Ghost Light’s version of Stoppard’s version of Hamlet

I just finished reading Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in preparation for seeing Ghost Light Theatricals’ upcoming production of it. I’ve enjoyed what little Stoppard I’ve read and seen performed, namely Travesties and Arcadia, in productions by Seattle Public Theatre and UW Drama, respectively. Stoppard is wildly creative, managing to combine disparate works, events, and characters in elegant, lyrical, and frequently hilarious ways; for example, in Travesties he takes advantage of a historical coincidence to weave together the seemingly unconnected topics of Modernism, Dada, and Communism in a riotous, pun-filled comedy. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Stoppard offers a Waiting for Godot-inspired retelling of Hamlet from the perspective of two of its minor characters. (Guess which ones?) The humor is more somber and existential than the madcap fun of Travesties, but just as ingenious. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was the winner of Ghost Light’s Battle of the Bard, a fund raiser that pitted different directors and casts performing scenes from several Shakespeare-related plays against one another in competition for the opportunity to do a full production in Ghost Light’s upcoming season. For Battle of the Bard, we were treated to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s exciting “pirate attack” scene, which involves circus-like hiding-in-barrels stunts as well as, of course, marauding pirates. It that performance was any indication, the full production is sure to be hilarious and high-energy. Well, the parts where they’re not just talking about death, at least.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead plays November 2-17, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm at the Velocity Chamber Theatre (915 E Pine–you know, across the street from KFC). Tickets are $12 or $10 for students and seniors. And if that’s too much for your cheapskate self, you can even go for free on November 3rd thanks to Live Theatre Week’s Free Night of Theatre. But if you go for free–buy a beer or a cookie or something. Fringe theatre is not exactly a cash cow.

Upcoming up-and-coming

In case you missed Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs AND Johnny and the Moon the first couple times around, you still have one more shot at some Wolf Parade-offshoot fun: next Wednesday, October 24’s Sunset Rubdown show at the Croc.  Fronted by Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown is currently touring in support of their new album  Random Spirit Lover.  Fellow Wolf Parader Dante DeCaro’s band Johnny and the Moon, as well as Magic Weapon, will be opening.

Thursday, October 25 brings the debut Comet performance of up-and-coming Seattle indie-popsters The Birthdays.  Now, I can’t claim any objectivity here, as they are my friends/housemates, but I will direct you to Three Imaginary Girls’ glowing endorsement of them.  Now that an unbiased third-party has jumped on the Birthdays hype train, let the shameless promoting begin!  Seriously though, it should be a fun show, replete with sugar-sweet melodies, wailing harmonicas, piano jams, maybe a Talking Heads cover thrown in for good measure.  I promise they’ll jowl your socks off.

Avant-folk troubadour/harp goddess Joanna Newsom will grace Benaroya Hall backed by a 29-piece orchestra on October 29, the third stop on her U.S. orchestral tour, which kicks off Sunday in Milwaukee.  That’s third of only five shows, mind you, so this is not to be missed.

Halloween night, in between giving candy to trick-or-treaters and getting wasted with your costumed friends, you should find some time to catch Canadian instrumental rockers Do Make Say Think at the Crocodile.  It’s sure to be an amazing show, with the added bonus of potential Halloween-related weirdness.  Hopefully I won’t be the only one wearing a costume.  That’s October 31, for the date-challenged.

In the news

Since Radiohead announced the upcoming self-release of their new album In Rainbows, there has been a flurry of speculation and commentary about the ‘Net. Obviously. Here’s some of the more cogent, informative pieces I’ve found:

Stereogum offered up this tidbit from Radiohead’s PR firm:

There will be no advances, promotional copies, digital streams, media sites, etc. of RADIOHEAD’s In Rainbows.

Everyone in the world will be getting the music at the same time: Oct. 10. That includes us. We don’t have anything to play anyone in the nine days until the record is available. Everyone at nasty has put his or her order in and just to clarify: you are not being asked to pay for a promo (as some have inquired). you can pay nothing or as much or as little as you want.

