The Anne Bonny and Cairo have teamed up to bring you a second year of Expo:  the micro fest of film and music  and art in the micro 'hood of Sleepy Hollow/Top Pot/Summit. Expo 87 is three nights and includes two film series, more than 20 bands, and one interactive art installation.  The film series on Thursday are free; $10 will get you an all-festival pass for all events on both Friday and Saturday.

Here's my not-to-be-missed list from the lineup:

Supervideografen : A series of short animated films co-curated by Sean Pecknold;  and Pacific Open - A shorts program comprised of miscellaneous musically driven films from around the Northwest, co-curated by Christian Hansen. Free! Thursday, Cairo 7 - 10pm.

CMYK : dance pop band with a fun and bright sound. Friday, Cairo 7pm.

Seattle Band Map : a cartographic study of musical incest. This graphic illustration/chart of who has played with whom in Seattle bands looks super interesting to anyone who has at least...

In what just might be the last in-store at its 15th Ave location, Sonic Boom Capitol Hill hosts Dutchess & The Duke for a free show tonight at 6:30. You might have seen our previous post about the Boom neon rocket having already been taken down in preparation for SB's move to the other side of the Hill. The new shop is slated to open November 7.

UPDATE:
Here's a picture from the show thanks to @clintgosset

Turns out, this video is from last weekend -- but it captures the band CHS heard a few peeps about and shows just how beautiful our fall weekends have been thus far. It's also part of a very nice love letter to Seattle and Capitol Hill: This is a place riddled with awkward and satisfying love, public displays of blinded angst, and musical musings for whomever will listen.

Glitch Mob Originally uploaded by DJ Saigon

Here's a quick reminder of an opportunity to experience electronic music, dancing and some good times in Volunteer Park on a Sunday afternoon. And, like Jeanine told us about earlier this week, it's free:

Outdoors dB in the Park
Volunteer Park // Sunday, 12pm – 6pm

No skullduggery required, this event is FREE! It was a real blast last year and great for people watching and daylight, carefree dancing.

XO plays cake party
Originally uploaded by S.MiRK

A folk pop band is making a return engagement in Cal Anderson on Sunday afternoon and they're bringing their favorite Seattle sweets Web site with them:

Do you like cupcakes? Do you like music? Do you live in Seattle?

Well, if so, prepare yourself for a healthy batch of awesome: CakeSpy and Exohxo are hitting Seattle's Cal Anderson Park tomorrow for a (shh!) Renegade Cake Party!

Photo: Chris Kollar

Sunday nights, St. Mark's hosts a free organ concert after the weekly performance by the Compline Choir. Here's the Facebook event invite from musician Chris Kollar:

I will be performing a little over a half hour of some mean, old school Bach on the dutch inspired pipe organ (The Beast) in the balcony of the cathedral. The music will begin immediately following the weekly Compline choir performance. The Compline choir performs a service of chant and has become somewhat of a phenomenon(since its inception in 1956) with upwards of 500 people in attendance weekly. It is also broadcast live on 98.1fm and has its own podcast however, the organ recitals are not so you have to show up!

Most of the people that come are either students from the area or young people in their early 20's. It is very informal and meditative and most people prefer to sit or lay on the floor of the cathedral to soak in the reverberations. The organ here is one of the most unique and greatest instruments in the northwest. It stands 4 stories tall and was entirely handbuilt according to methods used to construct the cathedral organs of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It houses about 4500 pipes in an enclosed case only a couple of feet in depth. It is a blast to play and a fun experience to see/hear so I hope everyone can come! Like I said before, the entire shabang is very informal so come with a friend and don't worry about attire. Compline starts promptly at 9:30 so getting there 10 minutes before wouldnt be a bad idea.

We missed this news regarding the Compline Choir -- the choir has a new director as founder Peter Hallock has stepped down after 53 years leading the group.

