Sausagefest or Rifflandia?

You wouldn't know it by this week's weather, but we are on the slow slide into fall. With that, we get fewer festivals, mega-shows, and concert series (and maybe that's a good thing, because baby, it's been quite the whirlwind of opportunities these last couple months!) But this weekend you can choose to stay in town for Redhook Brewery's Sausagefest, complete with great local bands, or you can head to beautiful Victoria, B.C. for their giant 4-day festival, Rifflandia.

The Rifflandia lineup is a bit of a conundrum.The juxtaposition of Big Boi and Courtney Love is a head scratcher in and of itself, but then there are a huge number of bands I've never heard of at all. I will chalk it up to this being in Canada, and a lot of them are probably Canadian bands. Passes are pretty comparable to Bumbershoot (or a bit more), but there is this one cool option: a 2-day pass to the acoustic lounge for just $23, proceeds of which benefit the nonprofit War Child. I feel like a lot of festivals could do stuff like that more often.

Or, sleep in on Saturday and roll out of bed by 3pm for the Sausagefest over at Redhook Brewery in Woodinville. For $10 you can catch Beat Connection and Big Eyes (in addition to Fly Moon Royalty, My Goodness, Grizzled Mighty, and The Pynnacles), while noshing on offerings from their meat-centric food menu and guzzling ESB after ESB. You can purchase tickets here.

Summary: The trek to Victoria may not be justifiable to see the bands at the 4-day-long Rifflandia Music Festival, but they do have a cool 2-day acoustic lounge pass for $23, with proceeds going to nonprofit War Child. If I were you, I'd stay in town and dine on sausages while listening to great bands at the Redhook Brewery Sausagefest on Saturday.

Summer Festivals: August 8-11, 2013

Another summer weekend, another glut of music festivals for your enjoyment! You have your choice: near or far? Camping or sleeping in your own bed? Electronic beats or acoustic singer-songwriters? There's something for everyone.

Shambala Music Festival
Salmo, BC
August 7-12
This family-run festival is held at the Salmo River Ranch, a 500 acre cattle ranch in fairly remote West Kootenay region of southern interior British Columbia. It started in 1998 with just 500 attendees, and has blossomed to well over 10,000 attendees and sell-outs since 2010, just by word of mouth. Shambala does not accept any corporate sponsorship, and when there aren't thousands of folks thrashing about to up-and-coming electronic music talent from around the globe, the ranch is a working far and small sawmill. The photos from past events make me think of a BC version of Burning Man.

Squamish Music Festival
Squamish, BC (about 45 minutes north of Vancouver)
August 8-10
This music festival seems to be a tame Canadian version of Sasquatch! You can camp there. There are a few big name headliners, with music generally geared to electronic, indie, and rock. It's outdoorsy, surrounded by trees and mountains. Band of Horses, Vampire Weekend, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis...but also (NGD dearly adored artist) Diamond Rings, Reignwolf, and a bunch of unknowns.

Doe Bay Festival
Doe Bay Resort, Orcas Island
August 8-11
Who can resist the allure of music in the San Juans? Doe Bay Fest has become increasingly popular as bigger names and word of mouth spreads about this fun and eclectic good time. Featuring a mostly-local lineup, Doe Bay Fest brings you Built To Spill, Shabazz Palaces, The Grizzled Mighty, La Luz, The Maldives, Passenger String Quartet, Star Anna, Fly Moon Royalty, and a host of other lesser-known locals. It's nice to see a festival that caters to primarily local acts. A sort of "Listen Local", if you will.

Summer Meltdown
Darrington, WA
August 8-11
Summer Meltdown is now in its 13th year, but it's the first time I've heard of it. Have I been in a hidey hole? I like to think I'm pretty up on this information. The lineup looks stellar and varied: Minus the Bear, Emancipator, Marchfourth Marching Band, Beat Connection, Polecat, Shenandoah Davis, Impossible Bird, Briana Marela, etc. topped off with lasers, belly dancers, and professional hula hoopers. This is where I would be this weekend if I weren't already camping.

