I already mentioned A Drink for the Kids and its big grand finale spectacular taking place tomorrow at Neumo’s [mb]. You’ve got the Ruby Suns, Mt St. Helens Vietnam Band, and Tokyo Police Club on stage, People’s Republic of Komedy’s Kevin Hyder keeping you laughing between sets, and DJ Righteous Trash keeping you dancing when you aren’t laughing or rocking or while you’re drinking (this is mainly to say that the intermission music will be better than the whole Jackson 5 Greatest Hits played straight through and if conversation wanes someone onstage is bound to say something funny to break the tension). In addition to being a fun Saturday night for you, the proceeds benefit the Vera Project.

So, you have the chance to do something for The Kids (who are, after all, our leading-the-way future, especially if the future you want is one built by creative and talented young people) and that something is drinking, which sounds like a pretty good way to feel good about your 21+ self. A lucky one of you, though, will have things even easier. We have a spare pair of tickets to give away for free, saving the winner at least $30 + fees to put under their mattress or convert immediately into whiskey. These, being for the moment potentially safer investments than your retirement savings account. Flush with cash and averse to games of chance? Tickets are still on sale. [neumos]

With the stakes so high, do be quick about sending an e-mail to seattle.metblogs at the gmail dot com. The winner will be picked pretty much randomly, although I’m willing to improve the odds for anyone who provides a fun fact about New Zealand. I’ll let you know if you’ve won by noon tomorrow.

There are several things that I look forward to every year and I gotta tell ya, Hump! is right there at the top. Sure it may seem weird sitting around a theater with a bunch of strangers watching amateur porn (and, to be honest, it is at first) but it is also fun and often hilarious and something that is great to be a part of. Not to mention, how perfect is it that it coincides with the start of Halloween festivities this year?

Tickets went on sale this morning and as of now there are still seats at four different times on both Friday and Saturday. However, all past three Hump!s have sold out, so if you want to go, get over to Brown Paper Tickets now and reserve your spot. [bpt]

Talib Kweli’s cross-country hip hop mini festival featuring David Banner, Little Brother, B.O.B. Merge Rhymes with backing from th Rhythm Roots All Stars had originally been scheduled to take over the Showbox SODO on 5 October. Today — perhaps in an effort to match last year’s Ghostface Killah-headlined mostly sold out tour — comes notice that Hip Hop Live has been relocated to the more accessible, not so cavernous, Showbox “at the Market”. If you already bought tickets ($30 at the door), they’ll be honored. [showbox]

We also have a pair of tickets to give away to you, the beloved reader. Send your full name to seattle.metblogs@gmail.com and I’ll pick a winner by Friday evening. Fun facts about Delaware will get your entry extra priority in an otherwise random drawing. Of course, we’ll keep your e-mail like a secret and won’t use it for purposes other than this drawing, nefarious or otherwise.

There are few better ways to gain my sympathies than a cute dog wearing a cone; so how could I not pass along this information about a benefit for Jimjam, an adorable dog who was “brutally attacked by an unrestrained dog near his home on Capitol Hill.” Luckily, he’s expected to make a full recovery, but the best veterinary care doesn’t come cheap. Help fun his recuperation by going to Dinette on Sunday to buy wine and raffle tickets for gift certificates from Dinette, Moxi, Peso’s, Vain, Vivace, and expensive bottles of wine.

starting on 30 september you will have a chance to buy this sign [$$] that demonstrates the band’s keen sense of self-deprecating humor from Under the Radar‘s delightful Protest Issue. [#] Go buy it while it’s still on newsstands and keep it close.

You’ve driven out to the Eastside to see them play in parks. You’ve crammed into the Capitol Hill Block party in the early afternoon to hear them play in the streets. You’ve camped out at Sasquatch to see them play at the Gorge (twice!). You’ve stayed up to watch them play on late night television. And that’s just in the span of a few summer months. Now, beloved local baroque hymnists Fleet Foxes have announced an indoor show in Seattle at the majestically crumbling Moore.

For the surprisingly low price of $15 and all of the associated fees, you can get yourself a ticket to witness the quintet (four of whom sing) filling the place to its soaring ceilings with soaring neospirituals on 19 October. By then, real autumn will be in full effect and this show will be exactly what you need. [themoore]

Picture it: it’s July 2004. A long-winded Senator for Massachusetts is trying to become president. Seattle still has dreams of a new monorail. Kathleen Wilson is writing for the Stranger. Blogging.LA was experimenting with cityblogging spin-offs. And so it was that Seattle Metblogs (or, as we liked to call it back in the day, Metroblogging Seattle) was born just in time for Independence Day fireworks [mb]. But a weblog doesn’t count until it survives for at least a month; so we’re celebrating our birthday at our August happy hour:

