Croc employees benefit show

This in from TIG about a show tonight (Sunday):

Greetings!

Even though we're in the midst of a celebratory time of year, the shock of the sudden closing of the legendary Crocodile Cafe is still with us.

To help the stellar group employed there who found themselves suddenly without income, Chop Suey and Three Imaginary Girls have assembled a benefit show for those fine Ex-Croc folks this Sunday, December 30 at Chop Suey.

Join us this Sunday for an evening of fine songs from some of Seattle's rock star royalty, share your Croc story, and get a chance to say goodbye...

Unscrew the Crocodile Employees Benefit Show
with members of Fleet Foxes, Peter Parker, Siberian, Pale Pacific, J.Tillman, Damien Jurado, Pleasureboaters, Dave Bazan, Triumph Of Lethargy, Dave Terry (of Aqueduct), Sonny Votolato and many more!

$10 adv | 7pm doors | 21+

* Auction/raffle prizes too! Show your support!

The Croc as real estate

The Croc is now official a real estate listing. It's listed at $495,000. Here's the listing description at the John L. Scott site:

Approx. 6,400 SF Space with (2) Bars, Kitchen, and Live Music Stage. Brand New 10 Year Lease Term. Fabulous Location on corner of 2nd Ave & Blanchard ideal for any full service restaurant or bar concept. Character-filled single story masonry building. In the Heart of Chic Belltown Scene - Txori, Zoe, Mistral, See Sound Lounge and More! An excerpt from the Seattle Weekly raves:'A central meeting place for Seattle's world famous music scene.' Become part of the Legend that is the Crocodile Cafe.

The Crocodile Cafe - KUOW's "The Conversation"

There was a big conversation on KUOW today regarding the closing of the Crocodile. You can listen simply by going to their website and selecting today's date on the drop-down box. Guests and callers involved in the conversation include Pete, the former club booker, John Richards from KEXP and Liz from Three Imaginary Girls.

No Croc.... TIG party moved

If you're at all tuned in, you've probably heard that the Crocodile Cafe is closing. That's the word all over town. It's going to reverberate and have a trickle effect in a number of ways.

The first one for me to share with you is the displacement of the Three Imaginary Girls holiday party, which has been relocated to El Corazon. Here are the (new) haps:

Thursday, December 20th
at El Corazón
109 Eastlake Ave. East
Three Imaginary Girls present:

- Tullycraft
-Rachel Flotard (Visqueen) & Jon Rauhouse (Neko Case) and friends {Bill Herzog, Mark Pickerel, and Paul Rigby}
- Your Favorite Book

....The night also features INDIE-ROCK SANTA John Roderick (of the Long Winters)

All proceeds go to Treehouse4Kids.org

Tix: $8
8p Doors
21+

The booking agent merry-go-round

I didn't write anything about the recent "controversy" (I use quotations because I don't know how contentious it actually is, since all my info is second and third hand) over the departure of Pete Greenberg from his booking duties at the Crocodile.

But, I did just learn this from TIG, sent by Kris K the now-former booker at Chop Suey:

"I'm writing to inform you that I will be leaving my position at Chop Suey at the end of December. I'm very happy to announce that Pete Greenberg, who recently departed the Crocodile Café, will be taking my place.

I have been at Chop Suey for a year now and am very proud of my time here. I have navigated the club through a very difficult transition period. I have been pleased to work with all the promoters and artists that have come through such as The People's Republic of Komedy, the Broken Disco crew, Club Pop, Comeback and Neumos. I have come to this decision, which was made about a month ago, simply due to what I want in life and taking a look at my long term goals and working for a club isn't part of those goals.

Pete comes over with a vast amount of experience of professionalism. He will still be working in tandem with Steven Severin and Jason Lajeunesse from Neumos making sure the best possible programming happens at Chop Suey. All regular programs and nights (Laff Hole, Broken Disco, Club Pop, Comeback) will still remain for the foreseeable future.

