visiting for the next two weeks, that leaves me the last week of July to catch something, and I haven't yet seen any shows listed that I want to go. (The one I wanted to see, Kinski's CD release party, is the night before my parents leave.) However, the Capitol Hill Block Party is the last weekend (and last two days) of July, so I might go to that and count it. Hmm, not a lot of groups I know and am interested in, but I see that Mary Timony's playing - I didn't know she was a Northwest artist now, last I knew she was still in Boston - and I think I want to see Razrez too.

For the July game night, my plan is to have a few people over on Saturday to play dominoes and cards with my parents. I don't know about the August game night yet - Andrea and Jen arrive on a Saturday, and the second Saturday I'm planning to have a party for Andrea's birthday, so I don't think I can fit the game night in while they're here. It'll probably be late August, after they leave.

Next week, I'm taking my parents up to Vancouver and Victoria. We'll be gone from Monday through Friday. I'm not sure how I'm going to fit my weekly post in, I'll have to find a minute to dash off some kind of quick note.