There will be no promotional copies of the discbox either, as each discbox is being made to order. Sorry.

NME has saved you some time by compiling an album preview of sorts, consisting of YouTube videos of live performances of the tracks from In Rainbows.

Across the pond, Rolling Stone has put together an almost identical feature. They have also included some higher quality audio streams of the songs, in addition to the YouTube videos.

The New York Times weighs in on what In Rainbows means for the digital music marketplace:

The biggest buzz, though, came from the band’s digital pricing plan, which represents a break from the industry standard established by Apple’s iTunes service, the leading digital-music retailer, which generally sells individual songs for 99 cents apiece, and complete albums for $10 to $12. Though the band had been an early adopter of online marketing, it didn’t sell its recordings on iTunes, a stance that arose from its desire to sell its albums in their entirety.

In Radiohead’s plan, fans will choose their own price for the digital version of the 10-song “In Rainbows,” which it said would be sold as a download without copy restriction software, known as digital-rights management. In effect, the band is asking fans to establish a monetary value for music, even when widespread piracy means that it would be available free.

Early reaction suggested that listeners would pay, but less than they would for a CD in stores. The blog Idolator.com carried a poll in which the plurality of voters — almost 40 percent — said they would pay from $2.05 to $10.12.

Radiohead is making a subtle dig at the iTunes pricing model, a move that drew plaudits from some record executives, who have pressed Apple to offer a mix of prices. Radiohead is introducing “variable pricing to the extreme,” said one executive, who requested anonymity because he had not been authorized to speak about the band’s plans.

Tiny Mix Tapes says, maybe this isn’t so revolutionary after all:

But Radiohead may not have fully exited the incestuous, pornographic circus that is the music industry after all. According to a spokesperson, “Radiohead are currently planning a traditional CD release of In Rainbows for early 2008.” No label (if any) or specifics have been announced — Billboard reports that EMI are believed to be still “in the running” — but if a “traditional release” of In Rainbows means using a “traditional” distribution method and/or using a label to release it, then perhaps Radiohead are not necessarily trying to fuck with the music industry so much as provide options for their fans, who by now are so richly varied that it takes multiple formats and marketing approaches to cater to them all.

That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. And just wait until the album is actually released.

The wait is over?

Thanks go out to Gorilla vs. Bear for spreading the exciting news that Radiohead’s new album is done and available to pre-order. It’s called In Rainbows and it will be available to download starting on October 10th. So far you can only order it from Radiohead’s website. You can choose to download it or to purchase the “discbox,” which is describe thusly by Radiohead:

THIS CONSISTS OF THE NEW ALBUM, IN RAINBOWS, ON CD
AND ON 2 X 12 INCH HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL RECORDS.
A SECOND, ENHANCED CD CONTAINS MORE NEW SONGS, ALONG WITH DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND ARTWORK.
THE DISCBOX ALSO INCLUDES ARTWORK AND LYRIC BOOKLETS.
ALL ARE ENCASED IN A HARDBACK BOOK AND SLIPCASE.

THE ALBUM DOWNLOAD AUTOMATICALLY COMES WITH THIS PACK.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FILE DIGITALLY FROM THE 10TH OCTOBER 2007.

DISCBOXES ARE BEING MADE TO ORDER AND ARE PRICED AT £40.00 INCLUDING POSTAGE.
SHIPPING WILL BEGIN ON OR BEFORE 3RD DECEMBER 2007.

It looks like this:

An exciting twist: while the discbox costs a whopping 40 pounds, it appears that you get to name your own price for the download. Observe:

After all the build-up, I think Radiohead has still managed to surprise everyone–I would expect no less from them. Who knows what the album will be like, but the way they’re going about releasing it already appears to be pretty innovative and ground-breaking. I’m looking forward to reading the mountains of hype and analysis that are sure to follow in the upcoming days. Not to mention listening to the album itself–my pre-order was confirmed by W.A.S.T.E. a few hours ago…I’m giddy.

