Note from Shilo, CultureMob’s Queen of Content:

CultureMob is now in sunny SAN DIEGO and has plans to open in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Orange County by the end of June! In honor of our foray into sunny Southern California I have a special guest blogger, Thaïs, who just returned from kicking off festival season right at Lightning in a Bottle in Santa Barbara.

Do you like to write about arts and entertainment and want to be a guest blogger for CultureMob? Send me a message: shilo@culturemob.com

GUEST BLOGGER: Thaïs

The expedition started out on Wednesday, May 21 deep into the night. After rushing to get ready and loading up the van and trailer, we picked up our fellow copilots. We were now off to make a 24 hour drive, on our way to beautiful Santa Barbara to catch the breathtaking forest festival, Lightning in a Bottle!

Luckily for my boyfriend and I we were blessed with two angels that liked to drive and ended up doing so most of the way. Ah, what a lovely drive it was! With a bed in the back, and DJ Noisemaker pulling a 24 hour live set in the captain’s chair while we chain-smoked and cuddled, I couldn’t have asked for anything more!

After the long haul we made it to Lightning in a Bottle, where we met up with our wonderful camp GFP, Ghetto Fabulous Projects, Leaders of Random. And what a lovely bunch they are.

For three entire days we had the chance to stay at this divine location. Full of love, magik and sooo much more. Everywhere you turned a bright, enlightened spirit would be there warming your heart and filling your soul with ridiculous amounts of love. If I wouldn’t have known any better, seeing as I have been to quite a few festivals in my past, I would have swore I was in a Dream Land, on a magical adventure with fairies and dragons…oh my!

We had the chance to make it to all three stages, four if you want to count the Renegade Stage. Each one spiraled towards the sky with it’s own individuality. The Bamboo Stage, or Main Stage, was made of thousands of pieces of wood, woven together to make a star-like tetrahedron. What countless hours this must have taken, each piece individually strewn together! Next was the Wookie Stage…we didn’t get to make it to this one too much but it did consist of a large, shell-like DJ booth with a few other posts surrounding the area. And last but DEFINITELY not least was the Tree Stage. This was the stage that just seemed to be bumping at ALL hours of the night! It looked like a pirate ship with different rooms and levels…and what a fun stage to dance on! This was where most of the most rockin’ DJs played, jamming out in all hours of the night. David Starfire, Bassnectar, Glitch Mob, and so many others kicked our asses here. There wasn’t one moment that the dance floor wasn’t PACKED!

When we weren’t dancing our little butts off or conversing with tons of magik folk, there were booths to discover, such as Kelsey’s Creations with fairy-like tutus and Foxy’s Tooth Bling, where you could bling out your teeth with tiny sparkling jewels. And of course there were also live artists, fun air-brushing, and don’t forget the organic yummyness of food everywhere!

All I’ve got to say is thank you, Lightning in a Bottle for a most exciting, freakin’ fabulous, lusciously divine weekend! I’ll be seeing you at Lightning in a Bottle 2009- it only gets better from here!

GUEST BLOGGER: S.P. MISKOWSKI

In a perfect world, the good relationships we’ve lost would get a second chance. With grace, an engaging cast, and impressive technical expertise, Seattle director Lynn Shelton offers a vivid tale of friendship between two men who have every reason to grow apart in drama My Effortless Brilliance.

Novelist Eric Lambert Jones (Sean Nelson of local band Harvey Danger) decides to use his latest book tour as an excuse to drop in on estranged buddy Dylan (Basil Harris) who leads a rustic existence in a cabin in eastern Washington. They are joined for booze, late night conversation, and a shambling cougar hunt by Dylan’s friend Jim (Calvin Reeder), whose presence further demonstrates the gap that is widening between the two men.

The film is layered with carefully devised character histories, created by Shelton in discussion with the actors. Yet the dialog has been improvised within each scene. The result is a joyously fresh and moving story with the best of both worlds- a solid structure and playful, believable interactions. The silences between characters are given as much respect as their words. In the balance, there is a spoken and unspoken truth, a sense of both the inadequacy of speech and its necessity for human comfort.

Jeanette Maus completes the cast, with a charming comic turn as an enthusiastic book tour interviewer.

My Effortless Brilliance is a delightful reminder that we often like people for strange and subterranean reasons. We may not be able to justify them. We may have nothing in common. Yet when we meet–even after years–the conversation picks up mid-syllable. For better or worse, we understand one another. Where do we assign such friendships in our lives? 

Screening of My Effortless Brilliance at the Seattle International Film Festival takes place on Saturday, May 24th at 9:30PM and on Monday, May 26th at 4:00PM, at the Egyptian Theatre.

GUEST BLOGGER: Tyson Lynn

The EELS played a sold out show at The Showbox Friday night, and I wanted nothing more than to be there. But I slacked, waiting too long to buy tickets, hoping for one of those things that happens sometimes when you write about something you love: it ignores you and breaks your heart. So that happened, but unfortunately it’s not redeemable at the door.

For you lucky few who made it in (the show was sold out), I hope you had a great time and will tell me how it goes. Here’s why:

Some years ago, I worked for Resonance, the late great Seattle culture mag. Through them, I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Mark Oliver Everett- Mr. EELS himself- about vice. A choice quote from that interview:

Do you smoke more or less out on the road?

I think I did smoke more on the tour, because it was part of the show. It was used as a theatrical device, which made it slightly less enjoyable because it had to be choreographed. Ok, I have a moment here to puff, then I’ve got to put the guitar on, and then turn over here and play the pump organ, another puff here, sing here. It was fun, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as sitting down and doing nothing but smoke. That was the only time I was smoking on tour. I wasn’t smoking after the show because I’d had enough during the show.

