Two Seattle bands, Barcelona and Ivan & Alyosha played the Triple Door recently in a show I would have attended if BBS hadn’t hosted a show at the Comet the same evening. Fortunately photographer Jason Tang was there and captured some gorgeous shots of both bands. Ivan & Alyosha plays the Triple again on September 10th.
Barcelona
More of Jason’s photos can be seen here.
The Cho Dependent Tour features the ribald, risqué, and downright raunchy live comedy of 41 yo, Korean-American comic, Margaret Cho. By the way, Cho – could easily pass for a girl in her twenties – as you see in the photos – she looks great! I think laughter keeps you young.
Colorful tattoos on display with a quite pretty dress and killer silver shoes, Cho hit the Paramount last night, seemingly dropping every punch line to an admiring audience. Now, her comedy is not for the faint of heart, nor anyone that has an easily (or even moderately) offendable bone in their body. In fact, if you can be offended at all, well, you should probably find an alternate form of entertainment from this show. Because it’s bleeping hilarious, and all the unmentionables are, well mentioned – whether it be sexual acts, preferences, her assurance that she must be but one life from being reincarnated as the ultimate life form – a gay man.
Yep, Margaret Cho is a no holds barred roaringly long, hard, rough ride of my belly hurts laughter – because yeah, I am down with things being funny, because being offended simply takes too much energy! And laughing about all the quirks about sex, life, love, family, and friends is so much more fun!
The funniest stories, well, again, probably I can’t quote here – but, just imagine – a couple tunes scattered 
into the comedy, one of which recalls/ode to, her once unrequited love (of 17 yrs) of former writer (from her ’90s series), that when she looked him up on her 40th birthday, found is now serving time for murder of his wife…the punchline – “good thing we didn’t hook up!” It’s that ability to turn the morbid to comedic genius that makes Cho brilliant on stage.
She in turn does this again, though less morbidly – when recalling the “heroic” craziness from the recent Jet Blue flight attendant freak-out, and emergency chute escape – yes, Cho is able to turn pure WTF newsy moments, into laughter. Stories of Porta-Potties, medical marijuana lollipops, closed vaginas, senior citizen strip clubs – and more – barely give a hint to the 1.5 hours of raunchy comedy you get at a Cho Dependent Tour stop. She is just f-in hilarious, and she brings along her fave gay comic, John Roberts to warm up the crowd.
Photos from the night:
Margaret Cho –
John Roberts –
Ever read some review of an album or a show and think to yourself “I could do better than this pile of poo?” Well, Ben Folds gave his fans the opportunity to prove to everyone that he’s got what it takes. The talented pianist/singer is offering up his time and thoughts to his fans in online interviews leading up to the release of Folds’ new project with cohort and British novelist Nick Hornby called Lonely Avenue. Here’s what his website has to say about the interview experiment:
“Over the next week we will be sifting through Ben’s Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace comments to find 15-20 potential fan interviewers to conduct a series of live 10 minute online video interviews with Ben Folds in the run up to the release of Lonely Avenue on September 28th. The interview series will also include interviews/discussions with Ben conducted by other notable artists.”
Unfortunately, the deadline to add your own question has passed, but you can still experience the interviews on his site. They are streaming live and the notable artists they mention are ones you have most likely heard of, if not actively adore. (Like the interview yesterday with Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls and solo fame and her fiance, the award-winning British author Neil Gaiman.) One word of advice, though. Show up to the chat room early as there is a 500 person cap on attendees and that was quickly reached for yesterday’s installment before the interview even began.
Ben Folds – photo courtesy of benfolds.com
As for the album, having heard a few bits and pieces so far, it’s got an interesting mix of typical Ben Folds magic with a different style of lyrics. The emotion and straight from your heart feel is there, but it’s expressed a little differently. This is most likely due to Nick Hornby collaborating with Folds on the lyrics. It’s an exciting concept, and we’re looking forward to hearing the full album which is currently only available on pre-order.
Rufus Wainwright played an emotional and moving show at the Paramount last night in Seattle. The singer-songwriter wrapped up his tour with his sister, Martha Wainwright, in a performance that was so revealing and sensitive. For the first half of the show, he played songs from All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu in a beautiful black ensemble of shiny raven feathers, sparkly top, and a dramatic scalloped train designed by Zaldy Coco. As he came out to the stage the venue was silent – he had requested the audience not to applaud during the first set – and the impact of this was startling. Artwork (which I believe were photos and video of Wainwright’s eyes) by Douglas Gordon rotated on the screen.
Rufus Wainwright
One of the most moving moments was his performance of “The Walking Song,” written by his mother, musician Kate McGarrigle, the celebrated Canadian singer-songwriter who passed away in January. Wainwright mentioned it was written when the relationship between his parents looked rosy. Another great set of moments was when he sang in French with Martha Wainwright (who brought her adorable baby, Arcangelo onstage for one song) and “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” “Complainte De La Butte” (Wainwright commented we have this complaint in Seattle because of all these hills) and “Dinner at Eight” (No matter how strong/I’m gonna take you down/With one little stone I’m gonna break you down/And see what you’re worth/What you’re really worth to me).
There were some lighthearted moments, such as when Wainwright talked about seeing changes in Seattle over the years – the Space Needle didn’t impress him at first because of its smallness and resemblance to an airport. Now he likes it, saying it’s almost Rococo next to all the bigger buildings. Some of my other favorite pieces of the night were his music set to Shakespeare’s sonnets and “What Would I Ever Do With a Rose?”(Never does the dream come true without the nightmare).
Wainwright returns to the Northwest on September 9th. He’ll perform his opera, Prima Donna, with the Oregon Symphony as the first half of the set – the second half will be variety, including covers of Judy Garland songs. You can find more information here.
Rufus Wainwright
Martha Wainwright
review & all photos by Dagmar
Gallery of Rufus Wainwright @ the Paramount
Gallery of Martha Wainwright @ the Paramount
Related Link: The Kate McGarrigle Fund
David Lowery did two shows in a row the other night at Neumos in his bands Cracker and
Camper Van Beethoven. Plus the tour is still going – I think it’s very cool to pull this off. In case you didn’t know, Cracker, whose most recent release is last year’s Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, formed after Camper Van Beethoven split. We’ve got some of Brittney Bush Bollay‘s wonderful photos for you to enjoy:
Cracker
Camper Van Beethoven