Upcoming Events, May 2008

A ton of good movies coming up next month. Northwest Film Forum has a Belmondo vs. Mastroianni series including 8 1/2, Breathless, La Dolce Vita, and Le Doulos, as well as a John Boorman film starring Marcello Mastroianni called Leo the Last which I hadn't heard of previously. They're also showing Shotgun Stories, which has a terrific trailer, and some George Méliès films.

SIFF Cinema has several titles for United Artists' 90th anniversary, and I'm most excited about the westerns: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and The Magnificent Seven. Then, of course, SIFF the festival starts on May 22, though they're not revealing the schedule for another week and a half. I think I have fourteen tickets or something, from back when I got my membership.

Next week Cut Copy continues the dance-rock-electro explosion started last Sunday by Caribou and Fuck Buttons (both thrilling), and perpetuated by Hot Chip (once was enough) and Simian Mobile Disco (terrific sound and entertaining live PA/synthesizer/sampler set). M83 and Apparat show up Memorial Day weekend. Vetiver, Tokyo Police Club, and Kid Dakota (opening for Cloud Cult) will be less electronically oriented.

I believe Darren Jackson (of Kid Dakota) tops my list of live shows with at least six, maybe more. At least one as a member of Camaro and one as a member of the Olympic Hopefuls, both at the Cave at Carleton, three as Kid Dakota there and one at the Triple Rock (a great record release show) with Low and Fog. My Jim James tally is five, David Bazan's at four, and Junior Boys & The Thermals are holding steady at three.

Pitchfork 500

I find it odd that according to Google Blog Search no one has yet blogged about Pitchfork's forthcoming book on 500 of "The Greatest Songs Since Punk," titled The Pitchfork 500.

It's not coming out until November, but I stumbled upon it when searching for other stuff by Scott Plagenhoef after finishing up his 33 1/3 book on If You're Feeling Sinister. He spends most of the book placing Belle & Sebastian in context as descendents of the C86 crowd, or more precisely, Orange Juice and the Smiths (and, of course, Velvet Underground), and detailing their relationship to Britpop, the British music press, their fans, etc. Plagenhoef actually avoids describing the music on the titular album until 20 pages from the end. His main gist is that, due to the internet and MP3s, Belle and Sebastian may be the last band to find success so incrementally since even demos are instantly available to everyone worldwide on MySpace before a band even signs with a label. The death of scarcity/secrecy.

DMV

I suppose the DMV is probably as effective a place as any to embody the differences between Seattle and New York. In New York I believe I spent nearly three hours there to get a photo ID, at the end of which I was handed a piece of paper with no picture, and told that my ID card would arrive in the mail in around three weeks. I honestly would've preferred punching myself in the face on a crowded sidewalk.

Today I showed up at the downtown Seattle department of licensing at 2:30. I was seventeenth in line, but the general competency of everyone on both sides of the counter meant that I was back outside, with a temporary driver's license (photo included), by 3:00.

On an unrelated note, I just recalled that the highlight of my somewhat limited year in music thus far has been Bradford Cox (and bassist) doing a short and hilarious cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" at the Atlas Sound show last month.

Pedestrian

I had some idea when I went to New York that I might want to try to walk around all the streets of Manhattan. While I did plenty of walking there, I didn't really have the time to go quite that crazy, so now in Seattle I'm seeing how much of the central part of the city* I can cover. Thus far I haven't been very methodical about it, although eventually that will have to be the case. I'm keeping track on two maps, one north and one south of the ship canal. As of this afternoon, here is my mostly haphazard and laconic progress, via the two maps stitched together.

* I'm defining central as below N 85th St and north of Jackson; arbitrary, of course. Initiall, I want to cover the area south of the ship canal and more or less this side of the Seattle Center.


Click the map to see a slightly larger version.

Upcoming Events, Apr 2008

Last month ended up rather well. Thursday Brendan and I went to Big Time Brewing in the U-District to watch basketball and followed up with more of the same Friday at Goldie's in Wallingford. Both places have their respective merits, although 2 corn dogs + fries for $3 at Goldie's is tough to beat, even if the fries are a little greasy. Then again, at Big Time an older guy came in, started talking to Brendan, asked us if we wanted to split a pizza, then paid for it and left.

Saturday was Linda's and back to the VS house for interesting times, and Sunday Vegfest at Seattle Center followed (after a few hours) by my first visit Thai Tom's in the U-District.

This week I should be getting at least a table and a few chairs, bringing the apartment a bit closer to furnished.

There's kind of an unbelievable week starting April 18 w/ Stars of the Lid, Caribou, Hot Chip, and Simian Mobile Disco all playing different venues. Fleet Foxes are actually playing the 18th as well, but I suspect I'll get another chance to see them again (Sasquatch or no) long before Stars of the Lid.

We're finally past the winter doldrums of the film calendar, and there should be a lot of good stuff playing this month. Variety praised both the new Harold & Kumar movie and Forgetting Sarah Marshall pretty highly at SXSW. The Egyptian is showing Alien and Amelie on weekend midnights toward the end of the month, both of which I ought to see.

2008 Albums

This is more a utility for me than for anything else.

• 01.22 Black Mountain In the Future [Jagjaguwar]
• 01.22 Blood on the Wall Liferz [The Social Registry]
• 01.29 Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend [XL]
• 02.05 Hot Chip Made in the Dark [DFA]
• 02.19 Atlas Sound Let the Blind Lead... [Kranky]
• 02.19 Grand Archives The Grand Archives [Sub Pop]
• 02.26 Beach House Devotion [Carpark]

---

• 02.19 The Big Sleep Sleep Forever [Frenchkiss]
• 03.11 Junior Boys Body Language, Vol. 6 [Get Physical]
• 04.01 The Black Keys Attack & Release [Nonesuch]
• 04.01 Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Youngster... [Arts & Crafts]
• 04.01 Sun Kil Moon April [Caldo Verde]
• 04.08 Cut Copy In Ghost Colours [Modular]
• 04.15 M83 Saturdays = Youth [Mute]
• 04.15 Sally Shapiro Remix Romance Vol. 1 [Paper Bag]
• 04.22 Otis Redding Otis Blue reissue [Rhino]
• 04.22 Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell [Saddle Creek]
• 04.29 Jamie Lidell Jim [Warp]
• 05.06 Animal Collective Water Curses EP [Domino]
• 05.06 Four Tet Ringer [Domino]
• 05.06 Matmos Supreme Balloon [Matador]
• 05.06 No Age Nouns [Sub Pop]
• 05.06 Serena-Maneesh SM Backwards [Smalltown Supersound]
• 05.06 Vetiver Thing of the Past [Gnomonsong]
• 05.13 The Black Angels Directions to See a Ghost [Light in the Attic]
• 05.20 Dominique Leone Dominique Leone [Strømland]
• 05.20 Jeremy Jay A Place Where We Could Go [K]
• 05.27 Booka Shade The Sun & The Neon Light [Get Physical]
• 06.02 Lindstrøm Wherever You Go I Go To [Feedelity/Smalltown Supersound]
• 06.03 Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes [Sub Pop]
• 06.10 My Morning Jacket Evil Urges [ATO]
• 06.17 Sally Shapiro Remix Romance Vol. 2 [Paper Bag]
• 06.17 Wolf Parade Kissing the Beehive [Sub Pop]

ASLBGH 11 songs, 38:14 minutes

Since I've been woefully neglectful about mixing any music together, and since Kevin put one up, I thought why not post a Muxtape before the RIAA takes 'em down?