Peter R. Hallock, Founder and Director of the Compline Choir since 1956, announces his retirement. Hallock, who will celebrate his 85th birthday in November, said that a recent car accident caused him to question the wisdom of driving to Seattle and back every Sunday night. The choir and its board of directors, acting on Hallock's recommendation, have named Jason Allen Anderson, age 32, as the group's next director. Anderson, a member of the Choir since 2004, is Associate for Liturgical Arts and Youth Formation at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Issaquah, Washington. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting degree from the University of Washington in 2007. His dissertation, "The Life and Works of Peter R. Hallock (b. 1924)," was the first academic study of Hallock's life and music.

Sounds Outside takes place tomorrow August 15 at Cal Anderson.  Sounds Outside is a free outdoor music festival that takes place in July and August each year at Cal Anderson. It features jazz, world and adventurous music.  Tomorrow's lineup features the following:

• 1:00 pm Melbatones
• 2:30 pm Figeater
• 4:00 pm Greg Sinibaldi
• 5:30 pm Syncopated Tainted Horn Quartet
• 7:00 pm Bert Wilson

Don't forget to check the CHS Events section for other weekend options (and feel free to add your event).

Unpaving Paradise, Cafe Metropolitan, Capitol HIll Community Council, The Crescent Lounge and City Market are all co-sponsoring Chill-N-Grill, a block party that happens on East Howell between Olive and Bellevue.  In past years, this same event has been called the Olive-Howell Street Block Party.  Chill-N-Grill on the Hill is a part of National Night Out to encourage communities to reclaim their streets.  I stopped by this block party last year and it was quite fun.  Because there is an incline, many have a good view of the bands.  This year, music will be provided by Mighty Tiger, Eagle Seagull, Norey, Viva la Villain and The Autumn Electric. There may be other parties on the Hill closer to where you live.  We know that neighbors are getting together on 11th Avenue between Harrison and Thomas (thanks Michael Seiwerath for letting us know about it).  If you know of a party, please let us know in the comments.

Say what you will about CHBP, it produces some great photography. Here's an evershifting look at images from the weekend sorted by Flickr's 'interestingness' algorithm:

Here's a 'tweeted' view of Day 1 at the Capitol Hill Block Party. Check out these CHBP nerd tools for a Twitter stream of observations, etc. from the crowd and more. Also, a report on this year's opening day from Travis Hay of Ear Candy, below.

@drobvious: Jackass of the Block Party: The guy dead center, on a balcony with super soaker, spraying crowd. #CHBP

thesnazz's ImageShack profile

kenbirge's ImageShack profile

elpablogrande: OK, BTS it is. I'm losing track of how many times I've seen this band. #chbp

saila: Bots on the Block #chbp

earcandyblog: @theylive206 are turning this mother into one massive kickass dance partaaay. #chbp

DAY 1 REPORT
By Travis Hay
Ear Candy

Secret Hey Marseilles in Vita's warehouse

Do you have nerd pockets? Pockets so stuffed with wadded up dollar bills, cards, weird paper crap and electronics that it takes a few minutes to sort it all out to pay for your latte? Here are a few items you might find useful for this weekend's CHBP. Assuming a few might have more nerd tools for your nerd pockets. Please geek away in comments.

CHBP Nerd Tool #1: Google Docs Schedule
@joshc loves you and gives you gifts.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Auwq9TRIgQqbdHJ0UlZKN25NZ0paZGxpY01VZ0k0OUE&hl=en

CHBP Nerd Tool #2: Live Ear Candy Twitter Feed

CHBP Nerd Tool #3: Flickr Slideshow

CHBP Nerd Tool #4: Twitter Search Results

The Capitol Hill Block Party starts Friday and with it comes tons of quality music that will be blaring from the streets of Seattle's central hipster hangout. The Ear Candy crew will be there all weekend providing photos and reviews of the happenings as well as live updates via Twitter. Here are 10 local acts you simply must see if you'll be spending the weekend at CHBP.

1) They Live! (10:00, Neumos, Friday)

Theses guys have been blowing up the local Internets. Every Seattle music blog has been abuzz with anticipation for their forthcoming EP, which will be released next month. They play conceptual hip hop that's fun to dance to. Expect their set to be one big party.

2) Past Lives (8:00, Vera stage, Friday)

Former members of the Blood Brothers band together to form another impressive post-punk band. Expect loud guitars and screaming. Hey, it's former members of the Blood Brothers, what else did you expect?

The Blakes (Photo: Travis Hay/Ear Candy)

3) Wild Orchid Children (1:00, Vera stage, Saturday)

Fun, and somewhat spazzed out rock. An impressively loud and wild band that will likely make its mark during a weekend filled with many a loud and wild bands.

4) The Blakes (6:15, Neumos, Friday)

It's been a couple of years since these guys dropped in on the Seattle scene with their booze-infused garage rock. Hopefully they have come back to us packing new material with their CHBP set.

5) New Faces (4:45, Vera stage, Saturday) 

This group of young Anacortes kids have been rapidly gaining momentum in the local rock landscape thanks to playing plenty of shows and a lot of airplay on Seattle's favorite bastion of cool KEXP.

6) The Lonely Forest (7:15, Vera stage, Saturday) 

This is another group of youngsters that have been making a serious splash. Their record "We Sing The Body Electric" is one of  the most underrated local albums of the year.

7) The Dutchess and the Duke (4:00, Main stage, Friday)

If the Rolling Stones still made good music and they had a female singer some of their music might sound like this.

8) Sportn' Life Showcase (feat. D Black, Fatal Luciano and Spaceman) (10:30, Neumos, Saturday)

Okay, so this is really three local artists, not one, but Seattle has so much quality hip hop talent and Sportin' Life Records is one of the hottest 206 labels around right now that you simply have to see this showcase.

9) The Maldives (6:30, Neumos, Saturday)

This nine-piece roots-rock band just released its Tequila/Someday EP. It dropped in advance of its upcoming sophomore full-length due out on Mt Fuji Records next month.

10) Moondoggies (3:15, Main stage, Saturday)

If you're not hip to the Moondoggies there's no time like the present (or I guess really there is no time like 3:15 Saturday) to get wise to the foot-stomin' rock of these Hardly Art stars. These guys are the rock 'n' roll kindred spirit to the Maldvies' Appalachian-Northwest twang.

Bonus: The Gossip (9:00, Main stage, Saturday)

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Olympia's soul punks The Gossip. I've never had the privlige of seeing them live so I am really looking forward to catching at least part of their set this weekend. Their new single. "Heavy Cross," (see video above) is the iTunes free single of the week, so head on over to iTunes and cop that.

CHS is partnering with Ear Candy to cover this year's Capitol Hill Block Party. You can follow live Twitter coverage here: http://twitter.com/earcandyblog

Robin Pecknold performs solo for the last "A Drink for the Kids" show put on by the Vera Project, an all-ages Seattle music/art venue at Neumos. $15 advance tickets available at TicketsWest, Moe Bar, Rudy's Barbershops and select QFCs. Dow Constantine reappears on the Hill - party with him at Moe Bar from 6 to 8 pm.  Photo by paigeparsons via Flickr CCL

Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes at The Sasquatch Music Festival Originally uploaded by gussifer | thecolorawesome.com

Neumos is celebrating its 5-year birthday on Thursday by throwing a free* show.  Headlining the birthday party are Portland's The Helio Sequence, just now back in the Northwest from a successful 6-week tour around the states.  Joining The Helio Sequence are Grand Hallway and Palmer Electric Co.

What you can expect: funny faces and enthusiastic drumming from Helio's Benjamin Weikel, a full stage of 8 musicians + 2x that number of instruments with Grand Hallway, and Erik Howk + friends doing the singer/songwriter thing as Palmer Electric Co.

 Good lineup for a free* show. Fits my entertainment budget. Sweet.

* Um...well...technically not quite free: you need to buy a drink from Moe Bar to get a scrip for show entry. You were going to drink something anyway, though, right? Moe's Happy Hour goes 'til 7pm.

Graphic design, music, and FREE: three of my favorite things are at the intersection of 10th and Pike tonight.  (Ice cream is not a favorite of mine. That means more for you.)

