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Seattle Film and Music Blog

Get To Know: Pearl Dragon

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Seattle Subsonic:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHTAHnvjjGk&eurl]
Check out this video profile on one of Seattle’s musical gems, Laprell Nelson, aka Pearl Dragon. The video was produced by Gabriel Miller and Patricia O’Brien of the Seattle Channel (21), and debuted this past Thursday night on Art Zone in Studio with Nancy Guppy. Born in Eugene and raised in Skyway, his Pacific NW roots give credence to the local swell in Seattle’s music scene, hip-hop or otherwise. He has another project in the works with Phil Nelson of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground, and you can even find a cover of the Replacements’ touching, acoustic guitar-driven “Skyway” on his MySpace.

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New Winter Film Series in West Seattle

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West Seattle Movies on the Wall:
West Seattle Blog and Hotwire Coffee are sponsoring the first Winter Movies on the Wall series set for March 4th, 11th, and 18th. Unlike its summer counterpart, Winter Movies on the Wall will be screened indoors in the West Seattle Christian Church activity center. Nominations for all-ages friendly movies are now accepted on the film series’ official site above.

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John Spalding’s LoveLand album to be released in February

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Three Imaginary Girls:
LoveLand, the now-posthumous project of local music John Spalding has, is set to release its album The Beautiful Truth this next month. The project is a benefit to raise money for Spalding’s widow (which is why there were many benefit shows throught January) and the album is officially being released on Tuesday, February 17 on Tigre Blanco Records.

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“Parents” to Premiere at Sedona Film Festival

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daymyparentsProst Amerika Film:
After a successful “sneak preview” at the Northwest Film Forum with more than 200 guests, the Seattle film The Day My Parents Became Cool is set to debut at the Sedona film festival. The festival runs from February 24th to March 1st.
Parents, as it is affectionately known by those who worked on it, is set in a bizarre world where all of the adults on the entire planet have literally “become cool” and desire to look and act just like their teenage kids, which provides both comedy and horror.

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Sundance shines its light on Seattle films

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worldsgreatestdadSeattle Times:
This year’s Sundance Film Festival marked a watershed for Seattle’s film industry, with three movies made in the city premiering at the nation’s largest venue for independent film. The festival ended this week, prompting the question: What happens next? For Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton, it’s basking in the warmth of a festival success beyond her wildest imagination. The movie she wrote and directed, “Humpday,” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and became one of the most talked-about movies at the festival. On Monday, David Russo’s “The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle” got a boisterous ovation at its premiere in the Library Theater, the exact place Russo always dreamed his movie would play. “I was very excited to find that the movie functioned very much the way I’d envisioned,” Russo said. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait also shot his latest film, “World’s Greatest Dad,” in Seattle. “I prefer to make movies so they don’t look like they’re from Los Angeles,” Goldthwait said after the Tuesday premiere, adding that he liked the idea of shooting the dark comedy under overcast skies but was thwarted by unusually sunny June weather.

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Berlin Loves Michael Vermillion

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mike-vSound Magazine:
As a country-tinged singer-songwriter in Seattle, Michael Vermillion is one of many guitar-slingers vying for the western shirt crowd. In Germany, though, he is something more; the charming and disarming American songwriter who sets der Radiozuhoerer hearts a twitter. At least it’s easy to imagine that after listening to a recent interview that Vermillion scored on Germany’s Radio 1 in advance of a show that he recently played at some joint filled with beer-swilling Germans who surely were weeping in their steins by the end of the night.

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Used CDs: Indie Retail’s Secret Weapon

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Seattle Weekly:
The little guys are able to cling to a life raft not accessible to the corporate giants: used CDs. And because a combination of factors has recently led to a spike in the number of people looking to sell off their CD collections, the used market has been a glimmer of sunshine because of the higher markup on previously owned CDs as opposed to new ones. While new CDs may be getting pushed out of the market, owners of all three local indies say there is definitely still a market for the compact disc-so long as it’s a used one priced at around $6.99. Though Mike Batt, co-owner of Silver Platters, says the store is relatively new to the used-CD business, that business has grown: Used CDs now make up about 18 percent of Silver Platters’ revenue, tremendous growth for something in its infancy. Similarly, Jason Hughes of Sonic Boom says used-CD sales at his stores have gone up and now account for about 10 to 15 percent of their revenue, whereas it used to account for about 8 percent.

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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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