Seattle Film and Music Blog Office of Film and Music and Special Events

Seattle Film and Music Blog

The Sky’s The Limit: Cumulus Festival’s Guitar Deluge

by Leave a Comment

The Stranger:
It’s 2009, and many people still can’t deal with the sort of wide-screen, instrumental music that has come to be known as post-rock. The three unassuming guys in Seattle group the Luna Moth would like to gently coax you to check out some adventurous, sans-singer rock over the three-day, 15-band Cumulus Festival, which is happening January 23 to 25 at Chop Suey, King Cobra, and Vera Project (all ages), respectively. If you’ve enjoyed a Mogwai or Sigur Rós concert or collected Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor vinyl, consider yourself a convert to the (mostly) zip-lipped cause. Unlike the founders of Kranky Records, a font of post-rock for about as long as the term has existed (about 15 years), Cumulus’s organizers don’t shy from the term.

Share

Two Shots at One Target: Oil Polluters

by Leave a Comment

sweetcrudeNew York Times:
For Sandy Cioffi, 46, a tenured professor of film and video at Seattle Central Community College, film has been more about politics than about making a living (although she’d like that to change). Her experience in Nigeria became a personal journey reflected on film. Originally intending to make a movie about the building of a library in the Niger Delta, she became involved in the political struggle there, making efforts to get the message of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta into the global conversation. In the process, she was arrested by the Nigerian military. “I’ve always been a believer in the idea that if you simply put a light on in a corner it changes the situation,” said Ms. Cioffi, who in 1998 was part of team recording the aftermath of the Good Friday peace accord and became firmly convinced that the presence of cameras affected the course of Northern Irish history.

Share

Seattle Bands at SXSW

by Leave a Comment

Sound on the Sound:
SXSW released the complete official list of bands headed to this year’s music conference. Held annually in the streets and bars of Austin, Texas, SXSW brings the entire industry together into one place for five plus packed days of drinking, socializing and networking. A few of Seattle’s local brothers and sisters will be in attendance, among them J. Tillman, Grand Archives, and the newly signed Telekinesis! A close look also finds that Seattle rock legends the Sonics will also be taking the stage once again for this year’s conference.

Share

Kevin Erickson of The All-Ages Movement Project

by Leave a Comment

The Stranger:
Kevin Erickson recently moved to Seattle from Anacortes, where he was the resident do-it-all for the Department of Safety, to take a job as coordinator and interim co-director of the All-Ages Movement Project, an organization founded by all-ages super-advocate Shannon Stewart of the Vera Project. In his new role, Erickson will help AMP continue to execute its vision of providing an all-inclusive organization for open communication and interaction between successful and fledgling all-ages spaces across the country. AMP’s first phase has resulted in The All-Ages Movement Project, a forthcoming publication compiling years of research on successful all-ages spaces across the nation. Next up for the organization will be to distribute that information, to set up an online support forum for all-ages advocates and spaces, and to let organizations know that these resources are available, according to Erickson.

Share

Seattle’s “Humpday” makes a deal at Sundance

by Leave a Comment

humpdayThe Seattle Times:
Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s third feature, “Humpday,” was one of the first movies to ink a distribution deal at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, over the weekend. Magnolia Pictures bought worldwide rights to the film, for a dollar amount described by Variety as “mid-six figures,” and plans to release it theatrically in August following a video-on-demand campaign. At the festival, Shelton said, “This is beyond my wildest dreams.”

Share

Visit Films buys worldwide rights to Little Dizzle

by Leave a Comment

ScreenDaily:
New York-based sales company Visit Films has bulked up its already busy Sundance slate by acquiring worldwide rights to David Russo’s Spectrum screener The Immaculate Conception Of Little Dizzle. The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle recieved its world premiere on January 19 and Visit will commence international sales at the EFM in Berlin next month. The film focuses on a computer programmer who loses his job and finds work as a janitor where he gets entangled in a bizarre experiment where he and his fellow guinea pigs start to give birth to blue fish. Peggy Case produced and the ensemble cast includes Marshall Allman, Natasha Lyonne, Tania Raymonde, Tygh Runyan, Matt Smith and Vince Vieluf.

Share

KEXP + Vera Youth Podcasting Workshop 2008 present Vol. 1

by Leave a Comment

kexppodcasting1KEXP Blog:
One of KEXP’s missions is to facilitate music discovery, and as such, they were very excited to have the opportunity to host the first ever Youth Podcasting Workshops! These workshops, hosted in a partnership with the Vera Project, were an intensive, hands-on, 8-week series geared towards young adults in the Seattle area. The goal of these workshops was to engage young people in our community, champion youth-led and youth-focused programming, and offer increased training opportunities. Workshop participants learned how to create a podcast, from song selection, to securing music rights, to recording, editing and hosting the final podcast. Check out the results on the KEXP blog!

Share

Music of Heart to Debut in Musical Reading Allies

by Leave a Comment

From Broadway.com:
Allies, a new rock-infused musical featuring the music of 70s and 80s power band Heart, will receive a special industry reading at The Zipper Factory on January 26. The staged concert reading, which is open to the public as seating allows, will be directed by Drama Desk nominee Samuel Buggein. Part love rock show, part drama, Allies features legendary Heart hits including “Barracuda,” “These Dreams,” and “Alone.”

Share

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Debut LP Details, Dates

by Leave a Comment

From Pitchfork:
Last year, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band tried to break onto the web-rock scene by purposefully withholding their music from the web. Instead of posting a few songs on MySpace, they uploaded a few silly instructional videos about “technology” and “homeostasis” to YouTube. And in the tradition of things so crazy they just might work, the band got some blog attention, released an EP co-produced by Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective), played a few shows, got signed to Dead Oceans, and now they’re ready to release their self-titled debut album on March 10.

Share

Rolling Stone Reviews The Whore Moans

by Leave a Comment

The Whore Moans

From Sound On The Sound:
The Seattle punk band was just written up in the quintessential American music magazine, Rolling Stone. David Fricke writes, “the Whore Moans are steadfast believers in loud-fast salvation, or what they call in one power-chord catapult, ‘The Holy Fucking Moment.’ This album has plenty.”

Share