Tag Archives: music

More of the same good times at Capitol Hill Block Party 2024: Three days, eight stages, and a mix of music on the streets of Pike/Pine

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The Capitol Hill Block Party is becoming downright dependable as its 2024 edition shapes up with a familiar plan — three days in July, eight stages along E Pike, a mix of free events and activities in Cal Anderson and outside the gates, and a mix of bands including national acts on the rise and local favorites familiar to the neighborhood’s stages at venues like Chop Suey and Neumos. The only thing uncertain is the weather.

Producer Daydream State, the production company from Pike/Pine nightlife entrepreneur Jason Lajeunesse that puts on the annual three-day ticketed music festival on the neighborhood’s streets, has dropped the 2024 CHBP lineup that includes headliners “Grammy-winning producer Kaytranada, electropop superstar Kim Petras, and indie rock group Still Woozy.” Passes are now on sale.

The annual announcement of Block Party acts has become a rite of Capitol Hill spring, pairing with the Queer/Pride music festival’s lineup drop for a one-two punch of summer enthusiasm for the neighborhood. Continue reading →

Cops investigate ‘mosh pit’ at Capitol Hill Starbucks Roastery

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A still from a video purportedly showing the roastery mosh pit

Seattle Police were called to a reported mosh pit inside the Starbucks Roastery on Melrose at the base of Capitol Hill Sunday afternoon.

According to East Precinct radio reports, police were called to the massive Melrose at Pike coffee venue just after 3 PM to a report of some type of band playing music and a small group of dancers forming a mosh pit inside the popular tourist stop.

By the time police arrived, the disturbance had cleared and there were no signs of a band or any dancers.

The incident does not appear to be related to the Emerald City Comic Con that was underway nearby at the convention center.

On Reddit’s r/Seattle group, the folk punk band Sister Wife Sex Strike took credit for the stunt saying they planned the show as a pop-up for fans in celebration of the group’s new EP.

“We had a goal of getting through all 4 songs but had to leave after 2 because cops were called. videos coming soon :),” the group’s account posted, adding a “fuck starbucks” for good measure.

There were no arrests and no injuries reported.

 

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20 years of Neumos, the musical center of the Pike/Pine universe

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The future: a mixed-use Neumos, of course (Image: CHS)

Neumos asked for AI visions of its next 20 years so up top is CHS’s take on the corner during Capitol Hill Block Party 2044.

There is no telling what the next 20 or 30 years will bring at the southwest corner of 10th and Pike. CHS can tell you what the past 30 brought: music, drinks and good times.

The first decade of those good times? That was Moe’s Mo’Roc’N Café and an assortment of clubs that lived hard and died young. But those last 20? Those are all thanks to Neumos, the outgrowth of Moe’s that has gone on to be a center of the neighborhood’s entertainment community with a place among Capitol Hill legends like Neighbours, Century Ballroom, The Cuff, Wildrose, and Linda’s.

The live music club celebrates its 2004 birth Wednesday with a free night of music and performance. The free tickets were still available when we started writing this. They might be snapped up before you are done reading.

Asheville’s Wednesday band on the Neumos stage (Image: Neumos)

“We saw all these people walking down the hill for shows … we thought ‘why not have something here,’” Moe’s founder Jerry Everard told CHS about the original inspiration to transform an old Salvation Army on the corner into a new hangout 30 years ago. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Rewind | Browsing bootlegs with Kurt Cobain at Orpheum Records

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Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history

Roughly 40 years ago, Bruce Bonifaci was living on Capitol Hill and commuting via ferry to downtown Bremerton, where he owned Penny Lane Records & Tapes, when he spotted a ‘For Lease’ sign at 618 Broadway E and decided to open a Penny Lane store closer to home. Opened in the summer of 1984, the store was later renamed Orpheum Records in “tribute to the demolished theater and an allusion to Orpheus, the legendary musician in Greek mythology,” Bonifaci explained. “I ran the place, and my wife, Barbara Baker, did the office stuff, including the books. We employed her brother, Ashley, as a manager.”

For nearly 20 years, Orpheum Records served shifting musical tastes—from 1980s new wave to 1990s grunge—and hosted countless in-store performances and record signings.

Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain shopped at Orpheum Records. “Every rock star would at least stop through, but Cobain was a regular,” one former employee told Seattle Weekly. “He would come up and be like, ‘What’s new, man? What can you show me?’ At the time, that was like absolute, utter heaven. I was like, ‘You’re asking me?’” In 1992, Cobain and his wife, Courtney Love, stopped by the store, with Love incensed by all the Nirvana bootlegs for sale. She left a terse note for Orpheum employees: “I need for you not to make extra money off my husband so I can feed my children. Mrs. Cobain.” Cobain scrawled his own message: “Macaroni and cheese for all. Love, Kurdt Kobain.”

“I was at home when the counterperson called asking for my permission to simply give Courtney the Nirvana bootlegs,” Bonifaci explained when asked about that note. “People who claim their issue with bootlegs is the financial harm inflicted on artists are off base. Buyers are the very definition of fanatics, typically already owning every last bit of the available licensed material out there. Maybe Kurt agreed, scribbling [his] postscript at the bottom.”

