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Seattle Film and Music Blog

Seattle-Russian partnership brings Silk Road rhythms to town

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silkroadThe Seattle Times:
Big, vital and almost ferociously listenable, Vladimir Martynov’s “Night in Galicia” (1996) is the opening-night highlight of “Silk Road Modern!” — a pair of concerts being presented by Joshua Roman’s TownMusic Series. But it’s in good company with the other pieces on the bill, including “Ulari Udila” by Vladimir Nikolayev and “Voices of a Frozen Land” by Alexander Raskatov. The titles alone suggest the tribal-chant energy that informs all three works on this invigorating program. The Seattle Chamber Players, an adventurous local ensemble, is bringing the pieces to town with the help of members of Russia’s Opus Posth, featuring violinist Tatiana Grindenko, and the Dmitri Prokrovsky Ensemble, a choral group formed in 1973 that specializes in traditional Russian song and contemporary “avant-folk” work.

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Nintendo props up video game biz

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Variety:
The videogame biz remained a beacon of double digital growth during the recession in 2008, but slowing holiday sales indicate that it’s quickly coming down to Earth. Market research firm NPD released its 2008 sales data on Thursday, revealing that total vidgame industry revenue soared 19% to $21.3 billion. Though impressive during such a tough year, it’s down significantly from 2007’s 28% growth, which brought in almost $18 billion. While Sony struggled, Redmond-based Nintendo continued to almost single handedly prop up the biz, proving that its focus on low-cost, family-friendly gaming is paying off big in the current climate. Defying all economic trends, Nintendo saw sales for its Wii and DS consoles surge 59% and 23%, respectively, in December, and 62% and 17% for all of 2008. Nintendo’s hardware strength was mirrored on the game sales charts, where titles for its consoles took six of the top 10 spots in December and five of the top 10 for all of 2008.

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Public Broadcasters Agree To Web Music Royalties

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Encore:
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a group that collects royalties for artists and recording copyright owners said Thursday they’ve agreed on payment terms for streaming music online. The agreement between CPB and SoundExchange establishes the royalties that will be paid on behalf of the public radio system for streaming sound recordings on a variety of public radio Web sites from Jan. 1, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2010. The deal covers about 450 public radio Web sites including CPB-supported stations, National Public Radio, NPR members, National Federal of Community Broadcasters members, American Public Media, the Public Radio Exchange and Public Radio International.

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NWFF at Sundance

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Don’t miss the Northwest Film Forum’s coverage of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on their blog Hot Splice. Lyall Bush, interim Executive Director of the NWFF, writes a day-by-day account of his time at the independent film festival in Park City. David Russo’s The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle is the sixth film produced in association with NWFF’s innovative Start-to-Finish program and the second to participate in the Sundance Film Festival after 2005’s Police Beat. Lynn Shelton’s Humpday was also made with support from the organization.

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Interview: The Whore Moans

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whoremoans1The Stranger:
Local heavies The Whore Moans have a CD release show tonight at Neumos for new album Hello From the Radio Wasteland. Stranger contributing photographer Dagmar Sieglinde interviewed them after a recent Vera Project show where, for probably not the first or the last time, an audience member got their nose bloodied.

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Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell Cover Love Songs for Starbucks

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Pitchfork:
On January 30, Starbucks Entertainment will release Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs. Starbucks already pulled this trick in 2005, and apparently the world demanded a sequel. The tracklist includes Seattle musicians Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Bridwell, and Kate Tucker covering songs by The Cure, George Harrison, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Big Fish Games, romance novel company sign deal

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Puget Sound Business Journal:
Big Fish Games said it’s signed a deal to create interactive games based on romance novels from Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., with the first game coming out this summer.
Seattle-based Big Fish Games said as part of the deal, Toronto, Canada-based Harlequin will begin publishing a series of books based on the game company’s “Mystery Case Files” franchise, written by Harlequin’s authors.

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Does Seattle Demand a Church-Turned-Recital-Hall?

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unitedmethodistThe Stranger:
On Thursday at 5th Avenue and Marion Street, audiences enjoyed the christening event for Daniels Recital Hall. The event featured Mark Andersen, performing “classic and sacred music.” In addition, Kelle Brown sung a repertoire written by Andersen, Lynn Andersen played an arrangement by Mark Andersen on handbells, and Genevieve Picard performed Andersen’s work on a harp. The undertones, however, are about the 98-year-old building’s future. Formerly the First United Methodist Church, it was preserved as part of a deal that allows developer Kevin Daniels to build a 41-story tower on Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street. He’s trying to figure out how to use the space and wants to recognize it’s roots as a church. “It’s the acoustics of that place and the organ that drives it to be a performance-type hall,” he says. “I want to try something that can sustain into the future. I want to see if there’s a niche here.”

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Sundance Festival Updates My Premiere : HUMPDAY

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLRoq3WN0ec]
Watch as the cast and crew of Humpday head to their premiere!

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Eddie Vedder Joins John Doe and Exene Cervenka’s Knitters to Party For Obama in Seattle

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Rolling Stone:
The country’s best inauguration party Tuesday night turned out to be in the other Washington: At Seattle’s tiny Tractor Tavern club, the Knitters (the rootsy side band led by X’s John Doe and Exene Cervenka) played a Americana-soaked barnstormer of a show — complete with a guest appearance by Eddie Vedder. Doe invited Vedder onstage to duet with Cervenka on a gleefully frenzied version of X’s 1983 tune “The New World,” with its sardonic lyrics about another election: “It was better before they voted for what’s his name.”

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