It took it a while to be put up on the website, but now you can listen to the 4 songs they performed, or the whole half-hour segment.
This is unbelievably awexome! KEXP is a big deal! It’s one of the most well-respected radio stations in the world, and even though it is based in the Northwest it has devoted listeners all the heck over the place.
By the way, the next JM+FFD show is this Saturday the 25th at The Crocodile in Seattle, where they are the opening act for the CD release of “Happy, Good Looking, and in Love” by Friends and Family. Also on the bill are the Hoot Hoots! So you should check that out (I won’t be going because of Fools Play).
There are lots and lots of independent movies floating about the world and the internets in various stages of production. Many of them have Kickstarter campaigns. One of them is called “Winning Dad.”
How is it that this movie came to garner my support when so many others have not? Well, for starters it’s being made locally: all Western Washington cast and crew and whatnot. For another thing, it’s got a pretty intriguing premise that fits very well into our enlightened, Pacific-Northwest mindset:
Colby’s dad knows his son is gay, but he doesn’t like talking about it. He respects it, but ignores everything about that aspect of his son’s life – he doesn’t even know about Colby’s long-term boyfriend, Rusty.
Increasingly committed to Rusty, Colby hatches a plan to trick his father into camping with Rusty under the pretense that Rusty is Colby’s straight friend and future business partner. Colby is convinced that, given the chance, his father and his boyfriend will get along great…
But what REALLY sealed the deal for me was the fact that my pals Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount were hired to write the soundtrack for the movie. The ENTIRE soundtrack!
Here’s their Kickstarter vid so you can learn more:
As an added bonus, they’ve also hired Ellen McLain, who you probably know as the voice of GLaDOS from the Portal games (and in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Pacific Rim extravaganza) as one of the on-screen characters in the film. She’s also gotten involved in the Kickstarter campaign, and let’s just say that this time the cake is NOT a lie:
And what’s that song that was playing in the background during that video? Why it’s “Skatepark” by Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount!
I’m going to review an album! It’s been, what, eight years since I’ve done a full-length article album review? What’s taken so long to do another? Well, kids, papa’s been busy. If you notice, I’ve gone from doing dozens of articles a year to sometimes just a couple (though I managed to squeeze 7 into 2011. Is there a 7/11 joke in there somewhere?). [Read the Full Article]
Last Thursday night Carrie & I went up to Darrell’s Tavern in Shoreline to be a part of an extremely important evening: the Julia Massey’s Surprise 30th Birthday Party! It was thrown by her husband Jared and dozens upon dozens of people showed up with a singular message: “Julia Massey, we heart you!”
There was another surprise after the initial surprise. A whole bunch of Julia’s musical friends performed covers of her songs for her. Below is the lineup. Where possible I’ve linked to the websites or Facebook pages of the performers, and linked to Julia’s original versions of the songs for download. Enjoy:
The Jesus Rehab: Rock duo The Jesus Rehab (Julia’s Husband Jared on guitar & his brother Dom Cortese on drums) did a rockin’ version of Light Reminder. It might have been a little bit cheating since Dom is also the FFD’s drummer.
Yevtushenko: I first saw Yevtushenko the week prior when they opened the Five Letters From Far Away CD Release Party. They’re a 4-person rock group headed by singer Amber Shine. She and her guitarist performed Aghadoe.
Andy Kingham: Mr. Kingham has quite a history with Julia and Jared; he used to play bass for both of them! He rocked out two songs: Bullfrog and Salty Schemes.
Robb Benson: Seattle music mainstay and all-around rockin’ good guy performed a really heart-felt version of Here Is a Stone Wall.
Safeword Sasquatch: Safeword Sasquatch is sometimes also known as DVoD. They’re headed by the duo of Eric Weber on guitar, and Liz Mayer on cello and ukulele. They did #712 and bridged it to Spaceships, then did a great version of Don’t Worry ‘Bout Us where the piano parts and much of the bass solos of the original song were done on electric guitar.
Terrapin, AKA Gary Lappier with Katie Stricker: Gary did an extremely spaced-out version of Skatepark with his lovely fianceé Katie doing backing vocals. It was cool because it was so way different than the original version. This was Carrie’s favorite performance of the night.
The Crazy Boy Floyds: Geoff & I programmed an absolutely batsh*t crazy version of Yeah, which Geoff sung while I activated an animated band on a laptop screen. Sorry we only have a MySpace page to link to, but we haven’t actually done anything for a few years.
Katie Larson & Jill Cimino with Jared Cortese: These two girls did a version of Brains & Bubbles (which is a very funny song that isn’t available on any album) with Jared backing them on Guitar.
Red Heart Alarm: Catacombs and then did an absolutely scorching, country-tinged version of Soaked Through Matches. Red Heart Alarm was very impressive and super polished; it sounded like they’d been playing these songs for years, and they killed Soaked Through Matches so hard that they made it sound like it was their song.
It was a pretty amazing night. It was humbling to see how grateful Julia was for everyone who showed up, and it was an honor to be involved in it (even as little as I was).
I didn’t take any photos because (A) my camera phone is crappy and (B) I was too busy having a good time and enjoying the night to worry about taking photos. Luckily, another blogger took plenty: LiveSeattleMusicInTheClubs (who didn’t even know Julia; just happened to be there when it all went down) blogged all about the whole night, even the parts after Carrie & I had to leave (which was right after the tribute part). So check that out as well.
Geoff recorded audio for the whole tribute, but I don’t know when or in what capacity that’ll be available to me. I’d love it if he would record a studio version of our Yeah. Hint-hint, Geoff.
If you would like to get in on the Julia-loving action, she and the FFD are playing a show tomorrow (Thursday) night at the Tractor in Ballard! We will be there. So can you!
Anyway, happy birfday, Julia! We love you! You deserve it.
Tweeter of the Month: Rob Delaney @robdelaney
A comedian who had a banner 2012 and became more famous for his twitwit than his comedy routines. His tweets about the 2012 election got more hits than those from the candidates themselves. I especially enjoy the personas he takes on, like the “Cool Dad” and the “420NO” anti-pot activist:
#Teens: Hitting a pot pipe tonight won’t get you “high.” It’ll put you 6 feet under. #420NO
Album of the Month: Five Letters from Far Away by Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount
The third full-length album from JM+FFD is another stunner, full of some of their most epically spacey songs yet, and some of their most rockin’. It is going to be released this Friday 1/4/13. Wait… if it hasn’t been released yet, how can it by my Album of the Month? Because I was given a PREVIEW COPY last week! That’s right, I got my grubby mittens on the album before it was released to the general public. And Carrie & I have been listening to it basically non-stop. You can listen to a 5-song preview yourself at the JM+FFD Bandcamp site, but you’re gonna hafta wait until Friday before you can get it for reals. And it is worth the wait.
Game of the Month: Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage?!!
Even putting aside that this is perhaps the greatest title of a video game ever, this is a very funny game. It seemed somehow familiar to me, too, but I couldn’t put my finger on it for a little while. Then it hit me: the gameplay is based heavily on Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link! The story was plotted by Pendleton Ward (creator of Adventure Time) himself, and some of the dialogue is a hoot; there is a section where you’re trying to locate Princess Bubblegum’s missing pantyhose, and you talk to a marshmallow kid who then goes on and on through several screens of dialogue about how disturbing it is that you’re talking to a kid about pantyhose and now he’s gonna grow up crazy because of it. Also, Finn calls pantyhose “gam buckets” at one point.
Rob Delaney @robdelaney
Five Letters from Far Away by Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage?!!