Handsome Furs Hate Toronto…but not Seattle

Side projects, solo albums: these can be harbingers of an imminent breakup, a sign of discord and “creative differences,” as well as a source of simultaneous anxiety and giddiness among fans (Does this mean they’re breaking up? versus Sweet–a potentially amazing, definitely more obscure new album!) More than any other band I know, Wolf Parade has managed to avoid the possible pitfalls of the side project–despite practically all of them being involved with side projects: Spencer Krug with Sunset Rubdown, Dante DeCaro with Johnny and the Moon, and Dan Boeckner with Handsome Furs.  Oh, and Arlen Thompson has drummed for this band called the Arcade Fire.  Somehow, Wolf Parade not yet self-destructed under the combined weight of all these side projects. I’m impressed. They seem to have a really healthy balance going–instead of one guy seeing other musicians, making everyone else jealous, they all have their chance to slut around with other bands. Indie rock swingers. An open band relationship. Which is great, because now I get to enjoy me some Wolf Parade about four times as frequently as if they were musical monogamists.

The September 20th Handsome Furs show at the Crocodile, one such occasion of bonus Wolf Parade action, was everything I hoped it would be–and more. To start, there was a packed house, a rowdy, high-energy crowd, despite the fact that the Flaming Lips and Peter Bjorn and John were playing elsewhere in Seattle last night. Additionally, openers Johnny and the Moon–a four piece band fronted by Dante of Wolf Parade–surprised me with a foot-stomping set of harmonica-blaring, banjo-strumming folk rock. I had never listened to them before, so catching their set was an unexpected bonus. They’ll be playing the Croc again on October 24th opening for…you guessed it, another Wolf Parade side project, Sunset Rubdown.

And then there was Handsome Furs. I don’t know if they were just giddy from the welcoming crowd–which included more than a couple Canucks–after playing for an empty house in Portland the night before, or if they’re still riding some sort of newlywed afterglow, but Dan and Alexei’s energy and enthusiasm was contagious. Dan layered emotive, throaty vocals over jangly guitar licks while Alexei laid down some driving drum machine beats and swelling synth tones.

Oddly enough, Handsome Furs’ label Sub Pop doesn’t mention in their bio the fact that Dan and Alexei are a couple, only describing them as “Montreal residents Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry.”  It–their marital bliss, that is–was definitely part of the charm of their live show.  They both seemed so genuinely happy to be there performing together, exchanging love-charged high-fives, ribbing each other about hitting North Dakota on their honeymoon tour.  And it showed in their performance.  They both went at it full-throttle, Dan frantically strumming his guitar and Alexei throwing her whole body into twiddling the tiny knobs and switches on her drum machine, goofy smiles on their faces practically the whole time.

All in all, it was a thrilling performance.  Unfortunately, if you missed them it might be a while before you can see them play since they’re currently touring Europe.  With luck they’ll return just as lovestruck and charismatic as ever and play more shows with Dan’s bandmates.

Upcoming awesomeness

Here are some upcoming shows that I’m excited about…for a comprehensive compendium of Seattle area shows, I’m sure you already have Three Imaginary Girls’ calendar bookmarked.

Tonight (Thursday, 9/20): Handsome Furs at the Crocodile. One of the countless Wolf Parade offshoots (actually, my favorite of them), Handsome Furs is Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry. In case one Wolf Parade side project isn’t enough, Johnny & the Moon (featuring Dante of Wolf Parade) will be opening, along with Panda & Angel. Give Plague Park a listen if you haven’t already–I’m digging the sound (and the liner notes–nice Merle Haggard t-shirt, Alexei). You probably even have time to swing by the Fremont Sonic Boom to buy something from Swedish guest cashiers Peter, Bjorn, and John beforehand.