Here is a man who built an entire tour (a laudable one, too, viewable at your discretion on EELS with Strings: Live at Town Hall) around smoking. Featuring two sidemen and a string quartet, it was a big to-do of a performance. I saw him on his next go-through, and it was an entirely different beast.

He came on stage, this tall, hulking man, dressed simply in bemused arrogance. This was Security (he was also their back-up singer and tambourine player; both touches of magnificent genius). The band came on behind him, four men total, wearing leathers and blacks. They never addressed the crowd as they played EELS songs at a gut-rupturing level for nearly ninety minutes. I felt truly like a man that night, that show was so good.

In Daniel Levitin’s book This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, he mentions how finely attuned we are to the non-musical process of creating music, the physical tool of creation. He says:

“New studies […] have shown that non-musician listeners are exquisitely sensitive to the physical gestures that musicians make. By watching a musical performance with the sound turned off, and attending to things like the musician’s arm, shoulder, and torso movements, ordinary listeners can detect a great deal of the expressive intentions of the musician. Add in the sound, and an emergent quality appears–an understanding of the musician’s expressive intentions that goes beyond what was available in the sound or the visual image alone.”

Which is a long way of saying: nothing I say can recreate the mesmerizing experience of seeing the EELS play that night, wrapped up as it was in its method of delivery, and I expect the same tonight. So, please, tell me how it goes, and you and I will both understand if all you’re left with is: Awesome.

GUEST BLOGGER: James Kirchmer

This past Tuesday evening (April 8^th) I attended a private launch event for Virgin America’s new Seattle to Los Angeles airline service. Headlining the party, which ran from 8pm to 1am at The Showbox, was Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), who played a surprisingly satisfying acoustic set with his new band. For a spell, his signature electric guitar-driven aesthetic was not at all missed. Nevertheless, I hoped he’d whip out his battered Fender at some point and rip, old-school style, into his timeless back catalog. My wish was fulfilled during a long encore that found Thurston in full-on shaggy-haired head-bangin’ mode, and the Who’s Who crowd edged closer to the stage. Dude’s still got it, big time. It was a blissful conclusion to this fun, free-beer-soaked affair (high praise must go to our fantastically charming woman-about-town Kerri Harrop for organizing the hitch-free soiree!). My only regret was not being able to MacGyver my way into the large VIP section, as a rumor was flying around that Lou Reed was kickin’ it. I never did find out if this was true. Anyone? I doubt it (LOL).

Whatever the case, I was told of this possible rock legend’s presence by Nathan, who was assigned to bartend in the Green Room. And speaking of said color, FYI he’s a longtime resident at Seattle’s infamous “Greenhouse“, one of the many area homes that are booking local and touring bands on a regular DIY basis these days (and my personal favorite). Nathan enthusiastically noted that he’d be hosting an awesome night of wild music come April 19^th. And his smile was spot-on: the lineup could have easily headlined, say, at The Sunset. Full details are HERE.

Let’s just say that it’s not your typically predictable rock show - a few of the musicians have collaborated with guitar hero Bill Frisell, among other world-class luminaries, and can twist their instruments into figures shaped by far more than the usual 3 chords. Anyhow, the day after this corporate shindig, as I nursed my body back to life, I wondered whether big business, while able to infiltrate nearly every type of social happening there is, would ever succeed at effectively conveying its marketing messages within the national house-show circuit. It would not surprise me! Anything is possible in this candy-pushing country of ours. Regardless, the mere thought of some marketing execs brainstorming along these lines cracked me up, and laughter’s a great hangover medicine.

That said, here’s a select list of Emerald City house venues, and their corresponding web pages. Some post events, while others will only alert folks who become their Myspace friends (among other underground-leaning protocols). Keeping things low-key and fully grass-rooted, so to speak, is a key to survival. Consequently, I’ll leave it at that. Explore the sites and keep an eye out for new spots, as active houses are naturally always in flux. This post may be of little use come 2009. Lastly, check back - as I’ll be guest blogging about the EMP Pop Conference’s highlights and lowlights. The anticipated yearly event, which just kicked off, runs until Sunday and is once again FREE to the public. Kudos to the sponsors that made “free” possible this year: Zune and Rhapsody.

Some of Seattle’s house-show locales:

• 414 House: http://www.myspace.com/the414house/
• Cat House: http://www.myspace.com/cathouse_/
• Dancylvania: http://www.myspace.com/dancylvaniahouse/
• Dearborn on Woodland: http://www.myspace.com/dearbornhouse/
• Dog City: http://webuiltdogcity.blogspot.com/
• Fire Breathing Kangaroo: http://www.geocities.com/grandpa_jumpy/fbkangaroo.html
• Firefly Concert Series: http://www.fireflyconcertseries.com
• Greenhouse: http://www.myspace.com/thegreenhizzy/
• Healthy Times Fun Club: http://www.myspace.com/healthytimesfunclub/
• House Concert Seattle: http://www.myspace.com/houseconcertseattle/
• Haslund Concerts:http://www.ourhousejazz.com/haslundconcerts.htm
• Plague House:http://www.plaguehouse.com/
• Polka Dot House: http://www.myspace.com/polkadothouse/
• Punkin House:http://www.seattlediy.com/punkinhouse/
• Swamp House: http://www.myspace.com/swamphouseseattle/
• The Ark: http://www.myspace.com/thearkseattle/
• The Dog Park: http://www.myspace.com/ledogpark/
• The Office of Doctor Glorious: http://www.myspace.com/theofficeofdoctorglorious/
• Wizard House: http://www.myspace.com/wizardhouse/