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 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…
Read Full ArticlePHOTO GALLERY: The Crystal Method gets down to business at Republiq
Seattle photographer Suzi Pratt captured these photographs of electronic-music duo The Crystal Method performing Thursday, March 3, at Republiq on First Avenue South in Seattle.…
Read Full ArticleThis Mountain Man doesn’t sport facial hair but plays ‘simply good folk’
By MIKEL TOOMBS You’d probably expect an act called Mountain Man to be a bearded guy in a flannel shirt. Well, the first thing you’ll…
Read Full ArticleCONCERT PREVIEW: Peter Himmelman bares his soul on a riveting new CD
Singer-songwriter Peter Himmelman received his first round of applause on the day he was born. His mother had chosen to have a natural childbirth without…
Read Full ArticleFleet Foxes hit the road this spring with a sophomore CD: ‘Helplessness Blues’
Seattle’s Fleet Foxes, which wowed us with its ethereal, self-titled debut album in 2008, will release its second album, “Helplessness Blues,” May 3 on the…
Read Full ArticleCD REVIEW: Seattle’s Barbara Ireland turns back time on delicious new disc
Seattle singer-songwriter Barbara Ireland’s new album is a world apart from the glam-punk she once performed as a member of The Fags and other bands.…
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