Haven’t seen the Arcade Fire yet? They’ll be rocking UW’s Hec Ed pavilion (a.k.a. “Band of America Arena”) next Monday, 9/24. Certainly not an ideal venue (cavernous stadium) or price ($39 before the requisite Ticketmaster gouging), but it’s certain to be an amazing show. LCD Soundsystem is opening. Tickets are indeed still available as I’m writing this.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has two back to back nights at Neumo’s coming up Saturday 9/29 and Sunday 9/30. Not to worry–there won’t be one night of long songs and one of short songs. So you can probably just go one night.

Didn’t make it up to Anacortes for What the Heck? Just lost your driver’s license (or fake)? Have to work early on Wednesday, 10/3? Want to feel old even if you’re only 23? You’re in luck, because Mount Eerie will play the Vera Project on Tuesday, 10/2. This would be a good time to buy that new Mount Eerie book without paying for shipping.

And who could forget the annual three consecutive nights of Built to Spill at the Showbox? All-ages on Thursday, 10/4, 21+ on Friday 10/5 and Saturday 10/6. The tough part will be choosing which night(s) to go.

Animal Collective, live at Neumo’s

Watching Animal Collective’s show last Friday at Neumo’s, I was reminded of the disconnect that can exist between a band’s albums and their live shows.  I had been looking forward to the show for quite some time, as I had never before seen Animal Collective live, heard rave reviews of them from others who had, and thoroughly enjoyed not only Strawberry Jam, their latest, hot-off-the-press release, but also Panda Bear’s recent solo release Person Pitch.

The main difference between seeing Animal Collective live and listening to them at home?  At home, or on my iPod, I control the volume.  Not to be an old bastard, but I was a touch overwhelmed by the sheer loudness of the set.  Admittedly, this should not have been unexpected; I’ve been to plenty of other shows at Neumo’s that were louder than seemed necessary (and standing in any proximity to those huge hanging speakers–i.e. anywhere close to the stage–obviously contributes to the ear-blasting).  I even brought ear plugs, which, though they prevented that familiar day-after ringing, didn’t help to cut through the gut-rattling, filling-loosening bass thump that overwhelmed much of Animal Collective’s vast repertoire of subtler noises.  But maybe I just wasn’t on enough drugs.  Plenty of people were–like the guy next to me making shadow puppets on the back of another audience member and stroking another guy’s hair–and they all seemed to be really enjoying it.  Lesson learned?

All this is not to say that it was an unimpressive show; to the contrary, it was as mind-blowing as I had hoped.  I still don’t quite understand how three guys fiddling with knobs and switches perched above mountains of tangled cables can produce such a broad sonic palette and such coordinated, fluxing rhythms.  Even if I had the technical chops to understand exactly what they were doing, it would have been equally impressive.  Any complaints about electronics-driven live performances being less thrilling and dynamic than instrument-driven live shows don’t apply here, at least not in my opinion.  Although it was less apparent who was producing what sound, and how, there was no way not to be impressed by the technical skill and artistry required for three individuals to craft songs out of a mound of gear.

All in all, I’m glad I was there.  It wasn’t, for my personal tastes, an ideal show–I would have preferred a less rave-like environment–but it was still a memorable, thrilling performance.  I wouldn’t have missed it, but, on the other hand, I don’t think I would go again.

Basements versus Bumbershoot

On the eve of Bumbershoot, I found myself enjoying a most un-Bumbershoot-like experience: a show at the Healthy Times Fun Club–a spacious basement venue/dwelling. This was my first time there and I was quite taken with it. It was anything but commercial. Admission was free–though donations were encouraged–and there was a communal crock pot of chili in the kitchen. And forget overpriced drinks. We rolled in with a case of PBR that we left on the kitchen counter to share. The place was packed with a larger crowd than I had expected, but enough people seemed to know each other that everyone was overly polite and considerate. Even if the bands had been mediocre, I would have been impressed.

