It's that time of year again... SXSW is upon us! I wasn't able to gather the necessary resources to head down there myself, so I'm looking forward to spending the next four days living vicariously through all of you headed Austin-ways.  I know that your hands (and days) will likely be full of free stuff (beer) and running into your band heros, but keep the twitters and flickr feeds full with your adventures!

I must admit, to protect myself from getting too depressed about missing this year's fest, I haven't kept extremely close tabs on who is playing where and when and what gift bags will be circulating. But, I have found two things that I'm particularly sad to miss this year.  If anyone hits these events, definitely report back (heck, whatever you see, feel free to report in!):

• 1. The world premiere screening of the film Strange Powers – Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
• 2. The undeniable indie-pop fest going on at Waterloo Bicycles (so many bands I've wanted to see in one place!)
• 3. The special guest duets that sneak up on you... one in particular I've heard a rumor about is the teaming up of a Fratelli and Colin of Mull Historial Society. Billy Bragg is there this year and I *know* he's going to join someone on stage. I just know it!

May the YouTube powers be with everyone down there!

Needless to say, you SXSW-ers are going to have a great time. I guess I'll make up for all that I'll miss by looking back and trying to relive some of my favorite adventures of SXSWs past:

• 1. Matt & Kim interview, with legos and a dorky interviewer
• 2. Los Campesinos! interview, in a hot tub with an interviewer who shouldn't have worn a hoodie
• 3. Chasing down Running into Owen Wilson
• 4. The time Dana chased down ran into Amy Winehouse
• 5. Everything else I've seen / done at SXSW, especially the hootenanny

What are your favorite SXSW memories?

We're all at SXSW in our hearts!

more...

{Robert Schneider from the Apples In Stereo from Athens Popfest 2008}

We here at TIG have been crushing out over Athens Popfest for years. I've been every year since 2006 and Liz went in 2005 and 2007. It's pretty much always the best week of the year, fusing together amazing indie pop, delicious food (seriously, Athens has the best!), and wonderful community. I look forward to the lineup announcement all year long, and the wonderful popfest folks have given us just a taste of what's to come, featuring some of my current favorite bands and lots of TIG favorites (and as always, some newbies I'm so excited to hear)!

more...

Three Imaginary Girls, The Stranger, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Neumo's are proud to present Hootenanny! -- our very own SXSW sendoff party for 2010 -- with Visqueen, Hey Marseilles, Mash Hall (formerly known as They Live!), and Fences on Friday, March 5th at Neumo's.

It's that time of year again, kids -- where we all steel ourselves for some couchsurfing, and start making our wishlists for the bands we can't miss -- yes, it's time to head down to Austin for SXSW 2010! And to celebrate, we'd love for you to join our sendoff party at Neumo's on Friday, March 5th. Come join us as we wish our favorite ladies and gents well before they hit the road... tickets for this 21+ show are only $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

Expect a downright rager of a night, with local big-guitar all-stars Visqueen headlining the bill, and Hey Marseilles bringing their lush, alt.indie.orchestral songwriting skills to the stage. On top of that magic, Mash Hall and everyone's favorite Fences will be rounding out the opening support -- doors are at 8pm and you won't want to miss a minute of this lineup. So make sure you're on the hill nice and early!

more...

at The Crocodile

 

My Morning Jacket/Massive Attack/Pavement/Ween/Vampire Weekend/MGMT/Band of Horses/The Nationa/LCD Soundsystem/Tegan & Sara/Broken Social Scene/Passion Pit/She & Him/Public Enemy/Nada Sur/The New Pornographers/The XX, Dirty Projectors/Ok, Go/Drive By Truckers/Kid Kudi/Deadmaus/The Long Winters/Minus the Bear/The Mountain Goats/Quasi/Camera Obscura/Fruit Bats/Brother Ali/Midlake/Dr. Dog/The Hold Steady/Caribou/Simian Mobile Disco/City of Colour/No Age/the Temper Trap/Vetiver/Miike Snow/Portugal. The Man/Telekinesis/ The Middle East/Mayer Hawthorne/Why?/Girls/Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes/Wale/The Lonely Forest/Japandroids/Boys Noize/Yacht/Laura Marling/Patrick Watson/Freelance Whales/Past Lives/Cymbals Eat Guitars/The Low Anthem/The Very Best/Phantogram/Neon Indian/Hudson Mohawke/Nurses/The Tallest Man on Earth/Fresh Espresso/Mumford & Sons/Jets Overhead/Tune-yards/Shabazz Palaces/Fool's Gold/Morning Teleportation/Z-Trip, Dam-Funk/Local Natives/Avi Buffalo/Booka Shade/A-Trak/Yes Giantess/Craig Robinson/Rob Riggle/Garfunkel & Oates/Luke Burbank & more.....

