Laura Duffy

Mike McCready, seen here with Pearl Jam at KeyArena in 2009.

Per usual, KIRO's Josh Kerns and I will be talkin' tunes on 97.3 FM at 3 p.m. Sunday on our one-hour music show, Seattle Sounds. On the agenda this week:

-- Mike McCready: The Pearl Jam guitarist tells us why PJ didn't play Seattle for their 20th anniversary celebration (but did play Wisconsin). He also goes long on his UFO cover band, Flight to Mars, which is playing a benefit for CCFA Camp Oasis and Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Wednesday at Showbox at the Market.

-- SIFF's Face the Music Series: We chat with our old pal Marco Collins, who is curating SIFF's Face the Music series. He gives us a few word on the fests flicks that tackle subjects like Bad Brains, Doe Bay, Cream's Ginger Baker, and Paul Williams.

-- Getting to the Gorge: Josh gives me 10 minutes to talk about the taco trucks and breakfast options available to people heading toward Ellensburg for the Sasquatch (at the Gorge), or are just heading over the mountains this summer. You'll wish you'd listened when you're hungry in Vantage!

Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard chats about the band's tour with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, and their show, Sunday, at the Paramount, on Seattle Sounds, 3 p.m. Sunday on 97.3 KIRO FM.

I mentioned earlier this week that Josh Kerns and I chatted up Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard earlier this week for Sunday's episode of Seattle Sounds (3 p.m. Sunday, 97.3 KIRO FM). But what I didn't mention is that Gibbard let us in on a nasty little secret about how the band passes the time while they're in LA.

The only way to find out what the good guys from Bremerton/Bellingham/Capitol Hill do down south is to tune in to Seattle Sounds at 3 p.m. Sunday on 97.3 KIRO FM. Or you can listen in after the fact at MYNorthwest.com. But that's the only other way!

Also on the show this week, we've got Bumbershoot promoter Chris Porter and his East Coast accent (they all sound the same to me) talking about the lineup he put together (Tony Bennett, Jane's Addiction, etc.) for the big-ass festival at the Seattle Center over Memorial Day Weekend.

Hear it all at 3 p.m. Sunday on 97.3 KIRO FM!

A couple weeks ago, when I finally broke down and cut the grass for the first time of the season, I realized that there's a certain genre of music associated with the grass/pit-stained pastime. It's a genre that's topped off by Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty, and helps give the mower and extra push up the hill.

Josh Kerns and I will be discussing this important genre -- and breaking down the summer's concert season -- at 3 p.m. Sunday on Seattle Sounds, our weekly show on KIRO 97.3 FM.

You won't want to miss it! But, if you do, you can hear it online at MyNorthwest.com/seattlesounds.

Cover Illustration By Travis Bone

The May issue of Seattle Weekly's music magazine, Reverb Monthly, is on the racks and inside the current issue of SW. Highlights include ...

-- Reviews of 79 new Seattle releases.
-- John Roderick's answers to your Folklife questions.
-- An essay from former Weekly editor Mark D. Fefer on why Folklife is a last vestige of an old, less self-conscious Seattle.
-- A look ahead at the month in rock, pop, country, rap, and much more.

You can get it all over at SeattleWeekly.com/ReverbMonthly

Oh, and here's one thing you've got to pick up the print edition for: A sponsor is giving away VIP tickets to the sold-out Sasquatch! festival at the Gorge. All you've got to do is find all the sasquatches hidden in the issue, and you can enter to win. All the details are inside the current issue.

Enjoy!

In addition to our usual 3 p.m. Sunday spot, Seattle Sounds is going to be aired at 2 p.m. Saturday (TOMORROW) on 97.3 KIRO FM as well.

For this week's episode, Josh Kerns and I took a tour of the traveling AC/DC exhibit that opened at EMP this morning, and touched base with the ladies of Hell's Belles, the all-female AC/DC tribute band that's playing the opening tonight. Among the other bits we picked up from the band is that they actually do listen to AC/DC constantly -- and don't get sick of "Thunderstruck," which is more than can be said for anyone who's stepped foot into an arena in the last 20 years.

As always, the show can be streamed after the fact at MyNorthwest.com.

That's right, Seattle Weekly now delivers! After a free, two-week trial, it's just $1.99 a month to get all the Weekly's articles, features, columns, and listings delivered to your Kindle or Kindle Fire. Join your friends who have discovered the joys of the E ink edition.

And, don't forget, Seattle Weekly's music magazine, Reverb Monthly, is also available on Amazon's Kindle and Kindle Fire, for just 99 cents a month. Check it out right over here.

Yonder Mountain String Band plays Showbox at the Market on Saturday.

Some of you may have noticed that several weeks ago we re-launched our Seven Nights listings in the paper. Under our old format, we were listing the what, when, where, of as many shows as we could squeeze into the paper. Under our new format, we're now writing briefs -- usually a couple sentences -- on dozens of shows in town each week.

We're still running our normal Short List section with hundred-word write-ups on significant, mostly-recommended shows. But the new Seven Nights allows us to chime in on dozens more shows every week. These blurbs aren't intended to be comprehensive examinations of each act. But taken as a whole, I think the new Seven Nights allows us to provide a better look at what's going on in town every week by getting into more venues and writing up more bands.

Check out the new Seven Nights right here. And, as always, if there's a show you'd like considered, please send all pertinent information to music@seattleweekly.com.

Enjoy!

If you missed Josh Kerns and me on our weekly music show, Seattle Sounds, yesterday on 97.3 KIRO FM, worry not. The show -- like every other -- is available for convenient on-demand listening at MyNorthwest.com.

This week on the show Josh taked to Clint's son, Kyle, about his career as a jazz bassisst, and I gave my 2 cents on the cult of Radiohead, just to name a couple topics.

Speaking of Radiohead ... the completely sold-out show -- their first within city limits that anyone can remember -- goes down tonight at KeyArena. All tickets are will call, so it'll be interesting to see how/if the scalping situation goes down.

Good luck to all.

Illustration By Noah Kroese

Yes, yes, yes, Reverb Monthly -- SW's music magazine -- is still available in its usual places online and tucked inside the print edition of the current issue of Seattle Weekly. But if you want to keep all the issues together for easy reference to reviews of every new local release, the latest rant from David "Why Can't Everyone Love Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe as Much as Me" Stoesz, as well as a guide to the month in Seattle music, subscribe to the Kindle edition of Reverb Monthly! It's convenient, TOTALLY GREEN, and only costs 99 cents a month.

And, don't forget, Seattle Weekly is now available on the Kindle and Kindle Fire, too!

Carlos Santana is a big fan of Emerald City Guitars.

Josh Kerns and I went on a field trip for this week's edition of Seattle Sounds, the one-hour music show we co-host on 97.3 KIRO FM. Jay Boone, the owner of Emerald City Guitars -- and one of the nicest guys I've ever met with an axe between his fingers -- opened the doors of his shop for us and told us stories of his three decades in the business of selling guitars. The guy's got stories, and we captured a few keepers.

This week we're also talking about Soundgarden 2.0, my recent obsession with Oberhofer. Hey, we've got a report from our friend Rachel Belle, too.

Tune in to 97.3 KIRO FM Friday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. to hear the show, or stream it after the fact at MyNorthwest.com/SeattleSounds.