Pete will start at Chop Suey effective tomorrow, Friday Dec 14. I will remain as long as it takes to get him up to speed and introduce him to all the necessary people so as to make as smooth of a transition as possible.

Thanks to everyone for a great year. I hope to still see and/or work with you in some capacity in the future."

X-Ray Eyes CD release

The fellows of X-Ray Eyes are having their CD release this weekend (Saturday the 17th at the Crocodile).

Although I'm so busy at work that I haven't had a chance to digest the whole thing, there are some interesting sounds on the parts that I have heard. It's got a very quirky, somehow-80's vibe to me.

Here are a few mp3 cuts for you to experience: Simple and Social Splash

TIG show tonight

Head on out to the Crocodile tonight to take in the TIG-sponsored show featuring Tullycraft, Math and Physics Club, and Patience Please. Tullycraft and Patience Please are having their album releases and MaPC hardly ever performs. So, there's plenty reason to go.

Not a lot of "power" on the bill, per se. But, lots of pop. Plus, they have an awfully cute poster for the show!

Junkmail, The Capillaries, Small Change & Sorry

While it is technically a Tuesday, most of us have tomorrow as a day of vacation. So, in that way it's a bootleg Friday, and I plan to go out rocking tonight (Tuesday, July 3). My rock of choice is happening at the Crocodile Cafe, which has Junkmail, The Capillaries, The Small Change and Sorry.

I got my grubby little hands on a copy of the Junkmail EP recently, and I'm listening as I type this. What we've got going on here is a collection of four songs that are melodic with a hint of sadness and an undercurrent of Americana. But, I like what I'm hearing, especially the song "little ones."

You can get many of the tunes from their EP on their website. So, you should head there and check them out. And it's important to note that the full-on rock and roll force that is Heather Riffbroker has now joined them on bass, too. So, that's even more reason to see and/or hear them.

The Capillaries and The Small Change both rock my world, and I've written plenty about them here in the past. But, I have to admit I have no idea who the band Sorry is. Anyone know?

Great article on Jim Anderson

The Stranger has a nice piece on Jim Anderson, soundperson extraordinaire for the Crocodile Cafe, up on their website (and presumably in print, although I haven't seen the print edition).

Jim does great work and probably doesn't get the appreciation that he deserves. So, next time you're piling out of the Croc at the end of a night of rock, poke your head into the sound booth and tell the man "thanks!"

Central Services, Red Sky & Young Sportsmen photos

I was playing around with my camera settings again last night. I've had this "new" digital camera for almost 8 months, and I'm still trying to get it to do what I want it to do. MY KINGDOM FOR AN AFFORDABLE DIGITAL SLR!!!

Sorry to shout there. I just wish I had a better camera, but can't stomach paying so much for a digital SLR when I know the day after I buy it they'll come out with a better model at half the price.

Anyway, as I mentioned a few times leading up to it, down at the Crocodile last night there was a mighty fine pop show. Here are some photos:

Starting the night was Central Services. I was disappointed to find that the fellas are losing a member. Ethan, who is also in Math and Physics Club, is leaving the group to pursue his own recordings. He was playing an awfully pretty Rickenbacker guitar through a Vox amp, and they said from the stage that his recordings sound "straight out of 1967." So, color me interest to hear what he's going to be doing.

I was exploring the zoom during their set and snapped this image of Jeff:


Second on the bill was the Young Sportsmen. As always, they brought the rock and the volume. They're just so darn reliable and solid, it makes you wonder if they ever have a bad show. I was trying to capture the arena-sized rock by getting a wider shot. Sadly, the output with this camera resulted in two distinct camps: blurry photo and overly washed out flash photo.

I'll choose the blurry photo with character every time.


Once again I was unable to take pictures of Shake Some Action, due to being occupied on stage playing all the low notes, and being totally distracted by having to change a broken string during the first freaking song. Without exaggeration, I've been playing bass for 20 years and that's only the third time I've ever broken a string live. Thankfully I was able to change it out without a super long delay.