Arts In Nature Festival
West Seattle
August 10-11
A fundraiser for the Nature Consortium, the Arts In Nature Festival is for those of you who don't really care to leave the city, but want to feel outdoorsy, too. Considering Nature Consortium works to meld arts and nature while restoring the city's largest urban forest, such a music festival makes perfect sense. In fact, they bring musicians out to play in the woods while volunteers pull blackberries and build trails. Pretty freaking cool idea. I don't really recognize many bands in the lineup, but with dance, performance art, literary features, and interactive family-friendly activities, this is probably where all the cool artsy families should end up this weekend.

Oh and don't forget all the mega-shows happening this weekend, too. 107.7 The End's Summer Camp show, with it's rather good and usually interesting up-and-coming showcase, will be entertaining the masses out at Marymoor Park in Redmond. If you have less cash (as in, free-but-accepting-donations), definitely check out the 2nd Annual Summit Block Party, on Summit Ave between Olive and Howell on Capitol Hill. Finally, you could also go check out the Little Gerbils 123 Block Party at Ground Zero in Bellevue, for your all-ages fix of Dreamdecay and others. They have a 12-6pm outdoor show and an indoor show starting at 6pm, complete with food!

Enjoy!

Capitol Hill Block Party, Around The Block Party, or Timber!?

Another weekend in Seattle, another few epic festivals and shows to check out. Life's rough, huh?

You all are aware that Capitol Hill Block Party is this weekend, right? We chatted about the line-up a while back. A few things have changed: Chromatics, Glass Candy, and Big Black Delta are no longer playing the festival, and Night Cadet, Secret Colors, and White China Gold have been added to the schedule. The Capitol Hill Neighborhood Blog has a great rundown of all the exciting changes made to make the 17th CHBP one of the best ones to date.

In case you're not ready to shell out the higher last-minute ticket prices for CHBP, or you want to avoid the 30,000 strong at CHBP, you could just go to this way cool mega-show that Chop Suey and What's Up Seattle are hosting, Around The Block Party. Their lineup is pretty sweet, and best of all, it's FREE! Free music, free BBQ burgers and hotdogs, and drink specials. You basically can't go wrong. And look! Lots of bands NGD has previously celebrated and suggested. Did I mention it's free?

When: July 28 (Sunday), starting at 3pm
Where: Chop Suey
The Lineup: Hot Victory, Haunted Horses, Dream Salon, The Exquisites, MTNS, Wimps, Child Birth, Agatha, Dude York

Oh yeah, and the first annual Timber! Festival is happening out in Carnation this same weekend. If your idea of a great weekend is to get out of the city, go camping, and see music while doing so, here's your festival. We mentioned it a while back. The lineup is full of awesome mostly-locals: The Helio Sequence, Fruit Bats, Quasi, Ivan & Alyosha, Noah Gunderson, Lemolo, Bryan John Appleby, Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers, Kithkin, Hobosexual, Baltic Cousins, S (Jenn Ghetto), Avians Alight, Vikesh Kapoor, Pablo Tucker, Ten-Speed Music, Passenger String Quartet, Jacob Miller & The Bridge City Crooners, Ben Fisher, and the Nu Klezmer Army.

Changes that have happened to the lineup since our post: the band River Giant broke up and canceled all dates it had scheduled (just 9 days before the festival...), but the guys in Ivan & Alyosha will be filling in (they're great, so that's not too sad). 

You pretty much can't go wrong, so just pick one and GO! See you out there.

Sub Pop Silver Jubilee

 

Sub Pop will take over Georgetown this Saturday, July 13, from 10 am till 1 am with four stages and over 20 bands, to celebrate it's 25th Anniversary year. And it's all FREE (the music parts, at least). The music is all-ages, too, except for the Hardly Art Slideshow, which is 21+. They've got some great local bands, and some well-respected big acts, too. Here's the lineup. The bands we're excited for are bolded.

	Sub Stage S Homer St.	Pop Stage S Vale St.	Elysian Stage S Lucile St. Overpass	The Mix: The Hardly Art Slideshow
1:00 PM			David Buhler
1:30	Shearwater
2:00			The Tom Price Desert Classic
2:30	King Tuff
3:00		clipping.	Jack Endino’s Earthworm
3:45	Pissed Jeans
4:00			Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
4:10		The Baptist Generals
5:00	METZ		The Catheters
5:20		Shabazz Palaces
6:00	J Mascis
6:15			Chad VanGaalen
6:30		Greg Dulli
7:15	Mudhoney
7:30			TBA
7:45		Father John Misty
8:30	Built to Spill
9:30				Hausu
10:30				Protomartyr
11:30				Deep Time
12:30 AM				TBA

Be sure to get yourself over to the Hardly Art Slideshow (at The Mix, 6006 12th Avenue South) in the evening, because it'll be awesome, and probably really busy. Remember our previous post about Hausu? I'm curious who Sub Pop has in store for us in those TBA slots. There are a lot of great old guys from bands that reach back to the '80s (Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., etc.). Speaking of J Mascis, he was ranked 86th in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and I've also read he's kind of a nut, so his set is probably worth watching, too.

