Standing at the Showbox last week to watch Franz Ferdinand do their post-Buzzcocks performance to perfection, I was thinking how funny it is that people in Seattle still complain that no one moves at shows, and they think this is an affliction most specific to our city. Granted these Scottish boys are well known--they sold out the room, and their songs are all over the radio--but they generated so much movement from the crowd you could feel the springs under the floorboards move, not only from the ground floor, but all the way on stage. Midway through their set, jovial Franz frontman Alex Kapranos commented that the audience was so excited he could actually feel the ground beneath him bounce. No small feat, that. But no big surprise either: Their sound is so tight it's like they've been touring mega-venues for years. Having seen Franz Ferdinand twice now, I'd say they're definitely at the front of the movement to remind hipster America not to sour on all fans of the rock scene, just because some have stood too still in the past.
Speaking of shows that get people moving--and by that I mean to the ticket counter as well as to the beat--the Cure's Curiosa Festival is coming through the Gorge Saturday, August 21. According to the band's official website, the Cure came up with the idea of organizing their own traveling showcase after playing a KROQ event last year. They decided that if a radio station could pool together talent, they could too. The lineup for the two-dozen U.S. dates listed at www.thecure.com includes the festival's organizers as well as the Rapture, Interpol, Mogwai, Thursday, Muse, Cursive, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Cooper Temple Clause, and Head Automatica, with other acts to be announced. The two-stage tour is a brilliant idea, with one household name shepherding new and well-known acts into the public eye--kind of like an Ozzfest for the kids whose idea of dressing in black doesn't necessarily include images of demon people and gargoyles.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. If there were no such thing as ghouls, Seattle's the Dead Vampires would have to find a new niche. I finally saw the lively bunch at the Sunset's 4 o'clock Punk Rock showcase last weekend, and they were a rowdy riot. Mixing covers with a bunch of blood-sucking originals, the band came off like a goth mix of KISS, the Misfits, and the Ramones, with smoke machines, masks, and plenty of between-song jokes (sample: "What did one saggy boob say to the other? If we don't get a little support soon, people are gonna think we're nuts!"). The two-year-old band recently added a vocalist to their keyboard/theremin/drums/guitar mix, and they say they're influenced by Pee-wee's Playhouse and The Muppet Show as much as anything musical. You can check out the Dead Vampires twice next week. They're part of the "Pink and Pissed" queer punk show at the Hideaway on Wednesday, June 23, and over the weekend, (Saturday, June 19) they help Pho Bang's Jackie Hell celebrate a birthday at Patti Summers. (Gold Rush, Anna Oxygen, and DJ Ursula Android will also perform that night).
Fans of the zine Razorcake should mark their calendars for Sunday, June 20, when columnist Rich Mackin will be in town for a reading at Confounded Books (315 E Pine St) at 6:00 pm. He'll be showcasing excerpts from two new novels, Dear Mr. Mackin and Thank You for Your Continued Interest.
And here's a non sequitur for your pleasure: The Shins' Sub Pop publicist Jed Maheu got naked during the band's recent set at Sasquatch, prancing around with his Scrabble bag showing, unmolested by the security staff. In his own defense, Maheu, who claims he was sober when he stripped, was sure to point out that temperatures definitely affected his manhood: "I would like to point out that it was very cold at Sasquatch and that [any photos of the event] were not a true representation," he explained.
