Noise for the Needy 2013

Noise for the Needy (NFTN) got started back in 1991 down in southern California by Seattle native and then-student Dave Green as a way to raise awareness for local homelessness, raise funds for a local soup kitchen, bring people together, and give local bands some exposure. It was hugely successful and has been running strong ever since. In 2004, Dave's brother Richard started NFTN up in Seattle, with a show at Nectar. In the years since, the non-profit has raised over $125,000 for local charities and worked with a lot of up and coming bands, including national acts like Matt and Kim and Talib Kweli, and local favorites like The Maldives and Kithkin. NFTN is a well-respected outfit with a knack for exposing up and coming bands, while doing a lot of good for our community. This year's chosen charity is the Ballard Food Bank.

This year's festival will also take wholly within in Ballard, which is neat. In doing so, NFTN will bring a wonderful nonprofit to the attention of the young demographic in their neighborhood. It also means that parking's going to be tough with I'm sure packed houses for shows at each night's three locations! Most of the shows are at 9pm and are all ages, unless otherwise noted. Presale tickets are available online at the NFTN website, or at the doors. Here's the lineup, with artists we like in bold:

THURSDAY, June 20
Tractor Tavern
Said the Whale, Brite Lines, Ghost Town Riot

Sunset Tavern
Peeping Tomboys, Cabana, Prism Tats, Yeah Girl

Conor Byrne
Lures, Santee, Manplus, Goodbye Heart

FRIDAY, June 21
Tractor Tavern
Polyrhythmics, Orgone

Sunset Tavern
Battleme, River Giant, Smokey Brights, The Brambles

Conor Byrne
Seattle Living Room Shows and NFTN Presents: The Local Strangers, Big Sure, Alice in the River, James Apollo

SATURDAY, June 22
Hatties Hat Parking Lot Party (2pm)
"The Rollings Stones" (tribute band), The Maldives, The Blakes, Sassparilla, The Chasers, Ole Tinder

Tractor Tavern
Horse Feathers, Case Studies, Pretty Broken Things

Sunset Tavern
Princess, Gladiators Eat Fire, Tacos!, Skies Below

Conor Byrne
Julia Massey and The Five Finger Discount, The Great UM, The Jesus Rehab, Tangerine

SUNDAY, June 23
Hatties Hat Parking Lot Party (2pm; all ages, bar with ID)
Kris Orlowski, Hot Bodies in Motion, Cody Beebe and The Crooks, Tango Alpha Tango, Vaudeville Etiquette

Tractor Tavern (8pm)
Deadnation and NFTN Presents: Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Special Guests

Moisture Festival - Comedy/Variete/Vaudeville

The Moisture Festival is a one-of-a-kind event that is not to be missed in Seattle. As described by one of the organizers, the Moisture Festival is "like touching a bit of pixie dust". It really is magical and it is too awesome not to feature here on this blog as wonderful, unique entertainment!

2013 is the 10th Annual Moisture Festival, and will run from March 21 to April 14.

So what is the Moisture Festival? The description on their website explains that "Comedy/Varietè is an intriguing assortment of entertainment. It is highly skilled performance mixed with many bizarre talents, often humorous, with no limit to the imagination. Presented as a variety show, each act or artist performs his or her routine within a 3-15 minute time slot while being accompanied by a live show band...Aerialists, jugglers, comedians, dancers, rope acts, bubble acts, clowns, acrobats, can can girls, strong women, strong men, tap dancers, drill teams, musical numbers, the weird and the wonderful- all keeping the tradition of Comedy/Varietè/Vaudeville alive."

Moisture Festival acts occur at Hale's Palladium, located on the back side of the Hale's Ales Brewery between Fremont and Ballard, as well as the Broadway Performance Hall on Capitol Hill. There are shows almost every night during the festival, and on the weekends there are late night "risque" shows, burlesque, and day-time family-friendly shows.

I plan on celebrating my birthday at Moisture Festival this year, and am also volunteering as an event-night helper. See you there!

Neighborhood Guide to Buying Music in Seattle. Part 1: Belltown and Ballard

Leaving aside (at least for the moment) the question of why you should purchase physical media, this set of posts aims to help you decide where to do it by Seattle neighborhood. Each location has a map link in the store name, as well as a brief review, a star-based indication of quality (1 to 4), and an idea of the products they sell. Today: Belltown and Ballard. Coming soon: Capitol Hill, Fremont, West Seattle, etc.

 Note: all stores are open at time of writing. If you feel I've missed something, give me a shout. 

Enjoy!

T

Belltown:

Singles Going Steady:

Probably the best place to go for obscure punk, goth, hardcore, industrial and psychobilly—basically all the subgenres that Pitchfork tends to ignore. They have fairly reasonable prices and a moderately sized selection of both cds and vinyl—definitely worth the trip to Belltown. The staff were helpful and willing to share their vast knowledge (and help set me straight about the best and worst 7 Seconds’ records).

☆☆☆                     New and Used Punk, Hardcore, Industrial, etc

Ballard:

            Beats and Bohos:

I had no idea that this shop was even here and I’ve been buying vinyl in Ballard for years! It occupies the second floor of a small house on 15^th ave nw and they sell all sorts of weird house frau garb and other bohemian/vintage stuff. However, their excellent vinyl selection occupies far and away the most space (with what I estimate to be several thousand titles of rock, jazz, rock, punk, etc). While they lack the space of the larger stores, the owner (I assume) was very helpful and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. This shop has an awesome vibe!

☆☆☆                     Used Vinyl and CDs, Limited Tapes.

Bop Street:

Located in the heart of Ballard, this shop has a sign out front (at present) that quotes the Wall Street Journal as calling them “One of the five best music stores in America”.  Maybe that refers to a previous location; all I see is a museum filled with inaccessible walls of expensive merchandise that I could pull out of a discount bin elsewhere. If you don’t like to dig and you want a specific record right now, then this might be the place for you, but I’d rather go across the street to Sonic Boom instead.

☆                    Used Vinyl

Sonic Boom:

Stellar shop. New and lightly used vinyl releases and cds with an emphasis on independent and obscure titles. The shop is always attractive and the staff willing to help you find what you’re looking for. To be honest, this is usually the first place I turn to for new music because they’re always on top of release dates and have pretty reasonable prices. My only complaint is that the “sale” vinyl is not really priced as such, but their selection of used cds is ample and cheap enough ($5.99 or 6.99 on average) to justify the trip in itself. Also, awesome in-stores on a regular basis.

☆☆☆☆               New and Used CDs, Vinyl and Some Tapes

Also:

Goodwill: sometimes you can find a couple of used CDs that are worthwhile here.

Public Library Branch: lots of good, in-demand titles to sample. Trust me!