Blogger update: I had a photo of the Shake Some Action set sent in by Sarah (who is also a militant Virb enthusiast... she's trying to ween folks off of myspce and onto Virb -- how's that going, Sarah? I still can't make myself do it.). She snapped this photo with her cell phone. I think it really shows off my shiny dome. :)



So, after SSA left the stage, the now-officially-renamed Red Sky (formerly known as New West Motels) took over. They've expanded to a five piece, having snagged a keyboard player who is so new to town that I overheard Rob giving him directions to the Crocodile before the show.

These guys churn out tunes that are swirly and dreamy, and I was able to catch a picture of bassist Doran that represents that vibe pretty well -- although this shot looks a little more menacing than the band actually sounds.

Indie Rock Fashion Show

There's apparantly a fashion show tonight (4/19) at The Croc. I'm not completely clear on what makes it an Indie Rock Fashion Show, but that's how it's billed. So, either that means there are indie rock people in the fashion show, or it's a fashion show that sleeps on floors while touring and works at a coffee shop to pay the bills. :)

In either case, if you head down there you'll be able to hear two good bands: Siberian and Ghost Stories. Here are some mp3s to sample and to use for practicing your runway walk.

Ghost Stories' "Upper Ten/Lower Five"

Siberian's "Soft Rains"

Tyra says, "Congratulations, you're still in the running to be America's Next Top Indie Rock Model."

Elvis Costello night at the Croc

Tonight the Crocodile Cafe is hosting Elvis Costello Cover Night, featuring a ton of great bands. Since I'm a huge Elvis Costello fan, this makes me happy. I'm going to try to get my lazy arse out to the club for a rare (for me) mid-week rock throwdown.

In tribute to the show, I'm going to post a few things related to both the bands playing the show and Elvis himself this afternoon.

I actually posted this last year, which is some video from the "Decades Rock Live" that was a tribute to Elvis that featured Death Cab (who are not on the bill tonight, to be clear).



There's also some footage available from Death Cab's soundcheck for that show.



More to come later!

Even more thoughts on You Am I

I just got a message from Jason from Fastback Studios with the following thoughts about the You Am I/Steve Turner/Young Sportsmen show at the Croc from a few days back. Here's what he had to say about the show.

They did in fact "wreck" the place! Steve Turner and His Bad Ideas, and my good friends The Young Sportsmen also did some heavy damage. Kudos to whomever booked that bill! That was a great line-up.

You know how you'll go to see your favorite band and they will be playing with some death metal band that has a name you cannot pronounce? None of that crap going on at the croc last night. This was a great night of rock and roll! I have never had the pleasure of seeing You Am I before, only heard their records. I hate to be cliche, and being a producer/engineer myself it kind of pains me to say it, but I must admit...they were even better live.

You Am I have the stage thing down, It's been a while since I've seen anyone do a windmill very well. Tim Rogers did them (and how) with style and ease, like Pete Townsend walked on stage himself.

Jason Lackie

Free show @ The Croc on Friday

It looks like the headliner has cancelled. So, rather than do nothing, The Crocodile is having a free show on Friday (3/9) featuring The Hands, Speaker Speaker, and The Lights. Sounds like a good time to me!

Red Sky v. New West Motels

As previously reported New West Motels annouced a name change at the Global Cooling Benefit. But, rumor mill has it that such a name change has been put on hold because all of a sudden they find themselves fielding phone calls from record industry types who have taken a shine to the new recordings over at their myspace page (listen to "Dandelions").

Personally, I always loved the name New West Motels. So, this does not break my heart at all. What does break my heart is a diggety-damn awesome show is taking place a few weeks from now... on a Wednesday. Don't clubs realize I've got an early alarm clock for work? :)

Such is the way of the world. But, this is a line up that will be worth missing a few hours of sleep. It's at the Croc on February 28 and features:

[edited to remove one of the bands, who, for weird legal reasons with former management, asked me not to mention them at this point... but they rock]
New West Motels
The Brides of Obscurity
Driving the Eights

Rock! Mark your calendar now.