Bonifaci added, “The funny part was that he was in there searching for a particular Negativland album the label had officially recalled due to some legal kerfuffle—in other words, contraband. And, no, we didn’t have any on hand.”

Orpheum Records closed in 2003. Today, the restaurant Lionhead occupies the space.

Bonifaci and former employees Peter Greyy and Jack Dourakos shared their Orpheum Records experiences for this final installment of my series on the neighborhood’s late/great record shops, which has included Bomb Shelter Records, Broadway Record Centre, Fallout Records & Skateboards, Mt. Olympus Imports, Rubato Record & Espresso, and The Record Library.

Bruce Bonifaci Orpheum Records Owner (1984 to 2003)

“Our share of celebrities visited the store. It was always a thrill for the staff.” Having Cornish College kitty-corner from us certainly influenced our inventory, and the students proved a great resource in terms of staffing. Broadway was bustling at the time—lots of vitality—and we got great support from the immediate neighborhood. People elsewhere did know of the store, a vivid example being the groups of tourists from Japan who used to show up, displaying the guidebooks that led them to us. I will refrain from name-dropping, but our share of celebrities visited the store. Some were casual, like a musician on tour; others [came in] more regularly. It was always a thrill for the staff, and often the reason they liked working there. It’s difficult to pick favorite [musicians or bands] who played [in-store], but I vividly remember Chris Whitley and Tanya Donelly. Among the record signings, I remember The Replacements and Belly as being particularly insane, with lines down the block. Continue reading →

Makin’ Rent on Capitol Hill? Cafe Racer reopens with benefit show

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(Image: Cafe Racer)

Capitol Hill’s Cafe Racer will reopen this week with a benefit show new partner Jody Ramsammy says is indicative of the renewed spirit behind the restart of the all-ages music venue.

“We invite the Cafe Racer family, the village family, and Individuals that would like to be part of change in arts and entertainment in the city,” Ramsammy says of Friday’s “Makin’ Rent” benefit show.

And, to make it clear he’s talking about thriving and surviving in this suddenly big city, Ramsammy adds a special invitation to “our neighbors in Capitol Hill and the corporate world who are willing to partner with us.”

Ramsammy says for the mission of growing a dedicated all-ages venue in the midst of Pike/Pine’s high-rent nightlife district to work, the mechanics of Cafe Racer’s business need to change to include new non-profit arts support and financial backing from the city’s business community. All options are on the table including corporate sponsorships from companies “that share our values.” Continue reading →

How Seattle really did save Cafe Racer — Capitol Hill club will ‘reboot’ with ‘expanded musical and art experience’

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(Image: @jodyneran via Instagram)

Ramsammy, right, aboard the Hiyu

Capitol Hill’s Cafe Racer will reopen with an injection of Pacific Northwest dance energy from the entertainment entrepreneur behind a growing event production company busy creating party scenes from the top of the Space Needle to the waters of Lake Union aboard a decommissioned Washington State ferry turned floating club.

Ownership at the shuttered 11th Ave all-ages club has announced Jody Ramsammy of Vivid Productions has joined as a partner to “reboot” Cafe Racer after financial challenges piled up and unpaid rent locked the doors of the venue.

CHS reported here in October on How Seattle saved Cafe Racer — a hopeful headline as owner Jeff Ramsey was working to reopen the shutdown club and secure a more firm financial future with business partners and nonprofit arts support for a venue that has dedicated itself to all-ages music and events in the heart of the Pike/Pine nightlife scene. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Rewind | Mt. Olympus Imports brought the sounds of Europe and Japan to Broadway

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Mt. Olympus Imports advertisement ca. Nov. 1980 (Image-Todd Matthews)

Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history

It seems quaint today, but there was a time when a new record shop on Capitol Hill celebrated its grand opening with a storewide sale and album giveaways. Such was the case for Mt. Olympus Imports, which opened in the Broadway Alley in the summer of 1980, according to The Rocket, offering prizes like complete LP catalogs for the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and the Scorpions, as well as the Oblique Strategies box autographed by Brian Eno.

Mt. Olympus Imports was a pioneering neighborhood record shop—The Record Library, Broadway Record Centre, Bomb Shelter, and Rubato Records would open nearby over the next few years—with roots dating back to 1975 with its first location in a Burien storefront on Main Street. It was an offshoot of a handful of neighborhood Budget Tapes and Records owned and operated by Scott Martin (a.k.a. DJ Les Morely), Greg Norling, and Don Stivers.

Mt. Olympus Imports advertisement ca. Dec. 1979 (Image: Todd Matthews)

“The Burien Budget Tapes and Records was the central hub of our Budget empire,” Martin told me. “It made sense to open an import-only store when the import market was just getting going. Our Budget stores had been buying imports through John Saltzgiver when he was in Oregon. We hired John to come up to Burien to open and run all facets of Mt. Olympus.” Martin and Saltzgiver were part-time radio hosts at KRAB-FM, operated from a former fire station at Harvard and E Union.