Tickets go on sale Saturday... so, erm, what do ya think?

 

more...

Next Monday night (February 15), the lineup for the Sasquatch Festival will be unveiled at a special launch party at the Crocodile. Performing will be Pitchfork-approved Atlas Sound and Surfer Blood as well as the excellent local hip hop duo Fresh Espresso. If you want to go, you can get free tickets at either Easy Street Records location sometime after 9am on Friday (February 12) - although not too much later - or win one of several contests throughout the week through 107.7 KNDD (The End).

We already know that Pavement is on board to headline one night but who else do you think is playing? I think it's curious that Miike Snow would cancel their upcoming April show at the Showbox but not their Vancouver or Portland shows around the same time (hint, hint). Who else do you think is playing? Feel free to use the comment section to speculate as to who you think is playing (either educated guesses or unreasonable pipe dreams).

Sasquatch will be Memorial Day weekend (May 29-May 31) at the Gorge, as usual.

I've been to almost every Coachella, exceptions being the first one and the last two. Every year around the end of January, my friends in Texas, Florida and California and I would anticipate the lineup release and furiously refresh the message boards until the magic announcement came; then we'd whoop and holler all up and down the phone lines for several days, coordinating flights, hotels and rental cars. I've made lasting friendships with people based on these annual treks to Indio, California. I've discovered bands I never would have heard of and seen epic shows that are STILL being discussed. Each year I'd feverishly wait out the two months until I could get back on that polo field, sweating out the hot parts of the day and dancing into the cold desert night. It's an exhausting event but always worth it.

Of course, the festival that started out as small and special to us soon gained popularity and grew immensely over the years. Some years were better than others (2004!). The last couple of Coachella lineup's got a big, fat "MEH!" from me and I honestly wasn't sure that I'd ever attend another. I thought maybe I was becoming one of those jaded types who always complain that stuff used to be better in the beginning, before they went all corporate and trendy. I stopped paying attention.

more...

Hardcore festival nerds probably already know this, but this Friday, 1/15 is the LAST day for early bird discounts on SIFF 2010 passes. If you order now, you can save over 40% on Platinum Passes, Full Series Passes, Secret Festival Passes, Tix to the Opening Night and Closing Night Galas, and 6-packs & 20-packs.

Sure, they haven't announced the films yet, but what does that matter? If you buy now, you'll have the fun of filling in the blanks later when the full schedule is announced.

Login to the online box office and buy away before Friday, and I'll see you in line starting May 20th!

{The 2010 Seattle International Film Festival will run from May 20 through June 13}

more...

The Marty Riemer Funny Festival has become arguably the biggest night for comedy in the Northwest over the past six years. This year’s event is this Friday (January 15) at the Paramount and features comedians Bill Burr, Kyle Cease, Nick Thune and Jeff Garlin, one of the stars of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, which I think is the funniest program on television right now.

This year’s Funny Festival is being billed as “Wholly independent since 2009” after Riemer’s often very funny morning radio show was canceled on 103.7 KMTT (The Mountain) last September. I met up with Marty Riemer and his equally funny co-host and partner in crime, Jodi Brothers, at a coffee shop in West Seattle to talk about this year’s Funny Festival, what people can expect on Friday, wrapping the governor in a shroud, and sex with koalas. Goddamn it.

more...

As I was picking out my favorite shots from this past year, it quickly became apparent that I couldn't just leave it at ten.  I've posted my top picks below (in no particular order), but you can check out the rest here.

Huge thanks to the TIG crew, especially Chris and Keenan, for giving me the opportunity to share these amazing moments with all you lovely people! And thanks to all my fellow photographers, both in Seattle and elsewhere, for giving me inspiration every day. Hope you all have a safe, prosperous, and Happy New Year! Here's to an even bigger and better 2010!

2009-09-05: Hotels @ Bumbershoot - EMP | SFM's Sky Church

more...

at WaMu Theatre

Deck the Hall Ball started a little late. The excellent opening band, Visqueen, started their set about twenty minutes later than the posted start time of 5:10. All was mostly forgiven the minute they took the stage, though, blowing through a short, twenty-minute set mostly of songs from their latest album, Message to Garcia. Their catchy power pop most of us here find irresistible (myself included) was accentuated by frontwoman Rachel Flotard’s hilarious banter. This time she asked for the lighting guy to turn off the lights for one second for everyone in the huge crowd to have a quick make out session. It didn’t happen (was it just me, or did the lights actually get brighter at that moment?) but they followed through with their set, closing out with their old hit “Vaxxine”. When I got there during soundcheck, bassist Christina Bautista remarked that the crowd was the biggest she’s ever soundchecked before. It was good to see the big crowd of listeners of 107.7 The End taking to this really great local band.

more...