Category Archives: seattle

SIFF Day 3 – Other Worldly

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First movie of the day took me again to Pacific Place. The Edge of Heaven is a German and Turkish film set in both countries. It is a story of mothers and daughters, father and son. The backdrop is political strife among the Turks in Germany and Turkey around the time Turkey started its official application into the European Union. I very much enjoyed it, and the soundtrack is excellent.

Second was the film I was most anticipating this festival, The Fall from the same director who brought us that visual delight The Cell (I love it despite J.Lo). The Fall stars the beautiful Lee Pace (“Wonderfalls”, “Pushing Daisies”) and a young Romanian girl named Catinca Untaru. The pair have amazing chemistry as they weave their fairytale, both in their heads and in their sorry little realities. They are both patients in a 1920s Los Angeles hospital, but their story takes us to the far reaches of the earth – from the middle of the ocean to the middle of the desert and to great palaces. I’m sure, just like The Cell, I’ll be watching this one again and again. (I would marry Lee Pace tomorrow if he asked me. Ho hum.)

SIFF Day 2 – Hot and Dry

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This morning I tried a different route to Pacific Place for the first film of the day. For the last couple of years, I’ve walked down 5th Avenue from Queen Anne all the way to Stewart, then up to Pacific Place. Recently, it has dawned on me the trip is longer than it needs to be, and I could cut out a minute or two if I shifted to 6th at Denny instead. I don’t know if it saved any time, but it provided a different point of view. Still, I think the shadows of 5th, walking under the monorail and along all the brick buildings, are preferable to the wide open treeless expanse that is 6th Avenue. Too much sun, especially on a day like today.

Regardless, I made it with plenty of time to spare before settling in for Continental, A Film Without Guns, a French-language film out of Quebec. It is a film about loneliness and despair. Aside from a short time in a forest, most of the film takes place in a city devoid of character, of color, of life. The main characters are mostly pathetic, which is why we feel for them. There is humor in the dreariness, and, ultimately, hope. A bit slow-paced at times, with little dialogue.

I was back home for most of the afternoon and early evening. Then at 8 I hopped bus number 8 to Capitol Hill and Northwest Film Forum. Here I watched German documentary Dust about, well, dust. I knew this would be a difficult consumption, so I was mentally prepared – unlike the large handful of audience members who left before the end. Being in German, there were the subtitles to contend with, but there was also no music. There was no tempo to help push us through. Nevertheless, it was an interesting piece, focusing on aspects of dust from highly scientific (these parts had the most audience exits) to the whimsical. There were segments on industrial processes causing dust, methods to get rid of dust, studies of dust, making art from dust. If you can keep your attention on it, well worth watching.

Darn Those Meddling Kids! – SIFF Day 1

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My first film at this year’s SIFF was at the Uptown Theatre tonight. Called Before the Rains, it is the English language directorial debut of cinematographer Santosh Sivan. Set in Kerala, India in 1937, it follows the drama of an aspiring British planter, his local mistress, and his friend/partner/local-boy-gone-ambitious. There is passion, adultery, smoldering looks galore. I would like to say it is a typical romantic drama, but I did like how the ending didn’t exactly spoon-feed.

Admittedly, I only saw this film because of Linus Roache, aka ADA Michael Cutter from “Law & Order”. Second lead Rahul Bose is a very nice addition, and the adulteress Nandita Das is not hard to look at. Besides the eye candy, I know a lot of people from India, so I’m a bit partial that way.

The language of the villagers in this film is Malayalam. I was told today by one of those Indians I know a little antecdote regarding it. They say if you take a metal jug and you put 5 pebbles in it and shake it around, that is the language of the area around Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras). Put one more pebble in, and that is the language a little further south. Put a 7th pebble in the jar and shake it around, and that is Malayalam.

SIFF is Now Open!

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Today is opening day of the Seattle International Film Festival. The opening night event is an exclusive screening of a film about the 1999 WTO riots, Battle in Seattle. There was a red carpet and some key players are in town, and I was next to the rope to get a glimpse. I kind of decided last minute to go – it’s pretty much on my way home – so I only had my cameraphone with me. My first “celebrity” sighting was John Curley. He was in the pool of cameras, so I couldn’t get a close shot. Eventually those associated with the film showed up – André Benjamin, Michelle Rodriguez, director Stuart Townsend, and star Charlize Theron. Here’s my snaps:
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My Day With DeVotchKa

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Saturday May 3rd was my day with DeVotchKa. It started early, for a Saturday, at The Triple Door. I took DJ Gort as my plus-one for a KEXP Club Concert. I’ve been to several of these events over the last few years, and they do not disappoint. The Triple Door is made for music. The seating is dinner theatre style – a lot of half-moon booths with tables facing the stage. The walls are wood and the acoustics are heavenly. It sounds so good in there, I was a tiny bit afraid I’d be disappointed later that night. They played a few from the new album and a few “oldies”. Lead singer Nick Urata wasn’t very talkative, which is a shame. It’s such an intimate setting, it begs for some witty repartee. Gort managed to fall asleep, the sounds were so soothing. You can listen to the performance through the KEXP website (May 3, 4:06 PM).

After the performance, we caught a matinee showing of the new Pacino film “88 Minutes” where Gort fell asleep again. I don’t blame him, though. The movie was horrid. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it really was not good. What made it worse was that it was set in Seattle. Some scenes were actually filmed here, and most were not. No rhyme or reason to that, either. I almost feel like they filmed as many days as they could in Seattle, then when their permit ran out, they headed north to Vancouver. It seemed sloppy, and the script was dumb dumb dumb. (IMDb says it was all filmed in Vancouver.)

