First a Genius award and now playing on a Sunday afternoon at a slick art museum? Dang, The Intelligence, youze some kinda fancy post-punk band! These two events are in fact linked, as this special performance was part of the Frye Art Museum's "Genius/21st Century/Seattle" series, made up of 65 recipients of the prestigious arts award, given out annually by Seattle's The Stranger newspaper. The Intelligence received the honor in 2011, and promptly used the $5000 award money to buy 500 lbs. of raw almonds, He-Man Underoos, and one of those cute fainting goats. Only the first part of that last sentence is accurate..as far as I know.
This was a true all-ages show, with a crowd ranging from a sweet chubby-cheeked baby less than a year old to white-haired patrons of the arts, and lots of regular ol' good-lookin', smart-brained Intelligence fans. The elegant setting in a large gallery room with soaring white walls and a warm wood floor was enhanced by low blush-pink light and dramatic shadows. It was particularly sweet to see little kids running around and dancing, familiar faces smiling, and new fans made.
The 45-minute set was generously loaded with lots of songs from The Intelligence's new album, "Vintage Future," a Lars Finberg tour-de-force of incisive lyrics, and catchy, angular, modernist music that is endlessly intriguing, often funny, sometimes tragic, and always important. You may purchase "Vintage Future" at In The Red Records at your leisure, but I suggest just going ahead and doing it NOW by clicking THIS LINK. You know what they say about procrastinators.
Thank you Mr. Lars, Dave Hernandez, Drew Church, and Kaanan Tupper for playing for us and being overall pretty nifty, and to the Frye Art Museum for being free and freaky in the U.S.A.!
(Click on the photos to enlarge and click on the Flickr set link to see more!)
The Intelligence, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA. 11/15/15 Flickr set link
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman