A CHS visit with the crowd at the 25th Capitol Hill Block Party

By Kali Herbst Minino

Anyone who tried to drive anywhere last weekend knows it was a busy, hot weekend for Seattle. Capitol Hill Block Party and celebrated its 25th edition, attracting groups of people from other states and various parts of Washington.

Taking place in a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood, Block Party organizers have said they hope to continue balancing the impact of a three-day, ticketed music festival with community involvement. CHS reported here on their efforts in 2023.

Capitol Hill’s cultural value shined through for some. Brittany Sides traveled from Tacoma, and thinks Capitol Hill is one of the most fulfilling and creative neighborhoods in Seattle.

“I had a professor who lived here back in the 90s and she remembers when these bars were lesbian bars, she doesn’t really love Capitol Hill now, it was just a little bit grimier,” Sides said. “It’s definitely more gentrified now than it historically was, but, the heart is still there.”

Delaney Trujillo, who was working at a booth during Block Party, grew up on Capitol Hill and says that while they see gentrification happening, they feel that the spread of the LGBTQ+ community reaches further than it did five to seven years ago.

“I’ve seen real good queer shit on the pier, you wouldn’t see that 10 years ago,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo felt that the festival leaned on the club-side, and would have liked to see more representation. Continue reading

There is still a local push in Capitol Hill Block Party’s 25th year

By Kali Herbst Minino

“I know music festivals can’t be free anymore, but I’m hoping to see an even bigger local push from Block Party for local artists and local businesses,” Avery Cochrane, a performer at this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party tells CHS.

The 25th year of the music festival takes place this weekend in the heart of Pike/Pine starting Friday and running through Sunday. Three days of sun, warm evenings, and lots of music are predicted.

The price of a one-day ticket to this year’s Block Party is sitting at $95, far above its origins as a free neighborhood event. The now three-day music festival that takes over the blocks around E Pike and Broadway has had split reviews from community members over its 25-year lifetime. Some business owners enjoy increased revenue while others struggle outside the fences put in place for the event. Tensions peaked in 2019 when the city asked for community feedback, but that seems to have faded during the recovery from the pandemic.

As the event has grown and ticket prices risen, so have efforts from CHBP organizers to engage with and support local artists and businesses.

Cochrane wasn’t expecting to receive an email from organizers about playing this year’s block party. She attended the event in 2018 and never necessarily had the ultimate goal of playing at it.

“It’s still weird seeing my name on there, and the font size for my name isn’t even that small, so I’m kind of mind-blown,” Cochrane said. Continue reading

Group with Capitol Hill and First Hill music and arts roots will keep Seattle’s Bumbershoot going for next decade

(Image: City of Seattle)

As E Pike at 10th prepares once again to become the epicenter of the annual Capitol Hill Block Party, a production group with Pike/Pine roots will be powering Seattle’s largest annual musical festival for the next decade.

Earlier this summer, the Seattle City Council authorized a new ten-year agreement with New Rising Sun to produce the annual Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival and related activations at Seattle Center. Continue reading

Capitol Hill Rewind: Fallout Records & Skateboards — ‘Did you know this used to be a record store?’

Russ Battaglia and Bruce Pavitt ca. 1984 (Image: Bruce Pavitt)

Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history

In the summer of 1984, Russ Battaglia and Bruce Pavitt were two former record store employees—recently unemployed after the closing of Capitol Hill’s Bomb Shelter Records in the Broadway Arcade–  when they decided to open Fallout Records & Skateboards in a tiny storefront on E Olive Way. The pair, who met five years earlier at Evergreen State College, were both “creative people who were interested in the emerging punk rock culture,” Pavitt recently recalled.

Fallout Records quickly became the center of alternative, indie, and DIY music, ‘zines, comics, and skateboarding, hosting in-store performances by Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, the White Stripes, and many other bands and musicians. Artists and illustrators Peter Bagge, Daniel Clowes, Robert Crumb, and Jim Woodring visited the shop to sign books and hang out. The shop even had two late-night TV commercials featuring the U-Men rummaging through stacks of records and racks of T-shirts and skaters barreling down John Street and dodging traffic on Broadway en route to Fallout. Skateboarding icon Chris “Wez” Lundry worked at Fallout, as did Tim Hayes, who was hired in 1986 and bought the store from Russ and Janet Battaglia in 1999 (Pavitt left Fallout a couple of years after it opened to launch the Sub Pop record label).

Fallout Records closed permanently in February 2003, swept away by the neighborhood’s changing demographics and dynamics. It was an impressive 20-year run for a record shop that frowned on pop music and strictly adhered to its punk ethos. Today, the bar Montana operates in the space formerly occupied by Fallout. But the store is still remembered. “My wife was in Montana a couple of weeks ago with some girlfriends,” Hayes told me. “One of them told the waiter, ‘Did you know this used to be a record store?’ He said, ‘I know. It was Fallout.’”

As part of my ongoing interest in exploring Capitol Hill’s music-related history, Pavitt and Hayes recalled their experiences at Fallout Records. Continue reading

Massive — ‘a portal to a futuristic nightlife experience unlike any other’ — transforming former R Place into new Capitol Hill dance club

An image from the R Place building’s real estate listing in 2022

Kauer (Image @nark_magazine)

A history of queer nightlife at Pine and Boylston will continue with a new future for the corner’s three-story, 106-year-old building where R Place once ruled.

Massive will be an “avant-garde club catering to the queer, allied and music-focused community” embracing “an electrifying fusion of underground dance music, captivating performances, and visionary shows,” the backers of the new club said in a Seattle Pride week announcement.

Music site Resident Advisor was first to report on the new project with statements from the Massive team of music and event promoter Kevin Kauer, designer Emi Vega, and the building’s owner and restaurant entrepreneur Tam Nguyen of the Tamarind Tree Restaurant Group.

“We intend to take advantage of all three floors on a regular basis, and involve many different queer artists, musicians and performers over time,” the Massive statement reported by Resident Advisor reads. “It’s most important to know that we are here for everyone, and we will be a platform for queer performers to thrive and grow, without taking any ownership or control over their art form.” Continue reading

Capitol Hill Rewind: Darryl Abrahms, a Broadway record shop empire, and a forgotten chapter in music rental (?!?) history

Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history

The Broadway Record Centre ca. 1983 (Image courtesy Darryl Abrahms)

Darryl Abrahms and the original Bomb Shelter Records sign (Image: Todd Matthews)

Eighty five miles separate Capitol Hill from Ashford, Washington, a town situated in the Mount Rainier foothills and populated by roughly 500 residents. For one of those residents, Darryl Abrahms, a Capitol Hill connection is contained in two banker boxes stuffed with photos, promotional materials, and a few dozen record albums dating back more than 40 years, when Abrahms owned a small monopoly of neighborhood record shops — The Record Library, Broadway Record Centre, and Bomb Shelter Records.

The shops were located at 112 Broadway E, across from Dick’s Drive-In in the Broadway Arcade, which was razed years ago and is now the site of M2M Market, Broadway Connection, and the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station.

“There was this culture on Capitol Hill—a lot of people were dressing goth or punk with spikes,” Abrahms (formerly Abratt), 71, recalled during an interview in May at his Ashford home, a small cabin with an upstairs loft-turned-office, where he keeps all the documents and ephemera from his record store days. Abrahms agreed to meet as part of my ongoing interest in exploring Capitol Hill’s music-related history.

“People in the area were music lovers. At that time, there was a severe economic recession. There were days when Broadway seemed desolate with empty shopfronts. Many people found comfort, inspiration, and even joy in listening to music. I’m glad that I was able to contribute to this.” Continue reading

A Pike/Pine ‘tradition’ — Fans line up for a free Macklemore show at Neumos: UPDATE — A line around the block

UPDATE: You’ll find a bunch of scenes from Monday night’s line, below

A Macklemore fan in line for a free show in 2016

With his first album in six years dropping this month, Macklemore is returning to a Capitol Hill tradition in the neighborhood where he launched his career with a free “surprise” show Monday night at Neumos.

“The tradition continues,” Macklemore wrote. “And the line starts now.”

The line did, indeed, start forming hours before the nighttime performance after word spread on social media and was confirmed Monday morning by the rap star.