Went back home for a nap, then headed down to the Showbox Sodo. This was my first time in the venue for a concert. I had been twice before for AIS student fashion shows. I got there after doors opened, but still managed to get a nice spot next to the stage. The opening act was singer Basia Bulat, a sweet looking blondie from Canada accompanied by a violist, a cellist, and a ukulele player. Ms. Bulat kicked some improbable butt on a zither (aka autoharp) while singing her own songs. She also played acoustic guitar on about half of the songs. Her sound was a little folk, a little country. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I was impressed enough to buy her cd for my sister today.

Bulat and band left the stage, then after what seemed like forever, an acrobat leapt across the stage tossing silk flowers into the audience. Upon her exit came DeVotchKa and they played. They had pretty much the identical setup as they did at the Triple Door. Here they had an electronic keyboard instead of a piano. Their roadies had notebooks telling them where every instrument, every microphone, every music stand and chair should be. One guy in particular seemed to be in charge and he was meticulous. I hope he’s getting paid well.

I had a very good position at stage left where I could watch the string section pretty much up close. I am fairly sure I developed a crush on Tom Hagerman that night. The intensity and apparent ease he displays on the violin is breathtaking. A second violinist plus Bulat’s violist and cellist made up the quartet. I’m a sucker for strings, so I was quite captivated. DeVotchKa started out with older songs from previous albums. Energetic and flawless, if I were a different person, I would have been dancing along. It was quite a delight to see Jeanie Schroder doing knee bends in time with the music with that shiny sousaphone wrapped around her. They got some new songs in as well in the hour they were on stage. They exited but the show was not over.

AlexandrA, an aerialist, came out onto the floor not more than 10 feet from where I stood. Her cloth (for lack of the correct term) had been let loose from the scaffolding and she climbed on. Twisting and turning, wrapping and flipping, she performed her tricks for us as the band snuck back to play for her. When she was done, the band played a few more songs. This was followed by an encore consisting of a 10 or 15 minute jam of “Such a Lovely Thing”.

By the end, I was hot and I was exhausted. But I was very satisfied.

Eels at the Showbox

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Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing Eels perform at the Showbox (at the Market – Cat Power was down at SoDo). A great night overall.

I coerced a coworker/friend to pre-funk with me at the Green Room while I waited for the show to start. They no longer have fried okra on their menu, but their mac-n-cheese is pretty good. I waited until the line had subsided to go in, which turned out to be good timing. I had just enough time to buy a hoodie (with the little bird on it), buy another drink, and find a good vantage point before they turned down the lights.

There was no opening act. Instead, they projected a BBC Scotland documentary that Mark Oliver Everett made about his late father, physicist Hugh Everett III. Fascinating portrait. And even though physics was never my strong point, all the science talk made me giddy.

After the film ended, Mr E (Mark) came onto the stage with his band, “the Chet”. I assume this to be Chet Lyster, who is listed on Eels Wikipedia page as one of the former members. The Chet played accompaniment on most songs, and on quite a variety of instruments. Lap steel, theramin, drums, guitar are the ones that come to mind. There might have been one or two others. E played guitar mostly, switching between two guitars for each song. When he wasn’t playing guitar, he played piano. And at one point, he did a cool little switcheroo with Chet on the drums, where he stepped in – literally – and took over without missing a beat.

They played for probably and hour and a half, it seemed, including two “encores”. A very fine performance. Afterward, I didn’t have bus fare, so I walked home in the near perfect weather. A pretty good ending to a wonderful night.

My X-perience (yuk, yuk)

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I went to see X perform at the Showbox last night. I figured since I paid $40 for it, I should go ahead.

I got there just before doors opened at 7. I took up a seat in The Green Room with my vodka tonic and watched everyone go in. Last night was the all-ages show, so there was quite a variety of people attending. Little junior high kids with their parents, high schoolers, college kids, middle-aged peeps and the elderly. Who doesn’t like X?

The openers were the Skybombers and Mark Pickerel‘s band, and I assumed they would be playing in that order.  I had no idea who the Skybombers are, so when I heard the music start downstairs, I stayed put for a second drink. Figuring I should give them a little bit of a listen, I headed in to the Showbox for the end of the set. Dang it if it wasn’t Mark Pickerel on stage.  I got to hear 2 or 3 songs at least.

The Skybombers are a very enthusiastic quartet from Melbourne, Australia. Hugh, the lead singer, reminded me a little of Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore. The guitarist, Sam, looked like a baby Roger Daltrey, but maybe a wee bit taller. Ravi played a pretty mean bass. And poor Scottie was off in a shadowy corner, keeping the beat. They had good energy, and a few catchy songs, but I won’t be buying their album.

I held my ground near the stage. Not within spitting distance, thank goodness, but close enough for a very good view. Finally X came out to play. Exene was dressed in a black maid’s dress with a multi-color printed apron. She looked very much the sweet ol’ lady (which she will be in the fairly near future).  Billy Zoom winked, smiled, and generally mugged for the crowd and their cameras. DJ Bonebrake wore a Jack in the Box t-shirt (I missed a good chance to take a snapshot). And John Doe was . . . John Doe. They played all the favorites as if they really did want to be there. It was pretty nice to see.

I ended up being on the edge of the “mosh pit” as it were, a place I haven’t been for quite a few years. It was sometimes annoying, sometimes invigorating to see the mixed crowd slamming, skanking, whatever it was they felt like doing. There were tiny little girls and tall, hulking guys all plowing into each other. No one got hurt (not like the old days). Maybe tonight at the over 21 show someone will at least get a busted lip.

I couldn’t convince myself to take my digital camera with me, but I did manage to snap a distorted pic of John Doe during the first song.

John Doe