On Monday, August 6, about 500 people showed up at a sold-out relaunch party for Nectar in Fremont. There was a line around the block most of the night. Nectar's newish talent booker, Colin Johnson, put together a diverse but complementary bill featuring Seattle's up-and-coming 8-bit electro rockers Truckasauras as well as two Portland faves: the recently pimped- out hiphop trio Lifesavas and dreamy shoegazers the Helio Sequence. (Full disclosure: I played records at the event.) Johnson also got behind the decks to spin a set of classic, early '90s hiphop and, later, a batch of Baltimore club remixes. The crowd was mostly friendly, although a fight between two guys over a girl, who was there promoting cigarettes, meant the night ended with cop cars, a fire truck, and a bouncer with his head bandaged. Johnson's move to Nectar has prompted a lot of discussion about whether he could get people out to Fremont and whether he would be able to bring quality acts there. If this kickoff is any indication, Nectar won't be hurting for people or talent. (Just look out for those bros.)
All the bros were pretty well behaved for the debut of new amateur comedy night Shut the Fuck Up at Pony on Thursday, August 9. The hos (including Miss Jackie Hell and our own Ari Spool), on the other hand, were downright rowdy. Of course, when comedy is unfunny, it is sooo much worse than even the lamest rock concert. But that makes it all the better to see a newcomer really take to it, as happened with Pony's own foul-mouthed door girl, Victoria Liss. It was obviously her first shot at standup, and she delivered her jokes—self-deprecating riffs about getting scabies for the second time or absurd boasts about finding lost cell phones using her vagina—fast and visibly nervous, but she's a natural.
Some action over at Atlas Clothing: Word is that Jive Time will soon be opening a record annex in the lately defunct warehouse space, selling discount vinyl and limited new releases.
On Thursday, August 16, the Baltic Room will host a particularly challenging but worthwhile edition of Oscillate, the techno weekly recently relocated from Tuesdays. Guests include Dragon's Eye Recordings drone sculptor Wyndel Hunt, Portland's Señor Frio and SciFiSol, and Seattle's Logic Probe, whose Dave Ford and Derek Linaman used to be in some Eastside pop-punk bands (hey, maybe they played with Truckasauras's old act) back in "the day." They've long since given up guitars for laptops, playing occasional shows but not making much headway. In the past year, though, Logic Probe have become a Seattle electronic act to watch out for, producing everything from dirty, glitchy electro to smart ambient tracks, and winning over crowds with live sets at last year's Decibel Festival, at Re-bar's monthly noise/electronics night Harsh!, and at previous appearances at the Baltic Room.
On Friday, August 17, Sing Sing hosts the second Seattle appearance of Baltimore club DJ Tittsworth at the War Room. To get you warmed up for the real thing: Tittsworth's new summer DJ mix can be found on his website (www.tittsworth.com). It's a free download.
Finally, if you're a sucker for social networking or just socially retarded, you can go "party" with DJ AM and Tom (the Tom) from MySpace at the Showbox on Saturday, August 18. No official bulletin yet on whether or not MC Rupert "Murda Dogg" Murdoch will make an appearance at the event, but a girl can dream, right?
