Lars Finberg in the lobby of the Orient Express.

​"Train Wreck" is the new DJ and live music night hatched from the love nest occupied by the Intelligence leader Lars Finberg and his fiancee, Susanna Welbourne, who also plays in the Intelligence and choreographs unconventional burlesque troupe the Atomic Bombshells.

Train Wreck launches this Thursday, February 4, inside the kitchy-cool confines of the Orient Express Train Car in SoDo. Previously known in a slightly crustier form as Andy's Dinner, the Orient Express is the ideal space for Finberg and Welbourne's queer-friendly, punk-minded vision to spring to life. Delightfully debauched, drag-star-on-the-rise Kissee Simmons will MC, while the DJ decks will be held down by DJ Porq, aka Pony co-owner Marcus Wilson and the genius behind Pho Bang. The house band will be Puberty, a new project fronted by Finberg and Welbourne, with backing help from members of Little Cuts, the Cops, and the Shins.

Finberg and I met for lunch and beers today at the Orient Express to discuss his new creative venture. I was pleasantly blown away by both the aesthetics and my food (my cashew chicken was prepared by a chef who worked at Wild Ginger for nearly a decade, so that probably helped). More on this in Wednesday's edition of Rocket Queen; more pictures of the amazing space after the jump.

More >>

​Team Gina, Comet Tavern, 9 p.m. $7, 21+

"Team Gina: Putting Away the Spandex":

After achieving their goal, world domination -- which Gina Genius defines as the completion of a successful European tour -- the Ginas are retiring the synchronized dance routines, sparkly Spandex outfits, and tight rhymes that made their live shows such delightful high-energy spectacles. Anyone who's seen Team Gina live knows the magic that happens when the Ginas unite onstage isn't emanating from the rays of light bouncing off the duo's unabashedly loud outfits. Nor does their secret lie in their mesmerizing moves. Beneath all that glitz, there's a message for all lady-lovin' ladies: You are superb. Don't ever change.

More >>

Ringo Starr: Message of Peace, Love & Understanding

​I really like Ringo Starr's new record, "Y Not". It's an easy thing for a Beatles fan to say, but I didn't have that problem of wanting to really like the music for this sake, while having a nagging feeling that it isn't working for me.

Yes, it's the closest thing to a Beatles reunion we're going to get in 2010. Paul McCartney joins Ringo on a couple of tunes. With Peace Dream, the Fab Four's rhythm section helps conjure John Lennon's legacy as a promoter for peace. Ringo sings about how we've got to "imagine" and "give peace a chance" -- he even states the man's name in a lyric.

Ringo gives a nod to another Beatle who's passed on, George Harrison, with some of the sounds in the title track Y Not. Starr gives a shout-out to teenage friends in The Other Side Of Liverpool.

Ringo has toured over the years with his All-Starr live band. And there are plenty of known names as guests on the record. A standout track is Walk With You, where McCartney shares on the chorus vocals. It's co-authored by Van Dyke Parks who has worked with Brian Wilson, and I really like the string arrangements Parks did with Joanna Newsom's "Y's".

Walk With You is a sweet song on a release that's beaming with positivity. In fact, "Y Not" is unrelenting in peace, love and understanding. It's truly a Ringo album. I have collected his work since the Beatles, and a tune like Can't Do It Wrong has a swing step that reminds me of those early 1970's albums.

It's 2010. It's Ringo. What you get is nice pop songcraft, an easy feel with a good message. I need that sometimes, and this record made my day.

​Hey Marseilles, The Crocodile, 8 p.m., $10, 21+

From "Q&A: What It Means When Starbucks Taps Your Band":

Seattle band Hey Marseilles has been described a number of ways--cabaret pop, lit rock, and "Li'l Decemberists" (mine) are among my favorites--but "Starbucks rock" maybe isn't a title that would be accepted with thanks. But with the septet's inclusion on the coffee giant's annual album of love songs, Sweetheart 2010, via a cover of Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End," the tag is worth considering.

SW: What do you think it says about Hey Marseilles' music that Starbucks thinks their audience will drink it down?

Frontman Matt Bishop: The same thing it says when my mom and her friends love our CD, and my sister and her 4-year-old kid loves our CD, and 18-to-25-year-old women love our CD. I think it's palatable and accessible in a lot of ways, just because it's softer and it doesn't have a lot of edge, necessarily. It's pretty clean. I think that it just says that it can be appreciated by a wide variety of crowds.

​ALSO TONIGHT:

The Cribs, Showbox at the Market, 8 p.m., $18, all ages

From "The Cribs: Englishmen in the Northwest":

Growing up in the small town of Wakefield in northern England, Gary Jarman dreamt of two things: Being in a big-time rock-'n'-roll band someday, and visiting the U.S.'s far-away, mysterious Pacific Northwest, where the music (from Nirvana to Beat Happening) and the culture that was defining his early teenage years came from. The Cribs made it happen. Their chemistry comes through on the Cribs' tremendous new fourth LP, Ignore the Ignorant. There are certainly echoes of the band's established sonic approach -- a marriage of angular, scrappy post-punk and craggy Strokes-style riffs -- but with Marr they've gone bigger, grander, more layered and epic, yet retaining their soul and punch.