According to Martin, Saltzgiver was essential to Mt. Olympus Imports moving from Burien to Capitol Hill. “I wish I had John’s contact info,” Martin told me. “He is really the person to talk to.” I tried locating Saltzgiver via various phone numbers, email addresses, social media, and his former friends and colleagues—all with no success. One person told me he might have seen Saltzgiver selling records in Oregon shortly before the pandemic.

The Capitol Hill shop closed less than two years after it opened, according to The Rocket, and the store relocated to Belltown, where it later changed owners and was renamed Exotique Imports. Saltzgiver also ran a new record store concept out of a most unconventional location—his apartment above the Paramount Theatre downtown, according to a local magazine advertisement. Shoppers could listen to records on a high-tech sound system in the comfort of Saltzgiver’s living room.

Martin shared his memories of the short-lived Capitol Hill store as part of my ongoing interest in exploring Capitol Hill’s music shop-related history.

“It was forward-thinking to move to Capitol Hill.” Given the growing popularity of imports, getting out of the little rock ‘n’ roll “pockets,” where our Budget Tapes & Records were located, was a smart idea. It was forward-thinking to move to a more urban and happening location in Seattle. The Capitol Hill store was not huge, nestled as it was upstairs in the back of Broadway Alley—maybe 600 square feet of retail and storage space. Continue reading →

Are you ready to rock, Montlake? School of Rock planning 24th Ave E location

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(Image: School of Rock)

The national music school franchise School of Rock is planning to open its second location in Seattle to start 2024 in a space not far from Capitol Hill’s bustling nightlife and live music scene. Are you ready to rock, Montlake?

News of the planned opening comes as a key Capitol Hill music venue where some of those Montlake kids might eventually rock faces permanent closure.

The new “School of Rock Seattle Downtown” will be offering music classes and camps for ages six and up along 24th Ave in Montlake.

“We want to be the music in the community,” says Chad Fondren, co-owner and general manager. “There’s no better way to learn an instrument through the performance-based music education program that we offer. We use rock music and rock instruments as a vehicle, so it’s gonna be a little more fun.”

There have been School of Rock performances on Capitol Hill in the past. Cafe Racer and Neumos have all hosted end-of-season performances. The new spot might mean Capitol Hill will see more of them.

But Cafe Racer may never host another young Seattle band. The 11th Ave venue has been shuttered since being forced to close earlier this month over unpaid rent. Racer’s Jeff Ramsey said he has been scrambling to change the club’s business model and find a more sustainable path forward. So far, the cafe has remained dark.

Chad and Tracy Fondren also run the School of Rock in Issaquah while planning the Montlake location. School of Rock in Issaquah grew to hire 19 instructors and teach around 250 students. They’ll also be bringing a third co-owner and music director with them, Cole Paramore, who was the first instructor hired in Issaquah. Fondren says he and his wife love Issaquah, but are excited to be in Seattle. Continue reading →

How Seattle saved Cafe Racer

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Cafe Racer, the Capitol Hill venue dedicated to all ages music will be dark this weekend. It will be dark for coming weeks. If Seattle wants the 11th Ave club’s calendar to fill again, there is work to do.

“If everybody pulled together, if there were substantial donations, if there were time, we need to show that we are a sustainable business model,” owner Jeff Ramsey told CHS Thursday afternoon as he confirmed the closure over a list of financial challenges including around $40,000 in unpaid rent.

It is not getting any easier to dig out from underneath. New monthly rent charges will continue to accumulate but there won’t be any shows to help put a dent in the cost. And there are other debts that have piled up including $10,000 in unpaid taxes to the state.

Ramsey says Cafe Racer has spent much of the past year sorting out a transition of its model from for-profit all ages club and bar to a more sustainable arts organization. It began working with non-profit advocacy and financial sponsorship organization Allied Arts to help raise funds but the campaign quickly accelerated from transition to emergency — and, now, to last hope. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Rewind | Rubato Records: breaking the lease on Broadway

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Helena Rogers in her Georgetown studio (Image: Todd Matthews)

Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history

Rubato Records & Espresso’s brief existence at the Broadway Alley began in 1982. Capitol Hill was one of a few locations—Wallingford and West Seattle stores opened later—for a record shop opened in downtown Bellevue in 1976 by John and Helena Rogers. The pair—who later married and separated but remain friends—also co-founded the New Wave/progressive rock/avant-garde band Student Nurse.

Helena remembers selling records to Bob Blackburn, the voice of the Seattle SuperSonics, and former Seattle Mariners ace Randy Johnson at the Bellevue shop. “[Randy] would come in and lowball us trying to sell crappy heavy metal records,” Helena told me during an interview this summer at Georgetown’s Equinox Studios, where she is also an artist who paints. “He would say, ‘That’s all you’re giving me?!’ It was, like, ‘Dude, you have millions of dollars, and we barely have enough money to buy a hamburger after work!’”

John recalled selling records to REM’s Peter Buck and basketball legend Bill Russell. “[Bill] would pull up [to the Bellevue store] in his Rolls-Royce with no backseat because his legs were so long,” John, 75, recalled during a recent phone interview. Continue reading →