Rob from New West Motels

Andy Werth interview & show

Andy Werth is a fellow who writes cool, breezy and catchy pop tunes that bring to mind 1970s AM radio on a sunny Saturday afternoon. He (and full band) are performing tomorrow (Tuesday, 1/9) at the Crocodile. I did this interview with him early last week, as you can likely tell by the holiday references.

1. First and foremost, was Santa good to you last week?

Santa was good and bad to me this year. He got me a great setup for making mixed drinks, which is good, but this will make it very difficult for me to make to work on time in 2007, which is bad.

2. Any New Year's resolutions?

My New Year’s resolution is to get things for my friends and family throughout the year so that I don’t feel obliged to get them stuff on Christmas.

3. What are your feelings about the state of pop music in the Northwest and Seattle in particular?

There are lots of exciting things on the rise in Seattle pop music. Great local talents like Shane Tutmarc (Dolour), Sameer Shukla, and The Young Sportsmen are getting ready to unleash pop records (I’m lucky enough to have heard the in-progress tracks for some of these bands), and other locals like Tennis Pro and The Sun-Ups have recently released albums that prove there is a vibrant pop scene in this town. And while these bands do a great job of putting the “rock” in pop rock, we also have some incredible pop songwriters who can give us doses of excellent softer pop. For example, Andrea Wittgens’ album How Do You Love, Aquamarine? is a little pop masterpiece and always seems to find its way into my CD player (she also recently came out with a new EP), and Central Services, whose new CD is also excellent. When I look at the Northwest in general, there are certainly some very bright spots: I enjoy looking north to Vancouver’s The New Pornographers to see what a truly fantastic pop rock band can do. Portland also has a small but dedicated group of musicians writing excellent pop songs, like Danny Delegato and Blitzen Trapper.

4. If you could be the opening act for any band, any time period, who would that be and why?

I’d open for Harry Nilsson during one of his extremely rare concert appearances just so I could grab him by the collar and scream, “Teach me everything you know, you reclusive S.O.B!” Since that would probably land me in jail, maybe I’d choose to open for Rufus Wainwright so I could grab him by his feather boa and scream, “Teach me everything you know, you flamboyant S.O.B.!”

5. How do you think others would describe your music, and is that the same or different than you'd like to think of yourself?

Based on the reviews my EP has gotten, people often hear Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys), Chicago, and Randy Newman in my music, along with relative unknowns like Bobby Goldsboro and Rupert Holmes. I can honestly say haven’t spent much time listening to any of these artists. When I get compared to someone I’m not that familiar with, I check them out, and some of these comparisons are really flattering. I raised myself on jazz and the whole pantheon of 60’s and 70’s pop rock, and I think the music I write reflects the variety of those influences. When I hear a melody in my head and start to write a song, I don’t know if the end result is going to harken back to Neil Young, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, or what.

6. Who are your favorite Seattle bands and why?

Some of my favorite Seattle bands are, in no particular order: The Jim Knapp Orchestra (best jazz in town, hands down); Tennis Pro (great pop rock songs, and live shows offer the chance to be flipped off by the talented multi-instrumentalist Phil Petersen), The Young Sportsmen (killer live shows), Central Services (beautiful, balanced sound)—Actually, there’s just too many great local bands to name.

7. What's the latest news from you and what's on the horizon?

The band and I have really only been at this since September, so pretty much everything qualifies as “latest news” for us. The EP generated some excellent comments from indie reviewers, as well as from The Stranger and KEXP, and made a couple of “Best of” lists for 2006 and has received some airplay. We also were just covered in VegNews magazine, one of the largest vegetarian lifestyle magazines with a readership of 150,000+. We’re excited to already be playing great venues like the Crocodile and the High Dive, and have managed to get out of Seattle and play as well. We’ll continue to develop our set list and play shows around the Northwest, and will be recording a full-length record around July of 07.

8. What's something people don't know about Andy Werth?

I speak German, and at an upcoming show I’ll be singing one of my songs in German.