But wait, there's more! You know, I think Sub Pop just wants to see how far they can push the envelope, and good on them, because it means a lot of great entertainment for all of us. On Friday, July 12, at 7 pm they're doing their Silver Jubil-eve, a "25th Anniversary Comedy-Thing (For Charity!)" at The Moore. Tickets are $25 and the lineup includes Marc Maron, Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, and more, hosted by Eugene Mirman. Check it out if comedy is your thing!

Also, the Sub Pop Mega Mart store has opened at 6003 12th Ave S. This pop-up record store will remain open until July 21. They're selling rare and out-of-print vinyl, merch from the label's catalog, plus there's an art exhibit featuring materials from the label's history (think label ads, sketches and artwork, all from Sub Pop). While you're bouncing from stage to stage on Saturday, drop by the Mega Mart and check it out!

Festivals, Concert Series, and Mega-Shows, Part 2: Music Goes Well With...

Festivals, Concert Series, and Mega-Shows, Part 2

The PNW is blessed with plenty of ambitious event planners that cater to a wide range of musical interests. This post highlights festivals and mega-shows (our term for a one-day festival) in our region that feature more than just great music.

Music goes well with...craft beer!

Like to wash down your music with a frosty brew?

Taking place from 4pm till midnight on the last Saturday of Winter (March 16) at King's Hall, The Stranger presents its first Penumbra Beer Bash. The event features 25 craft beers from local breweries like Hilliard's, Fremont, Naked City, and more and the music lineup includes 6 different bands: The Catheters, Pleasureboaters, TacocaT, Wimps, La Luz, and Prism Tats. Tix are $25 and you get 7 drink tokens; you will definitely get your money's worth, and proceeds benefit the nonprofit The World is Fun. Need more? Food trucks will be there! Like Skillet and Seattle Biscuit Company! Plus there's this weird thing called a Randall which dispenses beer with "various specialty ingredients, thereby infusing unique flavors".... sounds cool, right? They're having a Randall Competition and there will be 12 of 'em!

I know what you're wondering. What does Penumbra mean? Well, they want you to think of it as the "darkness that defines the silver lining." I think it's an allusion to the last dark days of Winter before the Spring.

Music goes well with beer and...bikes! 

But you'll either have to take my word for it, or travel to Boise, Idaho to experience the only New Belgium Brewing Tour de Fat stop in the PNW.

Portland-based March Fourth Marching Band plays Tour de Fat at Gasworks way back in 2008

Tour de Fat is a traveling bike/beer/music summer mega-show that used to make stops in Portland and Seattle, but I guess they decided these fair cities were bike-friendly enough. Bike parade, music, variety acts, beer, and it was held at Gasworks park in the middle of summer...sigh...those were the days. Anyways, they continue to bring this good time to cities all over the nation, and if you find yourself near Boise on August 17th, make a point of going.

Thankfully, New Belgium still stops in Seattle for their Clips of Faith bike, beer, and folly-inspired traveling short film festival...which is totally awesome, too, but it doesn't feature music.

Music goes well with...comedy, ballet, rat city roller girls, short films, theatre, great food, and whatever else the geniuses at Bumbershoot can think of! 

Death Cab for Cutie at Bumbershoot 2008

Labor day weekend is August 31-September 2 this year, folks. Bumbershoot tickets have been on-sale in one form or another since Halloween 2012, and ticket prices will only continue to increase. You can currently buy a 3-day pass to this morning-till-midnight music and arts binge for $99 (before fees). That's 34% off door prices. It is the best value for your money as far as PNW festivals go, and if you get burnt out on music, there are ALL THE OTHER THINGS. It boggles my mind. There will be more on Bumbershoot as soon as they start posting lineup information.