If the days preceding the party held at Consolidated Works last Friday in honor of The Stranger's Genius Awards lent themselves toward a buzz complaint, it was this: Why were there no Seattle bands on the bill? Perhaps seeing it in bold print helps to demonstrate how piddling that complaint is. As you know, Seattle and Portland are part of the Northwest, and on any given weekend vans carry bands from either city to play shows in the other. And Portland's only a couple of miles off the Washington border, so who cares? If you want to get down to brass tacks, Portland's Helio Sequence is set to release an album on Sub Pop in March of 2004, and, as I've mentioned several times in this space, the band's drummer also plays drums in Modest Mouse. Do we not claim Built to Spill as one of our Northwest jewels? How about the Shins? Sleater-Kinney? The Helio Sequence and Lifesavas both performed excellent sets at ConWorks, and they were chosen not because they were from Portland, but because they are deserving of a broader audience like that which would be in attendance Friday night. (And if you must know, Cobra High, a SEATTLE BAND, was invited first but had to decline because of tour scheduling, so the offer went out to the Helio Sequence, who happily accepted.) It was a mission accomplished, if the spellbound audiences were any indication. The Helio Sequence sold lots of CDs after the duo finished and I loved hearing all the questions new fans asked about the music. The spastic dancer was a bit much, however. Then again, spastic dancers dressed in heavy woolen sweaters: How very Portland.

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Speaking of Portland, my story on page 23 about Chris Slusarenko may be focused on a guy who lives in the 503 area code, but his Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute album, Wig in a Box, has some deep ties to Seattle, too. After hearing Wig, Stranger contributor Hannah Levin came up with the idea of a tribute night featuring local artists, to be performed at the Sunset Tavern on Thursday, October 23. She told our own David Schmader about the idea, who tells me, "It seemed the best way to honor the whole Hedwig thing (from play conception to tribute album) is to do an all-purpose celebration of freaks--from gender warriors such as Nick Garrison, Ms. Led, and Purty Mouth, to a variety of glorious kooks who happen to have musical gifts." These gifted kooks include punk-marimba player Erin Jorgensen, and pop-opera composer/ Stranger news editor Josh Feit.

Speaking of freaks, on Wig in a Box, Imperial Teen debuts its first song with Jone Stebbings on lead vocals on their rendition of "Freaks," even though they sort of "ended up" with the Girls Against Boys song from the movie version of Hedwig. Says Imperial Teens' straight-shooting Roddy Bottum, "When the project came up, we jumped on it, but we're the type of band where decision-making goes kind of slow. By the time we decided to sit down and choose, the [other songs] had all been chosen. All that was left, and it was kind of a slap in the face, was 'Freaks.' Weird, not really my cup of tea, you know?" The band chose to make something new of it by twisting it all around, and what better way is there to tribute Hedwig, I ask?

The lineup is not set for the Sunset show just yet. Says Schmader, "We're still looking for one of Seattle's guitar-strumming troubadours to step up for 'Wicked Little Town.' Rusty Willoughby and/or Rosie Thomas, this means you."

The Minus 5's Scott McCaughey, whose band contributed a track with Cyndi Lauper on vocals, is a big fan of Chris Slusarenko's projects. He wrote a beautiful song for Colonel Jeffrey Pumpernickel, and has already signed on for Slusarenko's next project: a '60s psychedelic collaboration with Guided by Voices' Bob Pollard. Still, he's in awe of his friend's abilities to draw big names to his tiny label, Off Records. Says McCaughey, "Imagine my shock when he forwards me an e-mail from Yoko Ono saying she's going to do [Wig in a Box]. I say, 'Chris, how do you fucking do these things? How do you get Yoko Ono to record a song for you, and then get her together with Yo La Tengo?'"

kathleen@thestranger.com