Sasquatch Poster Show

Check out the latest in graphic design for music posters at this one-night only show at Sole Repair. This is the second year for the Sasquatch poster show and features works from 70-plus designers and artists.  Based on  last year,  expect many of the artists and designers to be hanging out and happy to chat up with you. Get there early enough to indulge in a free sample of Molly Moon's  newest ice cream flavor, Sasquatch (natch).  gallery of the 2009 posters is also available on the Sasquatch Music Festival site.  Sole Repair, 1001 East Pike. 5:00 - 10:00 pm.

VH1 Save the Music benefit featuring DJ AM, Matt and Kim, Drop the Lime 

What's not to love about the VH1 Save the Music Foundation? Cheers for music education in public schools. The Save the Music benefit lineups in San Fran and Los Angeles are a bit better (Ghostland Observatory, James Murphy), but hey, Drop the LIme is worth trying to get in. He's been to Seattle at least 3 times in the last year (that I can think of). Seattle must be good to him. I caught a bit of the DJ AM / Travis Barker collaboration at Coachella Music Fest this year. It was definitely Barker's drums that made the set good, though. DJ AM tended to play cuts that went on a little too long and without much of himself added. (And yes,  it's that DJ AM, the one-time fiancee to Nicole Richie. What? You don't read the mags at the hair salon?) This show is DJ AM all by himself, so I'm not promising anything good will come from his segment. Expect Drop the Lime to be off the hook.

Although the VH1 Save the Music show is free, guaranteed admission requires registration onto a list, which has been closed for several days already. However, hang around and someone with an extra slot might help you out, or you can sit at a Pike Street Fish Fry table outside and listen while nom-nom-ing on delish fried veggies with chili mayo dipping sauce.  Neumos, doors at 8:00pm.

Seattle music legend Artis the Spoonman (Soundgarden song 'Spoonman') has just confirmed that he will headline a free public event tomorrow night in South Capitol Hill.  The event is a project release party for Remington Court, HyBrid architecture's newest building on Capitol Hill.  Seattle artists Sadie, Tim Brown, Jamie Potter, Ben Hirschkoff, and others will also be exhibiting their work at the event.  Free food and drinks will be provided for everyone.  Tomorrow night will definitely be an amazing time and a night to remember for the Capitol Hill neighborhood.  Hope to see you there!

Date: Friday, May 1st, 2009     5pm - midnight

Location: 1320 East Remington Court

South Capitol Hill District: 1 block South of 14th and Jefferson

KEXP has turned Vita's upstairs into a studio. Bands and friends are rushing around plugging and unplugging. John Richards holds court. The marketing types are pushing the handy Hood to Hood map. The Web team fills an entire table. And, surprisingly, at 7:30 in the morning, there is a small crowd ready to enjoy the first band of the day. Hit it, Beads.

UPDATE: Cap to the Hill is promising FULL COVERAGE so make sure to tune in there, too.

If we each print this out and carry it around, we will probably look like big nerds. Which is good because then CHS readers can identify each other. Have fun.

Download PDF

Last night's CHS meet up at Vermillion was a hit! A handful of brave souls brought mix CDs of their favorite Capitol Hill-inspired songs and then exchanged CDs by drawing names out of a cup (or was it a helmet?). There were a few common artists (e.g., Tom Waits, various Ben Gibbard projects) but no common song or artist across all albums. We realized that we're all fairly greedy and decided that at the next exchange we should bring multiple copies of our mix in order to get more in return. In the meantime, we'll have to exchange our playlists instead:

Title: Running Up That Hill (prepared by Final Answer)

1. Formed a Band (Art Brut)
2. One More Time (French Kicks)
3. Dogs of Ba, remix (Mirah)
4. Metal Beds (S)
5. Convenient Parking (Modest Mouse)
6. Posse on Broadway, remix (Diplo)
7. Spectacle (Anna Oxygen)
8. Parentheses (Blow)
9. Fishing the Sky (The Appleseed Cast)
10. The Postman (The American Analog Set)
11. 1969 (Boards of Canada)
12. Southside Revival (Blue Scholars)
13. Dance (ESG)...

It's time to get your CHS CD Swap playlist together. Hope to see you next Tuesday Feb. 17th starting at 8p at Vermillion Gallery. Need inspiration? I'm expecting a few tunes from the collective Cap Hill playlist.

