Final The Abodox show

Last Friday, at the Comet Tavern The Abodox played their final show. I wrote about it on the CAB here.

I second

Time is running out to support 4Culture and it's wonderful programs! Follow the link's on Joey's blog here.

My Own Horn

Toot Toot!


I'm very excited to be part of a wonderful group of artists showing in the next Gallery4Culture season! Gregory Schaffer is an excellent photographer; and I have recently become acquainted with Julia Freeman's lovely work. She has a piece up currently in the Seattle Metropolitan Building. Part of the amazing Seattle City Light Art Collection. 1% for the arts!

and the Molo goes too.....

The Oscars are only a couple weeks away and with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosting I'm actually kind of excited to watch 'em for a change.

So, here's my pics. Feel free to steal from my list for your office pool:

Best Picture:

The Hurt Locker will win-my cynicism makes me think that Avatar will run away with it, that no movie as small as the Hurt Locker with as little earnings would ever win...but the Oscars have a new weird system of voting and this might favor The Hurt Locker.

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges will win. I love Jeff Bridges, but honestly I'd give it to Jeremy Renner, that kid sold that movie in a much more subtle role.

Best Actress:

Sandra Bullock will win, which is baffling but true. I don't know who should win cause I haven't seen any of the movies on this list!

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique will win. Mostly because the 2 up in the Air Actresses will split votes, Cruz wont win for a singing role...Maggie has a shot though, she's my pick of the lot. And still has the most sexy mouth in all of showbiz. There I said it.

Best Director:

Kathryn Biglow. It's way too good of a story for the first female director to win an Oscar by beating out her ex-husband for anyone not to vote for her! And she is the best.

I didn't see any of the new Documentaries listed, yet...so I shouldn't comment on them.

Best Animated will go to Up. Duh.

Original Screenplay: Tarantino has to win something...

Oh, I forgot Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for sure! That guy was amazing. I have a soft spot for Woody, but Christoph deserves it.

Adapted Screenplay: Prob will go to the Up in the Air pair.

Art Direction: Nine.

Hurt Locker will get cimenatography, probably

Animated and live action shorts? who knows.

Visual Effects: Avatar. Costumes: Nine. Editing? I don't know how they decide this one ever.

Sound: The Hurt Locker. Sound Editing: Mr Fox! Why not? Original score: Mr Fox for fun! Original song: The Weary Kind from Crazy Heart. Makeup: oh...let's go with II Divo.


There you go folks!

P.O.S.

I saw P.O.S. play Nectar last Thursday and wrote about it for the CAB here

From Wikipedia:

"P.O.S. began as a punk rock musician. In high school, [Stefon] Alexander and his friends played punk shows in a band called "Om," in which he first came to be referred to as "Pissed Off Stef." The abbreviation has taken on various and indefinite meanings including, "Product of Society," "Promise of Stress," "Promise of Skill," "Plain Ole Stefon," and "Piece of Shit.""

Definitely not Point of Sales. He's a great performer, go see him if you get the chance.

Off the Map - Kirkland Arts Center

Thursday after checking out great shows at Vermillion and Grey Gallery (see post below) I headed over to Kirkland arts center to check out a show by curator Jill Hardy called Off The Map. Here's a couple images from the evening and be sure to check out the City Arts Blog to read my full review.




Scott Bailey's Above Rainer installation, attacked by a young patron's arm


Curator Jill Hardy (back to camera) listens to an interpretation of Matthew Picton's Pakistan and the Indus River

Capitol Hill is the new Williamsburg

Two good shows opened up tonight at Vermillion and Greg Galleries on Capitol Hill. Go check 'em out. "BFF" Excerpts From The Friends of the NIB is at Vermillion throught March 7th, and features tons of work by the local cartooning scene, and friends. Curated by Jonathan Morris and Cait Willis.

Parallel Universe at Grey Gallery (through April 2nd) features some of Seattle's premier artists, Berk, Cowie, Elliot, Offenbacher, Veltkamp, Webb, Guerrero, Mitchell, Park, etc etc...but there's a catch. The works are not what the artists are typically known for. They are experiments, odd-ball pieces, changes in direction that were never followed up on, some doodle-like sketches that seem to be almost a release for the artists. The kind of thing you might do when you can't think of anything else you want to be working on. Or the kind of thing that might lead you down a different path altogether. Process, really, is the theme of this show. Process and freedom.

