PHOTOS & REVIEW: THE INTELLIGENCE @ FRYE ART MUSEUM, SEATTLE, WA. 11/15/15

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

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PHOTOS: BEHIND-THE-SCENES AT THE VIDEO SHOOT FOR "DUMP," STARRING WIMPS! (KILL ROCK STARS, 2015)

Have you ever lived in a dump? Now, I'm not talking about a little lead-based peeling paint here and there, folks...I mean a real DUMP, with pests (both human and rodential), garbage, curling old slices of pizza, with smells that are rich in stale rankness that you can never bleach away? Where there's a dude sleeping on your couch that you don't even know and the police stop by regularly to "say hello?" If so, have I got a video for you to commiserate with! If not, WELCOME TO HELL! At least for a couple of dizzying minutes!

Last August on a pleasantly warm evening, I and many musical pals made our way over to Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood to help Seattle's Best Punk Band™∞, the effervescent wimps, with their new video entitled (you guessed it) "Dump." My job was to shoot photos and stay out of the way. Others had to drink generic beer and stay in the way. Carlos Alberto Fernandez Lopez's job was to direct the video, ably assisted by wife and associate producer Cathy Lopez (and their sweet still-in-utero-then son Iggy), and camera/lighting whiz Joshua Green. This is the second time I've been lucky enough to work alongside Carlos and Cathy, who create such a pleasant, laid-back, and fun atmosphere out of what normally might be something rather stressful. I really am fascinated by how films are made, especially the continuous-shot take, like "Dump." Everything has to be timed just right, or you must begin the shot again. But hey...if there's a mistake it's just a good excuse to drink more beer and eat more pizza!

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PHOTOS: HELP YOURSELF RECORDS WEST COAST TOUR KICKOFF WITH SSDD, NAIL POLISH, & UBU ROI @ CHOP SUEY, SEATTLE, WA. 11/4/15

We here in the Emerald City are afforded, EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, a spectacular bounty of incredible local music talent to enjoy, fed to us like peeled grapes. All we have to do is show up and BOOM! Grape in mouth! Now we will share some of our BEST GRAPES with you, the residents of the West Coast, courtesy Help Yourself Records: post-punks Steal Shit Do Drugs and Nail Polish are heading to Oregon, California, and Nevada RIGHT THIS MINUTE IN A VAN!! The "WE'LL ALL BE RICH" World Tour begins TONIGHT, November 6th at the Kenton Club in Portland, and continues on through Santa Rosa, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Davis, and ends up in Reno on November 14th. I encourage my friends in these three fine states to check out our lovely friends if you can, buy some merch, and dig some of our best and brightest (or best and darkest, if we want to keep with the whole No Wave thang). Thank you!

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PHOTOS & REVIEW: BLOWFLY, THE GODS THEMSELVES, WRECKLESS FREEKS, PARTMAN PARTHORSE @ HIGHLINE BAR, SEATTLE, WA. 10/28/15 (PROBABLY NSFW)

Things kinda get a little freaky around Halloween -- crazy costumes, candy overload, spooky decor, the 2016 Republican debates -- but sometimes LEGIT FREAK is on and no amount of bite-sized Twix bars are going to save you, baby! Come with me if you dare to the Highline Bar in Capitol Hill, where last Wednesday night the crazies crept out of their lairs to entertain the brave assembled! DISCLAIMER: visually-squeamish viewers may wish to avert their eyes from fake blood and people jumping on Lego bricks with bare feet. Please to enjoy!

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