Dave and Holly ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The photo’s from the Chuck Yay-Grr reunion show at the Sunset Tavern is one of our most viewed sets on flickr from this year. I’d never seen Chuck Yay-Grr, and it was still a ridiculously fun night. The pictures tell a sordid, and often times wacky, tale.

Blowdog of Chuck Yay-Grr! ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Before enjoying a plethora of musical choices tonight (No Depression Festival, Robin Pecknold/Drink for the Kids at Neumos, The Ironclads & The Hands at Mars Bar, Thee Emergency for Free at The Nectar, The Pharmacy at The Comet, Mad Rad at Chapel…) I highly recommend you make your way to The Sunset Tavern to support another talented local artist, Stoic Swine.

On this blog, Stoic Swine is best known as Blowdog of the dearly departed Hopscotch Boys. His performances, which we’ve described as “part art, part felony” were confrontational, dark, abrasive, fascinating, enthralling, and totally unique. The same can be said of the artwork he creates under the name of Stoic Swine.

While I’m no art critic or historian, Stoic Swine’s pieces evoke the same sort of reaction in me as his performances as Blowdog: enamored revulsion. As Stoic Swine describes his own work, “soul in the soot, head in the ether.”  His art, like his performances, toes the line of grotesque, in a way that makes you want to see more, not less.  It is raw, honest, totemic, evocative, and I think, beautiful in it’s portrayal of the flaws and vices of man. Much like Blowdog on stage, it’s work you’ll either love or hate, there’s no middle ground. I for, one, love it. 

So does The Sunset Tavern on Ballard Avenue, which is currently hosting Stoic Swine’s latest collection, “YESTERDAY’S HERO, TODAY’S GOAT.” The artist describes his work, created just for this show at the Sunset as:

Spanning from the fumes of the room’s storied past (from shaky Chinese restaurant to a debauched sailor dive) to its present lore as one of the city’s finest rock clubs, this work was created specifically to be installed in the legendary Sunset Tavern. All portraits on display are of figures I could imagine, at one time or another, filling the Sunset with their gregarious personalities and drunken behavior as they unwittingly question life’s greater existential formalities. Hopefully no amount of their blood, sweat or ejaculate has been spared in my faithful depiction.

Tonight the bar will be hosting an artist’s reception during Ballard’s Art Walk  for Stoic Swine and his work from 6 to 8pm.

To see more of Stoic Swine’s work, check out his blog: Gift Horse Mouth

Sneezy and Blowdog of the Hopscotch Boys ::: photo by Abbey

Tonight these two will be hosting their 5th Annual Blue Moon Christmas Pageant, snow be damned and we guarantee you it’s an event worth donning snow-shoes to get to.

See more Hopscotch Boys Photos on our Flickr

Santa Blowdog ::: photo by Josh

Hope you are all able to dig out of the Seattle snow and spend the holiday’s with your family and friends.

Sound on the Sound will be skiing to the Blue Moon tonight if that’s what it takes to make it to the 5th Annual Blowdog and Sneezy Christmas Pageant, and we’d love to see a few familiar faces there.

Hopscotch Boys :: Groundhog Day @ The Blue Moon :: photo by Abbey

Every once in a great while, like every 5,000 snaps, you catch exactly the moment you hoped to catch. This photo, of Blowdog from the Hopscotch Boys getting hit in the face with a can of Rainier during one of the craziest shows I’ve ever witnessed survived, is doubtlessly one of those photos.

In another year sadly filled with break-ups of a number of phenomenal bands, no loss was as great as the Hopscotch Boys. Despite going to every Hopscotch Boy show ever played from the moment I discovered the band, there wasn’t a single moment of a show or even listening to their album Sad and Lonely Eyes, that I was anything but enthralled and enamored. For me this shot is the epitome of those shows and I am proud to have caught it.

There are few bands making music today that I love more than the Hopscotch Boys. And I adore just about everything about the band–from the in-your-face, is-Blowdog-secretly-screaming-from-behind-my-speakers? way their record plays to the unmatched insanity of a live Hopscotch Boys performance.  No band has yet to match the sheer spectacle that is a Hopscotch Boys performance, so it is safe to say the only thing I would change about this week’s recommended show is that it is the bands last.

Based on my past year of dedicated attendance of Hopscotch Boys shows, I can guarantee that somehow this Saturday you will see at least one thing that is crazier than any of the following previous stunts–the Hopscotch headlock, Santa Blowdog,  witness a near stabbing, the great glowstick fiasco,  human neutering, beer can in the face, an innocent groundhog day puppet show, creepy serial killer masks , insulting personalized drumheads, and/or a whipping. There is no doubt this show will be one for the ages and likely a performance that straddles the line between art and misdemeanors.

The last Hopscotch Boys show ever will also featured a few other great bands, including two of my local favorites Thunder and Thunderbird Motel. There is nowhere else to be in Seattle on Saturday, as far as I am concerned.

Thunder::: Photo by Abbey

Thunderbird Motel:::Photo by Abbey

Country Mike is a beloved staple of the Seattle scene and it’s his birthday today! A rock show is always better with Country Mike in the front row with you and as a photographer, there is no better mosh blocker than Mikey. Happy Birthday to Mike! You can celebrate Mike’s birth with a concert this Saturday at Jules Maes Saloon in Georgetown, hopefully featuring Hopscotch Boys.

This was the strangest night at The Blue Moon I’ve spent to date, and considering the nights I’ve had at the Moon… that’s saying something. Because words would woefully fail to describe the evening, I’d like to take you on a brief photographic journey.

The Christmas Belles

DJ Country Mike

Jesus and Satan

Apocalypse Noel

Midnight Mass by the Reverend Darnell Jenkins

Wonder Bread Communion

Surprise Hopscotch Boys Show

You can check out many more photos in our flickr set of the night

Blowdog is one menacing mother fucker when he’s on stage, so much so that my camera was far too frightened to take a clear shot. Observe:

More from the fabulous Moustache Bash coming soon…. including photos from a camera much braver than my own!