All Hands On The Good One

Pretty amazing couple of nights of concerts this week. Last night, Lisa and I caught Sleater-Kinney at the Moore Theater, where they kicked off their tour in support of their latest album, "The Woods". The Portland, OR trio added a heavier tone on this record, departing slightly from their pop-punk sound. If you listen to it, it has a live feel to it. And that's how it sounds in concert. More distortion and feedback, more improv. You feel Janet Weiss' drum crashes, Carrie Brownstein's extended solos, Corin Tucker's beautiful wail. Corin struggled with some of her vocals last night, so it will be interesting to see if she can make it through this tour. She really takes her voice through the wringer. Before the show, I managed to make it to Sonic Boom Records for an in-store autograph signing. They were all polite and sweet, posing for pictures, and taking the time to speak with the fans that showed up. It was a pretty small turnout at the signing, maybe forty people at the most when I left the store, considering the band's stature. And the show at The Moore didn't sell out, either. Disappointing, but at least we had room to move around. Maybe what kept people away was the stench of Bratwurst the concessions people insist on cooking in the lobby. I told Lisa it smelled like someone pissing on roast beef.

Tonight, another concert. Opposite in tone, but just as nourishing to the soul. We traveled all the way to West Seattle to Madison's to check out the acoustic folk stylings of JK and "his ladies", Kym Tuvim and Holly Figueroa. They were there, playing for free (save for a tip jar passed around>. I didn't know they were actually there in support of The One Campaign, a non-profit movement to end poverty and AIDS in Africa and around the globe. They played the second of two one hour sets, taking turns at the mic. Jonathan played three songs from his upcoming release: "Smoothe out the Lines", "Grace", and a cover of Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step I Take". Holly brought a (relative) hush to the noisy crowd with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "One Step Up".

The first set featured four singer-songwriters I'd never heard of before, including Markus Rills from Germany, who sings like he's channeling Tom Waits. And an amazing singer from Minnesota, Ellis, the most enthusiastic and earnest person I've seen perform live in a long time. She sounds like what Ani Difranco would sound like if she was forced to live in Texas. Ellis was born in Texas, but she left when she was a teenager. Could you blame her?