But they weren’t. In fact, they put on one hell of a show. Snowman Plan–a bass-drums-violin trio, backed by a laptop–kicked the night off with some wildly experimental music: jerky, start-and-stop rhythms accompanied by a broad spectrum of strange noises and instrumentation emanating from the laptop. Next up was Dark Meat, whose set, due to its overpowering volume and the cumulative effect of a series of PBR’s, is pretty fuzzy in my memory. They put on a solid performance, but in the context of the night it seemed somewhat generic. It didn’t help that they were preceded by the Snowman Plan’s inventive, unique set and followed by the visual and aural spectacle of the Beep Family Orchestra–not a misnomer, as there were somewhere in the ballpark of 13 people performing on stage (apparently my friends and I are bad at counting, because we couldn’t agree on one number). Featuring members of Snowman Plan, 2 drummers, and about 10 other musicians, the Beep Family Orchestra blazed through a remarkably coordinated, mostly instrumental set that culminated in a rousing version of the theme from Top Gun.

All in all, it was an amazing night. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. I’ll definitely be going back some time for some more chili, cheap beer, and great music.

Tough decisions

Going through my inbox yesterday, I was excited to hear, in the weekly The Stranger Presents newsletter, that The Blow will be playing at this year’s installment of the Genius Awards…for free! I just saw The Blow for the first time at this year’s What the Heck Fest (see my previous post on Mount Eerie’s performance at What the Heck) and was really impressed. Khaela Maricich is quite the performer: at What the Heck she would work herself into a sweaty, angst-fueled dancing frenzy, then cool off with rambling–but surprisingly captivating–stage banter. Her music is an adolescent, heart-on-the-table display of raw emotion imbued with adult sexuality by her crooning, alternately coy and hungry, hot-breath vocals–an enrapturing combination. It was moving, seductive, and fun.

“She wasn’t lying!” I said to myself. I had talked with Khaela briefly in between sets during What the Heck, and she had informed me, after discussion of her Huffy-brand fanny pack and my Bill Murray t-shirt, that she would be playing one show in Seattle in the fall. I returned home and checked her MySpace page, only to discover no Seattle dates listed among her tour stops.

Enter the Stranger Presents, 8.16.07, informing me of the upcoming Genius Awards gig–indeed, a show in Seattle, in the fall. My faith restored, I flipped over to Google Calendar to throw this sure-to-be-amazing, free show on my schedule. Let’s see, evening of September 14th…surely nothing else going on. Or at least nothing else that could compete with this…

Enter me, crestfallen: September 14th is also the date of Animal Collective’s upcoming performance at Neumo’s.

Why, The Stranger, why? There wasn’t one night you could have scheduled your Genius Awards when nothing else was happening in Seattle? Like a Monday morning? (To be fair, I’ll throw out a “Why, Neumo’s, why?”–I don’t really know who booked whom first. They obviously weren’t taking my personal musical interests into account.)

But I suppose I can’t complain too much. Pretty tough life out here in Seattle with too many cool concerts going on all at once (and it’s not even Bumbershoot). I still haven’t decided which one to go to yet, though I’m leaning towards Animal Collective since I haven’t seen them live yet.

Side note: Former The Blow-compatriot Jona Bechtolt (a.k.a. YACHT) will be performing in Seattle at the Vera Project on a day in September other than the 14th–the 7th, to be exact–with the Dirty Projectors and White Rainbow.

What the Heck?

July 21st, 2007: Clouds streamed past mountain peaks, accompanied by swells of crashing thunder while a crowd of hipsters and hippies sat, rapt with attention, staring at the gymnasium wall, longing for an alpine breeze that never arrived. The occasion: What the Heck Fest 2007, Anacortes, Washington’s homegrown music festival. What the Heck features a variety of area bands, everything from teenage locals to nationally-known independent artists, many of whom, of course, are themselves Anacortes natives.

Phil Elvrum (from his website)

Saturday night we found ourselves in a cramped gymnasium beneath City Hall waiting for Anacortes’ most famous artist-in-residence: Phil Elvrum, performing under his current stage name of Mount Eerie. We’re unsure what to expect. A solo set with one fragile, plaintive guitar? Or will Phil take full advantage of the P.A. system and amps he was hauling out of the back of his truck before the show and shake the gym with a full band of Anacortes’ finest?