Last year we had a tea party that brought us cake, a box of walnuts, and vodka. This year, we’ll be at McLeod Residence from 6 to 9 pm and we’d very much enjoy it if you stopped in to say hello. A final schedule of events is still in the works, but there are rumors of cupcakes, dramatic readings of comments from the archives, and video games. We hope you’ll join us. After that, stay for Tiger Beat (a Contemporary/80s Mash Up Dance Party by Pity Party productions), so you can stick around and follow Lykke Li‘s advice and dance, dance, dance.

flyer by lele, via our group pool [#]

• I’m sure that Omaha had a music scene before Conor Oberst, but most of us didn’t know about it. Since he became indie-famous for being a prolific and wonderfully angst-filled teen, he’s gone on to become almost mainstream-famous as his albums, mostly released with a rotating cast of bandmates as Bright Eyes, grew deeper, more intricately orchestrated, and wider in scope. People compare him to Bob Dylan and name him the songwriter of 2008 [rollingstone] and it doesn’t sound completely insane. While all of this might sound painfully overwrought, it’s actually incredibly enjoyable and Oberst is a consistently entertaining performer. Now touring in support of a project that is also himself and a band of friends playing slightly rootsier songs recoreded in Mexico, Conor Oberst and the Mystic River Band will be playing a free in-store show tonight at Easy Street Records in Queen Anne followed by one at Neumo. Catch him in one of these venues, since his tours typically alternate between big and small showrooms. With DCI, 8pm, $25. [neumos]
• Former Murder City Devil, current Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death leader and antique seller Spencer Moody is playing a night of Vaselines cover songs for one night only. What else could you possibly need to know? Free, small donation recommended. [mcleodresidence]

“Block Party” is more than a slight misnomer for the thing that’s starting on Capitol Hill in just about four hours. Don’t expect to find your neighbors grilling hot dogs in the street. Instead, inside the walled-off two block section of Pike Street between 12th and Broadway you’ll find a rare commodity in this era of overwhelming summer music events: a relatively inexpensive small scale music festival with outstanding talent on multiple stages. From mainstage headliners to opening acts in satellite venues to afterparties, there’s far too much to keep you occupied during the one and a half days. It’s more like a month of shows you’d like to see crammed into a single weekend.

Honestly, even if you used a random number table to plot your course it would be hard to go wrong. As far as I’m concerned, the only critical mistakes would be (1) not going and (2) not seeing Girl Talk while you’re there. In a infinitesimal section of Feed the Animals running from Cheap Trick into Jimi Hendrix over Yael Naim and through Eminem, Gillis has given us one of the best and most entertaining minutes of knowing cultural commentary we’re likely to hear all year. And that is just one among dozens and dozens. Set loose among and outdoor crowd, it has the potential to be the smartest sweating you’ll experience all summer.

Here’s the whole schedule [stranger]. But because we can’t resist telling you how to spend your time, a few recommendations from your pals at Metblogs. Start ginning up excuses to get out of the office early because there are highlights from start-to-finish. See you there!

(more…)

Want to relive two of the oldish- and newish-rock highlights of SP20? Mudhoney and No Age are in (actual) Seattle next week for a show to support KEXP by way of Toyota and Urban Outfitters’s FreeYrRadio promotional car-winning machinery. The show takes place at KEXP’s parking lot next week (23 July) and admission costs nothing more than the paper required to print your own invitation [pdf] ahead of time.

Prepare to make intellectual small-talk between sets by reading Sascha Frere-Jones profiled of No Age, their previous album, and a beloved run-down LA club, in that journal of provocative cover-images. [newyorker] Since then, the blissful assault of Nouns is vying for a spot on well-informed listeners’ top whatever lists to that even early devotees are nearing overload on “blind youthful optimism”. [eb]

I can think of far worse overdoses for a warm mid-summer night.

Just in time to get you ready for BarCamp (which appears to involve neither in a bar nor camping) [mb], another techlusty confluence of innovation and technology and Dan Savage. Huh? This is probably why it is called THINGAMAJIGGR because no one could settle on an all-inclusive name to describe the event.

Schmooze with tech luminaries, learn about LED throwies. John Mendina will be there to talk about the futility of getting your brain to multitask. Come to terms with that depressing proposition by reveling in technology, geek-inspired art (wtf?, so many possible interpretations), a healthy dose of Ignite. The whole thing will be lubricated with ample opportunities for drinking while DJ and VJs spin.

It’s $15 in advance and $20 at the door. But event organizer Brady Forrest gave us a pair of tickets to pass along to one especially lucky reader. Send an e-mail with your real name to seattle.metblogs@gmail.com by midnight. The person who gets closest to my favorite two-digit prime number gets the passes.

Details:

June 13th, 7:30pm – 1am.
911 Media Arts Center in South Lake Union.
All proceeds will go to benefit the 911 Media Arts Center.
It will be co-hosted by Waggle Labs and O’Reilly Radar.
Tickets can be purchased for $10 presale, 15$ at door, 21+ only.