Weekend Review: Cat Power, Green Festival, and The Mountain
Posted April 14, 2008 at 10:55 am by Chris Kornelis
Photo by Chris Kornelis
FRIDAY
There were no tears at Cat Power's set at The Showbox SoDo. No fits of rage, or embarrassing meltdowns. At least none that I saw. I say that because despite Chan Marshall supposedly being cleaned up, she's still putting on shows that must be qualified with an asterisk. At the top of her set, she sounded great, her band — scaled down from her supporting cast for The Greatest — was equally impressive. Yet, two-thirds of the way through here set of tunes from Jukebox, like �New York, New York,� and �Song to Bobby,� and earlier favorite, �Could We,� she left the stage. And I never saw her again. At least 15 minutes went by, and her abandoned band continued to vamp on the same stale riff, sans Marshall. Folks started trickling out. I followed. Her set list called for an encore of Satisfaction, The Moon, and The Greatest, and if she ever made it back to the stage, those of you more patient than myself were richly rewarded.
— Chris Kornelis
Friday was horror night. My roommates and I headed over to Pacific Place to watch Shutter, the latest screamer from the people behind The Ring. The acting was of the �she�s been� WITH us� alllll alONG!� variety and the plot was totally predictable. All this made the most jaded of the three of us say she was disappointed in the whole thing and, excepting a couple of jumps you could see coming a mile away, it wasn�t scary at all. The other roommate kept her head tucked in her boyfriend�s shoulder most of the time. I definitely had the adrenaline pumping and spent a few scenes peaking through fingers (my scary movie coping mechanism since Killer Clowns from Outer Space). Saturday thoroughly enjoyed performances of fascinating and challenging pieces composed by our very own Gavin Borchert. Sunday watched a dismal performance by the M�s at Safeco, but followed it up by finally finishing Carter Beats the Devil, a novel I�d been meaning to read for ages just because I liked the cover. It totally lived up to my expectations.
— Laura Onstot
SATURDAY
Crystal Mountain closed up shop this weekend ending the best season I�ve ever had. I�ve spent the last six weeks there (season passes are cheap if you work on the mountain). So, the closure is a little bittersweet for me. On the one hand, next Saturday will be my first day off since, like, 2007. I�m looking forward to it. But on the other hand, Sunday afternoon felt kinda like summer break in school — lots of, �See ya next year!� And, �Have a good summer!� It was, without a doubt one of my favorite days of the year. Saturday and Sunday afternoon were toasty warm, marking the first time I�ve worn only a T-shirt snowboarding and not forced it. The snow may have felt like wet concrete, but that�s miniscule when you�re on the mountain and it�s in the mid 60s and the sun�s shining. Yup, it�s safe to say I�ll miss the place. I�ll miss frosty cold winter mornings, hiking the king, the south backcountry, my young ski bum buddies and Bits of Knowledge — the best and only band on Crystal Mountain. I�ll miss the belch breakfast sandwich, snow shoe tours, deep powder and jib days. I�ll also miss, what is hands down, the best view of Mount Ranier outside of an airplane. See ya next year!
— Jesse Froehling
Visited Port Townsend's Quimper Records, the oldest independent record store in Washington State. They had a considerable 60s avant-garde jazz section, so I purchased saxophonist Marion Brown Quartet's ESP debut. A beautiful piece of 180 gram vinyl. When I handed it to the clerk, a middle-aged guy in a Pogues t-shirt, he said: "Man...you're so cool for buying this! We have such a good avant garde jazz section and nobody touches it!" His enthusiasm reminded me of what was sorely lacking in Seattle's indie stores. If you ever visit Pt. Townsend, you gotta hit this joint up and unload some cash!
— Brian J. Barr
After a glorious day at the beach Saturday, bringing a picnic to Dash Point State Park along with loads of others who wanted to soak up our one day of sun, I felt like tropical fare. I found it at La Casa del Mojito�s new University District location. Painted in vivid yellows and reds, the intimate joint was happening; we got bounced around to accommodate a party of 30 that arrived at the fashionable hour of 8. Fortunately, the sweet plantains and killer tostones — fried green plantains served here with a cilantro, lime and garlic sauce — made up for it.
After dinner, we also found an overflowing crowd at the Jewish Film Festival, which screened the Isreali film Jellyfish at the Museum of History and Industry. Too bad the movie was self-consciously arty, and the organizers felt the need to give a long preamble before just screening the darn thing.
— Nina Shapiro
SUNDAY
Once you've written your grocery list on paper made from elephant dung you'll never go back. At least that's what I discovered on Sunday at the Green Festival. The poo paper was only one of many highlights at this absolutely mobbed event (which might just as well have been called the White Festival; it was pretty monochromatic even by Seattle standards, despite the lovely young black woman gracing the cover of the program). Also making a splash were the guys from some new Discovery Channel show powering light bulbs with stationary bikes (an idea that our own Brian Miller had proposed years ago for a certain former SW staffer). Only thing is: Why must environmental awareness always seem to be accompanied by horrible music, like the guy playing awful overdubbed new-agey solo violin? So bad I had to evacuate the food court.But it was also for the good — after the Green Festival I discovered Nirvana: watching Liverpool play absolutely beautiful futbol while sitting at the Presse bar enjoying salad and pommes frites on a rainy day. That's going to instantly become my new routine.
— Mark D. Fefer
The End of the Sonics?
Sunday night's Sonic game, possibly the last, had me welling up with tears. It was all the better that it was a victory against the defending Western Conference champs, who are still fighting for playoff position. But Saturday made me proud to be a Seattleite: 70 degrees, Dalai Lama on one end of downtown, pop music conference on the other, with a packed Green Festival in between at the Convention Center. The city was abuzz. Speaking of buzzes, Kyla Fairchild's Cops-Lonely H throwdown at the Salmon Bay Eagles was the perfect capper to an epic Saturday. Thanks, Ms. Fairchild.
— Mike Seely
Topics: Weekend Review
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Cover Story: Critical Mass
