Live Music

What did Chico do anyway?

Dave Hates Chico
Dave Hates Chico rockin The Spar in Old Town Tacoma

Last time they came to town, the result was an acoustic rainbow through the back room of The Spar on a gorgeous summer evening in Old Town. You can expect virtually nothing to be the same this time around.

Dave Hates Chico is synonymous with the word acoustic. Or at least they have been in Seattle for double digit years. They’ve taken their acoustic open mic gig all over the country, from Seattle to New York and back again. They have established themselves as one of the country’s most reputable duos of open mic. Their acoustic repertoire goes for miles and nobody can dispute that.

So why are they switching to electric??

Come find out on Saturday night.

What many of you have never seen before, I have. I have spent many an hour playing electric guitar with Jeremy Johnson. Truth be told, electricity is actually at the root of my relationship with Jeremy. If it weren’t for electric guitars and gourmet sandwiches, this article would likely never have been penned.

The only guy more excited for this show than me has to be Jeremy himself. My resources are saying that he is rather jacked up to plug in and get loud. Those of you who only know his gentle, acoustic side may be a bit surprised by his possible anger and ferocity set to be on display here this weekend.

Bring your earplugs and your thirst for good beer and great people. I’ll be bringing my Smiths requests and an appetite for rock. I might even be packing a Pesto Chicken sandwich in my pocket. We’ll see how it unfolds. The only thing I can guarantee is greatness.

See you there.

Sunny Day Real Estate playing Hell’s Kitchen

Tonight! $5 will get you a Sunny Day Real Estate show in the heart of Tacoma. Hell’s Kitchen hasn’t formally announced anything and their sign is still mysteriously void of any details, but I’m on my way back down there now to see what I can see. If all goes well, I’ll be reporting back in less than an hour with a pocketful of tickets and more information on how the ticket process works.

Sunny Day Real Estate was one of the first bands to go by the categorization of “emo” in the early 90’s, before breaking up after 2 albums. This recent reunion marks the first time all original members have returned to participate. Should be a lively one.

Seaweed, Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, 8/7/09

Tacoma’s greatest band is playing The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle on Friday August 7, 2009. They bring their powerful brand of pre-grunge punk to the Emerald City amid suspicion that they are prepped and ready to embark on recording a new album. Hopefully we’ll get more information on that in a couple days. Last week they played Portland, so expect them to be ready and firing on all cylinders.

Seaweed in Seattle Seaweed playing Crocodile Cafe

Dave Hates Chico at the Spar

My old friend Jeremy Johnson is coming to The Spar this Saturday, 8/1, with his bandmate, Kevyn Smith. They are Dave Hates Chico and they promise to pull out all the stops for their worldwide, exclusive North Tacoma debut. Check out the link to hear their new song.

Jeremy and I used to devour pairs of sandwiches together from the famed, and now defunct Raindancer sandwich shop in the University District of Seattle in the mid 90’s. This was our ritual: he would ride his bicycle from Queen Anne to my house in Wallingford with his guitar strapped to his back (I always thought that was super cool) and then we’d go snatch up a bag of sandwiches pre-jam. I’ve played guitar with many people and I’ve eaten Raindancer sandwiches with many people, but NO MAN could do both with as much fervor as Jeremy. Further, no other man explored the entire sandwich menu so completely. He even renamed most of the sandwiches for our purposes to aid in identifying their effects on the human body.

Dave Hates Chico has recently toured the country and their new EP “Floatin” is available now. Aside from playing great music, these guys are on a crusade to sort out the mess created by the music licensing business. Venues in Seattle are forced to pay licensing fees for cover songs played under their roof, and it is killing the live music scene in the process. I support Jeremy and Kevyn in all of their endeavors.

If you’re at The Spar and you don’t like this band, I will buy you one (1) pint of Hale’s Cream Ale, or another beer of equal or lesser value for your troubles. Once you’ve finished your free beer, I will show you the door.

Wintergrass leaves Tacoma

The blues festival formerly known as Tacoma’s Wintergrass has left the building.

It gets worse. Wintergrass will now be in Bellevue. Here’s another giant step backward for the City of Density. Gracious me, what is going on in this town? We just lost a cool music festival to BELLEVUE!

That is disgusting.

Bellevue sucks.

They have no business pulling a rainy-season blues event out of the gritty city. It’s getting harder and harder for me to call Tacoma gritty. Who coined that anyway? If it was you, please chime in with justification for said nomenclature. We have an industrial port, our fair share of condemned buildings and a burgeoning meth scene. I guess that’s sorta gritty.

The economy is quietly bouncing back, spurring me to request no further setbacks for Tacoma until after summer. I want positive momentum. I want positive economic development. I want more culture, not less. The Old Town Blues Festival is coming up on July 11th; hopefully people will turn out in droves to show their support.