Thee Emergency ::: Photo by Abbey

Last Saturday Thee Emergency’s Operation Bright Pink to King Cobra.

The Valley ::: Photo by Josh

The Hands ::: Photo by Abbey

Thee Emergency ::: Photo by Abbey

Thee Emergency ::: Photo by Josh

This Saturday Operation Bright Pink invades the Sunset Tavern in Ballard, with A Gun That Shoots Knives and WE Wrote the Book on Connectors. Are you ready?

See more photo’s from last Saturday at our flickr page.

… and it is hailing up here on Broadway.

A few thoughts about where you might end up this weekend.

Tonight (Friday):

Shane Tutmarc and the Traveling Mercies w/ Star Anna and Guests Queen Anne Easy Street In-Store (less than 1 hr from now!)

Just Across the easy street on lower QA and beginning not long after the In-Store will be the Tiny Vipers, J Tillman show at the Vera Project. This is pretty much a must see local bill right now.

Also very worthy of your love would be the M Bison and Thunderbird motel are playing a $FREE$ show at the Skylark in West Seattle. They have a rad poster (see above).

Saturday

The Teenagers with be stirring up the house at Neumos along with the Handsome Furs and Man Plus.

Black Eyes and Neckties will be the entertainment between entertainment as across the street King Cobra is hosting Semi-Pro Wrestling.

If Fremont is more your style than Capitol Hill, but you still want your rock, head over to the High Dive where The Valley will be holding it down with Ice Age Cobra and the DTs.

Sunday

Rilo Kiley at the Showbox SODO. You can hate on Rilo Kiley all you want. I will always harbor an irrational crush on Jenny Lewis. Which means I will always find Rilo Kiley endearing.

If your not already heading to behold Jack White at Neumos with his Raconteurs, you should find the time to hit up Chop Suey where MGMT will be trying to make it not feel like a week night.

The Blue Moon is my favorite venue in Seattle. Sure some (okay most) folks look at me funny when I say this, but the truth is The Moon consistently hosts the strongest local line-ups of any venue in Seattle. For free. There hasn’t been a single week out of the past 3 or 4 months that you wouldn’t find me at the Blue Moon at least once, often twice. And this weekend, will be no different.

I’ll be spending both my Friday and Saturday at The Blue Moon, and you probably should too. Friday night is another perfect local line-up at The Moon with A Gun That Shoots Knives, Hopscotch Boys, Rep Rapture, and The Whore Moans. If you’ve ever seen one of these bands singularly, you know they put on crazy shows. Who the fuck knows what will happen when all four of the bands come together for one show, but it is sure to be a spectacle. And Saturday night is all about Lavendar Lunchbox and the Psychedelic Lightbulb, a collective of Heavy Souls and Chuck Norris residents. If you’re like me and you missed last years Psychedelic party, this will likely be your only chance to see the band. Local bands The Daguerrotypes and The Valley are rounding out another stellar line up.

Best of all? These absolutely insane nights are all a benefit for The Blue Moon, with all proceeds (and donations) going to the purchase of a new sound system. If you go to any shows at The Moon, nows the time to give back. You’ve caught the best shows of the year at The Blue Moon for free, so now it’s time to give ten dollars to the cause. 

I won’t say too much about this show except that you should have been there. I do have some pictures for you though, and a few thoughts.

The Earaches, sorry i missed you as I really was stuck in some Crosstown Traffic. I randomly run into an old high school friend at the show so we went and grabbed a quick hot beverage from ladro and made it back for the Valley. Who was loud. The drummer was rather agro, throwing his entire drumset off the front of the stage at the end of the set. Maybe he was anticpating the end of the set and letting the other band get on quickly, but…methinks not.

The Hands were up next and I was rather suprised by their calm stage demeanor. They duly kicked out the jams, and in fact played every song they had in their repotoire, but it seemed like the small stage may have been cramping their style. I can’t wait to see them rock the Croc this Wednesday.

Thee Emergency returned at three in the morning that day from a week long west coast tour down to Southern California. After a week, they were indeed tight. I am really liking the added saxaphone/digital organist (not pictured, hiding behind the PA/silver balloon). They’ll be playing with the Hands again on February 17.

Headlining this event, and deservedly so was local hip hop stars Common Market. The night previous they had performed with the Blue Scholars in support of Lt. Ehren Watada, who has refused to deploy to Iraq. They said they were riding high off the vibe of that event and it showed. A Common Market show is more than just a collection of songs, it’s a cohesive narrative experience that entertains and informs. They capped of the show with their socially concious anthem “Connect For” that had whole crowd moving and quite a few running to get their record off the shelf.

Did I tell you it was free?

This week our show of the week is more of a showcase of the week. Starting at 1pm tommorow, January 28, at the new Silver Platters location on 5th and Roy in lower Queen Anne will be five, count’em, five stellar local bands you should know about. First up will be The Valley followed by The Earaches at 2pm, the Hands at 3pm, Thee Emergency at 4pm and finally Common Market at 5pm.

I am highly anticipating this lineup. Thee Emergency should be pretty tight after a week touring the west coast and the Hands are the local band I want to see most right now. Common Market’s lyrically informed hip hop is some of the best hip hop being made right now in this area, if not some of the best in the entire country. Should be a great afternoon. 

I love the Fruit Bats and I thought this interview exchange with James Mercer was nice:

I heard that Eric Johnson from the Fruit Bats has officially joined the band. Is that true?

It is. I’ve known Eric for a long time. He worked on the record with us. After working with Chris Funk from the Decemberists, and working with Eric, I realized it would be great to have a multi-instrumentalist. Eric can also sing very beautifully. It’s just a dream.

Eric is also the lead writer and vocalist for his own band. Are you going to turn into one of those dueling vocalist bands?

I don’t know. It just depends on our comfort level. Eric also understands what it’s like to want your vision of a song heard. But I think he’s having fun, because he doesn’t have to be that guy. I will exploit his talents as much as he’ll let me.

The Silver Platters opening party next weekend will have the Hands, Thee Emergency, Common Market, The Earaches and The Valley. This is the one that is taking over tower’s old space by Seattle Center on lower queen anne. What a great lineup. Sunday January 28 and I think it starts in the afternoon sometime but there isn’t a time on the myspace page.

Also Coachella presale tix are on sale now. The news this week is that the Police will be reuniting for the festival. Also rumors about that Rage against the machine might be reuniting for the festival but those are unsubstantiated.