eternal fair - the sunset & the comet

Ever gone to a movie by yourself? First time feels weird - like everyone is staring, wondering what the creeper with a kid's snack pack is doing alone on opening night of "Tangled". Take that feeling and magnify it by a million if you ever plan on going to a Seattle show alone. Amidst a sea of flannel-clad, heavily spectacled, chain smoking hipsters in tapered denim, the lone show-goer sticks out like a sore thumb. Enter: ME at the Eternal Fair show at Ballard's Sunset Tavern July 22nd. I was really hoping either A) Eternal Fair would go on first or B) the opening bands would be super quick so I could beat it out of there. Was the music that bad? No. But the dude sitting next to me at the bar was creeptastic. Picture with me a 40 year old man drinking cheaper booze than I was spending the entire time critiquing art and showing me 30+ pictures of crotch rockets on his Droid. THIRTY. Luckily, I'm a master of acting a dutiful listener yet hearing absolutely nothing. Did I mention this guy had a full-blown Kentucky Waterfall? You just don't see those outside of incestuous mining towns anymore these days, much less the Seattle bar scene.

I digress...

Alone. Eternal Fair Show. My saving grace of the night was some solid music with the faithful not at the Capitol Hill Block Party. Opening act "Boxcar Rebellion" left a lot to be desired that night. Their set lacked cohesion and I just wasn't digging the "mid-life crisis" vibe they were putting off. Aside from a couple decent face-melting guitar solos by lead singer Kathy Moore, all I really saw was a band of old people trying a little too hard. There you go - that was the first negative thing I've ever said in a music review! Had to happen at some point, right? Moving on...thank God Eternal Fair was on their game. Second up to bat, they undeniably brought the heat and got people on their feet at Sunset. Everyone from dirty hippies to soccer moms were shakin what their momma gave them on the floor. Like I mentioned before, lead singer Andrew Vait channels Emile Hirsch better than Emile Hirsch does and after the most excessive mic check I've ever witnessed, Andrew, Brent Rusinow and Daniel Nash hit the stage and I had an instant smile on my face. Long forgotten was my oddball bar neighbor as some MGMT-esque strains hit my ears. I kept mentally noting how incredible of a musican Andrew is - he never fails to disappoint, this time flawlessly switching between the guitar and keys. Though each song had it's own unique identity, the entire set was bound together by Vait's Muse-like vocals, Rusinow's fuzzy bass and some solid beats on Nash's part. After a show like that, I almost forgot about headliner M. Bison, who wrapped up the show with a set eerily reminscent of Animal Collective. I listened to a few of their songs but was soon overwhelmed by a slew of Spokane visitors, Fireball whiskey and the urge to get far, far away from stanky hippies in motion.

courtesy of Eternal Fair

Hands down, Eternal Fair is coming into their own and getting better every damn time. Lucky for Seattleites, your latest opportunity to let them cast a spell on you is this Friday at Capitol Hill's Comet Tavern (9 pm, $7 cover) with American Girls and Portland's own, John Craig + The Weekend. Just don't go alone...you may end up peeping rare mullets and pictures of motorcycles.

tkj, ko & yrm @ cct

so. many. initials.

and if you don't know what they stand for, you clearly aren't a rapacious seattle indie music glutton. friday night i not only had my first experience with fireball cinnamon whiskey (so much more to come on that later) but also with the columbia city theater and tony kevin jr. you could kind of say it was like a first date for junior and i - one where he sang sweet nothings into my ear and i stood there tucked in the back row with my mouth hanging open in unabashed awe. disregard the fact that everything i do is unabashed. listening to TKJr. is like hearing an old friend again - his voice will take you back to every golden and devastating spot in your life. he opened his mouth and all of a sudden i was couples skating with justin keller to boyz II men and getting my heart broken by my first love all at the same time. tony did this all while channeling "lonely" better than charlie brown's christmas tree.in just one song TKJr. can take you from the mountaintop to the valley and back again. maybe this has something to do with the fact that his father (tony kevin senior) is battling cancer and he sings every song for his dad (be still my heart). the only crushing disappointment of his set was that i arrived halfway through it. shame on me.

if tony kevin jr. were a musical mathematical equation, methinks he would be something like this:

[ivan & alyosha] + [eddie vedder] + a dash of [damien rice] = tony kevin jr.

*feel free to disagree with me (see below)

TKJr. is that dapper fellow on the far right

now that tony had reduced me to a nostalgic heap, i looked to kris orlowski and friends to lift my spirits back to an appropriate friday night, whiskey guzzling level. and he did not disappoint. kris opened with a flawless a cappella rendition of paul simon's "the boxer" alongside motopony's daniel blue and seattle's flaxen-haired stevie wonder, allen stone. no, they unfortunately didn't ditch clothing like in the video below but you get the picture.

perhaps the COOLEST shit i have ever seen

and flawless seemed to describe the rest of kris' set, with each song rising to meet my every expectation of damn good music. i've got to give major ups to the band as well (scott shrock on bass, ivan gundersen on drums, torry anderson on keys/vocals and mark izakson on guitar) who were the best i've seen in a long time. kris was later joined on "your move" by a bevy of local talent including daniel and allen, tony kevin jr. and zach fleury from hot bodies in motion. my note from that song only says, "AWESOME" and that's exactly what it was. i made a move to get close enough for a high-quality iPhone 3G picture (drip goes the sarcasm) and in my frenzied attempt at amateur photography, dumped half of my delicious cinnamon whiskey down my dress. on the plus-side, i maintained enough composure to get the A+ pic below and caught most of the fireball in my hair, making me smell like a cinnamon gummy bear for the rest of the night. forget the fact that the left side of my hair was crusted stiff...i smelled like candy!

fun fact of the night: kris tried to defy all odds and began his set with his hair parted on the wrong side of his head. over the course of the night, it naturally migrated back to its safe place on the left. i'm an observer of people. i notice these things.

quote of the night: (from drunk heidi in line for the bathroom) "maybe YOU need sex but I had sex YESTERDAY. I HAD SEX YESTERDAYYYYY!"

(OKAY HEIDI. you don't have to rub it in my face like that)

i would continue this review with my thoughts on youth rescue mission but they've turned out to be a bit disappointing for me. the first time i encountered YRM (at a hot bodies show), i was too busy avoiding a run-in with an overly zealous ex to pay any attention to them. dodging a college flame while double-fisting rolling rocks is not easy people. friday night, they were not my cup of tea. just not my style and some poorly executed four part harmonies let me call it a night a little earlier than expected. BUT, i'm a fan of second and third chances so maybe next time they'll wow this blogger.

** be sure to keep your eyes peeled in the coming days for a video from our friends at all cameras on who had audience members record kris' song "jessi".