SxSeattle Send Off Party Friday, March 6

On Friday, March 6th a handful of Seattle area bands headed to Austin for South by Southwest will play a send off showcase 9 pm at the Tractor. Champagne Champage, New Faces, Hey Marseilles, Battle Hymns round out the bill. Tickets for this 21 and over show are $8 and are available at Sonic Boom or through the Tractor.

The SxSeattle party in Austin will be held March 21st from 12-6 at the Palm Door. For more information and to RSVP (it's a free all ages event), go here.

Wintergrass

Wintergrass, Tacoma's annual bluegrass festival, starts this Thursday the 19th and will run through the 22nd.

Kim Ruehl, writer for Americana rag No Depression and Roots correspondent for Sound writes: "Wintergrass takes place in downtown Tacoma, WA. The performances are spread over a couple of hotels and a nearby church. Friday and Saturday mornings are workshops galore on everything from overcoming stage fright to mastering Old Time fiddle. The hotel lobbies are replete with impromptu jams.

This is a Bluegrass music festival, but there is a lot of appreciation for Old Time Music. A lot of the jam sessions include people playing Old Time tunes. Many of the performers are old school bluegrass, though there are occasionally some Old Time bands and some contemporary country/folk singer/songwriters. Performers include well-known legends as well as local and regional newcomers."

One group performing this year is "old time string band" The Tallboys. They're well-practiced musicians, a fun band to see live and really bring an "old-timey" feeling to their set. If you've heard of them, you know they're kind of a fixture on the NW folk circuit: they're the house band for the Tractor's bi-monthly square dancing night (highly recommended, every other Monday), and vocalist Charmaine Slaven is an organizer of - and performs at - NW Folklife.

Charmaine has the unique ability to buck dance (a kind of folk clogging/tap dance) and play guitar at the same time. It's really interesting to watch. She teaches clogging workshops pretty regularly, and will be offering one this year at Wintergrass on Saturday at Collings Church at 11:15am.

Michael Gira at the Tractor Tavern

Michael Gira, founder of Young God records and member of post-punk groups the Swans and Angels of Light, will play a 9pm show Wednesday, March 4 at The Tractor. He plays the bill with Larkin Grimm, fellow Young God recording artist.

Around Seattle we have Calvin Johnson as the go-to man for all things K Records related: he's always got his hands in something: producing some band, playing some show, making some art. At Young God, that man is Michael Gira, always on the lookout for curious acts, lending his production talents and insights to every new artist signed to the label.

It should be an interesting show, and I recommend it. I expect a mixed crowd of hipsters, folk heads, and aging 80's industrial black t-shirt types. The Tractor is an interesting venue for the eccentric, often avant-garde stylings of Gira and Grimm, though I think the acoustics will be great if they're planning a string-heavy set. Grimm tours later in the month with Akron/Family and Vetiver (that's Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart).

A while back, I reviewed a couple bands off the YG roster. You can read my review of Fire on Fire's The Orchard here: Fire on Fire: The Orchard, and my Akron/Family Love is Simple review here: Akron/Family: Love is Simple.

While you're at it, check out The Tractor's upcoming shows, they've got a lot of solid acts coming through soon: Richard Buckner, local band Fences, Shelby Lynne, The Pica Beats, Great Lake Swimmers, the aforementioned Elvis Perkins, and Clem Snide, to name a few.

Elvis Perkins

I love Jim Jarmusch movies, and when I first heard about Elvis Perkins, the one thing that came to mind was a recurring scene from the movie Mystery Train involving a pair of teenage Japanese tourists on a visit to Memphis who argue again and again (albeit in a very quiet, respectful Japanese way) over the real king of rock: Elvis Presley or Carl Perkins.

Much to my hopeful conjecture, Perkins' name is not a cross between the two, nor is there a lot of rockabilly or boogie rhythm in his music, but he does have an interesting back story. Elvis Perkins is the son of actor Anthony Perkins (famous for his role as Norman Bates in Hitchcock's Psycho) and Life Magazine photographer Berry Berenson, who died in the September 11 attacks.

Despite his background, Elvis Perkins has flown below my radar until just recently, when I heard some of the tracks from his debut album Ash Wednesday, and "Shampoo," the single from his forthcoming album Elvis Perkins in Dearland. Admittedly, my taste in music leans towards the singer-songwriter set, and I can't help but love the soulful, unhurried, honest quality of his singing. His new album comes out 3/10, and I mentioned earlier that I'm looking forward to seeing him at SXSW, but he'll be in Seattle at the Tractor Tavern about a week before the festival on March 9th. Going to try to make that show.

At any rate, here's the source of my tangential frame of reference: The Great Mystery Train Debate (That's John Lurie's original score you hear briefly in the background.) And here's some Elvis Perkins for you: Elvis Perkins' Homepage.