If you like your tribute bands hot and sassy, Seattle all-female AC/DC tribute group Hell’s Belles is a pocketful of dynamite. New singer Amber Saxon,…
Read Full ArticleNirvana legend rocks on with retrospective EMP|SFM exhibit
“When Nirvana hit it big, it was overwhelming because we were part of the counterculture. Nirvana didn’t go to the mainstream — the mainstream came…
Read Full ArticleCONCERT REVIEW: Paul Simon still vital after all these years
By JO ANN RIGGS It was a true Kodachrome moment. Paul Simon, who’d played WaMu Theater in Seattle on April 15, debuted the club portion…
Read Full ArticlePeter Frampton, Jeff Bridges, B-52s heading to Chateau Ste. Michelle
The 2011 summer concert series at Chateau Ste. Michelle features a lot of top musicians and one movie star — Jeff Bridges — who performs…
Read Full ArticleSongwriter Sam Phillips to receive prestigious Denise Levertov Award
By MIKEL TOOMBS She’s been nominated for two Grammys, under both her Christian name Leslie and her self-adopted one, but Sam Phillips has never won…
Read Full ArticleYellowcard brings ‘violin induced pop-punk’ to Showbox SoDo
By MIKEL TOOMBS You’re far more likely to find violence than violins inspiring rock music. Oh, back in the day there was hippie-dippy It’s a…
Read Full ArticleHoly Ghost! is more than an apparition at Showbox SoDo
New York disco-pop revivalists Holy Ghost! made a stop at Showbox SoDo Tuesday, April 12, the very day their self-titled debut album hit stores. Sharing…
Read Full ArticleCD REVIEW: Paul Simon returns with ever-graceful ‘So Beautiful’
By MIKEL TOOMBS As he has since at least 1956, when Simon and Garfunkel first became a duo, Paul Simon ponders the mysteries of the…
Read Full ArticleNew HD downloads of four vintage Stones albums lack grit of originals
By MIKEL TOOMBS The Rolling Stones, now in HD. A few years after the fact, I obtained a very scratched vinyl LP (in mono!) of…
Read Full ArticlePaul Simon returns to Seattle with new album ‘So Beautiful Or So What’
By MIKEL TOOMBS There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only two to see Paul Simon live in Seattle. You…
Read Full ArticleThe Go-Go’s get a boost from the Girl Scouts during ‘Ladies Gone Wild’ tour
The things you learn by perusing your Inbox. Last week I found out that “We Got the Beat,” The Go-Go’s’ proto-girl-power anthem, “is the Girl…
Read Full ArticleTractor Tavern celebrates spring with ‘engagingly quirky’ Olof Arnalds
By MIKEL TOOMBS Bumper sticker recently spotted in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge neighborhood: “FLEE BALLARD.” (That car hadn’t gotten far.) No matter how trendy it’s become,…
Read Full ArticlePearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder releases new album, launches solo tour
In support of his upcoming solo album, “Ukulele Songs,” Eddie Vedder will launch a short U.S. solo tour in June and July. Vedder’s tour kicks…
Read Full ArticleCONCERT PREVIEW: There’s a lot of living in Lauren Pritchard’s ‘Wasted’
By MIKEL TOOMBS You could call this show “Lauren in Ballard.” Lauren Pritchard, who performs Sunday, March 27, at the Tractor Tavern (she opens at…
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