Unconventional Spaces

Last week, a couple different acts took to unconventional places in an impressive showing of both new talent and new spaces to display it. Open Music Workshop (OMW) had a "kamikaze week" performing "guerrilla music" around Seattle. The group took the corner of 11th and Pike on Monday, with a dozen people doing freewheeling jazz experimentation that used cymbals, saxophones, toys, the sidewalk, coffee cans, and noisemakers to make their own unusual symphony. I'm all for accessible outdoor shows--especially when they're free and unexpected--so even if the music was a little cacophonous, it was still fun to watch. (The next day, a lone OMW saxophonist set up under the Convention Center walkway in the afternoon, holding the same note for minutes at a time to create the illusion of traffic gridlock by sounding like a car horn....) Down the street from the Monday-night orchestra, though, Loss Leader put on another great show at CoCA--a killer space for live music, even though you've got to watch out for the art hanging around you. There's definitely something to be said for seeing groups play in an unstuffy art gallery, although it was hard to see the bands when it got crowded. The mixture of white walls, colorful sculptures, and two good groups--KRMTX and D.C.'s powerful Black Eyes, who brought the audience in on percussion at the end of the show in a punk rock drum circle--created a totally different vibe than the other spaces around town. Loss Leader (partly run by our own Zac Pennington) puts on cool shows around Seattle at various unconventional spaces. To keep up on their happenings, check out www.lossleader.org.

A couple more news bits: I'm very sad to report that rumor has it Teen Cthulhu are breaking up, and on the other side of things, the Blank Its are a great new band. I saw the latter play Zak's a couple weeks ago, but their show at the Crocodile opening for the Spits last week was a better display of their talents. If the Spits are new-wave-influenced punk, the Blank Its are more new wave indie rock, with vocal effects that sound like they're coming at you from deep underwater. Good stuff. And finally, on Monday, June 2, check out the rare Rolling Stones footage at the Sunset's free movie night. Ya-hoo!

jennifer@thestranger.com