Grey and Vermillion continue to build the case as Cap Hill being the Williamsburg of Seattle's art scene with these excellent shows. Go check 'em out!


artist David Lasky next to his drawings

artist and curator Cait Willis next to her drawings at Vermillion

work by Joey Velkamp at Grey Gallery

Troy Gua's Monument

Check out my blog writing on Troy Gua's show on the CAB (City Arts Blog)

Sound Plans at Tacoma Public Library

Apologies to any readers of my blog, as I have not been keeping it up over the holiday season. However, stay tuned as I have a lot more robust art writing projects planned for 2010 and beyond!


Below you see images of the works I have in the show Sound Plans at the Handforth Gallery in the Tacoma Public Library January 13th-Feb 28.

50 BEST DAMN ALBUMS OF '00-'09

KEXP is asking listeners to vote for their favorite albums of the 00s. So, of course I participated, but the minute I started scanning the list, and realizing that I could only choose 5, my brain just started laughing at itself! Only 5 for 10 years of great music? And even if I could magically come up with 5 records, how could I ever possibly rank those 5.

Well, as a response to the KEXP list, and as a cathartic exercise, I present to you, my top 50 albums of 2000-2009, in ranked by “blew me away” factor combined with overall staying power and top-to-bottom strength. There are many other songs, or tracks, or downloads as they say, that I love, but we are looking at entire albums here. The only rule being, only one album per artist.

I’m sure in another ten years, if I go back and rank these same albums, the list will look very different. Hell it would look different tomorrow, but this is all just in good fun, so here you go

1. The Wrens The Meadowlands - Still blows me away.

2. Sigur Ros () - Still their best, most affecting work, listening to this album is truly a gorgeous experience

3. Carissa’s Wierd I before e - I'm cheating here, in a sense, since this is a live album, but it's so darkly lovely, so full of pain and beauty, and such wonderful, simple elegant and surprising songs

4. Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards - my favorite rock album of the decade

5. Rainer Maria Long Knives Drawn - my second favorite rock album of the decade

6. Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of a Great Highway - I never get tired of this album

7. Interpol Antics - Turn off the Bright lights almost beat out Antics, but basically they are both amazing

8. Radiohead Hail to the Thief - the most influencial band of the last 15 years.

9. Nada Surf Let Go - Fruit Fly is one of my all-time favorite songs...a great pop rock album

10. Devotchka How It Ends - suffered from being overplayed but still fantastic music

11. Modest Mouse The Moon and Antartica - the last great Mouse album

12. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of The Dead Sources, Tags & Codes

13. Danger Doom The Mouse and the Mask

14. Mclusky Mclusky do Dallas - My love is better than your love we take more drugs than a touring Funk band, SING IT!

15. The Walkman Bows + Arrows

16. Sonic Youth Murray Street

17. Explosions in the Sky The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place

18. Mates of State Our Constant Concern

19. LCD Sound System Sound of Silver - "Someone Great" top 5 songs of the decade

20. Deltron 3030 - I nearly forgot this came out in the 00s!

21. Spoon Girls Can Tell

22. The Postal Service Give Up

23. Stars Heart

24. The Doves The Last Broadcast - probably i'd rank it higher in the list if i felt like editing this thing more

25. Bjork Vespertine -

26. The New Pornographers Electric Version

27. Mogwai Happy Songs for Happy People

28. 764-HERO Weekends of Sound - how did i not know about this band when they were actually still a band? Unsung heros of PNW rock

29. At The Drive-in Relationship of command - one armed scissor

30. Sleater-Kinney All Hands on the Bad One

31. Silver Jews Bright Flight - fucking brilliant

32. M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

33. The Dirty Three Whatever You love, You Are

34. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

35. Beck Sea Change

36. The Streets a grand don’t come for free - This is one of the most underrated hip-hop albums ever, but maybe that's because its not really a hip-hop album but something else entirely. I love it.

37. PJ Harvey Songs from the City, Songs From the Sea

38. Sufjan Stevens Illinois - Oh, Sufjan, will the hipsters ever let you back into the cool club?

39. Busdriver Roadkillovercoat - what did he just say??

40. Ghostland Observatory paparazzi Lightening - beloved by many but now in danger of being forgotten about, can they ever get the energy back of their first two albums?

41. The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

42. Mark Lanegan Field Songs

43. Red House Painters Old Ramon

44. Death Cab For Cutie We Have the Facts and We are Voting Yes

45. Dan Deacon Bromst

46. Ulirch Schnauss A Strangely Isolate Place

47. Tapes ‘n Tapes The Loon

48. The Rosebuds Birds Make Good Neighbors - all their records are equally sweet and nice

49. Aloha Some Echos - probably the band you have not heard of on this list. You should.

50. TV On The Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - the first 6 songs of this album are the best thing that band has ever done

50.5 (Tie) Astronautalis Pomegranate, Shenandoah Davis We Camera, Huma We Are Here For You