UPDATE: The line ended up around the block. We’ve added some images from the scene.


In 2016, CHS reported on the big turnout for a free show by the artist at Neumos. If you were wondering about logistics, that year, they handed out bracelets to fans on a first come, first served basis. By noon, Neumos had already given out more than 300 for the 700+ capacity venue. Continue reading

25 years* of Capitol Hill Block Party: 2023 lineup announcement a milestone for Pike/Pine festival

CHBP 2022

With a COVID-19 scratch in the historical record, Capitol Hill Block Party is ready to celebrate its 25th year. The annual three-day music festival that takes place every July on the streets of Pike/Pine has announced its planned 2023 lineup.

The winter announcement of this year’s acts should help warm up Capitol Hill music fans with thoughts of summer. For others who live in the area and would rather avoid the three-day crush, it is a reminder to book a camping trip from Friday to Sunday, July 21st to the 23rd.

The 25th anniversary edition of the festival headliners include electronic music group Louis The Child, “New York City-based Grammy Award-nominated electronic duo” Sofi Tukker, “Florida rapper” Denzel Curry, “British singer” PinkPantheress, and “PNW-based music icon” Goth Babe. Continue reading

With ballots hitting mailboxes across the city, Social Housing Saves Our Stages show hoped to help get out the vote at Capitol Hill’s Neumos

With ballots for the February special election set to hit mailboxes starting this week, backers of an initiative to create a Social Housing Developer at Seattle City Hall are gonna put on a show.

The 43rd District Democrats and the Tech 4 Housing advocacy group have organized a Social Housing Saves Our Stages event Sunday night at Neumos on Capitol Hill.

Performers including Hollis, Tomo Nakaya, and Black Stax will join emcee Larry Mizell, Jr. in a night of music hoped to help inspire more people to get involved in the winter vote. Tickets are $20 at the door.

CHS reported here on I-135 to create a new public developer “to build, acquire, own, and manage social housing” in Seattle. If approved in the February vote, City Hall would fund the shaping of a new Seattle Social Housing Developer to first acquire and take over management of existing properties for affordable housing while also setting the groundwork for philanthropy and grants to create new renter-governed housing in Seattle. Continue reading

Nirvana, The Breakroom, and Elton John: Journalist Gillian G. Gaar on 40 Years of Capitol Hill life and music

Gaar at the Comet (Image: Todd Mathews)

By Todd Matthews

Music journalist Gillian G. Gaar has lived on Capitol Hill almost as long as she’s been writing professionally about rock ‘n’ roll—nearly 40 years.

She moved to the Seattle area from California in the late 1960s with her parents, and her affinity for music formed after she started playing clarinet in the Shoreline High School marching band. She later published and wrote for fanzines about Kate Bush and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, respectively, and spent 14 years as a journalist at The Rocket the music and culture magazine launched on Capitol Hill — beginning in 1983.

“I always had an interest in writing,” said Gaar, who can be spotted around the Hill wearing a black leather docker cap that has become a signature accouterment in her author photographs. “I guess I was always interested in sharing with other people what I thought was cool and interesting.”

In addition to writing 18 books about Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Sub Pop Records, the history of women in rock ‘n’ roll, and other music-related topics, Gaar’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Seattle Times, Goldmine, MOJO, AV Club, No Depression, and American Songwriter. She was a project consultant for Nirvana’s 2004 box set With the Lights Out and editorial assistant for Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic’s book From Grunge to Government: Let’s Fix This Broken Democracy!

Her new book, Elton John @ 75, was published in September, just in time for the Rocket Man’s shows on Oct. 16-17 at the Tacoma Dome. Recently, Gaar stopped by Top Pot on Summit Avenue to discuss her new book and her long connection to Capitol Hill.

Q: You’ve written five books about Nirvana. In all your research, did you find interesting connections between the band and Capitol Hill?

A: They recorded the Blew EP at the Music Source on Pike Street. It’s long gone. They also played at Squid Row [on Pine Street], also long gone. Actually, I saw Kurt at the US Bank ATM at the intersection of Broadway and John. I was waiting to use the machine, and a guy in beat-up clothes was ahead of me. He turned around, and it was Kurt Cobain! That was a big surprise. Continue reading