Neither, as it turns out. Mount Eerie’s set begins with…a mountain. The crowd is seated, their backs to the stage, their eyes on the opposite gym wall where an image of a cloud-shrouded mountain peak (nearby Mount Erie, maybe?) is projected. Make that video–the clouds are moving, almost imperceptibly streaming past the jagged mountaintop. Behind us, Phil is alternately drumming on a large metal sheet–unleashing waves of crescendoing thunder–and tapping a (relatively) diminutive cymbal, producing a delicate counterpoint that punctuates the blasting thunder swells.

It’s almost like we’re there on the mountaintop (I say almost because no mountaintop is this sweaty and humid, at least not any I’ve been to.) Or in Phil’s new book, as it were. The newest Mount Eerie release, Mount Eerie pts. 6 & 7 consists of a 10″ picture disc accompanied by a 132-page hardcover book of landscape photos. (And you thought No Flashlight came with extensive liner notes.) Or maybe it’s the other way around–a book that comes with a 10″. It is indeed a “MASSIVE EXCELLENT-LOOKING BOOK“, as the P.W. Elverum & Sun website describes it.

Tonight’s show is a live, supersized version of the new book/album. The images are massive (and moving) and the music comes not from a recording but from Elvrum himself. The mountain scene fades to black and gives way to a series of scenes of different Northwest locales. Phil ditches his percussion for his guitar and begins strumming and singing, his eyes fixed intently on each glacially slow-changing scene before him, watching for cues too subtle to be noticed by anyone else. That’s what it looks like he’s doing, at least.

But most of the crowd isn’t watching Phil. It’s strange (and unexpected) for a concert–for the audience to not be watching the performer–but it seems somehow natural and fitting for Phil. His usual stage antics, if you can call them that, paint him as reluctant, uncomfortable in the spotlight: he signals the end of his songs with a strange curtsy/bowing gesture, and speaks in soft, sheepish tones. Even in his most hard-rocking moments, Phil seems engaged in personal catharsis, not public spectacle. So being in the background, out of the public eye for once, might be a relief for him.

I was lucky enough to be able to experience the new Mount Eerie in its live incarnation (and for only $10). If you’re able, I would highly recommend seeing one of Mount Eerie’s upcoming shows. Who knows if the video + musical accompaniment (not to mention the thunder!) was a one time performance; the only way to find out for sure is to go. At the very least, there’s the possibility Phil will do something new and unexpected. Also, you’ll be able to buy the book for less than the $64 it’s going for online. I think he was selling it for $50 at What the Heck. Here are Mount Eerie’s upcoming shows, according to the P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. website:

Sunday, Aug. 19th- Rochester, Wash.- Helsing Junction Sleepover early

TOUR WITH MOOOOOOOOOOOLS
Tues. Oct. 2nd- Seattle, Wash.- The Vera Project with Moools and PWRFL POWER and Oregon Donor

Weds. Oct. 3rd- Olympia, Wash.-

Thurs. Oct. 4th- Portland, Ore.- The Artistery with Moools

Fri. Oct. 5th- Eureka, Cal.- The Placebo

Sat. Oct. 6th- Sacramento, Cal.- Fools Foundation with Moools

Sun. Oct. 7th- San Francisco, Cal.- ATA

Mon. Oct. 8th- east bay

Tues. Oct. 9th- Santa Barbara- Muddy Waters

Weds. Oct. 10th- Los Angeles- the Troubadour

Thurs. Oct. 11th- San Diego- Che Cafe- (with Red Pony Clock)

If you can’t make it to any of those shows, you can always curl up with the book, put the 10″ on, and flip through the photos. You could even pretend Phil was sitting behind you, and you’re just not looking at him because you’re meant to look at the book. If that’s your sort of thing.

P.S. There were lots of other great (and a couple downright baffling) bands/artists that performed at What the Heck 2007. But that’s another post.