The Black Keys came through Seattle with a visit to the Paramount Theater on Saturday evening. The duo, Ohio’s Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, has had great commercial and artistic success with their albums, including this year’s Brothers. Nicole Atkins opened – you can expect a new CD out from her in 2011. Photographer Alex Crick attended the Seattle show and brought back more beauties!:
the Black Keys
Nicole Atkins
School of Rock put on KISS with Makeup last Sunday at El Corazon. If you don’t know about School of Rock and its shows, you really should. The organization teaches kids from 2nd grade and up through high school to play music. This was my first School of Rock show as I could not pass up hearing KISS cover songs. Many of the musicians dressed in KISS gear, and the ones who didn’t punked out in appropriate attire. Several of the School of Rock staff and audience members wore KISS makeup too, which was just awesome. The amount of work that went into putting this show together was impressive – many outfits looked like originals and were very detailed. The makeup was phenomenal and you should take these musical prodigies seriously. I was really impressed with their musicianship and stage presence. God of Thunder featured bassist Manoli Tramountanas, whose bass was about his size and yet he played like a ninja. The vocalist on “Calling Dr. Love” and other songs was Bella Lucio, who appeared to be all of about 6 years old but ready to rock. “Strutter” hit the spot, as did “Do You Love Me”. The show was just great in its entirety. I am eagerly anticipating the upcoming David Bowie show they’re working on. Photos!:
School of Rock: Kiss with Makeup – photos by Dagmar
Kevin N. Murphy got some beautiful photo subjects in and beautiful photos of School of Seven Bells and Active Child, who played Neumos earlier this week. This is another great pairing of bands Neumos has brought to Seattle recently and I’m thrilled to share Murphy’s photos:
School of Seven Bells
Active Child
I was fortunate enough to be a part of the private Hole End Session held at Bumbershoot (that sounds a lot more dirty than it actually is). It was definitely an experience and we all learned a lot, probably too much, about Miss Courtney Love. Over-sharing aside, it was fun to see her live and in such an intimate setting. She held herself as much less of a crazy crackhead than we are all led to believe she is. On the other hand Lonely H had a great showing at the EMP Sky Church. Not only are they cute, but they’re great musicians. Looking forward to hearing more from them. LMFAO, as no surprise to anyone, had a packed “house” at their outdoor performance late on Sunday. Their music is a ton of fun and their stage show goes right along with it as a very tall robot-man made obscene gestures to the audience in time with the rest of the singers. No wonder the kids have been talking about them. Head to the flickr collection for more photos from Bumbershoot.
Eldrige Gravy and The Court Supreme
This band is always a smooth mix of funky music that will rock you down until you just can’t boogie any more (possibly because your ass is sore from shakin’ your booty for so long). These folks have Mr. and Lady Gravy up front, but one of the things that I love about them is that it’s not just about the Gravies being the center of attention. They make a point to include the whole band and really turn it in to a family affair, show casing each band members talent. The brass section is unbelievably talented and the “back up singers” are more like extensions of awesomeness from all sides. I do have to say that Mr. and Lady Gravy have intense and soothing voices that will make you wail for more of them. Thanks to a great bass player, a keyboard that seems to boogie on its own, a rippin’ electric guitar and a badass brass section these folks just burn it down!
Black Cherry Crush
Imagine Tina Turner meets funkadelic jam. These kids got style. The singer with a lovely black cocktail dress was lovely. Fysah Thomas with a wild leotard, full on leg warmers and a bangin’ voice really set the tone for a great set. Their “back up singer” is full of real love and spunk. Her voice is a force to be reckoned with for sure!
Yeager
Eldrige Gravy and The Court Supreme
Mr. Gravy
Lady Gravy
Yeager
The Colonel
The Court Supreme
The Court Supreme
Set List
Black Cherry Crush
Black Cherry Crush
Black Cherry Crush