harry and the potters, rocking the seattle central library in 2006

What’s that you’re noticing in the air? Yes, it’s warm outside but what you’re probably really feeling is the pure electricity of anticipation of Wizard Week! That’s right, it’s a superfantastic overload of wonderful as Pottermania descends upon the world.

In Seattle, the opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (IMAX and pretty much everywhere [goog] except Cinerama, where they’re still handing over precious screen real estate to tiresome robots in disguise, Shia LaBoeuf’s already retro Strokes t-shirt, and Megan Fox’s midriff) coincides with a spectacular confluence of wizard rock in our vicinity. The University Bookstore is pulling out all the stops to fill the days leading up to magnificent moment of the Harry Potter and the Ghastly Hollows unveiling with anticipation enhancing entertainment in the form of WizRockStock [bookstore], a multi-city series of concerts, events, contests, and other wizardy delights.

Festivities start with a bang tonight in with Harry and the Potters at the Tacoma Armory. If there is anything that turns the hot days of summer into the most wonderful time of the year, it’s the annual arrival of the indie rock answer to the all-important question of “what would happen if Harry from year 4 and Harry from year 7 met up and formed a band?” The answer, obviously enough, is complete and utter awesomeness!

I first encountered the music of brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge during the summer of 2005. I’d just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and was feeling some substantial post-final chapter depression (the dramatic ending! years to wait for the next installment! the woe!) until I stumbled into their performance at the University Bookstore. There, the upstairs reading room was packed with fans of all ages going wild for the sweaty sweatered brothers singing inventive rock anthems and moody powerpop ballads from the perspective of our favorite angsty Gryffindor title character. Costumes, including a a furry hat with a lion on top, were abundant and many in the crowd knew all of the words by heart. A little costumed kid came up for one song, and at the end, the place exploded with balloons. It was amazing.

The next year, they conquered the Seattle Public Library as well as 826 Seattle, where people were turned away at the door (and were treated to a sidewalk concert as consolation) and teens worked themselves into raucous property-destroying, bubble filled, dance parties.

Those who don’t feel like driving to Tacoma tonight need not fear: Harry and the Potters are in Olypmia tomorrow and they have a Central Library stop on this year’s summer tour on Friday night (7pm). To get a sense of the band’s finest work, I highly recommend checking out the back catalog . Highlights include “Save Ginny Weasley” from their 2003 eponymous debut [myspace], “Luna Lovegood is OK” and “the Weapon” from Voldemort Can’t Stop the Rock!; although these will hardly prepare you for the power of the live show.

If you survive Friday’s spectacle, other wizard-inspired bands make appearance throughout the following week, with the Parselmouths, Firenze and the Centaurs of the Forbidden Forest, and the The Weird Sisters playing at the release party on the 20th in the U-District store.