​When I was a teenager working at a used record shop, my boss never referred to Elvis Presley as anything but "Pelvis." And I think that slight contributed to the fact that I never pursed Elvis beyond what was incidentally fed to me. I am, consequently, woefully ignorant on the topic of the biggest figure in Rock and Roll history. My understanding of the King is limited to what I can glean from the walls of the Elvis Room at Mama's. But I'm ready to change. Yesterday I put a hold on Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. And this morning I snagged the 100-track Elvis: 75 on eMusic. The compilation is reviewed by former SW music editor Michaelangelo Matos:

"There's way too much out there for any normal person to take in completely. But anyone seeking a decent understanding of the enormity of the man's musical facets, and is confused or flustered by the enormous number of compilations, overviews, box sets and best-ofs, has found their ideal road map."

This is, of course, exactly what I was looking for. And 50 tracks in, I am fully satisfied. It's just a start, I know, but I'll get there.

Part of the impetus for my Pelvis thrust now is that Gillian Gaar, who's written a few stories for us, has written a book on the King, Return of the King: Elvis Presley's Great Comeback, that's due out April 1. And I need to get by basics down before I dive into that one.

​They're calling it a soft opening, but the folks behind the Hard Rock Cafe -- 116 Pike Street, basically across from Pike Place Market -- told us today that they will open their doors to the public on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The bar/club/eatery/museum(lite) includes artifacts from Seattle favorites like Nirvana (the topper to Kurt and Courtney's wedding cake), Alice in Chains, and Jimi Hendrix. It also includes a 300-person rock club.

Sure, Hard Rock's a classic tourist trap and all, but that's pretty much the demographic of the neighborhood. And if the rest of us get another new room to see shows in, all the better. But they better be bringing in a damn good happy hour.

Renee McMahon

Jakob Dylan at Bumbershoot 2008.

​Though I found his solo debut, Seeing Things, to be a bit dry, I've got high hopes for the Wallflowers frontman's second try, if for no other reason than because he recruited T-Bone Burnett to produce it -- the same guy who lent his silver touch to The Wallflowers' 1996 breakthrough, Bringing Down the Horse, which remains in high rotation in my space. Now comes word that Woman and Country, due April 11, will feature Neko Case and her frequent collaborator/backup singer Kelly Hogan on eight of the album's 11 tracks. This is easily enough to give the record that extra something that Seeing Things didn't have, but that Dylan is completely capable of.

​In an unceremonious, no-hard-feelings kind of way, local melodic-rock band Barcelona and major record label Universal/Motown parted ways. Defying stereotypes set before them by the indie bands of yore, Barcelona claims only to have gained from this one-year partnership and is now striding full-speed into their second record with high expectations.

"We all were on a conference call together [when Universal told us they're dropping us], and the guys from the label hung up and we all just started laughing," guitarist Chris Bristol said.

Chuckling and nodding in agreement, lead singer Brian Fennell added, "We were like, yes, we're an indie band again!"

More >>

Lynn Goldsmith

Sting, and photographer Lynn Goldsmith, in 1981. This photo--and many more-- are part of EMP's "Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs", opening February 6.

​As we've mentioned a few times lately, Graham Nash guest curates an exceptional exhibit of rock and roll photographs at EMP. I chatted with Nash recently in preview of next week's opening of "Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs". I'll post the full interview (or at least a bunch of it), next week, but since I've been all kinds of curious about Rick Rubin lately, here's a sampler:

What have you been up to today?

Well, I'm about to start rehearsing again for the second half of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash/Rick Rubin record that we're doing. Columbia Records requested something strange of us. They didn't want any Crosby, Stills, and Nash songs.

What did they want?

They wanted our vocal sound on songs that we wished we'd written.

What's that going to include?

Well, you know, the list is not final. I'm kind of hesitant to name individual songs in case they're not there. But things like "Close Your Eyes" by James Taylor, "Midnight Rider" [by the Allman Brothers], "Ruby Tuesday" [by the Rolling Stones], "Norwegian Wood" [by the Beatles]. We're doing a bunch of songs that we love.

What kind of role does Rick Rubin play in the process?

More >>

​-- NME: Sly Stone's suing his former manager for $50 million.

-- LiveDaily: Dylan, Natalie Cole, Blind Boys of Alabama among performers lined up to perform at the White House to celebrate Black History Month.

-- NY Times: Yes, the Grammys are THIS Sunday.

-- Ear Candy Beat: Travis is a bit apprehensive about Hard Rock Cafe Seattle and its 400 300-seat theater downtown.

-- Spinner: They're streaming Jimi Hendrix's album Valleys of Neptune, which will be released in March.