• If you want to be part of the CD Swap, burn a music format disc of your amazing CHS mix to share and add your name to this comment thread so we can match you up with a tunes partner. We're at 8 traders right now which is a good number -- but I'm sure there are a few more DJs out there.
• If you want to be part of the fun but not down for the swap part, please come on out. Vermillion is super pleasant and is nice enough to make several drink specias available for our CHS fun. Wanna RSVP?

Oh, and I also have a brand new shipment of crow buttons for the three or four of you who don't already have two.

We have a purpose. We have a venue. We have a party. The CHS CD Swap will be Tuesday, Feb. 17th at 8p. Our location for the evening will be the lovely Vermillion on 11th Ave between Pike/Pine. In addition to gathering to trade CHS neighbor-mixed CDs, Vermillion will be offering happy hour options including a buck off all drinks excluding Rainier which if they gave you a dollar off of, they'd have to pay you to drink.

• To be part of the trade, add a comment to this CD Swap thread so we can match you up with a CD partner. CD should be burned in audio, not data format.
• If you just want to hang out, please plan to join us on the 17th

Earlier this month, neighbor bridget made a proposal:

As i was reading through the comments on the CHS playlist and "music to walk to on capitol hill" threads, i realized that people have good taste in music here!

i propose we have a capitol hill mix CD trade (or mix tape trade, if you're that old school). here is how it will work:

comment here if you would like to receive a mix CD made by one of your fellow hill neighbors, in return for a CD you make for them.

Let's make it happen.

1. Plan for a February meetup to facilitate the trades and get everybody together for a drink. RSVP and help select a date here. Be good to see you even if you don't want to be part of the music trade.
2. If you're in for the CD trade end of things, leave a comment on this post.
   
3. Don't know what the cut-off date will be. I'll update for that later. Bridget, if you are out there, I'll work with you on matching people up. I vote for random!
   
4. Let's go with standard CD format so discs play on anything and the endeavor is more like...

I was thinking about my Capitol Hill soundtrack and thought it would be fun to put together a collective playlist -- one that only includes songs with specific references to Capitol Hill, or albums or artists with close ties to the hill.  

1) The most obvious one is Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Posse on Broadway," which was also covered on the new Diplo/Santogold album.  

2) Any song from Modest Mouse's "Lonesome Crowded West."  The inside cover art includes a photo of an apartment building near Republican and Belmont.

What else?

A King County judge set bail at $2 million each for the two suspects in this weekend's shootings at Chop Suey. Documents from the hearing paint a picture of a personal dispute that played out with deadly consequences for those who happened to be caught in its path.

Roger La Branche, 25, was arrested at the scene of the crime on Sunday morning after he was grabbed and detained by clubgoers in the chaos following the shootings. According to court documents, the shootings were part of a long-running dispute between the Everett man and one of the two victims who survived the shooting. The victim told detectives he saw Labranche outside of the club earlier in the night talking to a man that was later identified as the second suspect, 18-year-old Carlos Bernardez. Bernardez, who lives in an apartment near Harborview, was arrested by a SWAT team at his parents' home, Sunday.

According to the documents, Bernardez claims he was recruited by La Branche at Chop Suey the night of the show to help in the shooting and that...

12:43a No word on injuries but report of assault with weapons tonight at 1325 E Madison tonight just before 12:30a. Got scanner report that officer believes he has the shooter in custody but that the weapon was taken from the scene by another suspect.

UPDATE 1:04a Slog reports three people taken to Harborview.

UPDATE: 5:15a I still don't have official word on any of the victims. Slog says at least one had died.

UPDATE: 6:33a Heard KOMO AM report on the story. They are also reporting 1 dead, two injured. BTW, Baltic Room shooting just under 1 year ago, Jan. 26, 2008.

UPDATE: 7:00a Here's the release from SPD on the incident:

Homicide, shooting in Central District
On January 4th at 12:27 a.m. officers responded to 911 calls of shots fired at a nightclub in the 1300 block of East Madison Street. Officers arrived on scene in under a minute and discovered three gunshot victims, all males apparently in their 20’s. SFD Medics were summoned immediately and subsequently transported all three victims to...